*Next update after hols, Mon July 20th*

We're getting ready to jet off to Greece.
As you know, Greece is the word that you heard, it's got groove, it's got meaning..
I must also add that Greece is the time, is the place, is the motion and right now?
Greece is the way we are feeling.
We leave at some horrible early hour on Wednesday. And so we will be in some ghastly queue for the plane at 5am. It will all be worth it!
We're going on a Mark Warner holiday. That means we can sit by the pool for at least a bit of the time while the kids go to the kids club.
We're spending the holiday with some friends (who we met at a seminar!) and their two children so our Christopher has someone to play with.
I am taking the laptop with me. Sad I know. But honestly I shall only look at the market once or twice a day briefly in case I need to get out of something. Honest!!
I obviously won't be updating the website while I'm away but I will be back with a special extra update on Monday July 20th!
I'm taking very little, just some T-shirts, shorts and er... books and mags and that's it. I have visions of lying by a pool and watching the world go by.
My mum was Greek. However for some reason the only phrase I ever learned was "*** off you **** total

---

and go to **** "

You never know though it might come in handy.
Although it's probably more likely I will be in the pool with Christopher attempting to jump on my head!
Let's hope he likes the kids club where he has a place for half the day alongside our friends' two children. Then we will hopefully get some "adult time". Don't be cheeky.
It's going to be hot which is fine! I can't believe the number of people moaning about the hot weather we just had here. Get over it! Enjoy it!
It also brings out the global warming nutcases where just because we get a few hot days we are all doomed. Rubbish of course as we always get 5 hot days. And in 1976 and other years even a few weeks!
I dropped into HMV to pick up some inear headphones to use in the gym.
I just went for some £8 type ones as I'm not fussy.
I could hardly believe it when the assistant tried to sell me "insurance" for the headphones at wait for it....
£4!
That's right! These "insurances" are all ripoffs but this one has to be the King of them all.
Whoever is going to bother to send worthless headphones off and wait for them to be repaired when you just buy a new pair instead? And anyway as we all know what'll happen is you tread on them eventually, they get smashed to bits and of course the "insurance" won't cover it anyway!
Christopher just got fitted out with his first ever school uniform for when he starts school in September. Quite a nice uniform.

The near £80,000 I paid for his education in advance up to age 11 has just left my account! Gulp! Well, trading is a high risk occupation so glad to give that security to Christopher and Mrs NT! And it does save me many thousands over the years... And it did come from stock market winnings from my Isas and spreadbet accounts!
I know we will both be welling up on his first day at school.. and when he leaves the lovely nursery in August.
I guess time just marches on...
From next Wednesday as you can imagine I won't be answering many emails so you may have to wait till my return. However as we are close to the extra summer holiday seminar I will make an effort to book anyone in who wants to come. First come, first served.
Thanks for the continued feedback on last week's seminar, I am just so glad so many of you got so much out of it, it is really rewarding for me personally.
Glad to hear so many stories of how you enjoyed the day and the people you met - I have been passing on email addresses!
All those of you coming to my extra seminar on July 24th should now have the venue details etc, if you haven't had them and you are booked in, please let me know asap!
Don't despair if you missed out on last week's seminar! Normally I would not hold another one till September but there is an extra "holiday seminar" this year on Friday July 24th close to Heathrow Airport.

It's especially for anyone who missed out on the last one or who finds it difficult to get a weekday off during termtime.

If you want the details mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with
"holiday seminar interested" in the subject line.

There is currently a decent early bookers discount! Don't leave it for too long as it is already filling up and despite being an extra could get sold out too.

With many unable to come to the holiday one (because you are on holiday!) I have just booked a seminar date for the autumn - that seminar will be on Friday September 25th at Heathrow.

If you can't make July 24th and want details of that one mail me with "September Seminar interested" and I will send you details. A good early booking discount for that one.
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!

Finally seminar wise there'll be a follow up seminar for any of you who've been to a previous one sometime this autumn - based on Technical Analysis with top trader Susan Marmor. Again let me know.

Spreadbetting firm Tradefair Spreads has upped its offer exclusively to Naked Trader readers to a £100 credit AND a Moleskine trading Diary! 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 2 trades (Terms and conditions apply)

If you'd like to apply for an account with Tradefair Spreads and get the freebies click this link:
http://promo.tradefair.com/nakedtrader100/
Still with BT for your phone line? Why? Move over to Utilities Discount Warehouse under me and pay just £8.99 for your line rental, and deal with a nice company. I get commission and in return you get my e-mail - this site into your mailbox at every update!

You could also add energy, guaranteed cheaper than the top 6 suppliers and get the lot on one bill every month. Mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com if you fancy it. Easy to do!

I'm glad to say MF Global has improved its offer to readers....
First you get a free £2 bet on the FTSE.. and secondly when you place your first bet with them they will cover the potential loss of up to £100 if the trade moves against you.
I use MF Global myself for spreadbets on the smaller companies as they have more online than anyone else and offer spreads on pretty much everything.
To take up the offer either click the MF banner you should find somewhere on this page, or cut and paste this link into your browser and you can sign up online:
http://tinyurl.com/c524ku
Terms and conditions obviously apply, check them on that link.. I think those are good offers.

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 £138.06 inc vat via me instead of £167.47.
Just mail me for full details if you'd like it with "silver" in the subject line.
The money - real money - is already coming on from my own internet shopping site which is at www.ei42.com/nakedtrader.

In fact I've already made £1,000 - that's in a very short time and as this grows I think there could be a very good income there.

YOU can make money out of this too - by simply doing your online shopping as normal but via your site (it costs nothing) and then tell friends to open their shopping site using the link from yours - you then get commission on their buys!
Have a look at this link:

http://www.ei42.com/Nakedtrader/

So for free you can sign up and get this site for yourself.

Everytime you buy anything yourself on your site you get commission.. So if you normally shop online anyway it's a no brainer: just use your own site instead of going direct and get some commission every time you shop.
Then you just get some friends to sign up and get their own site too - when they do online shopping using their mall, you get commission too. Simple as that.
It's all explained on the site top right.. just click "Make money with your own shop find out more" and it's all explained. Or click here

http://www.ei42.com/?10850514
So you just shop away as normal - but now you earn commission - and there's also decent money off coupons too on top of that!

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
I've had heaps and heaps of praise from many of you regarding The Financial Spreadbetting book.
The book really seems to have helped a lot of you understand spreadbetting a lot more than you did. You say it's really helped you with ideas too. The writer deserves commendation. With the ability to go short so important in these volatile markets, it's a must read. To order click this link... http://books.global-investor.com/books/23307.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

**JUNE 26TH SOLD OUT EARLY**
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 now open for the next Naked Trader seminar on Friday July 24th.

It's an extra seminar for those who missed out on the June 26th one that got sold out early and for those of you who find it impossible to get weekdays off work during termtime.

Price is £495 plus 15% vat. However there is a large early booking discount available!

That includes three course lunch, coffees, snacks etc. And most importantly it covers choc bars and fruit gums too.

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 "holiday 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?

Exclusive One Point Spread, £250 Cashback Offer

Still a massive response coming in for the sensational 1 point indices spread offer plus £250 cash back on losses - my mail box continues to be full of enquires - don't miss out!
I have arranged a deal with a spreadbet company that gives you just ONE POINT spreads on all the major indices and very tight spreads on everything else. A one point spread is just amazing and you can use it on the FTSE, DOW, Nikkei etc...
Not only that, I can offer those of you interested a fantastic £250 cash back on any realised spreadbet losses made within your first 8 weeks. That means you get back any losses up to £250 which could come in extremely handy.
If you'd like the details of this offer just mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "£250 cashback offer" in the subject line. This really is a great offer which will have a limited lifespan so if you want it, get cracking!

. Mf Global Spreads is one of the few companies that offers spreads on smaller companies valued at just £6m or more, including AIM stocks. And you can trade them online too.
So now you CAN deal in small companies without having to actually buy the shares in the market and you can deal in them on margin if you wish.
Every naked trader reader who opens an account with them though me will get a completely free £2 a point bet on the daily FTSE on a day of your choice.
As you can imagine get it right and this free bet could be worth a few quid. The bet cannot be a loser, because if you lose, it is as if you never placed it!

And MF now also offers £100 refund on your first bet if it becomes a loser.
So here is your chance to open an account to spread bet the smaller companies - of course you can deal in the whole range of usual spread betting with them too including the bigger companies and indices bets as well.
To take up what I think is a brilliant offer, simply cut and paste this link into your browser and sign up online:

http://tinyurl.com/c524ku

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 AND a moleskin trading diary!!

So there's now a £100 credit on offer for anyone opening an account via me. You get that after 2 spreadbets (terms and conditions apply)

To get the offer, click here:

http://promo.tradefair.com/nakedtrader100/

Our MPs are about to head off on their massive summer hols.. they are back again in.. October!!
Gordon Brown must be breathing a huge sign of relief, he made it! Great for him, not good for us to have someone so bumbling in charge.
I suspect they will dump him just before the election on the basis that there is nothing to lose (apart from the election).
Brown hasn't got it. We know there has to be cuts. It's his fault for spending wildly on the wrong things and getting us all into so much debt.
He interited a brilliant economy and has spent years wrecking it. And it will take years to recover.
My goodness - I just took a look at Gordon Ramsay's accounts. In effect the company running the restaurants was bust and he and his father and law have had to put millions of their own money in.
Profits of £300,000 something but net debt of nearly £10 million - if this was a share it would be worth about 1p and even then worth a short!
Of course most comments I've seen say things like "Serve him right".. etc etc and many taking delight at it.
I agree with the Government that these "credit card cheques" should be stopped. But most of its stuff about debt is shutting the door after the horse has bolted..
Apprentice news: Kate and Philip have got engaged! Ah, isn't that sweet?
I guess they will have to invite Lord Sir A to the wedding.
They just can't get divorced can they.. it just isn't worth the embarrasment of the newspaper headlines: "You're Fired!"
Did you watch the Gerry Robinson show on C4? It wasn't bad.. He finds troubled companies and puts his own money in if he thinks they can be rescued.
It turned out to be an interesting case study of two failing businesses.
Why where they failing when they both had reasonable products? The wrong people were in the wrong jobs.
In both cases the bloke in charge were hopeless and they were replaced by.. their partners who proved way better.
The ex bosses were simply too wimpy, allowing employees to do poor work without being
If you are going to be a boss you have to take tough decisions. And that includes sacking those who are obviously in the wrong job.
Good luck to Andy Murray - be amazing if he wins it.

If you want to bet on sport/Big Bro here's the sign up link, very large free bets for newbies: To open a Sporting account click here:
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.

Anthony writes:
I am sure that by now your inbox must be bulging but I had to write to thank you for the seminar. I have followed your website for a few years now so had read a lot of the comments made by those who have attended but I have to say that you really blew me away with how enjoyable the day was. How you kept going so long without losing your voice was very impressive and also I am amazed that you are not twice the size you are with all the chocolates you eat!

I only wish I didn't have to leave at 8.15 as I would love to have had a drink with you and the other attendees. I know that everyone I spoke to throughout the day was also thoroughly enjoying themselves. The atmosphere was really buzzing from very early on. I have to admit that I was a little concerned about the cost but very quickly those fears disappeared and I left feeling that we all have got more value than we could ever have dreamed of getting from the day. Your humour was infectious and you were true to your word that no question was too stupid. I know that we have all come away feeling that we are so much better equipped to trade more effectively.

It was also a great pleasure to meet the lovely Mrs NT. After reading all the superlatives I have read I can only add that she is even more lovely in reality than people can convey in their letters. We spoke about Cape Town as I went there in December 2007 with my wife and children and will send Elizabeth some of our itinery which hopefully will be of some use. We had an amazing time and hopefully you will too.

Hi Anthony - glad you enjoyed the seminar. Yes we are off to South Africa in December.. can't wait!!

Gwen writes:
Just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your seminar I came to on the 26th .

I did the fancy expensive traders course a couple of months ago and they were very heavy on the charting side of things ( even got us doing things like drawing trend lines on the charts in our manual over and over ) - they gave us the idea that all you need to do is look at charts, see all the "squiggly" lines are going the right way and you will make money easily.

What they didn't do was to tell us that while charts are obviously part of the decision there's more to deciding on a share than just finding a "nice" chart , there was very little mention of all the research on the companies that you showed us you do or about using L2 either.

I really wish I'd read your book and gone to one of your seminars before I did that other course , I know I will still make mistakes but at least I can see now where I've been going wrong !
Again many thanks for a very enjoyable and a very useful day.
Gwen glad you enjoyed it! Charting does have some value but imo not on its own.
David writes:
I know you are really busy with too many e-mails to deal with each day, but I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your seminar last Friday. The time just flies past and I got the impression you would have stayed up all night talking if you could have done! (well, if you could have been provided with G'n'T's in the room of course!).
I don't know how you do it, you looked completely knackered when I left the bar late on, but you were still happily chatting to all and sundry - it's obvious that you love what you do and that enthusiasm shines through.
Anyway, all in all a great learning day and it was fun talking to lots of other people there too, so a big thank you from me!
Please also say thanks to Elizabeth for quietly getting on with everything in the background, truly the unsung hero of the day - doesn't she get bored in the morning though, sat at the back listenening to you, or do you always tell different jokes?
Thanks David and glad it worked for you - of course I use different jokes every time!

Jim writes:

I just wanted to let you know how much i enjoyed your seminar on Friday, the day was
superb.Your energy and determination to fit in all of your subjects has to be applauded
its easy to see that you love trading and every thing connected with it. I now feel more
confident about selecting possible shares to trade, I can't thank you enough.
Many thanks to you and Elizabeth for a lovely day.

Thanks Jim and thanks to all of you who came who wrote nice things. Made the day very rewarding for me.

I have 3 great offers from ADVFN. First great deal: If you want level 2, though me it is only £299 for your first year including VAT!
This compares to £360 PLUS vat from ADVFN direct (£423) so this deal saves you over £100! 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 for only £299 for a year (including vat), or under £25 a month!!

Deal two is ADVFN's bronze subscription - normally £60pa - available from me for only £40! That's a saving of £20! You get 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 talk about in my book and 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.
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.

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 £30 for your first year by paying just £138.06 inc vat via me instead of £167.47.
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.
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Half the year has gone! Where did it go? As usual a quick look back on the half year for me.
This first half of 2009 has been brilliant for me and I made more money than even during the best of the bull years with some massive profits, some of which are already banked.
What can I put this down to? A lot of it is because I screwed up my courage and bought a lot of things when events looked very bleak, for example getting Barclays at 87p. (Still holding!) Buy at the biggest point of fear does tend to work.
I was also ruthless about cutting losses. And I let the profits run, holding onto the winners. So while I took quite a few losses they were generally under £500 while the banked winners were often over £1,000.
Profits banked for the website totalled nearly £55,000.
A look at some of the biggest banked gainers for 2009 (profits already taken)
Recovery play Unite is the biggest winner, banking just under £10,000. Dmatek and Heritage get joint second place with profits of about £5,000 on each. Dmatek was bid for.
Quickest biggest gain was Topps Tiles with £3,000 plus banked fast. Galliform was a £3,000 winner. Volex a satisfying £1,200 winner and quickly. Carclo was one of the best small cap winners picking up about £2,500.
Worst loss? Renold at £980. Why? Stupidity and not reading my own rules - never looked at it again properly and it was a useless trade made because I was bored! Lesson learned.

However very pleased that other losses taken were all under £500.
So a great half year - I'm pleased most of all that I have been very disciplined in taking losses early - not that it's always worked out to be the right thing to do.
Of course there is a but. After such a good run one has to be careful of getting smug or complacent - and the main thing for me is not increasing my normal type of stake. Moment you get greedy is the moment the big losses start. And also I am sitting on giant profits and I don't want to give them all back.
Anyway a great half year and here's hoping the second half will be just as good. I doubt it but you never know!
Always a difficult time going on holiday. Do you leave all your positions open? Close some? Keep an eye on things while away?
I guess I do a bit of all that. I will be taking a laptop to Greece but have no intention of sitting at a screen all day - I expect to have a couple of quick looks a day. Worth it just in case I need to quit something. I doubt that I would buy anything though.
One thing I always do and that is close and reduce spreadbetting positions. I'll also have a good look at everything before I go - with some great paper profits I suspect I will topslice some bits and pieces before leaving.
Back to the present: Markets are comatose today with nothing much happening as the US markets are shut.
However I bought 5,000 shares in Vernalis (VER) at 77.25p.
- They were bought at the prevailing "sell price" yesterday as I put up the order on the order book using direct market access and I got filled. (Someone sold me the shares directly).
Actually sell price is lower than that today so I might have possibly got a better price today.
This is a risky one, smaller drug/biotech companies always are - but.. share price is rising and it has a lot of interest in its pipeline. Can often take one good announcement to see share like this rerated - upwards or downwards. Worth a gamble to me for small money. They raised a lot in a successful placing and new management looks sounds. Target 100 stop 70.
Anyone interested by the way in a direct market access account which gives you the ability to try to buy at "sell" prices here's a link to the one I use: http://www.igmarkets.co.uk/?QPID=1079&QPPID=1

Do make sure you understand exactly what you are doing though before trying it as this kind of thing is for more advanced users - I would suggest to wait till you are more experienced if you are a beginner. They do give out an educational programme with the account though.
My last three buys are all going very well and especially pleased with ITL - Intec Telecom Sys- which announced a massive multi million Euro contract win.
Which is a very nice thing to happen the day after you buy a share, I am hopeful now my 100p target looks gettable by the end of the summer.
Other seminar shortlist buy Xaar also heading up nicely. It's got to nearly 100. Shares always pause, often for a while, before psychological whole numbers and there are sellers at 100. Happy to stay with it for now as I think 120 is possible in time and if it can break the 100 area that would look bullish. Other recent buy Chloride not doing as well as those two but slightly higher than my buy price and looking strong.
Recent short McBride is breaking even, could have taken a nice profit yesterday but it's back up today. Still a tight stop on it so can't do too much damage if it goes wrong.
I've got the rest of today and Monday and Tuesday to decide to reduce any positions or sell anything in full before leaving for holidays!
Always look at the losers first - PV Crystalox and Wellstream are the two on yellow cards right now. Though only losing peanuts on both, I have to be slightly wary.
Microgen continues to look great, bought at 45p seminar before last and it's now up near 70p and it's up today.
Barclays is showing a lot of strength right now and more than trebled there. RBS is a doubler and a bit - happy to stay with both for more gains.
Judging by its share price I wonder if the Dragon bid is off. Well, at least I sold half on the news, still seems reasonable to hang onto the rest and I have still nearly trebled!
Alterian which has doubled and a half since I bought looks like it could shortly join the treblers as 150 looks on the cards. A good 100 points up still on Hardy but that needs to break 350 where it is currently stuck. Carclo saw some big director buying last week which makes me want to stay in there.
Optos appears to be consolidating. Could be ready for a new push higher.
Booker's now moved onto the main market but the share price refuses to move more than a point either way! Still, some funds are going to have to buy it before it gets into the FTSE250 in September so I think patience will pay.
Chime looks on the rise again after the ex dividend. So extremely happy with everything - the whole portfolio is still in massive profit and it was also good to bank the near 5k profit last week.
I'll be back with a round up of everything I did pre and post holiday in a special extra edition of the website on Monday July 20th.

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. Link is here: -
http://www.igindex.co.uk/?QPID=1078&QPPID=1

that also includes a pretty decent educational programme. 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 AND a moleskin trading diary!!

So there's now a £100 credit on offer for anyone opening an account via me. You get that after 2 spreadbets (terms and conditions apply).

To get the offer, click here:

http://promo.tradefair.com/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!
****
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 Weds and Fri afternoons under "Markets" section.. afraid I can't do live trades as that would turn me into a tipster and I'd have to be regulated!