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Archive for April, 2008

Mr FT is a self-employed spread better. After 18 years in fund management he was given the choice of moving to London or .. not. ‘Not’ won out.

FT has been trading full time from home for two years, with nothing but four kids and a beach to distract him .

He fills his spare time with weight training and rugby, though more coaching than playing these days.

FT mostly trades the forex markets and although he plays FTSE on occasions his bread and butter market is £$.

He likes to think that his technique is evolving but still hasn’t the temperament or money to back the big calls. He prefers to trade between 1 and 3 times a day, aiming to take regular small gains, but feels part of the evolution is in not dealing if the conditions don’t feel right.
 The Only Relay Was In Equities
Posted by FT on April 30, 2008
Category: Trade Diaries, Shares & Indices, Currencies by FT Comment

“Don’t touch it! When I said no I meant it, take your hand away.”
But it was too late. I’d closed out my FTSE short and missed a great opportunity. Still rattled by the ferocity of yesterday’s rally, I misread the early move in FTSE and over-rode my stop loss.


Garden Gnome spent many years as a small-cap fund manager before his need to to spend more time with his lettuces got the better of him.
GG now spends rainy days trading equities and currencies. He likes to use a combination of technical analysis and news flow to make trading decisions.
 FOMC Meeting
Posted by Garden Gnome on April 29, 2008
Category: Economics, Currencies, Trades With Legs by Garden Gnome 4 Comments

Just thought I drop in a few words on the Fed’s next rate setting meeting, the results of which are due at 1915 BST on Wednesday.

Most commentators are now expecting a cut of 0.25% although there is an outside chance of no change.


Mr FT is a self-employed spread better. After 18 years in fund management he was given the choice of moving to London or .. not. ‘Not’ won out.

FT has been trading full time from home for two years, with nothing but four kids and a beach to distract him .

He fills his spare time with weight training and rugby, though more coaching than playing these days.

FT mostly trades the forex markets and although he plays FTSE on occasions his bread and butter market is £$.

He likes to think that his technique is evolving but still hasn’t the temperament or money to back the big calls. He prefers to trade between 1 and 3 times a day, aiming to take regular small gains, but feels part of the evolution is in not dealing if the conditions don’t feel right.
 A Bear With Small Balls
Posted by FT on April 29, 2008
Category: Trade Diaries, Shares & Indices, Currencies by FT 6 Comments

Today hasn’t turned out as planned. We were expecting a visit from our friendly local electrician, which would have meant regular interruptions to the power supply and my dealing screens. The battle plan was to try and thieve a few quid profit in early trade and hit the gym when the drilling began.


Mr FT is a self-employed spread better. After 18 years in fund management he was given the choice of moving to London or .. not. ‘Not’ won out.

FT has been trading full time from home for two years, with nothing but four kids and a beach to distract him .

He fills his spare time with weight training and rugby, though more coaching than playing these days.

FT mostly trades the forex markets and although he plays FTSE on occasions his bread and butter market is £$.

He likes to think that his technique is evolving but still hasn’t the temperament or money to back the big calls. He prefers to trade between 1 and 3 times a day, aiming to take regular small gains, but feels part of the evolution is in not dealing if the conditions don’t feel right.
 Patience Or Stubbornness?
Posted by FT on April 28, 2008
Category: Trade Diaries, Shares & Indices by FT Comment

What’s the difference between patience and stubbornness? The smart answer is 84 pages in my Oxford dictionary. But it’s a dilemma most of us must come across from time to time. And the one that’s currently tugging on my dangly bits is my short position in banking stocks.


Garden Gnome spent many years as a small-cap fund manager before his need to to spend more time with his lettuces got the better of him.
GG now spends rainy days trading equities and currencies. He likes to use a combination of technical analysis and news flow to make trading decisions.
 HBOS and BSkyB
Posted by Garden Gnome on April 28, 2008
Category: Shares & Indices, Trades With Legs by Garden Gnome 2 Comments

Economic releases and the outcome of the Fed meeting on Wednesday are likely to dominate proceedings this week, despite there being a full diary of company results too.


Mr FT is a self-employed spread better. After 18 years in fund management he was given the choice of moving to London or .. not. ‘Not’ won out.

FT has been trading full time from home for two years, with nothing but four kids and a beach to distract him .

He fills his spare time with weight training and rugby, though more coaching than playing these days.

FT mostly trades the forex markets and although he plays FTSE on occasions his bread and butter market is £$.

He likes to think that his technique is evolving but still hasn’t the temperament or money to back the big calls. He prefers to trade between 1 and 3 times a day, aiming to take regular small gains, but feels part of the evolution is in not dealing if the conditions don’t feel right.
 Should have Stayed At The Gym
Posted by FT on April 25, 2008
Category: Trade Diaries, Shares & Indices, Currencies by FT 4 Comments

At lunchtime I had to check through my international calendars to see if I’d missed a public holiday; God it was dull. I even succumbed to the dreaded ‘boredom trade’ and paid the price.


Garden Gnome spent many years as a small-cap fund manager before his need to to spend more time with his lettuces got the better of him.
GG now spends rainy days trading equities and currencies. He likes to use a combination of technical analysis and news flow to make trading decisions.
 Whitbread and BP
Posted by Garden Gnome on April 25, 2008
Category: Shares & Indices, Trades With Legs by Garden Gnome 2 Comments

Another busy week for corporate results on both sides of the Atlantic-with some key updates due from the oil and banking sectors in the UK.


Mr FT is a self-employed spread better. After 18 years in fund management he was given the choice of moving to London or .. not. ‘Not’ won out.

FT has been trading full time from home for two years, with nothing but four kids and a beach to distract him .

He fills his spare time with weight training and rugby, though more coaching than playing these days.

FT mostly trades the forex markets and although he plays FTSE on occasions his bread and butter market is £$.

He likes to think that his technique is evolving but still hasn’t the temperament or money to back the big calls. He prefers to trade between 1 and 3 times a day, aiming to take regular small gains, but feels part of the evolution is in not dealing if the conditions don’t feel right.
 As Soon As My Back’s Turned!
Posted by FT on April 24, 2008
Category: Trade Diaries, Shares & Indices by FT Comment

What the…
I’ve had my head down for the past couple of hours, knocking out a piece on the banks (Rights Issue, Buy Your Rights Issue Sir). Last time I looked equities were the other side of 6000 after two sets of poor sentiment indicators from Europe and the worst US New Homes Sales for 17 years.


Mr FT is a self-employed spread better. After 18 years in fund management he was given the choice of moving to London or .. not. ‘Not’ won out.

FT has been trading full time from home for two years, with nothing but four kids and a beach to distract him .

He fills his spare time with weight training and rugby, though more coaching than playing these days.

FT mostly trades the forex markets and although he plays FTSE on occasions his bread and butter market is £$.

He likes to think that his technique is evolving but still hasn’t the temperament or money to back the big calls. He prefers to trade between 1 and 3 times a day, aiming to take regular small gains, but feels part of the evolution is in not dealing if the conditions don’t feel right.
 Rights Issue Sir, Buy Your Rights Issue
Posted by FT on April 24, 2008
Category: Views & Opinions, Shares & Indices, Sub-Prime & Credit Crunch by FT Comment

If you’ve picked up a paper this week you’ll have read that bulimia doesn’t make you lose weight, Gordon Brown is the one person less popular than Alistair Darling and, with apologies to Thin Lizzy, ‘the banks are back in town, the banks are back in town.’

Yep, we’ve had a whole print works of banking stories:
‘ Bank of England rescues banks’, ‘more banking write-downs’, ‘RBS to launch UK’s biggest ever rights issue’, ‘even more write downs’, ‘Bank of England expects others to follow RBS’, ‘further loan loss provisions’, ‘yet more write downs’. Phew! There was barely time to read about the Ronaldo penalty miss.


Z is a Paddy Power employee. He spent 10 years being something small in 'the City' before moving to Ireland and has been trading spread bets, on and off, for the last 4 years.

Right now Z is trading occasionally with the aim of supplementing his ‘day-job’ income. His current trading strategy means he tries to:
a) trade just one market (the FTSE)
b) make relatively few trades
c) make lower-risk trades
d) not let the sleep-loss caused by his new baby girl trash his judgement
 We’re In The Press. Ooops. Or Hooray?
Posted by Z on April 23, 2008
Category: Trade Diaries, Funny by Z 8 Comments

Wow. Little old paddypowertrader made the headlines today. Check a few of these out from the BBC, the Guardian, the Scotsman, Sharecast and even Reuters.


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