This week’s financial spread betting update is now available and can be read by clicking here.

The week ahead could be an interesting one as there are a whole series of events and data releases due. Tomorrow we have the US mid-term elections and then on Wednesday we have the US Federal Reserve announcing their policy and the expected second round of quantitative easing. Next we have the Bank Of Japan meeting followed by the Bank of England and the European Central bank meetings. Then to round the week off we have the US employment data on Friday!

All I can say is that I’m glad that I don’t trade based on news events and fundamentals as sorting through that lot would be a nightmare. Instead we just follow the trend and let the market and the price be our guide. This is a far more effective strategy than firstly guessing what these announcements will all be and secondly, more importantly, what the market’s reaction to the events will be. The only thing for certain is that it should be an interesting week!

This week’s financial spread betting update begins with:

Stocks remained pretty flat for the week and seem to be waiting for next week’s event with the US mid-term elections on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday the Federal Reserve announces its quantitative easing policies. The dollar index has also been pretty flat ahead of next week’s events…..….continue reading by clicking here

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. Find out more about our financial spread betting system for stocks, commodities and forex by clicking here. The system comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. Click here to sign up.

This week’s financial spread betting update is now available and can be read by clicking here.

As we had written in last week’s post, the past week was an interesting week as expected. The US Federal Reserve meeting sent the stock markets higher and the dollar lower by underlining the Fed’s commitment to easing and supporting the economy. This also led to Gold hitting our $1300 target. So far today the markets are relatively quiet.

In the week ahead we will get a clearer idea as to whether stock indexes are going to continue higher as they approach further resistance levels and will also see if Gold can close above $1300 and continue to advance.

This week’s financial spread betting update begins with:

The past week has seen the US dollar continue to move lower against the majors, commodities continue to push higher and continued short term strength in the stock indexes, pushing stock indexes to 4 month highs. The long term trend is currently mixed for stocks but up for commodities and down for the US dollar…….continue reading by clicking here

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can sign up for a risk free trial of our proprietary financial spread betting system by clicking here. The system comes with a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee and covers each of the stock, commodity and forex markets discussed above.

Today we’re going to look at the importance of having and following a spread betting system in order to ensure that we catch the big winning trades. We’re going to look at a real world example to illustrate the importance on this and how not following a system negatively affected one of the world’s top traders. In our last post on Stanley Druckenmiller, we commented that Druckenmiller had decided to close his hedge fund due his inability to make outsized returns over the past 3 years which he put down to very unfavourable market conditions.

One of the factors that have negatively impacted his performance this year is that, by his own admission, he missed the move in treasuries. Since treasuries have been the biggest and best trending markets this year that has been a fatal mistake. This does highlight a very important lesson for traders and that is that you must have a trading system, or in our case a spread betting system with specific trading rules and the discipline to follow it consistently.

A good spread betting system should include each of the following:

• Which markets to trade
• When to enter a trade
• When to exit a trade
• How much to stake on each trade
• How to know when to stay out of a market

Once you have a spread betting system that incorporates the above rules, all you have to do is follow it consistently. My guess is that either Druckenmiller was relying on discretionary reasons for entering trades rather than specific rules, or his system indicated an entry but he chose to skip the trades because he did not like them for some reason.

This is in fact where many traders fall down and the mistake can be fatal, as seen by the negative impact that skipping these trades has had not just on Druckenmiller’s performance, but on him emotionally as well and these factors may have led to him calling it a day.

In reality, nobody can be sure when entering a trade whether it will be successful or not and this is why once you have a spread betting system it is important that it is followed consistently. One can never tell in advance when the big moves are going to come and if you skip a trade for any reason and it goes on to be a big trend and a big winner you are in trouble.

One of the underlying principles of successful trading is that it is always better to risk taking a small loss than it is to risk missing a big winning trade. If the spread betting system used is good then only a small percentage of trading capital should be used for each trade, for example 2%.

If one is only risking 2% equity per trade then taking a loss of that amount is not too painful. Conversely, if a trader misses a trade that goes on to be for example a 10 to 1 winner, as may be the case in the current treasury trades then that equates to 10 x 2% of missed opportunity. That is far worse than risking the initial 2% loss. It is compounded if there are a handful of correlated markets such as in the case of treasuries, the 5 year note, 10 year note and 30 year T bond. Missing out on one trade is bad but missing out on all three is fatal. That is why we say it is always better to risk a small loss than it is to risk missing a big winning trade.

Because the markets only trend around 40% of the time all trend following systems will have more losing trades than winning trades. Therefore to make money you must have the big winning trades and ensure that you catch them when they come. If you don’t, you have no way to pay for the losing trades. This is why you must have specific rules to enter trades and rules to ensure that you don’t miss any trades.

Our spread betting systems, whether it is our forex system or our primary financial spread betting system for multiple market sectors both include rules to ensure that big trends are not missed and that trades are allowed to run to extract the maximum profit potential of each move. So, the question to ask yourself is “am I using a good system and do I have the discipline to follow it consistently?”. If you can answer yes to both then you are on the road to trading success.

Until next time, good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can find out more about our financial spread betting systems by clicking here.

Our last post of spread betting strategies focused on Gold and the S&P 500 and we’re going to continue with those two markets today.

Beginning with Gold, we last said that we had a bull harami pattern, which was indicating that the bears were running out of steam. We also said that there was support around the $1150 area and that the markets was still above the 200 day moving average.

The bull harami pattern has so far proven to be the short term bottom and we have now had 5 successive up days in the December Gold contract. Yesterday the market pierced the $1200 level intra day, reaching a high of $1205.5 but was unable to close above that psychological number and pulled back to $1195.9 on a close. We need to see a close above $1200 in this market soon otherwise we may see a pullback to the bottom of the bull harami pattern.

The long term trend is still up for gold but a break above $1220 resistance will be required before entering longs. For now only spread betting strategies from the long side should be considered as the long term trend is up. I would not consider shorting this market yet for that reason and would need further downside confirmation to change that point of view.

On to the S&P 500 September contract. The S&P 500 has so far not pierced the resistance levels seen on the 21^st June, although it is very close to doing so. The Dow and FTSE have both already cleared that resistance level. At the time of writing this morning the September contract is at 1125 so it is very likely that we will get a test of resistance today. Since the resistance at 1129 is major (it has held since 18^th May) a breakthrough may provide the impetus for a move higher towards 1170.

Even if the S&P 500 does clear this level the long term trend is down, so I won’t be taking this breakout if it does come as it is counter to the long term trend.

Until next time, good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can find out more about our financial spread betting systems and spread betting strategies by clicking here.

Over the past few years we have had a number of our subscribers ask us to create a forex spread betting system. Although forex is part of the original LS Trader System, our subscribers wanted a system that was dedicated to and optimised for the forex markets.

I’ve been working on creating this forex system for a couple of years now and completed my research on it at around the end of 2009. Since then we have been trading it ourselves to check that the actual trading results lived up to the promise of the backtesting results, and so far this year things have been very encouraging.

As of now the system is up 56.2%, and being that we have had just over 7 months of the year, we are pretty much on target for 100% this year assuming that things continue in their present fashion. This is especially pleasing considering how volatile other markets have been and the lack of trends that we have seen so far this year across most of the financial markets.

Forex has been one of the best performing sectors this year and we have seen some decent trends already. Earlier in the year we had strength in the US dollar, which led to some good winning trades, especially against the Euro and Swiss Franc. Over the past few weeks we have seen a reversal of fortune for the US dollar and the dollar is now moving lower against most of the majors and we are benefitting from this move lower by trading with the trend.

A huge advantage of forex spread betting is that on the whole the forex markets trend very well. Other advantages include tight spreads from the spread betting companies such as and obviously highly liquid markets.

All in all, combing forex markets with financial spread betting and trend following is a very powerful, profitable and easy to use combination. You can find out more about our forex signals here

Until next time, good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. Click here to find out more about our forex signals. We’re currently offering a 30 day all access free trial.

The question that users of financial spread betting are asking at the moment is where next for Gold?

Last week, August Gold managed a small gain for the week of 0.22% but there were signs that the market was getting tired and was possibly forming a lower high at the resistance area around $1220. As we had written in this week’s weekly update the long term trend remains up and will continue to be so as long as support around $1170 holds.

However, the possible lower high and the failure to clear resistance had been asserting a downward pressure on Gold until yesterday. Gold gapped higher at the open (a bullish sign), reaching an intra day high of $1246.7 before falling back slightly to close at $1240.8. The high of the day was just shy of the all time highs posted in this contract on the 14^th May at $1251.4. We have had some reversal patterns near the all time highs, especially on the weekly chart, which appeared to be confirming resistance, which would be expected at all time highs.

Moving forward, if we can get a close above $1251.4 that will negate the reversal patterns and possibly lead to the next wave of buying pressure, which could push the market higher once again. Failure though to close above this level may lead to another sell off, back towards the first support area around $1200.

The fact that Gold has continued to rise in spite of US dollar strength is a bullish sign for Gold as normally these 2 markets have a negative correlation. Aside from technical aspects there are bullish and bearish factors that are likely to affect Gold in the medium term so the best approach is not to try to guess future market direction but to follow the trend and let the market tell you where it wants to go.

At LS Trader we remain long on Gold as both the short and long term trends remain up. We have been long Gold since we entered the market in the June contract on the 26^th April at $1153, so this is already a nice profitable trade for us. One of the best and easiest ways to trade gold is through financial spread betting as spread bets on gold can be placed from as little as £1 per point, and all profits are tax free.

To find out more about financial spread betting and how we spread bet the markets for profit, including Gold, please visit the LS Trader website by clicking here.

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can sign up for a risk free trial of the LS Trader financial spread betting system by clicking here. The system comes with a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee.

This week’s financial spread betting update is now available and can be read by clicking here.

In this week’s update we look at an important pattern that formed on the S&P 500 last week at a key support level and what may happen next to this market. This pattern is of extra importance as it formed in the S&P 500, which is the real stock market and the other stock indexes tend to follow it.

We also have another look at Gold and some spread betting strategies that can be used in this market, which once again held support and now looks to be gearing up for the next move. We also take a look at the US Dollar and in particular the US Dollar Index, which formed new contract highs again during the past week.

This week’s update begins with:

It’s been another volatile week for most markets with large swings being seen in most sectors, especially the stock markets.…continue reading by clicking here

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. You can sign up for a risk free trial of the LS Trader financial spread betting system by clicking here. The system comes with a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee.

This month’s financial spread betting newsletter will be available soon. To receive it for free please click here to sign up for it.

The monthly newsletter is free and it covers the markets that we spread bet at LS Trader. We look at the markets as a whole and also look at each different market sector. We also have a market of the month and some comments on it including the chart for that market and look at what may happen next.

We also analyze some of the markets that are moving and look at the key levels to look out for from a perspective of possible targets as well as support and resistance levels. In addition we take a look at the major trends for each market sector and discuss the long term trend for the 3 main market sectors, which are stocks, forex and commodities.

In addition to the monthly newsletter, you will also receive our free weekly update which also covers the major sectors that we trade as well as the levels to keep an eye on in the week ahead. As an added bonus you will also receive 2 of our ebooks, free of charge. The first is “The 7 Rules of Successful Financial Spread betting” and the second is “The 7 Deadly Financial Spread Betting Mistakes”. Both of these ebooks will be yours for free as soon as you enter your name and email address at the bottom of the page.

Good trading

Phil Seaton

PS. To sign up for the LS Trader Financial Spread Betting Newsletter please click here

It’s now around 8.20am on a Monday morning and my financial spread betting for the week is already done! Now all I do is wait for the weekend and can go about my business. I don’t have to worry at all about what the markets do as I know that most of what goes on in the markets on a day to day basis is just noise. My stop losses are in place to protect my trading capital from any losses and also to take me out of my profitable trades if the market reverses.

How is this possible? Well, the financial spread betting system that I created, the LS Trader system, is a medium to long term trend following system which only takes around 15 minutes each week to follow. This means that all we do is open trades up on a Monday morning, add some stop losses and then move the stop losses on trades that we had open from previous weeks.

Sometimes we will get stopped out after a day or two if the market moves against us and other times we could be in trades for several months if some nice trends develop. Last year there were several markets that trended very well and we were in numerous trades for more than 100 trading days (assuming 5 trading days per week, that’s more than 5 months for a single trade!)

To use the LS Trader system, all you do is log in to your account at the LS Trader website (once you have signed up) and go to the trade bet calculator page. On this page there is a full list of all the markets we trade and details of all the trades we are currently in as well as all the trades we are opening this week.

You then go to your spread betting platform, such as IG Index and go to the market that you want to open, check the current market price, enter this figure in to the bet size calculator that we provide. You then enter how much money you have to trade with and the calculator tells you exactly how much to bet per point. It’s so simple. The software also shows you exactly where to put your stop loss.

All in all this is a very simple process which takes on average around 15 minutes per week. This week is a busy week as we have 9 new trades to open, so it actually took me a few minutes longer than normal.

To follow this financial spread betting system you don’t need to know anything about trading or the financial markets and you certainly don’t need to be reading newspapers or watching TV trying to figure out what’s going on in the markets. There are no charts that you have to read or data feeds that you have to subscribe to.

We’ve actually made trading the markets very simple even for the complete novice. And you can do it all from the comfort of your own home on your pc in just a few minutes per week. You don’t even need to phone a broker as you can execute all your trades instantly online. Best of all, as what we are doing is trading the markets via financial spread betting all our profits are tax free! Currently spread betting is tax free in the UK.

The bottom line is trend following works. It’s been around for several decades and has always and will always work. It takes all the guess work out of trading as it has simple specific rules to follow which lead to capturing big profitable moves in the markets.

There are numerous top traders who use trend following as their trading strategy to consistently beat the markets. Now, we’re making a very powerful version of this trend following strategy available to you and we’ve done all the work for you. All you have to do is simply copy our trades. How easy is that?

If this sounds like something of interest to you, and after all why would it not be as who does not want to “work” for around 15 minutes a week to produce a tax free income, then simply click here to visit the LS Trader website and sign up.

Good luck in your trading

Phil Seaton

PS. Click here to sign up for the LS Trader system. The system comes with a no quibble 30 day unconditional money back guarantee.

The LS Trader system is a medium to long term trend following system that is ideally suited to be used via a financial spread betting platform such as IG Index.

I created this financial spread betting system several years ago and began trading it on my own account in 2002. The results were hugely impressive from back testing and that gave me the confidence to trade it with my own funds. Once real trading began, it was evident that the system performed very well in real trading as well as simulated trading.

Before long the requests came in from family and friends to have access to the system to either enable them to trade the system themselves or have me trade it for them. These accounts all became profitable and at that point I decided I would make a website and give people the chance to copy my exact trades as and when I made them.

This website was launched in January 2007 under the name of The Winning Trader. 2007 and 2008 were both very successful years and towards the end of 2008 it was evident that I could not realistically continue to run the site without any (up to this point I had run the website by myself) help as the subscriber base was growing rapidly. At this point I teamed up with a close friend of mine, Robert Stewart, and we created an updated and improved website, with extra functionality to handle a larger number of subscribers.

In late 2008 we launched the LS Trader and before long the subscriber base was growing rapidly again as word of mouth recommendations spread based on the success of the system. The new website works extremely well with Robert running the site on a day to day basis and dealing with customer support which frees me up to work on the trading side.

2008 was a record year (it was a great year for trend following systems in general as there were some great trends across several markets throughout most of the year). The results for 2008 for the LS Trader at the end of the year were staggering with a gain in 2008 of 1504.1% in 2008 alone.

Now, it should be made clear at this point that 2008’s returns were exceptional and well above average. The system has actually averaged around 165% compound annual growth rate since back testing began in 1983(approximately 26 years). Remember that this is all tax free if used on a financial spread betting platform as spread betting in the UK is currently tax free.

So far in 2009 the results have been fairly flat as many of the trends came to an end in late 2008 but some new trends started to emerge last week and we got in to some nice profitable trades in the stock index markets and currency markets. This week there are 9 new trades so it is an excellent week to get started.

You can sign up to the LS Trader system here. The system comes with an unconditional 60 day money back guarantee so you can sign up for the system and paper trade it if you feel more comfortable doing so to prove the effectiveness of the system before staking real capital.

Once inside the member’s area, we have numerous guides which cover everything from how to open a spread betting account to how to place your first trade online. It’s all covered. We even have an online helpdesk which has a large database of FAQ as well as offering the facility to email us for support should you need it.

So, what’s in store for the markets in 2009? Well, it’s a good question and not one that anyone can answer with any degree of certainty. That’s why we use trend following as the basis for our system as it means that we don’t have to guess or try to figure out what the markets are going to do, we just wait for a trend to develop and then jump on board for the ride, letting our profits run and grow in to large profits.

Whatever happens in 2009 it will no doubt be interesting due to the high level of volatility in the markets at present, but no doubt there will be some big trends along the way. The question is, will you be one of the growing number of LS Trader subscribers in a position to take advantage of these trends when they arrive?

Good luck in your trading

Phil Seaton

PS. Click here to sign up for the LS Trader system. Remember the system comes with a 30 day unconditional money back guarantee.