** My new book - about spreadbetting - has just been published, you can order it here:

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

Welcome to any new readers coming to the website from the new book, I would suggest you read the spreadbetting book in conjunction with Naked Trader, available here:

http://books.global-investor.com/books/27120.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
**

I'm taking a little break from updating the site to coincide with Christopher's half-term which starts on Friday for a week.. I'll be back after half-term updating again from Feb 23rd.
Look, stop moaning already - It takes me ages to do an update and I want to be free to have fun over half-term without having to be tied to a computer at any point.
We've got loads lined up already for half-term, Grandma is coming to stay and if the weather is good we shall be out and about doing all kinds of exciting things. We've got football, playdates, museums, theme parks, goodness knows where we shall all end up. It's going to be fun.
Those of you coming to my Feb 25th seminar, you all ought to have the venue details, let me know if you don't.

There is still space available for Feb 25th but it looks like selling out soon.. and as there is still a lot of interest so I've also booked a new date too - March 25th so you can book that one if you want, more details below. It'll be a while for a seminar after that as we're off to Florida for much of April!
You know what they say: there is no such thing as a free lunch.
That's why I usually avoid them, especially if it's with someone I have a deal with (someone I pay something to as a service).
That's why after months of them trying, I managed to avoid going to a lunch with the hotel I hold the seminars with.
Why? Well, obviously they weren't inviting me to lunch for the pleasure of my company - they wanted to put the price up!!
However sadly last week I could escape the lunch no more. I sat down and said: "So there is no such thing as a free lunch, how much do you want to put the price up by?"
They looked at me shocked! "Ah, erm," they said. "Well you see our costs have gone up and..."
I could see they were nervous and had a whole script ready. "It's ok, how much more?" I asked.
I had a figure in my mind.
They said: "Well, you see food costs have shot up and staff costs and also regarding your delegates parking..."
"Seriously," I said. "Just tell me how much more you want!"
They stumped up the new price. "Deal!" I said. "I would have paid more than that!"
Phew, relief all round. They obviously thought I was going to kick up a stink. In fact the price is still competitive even if it is grossly overpriced. And all the others charge the sameish so no problem.
Anyhow the moral of this story is, if you get invited to a free lunch by someone who you pay and they've not put their prices up for a while, keep thinking of excuses!
Absolutely fantastic to meet so many lovely people at Friday's seminar.
Great to see so many different ages and occupations, everyone really like Doctors, electricians, pharmacists, pilots, plumber (yes I got his number!). Trading is a real leveller and it doesn't matter what you do or what walk of live you come from.
It was a real pleasure to host it and thanks so much for some of the most amazing feedback I've ever had.
I'm ever so glad many of you feel much more confident about understanding how the stock market works and how you have to look at it in many different ways.
In particular at this seminar you all seemed really interested in how you must regard your "opponents" in the market, for example market makers and other participants and so we spend quite a while on ways you can use to suss out those opponents.
I even think many of you have now kind of got the hang of level 2 but as I said you need to take time with it and I still think you need it if you really want to make good money.
And congrats to many of you for making it the latest finish ever at after 10pm! I thought I was harder than you lot but in the end I had to cave in!

Well done to Neil for winning £150 in the FTSE competition!
There I was, half way through the seminar it began to strike.
Mrs NT and the lad both had bad colds and I had tried really hard not to pick one up. After all, who wants to spend 12 hours talking to others during a heavy cold?
When I started I thought: "Yipee it never happened!"
Then as I started up after lunch I could feel sniffles. After the final break it really started coming on. I had to start blowing my nose which isn't great in front of an audience. Still, at least I turned the mike off each time!

Thanks to the kind soul who gave me a very good pill which helped!
I battled through even making it the latest finishing time so far but the rest of the weekend was a blur of manflu blocked nose, coughing and the rest of it.
Anyhow thank you all for your very interesting stories and comments. And as usual I came away myself with a bunch of interesting new shares to research. Your feedback has beem marvellous and much appreciated. If you'd like to come to a follow up day, it's March 18th, more details in a mo.

If you missed this one as it sold out a long time ago, I've booked on overspill event so there is now another seminar on Friday Feb 25th.

Mail me for details at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Feb overspill seminar interested" in the subject line. And I have also booked March 25th, for that one mail me with "March seminar interested".

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!

FOLLOW UP SEMINAR: For those who have been to one of my seminars I'm holding a follow up event for a small group on March 18th. It's a day of level 2, DMA, and research direct from live markets, 10am-6pm. First come first served, for details mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Follow up interested" in the subject line.

I get quite a few mails asking what magazines or news services I subscribe to etc. Well, hardly any! I get the Investors Chronicle delivered.
However I do subscribe (£8.99 a month though take the yearly option at 20% discount to that) to a daily email which is my main source of news about such things as broker upgrades, main news items, analysis of stocks and markets, forthcoming company statements and events, stock recommendations and targets from the top brokers, what kind of earnings expected from companies and a whole heap more useful stuff.
I sometimes get ideas from this for companies to watch or monitor or even buy. And it's handy to get a summary of what the brokers are saying and looking at future earnings etc.
It usually arrives around 5ish every day.
I contacted the people that put it together and they offer a free 14 day trial of it to my readers - so you can cancel after 14 days if you don't feel it's useful enough.
Once you cut and paste this link into your browser, click "uk 14 days free trial" then I would go "yearly option" which gives a 20% discount making it just over £7 a month, as you can still cancel seems worth it. Hope you find it useful like I do. It's one of the few paid for news services that has really impressed.
http://bit.ly/eBPXuG
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.telecomplus.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/

The number of emails to me is nearly reaching saturation point and I'm struggling! I'm getting 100s which is lovely in a way but killing me in another.
The main problem is the length of some of them, indeed some run to the length of novels, so, please, help save my eyes and please keep mails to under 150 words.. you can do it! It's close to the stage where I am going to have to say I will answer all mails but those over 200 words will get deleted. Keep them short and sweet, please!!
Also, it's possible the answer you seek from me is already in FAQ's. And do remember I can't discuss individual shares with you as it would be classified as investment advice which I'm not authorised to give.
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.

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 FEB 25TH AT HEATHROW 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 still open for the Naked Trader Xmas seminar on Friday Feb 25th

Price is £550 plus vat. There is an early bookers discount currently available.
That includes three course lunch, coffees, snacks etc. There is an early bookers discount currently available.
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/

Well that sounds like a great idea. If a troublesome youngster causes problems, er .. take away his IPod.
Hmmm, what do you think will happen next? Yes, of course he is going to steal one.
How heartening to read about the little old lady who tackled some gangsters who were robbing a jeweller.
While others stood around, she waded in with her handbag, causing the robbery to stop. One of the robbers ended up falling off the getaway moped and was held down by people arriving on the scene.
Can you imagine this guy if he goes to jail?
The other inmates will laugh themselves silly when they find out he is the gangster who was foiled by a little old lady and was so scared by the handbag he fell off his getaway vehicle...
Clampers are about to be put out of business which is great. It was always legalised robbery.
There's also going to be a scaling back on the power of a number of officials allowed to enter your home. Especially local council officials.
Love the new Atlantic channel on 108.
And Boardwalk Boulevard hasn't disappointed. Lovely escapism regarding how criminal gangs loved it when booze was banned in the States in the 1920s.
I guess the series is really chronicling the start and rise of the Mafia. Hey, even Al Capone is in it!
Good to see Curb Your Enthusiasm from the start again too, what a fabulous comedy.
The new series of Mad Men isn't far off, so channel 108 will become the home of TV in this household.
Well, except for Fireman Sam and Thomas The Tank Engine as demanded by the smallest member..
I'm fed up with hearing about bloody Twitter.
Twitter this Twitter that, nice and easy for journalists to make up loads of stories without having to do any work whatsoever.
The Mail reports today, yes you guessed it, the first woman to cover the birth of her child on twitter..
What next? Tell you what the next time I have a crap I'll do a live Twitter feed for you.
(2.30 - Place The Sun carefully on floor of toilet. 2.31, remove trousers and sit on seat.......)
The spreadbetting firm I use for sports betting is here:
Via this link Open a Sporting Index account and there's £300 total goals bet on 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.

Chris writes :
I read your book during my holiday in the summer and have made profits of over £11k since September, compared to losing nearly £10k in the previous year. I found myself laughing (if I hadn't I would have cried!) as I think I must have made every mistake in your book! Since reading it I have totally changed my approach, putting into practice what I learned from your book and it seems to be working!

I will hopefully get to one of your seminars in the not too distant future.

Thanks Chris, glad the book was a help.
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.
Malcolm writes:
A thousand thanks for the seminar, which I found both informative and inspiring. If I can keep my own psychology somewhere near balanced I can make steady money at this until I pop off.

I was particularly pleased to find your approach so simple. This chimes with Warren Buffet, who of course says,

'If calculus or algebra were required to be a great investor, I'd have to go back to delivering newspapers.'

It also confirms my own prejudice, and what my friends in the City have told me, namely, that the financial complexity is unnecessary, only there to bamboozle the unwitting public, and doesn't make it any easier for the City boys to make money. Hence nine out of ten funds haven't beaten the index in any four year period since 1914 (Motley Fool).

Thanks Malcolm. Glad to hear and hope you don't pop off just yet. I agree: simplicity is best and all the jargon tends to be just there to make the jargon talker sound important or that they know what they are talking about.

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, though me it is only £305 for your first year including VAT!
This compares to £432 direct from advfn so this deal saves you over £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.

Deal two is ADVFN's bronze subscription - normally £72 pa - available from me for only £41! (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 £141 inc vat via me instead of £169.20.
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

Before heading into trades, I thought especially for new entrants to the market to tell you a warning story. A lovely guy at last week's seminar bravely told us a terrible story of how a series of bad trades had a terrible impact on his life, his health, nearly cost him his marriage his house and everything.
The basis of the story is he bought CFDs in a company, it carried on going down and he kept buying more and more CFDs. And then more. The share kept on going down and soon he was borrowing from family and friends. Anyway here is the story which I've edited down.
"I had been buying shares / tracker funds for years and thought i could walk on water I had made more in a year through the late 90's than I could earn as a wage.
I had a good share portfolio and was doing very well indeed. i wanted more, so much more, driven by the fact i wanted to retire at 50..
I bought CFD's without knowing what the hell they were really...... Bought 1500 CFs around 380, went up, bought 5000 more on the profit (still holding all) at around 430, bought 5000 more at 501 and making a killing! so bought 5000 more at 510.
It went all the way up to 586. I was so happy and was on paper very rich for me.
I was invincible and a super trader! So very confident. I made a loss of £2000 in another CFD position but learnt nothing. What was £2k when I was so far up on this one share...
i was paying around £300 - £350 month interest but the paper profits meant this was nothing... I never bothered looking at the global meltdown around me.
It started to unwind.. but I was too ignorant or stupid to work it out just yet.
It kept falling and falling, by the time I realised what was going on, I was way over my head but managed to close out the first two trades - but was left with an average of £5.05.
It fell down to around £1.08 intraday over a lengthy period.. I was in trouble..
In this period, the broker moved the margin to 30% from 10% and placed a huge call and gave me until the end of the day for the funds..I borrowed on credit cards again. I could not afford to lose, I had already sold every share I had to shore this up, I borrowed from family, I actually had a wedding looming and my job was looking shaky. I was a dab hand now at moving my maxxed out credit cards at 0% for a number of months. The next task was to borrow against the house.
Family were asked for funds but not told why. I have a good family who helped me along, whilst I was still paying this huge interest each month. I got wed to a beautiul intelligent lady in this period (which I paid for with a bank loan, the ring cost me 2 months take home wages...) who knew I was in trouble but was not in a position to help - I was so close to a complete nervous breakdown and friends were concerned as was family and the now wife..
So, cards maxxed out, 3 loans from banks (all done together to ensure it was not all registered) and then an equity release for the house. Not much left to go.. Oh yes, I asked the wife to rid the joint account for which she agreed....I now had a baby on the way and a car that was on its last legs.
The job front eased off and I managed to get a higher paid job closer to home which helped the funds....Thankfully I had enough to keep me going, just......
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we also had a baby in this period. talk about stressed.
My health suffered greatly, I hurt my back and was off work for weeks and one of my parents suffered a heart attack. I thought they were going to die... I felt dead inside and was despairing. It would have been easy to hit the bottle but I had a good upbringing whereby you face what you have done and sort it out.

The share has only just (Jan 2011) gone above the price I bought at..... Now I am in profit and going on your course, (and reading the book), I have set my stop losses and will now make a few quid on the buy price. (ignore the £000's of interest I have paid). I have become quite hardy, although I am not sure why I did not have a complete nervous breakdown...
The moral of this story is, don't play with more than you can afford to lose, don't be a "cocky sod", (thats over confident in Northern speak), and understand what the hell you are doing and the risks. If you dont get it, then don't do it.
Before your readers start to slash their wrists, I have managd to re-build my portfolio and managed to make a good amount (for me) to the point I could make myself mortgage free. Good things can happen, eventually.

No-one knew the full extent of this until now. It has been quite a good therapy typing this to you but if just one person is "saved", then I am happy enough for you to post this.
The wife and I are fully open with each other now as i felt that although I had kept above water and protected her from the truth, she should have known. I have shown her all my accounts to show we are actually in a good position now.
I nearly lost the lot, job, health, family, house, marriage, son. I may not make retirement at 50, but I will be in a better shape and will try not to repeat my experience - it has left many mental scars."
I'd like to thank this delegate for his story.
He sums it up well but the moral is: Don't play with more money than you can afford to lose, don't buy derivatives if you don't understand what you are buying and use at least some kind of stop loss.

You ought to never get in such a position. I hope too this story might just save one of you out there that might be about to go down the same route.
Also while you may note the story had a kind of happy ending, he knows he was really lucky. The share in question could have gone bust.
Actually one other moral is, he is right, do not be "cocky". I call it "smug". I may have made a lot of money but I could easily give a lot of it back. My way round it is only to add the isa money in every year. But to be honest, yes, I have on occasions felt cocky myself. And that is just when the market will come and kick you where it hurts. Always treat it unemotionally as a business.
OK onto some trades, some made live at the seminar on Friday and some made this week, these came up at seminar screens.
After brilliant success with Entertainment One which supplies kids shows, I'm looking for similar success with Character Group (CCT) which does the toys end of it.
Character looks really cheap and has all the big names including Peppa Pig and Dr Who. Debt is coming down, profits are up and could be a star of 2011. I bought some on a spreadbet live at the seminar at 192 and also bought some shares yesterday, 3,000 at 192.8. Target 280 stop 140.
My plan is unless any question marks appear is to hold Character Group for probably at least to the end of the year and perhaps longer.
Now a short-term trade. I noticed ITV has been going well - fundamentally it isn't one for me given the high debt and also its reality formats are looking a bit tired but I've gone for a short-term trade for a different reason, getting 100 a point at 84. ITV looks almost certain to be promoted into the FTSE 100 in a month or so and for that reason it's likely to spike higher. Well, except it's gone down to 83!
So the hopeful plan is it will get up to near 100ish just before entry and at that point I hope to sell and take the profit. Will this dastardly plan succeed? Watch this space.
Domino Printing (DNO) is a company doing very well. I've bought this before and made a nice sum - it's gone even higher since and bought back, this time a fiver at 676. Target 750 stop 620. A shortist to medium termish idea.
I got 4,000 Eaga (EAGA) at 81.9 - it was heading quickly higher on good volume. Beaten up by government contract cuts but according to the papers other companies are coming in for the kill. Timescale, would hope to keep till some kind of bid is on the table. Target 110 stop 77.
Laird (LRD) looks an interesting one, currently seems to be buying other companies and it's in a real growth spurt. Got 20 on the spreads at 166. Fundamentals look good with low debt and rising profits. Not sure of timescale here but could turn into a longer-termer. Target 220 stop 147.
And you might remember I had a nice success with 888 Group (888) recently. It rocketed on a possible bid from Ladbrokes and has come back, the market reckons it won't happen but that seems pretty much in the price. Given its recent reported figures were quite decent and a bid could still happen looks a worthy gamble on that now at 10,000 at 45.53. Target 60 stop 37.
African Minerals (AMI) came up on a screen at the seminar. Looks an interesting one and gives me more exposure to a hot sector. Seems to have plenty of cash and the exploration area looks good. So I got a tenner on the spreads at 533. Targetting 700, stop 470.
I've sold Harvey Nash, despite good fundies it just hasn't been moving and I sold at 61 for a profit of £147.
Creston delivered a reasonable statement, but the small revenue gains was never going to be enough to give lift off. I tried to sell at 90 but my broker went offline! So I ended up exiting at 87.18 for a small £21 profit. I've asked the webchap not to put it on the tables as it is so close to breakeven.
Well, it did serve me right with Ocado. There is no bigger fool than an old trader trying to short something which keeps rising. Made all the mistakes in the book, got out at 256 so my loss of £320 is totally deserved. Never try and short a strong riser even if you think the market is wrong. Obviously I was wrong when I thought it looked a duffer, it must be an amazing company with a bright future. Hang on the doorbell's going. Ah. That was Ocado with a delivery.
At the seminar I raised the stop , well now stop win on my FTSE long taken out at 5880 a further few points to 5957. Today I raised it to 6010 which pretty much guarantees a profit of £650 as it trades 24 hrs, I could be stopped overnight. This was my "buy at time of greatest fear" idea. I'll keep raising the stop and let myself be taken out whenever that is.
I have no idea where the market is going but the FTSE does struggle to get above 6100 and another pullback would be no surprise.
Elsewhere the good run continues...
African Aura continues to amaze with its sensational run - yet more rises this week. Up more than £4,000 now and a lovely near trebler. It simply Continued excellent statements and possibly more to come. Indeed one broker is targetting 400 which would give me a four timer!
Entertainment One continues to be a star performer and has more or less consolidated recent fantastic gains and profits close to £5,000. I would not be surprised to be still holding this one in a year's time. And I wouldn't also be surprised to see it another 100 higher.
Recent buy Pace actually hit my 215 target but I didn't take advantage of the trade, and it went back to 200, staying above that now. If it can get above 220 there will be some good gains, but it really struggles around 215-220.
Yule Catto where I got lots of lovely new shares at 116 in the rights issue (PLEASE stop mailing me that is the right price!!!) has sprung upwards again and looks a great long-termer for best gains.
Oil gamble Cadogan has risen quite nicely and sits a bit higher for now.E2v rose well again, see if it can hold above 120.
Microgen consolidates after some great rises and is now a trebler and massive profits for the site of about £18,000. Well, actually I bought Microgen at a seminar a year or so ago and it never stopped going up.
RPC continues its mega rise, lovely trade so far and heads over 280. Gamble Emed Mining has come back a bit but in for the sipp from 8p and for the Isa and website from 16p so worth sticking in. These commodity tiddlers can be a hard ride.
The adding to Chime dings nicely - it has already doubled and more for me and still looks cheap. Up yet again the whole week and I wonder if it can break 300.
Exillon produced a decent statement but tries hard to get through 400 .
Kentz announced a burst through 400 but fell back on profit-taking, which is fair enough but I remain in for more, trying to get above 400 today.
Capital Drill can't quite seem to conquer the 100p mark. Sepura has moved up well since I bought but 50p proves a barrier for now still.
Porvair, wow, what a share that is proving and I've now doubled! It produced an excellent statement yesterday which produced profit taking - that often happens on even good results - but one to stay with I believe for more upside.
AZ electronic keeps trying to break above 300, can't quite do it but getting there! Looks like a good rise today so far. Trying hard to get above that again today. Bought those at the last seminar. AZ Electronic makes sophisticated chemicals that are used in electronic goods such as semiconductors and smart phones and is used in ipads and iphones. It has gone into the FTSE 250.
Carclo reiterated today it expects earnings from its CIT division will be "substantive". Remains a long-termer and a wait and see as it tries to transform from boring stodgy engineer into an almost shiny tech company. Some might argue it's a "jam tomorrow" share, maybe a fair argument but the jam could look rather thick when it appears. Potential bid possibility too. Just a question of patience I think.
Dialight has nearly quadrupled for me - . Those of you who came to one of the seminars might remember me buying that live at 140ish - now it is close to 600.
Telecom Plus looks like it might make a stab at 500 soon. . Website profits are up and over £25,000. And it's starting to move higher again today. This is also my big dividend earner which brings me cash of more than £15,000.
Innovation continues its gentle rise. Cineworld has fallen back a bit, not sure why but climbing again now. Waiting for a statement on Volex, given some back recently but I've doubled on the original lots I bought in the low 100s and in a really super profit of over £13,000.
The Vitec Group gave put a decent report and is settling around the 600 mark - been brilliant so far. Aggreko remains volatile with the ftse but longterm uptrend is up.
Hyder carries on going up and Xp Power has started another surge and up and over 1300! I bought this one at 164 a year and a half ago with a profit of £16,000 plus. It goes to show if you can hold the good ones for a bit and resist the take profits temptation it can pay off big time! IMI comes off a yellow card but Essar goes on one.
.Lovely Petrofac remains a core hold and has soared. Together with spinoff Enquest sees me sitting on profits way in excess of £30,000. Of course it's volatile but a strong uptrend remains intact.
All in all I'm extremely happy with progress. But ... I am sitting on a vast bank of paper profits and the market can't keep on going up in them ... can it?

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.
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 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!