Bets and the City Sally Nicoll’s spread betting diary Harriman House Ltd 3A Penns Road Petersfield Hampshire GU32 2EW Tel. +44 (0)1730 233870 Fax +44 (0)1730 233880 Email: [email protected] Website: www.harriman-house.com First published in Great Britain in 2006 by Harriman House Ltd. Reprinted in 2007 and 2008 Copyright ©Harriman House Ltd The rights of Sally Nicoll to be identified as the author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. ISBN 1-905-64106-0 ISBN13 978-1905641-06-2 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the Publisher. This book may not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without the prior written consent of the Publisher. Printed and bound by the CPI Group, Antony Rowe ___________________________________________ No responsibility for loss occasioned to any person or corporate body acting or refraining to act as a result of reading material in this book can be accepted by the Publisher or by the Author. ___________________________________________ The storyline and opinions expressed in Bets and the Cityare solely and independently those of the author and are not influenced by the employees or agents of Finspreads. You should not assume that the contents of my book necessarily reflect the views of Finspreads. Finspreads, which is a trading name of IFX Markets Ltd, engaged me to keep and publish my diary on their website. Although, they exercised no editorial control over the contents other than to assist me in meeting FSA regulatory requirements. As a precautionary measure, I have been made an appointed representative of IFX Markets Ltd in relation to the publication of this book and the £50 promotion. Bets and the City is for Gareth. And for my dad, who would have loved it. A message from Sally: Spread betting is high risk. You can lose your shirt and more besides. So please be careful, and don’t get carried away. In the diary 1. In which my dad teaches me the Golden Rule of gambling 2. To make £1 million, all I need is a computer and an Internet connection 3. I am rash, but not stupid 4. I trade my entire knowledge for one cup of coffee 5. The meaning of stop-loss and leverage And an offer I must refuse 6. Thirteen advantages of spread betting – but only one company for my account 7. An inauspicious start –I am accused of a criminal past 8. I prove my innocence, open my Finspreads account and win something for a rainy day 9. The Welshman invites me to write about my new life as a novice spread better 10. Mr. Big’s Top Ten Tips And why you should never be kind to your mother 11. My first trades reveal if I am a chicken or a pig 12. Random trading for less than the minimum wage 13. Commonsense spread betting wins me pretty new underwear and two free tanks of petrol 14. How my next spread bet is prompted by a Japanese fighting dog 15. In which I almost make £900 – but it all goes horribly wrong 16. Behind the scenes in the dealing room – so near yet so far from the customer who’s £750,000 in profit 17. Trader’s block and a four-legged Dow Jones 18. Expert advice takes me in a new direction 19. What happens when I ignore expert advice? 20. Why I decide to dump my biggest winner 21. There’s a market worth $1.5 trillion a day I’ll have some of that! 22. A series of unfortunate events 23. Making money from the Government 24. Is this the darkest hour? 25. I give up spread betting and make a new friend 26. The Welshman’s final words of encouragement help me back to winning ways 27. I have nine winning trades. Does it really matter if we don’t know what’s driving the market? 28. Do women make better traders than men? 29. My New Year Trading Plan And tragic news about the Google share price 30. I do well enough to start dreaming about villas in the South of France – and a yacht 31. Pride comes before a fall 32. I am commanded from beyond the grave to continue my trading education 33. I finally get the hang of spread betting And make nineteen successive winning trades 34. Pride comes before a fall (Part 11) 35. Sensible advice from a man who lost $10m – in a single day 36. My spread betting secret is out! 37. 40% profit in six months 38. In which I have my head examined 39. I find my spread betting methodology tattooed on human flesh 40. Madness in my methodology? 41. In which I turn my computer into a cash register 42. The Four Pillars of Trading Strategy 43. I attend Traders’ University 44. I break the Traders University rules – and the promise of imminent wealth is dangled before me 45. In which I stop gambling and begin to trade 46. Sex, lies and Paul McCartney The Diary