Reply to: FTSE 100 Index tracker day trading?

[Jog On]

You would probably be better off spread betting than trading an ETF.

WHS if you want to day trade, you just get a small spread. Watch out for direction changes during the day though, especially with all the EU stuff going on at the moment. It's quite common for equities to rally in the morning then NY come on at 12:00-2:30 PM and it all changes direction.

Open a demo account with someone and paper trade for a few months until you're consistently making a profit. Then when you go live use a sensible position sizing method and use stop losses to cut your losses short.

Simples

[DimPrawn]

IG Index spread on intraday FTSE and DAX is 1 point during regular market hours (8am to 4:30pm).

You need a statistical model/edge for predicting price behaviour, you also need solid risk management, and you need a large enough bank roll. You also need extreme discipline and emotional detachment because a large percentage of your trades will lose money.

Best left to the experts who trade the Index futures with automated software that handles all the above effortlessly.

Are these the same experts requiring £1trn in bailouts?

[Iron Condor]

IG Index spread on intraday FTSE and DAX is 1 point during regular market hours (8am to 4:30pm).

You need a statistical model/edge for predicting price behaviour, you also need solid risk management, and you need a large enough bank roll. You also need extreme discipline and emotional detachment because a large percentage of your trades will lose money.

Best left to the experts (like me) who trade the Index futures with automated software that handles all the above effortlessly

[PAH]

That is actually entirely true. Though calculating the probability of running out of money before that strategy comes to fruition ain't so easy.

At least there are no goons looking to step in and stop you gambling like there is if you try this at a casino on red or black.

Or is there?


Anyway after watching that Money programme on the telly the other night I've decided the easiest way of making money is to sell books and seminars to others looking to make money. One bint had spent £50k trying to work out how to become a millionaire.

[ASB]

It's even easier than that.

Toss a coin, place a buy or sell depending on the coin flip. If you win great. If you lose, switch from buy to sell (or vice versa) and double your lot size. Keep repeating this until you get you money back.

YOU CAN'T LOSE!


TRUST ME.

That is actually entirely true. Though calculating the probability of running out of money before that strategy comes to fruition ain't so easy.

[ASB]

You can get geared exposure (2 x) with SUK2/LUK2. I assume you will know why leveraged ETFs shouldn't be held long term (or at at least won't give the expected results). Trading these can be cheaper than using an SB account sometimes.

If you basically just want to bet up or down you could consider binaries.

Whether or not you will make any money doing so is a different matter. Given most SB providers dont underwrite many of their clients positions that might give an idea of the likely flow.

[DimPrawn]

It's even easier than that.

Toss a coin, place a buy or sell depending on the coin flip. If you win great. If you lose, switch from buy to sell (or vice versa) and double your lot size. Keep repeating this until you get you money back.

YOU CAN'T LOSE!


TRUST ME.

[lukemg]

Is it really much harder than this ?

Brilliant - You will be rich in no time....

Yeah, unfortunately it is a lot harder than this but fill your boots, market always needs fresh money coming in.

[PAH]

There is no such thing as trading "the market" there is only trading the other traders. Who are rather better than you...

So an amateur/beginner can't buy and sell 'FTSE 100 index' shares, with a view to buying in a dip and selling at a peak over several weeks/months/years?

As long as you sell higher than you buy (and the FTSE 100 is always going up and down) you can't lose. Even if you have to wait months for the FTSE to recover you can be dripping more money in as it climbs. Only risk is investing just before a major crash that takes years for the FTSE 100 to recover from.

Is it really much harder than this?

[PAH]

There's a plan B in there you know and it's isn't BTL An aging population. Rubs hands.

Getting the immigrants to lodge with the oldies as in-house carers?

Got to be a better proposition than the elderly having to flog their house to pay the likes of Bannatyne extortionate care home fees, just so they can be treated like trash by unsympathetic carers.

At least in their own home they are in familiar surroundings, have more control, and can get in a new carer if the existing one is doing a crap job.

[MarillionFan]

Good man! And with and govt doing everything to trash the pound and prop up asset prices such as houses you can't lose.

Throw a few million extra immigrants per year, almost no houses being built and older people hanging on to their bigger houses rather than downsizing and you are on to a winner.

Forget shares, they were the baby boomers invention, no one with any sense buys western equities now. All over priced tulip.

There's a plan B in there you know and it's isn't BTL

An aging population. Rubs hands.

[DimPrawn]

I've managed to make back 6k of the 7k I lost last week and have started selling shares to close out my positions.

Back into BTL. Bastard landlord again, here I come!

Good man! And with and govt doing everything to trash the pound and prop up asset prices such as houses you can't lose.

Throw a few million extra immigrants per year, almost no houses being built and older people hanging on to their bigger houses rather than downsizing and you are on to a winner.

Forget shares, they were the baby boomers invention, no one with any sense buys western equities now. All over priced tulip.

[MarillionFan]

I've managed to make back 6k of the 7k I lost last week and have started selling shares to close out my positions.

Back into BTL. Bastard landlord again, here I come!

[KentPhilip]

I can almost guarentee you'll lose money spread betting on intra-day price movements.
If you're a beginner
Not only because of the randomness of the markets themselves, but because the actions in aggregate of newbies as a result of particular price movements such as yourself can to a considerable extent be predicted by the more experienced operators. Who have a lot of firepower.
What happens is once you have put on a big position and the price moves against you, they'll push it further causing you to bottle it and sell up. Then they put in a reverse position and profit from the return swing.

There is no such thing as trading "the market" there is only trading the other traders. Who are rather better than you...

[DimPrawn]

You would probably be better off spread betting than trading an ETF.

WHS.

A spread of a few pips, no tax to pay (don't start saying you have to pay tax on Spread Betting, no one has paid tax on it), easy peasy lemon squeezy.