Next update: Jan 21st

SITE UPDATED EVERY OTHER THURSDAY AFTERNOON (EXC school hols)
International Finance Awards : Best Finance Blogger: Robbie Burns
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BEGINNER/IMPROVER SEMINAR: SPEND A DAY WITH ME AND LIVE MARKETS

March 16th near Heathrow **JANUARY SEMINAR IS SOLD OUT **

If you want more than the book and see me do it live, come and spend a day with me and live markets. (beginners and improvers welcome). If a beginner there is guaranteed no jargon!

See trades from my own accounts, research, level 2, and finding great shares from scratch and tons more. Three course lunch, snacks, drinks ,lots of chocolate, banter and fun with me live all day.

**Best Financial Educational Provider, International Finance Awards.**
Mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with " March seminar interested" and I'll send you details. There is a large early bookers discount on offer.

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MY NEW PSYCHOLOGY BOOK "TRADE LIKE A SHARK" IS OUT!!! DISCOUNT OFFER:
The book covers things that can go wrong, how to fix them. How to stop bad habits, gambling, trading with a clear head. How not to panic, managing trades, trading in a down market.
To buy Trade Like A Shark at £12.25 plus p and p use this link
https://harriman-house.com/tradelikeashark Use code NTSHARK at the checkout. The E Book is free with the print version.
***
25% off Stockopedia and free trial
Stockopedia is indeed like a stock market encyclopedia and a great place to scan for new shares to buy, check out fundamentals, discuss on a sensible bulletin board. Each share gets a ranking, you can use "guru" screens to find shares, there is even a stock screen loosely based on my criteria! You can try it for free too.

For your 25% discount off any sub (eg £56 discount off UK sub) and free 14 day trial you need this link:
www.stockopedia.com/nakedtrader/

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We are off to Dubai after Xmas till the start of the new term. Can't wait to get out to the warmth. Next update will be a little later than planned - Jan 22nd - the reason is so you get all the news of trades from the seminar on the 19th! **This seminar is now sold out - next date is March 16th - mail for details see above.

I was dreaming of it last weekend while having to sit for 2 hours in zero temperatures watching a grim championship game. Hot water bottle stuffed into my coat, wondering if it would ever end.

People are sniffy about Dubai - one or two of the posh parents are very sniffy. No culture there don't you know, I mean what do you DO there?

Well, very sorry about not spending my days looking at art, museums and culture.

I'm interested in summer sun, the executive lounge miles up where I can drink tea and eat cake watching sky divers, flying cars (yes really) and the world go by. I'm even hoping to get on the automatic helicopter taxi (yes again really, no pilot).

I can have brilliant food, relax by a pool, bomb down a water slide and chill. There is no crime and it's very peaceful. I am happy with that while it is freezing cold and miserable here.

So I am going to Dubai, loud and proud and couldn't care less what you think so nah nah!

Oh and ps the markets don't open till noon - perfect! We'll miss the cats but Grandad is staying at the house full time while we are away so they will be well looked after.

New kitten Jacob is a foodie. He will eat anything. Last night he munched his way though pumpkin ravioli with peas and gnocci.

I had a brilliant time at both the beginners/improvers seminar and the advanced follow up - both sold out weeks in advance so I was very flattered.

Plenty of lovely people at both and good to catch up with old friends at the second. Sadly the Mr Whippy ice cream machine broke but had enough time to order a popcorn machine instead. Hope that made up for it though I did miss my whippys.

Thanks so much to Miroslav for his amazing boozy present and to Tanya for some exceptional chocolates handmade. And to Fiona for eggs from her farm - and the berry vodka she produces!

I tried hard not to scoff all the chocs and failed miserably. We had a good time and quite a few laughs too.

I was stunned by the amount of you stayed late into the day. I hope you all enjoyed the Christmas lunch, turkey and all the trimmings. We had that both days so that's two Xmas dinners tucked away already.

Considering they were catering for so many the hotel did a great job with the meal - we also had Xmas pudding with brandy sauce.

It must have been quite strong because I did feel a touch woozy at one point and told a story I shouldn't have...

I felt a bit sorry for myself some of the time as my knee was in a bad way. I have no idea what I did to it. Very stiff and painful so I hobbled about the seminar.

I got quite a few mails with recommendations for specialists, my thanks.

Being in denial I hoped it would heal up ...hoping I don't need an op! Bloody getting older! In the meantime I will hobble around like a right old grumpy geezer.

Now just as I was about to make an appointment to see a doc... it seemed a bit better... hey maybe I'll get away with it? I hate getting prodded.

Especially as last time I got prodded in a very unpleasant area... ( And there was I wondering whether it might be pleasant).

Thanks for all the feedback on both events - I thought they were the best I'd done.

One delegate wrote: "A brief note to thank you very much for providing such an excellent day on Monday, a mix of careful insights, very helpful nuggets of information and amusing anecdotes, as well as the occasional meander down off-beat internet trails which always add some spice to the proceedings! Just a great day topped for me by winning a prize with its accompanying boost in confidence to my share picking skills, so many thanks for your generosity."

If you'd like to start the new year with a fresh look at trading come and spend a day with me at the next one, big early bird discount on offer, mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "March interested" in the subject line. It's on March 16th, the Jan one is sold out.

Are those Xmas do's nearly over?

I like some of them and hate some of them. Really depends whether you like who you're talking to I guess.

I always dread the "What do you do?" question. Because if I say what it is I get "give us a share tip" or else I get a long list of their shares and what do I think.

I think that if I'm at a party I don't want to talk about what is, to me, work! I don't want to know about your shares plus you have stinking bad breath, please move away..

To get out of this I usually lie - however on claiming to be the owner of a cat's home once because the cat had scratched me on the head and I looked like one, the bloke I was talking to was actually thinking about running a holiday home for cats.

On the spot I had to make up figures, profits, how to run one. I never had the heart to tell him I was fibbing and gave him a false phone number. I felt terrible at the end of it.

However this year I found a great alternative.

"I test sex robots. That's why I'm feeling so tired."

This is a great one, the conversation stops there and I can move on. You can use that if you like.

The blokes that bore on about rugby are the worst. Even if you say "Please stop talking incomprehensible dribble about big blokes bashing each other over the head and pushing each other over" they can't help themselves.

Mind you football fans are probably just as dull. Thing with blokes is smalltalking sport makes life easy.

"Looks like Man City are going to walk the prem".

"Rooney's nowhere near as good since he had the hair transplant" etc.

"The women talk about the meaning of life who they hate and more indepth stuff. Way too complex for us.

Look, we're just happy with a bit of sex, some decent food and ok, we'll do the bins.

Enjoyed the opening night of "Everyone's Talking About Jamie" at one of the west end theatres my older sister owns.

I don't like musicals much but this one is great fun, so if you get a chance to see it, do. It's very uplifting. It's at her theatre, the Apollo. And no, I can't get you tickets!

My two sisters are such hard workers.

My younger one owns a massive dancing school and manages it brilliantly. Some of her pupils do really well and end up on stage. But can you imagine it?

All those classes to devise, kids to sort out and parents to manage! I couldn't do either of their jobs! They are two amazing women.

I've had a lovely year calling old lonely folk for the amazing charity Silver Line.

My fave is Beryl, we love discussing what's new in the Marks and Sparks Food Department...

If you feel you could give some spare time every week to chat to lonely older people the site is thesilverline.org.uk. If you need any help with how to handle calls let me know.

If you'd like to come to the next seminar mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Jan seminar interested".
Beginners and improvers welcome. Come and spend the day with me, the markets and some lovely people - and of course, lunch, lots of sugary snacks, and even live chocolate waffle making in the teabreak!

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!

Here's some feedback from from "D"

'It's obvious from his site Robbie Burns is a good market analyst and shrewd stock-picker. He is also a highly opinionated commentator on everything from TV shows to food. Therefore I expected his seminar to be 75% entertainment, 15% general exposition for beginners and-- if we were lucky-- 10% of something I could use to help me invest. But I could not have been more wrong.

The opinions on food and politics etc. though genuine, are I believe a bit of disguise or misdirection for there is a real touch of rebel genius here. And in the seminar, which is 95% hardball, he actually takes you candidly right into the mental process involved in his successful trading, making it a pretty amazing display, even showing his own investment accounts right there on the screen. You can see at once why so many of us are merely stabbing in the dark with our investments.

This is a genuine coaching session in how to trade like him if you put in the graft. I have only bought one stock since, as I am waiting for the tools he recommends, but I got the price down by using his tactics and I cannot recommend the seminar too highly if you are going there to learn. It must be taxing on him to let us at such length and in such detail into the process, which has made him so much money (for--unlike so many other so-called experts the seminars are not a day job). My advice therefore would be to sign up for this while he is still prepared to do it.'

I love it the most getting mails from people who have spent a day with me some time ago and are doing well. This was very pleasing from Jason:
"I took part on one of your courses this summer and I wanted to send you a belated thank you. The next day I got myself Level 2 and sold all of my positions, most of them had losses, I then started to buy shares, some which we found on the course and others using the techniques you shared, the simplicity of your selection process surprised me but I also found it easy to apply. Within a couple of weeks I felt so much more at ease trading, I wasn't worried about my decisions anymore because I felt in control of each trade, I knew when to sell and when to hold on and I'm no longer anxious when I open my account because it's always in the plus.

When I signed up to your course my goal was to make 20% p.a., I've achieved that in less than six months. Your course was pretty much going to be my last attempt at trading, So once again thank you, it's by far the best money I've ever spent on trading education and probably on education full stop."
Thanks Jason but it is down to you, you applied the discipline needed and had the cuts to cut your losers.

With the oil price up some smaller energy companies are going bust and some of you have
been in touch with me to join Utility Discount Warehouse which I've been a customer of and
promoting for 16 years!
They now have a decent one year fixed rate energy deal which is cheaper
than any other major supplier.
And it is easy to switch, you can
do it all online. If you take a service as a bonus you also get the website stuff sent direct to you
before it gets published here on web update day.
To sign up with me just click here http://www.jointheclub.org.uk/237058
Have look through the phone, broadband and mobile services too - if you take the
whole package unbelievably they come round, change all your lightbulbs to new ones
saving you another 11% on your lec bills and change any bulbs as long as you remain
a customer. No more bulb buying and fitting!!

*** If you'd like my website updates sent direct to your mailbox (you get it first and a little earlier) plus the odd higher risk trade made for my pension, you can get that for either a smallish one off fee, or signing up for a service from Utility Warehouse. For details on either way of making sure you always see my updates first mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "mail service" in the subject line.

****
When I left my full-time job to trade it really helped having another income: this I got from part-time selling energy and phone services to people and getting a cut of their use of their home services forever! I still get enough from it now to pay all my bills. I am a great believer in multiple incomes and this is a great one in my opinion as anyone could do it.

If you'd like a second part-time income click here

http://www.utilitywarehouse.org.uk/237058/opportunity

This will explain what you can expect to earn and how it all works. If you sign up there you'll be under my wing. Any questions just mail me and if you sign up please let me know.
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.

http://www.ig.com/nakedtrader

(A reminder if you don't know what you are doing you can
lose a lot of money spreadbetting - make sure you understand the risks - see spreadbetting chapter in my book Naked Trader 4 which explains how to do it and the risks)

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 £174 inc vat via me instead of £208.43
Just mail me for full details if you'd like it with "silver" in the subject line.

FRI MAR 16TH NEAR HEATHROW -

January seminar is sold out
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 Jan 19th

Price is £690 plus vat. However there is decent early bird discount on offer. Mail me for details.
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 "Mar 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!
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 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 excellent weekly education programme use this link:

http://www.ig.com/nakedtrader

If you like to trade the FTSE, Dow, or currencies then Spreado has an outstanding tight 0.8 spread - that is incredibly tight. The platform is very good and robust and have used it to great satisfaction.

You can sign up at this link which includes a decent market commentary:

http://www.spreadco.com/nakedtrader

(A reminder if you don't know what you are doing you can
lose a lot of money spreadbetting - make sure you understand the risks - see spreadbetting chapter in my book Naked Trader 4 which explains how to do it and the risks)

Brexit Mexit. I can't work out whether we should just call the whole thing off. Or whether to think we hate that idiotic alcoholic Junker so much let's just do it and nah nah.

No-one has still told me what the benefit of leaving is - all I can see is all the new red tape, problems and costs of it.

The only positive that may come out of it looking longer-term is if Europe inplodes in the years to come it may just have proved to be the right decision.

A bit like when we didn't take the Euro. I don't have the foggiest. Be interesting to see in a few years whether it was a good or bad move. I will try and keep an open mind even though I am a remainer.

I can't even watch the news anymore - every day it's Brexit and those mad psychos Trump, Putin and Kim Jong whasit.

(ps if the Russian secret service is reading this I didn't mean it about your boss, he is lovely and the calendar with him riding a horse barechested is stunning and shows what an incredible man he is. He is simply misunderstood.

Not sure what the fuss is about porn on Mr Green's computer except it was at work. People use different methods to relax.

Let's face it workers go on twitter, facebook and all sorts on their break. As long as they keep it to themselves, porn is fine. I say forgive him. if he was a French politician they'd just go "so what, we all do it."

It's the year when humans got more and more addicted to their mobiles - mobile computers in effect. Which means they're now communicating much less with each other in real life.

Next up is "Alexa" with people addicted to "Her". I have a few questions for Alexa.

How come Amazon take nearly all the money when they sell a book leaving the author a few pence?

Why does Amazon pay so little tax?

Is Amazon going to end up buying every other company and supplying everything and then put all the prices up?

Comedy highlight of the year was the new series of Curb. I thought it was hilarious all the way through though the highlight ep 3 featuring Salman Rushdie and "Fatwah sex". Fantastic!

I suspect that's probably the last we will see of Curb and perhaps it is best to go out on a high though I would love to see a final feature film..

. Motherland proved disappointing. Nowhere near the levels of Fleabag or Catastrophe with a lot of lousy stereotyped characters. Only decent character was the working-class mum.

I'm A Celeb was disappointing, same old and no-one interesting bar Stanley Johnson.

He had some interesting tales to tell. Winner "Toff" was a bit strange. Is she a 12-year-old trapped in the body of a 23-year-old?

Iain lee looks like a manic depressive with a lot of issues, hope he can conquer them but he seems desperately needy.

The Labour politician what's her face just tells us what we already know, Labour politicians don't have any sense of humour and think they know everything. (Well most of them anyhow).

Shows of the year. My awards go to Mr Robot, House of Cards, The Americans, Game of Thrones, Line of Duty, Better Call Saul, Fargo. And the best? Billions! If you are a share trader you must watch.

The Apprentice was pretty stale this year - time to fire Lord Sir A and bring in someone new. Not only does Lord A look tired with it but so do his cohorts. Karen looks totally fed up. Claude a shadow of his former self.

The contestants seemed to realise they were just pawns in the producers' hands. it looks nailed on for James to win with his boring recruitment idea.

Not one winner has come up with something truly original and groundbreaking.

Of course the reason is the people that do wouldn't be seen dead on the series.

Guess which profession sees the most business on the first working day of the new year?

Divorce lawyers. It is their bonanza time! Partners stuck together for days? Drives some of them over the edge.

Have fun but maybe plan a few outings away from the home and separately! Try and be patient with inlaws, take deep breaths and don't let anyone wind you up.

Top trending search on the net at the mo is Meghan Sparkle. I don't mind the Royals, the Queen is amazing.

But all this fuss is so boring. Wealthy royal man strangely finds way more attractive woman to marry. That's it and all we need to know.

"How to buy Bitcoin" is the second most "How to" question this year. (Another reason it must be a bubble).

But reasurringly the top search was "How to make Slime". Altogether now: "Ahhhh...."

For those interested in sports betting try
http://www.spreadex.com/nakedtrader/sports (unless you are Wayne Rooney!)

Good quick execution of bets and a great range of markets. Recommended!

Chris writes :
I want to tell you of an experience I had this week. After reading your new book Trade Like A Shark.

I had finished my research on some stocks and as I was about to buy when I felt myself get really excited about it because two of them were making good gains. I stopped myself, admitted to myself that my emotions were running amuck and I closed the computer.

The next day I made the trades but with ice running through my veins and no emotion. I found that by admitting to myself that my emotions where high I could gain control again.

Excellent you are really on the way to becoming a proper shark!
Gary writes :
"For throwing your heart, soul and energy into one fact-packed, full-on and exhaustingly educational day: FIVE stars with no hesitation!!
Met some really nice people too - like me, nervous that it was the most we'd ever spent on a whole day of anything (had we made arses of ourselves?) But no one felt short-changed, especially when you were still going strong when we all wanted to go to bed! One of your delegates, Susan, back for a second time, said to me unequivocally, "you will go away absolutely inspired." I can't disagree.
Thanks Gary, hope you make some money!

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!

Paul writes:

Well it's the end of 2017 and I am very pleased about it. I first read your books around 2 years ago and went to your seminar last xmas. I've been trading 'proper' now since January of this year, I uploaded £3k to my spreadbetting account and I have ended the year with £9k. Whilst this is obviously peanuts, I have managed to achieve this by taking trades for most part of the year to the equivalent of £1k, with £200/£300 per trade being my target and of course I have lost trades too. So my return has been great, I am now taking trades to the equivalent of £2.5k and often buying more if it goes in my favour so sometimes £5k in total which is what I noticed you do, so for 2018 I am really in a position to push on and start making some decent money.

My life has completely changed this year, I sold my coffee shop in April to focus on trading, I have every school holidays free to be with my kid and I can do whatever I want whenever I want. I remember reading the first chapter of your book and being inspired to live this kind of life - I am almost there now and I am forever grateful.

Thanks Paul, glad you could change your life but you did this through sheer determination and hard work. Well done.
Dan writes :
'It's obvious from his site Robbie Burns is a good market analyst and shrewd stock-picker. He is also a highly opinionated commentator on everything from TV shows to food. Therefore I expected his seminar to be 75% entertainment, 15% general exposition for beginners and-- if we were lucky-- 10% of something I could use to help me invest. But I could not have been more wrong.

The opinions on food and politics etc. though genuine, are I believe a bit of disguise or misdirection for there is a real touch of rebel genius here. And in the seminar, which is 95% hardball, he actually takes you candidly right into the mental process involved in his successful trading, making it a pretty amazing display, even showing his own investment accounts right there on the screen. You can see at once why so many of us are merely stabbing in the dark with our investments.

This is a genuine coaching session in how to trade like him if you put in the graft. I have only bought one stock since, as I am waiting for the tools he recommends, but I got the price down by using his tactics and I cannot recommend the seminar too highly if you are going there to learn. It must be taxing on him to let us at such length and in such detail into the process, which has made him so much money (for--unlike so many other so-called experts the seminars are not a day job). My advice therefore would be to sign up for this while he is still prepared to do it.'

I have 3 great offers from ADVFN.

First great deal: If you want level 2, through me it is only £420 for your first year including VAT!
This compares to £ 567.60 direct from advfn so this deal saves you £147.60! 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 £88.70 pa - available from me for only £60! (inc vat) That's a saving of nearly £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 £35 for your first year by paying just £174 inc vat via me instead of £208.43
Just mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com if you'd like this deal with "silver" in the subject line. Please note if you want to discontinue the sub you need to give a month's notice by post.

EMAILS: I do beg you not to send me emails asking me for advice on a particular share. It isn't legal for me to give you individual advice and all I do is send you a mail saying that, which wastes a lot of my time and yours too. This includes asking me what to do with a share, what I might "think" about a share, or deconstructing any of the buys I mention here. I would be grateful, see FAQ for more on this. Of course more than happy to answer general questions not related to specific shares.

****
COPYING TRADES: I can't stop you from copying a trade I made but remember the price may already be a lot higher than I paid indeed I hope it is as buying at good prices is what I do for a living. You may be buying at the top and could easily lose money. Also I can make terrible mistakes and have done in the past. I could also sell before you or before the share tanks. I may still be holding in a year when you sold at a loss. Always do your own research, don't jump in blindly. Market makers are very clever at knowing how to make you pay top dollar and then push you out at a loss. This site is about sensible investment and learning how to trade sensibly and is not a tipping site. Beware. Never push buy on anything till you've done proper research and got yourself a sensible price.
****

New offer: 25% off Stockopedia sub and free trial

I rarely do offers - Forex companies in particular offer me eyewatering sums. I turn all this down as I would never put out an offer for a company where I think my reader will 95% likely lose, or be taken for a ride.

Having had lots of mails from people using Stockopaedia and using it myself I am 100% confident.

Stockopedia is indeed like a stock market encyclopaedia and a great place to scan for new shares to buy, check out fundamentals, discuss on a sensible bulletin board. Each share gets a ranking, you can use "guru" screens to find shares, there is even a stock screen loosely based on my criteria! There are strategies based on ideas from top investors.

There is lots more really fantastic material and I believe access should help investors and I now use it myself.

For your 25% discount off any sub (eg £56 discount off UK sub) and free 14 day trial you need this link:
http://www.stockopedia.com/nakedtrader/
****
MARKETS

NEXT MARKETS UPDATE JAN 22ND (a little later than planned and an unusual day but the idea is you get the seminar trades news early as poss!)

Next seminar is MAR 16TH JAN IS SOLD OUT

- mail me with "Mar seminar interested".

Let's start with Bitcoin! Because I'm of course getting tons of emails about it and it's driving me crazy!

And it also means the bubble must be very close to bursting. Also friends of friends who are hopeless at money are asking about it. Another sure sign. Those who have some are already smug about it, yet another sign.

Bitcoin is a total punt. Maybe it's worth tons more but is it worth much at all?

If you are in it on a spreadbet or future or whatever you must realise : if overnight a government bans it or something similar and there is a panic you might not be able to sell it at all as the price tumbles.

If there are no buyers good luck with selling it. I have a terrible feeling a lot of people are in this way too deep and have more exposure than they realise.

Right now they are congratulating themselves on how great they are. As the old saying goes "After the feast comes the reckoning."

If they don't get out before famine hits they'll be getting visits from the "Can't Pay Won't Pay" big lads who will be coming round to remove those lovely plazma Tvs.

A similar thing happened with the Swiss currency when it was suddenly devalued. One teacher was just about to start a lesson when he got a text from a spreadbet co demanding £250,000.

He only had £15,000 in his bank account. Beware of greed!

Just remember it's all very well holding an "asset" worth a lot more than you paid for it, but if you can't sell it, it's not worth much in reality.

I've had a terrific year with all accounts well over highs even though I've withdrawn a lot for holidays and general living but generally the spreadbet gains - I try and leave the isas alone.

One thing I realised this year is the power of dividends. Lots of my holdings pay out 3-6%.

On my current real holdings I reckon I've collected more than £60,000 in dividends (possibly more) - and there's over £15,000 from Tep in yield held outside isas.

I used to think dividends paid for costs so for the site thought it was fair not to add them in but not take out costs either. Also made less work for me. But I've realised this isn't true any more.

Let's say I traded once a day this year - a trade costs me £5 or £6, I pay a little stamp too on the main market ones, so let's say a tenner a trade then as this year a lot of them have been aim. Call it £50 a week then or £2,500 a year.

Let's even add an extra £7,500 to that if I did more than one 5 day sometimes. That makes dividend income WAY MORE than costs.

So if I added in dividends to the site, overall profit would be far higher.

I know being lazy this is back of fag pack calculation but even if skewed dividend income is DEFINITELY higher than costs!

Interesting to note that tipsters like the Chronicle add in dividends but don't take out costs. They either should do neither like me, or both.

There have been big wins and very few losses taken in 2017. Actually probably my best year for not having at least one major duffer.

Starting with the losers, biggest website loss taken was just over a grand on Van Elle - could have been avoided. And that was about it bar some minor get out quick losses.

Biggest winners: The bid for Paysafe in the real world made me more than £100,000 - a big position both in isas and spreadbets build up over 3 years or so. A bid was always a cert. For the site positions made nearly £70,000.

Other bids this year were Netplay, Worldpay and 32 Red, between them producing massive profits.

Softcat produced over 10k. The punt in Purplebricks produced nearly £10,000.

YU group was my biggest surprise win - I only expected maybe 25% on it but it ended up going to 800p from 200p collecting nearly 20k.

Currently also sitting on massive not yet taken profits in various shares.

With the markets sitting near highs, recently I'd thought I wouldn't make many new buys and will stick to a lot of cash.

But I got a big surprise at both seminars where fantastic looking trades came up. At the follow up seminar my more experienced pupils came up with some amazing ideas.

I have to hand it to them. The best trade won £100 and the runner up £50 ! These were ideas I hadn't come across.

I ended up buying about ten shares across both seminars putting in around 10k on each using up bit of the by then £350k isa cash pile. And one or two spreadbets.

Trouble is now comes a problem. If I tell you what they all are it would take me ages. They then have to be added to a table, I have to comment on them and follow them through.

This actually made me consider again whether to stop putting up trades on the website and just do the live seminars.

I love doing those and teaching live for 6 or so days a year.

But the website takes a lot of my time up and my life is getting shorter by the minute now I'm older.

Getting it all written, managing it, talking shares, answering mails, paperwork etc, it takes ages.

There are lots of other things I am doing, and attempting to do and the site is getting in the way.

But I know I have 100s of regulars many of which have been with me in the 17 years or so I've been doing this and even before that on Sky and Channel 5. I know you'd be gutted if I stopped.

I'm considering possibly a sabbatical. 6 months off to go full time on other things. Perhaps this spring/summer. Or instead updating less frequently maybe.

I'm off to Dubai after Xmas and will have a think but there will definitely be an update on Jan 14th on return!

Anyhow I'll cover half the seminar trades, how's about that?

T Clarke (TCO) looks great value. Took me bloody ages to get it at the sell price as sometimes the spread is silly, but I managed it with a lot of patience on direct access. I also had to end up buying the shares at the buy price too (how annoying)

A very confident statement with an underlying profit of £6.5 m forecast. AND it has net cash of £9m. The market cap looks too low and I think it should easily head back to highs of 90p but I reckon it's worth at least 100p. It's simply under the radar.

I've also bought Sanderson (SND) . This one has good cash and profit growth and specialises in software and IT. Suggested by Phill (with two L's!) at seminar. Looks a super medium term Isa tuckaway with very bright prospect with an initial £1 target.

And Swallowfield also came up (SWL). (Thanks Jonathan) A lovely little company that looks nicely under the radar, rising revenue and profits.

It makes and delivers top beauty products to all the major companies and it's one of the major aerosol makers. The market is lively at the mo and it looks a marvellous isa tuckaway.

I made a lot of money on Cerillion (CER) over the last two years last selling it earlier this year and I have bought it again. It's just won a major European contract and it looks one to keep hold of now for a couple of years.

I also tucked away some Fenner (FENR). Again a seminar find. This engineer has been through a few very bad years but looks like it has come out fighting and it is recovering strongly with a sudden massive improvement in profits and promised reduction in debt. This one could really motor.

I topped up on Everyman Media (EMED) and Avon Rubber (AVON). Yet another contract win from the States for Avon and the price could break up to all time highs. Share prices in both are leaping up and there is further to go for now. EMED looks like a bid target next year.

DS Smith it ended up in the ftse 100 but the trade ran its course for me and took profits of £517.

Headlam went for a loss of £182 as it broke lower. It was just a small hopeful trade but bust through the loss. When something goes through a stop I do various supply and demand tests to make a final sell decision (those at the seminars now know how to do this!) but it failed. Elsewhere excellent statement from PHTM. Looks like a brilliant long-term winner.

Ig is motoring up today (have a spreadbet on it with other spreadbet firms!) ABDP is having a good run, potential doubler for 2018? 888 today showed it's doing fine despite regulatory problems and looks a bid target. Talking that GVC has been a brilliant longer-term hold.

Website profits banked for 2017? They are well over £200,000. Personally? A guess but looking around accounts I reckon I banked around £450,000. I am now officially a fat cat.

I'd spend the money on a mid-life crisis but for now I feel very happy so will look to buy further property after buying one from Isa and spreadbet profits 3 years ago. Maybe in 2019 as a property crash looks possible.

So where does this all leave me for 2018? Markets are close to high yet there are a lot of threats about. .

Psycho men-children lead major countries, debt is mounting everywhere.

Bitcoin looks out of control (could that lead a crash). In any event I made a lot of money and don't want to give it back.

For the moment I expect to go into a lot of cash early next year and would also expect to go short - it is almost inevitable we will suffer some kind of correction next year make sure you have a plan!!

And last but not least... the Xmas rally....! If you are going to play it best bet is

https://www.spreadco.com/nakedtrader

Why? The tightest spread - just 0.8 (for up to £50 a point). I've used it the last 4 years to play the rally. Also tightest on other indices too.

Now the rally is normally the last ten trading days so this year historically it should be starting this week.

It has been going up since early this week so I am already in though I missed some of the early rise - wish I had got the best price of all that Fiona at the follow up got - she got right at the bottom 7300 so well done her! (She can now put her stop in at break even and relax!)

This year I am only doing doing small FTSE, instead this year I've gone with the Dow Jones.

That's because the FTSE could be weighed down with Brexit and currency movements. The Dow has none of these troubles to weigh it down and might give more points.

But. This could be a year to be careful. This year the FTSE is already near highs and the Dow is at highs. So for a decent rally they will both have to break even higher.

This makes it much riskier than the last few years and maybe there won't be so much in it this time round.

After all there has to be ONE year it doesn't work. I will get out with a loss if it looks like this is the year. I suggest if you do it, keep a wary eye open and put not losing money as a higher priority than making it! At some point there is often a sudden sell off and then it can go back up as fast as it went down.

I really suggest you make sure you understand what you are doing before you put a bet on!

See the spreadbet chapter in my book but a reminder if you put £1 on you make £1 every point it goes up but lose £1 every point it goes down.

I usually put a stop into break even once it is in profit by 150 points.

Think carefully how much you could lose say there was a black swan event. What if the ftse went down 500 points suddenly?

Can you afford to lose that much? Maybe you should use a guaranteed stop to be totally safe. Just remember there is no such thing as a "safe trade".

No-one really knows why the Santa rally usually works. Could it even be Santa himself manipulating the markets.

Does he use gains to pay for all those presents made by Chinese slave labour that end up in landfill on Jan 1st?

I just saw Chris Rea in his car over Hammersmith Bridge.

I said Hi and asked him what he was up to.

"Driving home for Christmas," he said.

Doh! Of course!

Whatever you are up to hope the markets are kind to you and will be back here again with an update on Jan 14th on return from Dubai.

May I wish all readers a lovely Xmas and new year.

*** If you'd like my website updates sent direct to your mailbox (you get it first and a little earlier) plus the odd higher risk trade made for my pension, you can get that for either a smallish one off fee, or signing up for a service from Utility Warehouse. For details on either way of making sure you always see my updates first mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "mail service" in the subject line.

FOR SMALL COMPANIES:

It is hard to find a firm that does prices on the very small companies but this company does:

http://www.spreadex.com/nakedtrader
***
If you like to trade the FTSE, Dow, or currencies then Spreado has an outstanding tight 0.8 spread - that is incredibly tight. The platform is very good and robust and have used it to great satisfaction and profits.

You can sign up at this link which includes a decent market commentary:

http://www.spreadco.com/nakedtrader
***
I also use IG's spreadbetting service too along with other firms. Great execution of trades and nice 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.

http://www.ig.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. Read Spreadbetting chapter in naked trader 4 which highlights the risks.

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.utilitywarehouse.org.uk/237058/opportunity you can sign up directly there but do tell me! (Click earn with is then sign up now and follow links)
****
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 in the diary under Markets every other Thursday afternoon.