Back up and running now after ‘China Tuesday’ and things are progressing.
I am operating in ’smash and grab’ mode now - short duration trades (FTSE only) prepared to take a loss if necessary but in and out in 1 day - often many times a day.
I have transferred to the CMC platform completely - the NTR (FTSE) is only £50 whereas Cantor is £250 and the spread on the monthy contracts is 3 points against Cantors 4 - better all round.
Well! - what a day - finally managed to get out of my FTSE trade - for zero profit but was just relieved to get out after all this time.
Decided to go long £20/point and the Chinese announced some possible changes to the rules relating to buying/selling stocks and the bottom fell out of the worlds markets!!
I got completely creamed - it was falling so fast I couldn’t get cash in fast enough and got liquidated - NOT MY BEST DAY!!!
I am being very careful at the moment whilst I lick my wounds and basically just watching…
Stay lucky and a big thanks to our friends in the PRC!
Still short on FTSE Jun Futures with Cantor Index - this could be a long haul.
I have transferred my focus to the CMC platform, they offer quite a lot of functionality which the others (well Cantor anyway!) don’t.
Being able to set up alerts is really useful and there are three types of alerts which can be selected. The first is a visual alert - it throws a bright red box into the centre of the screen - great if you only have half an eye on the screen. The second is an audio alert - it will play audio files (*.au) and the third is the email alert - I set this to email my mobile if I am going to be away from the PC for any length of time.
I have also installed the CMC MarketMaker Mobile software on my mobile and so I can keep an eye on things when not sat at my PC. This was easy enough to set up and it cost me about £1.50 to run it for 2 hours monitoring 1 instrument (using Virgin Mobile).
The other really useful facility CMC have is the ability to detach individual windows from their desk, so I open a single price window on the FTSE, detach it and place it in the top right-hand corner of my screen. That way I can then do plenty of other stuff and since I am trading on the FTSE with both companies I can also keep an eye on the progress (or not) with Cantor.
Since 6/2/2007 I am short on the FTSE Futures - sold £10 @ 6336 - since then it has continued its upward track and so I am looking at a potential loss at the moment. The thing is it’s never been this high before and whilst there is every chance it will continue to rise overall I expect it to reverse from time to time - that’s when I will take my profit! Meanwhile it just seems to be toying with me.
Also CAC Futures long £5 @5702 - also wavering about!!
Happy Trading!
I am using the Cantor Index platform at the moment because
that’s what I used before and it seems pretty straightforward.
Interesting that sites like ‘trade2win’ seldom mention CI -
why is that?
I did a little bit of analysis of the platform offerings
from
Cantor
CMC
Finspreads/Easy2Spreadbet
IGIndex
Capital Spreads
I will record my thoughts over the coming days and weeks as I get more into this.
Lets start with their interface
Cantor Index
Clean and crisp, easy to see what is going on - but why do they give the P&L based on the mid-point of the spread! None of the panels are resizeable which could be annoying especially if I’m running with more than one company. It is browser based so, and I have tried this, it can be accessed from most machines (internet cafes etc.).
CMC MarketMaker
Very nice - all the panels are movable and resizeable so you can arrange the desk as you want it - I have the system just showing the UK100 index price in a little floating window up in the top right hand corner of my screen as I write this - allowing me to keep an eye on that and do other things AND EVEN BETTER this system will allow you to set alarms when whatever you are watching reaches a certain level! Not browser based - so you have to install the platform - not so portable.
Finspreads/Easy2Spreadbet
Looks quite nice, there are 4 different layouts to choose from but it’s not as flexible as CMC MarketMaker and no alerts. It is browser based.
IGIndex
Looks OK but causes Firefox to crash so thats all I’m saying at the moment.
Capital Spreads
Horrible - stuck in the middle of the screen
FTSE Futures Jun’07
- sold @6321 bought @6359 x (£5) = £190 loss
Rather cross with myself about this - setup the short trade - then decided to setup a stop to close the deal at 6300 - I wasn’t going to be around for a few hours. I had to overtype the amount defaulted 6359 as I requested the stop - but assumed (stupidly!) that it would be OK - you can’t see the value of any stops set (at least I can’t find them…).
Anyway the price is moving against me all afternoon - hits
6359 and the deal is closed - I won’t be doing that again
in a hurry!
FTSE Futures Jun’07
- sold @6348 bought @6342 x (£5) = £30 profit
- sold @6347 bought @6342 x (£5) = £25 profit
Not quite time to order the new car yet!
Happy trading…
First entry from the ‘bare arsed trader’ - why the name? - I
guess chiefly because I feel extremely exposed trying to
earn a living from trading. Also because if it all goes ‘
pear shaped’ then…. don’t want to think about it!
A bit of background - I have worked in IT for over 30 years and
have now reached the point where I am sick of working for
large companies who basically don’t give a damn about
anything but the bottom line.
I have been working on a contract basis for the last 5 or 6
years and it’s not very pleasant any more, there was a time
when IT Consultants were the envy of their permanent
colleagues - demanding high rates, loads of demand for their
skills and all sorts of wrinkles to reduce the tax burden.
Not any more, rates have hardly risen over the last 5 years,
as companies cut their expenses contractors bear the brunt
of short term contracts and outsourcing, and the Inland
Revenue and IR35 have made everything more difficult.
Anyway - came to the end of a contract and seeing as there
doesn’t seem to be a great deal of work available in my
field, I decided to use a bit of capital I had put by to
fund my new career - spreadbet trader.
I have dabbled in this before with a reasonable degree of
success - we shall see.
5 February 2007
FTSE Futures Jun’07
- Cantor Index buy @ 6318 sold @ 6321 x £5 = £15.00 profit
Happy trading!