LSE trading

Discussion in 'Journals' started by angelitazul, Mar 4, 2008.

  1. Hi there, I have decided to start a journal for my trades in the LSE stocks. I trade mostly miners (Rio Tinto, Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Xstrata) and also banks, Vodafone and anything that moves.

    I trade with 300K pounds in capital. I trade using RTS and Esignal for charts, and Reuters for news.
    The reason I'm writing a journal is to keep myself focused and disciplined. After a great february (only 2 down days) where I made 29K pounds gross (18K net) with only 100K in capital, today I lost 3K (which is my stop for the day) and realised I had traded with emotions and not followed my strategy. I hope this journal keeps me motivated.

    By the way I trade intraday and look at moving averages and market profile. I study the charts the night before and have a game plan for the day. My daily goal for this month is to make at least 3K pounds a day.

    Enjoy my journal and happy trading!
     
  2. How do you make enough to pay the 1/2 % stamp duty vig?

    I havent' been able to trade LSE because that's a *serious* handicap.

    Do you have a way around it?

    'Glad you're bringing up European markets though.

    Which broker are you using btw? Even IB's commish seems high there.

    Continued good luck to you!
     
  3. I don't use a broker. I trade at a prop firm in London and have direct access to the exchange. I do around 300 trades (fills) a day which averages to about 1.80 pounds a trade.

    Today was an ok day. Made 3.7K with 318 trades. Traded Vodafone, Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Xstrata and Barclays.

    Fairly easy day to read across most stocks. Before the day began, I had a plan to long all the miners. Billiton's was forming a normal distribution (bell curve) so I traded off that. Same with Xstrata (but the bastards took ages to go up) and plus it was at support (moving average). Barclays broke the range in the open so i was looking to sell, but HSBC opened up so had to be cautious. Anglo American was forming a range but broke the range near the close of the market. Let's wait and see what happens tomorrow.
     
  4. Do you still pay stamp duty at a prop firm? Any exceptions?

    Do you keep positions overnight in order to mitigate these costs?


     
  5. I trade intraday. I don't hold overnight positions. I'm not sure about that stamp duty. Never had to deal with it.
     
  6. Member firms do not pay stamp duty. So if Angel's firm is a member of the LSE, he will also not pay stamp on his positions.
     
  7. Heve you made 318 trades in those 6 stocks only ?
     
  8. yes. 318 is the number of fills. So if I trade Barclays say with 5000 shares and get hit once it would cost me 1.80 pounds. If i get hit 5 times then it's 5 x 1.80. I don't physically hit the button 318 times. So yesterday's cost was 604.40 pounds.



    This morning,
    Went long Billitons (clear breakout), lost a bit on Anglos in the spike. Went long Rios. Didn't touch Xstrata because it's still rangebound.
    Now waiting to see what happens at 12 and 12.45 rate decision.
     
  9. just went long 3000 Xstrata's because there's so much volume going on which suggests it might break to the upside. Next resistance would be 40.20.
     
  10. Thanks for the clarification on the stamp duty issue.

    If you don't mind answering further questions, how hard is it to join a London/UK prop shop? What's the capital contribution required to obtain leverage? Do you have any website links to prop shops in the UK? I don't need US stuff.

    Thanks a lot and good trading to you!
     
    #10     Mar 6, 2008