- The basics - A typical conversation - Opening a trade - Closing a trade - Margin requirements - Margin call - Getting started - What can you spread bet on? - What does a dealing room look like? - Is spread betting for me?
3. Trading online - a step-by-step guide
- Opening and closing a trade - Types of orders - Setting and cancelling a stop-loss - Tracking your trades - Rolling over a trade
4. The bid-offer spread explained
- The spread bet price vs the underlying price - What is the bid-offer spread? - How fast or slow does the spread change? - Shopping around for the best deal
5. Margin trading explained
- What is margin trading? - The pros and cons of margin trading - Risk management - The first rule of spread betting is to preserve your capital - The importance of a stop-loss - What happens if you forget to cancel a stop-loss order - Guaranteed vs non-guaranteed stop-loss - Other types of stop-loss
6. Tools of the trade
- Fundamental analysis - Examples - Other buy/sell signals - Technical analysis - Examples - Resources
7. The big picture
- Economy - Liquidity - What are the implications? - Volatility
8. Spread betting strategies
- Get shorting - Hedging - Momentum trading - Pairs trading - How do you do a pairs trade? - Arbitrage
9. Facts or feelings?
- Run with the rally - When to take profits - When to cut your losses - Examples
10. It's a wrap
- Closing an account - I want a refund! How to file a complaint - A final word . . .
Case studies: A tale of three traders
Sarah Watson: Brains over brawn Patrick Gray: The man with a plan Alex Benjamin: Shaken but not stirred
Appendices
- Appendix 1: Comparison of conventional share trading versus spread betting - Appendix 2: Spread betting at a glance - Appendix 3: List of spread betting companies - Appendix 4: Useful websites
