Anyone trade own book or personal accounts?

[Condi]

Does anyone on here trade any asset categories using their own money? I dont mean investing, I dont mean 'trading' crypto currencies, I mean regulated, exchange traded commodities, shares, options, CFD's etc.

If so;

a) how do you keep track of market moves while having a day to day job?
b) what software packages/interfaces do you use?
c) is it worthwhile?

Comments from those who do would be appreciated.

Thanks

[limpsfield]

I trade CFDs, mainly S&P with some forex.

I work in the industry so spend too long in front of a screen anyway. I think with orders such as stops, and alerts pushed to your phone you don't have to watch this stuff around the clock. The trading platforms and charts are pretty good these days - the only third party software I use is Sharescope.

Most people (70-80%) lose money, so from a financial probability point of view you would have to say it isn't worth it but they could get some other enjoyment from it.

[Nick928]

Yes.
A combination of swing and day trading.
Mainly DOW, SPX and US shares.

If you’re supposed to be working then day trading isn’t really likely to be an option.
Swing is fine as you can select your trades out of work time and simply set your stop losses and target and let the market do its thing. Might even be better if you can’t watch market movement as it will stop you making costly errors based on your emotions.

Is it worth it? Depends on why you are doing it.
If your goal is to be chillin in the Lambo this time next year then no. You’ll blow your account in a couple of months.
If your looking for more realistic slow and steady gains and you can control your emotions when things go against you then yes.
Personally I enjoy day trading so that combined with the returns make it worthwhile for me.
If I didn’t enjoy it then I’d simply buy and hold shares for the investment.

The aforementioned Sharescope is a good option and should be fine for most home traders.
Investing.com, TradingView and CNBC are also useful and free.
CNBC and Investing.com are also good for alerts although by the time the alert has come through the market will have already reacted five minutes previous but useful for knowing why the market did something funky nonetheless.

[millen]

I guess much depends on your knowledge, experience, discipline, psychology, money management etc. Over the years I've been to several trading classes and would rate George Hallmey as one of the more genuine guys in a shark-infested sea http://www.clickevents.co.uk/index.htm Forex is his favourite (huge liquidity and 24 hr market), using both fundamental and technical perspectives, though he also trades other instruments. He's developed several mechanical systems which supposedly don't require too much time input, eg his 'breakfast trader' which operates when the London pro-traders get to their desks, taking whatever lead comes from the Asian markets winding down. I'm sure he'd be happy to chat, without any hard sell.

There was also a non-commercial Option Traders Club that met on a weekday evening in London, until the venue disappeared. They would discuss specific option strategies and trades and reviewed how they panned out over the following weeks. Maybe there are similar groups still? Again, several years ago, I joined a group of 6-8 that met for 3 hrs a week guided by a very smart Chinese guy, who'd won some international trading competition. The focus here was on large-cap US option trades in a very short time window (given the time decay) around the quarterly earnings announcements. These were typically quite complex strategies, eg verticals, straddles, butterflies designed to optimise the risk/return ratio. (After 6 months the group fell apart after an unrequited relationship developed between the leader and one of the women!)

Ultimately I concluded that I lacked the mindset for successful trading, though it's something I occasionally feel an urge to revisit now I'm retired. But deep down, I don't need the stress.

In terms of platforms I suspect most serious amateurs would use one of the main US brokerages, eg Tradestation, InteractiveBrokers as commissions are incredibly low. Possibly a UK spread-betting account would be OK, especially for basic FX trading and presumably would eliminate the hassle of record keeping for tax purposes, even for a frequent trader (best to confirm this as I'm not 100% sure).

Options trading is far more popular in the US than the UK. There are many educational resources, eg Charles Cottle, Larry McMillan for options, Ed Ponsi for FX, are names I remember from a few years ago.