That is it - I've had enough of football, thank goodness the end of the season is here! It really was a football filled weekend.

Myself and Christopher seem to have been permanent residents of Fulham FC for the bank holiday weekend!

Mrs NT came to the game against Sunderland on Sunday .. and a couple of friends . we all had a good time.

We expected Mrs NT to make some excuses and leave at half time.. but in fact she stayed on. However I suspect it probably wasn't the football.

One of the reasons is at aged 7 Christopher is getting to the age when sadly cuddles from Mum aren't the draw they once were, especially in public..

However for a lot of the game he allowed her to cuddle! Which meant Mrs NT was more than happy to stay for the second half..

Half-time was an orgy of crisp eating, two bags for the adults each, how decadent. Though the second pack was only ready salted which doesn't really count..

At the end of the game (Fulham won 2-1) the players came out with their families. A nice touch, they had a good season.

The Sunderland fans were really nice by the way.

On Monday morning at 8.30am - yes that's right - 8.30am on a bank holiday monday - me and Christopher were back for his morning of training on the ground itself.

Loads of hopeful boys were there in their different age groups coached by the Fulham FC coaches.

I could see Christopher from time to time imagining scoring a winning premier league goal. Ah the dreams!

It was great to see so many kids out there really enjoying themselves playing sport rather than hunched on a sofa playing a video game etc.

Afterwards we got to see the players changing rooms. Not a pretty sight! Anyway well done Fulham for making it all possible.

Monday afternoon we headed off to Kempton Park Races. Where I manged to lose over £100 by betting on total losers. Not one in the first three! Definitely a day to be a bookie. And to think many years ago I was a professional gambler....

Highlight of the day was the Mascot Grand National where about 50 giant costumed animals ran for their lives...

Winner by a long way was the duck who seemed very determined. There was a photo finish for the minor places with Mr Potato Head just getting his large head in front.

Kempton put on a good show with a funfair and stuff for kids to do.

After the bank holiday weekend I was totally exhausted from all our various activities.

So I rather enjoyed "getting back to work" on Tuesday! A real break!

My goodness the next seminar is next week, on Friday the 18th, there is still space left! So if you can get the day off why not join me foe a day of live markets? Given the market falls I will especially be doing some research on companies that might be looking cheap.

The early bookers discount is about to disappear so don't leave it too long!

For details, email me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "May seminar interested" in the subject line. I'll send you everything that I cover and all about the day itself. In a short time you could be (I hope) enjoying a day with me and live markets.

Beginners and improvers welcome! Come and spend the day with me, the markets and some lovely people - and of course, lunch!

If you mail me I will then send you details and a full agenda of what is covered. Also more details below somewhere.

My seminars are designed for beginners, dabblers and improvers and deals with everything from how to look for winners, how to research, spreadbetting, level 2 use how to time trades and short, how to use advfn properly and run your portfolio without having to spend money on systems and tipsters.. and tons more.

A lot of the day comes directly from the live markets and I show you many of the tricks I use to get good prices live. And there might even be the odd live trade or 2!

I'm getting quite a few mails from those of you who've been to my seminars asking if I'd do another follow up.

Honestly? I'm feeling lazy about it - however if enough of you want one I will do it and the hotel has a spare room on Mon June 11th.

So if you think you might want to come to an all day live level 2, research and finding new ideas live session, mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Follow up interested" in the subject line - I'll then judge if there are enough of you interested to do it or not. You must have been to a previous seminar of mine to qualify for the day.

The all new edition of my book Naked Trader 3 is out now !!!

Lots of new strategies including my top 20, lots more mistakes to avoid, loads of new trader tales, cartoons and a bit of fun too.

I hope you all enjoy it - and can tell I put a lot of effort into it and I really hope if it just stops one person from making the mistakes I did it will be worthwhile.

Indeed I hope the book is worth it even if you read about other people's stories, it is amazing how so many make exactly the same mistakes.

Anyhow if you buy it I hope you enjoy it! Click here:
http://books.global-investor.com/books/818560.htm?ginPtrCode=10453

** My book about spreadbetting , you can order it here:

http://books.global-investor.com/books/401334.htm?ginPtrCode=10453

---

A new issue of Spreadbet magazine is out here: http://issuu.com/spreadbetmagazine/docs/spreadbet-magazine-v4_generic

I read an excellent stock market thriller on holiday,

"The Fear Index" by Robert Harris.

A maths genius joins a hedge fund and together they create a monster trading robot giving it billions to play with.

The robot starts to short everything and starts to cause massive market crashes. Then takes on a mind of its own.

Plenty of excellent page turning stuff here, if you are a trader or investor a lot of it will ring true with the robots almost already in charge of some shares!

There's tons of drama and action and I couldn't put it down though it helps as it is a thriller about the markets!

If you're into the markets you'll love it.. here's an order link to the book:

http://books.global-investor.com/books/860358/Robert-Harris-/The-Fear-Index/

Enjoy the read!!

Want to know what my last monthly elec/gas/phone/broadband/mobile phone bill was for me and Mrs NT?
What so you reckon? £250? £300?
Nope, wrong. Nothing at all. In fact, a CREDIT of £67 on my bill!
How so? Well, Utility Discount Warehouse offers 10% off your energy bill every year as long as you have 1,500 Telecom Plus shares.
But how do you fancy getting that same whopping 10% discount off the whole of your energy spend for the whole of your first year? Ie your last month will probably be free! You don't need to own any shares, just sign up with UDW services and do it via myself, and you also get my weekly email which is the website stuff direct to your inbox PLUS exclusive higher risk trades made for my pension!
All you have to do is take four services - choose from homephone, broadband, electricity, gas, mobile phone and the amazing discount and my email is all yours. AND you can't lose as there is a "double the difference" promise. That is you are guaranteed to save money by swiitching or they will give you back double the difference.
So by signing up you get the UK's cheapest home phone, homephone and broadband bundle, mobile tarrif and cheapest gas and electric. AND instead of getting loads of different bills from different companies there is just one bill for the lot!
And if you think switching is a pain in the bum, think again. It's easy, a few clicks on a website. On top of all those savings there are loads of other ways to add even bigger savings too.
Want to go for it? To sign up via me and get all those benefits and my email go to this web address only
www.utilitywarehouse.org.uk/fabdeal

and sign up directly there - you can also read about alll the services and how much you might save!
Once you have signed up, just let me know and tell me what your customer number is (they will send you your number) and you get my email! I get ongoing commission in return, you save money!
I use all the services myself, and have done for many years. You get a UK call centre with calls answered quickly and a monthly bill.
An interesting email from a reader. The thrust of it was he was going to buy a share after doing a lot of research but then it went up 12% and he hadn't bought it yet. So he felt angry.
How does he stop/halt the feelings of anger?
Well, you have to take the emotion out of trading. Which isn't easy.
I suggested he should read this book.. by Jason Zweig
http://books.global-investor.com/books/256158.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
This is the one to read on psychology. Great read.
Fancy getting the naked trader updates direct into your inbox? And a bit before it gets updates on the net including news from my pension trades made from my SIPP?

All you have to do is take a phone or energy service from the Utility Discount Warehouse at www.utilitywarehouse.org.uk/fabdeal.

I get some commission and you get the service! On top of that you ought to make some amazing savings on your phone, broadband, or energy use or all! There's even an internet phone where you can make free calls from wi fi hotspots!

Prices are guaranteed lower than the top 6 suppliers but even better you can get huge discounts on your energy/phone bill if you shop at places like Marks and Spencers, Boots, Sainsburys and a whole load more. 5% of your spend comes directly off your billl. Many are saving a fortune from their energy bills.

So save a few quid, and get my stuff in your inbox! A win win? Mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "mail service" in the subject line and I'll send you details.

Spreadbetting firm Tradefair Spreads has upped its offer exclusively to Naked Trader readers to a £100 credit. This offer is exclusive to me and not available anywhere else...
I've been using them for a few weeks to check that I'm happy with the service. As you know I don't take ads or allow referrals on the site unless it's a company I've used and I feel confident about.
What I like about it is it's easy to use, spreads are surprisingly tight on the smaller companies and interestingly an automated stop loss is applied to each trade - so beginners know what their max loss is from the outset.
Anyway they now offer a £100 credit as long as you deposit £100. You get the credit after you placed 5 trades (Terms and conditions apply)
If you'd like to apply for an account with Tradefair Spreads and get the freebie click this link:
http://www.tradefair.com/promo/spreads/nakedtrader100/

I use IG Index for betting on the very small companies, the only spreadbet firm I can find that does the smaller ones making it possible to trade AIM cos tax free.

To sign up and get an excelllent weekly education programme use this link:

www.igindex.com/nakedtrader

Many of you enjoy the cheap advfn toplists bronze deal through me as do many of you with the cheap level 2. However many of you say you want a half-way house to include real-time share prices always on.
So I'm pleased to announce I've managed to seal a new deal with Advfn for its "Silver" service - that's always on real-time share prices for a good saving (Bronze toplists etc are included in this).
The deal is via me you can save £30 for your first year by paying just £145 inc vat via me instead of £173.71
Just mail me for full details if you'd like it with "silver" in the subject line.

They've just re-published "The Zulu Principle" by Jim Slater who's written a 2008 update at the beginning.
This is a brilliant classic book. Reading this is a real pleasure and it was a great idea to republish.
Jim believes like I do the best gains can come from smaller stocks and in an easy to read style takes you through how to evaluate smaller companies that are about to become bigger ones - he uses some excellent examples.
Really this is a must read for all more longer-term investors or anyone looking to grow their money... a number of you have also written to me about this book and praising it.
Here is the link to buy it:
http://books.global-investor.com/books/167207.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Here's a very topical one: The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets by Peter Schiff.
The book is all about how to keep portfolios up in a down market. He focusses a lot on how to play commodities and win with some sensible advice especially on natural resources and precious metals. He is very much a realist and there is no rubbish here: some straight talking and some interesting strategies.
Everyone who invests should think seriously about keeping portfolios up in bad times so this book should be read.
Well worth picking up at this link:
http://books.global-investor.com/books/271958.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
To order my new book Naked Trader 2 for next day delivery click this link... or the cover of the book top right!
http://books.global-investor.com/books/27120.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Several people have asked me for a recommendation on a book which shows how to study accounts in a reasonably easy way. The one I like the most is http://books.global-investor.com/books/15717.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Robert Leach. Ten crunch questions to ask before buying any company.
It' s a decent easy-to-read book with several key chapters and it's highly recommended. It's one I keep and dip into from time to time. To order, click this link... http://books.global-investor.com/books/15717.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
The best book on charting and easiest read on the subject is http://books.global-investor.com/books/15618.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Alistair Blair. Click here -> http://books.global-investor.com/books/15618.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Another good one is the second edition of http://books.global-investor.com/books/23792.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Peter Temple. Included in this one is how to use spreadbetting, CFD's warrants and trackers to reduce risk. And there are some decent trading strategies too.
This is an excellent book for new investors and also experienced ones. It explains all the things you may not be sure about in the markets and will explain the tools that are there. To order The Investors Toolbox by Peter Temple (new edition) click the following link for delivery in 24 hours... http://books.global-investor.com/books/23792.htm?ginPtrCode=10453

**** BOOKING FOR FRIDAY MAY 18TH NOW OPEN

---

Fancy spending a day with me, learning all the ways I have learned over the years to find good shares and play the markets? Well, you can at one of my seminars!
Booking is open for the Naked Trader seminar on Friday May 18th

Price is £590 plus vat. There is an early bookers discount available.

That includes three course lunch, coffees, snacks etc.
The seminar is mainly aimed at beginners and dabblers though improvers are welcome too.
Topics covered using live market feeds all day include: Market psychology, level 2 - a simple guide to how to use it for better timing; how to value companies; finding companies that are about to rise. I will also cover techniques for handling events such as the recent meltdown and volatility.
Spreadbetting: How to use it to gain an edge and go short. Market makers - how they work and how to beat them; how to stop losing money and make it instead and plenty more.
How to plan trade entries and exits - how to research companies and understand reports, plus all those niggly questions you always wanted to ask. How to set stop losses and targets. Charts and how to use them.
Also covered: Market maker tricks: How to spot tree shakes and use them in your favour, How to tell when NOT to buy a share. I use live ADVFN all day with lots of level 2 and looks at all kind of live market data.
The idea behind the seminar is SIMPLICITY. I don't use jargon or fancy words - everything is in PLAIN ENGLISH! No question is too stupid and the event is held in a friendly relaxed and supportive environment.
The idea is you will come away from the event I hope a wise and better investor with lots of new ideas. I try and translate complex topics into easy bite size pieces. I also aim for it to be entertaining as well as instructive.
If you are interested please e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "seminar interested" in the subject line and I will send you full details of the event including comments from those who have come to previous seminars and you can then decide whether you would like to come. See you there!
One seminar attendee Clare wanted to write a testimonial about her experiences at the seminar which follows now!
"I've just come back buzzing from one of Robbie's seminars. What a day! He's just brilliant, and manages to pack an awful lot into one day, and with his enthusiastic and humorous delivery the day just flies by. There are no gimmicks, no sell, no "˜get-rich-quick' promises, just his own solid, sound approach which he has learnt over the years and which works.
He shows you how to minimise the risks and maximise the profits and points out the banana skins on the way. Where the seminar really comes into its own is when he teaches using live level 2. Hearing him talk through his thought processes and reasoning is invaluable, and really brings home everything from the book. He has endless patience answering peoples' questions, and really seems to care that everybody understands.
On top of that, you meet some really nice like minded people and swap e mail addresses, you're plied with
chocolates and coffee all day, have a great lunch and spend the evening getting tiddled with Robbie in the
bar afterwards! You might even get to see the amazing crocodile boots . . . .
Don't worry about the cost, it's easily worth it, and you'll soon make it back with your new-found investment skills, and in what you're no longer losing. If you're thinking of going along to his next seminar, whether you're a novice or an experienced trader, don't hesitate ""just go!
Thanks Clare, did you want the tenner in cash, or will a cheque do?

I've started using Tradefair for spreadbetting - I like the auto generated stop losses which help to maintain discipline and that's good for beginners I think. And exclusively for Naked Trader readers they upped the offer to £100 credit.
So there's now a £100 credit on offer for anyone opening an account via me. You get that after 5 spreadbets (terms and conditions apply)
To get the offer, click here:
http://www.tradefair.com/promo/spreads/nakedtrader100/

People set up retail businesses and wonder why they fail. I don't know how many street signs, sandwich boards etc I've seen this week with words badly mis-spelt (is that how you spell misspelt?)

Like "Full English Brekfast" - "Toasted Sindwiches" "Super Cofee" - well you can imagine the rest.

Problem is if you walk by a place and see this you can't help but thinking - if they can't be bothered to get that right I wonder what horrors are going on in the kitchen?

The other thing I find odd is they don't change their boards at different times of the day, I always did when we had our cafe.

What's the point of advertising breakfast at 4pm?

I always spent a lot of money on really nice, fab looking boards outside my care and it worked as we trebled the turnover. If you are in business you have got to look at all the details and everything from your customers' point of view.

Debt continues in the headlines.. but things are getting worse! Soon most will use their phones to buy smaller stuff on credit.. and the demise of cash is going to make things even worse.

If only over the last 20 years people did what my mother did. That is, pay for everything with cash. If she didn't have it, it wasn't bought.

If she couldn't afford a new TV, we waited. Until we really had the money.

The reason we're in trouble everyone decided to borrow up to the eyeballs on credit cards because they wanted the TV NOW!!

They want the newest I Thing right now!! The upcoming generation feels it has a right to the latest gadgets without really having the money to buy it.

The post world war generation must look on all this in horror and what's worse is they saved and now they get no interest on their savings. They got penalised by younger people's greed.

Looks like BGT is going to come down to a straight fight between Pudsey the dog and the Opera duo.

About time we had a dancing dog as the winner.

I think we are all tired with dance groups now. They all do similar things now so the novelty has worn off.

But there is very little variety. Comedians seem thin on the ground. I bet like me you start to groan when you see yet another dance troupe.

Although that is tempered by the knowledge youngsters are really putting effort into a brilliant passtime.

I think part of the pleasure of the show is seeing people putting all their effort into something they are good at.

Enjoyed the end of Homeland though I guess probably most of us were a little disappointed it never went out with a bang and they've left it open for the next series.

Perhaps it might have been better to give us a definitive ending and not do another series. But us Homeland fans no doubt will watch the next series which airs in the States in September. Channel 4 has bought it so I guess we'll see it early next year.

A great thriller all the way through well done to all concerned.

Onto The Apprentice and selling fake tan to Essex girls seemed a pretty decent plan. There was something to be learned businesswise from this.

One team won because it charged more for the tan.

If you offer something too cheap people get suspicious and think it must be cheap for a reason.

Wheres sometimes confident pricing actually sells something more than a cheaper price, especially if it's something people want. Selling too low often is a bad move all round.

Episodes is back this week, the first series wasn't bad for a UK comedy so I'm going to give series two a go.

The spreadbetting firm I use for sports betting is here:
Via this link Open a Sporting Index account and there's £100 cash offer - please check terms and conditions which apply.

http://www.sportingindex.com/?tpid=6755
Do remember if you do bet you ought to treat sports spreadbetting as entertainment - and expect to lose! Also with spreadbetting work out what your max loss could be and make sure you can afford it! In other words if you say backed the favourite at 15 for a fiver and they come nowhere your max loss is £75.

Anne writes :
Agree about facebook - the youngsters who leapt onboard when it started,
posting dire photos of them doing things they shouldn't are now grown up and
getting on in their careers and errrrrr wondering if that photo of them
mooning in the disco in Majorca was a good idea!

Nice to think I am not the only unsociable grump to not want to follow the
minutiae of my friends and colleagues mostly boring lives!

I am in the states just now and feel the Starbucks asking name thing is just
more marketing bollocks to get them noticed. If they just speeded up the
service I might go there but americans seem to need all this 'service
bollocks' to make them think they are getting their moneys worth.

Thanks Anne,
well of course I agree, it's nearly all bollocks!

Duane writes:
Wanted to say a big thank you to you and Mrs NT for an amazing day of learning and fun at your seminar.

The way you explained the share trading from start to finish was understandable and really interesting, well worth the seminar fee!
It was great to hear such down to earth and honest assessment from a successful trader like yourself. The way you explained everything was good revision from your book and gave further insight into successful share trading.

I particularly liked your live trades and going through your accounts when you gave snippets of why you invested in certain shares and why you kept/dumped them. Also helpful was the way you searched for prospective shares and within minutes discounted them or put them on a short list for further examination and correct entry points. Amazing!
You could really tell that you loved doing what you do and your energy levels to keep going till 10pm was well....... I had to leave at 9pm I was shattered!

Thanks again Robbie I am keen to put into practice what you have taught me. Even though you make squillions from your trades and I am sure don't need to do the seminars for financial gain, but please keep doing those seminars for newbies like me!

Thanks Duane! Don't expect to be doing them foreever but very rewarding for me to help people so expect to carry on for a while longer.
Gabriel writes:
If you are reading this, you are perhaps considering going on one of Robbie's Seminars. You maybe asking yourself (like I did) the testimonials are all well and good but once the euphoria and excitement of attending a Seminar has died down ..... and I am back home in my normal routine and faced with the "graft" of putting it all into practice... will I become a better trader and be financially better off?
Let me tell you that in my case it certainly has!
Book your place pretty sharpish....... is what I say !

Thanks Gabriel!

Terry writes:
Fantastic seminar.

I have always been sceptical of the public testaments you see on web sites
saying how great an event was. Now I'm one of those people!. I
genuinely believe that the tips and techniques as well as the overall
approach you demonstrated will radically improve my trading performance

Thanks Terry, well all the testaments are real but know what you mean and glad you feel it was worth it!
Stephen writes:
I read your book and did the course - and I wasn't sure if I'd recoup the cost, it's been 2 years and I've made £38k + saved a loss transferring a Jupiter ISA heavily invested in BP. I can't tell you how important this is or how grateful I am. That's just me, who knows how much people have made with your help and saved by not making mistakes. I wanted to get into shares as they recovered after the crunch, but I assumed I had to put a large amount in one company I thought would make a big jump.
But what happens when you make £1m on the website, will you still do courses? I don't know how you do your ISA and SIPP investments, write the website, books, courses and answer e-mails. But please don't give it up. Couldn't you do the courses and have a standing website which gets updated with your trades say once a month so people can see what you do..

Stephen thanks so much for such a nice mail and much appreciated! Dunno about the future, I feel like I'm getting jaded. It's possible I might just reduce it all at some point to twice a month after going weekly - that would probably help. The other problem is other people's angst is getting to me and the email workload becoming overwhelming. I think after ten years it might be time for me to quit. Anyway good luck with your trades and hope you make a lot more.

I have 3 great offers from ADVFN.

SAVE OVER £120 !
First great deal: If you want level 2, through me it is only £350 for your first year including VAT!
This compares to £473 direct from advfn inc vat so this deal saves you over a whopping £120! ADVFN level 2 also includes all the live trades made through Plus Markets which I find invaluable.
To accept this great deal just e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Level 2 offer" in the subject line and I will tell you how to get it. Level 2 gives you access to all the market maker positions and the order book and I would not trade without it!

More on level 2 in my book and I spend hours on it at my seminars. So if you get level 2 and want to learn how to use it properly live, book my seminar!

Deal two is ADVFN's bronze subscription - normally £74 pa - available from me for only £50! (inc vat) That's a saving of over £30! You access to the premium bulletin board which contains my discussion forum with direct access to chat to me and some very good traders. Plus you get ADVFN's premium top lists which I think are a must for finding great stock picks. That includes great lists like ex dividend dates, market maker buys plus chart breakouts and downs. All as explained in the book.
To take up the offer, e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with Bronze in the subject line and I will tell you how to claim the deal.

Bronze is included inside the level 2 deal.

Deal three is ADVFN's silver subscription - for those of you who want all the benefits of Bronze AND always on real-time prices.. no more using the back button and getting frozen out!

The deal is via me you can save nearly £30 for your first year by paying just £145 inc vat via me instead of £173.71
Just mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com if you'd like this deal with "silver" in the subject line.

Want to try out broker Selftrade superb trading system for no risk? You only have to trade once to get £50 bunged into your account! You get £50 and I get £50.
All online deals are just £12.50 with no funny small print. Charges for phone deals are higher, check terms and conditions. They also charge £35 plus vat pa for all accounts. Follow this link...
http://tinyurl.com/57hp4n

I know. I felt the pain too. It's been a s*** few days. Some of you may feel bad. If it is any consolation at all I've been through this kind of thing time and again over the years. I'm still here!

When everything is going down it's easy to feel nothing will ever go up again and why did I ever get into stupid shares in the first place etc.

But do remember: when everything gets hit indiscriminately bargains will always appear and sooner than later we can get bargains and our portfolios will go up again.

Also the more it goes down the more chance there is of more QE which would immediately push the market up.

It is impossible to be a trader or investor without getting some pain and fear along the way. It's always going to happen and the one thing to do is stay calm and focussed and make some decisions.

And the result of the Euro Contest were....

France Nul points.. Greece Nul points.

Which of course resulted in another major market panic. Even though both results were already pretty much going to happen.

With all the fear about Greece around why don't we let us all out of our misery and get them out of the Euro now. After all they won't be in it in say two years will they? So let's get the pain over with sooner than later.

Anyway this whole Euro problem is back on the agenda. Which means fear is back... and volatility.

I expect a lot of readers are currently fearful and I can't blame you but it reminds me of that quote to "always buy when others are fearful".

Well that's all very nice but it's not very easy to buy when everything is tumbling is it? Easier said than done for sure. After all the market always overshoots on the way down.

I was thinking about fear/worry at the weekend. I was imagining lying on my death bed (not pleasant) and thinking what would I tell my younger self if I could.

I would reckon stop worrying! We all worry too much about everything. And of course if you are in the market, well you can't help worrying. I think my near death self would say: Why did you worry about it then, it didn't matter in the long run did it?

Major worries I reckon us humans have are: Markets are gonna tank and I will lose nearly all my money.. and.... I built up loads of profit over 6 months and I will lose all that in two days. And....why did I buy all those crappy shares and... Why didn't I sell at the top of the market etc etc.

I don't think there is much we can do about worry. But one thing holds true: If you are playing in the market with money you simply cannot afford to lose you should worry. Because it shouldn't be happening.

Worse is if you are playing on margin/credit using spreadbets or Cfds.

I have met people at seminars who literally lost everything by betting with money they never had. One lost their house.

So take this last week as a warning. Have a good and honest look at your spreadbet and CFD accounts, are you overdoing it on credit? What happened if all your holdings fell by a half? Could you pay the bookie? If you couldn't think about deleveraging.

I know I can easily cover everything I have in the market and indeed I don't put in more than my ISA allowance every year. SB profits have always gone in the bank. With the leverage I have I could deal in four million quids worth of shares. Am I going to? Absolutely not! Because I know for a fact that greed like that would be my ultimate fall.

Also remember with spreadbetting beware of having more than 50k with any of the smaller firms. I got my 50 grand back from the collapse of MF Global now!

What did I do? I try to follow the market though that is hard when it's moving fast.

And whether you've been in the market for 15 years or 15 days it is tough to know what to do in fast moving conditions. I always lighten up first on anything on margin so spreadbets tend to go first, especially anything that is volatile.

Isa holdings, the longer-term stuff I don't worry about so much especially if they still look value. There I am more likely to topslice a few profits, reduce a bit and build up some cash in order to buy cheap shares further down the line.

So all in all in means I had a massive spring clean, especially with spreadbets and I've taken some profits and losses. That all leaves me holding a load of cash ready to get in when the sellers are exhausted and the market starts to climb.

Though this year I'm going to be in no hurry. As many of you know I'm in the middle of trying to write a fiction novel and I had planned to take the summer off, so what I don't want is loads of volatile positions which I have to take care of. So I expect to have very few spread bets open over the summer but pick up the odd bargain here and there.

Sbets - in the main raised (trailing) stops were hit and so the computer took me out of most of the bets without me interfering. Well that's what raising your stops is all about, locking in profits as well as losses.

Bumi went at 540 for a profit of £350. Blinkx at 51.5 for a profit of £100. Cape at 394 for a profit of £190. Dia (SBets not the main long term holding!) at 982 for a profit of £1,420. Hunting at 859 for a profit of £780. Supergroup at 326 for a loss of £60.

Onto shares themselves.. In the main I've topsliced or sold half of what I think are good ones and hold onto some.. It's tricky for website purposes so for some I've taken out the whole website pos and some taken out one or two if there is more than one. Also it's been quite hard to ensure everything is covered but I did my best in the time available. The end table I suspect will take time to be updated as I can imagine the webmaster moaning already when I email him the list to update.

Trifast 47, profit £320, Rpo ave 178 for a loss of £351 , Photo 44-3, loss £195, Ceo, 982, (sold some) profit £1,268. Chime (kept original holding though) 197.2, profit £38, Cml (topslice, kept some) at 260 for a profit of £,1,000, e2v 143.5 (sold some) profit £1174.

All of which leaves a profit of £3,254 banked. And a ton of cash awaiting for some action. I think I am going to wait for the day when the fear reaches its peak. Though that might be difficult to judge.

The markets could head straight back up - in which case I might be buying sooner than later but I don't know till it happens.

With prices changing all the time in the current volatility it's a bit hard to give a commentary and obviously some paper profits have evaporated, but that's why I never for the website bank profits or losses till realised.

Vislink shares have held their own quite well after some large buying last week. I have now pretty much doubled on my first buy and profits heading up to the £8,000 mark. I still think Vislink is going to be a lovely long-term winner.

The brilliant Nicols managed a lift up to 740ish then fell back to the 7ish. It is a lovely little long-term share. Hoping for an eventual bid there. Brought this one up at a few seminars. GB has held quite well though it couldn't get past 70, I bet though it gets there in the future.

And Spirent, well stuck with that and that's not done badly.

Of course oilers are the main thing that have been hit, even the good ones so Coastal has gone down with the rest but I like the long-term story and I've still doubled and more on my original holding so happy to continue to hold the main bulk for the time being.

Carpetshite continues to defy gravity and remains the most expensive share on the market. Hopefully one of the robots keeping the price up will explode soon and the shorts will pay off for me Should be at least 200p lower. It's quite incredible how it has held up.

My two drug companies BTG (BGC) and Vectura have held up reasonably well..both have a very decent pipeline. Costain put out a decent statement today though I still bought at the high and handled it badly.

Dialight has come back a bit though I don't feel worried. I have been patient all the way from 150p! as those of you who have to my seminars have seen from my accounts my profits in real life are something like £90,000. For the website profits are more than £50,000 - and of course there have been dividends on top.

Kentz. Deary me, I honestly thought this was a defensive and had presumed it would hold steady especially as institutions were more than happy to buy at 430. So for better or worse I held onto it. It's tempered by the fact I bought a lot much lower down. I think it's down as it has been lumped in with the commodity shares but eventually the value will come out. Even so I guess I should have sold higher and bought back. Ifs and ans eh?
Zotefoams stays steadyish. Long-termer Carclo seems to be settling around 350-400 for now. I already trebled on it so happy there.
IP Group produced an excellent statement this week, and holds well. IP has a more than 20% holding in Oxford Nanopore which has made the world's first hand held DNA sequencer, probably worth a fortune for the company. Given this and other brilliant companies in IP's portfolio looks like a likely even bigger winner this year.

Greencore holds well, and is now in the FTSE 250. LOQ hasn't embarked on a roller coaster ride (!)- what a magic share it has been and keeps producing the goods and and even after its recent rise it still looks cheap. Now it is trying to crack 300 giving me a treble. In this market it will take time now.

Telecom Plus is rising in the down market as it ought to as a defensive and is nearly back to 700p. There was a big distributors' meeting recently which apparently went well with new ideas to boost the business. including an interesting SIM card deal and £2.99 broadband. I didn't get any more on the dip as I have well over a quarter of a million quids worth which is enough! I expect to be in it for another 5 years or so and enjoy the income and the capital gain where I think the best is yet to come.

What happens next? Who knows? But it wouldn't be a surprise if the market went straight back up. Perhaps anyone buying this week could be the sensible ones!

I've been getting e-mails regarding my use of direct market access and who I use. I've tried a few and for me the easiest system for me is here:
http://www.igmarkets.co.uk/?QPID=1079&QPPID=1
Direct market access means you can place orders directly onto the order book bypassing brokers and market-makers with a chance to buy at the "sell" price. I would suggest you ensure you know what you're doing first but IG does provide much education with its "tradesense" educational tool which comes with it.
I also use its spreadbetting service too along with other firms like Tradefair because it now provides trailing stops which to me is a pretty sensible way of trading. Also with this link there is an excellent education programme and it offers the biggest range of smaller shares.

www.Igindex.com/nakedtrader
As usual before opening accounts please read all the warnings on the sites. You can lose a lot of money if you're not careful so pay close attention to them and make sure you always understand what you are doing and what your potential losses are.

I've also started using Tradefair for spreadbetting - I like the auto generated stop losses which help to maintain discipline and that's good for beginners I think. And exclusively for Naked Trader readers they upped the offer to £100 credit.
So there's now a £100 credit on offer for anyone opening an account via me. You get that after 5 spreadbets (terms and conditions apply).
To get the offer, click here:
http://www.tradefair.com/promo/spreads/nakedtrader100/

If you want to get the contents of The Naked Trader website into your mailbox instead of waiting for the update to come through, plus exclusively news on the progress of my SIPP from the old Sunday Times column inc new higher risk Aim buys made for that, e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with SIPP in the subject line for details of how to get it.

Want to quit the rat race? Try and start a new source of income so one day you can tell the boss to stuff it? You could do what I did to escape my grotty office job and become an independent distributor for the Utilities Discount Warehouse.
You get to sell great broadband, phone packages and energy to friends, relatives, contacts and anyone else you find and you get cash for each sale but more importantly you get a cut of their spend EVERY MONTH for as long as they are a customer!
It's called residual income and is a far better way to enjoy a ripe old age than relying on a pension. Because even after you stop selling the money STILL comes in!
I still get paid EVERY MONTH for sales I made back in 1999! Every time a customer uses broadband or the phone or switches on a light you get paid.
It's a great business and backed by a stock market company (Telecom Plus), a dedicated team of advisors.. and me to help you on your way!
Not only do you get paid out every month for each customer you can take on distributors. encourage them like I do and get paid on their sales as well.
One day, say you could made redundant, needed a year off or wanted to retire early can you imagine what joy it is to have the regular income coming in. It's wonderful.
You have to work at it, but if you do genuine repeat wealth could be yours. I did it. You can too. For full details, why not email me at robbiethetrader@aol.com.
An overview is also available at http://www.telecomplus.org.uk/fabdeal you can sign up directly there but do tell me!
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Trade tables follow! Trades are current open and recently closed trades. Closed trades feature the closing price and the amount I won or lost. All others are open. Trades get updated a little later than the narrative. Trading costs are ignored, however I also do not add in dividend payments and with the kinds of companies I buy, dividends tend to equal or outweigh costs. Spread rollovers ignored for web purposes. Tables as accurate as poss however a mistake or two can creep in and very occasionally if I forgot I sold or bought something it will be added at a later time.
Trades first reported Wednesday afternoons under "Markets" section..