Re: Financial Spread Betting Advice

Did you by chance see the Money Program on IG Index last night?

A number of pointers:

1. Think of it as a leveraged investment. In IG's case 10% down and a daily margin payments of the movement in the financial instrument.

1. You can do a limited risk bet to limit the amount you lose. It costs more but might be useful when you start out.

2. You do not have to do the daily bet (which has the best prices) but can close at the end of the day against you. You can also do a 3 month and a 6 month bet. These cost only slightly more.

1. Always mentally have a stop-loss position and a target gain position. You can revise these as you go along but as with anything to do with money, discipline pays dividends.

2. You can close the bet at any time before expiry. When you think you have made what you are going to, close the position.

1. Watch you cash balance, deposit requirement and margin calls.

2. Do not hedge out stock gains through bets as the losses are not tax deductible but the gains are.

1. Specialist bets are exactly that. Binaries are difficult to understand if you are unfamiliar and when the upside looks attractive the downside usually results, with a consequential loss.

But two of my biggest tips are:

START SMALL

DO NOT WATCH THE SCREEN MINUTE BY MINUTE. Set yourself a timetable for reviewing the bets and closing them. Of course if you do the daily bet this does not apply.