Trading (spread betting) shares for a living. There are many outcomes I wish to achieve in my life and there are many outcomes I have already achieved. What usually happens is the outcomes keep getting bigger the more I achieve. This is a great sign that I am doing something right in my world. Over the years I have heard a lot of people say, keep it real and keep your outcomes realistic and achievable. Yes make them achievable but if it's achievable it's not unrealistic. Let me share a story with you going back to 1998:



I was elated as I had achieved my dream of making over ?30,000, on paper, on the stock market. I hade been investing in shares since 1998 but I soon discovered I loved the thrill and started day trading. I lost a lot in the beginning, about ?4000. I set myself an outcome of making ?100,000 and focused on it for weeks. My balance started changing from being in the red to being in the black. I upped my trading game and started playing the markets using spread betting. Within the space of a few months I was getting closer to my outcome of ?100,000. However as soon as I started going from a deficit to making a profit I stopped concentrating on my outcomes. The tech market was really flying and I was feeling on top of the world. I was skipping university (one of my other goals was to get a degree in psychology) to stay at home and day trade.

I remember one day I had ?100,000 in shares, again on paper; I was trading on a 14 day contract. Then the tech market started falling. I panicked but thought it will turn again, this was just a blip. Pretty soon I couldn't get rid of my shares as nobody was buying they were all selling. I wouldn't sell for the ridiculous amount they were offering. Then the realisation of the market being in meltdown hit me.

Eventually I went bankrupt to the tune of ?65,000 and it was not a good feeling at all. I walked out with an education in money and a degree in psychology; I managed to get my degree in 2000. That was the year that changed my life forever.

So, in the last 4 years or so I have been reading trading books, watching seminar videos and DVDs and learning as much as I can about financial spread betting

I've seen loads of Vince Stanzione's seminars - the 2000 and 2002 events from Milton Keynes, the "Seven Keys Seminar" from 2004, the Ed Downs and Martin Pring one day session from 2004, the huge two-day "Masters" workshop. I'll admit, I got hooked on the learning process.

So, I've decided to start spread betting again but this time in a very boring, business-like and professional way.

Now I trade more or less full-time and I have made a site about trading which includes a commentary of my daily buys and sells to show others that it is possible to make a healthy profit from spread betting. One thing I don't to is encourage people to blindly follow me especially as I use momentum which means prices could easily have risen before anything is published.

The idea is that I will update you on my progress via this site, and that way you can send me comments?etc and see how much money I (hopefully) make.

CEO Andy Richardson stated that "The aim and wish with this new website is to build an online community, where people could get advice, meet other traders, have a moan, or even tell lavish stories. It's success will be dependent on the involvement of its users" The future is to form regional groups and promote the industry in a more economical way.

Spread betting is a tax free, cost effective alternative to traditional share trading. It allows you to speculate on the movement of stocks and shares without using a stockbroker, therefore you do not have to pay commission or fees. UK residents benefit further still because your profits do not incur Capital Gains and Income Tax. In this way you can sell or buy to maximise profits in volatile markets.