I've got a big banana. Really massive!

Honestly just ask the Mrs..
It's so big I have to really struggle even to lift it.
The thing is, I'm not really sure what to do with it.

Where on earth do I put it? It doesn't come with any instructions or anything.
The big banana was actually won by my toddler Christopher at Legoland and I'm very proud of him.
It's next to impossible to win one. You have to climb along a moving rubber ladder, reach the top and ring a bell.

Problem is the ladder wobbles badly and everyone usually gets thrown off. Therefore Legoland makes loads of money as it's £2 a go and hardly anyone makes it to the top.
Christopher slowly and determinedly was getting closer than anyone else and a crowd gathered. "Look that little boy is nearly there!" shouted someone and more arrived.
Christopher started looking behind him at the crowd and began to sway. "Don't look behind!! Keep going!" someone shouted.
Amazingly he got to the top but ringing the bell was a bit difficult with a four-year-old arm.
"It's ok! You won anyway!" shouted the stall owner. "You can jump down."
Christopher looked at all of us and jumped at the bell dinging it loudly before dropping down to cheers! That's my boy.
After that I don't think he's going to have much trouble in life.. We left the giant banana to pick it up later. Apparently Christopher was the only one to win that day.
We had a great day. I even got persuaded onto a couple of the scarier rides. I shut my eyes till it was over. What a coward.
We took a friend's child along too and he had a great time. It took me, Christopher and him to lug the banana out of Legoland.

Cue various comments from others leaving too. You can imagine.
It then took up all the car boot and currently it's residing in the garden. Where it was rained on all last night. What the hell do you do with a massive wet banana?
BH Monday Christopher and me left home at 8am and got home at 2pm after wandering around The Thames, going from park to park and cafe to cafe between the rain showers.
Lovely really. We stopped at a cafe next to the local Church while it rained.

What I suspect was the Vicar was on the next table picking bits out of the Bible and writing and thinking, presumably hoping for divine inspiration for his next sermon.
Unfortunately myself and Christopher had a bit of a game which ended up with a blob of jam landing on the half-written sermon. (Strawberry)
I hope the sermon doesn't start: "There appears to be a lack of discipline between children and their parents in our community."
Oh dear. Arrived at the dentist to complain about the toothache. Next thing I knew he only had 10 minutes till the next patient and I was being attacked by a scalpel and it really hurt! I guess he had to do it.

It was a bit like being Marathon Man for a few seconds.
It's only a temporary job though. Looks like I need two root canals. Yes I know it's all my fault. I eat too much chocolate so now I'm paying for it. Literally at £650 per canal!
Oh plus another hour's prep work needed on it first. "This would save what might be a rather brutal extraction." mused the dentist. Yes, it's ok, I'll pay anything to avoid that. Double the price, I don't care. He's a good businessman. Sir Alan would be proud.
He's going to write to me explaining all the work I need doing. Oh well at least whatever he did has more or less cured the pain for now.
Now remember last time I was filling you in on a bit of seminar gossip. Regarding one male seminar attendee who disappeared off with an American female in the bar.
My source informs me said chap was "unsuccessful despite best efforts".

After having to leave said female's room he tried to get back into the room of another delegate who said he'd put him up overnight.
Sadly his knocks went unheeded and he had to sleep in the corridor until booted out of the hotel at 6am by the staff.
Gosh I don't know it's all so exciting I'm off to have a cup of tea. Thanks to my undercover informant!

Thanks for all the great feedback about the seminar, it's very rewarding to know it was worth your while attending. I'm not going to print much of the feedback as I think it makes me look like a crazed egotist (whatya mean I am one already, oh well maybe...) but I'll print one or two.

Thanks they've all been read and I will reply when I get a chance!
Anyway next seminar is June 26th.

It's 75% full now and at this rate it'll be sold out way before the event.

And even better there is again an early booker discount for that!

If you are interested in June's event please mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "June seminar interested" in the subject line. And I will send you details. It's held close to Heathrow Airport. More details somewhere below.

Also had a number of you who can't get a Friday off in termtime asking if I can do a school holiday one.

Well, I will if there are enough of you interested, say Fri July 24th.

If I get enough of you interested I'll do it, if not I won't. Let me know if interested in that date with "holiday seminar interested" in the subject line. I can then guage response and decide whether to hold this extra date or not!
Finally seminar wise there'll be a follow up seminar for any of you who've been to a previous one sometime this autumn - based on Technical Analysis with top trader Susan Marmor. Again let me know, it's for a max of 20 only.
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!

Thanks for the great spreadbetting stories - winning and losing stories for my upcoming spreadbetting book welcome at.. thenakedtrader@aol.com (spread stories ONLY to this address please!! -please use my normal address for anything else).

Did you lose spreadbetting? Why and what happened? Or have you found it easy and you're a winner? Tell me! Anyone whose story I use gets a free copy.

Hurrah! Spreadbetting firm Tradefair (Betfair's sister) has upped its offer exclusively to Naked Trader readers to a £100 credit!
I've been using them for a few weeks to check that I'm happy with the service. As you know I don't take ads or allow referrals on the site unless it's a company I've used and I feel confident about.
What I like about it is it's easy to use, spreads are surprisingly tight on the smaller companies and interestingly an automated stop loss is applied to each trade - so beginners know what their max loss is from the outset.
Anyway they now offer a £100 credit as long as you deposit £100. You get the credit after you placed 2 trades (non equity)

If you'd like to open an account with Tradefair and get the freebie and try them out e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Tradefair" in the subject line and I'll send you info on how to claim the new £100 credit.
Still with BT for your phone line? Why? Move over to Utilities Discount Warehouse under me and pay just £8.99 for your line rental, and deal with a nice company. I get commission and in return you get my e-mail - this site into your mailbox at every update!

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

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

Many of you enjoy the cheap advfn toplists bronze deal through me as do many of you with the cheap level 2. However many of you say you want a half-way house to include real-time share prices always on.
So I'm pleased to announce I've managed to seal a new deal with Advfn for its "Silver" service - that's always on real-time share prices for a good saving (Bronze toplists etc are included in this).
The deal is via me you can save £30 for your first year by paying just £138.06 inc vat via me instead of £167.47.
Just mail me for full details if you'd like it with "silver" in the subject line.
The money - real money - is already coming on from my own internet shopping site which is at www.ei42.com/nakedtrader.

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

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

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

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

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

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

They've just re-published "The Zulu Principle" by Jim Slater who's written a 2008 update at the beginning.
This is a brilliant classic book. Reading this is a real pleasure and it was a great idea to republish.
Jim believes like I do the best gains can come from smaller stocks and in an easy to read style takes you through how to evaluate smaller companies that are about to become bigger ones - he uses some excellent examples.
Really this is a must read for all more longer-term investors or anyone looking to grow their money... a number of you have also written to me about this book and praising it.
Here is the link to buy it:

http://books.global-investor.com/books/167207.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Here's a very topical one: The Little Book of Bull Moves in Bear Markets by Peter Schiff.
The book is all about how to keep portfolios up in a down market. He focusses a lot on how to play commodities and win with some sensible advice especially on natural resources and precious metals. He is very much a realist and there is no rubbish here: some straight talking and some interesting strategies.
Everyone who invests should think seriously about keeping portfolios up in bad times so this book should be read.
Well worth picking up at this link:

http://books.global-investor.com/books/271958.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
To order my new book Naked Trader 2 for next day delivery click this link... or the cover of the book top right!
http://books.global-investor.com/books/27120.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
I've had heaps and heaps of praise from many of you regarding The Financial Spreadbetting book.
The book really seems to have helped a lot of you understand spreadbetting a lot more than you did. You say it's really helped you with ideas too. The writer deserves commendation. With the ability to go short so important in these volatile markets, it's a must read. To order click this link... http://books.global-investor.com/books/23307.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Several people have asked me for a recommendation on a book which shows how to study accounts in a reasonably easy way. The one I like the most is http://books.global-investor.com/books/15717.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Robert Leach. Ten crunch questions to ask before buying any company.
It' s a decent easy-to-read book with several key chapters and it's highly recommended. It's one I keep and dip into from time to time. To order, click this link... http://books.global-investor.com/books/15717.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
The best book on charting and easiest read on the subject is http://books.global-investor.com/books/15618.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Alistair Blair. Click here -> http://books.global-investor.com/books/15618.htm?ginPtrCode=10453
Another good one is the second edition of http://books.global-investor.com/books/23792.htm?ginPtrCode=10453 by Peter Temple. Included in this one is how to use spreadbetting, CFD's warrants and trackers to reduce risk. And there are some decent trading strategies too.
This is an excellent book for new investors and also experienced ones. It explains all the things you may not be sure about in the markets and will explain the tools that are there. To order The Investors Toolbox by Peter Temple (new edition) click the following link for delivery in 24 hours... http://books.global-investor.com/books/23792.htm?ginPtrCode=10453

MAY 15TH 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 still open for the next Naked Trader seminar on Friday June 26th. Price is £495 plus 15% vat. However there is a large early booking discount available!

That includes three course lunch, Starbucks coffee, parking etc. And most importantly it covers choc bars and fruit gums too.

The seminar is mainly aimed at beginners and dabblers though improvers are welcome too.
Topics covered using live market feeds all day include: Market psychology, level 2 - a simple guide to how to use it for better timing; how to value companies; finding companies that are about to rise. I will also cover techniques for handling events such as the recent meltdown and volatility.
Spreadbetting: How to use it to gain an edge and go short. Market makers - how they work and how to beat them; how to stop losing money and make it instead and plenty more.
How to plan trade entries and exits - how to research companies and understand reports, plus all those niggly questions you always wanted to ask. How to set stop losses and targets. Charts and how to use them.
Also covered: Market maker tricks: How to spot tree shakes and use them in your favour, How to tell when NOT to buy a share. I use live ADVFN all day with lots of level 2 and looks at all kind of live market data.
The idea behind the seminar is SIMPLICITY. I don't use jargon or fancy words - everything is in PLAIN ENGLISH! No question is too stupid and the event is held in a friendly relaxed and supportive environment.
The idea is you will come away from the event I hope a wise and better investor with lots of new ideas. I try and translate complex topics into easy bite size pieces. I also aim for it to be entertaining as well as instructive.
If you are interested please e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "June seminar interested" in the subject line and I will send you full details of the event including comments from those who have come to previous seminars and you can then decide whether you would like to come. See you there!

One seminar attendee Clare wanted to write a testimonial about her experiences at the seminar which follows now!
"I've just come back buzzing from one of Robbie's seminars. What a day! He's just brilliant, and manages to pack an awful lot into one day, and with his enthusiastic and humorous delivery the day just flies by. There are no gimmicks, no sell, no "˜get-rich-quick' promises, just his own solid, sound approach which he has learnt over the years and which works.
He shows you how to minimise the risks and maximise the profits and points out the banana skins on the way. Where the seminar really comes into its own is when he teaches using live level 2. Hearing him talk through his thought processes and reasoning is invaluable, and really brings home everything from the book. He has endless patience answering peoples' questions, and really seems to care that everybody understands.
On top of that, you meet some really nice like minded people and swap e mail addresses, you're plied with
chocolates and coffee all day, have a great lunch and spend the evening getting tiddled with Robbie in the
bar afterwards! You might even get to see the amazing crocodile boots . . . .

Don't worry about the cost, it's easily worth it, and you'll soon make it back with your new-found investment skills, and in what you're no longer losing. If you're thinking of going along to his next seminar, whether you're a novice or an experienced trader, don't hesitate ""just go!
Thanks Clare, did you want the tenner in cash, or will a cheque do?

Exclusive One Point Spread, £250 Cashback Offer

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

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

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

http://tinyurl.com/c524ku

I've started using Tradefair for spreadbetting - I like the auto generated stop losses which help to maintain discipline and that's good for beginners I think. And exclusively for Naked Trader readers they upped the offer to £100 credit!

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

To get the offer, click here:

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

Oh my goodness. Is it possible David Cameron is coming up with some good ideas? Am I actually really agreeing with something a polician says?
North Korea isn't really a threat at all but all the governments love it. It means they can put lots of lovely fear into their respective people.
Nothing like nuclear fears or fears of war. Stops people thinking about corrupt politicians or the poor economy. Brilliant!!
Of course the best thing to do is to ignore N Korea - all the evil leaders want is some attention. They would never use one of their weapons.
Strange though isn't it that we invaded Iraq because we pretended they had weapons of mass destruction and N Korea is left alone despite the fact we know for sure they have them. Funny that.
You've got to laugh. The Chancellor has charged us for getting advice on his tax return.
He's the one responsible for making them such hard work that all of us self employed have to pay for a flipping accountant! And if he has no idea and he's in charge of it, what hope the rest of us?
And isn't it even better if he's investigated by the taxman? If found guilty then assume he will be fined and charged interest just like the rest of us in the same situation?
In the end looks like all the expense furore will change the way our politics are conducted and it's about time it was brought up to date.
Fixed-term Parliaments of four years would be an excellent move and it's time the stupid pomp and ceremony was dumped as well as all the terminology "The right Honourable member" and the rest of it - it is all just time wasting.
Started to watch Britain's Got Talent now we're near the end and I was a bit shocked at the poor quality of some of the acts considering it's a semi-final. That DJ guy was the pits.
Great dance act though, the one that won. But surely this show should ban all singers. Aren't they well catered for by Pop Idol etc?

The Stavros act is funny, but not really sure there is much "talent" there.

I get the feeling the dance acts are excellent and the rest a bit average.
Always love The Apprentice when they do the shopping channel thing. Should be good fun.
It was rather too obvious Ben would go last week when there was a cut of him earlier boasting how confident he was he'd get to the final. Trouble is Kate's the obvious winner from a long way out.
Good luck to Man Utd tonight, would be great to see a UK team win it. I think they can do it, let's hope it doesn't go to penalties yet again but no surprise if it does.
If you want to bet on sport here's the sign up link, very large free bets for newbies: To open a Sporting account click here:
http://www.sportingindex.com/?tpid=6755
Do remember if you do bet you ought to treat sports spreadbetting as entertainment - and expect to lose! Also with spreadbetting work out what your max loss could be and make sure you can afford it! In other words if you say backed the favourite at 15 for a fiver and they come nowhere your max loss is £75.

Duncan writes:
I hope that you had a restful couple of days after the marathon seminar! Talk about stamina.
You might have got to the bar a little quicker if a few people were not crowded around you!
I would like to say thank you very much for choosing to pass on your experience - I really benefitted from the day and it was tremendously enjoyable, even so late in the day. Your style of presentation was ideal and I think your explanations were pitched just right for all.
I overheard you suggesting you might wind it up, or maybe that was the website, I hope you don't too soon anyway, it was a great day.

Hi James, thanks glad you enjoyed it. Erm, well I have been thinking about either ending or cutting down the website for a while. It's just the response is often so great I get a bit overwhelmed and it has started becoming more like work than an enjoyable hobby. We'll see. I'm sure I'll keep it going in some form or other. Maybe I'll take a long summer break from it and come back refreshed in the autumn.
Ed writes:
I need the money to pay for a porn movie, a plug, some manure for my garden, a patio heater, a repair to a pipe under my tennis court, a chandler and various other bills I have for my second home. Luckily, I've done a bit of a fraud and still claim single person's discount on the community charge while my firm pays the whole whack. I'm hoping to decorate it, at their expense and then pretend it's actually my main residence. That way, when I sell it, I don't have to pay capital gains tax ! Am I clever or what !?

The only worry I have is that somone at the firm will notice my 'holiday home' is actually only a few miles away from my real home. If they do, I might have to work out how to justify my travelling expenses. Still........

Good luck with your plans Ed. I think it's marvellous you should be thinking about following in the footsteps of the honourable members of the house of commons..
David writes:
I know you are really busy with too many e-mails to deal with each day, but I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your seminar last Friday. The time just flies past and I got the impression you would have stayed up all night talking if you could have done! (well, if you could have been provided with G'n'T's in the room of course!).
I don't know how you do it, you looked completely knackered when I left the bar late on, but you were still happily chatting to all and sundry - it's obvious that you love what you do and that enthusiasm shines through.
Anyway, all in all a great learning day and it was fun talking to lots of other people there too, so a big thank you from me!
Please also say thanks to Elizabeth for quietly getting on with everything in the background, truly the unsung hero of the day - doesn't she get bored in the morning though, sat at the back listenening to you, or do you always tell different jokes?
Thanks David and glad it worked for you - of course I use different jokes every time!

Keith writes:

Just finished reading your book, and I must say I enjoyed it immensely .So much so that I am going to read it again immediately to confirm that some of your ideas have stuck . Not only was it a good read , but it also confirmed that I am only doing a few things wrongly , not everything as unplanned as I thought .
One question though if you don't mind , where can I get relevant information regarding Aim listed companies which are moving up to the main market ? I don't seem to be able to find this info so far , and I wonder if you could point me in the right direction ?
Hi Keith..
There's no easy way.. I usually scan news items on advfn at 7am, a move is usually highlighted there - but there are only about 5-10 moves a year!

I have 3 great offers from ADVFN. First great deal: If you want level 2, though me it is only £299 for your first year including VAT!
This compares to £360 PLUS vat from ADVFN direct (£423) so this deal saves you over £100! ADVFN level 2 also includes all the live trades made through Plus Markets which I find invaluable.
To accept this great deal just e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with "Level 2 offer" in the subject line and I will tell you how to get it. Level 2 for only £299 for a year (including vat), or under £25 a month!!

Deal two is ADVFN's bronze subscription - normally £60pa - available from me for only £40! That's a saving of £20! You get access to the premium bulletin board which contains my discussion forum with direct access to chat to me and some very good traders.
Plus you get ADVFN's premium top lists which I talk about in my book and think are a must for finding great stock picks. That includes great lists like ex dividend dates, market maker buys plus chart breakouts and downs.
To take up the offer, e-mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com with Bronze in the subject line and I will tell you how to claim the deal.

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

The deal is via me you can save £30 for your first year by paying just £138.06 inc vat via me instead of £167.47.
Just mail me at robbiethetrader@aol.com if you'd like this deal with "silver" in the subject line.

Want to try out broker Selftrade superb trading system for no risk? You only have to trade once to get £50 bunged into your account! You get £50 and I get £50.
All deals are just £12.50 with no funny small print. They also charge £35 plus vat pa for all accounts. Follow this link...

http://tinyurl.com/57hp4n

Well, would you believe it? The market remains strong. Looked like it was a bit tired yesterday but perked up in the afternoon after some hopeful figures from the USA saw the Dow leap up followed by the FTSE.
It's been tempting to short but it's never a great idea to go against a trend or find a turning point so I don't mind missing some of a move to be certain.
With the portfolio going so well in the main I'm taking it easy as it's generally going up without me having to do much and I'm in tea and toast mode. But one or two bits added and some tidying up.
Brilliant news from Hardy Oil (HDY) this morning. I've been holding this one patiently for a while from 234 plus the spreadbet as well. Excellent news that a technical report shows "significant hydrocarbon potential".
It all means I think that its chances of success, though by no means guaranteed - have suddenly gone upwards - this ought to mean a rerating for the share which is going on as I write. The market cap looks too low for its potential.
I was a bit slow off the mark this morning but managed to get another 1,500 shares at 272 plus £15 on the spreads at 269. I tried buying at the "sell" price using the order book but no-one sold me any! My thoughts are and what I hope for is a rerating at least up to 350 and possibly further given the share seems completely overlooked by.. well.. everyone by the look of it.
I bought back into Chime (CHW) getting 3,000 at 102p. Target 130 stop 90. I made a few quid on this just recently selling at about 115 so 102 seemed a good re-entry point especially as there is now strong support at 100. A very strong balance sheet and upbeat statements temps me in again.
I also bought back into old favourite Fenner (FENR) getting 5,000 today at 85.75. Some nice big buyers showing up on the order book which tempted me in. Target 100 stop 78. It's very volatile but its debt worries are easing and it could just get a rerating up and over 100.
The more tiles the Mrs buys from Topps Tiles (TPT) for our refurbishment the higher the share price grows. There's another massive stack of tiles here. I've bought another spreadbet on it of this time at 65p for £50 to add to the one already open from 51p. Target 90 stop 57. Hopefully she'll go and get some more this afternoon to lift the share price up more. The City liked today's statement. We have blue tiles for the male bathroom and of course, beige and pink ones for the Ladies bathroom..
I gave Boot the boot today at 73 for a loss of £250. Though I did pick up a 4p dividend so in effect it ends up about break even. I sold because 80p seems a solid barrier and it can't get through. I might be interested in buying in again if it does.
I've been patiently holding Carclo since the beginning of the year when I bought in the low 60s, then topped up a few weeks ago. It's in a nice uptrend but hard to buy and sell as when it moves it moves big and fast. Another of its sudden big moves this week - on this occasion it was such a nice move I thought it was worth selling half to bank some profit leaving the rest to run. So I sold at 97.1 to bank £1,005 from the higher position. Looks to have a bright future but it was too tempting not to bank some gains. Any sustained move over 100 would be very bullish indeed for more gains and I bet I end up regretting the half sale!
Elsewhere the portfolio still grows very nicely indeed without me having to make any effort at all which being on the lazy side is good for me.
Recent buys are all going well. Asterand has held up very nicely - I thought it might dip back to 24 but it has shown strength and a move over 30 would be very bullish, some nice buyers coming in. It's one of those that suddenly soars when you least expect it.
Also Porvair has gone brilliantly, great profit on that already and hopeful the Italian company will increase is stake yet again and then bid the for the whole company.
Just about tripled my money on my first buy in Heritage Oil, it's in a tight trading range of 490-520, any break through 520 will see bigger gains but the best thing about it is any day I could wake up to a bid.
Simply continuing to hold the banks (tripled in Barclays, doubled on RBS). Volex has proved an excellent gamble so far, up more than 70% in a very short time.
Close to doubling on Galifom, huge profits there. Petrofac has soared since the buy and is heading up to 700 and another doubler looks on the cards here!
And Dragon Oil looks to be going for it to give me another trebler as it tries to conquer 300.
I'm thrilled with the performance of the portfolio this year. But.. of course it's always wise to stay cautious and it wouldn't be a surprise for a new set of figures/some fear/ or anything to knock share prices again.
So I'm happy with the way I've handled things - taken some profits and part profits recently so at least some are in the bank.
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 2 spreadbets (non equity).

To get the offer, click here:

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

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

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

Trades first reported Weds and Fri afternoons under "Markets" section.. afraid I can't do live trades as that would turn me into a tipster and I'd have to be regulated!