Playing the markets.....

[sparky11]

OK, here goes - usually hide in the TVR forums, so maybe bit out of my depth here!

I'm in the position of having a few K knocking around that i'm not entirely sure what to do with, and i'd like to see if I can make it 'do' something, as opposed to dumping it in a savings account, pi55ing it up against the wall, etc.

Ideally, i'd like to have a little play in the stock markets. But rather than a long term thing (like years) i'd prefer to look at something monthly, weekly or even daily. I've already had a go at Spread Betting (on a demo) and, though I understand the princpiples behind this, it seems to be more like a 'sporting bet' if that makes sense. I'm also aware that the companies who run this obviously cream off the top and bottom, which is fair enough, but i'd rather it be my own thing as it were. My bank (HSBC) have an online investment type thing, but it seems more geared towards looong term investment then short term. Is there a way of trading in much shorter terms?

I should add that i'm not expecting to get-rich-quick, and i'm quite able to lose all the money without worrying too much (other half might, though!) but i'm more interested in seeing how the market and business works - in time I may play more seriously, but this is really just to see how it goes.

I realise this is probably an absolute minefield of a question, but was just wondering if anyone could help?

Many thanks

Mark

[Horse_Apple]

sparky11 said:

OK, here goes - usually hide in the TVR forums, so maybe bit out of my depth here!

I'm in the position of having a few K knocking around that i'm not entirely sure what to do with, and i'd like to see if I can make it 'do' something, as opposed to dumping it in a savings account, pi55ing it up against the wall, etc.

Ideally, i'd like to have a little play in the stock markets. But rather than a long term thing (like years) i'd prefer to look at something monthly, weekly or even daily. I've already had a go at Spread Betting (on a demo) and, though I understand the princpiples behind this, it seems to be more like a 'sporting bet' if that makes sense. I'm also aware that the companies who run this obviously cream off the top and bottom, which is fair enough, but i'd rather it be my own thing as it were. My bank (HSBC) have an online investment type thing, but it seems more geared towards looong term investment then short term. Is there a way of trading in much shorter terms?

I should add that i'm not expecting to get-rich-quick, and i'm quite able to lose all the money without worrying too much (other half might, though!) but i'm more interested in seeing how the market and business works - in time I may play more seriously, but this is really just to see how it goes.

I realise this is probably an absolute minefield of a question, but was just wondering if anyone could help?

Many thanks

Mark

Hi Saprky,

Not wanting to put you off but if you believe that there is a difference between a daily spread bet and a physical equity, other than the leverage angle then you should have a closer look.

The terminology is different but one is just a leveraged way of trading the other.

Make the basic assumption that a daily spread bet is a tax efficient CFD and then compare a CFD to its underlying equity.

For short term trading they are cheaper due to the lack of Stamp.

However, I would highly recomend trading physical with a cheap online broker like ComDirect or somesuch for some time before faffing about with any leverage.

I would also suggest paper trading before putting any money up.