Taylor Wimpey

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
now
More
I have a pretty big position on @TaylorWimpey now... solid housebuilder nice yield.

Views

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
10m10 minutes ago
More
Over 150,000 views on my share articles worldwide and over 86,000 views on http://www.markhowitt.blogspot.com More to follow...

Recovery

A lot of my shares/spreads recovered today... was decent day. BDEV up IMB recovers, SSE recovers, LGEN up... BTW I shorted @Ocado again for a profit and should just have held that short!

Killing it in poker... winning at higher stakes and biggest pots in ages!

Killing it in poker... winning at higher stakes and biggest pots in ages!

Shares and Spreadbetting

What is good about shares and what is good about spreadbetting?

With spreadbetting there is no capital gains tax and no stamp duty. You only pay the ‘spread’ so there are no dealing costs.
You can go ‘short’ with spreadbetting which means you are betting that the price will go down. You can’t do that with shares.

However you can also win big and lose big. You have to put a limit and stop on when you put on a trade. You have to know what you’re doing when you’re spreadbetting. You probably should look at it everyday. If you're doing badly you certainly have to look at it- to adjust your stop losses perhaps. The spread amount can change. Aim to get as low a spread as possible. Bigger market caps are better for this. Ideally you want the spread to be around 0.25%. If a spread is over 1% it may not be worth doing.

If you hold a spread it should be going up or down a fair amount. If it stays flat or even only slightly up or down you shouldn’t hold it. You can with a share though.

Have a clear target price or stop loss. Consider using a ‘trailing stop loss’- a sell if it drops a certain amount below the current spread level.

You also have to pay a ‘stock borrowing’ small charge with a short. Ideally you should have a catalyst as well as a high valuation with a short. High valuations can get even higher on misplaced sentiment.

Smaller amounts means I can take a position on any share I want. You can get exposure to practically anything with spreabetting.
At the same time though you have to be careful not to watch spreads too much. Watching too much means you might do something just for the sake of doing it. Really you should just pounce on great opportunities.

With shares you don’t have to set a stop loss or limit price. Overall when you’re buying a share it’s a more long term investment. Probably you will intend holding for at least a year. Often longer- I have held some shares for over twelve years. There’s less potential risk and less potential reward with shares.

Overall if you’re starting in shares what you should you do?

It’s less risky to start with shares if you’ve got a decent amount of money. It’s also practice for doing spreadbetting later if you want. Remember if you’re buying a share though you should put at least £1,000 in- that’s if you can get dealing costs for £5. With stamp duty that will bring your costs to 1%.

There is something to be said for the ‘learning experience’ of doing spreadbetting though, although I would recommend starting with small bets first. A share like Lloyds at the right price is a decent example. Even if you only break even in the long run it would be worth it for the learning experience.

For me personally I will continue to do a mixture of spreadbetting and shares. I still have plenty to learn about shorting UK shares and more to learn about the ‘technicals’ with spreads overall. I think as long as I have enough money I’ll be doing both for the rest of my life.

Full Version of Shares and Spreadbetting Article Done

Full Version of Shares and Spreadbetting Article Done.

Share Article

I have an idea for a spreadbetting and shares article which might be high value enough to only be written privately. Been thinking about it a lot today after closing out of @JustEatUK with a tasty profit...

Twitter

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
4s4 seconds ago
More
The next stage for me is BETTING BIGGER with spreadbets... same time and effort, more money... I have plenty of cash now so time to invest or spread more by trusting my instincts in a BIG way when the time is right...

0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
Reply Retweet Like View Tweet activity

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
59s59 seconds ago
More
With nineteen years in the game now I should just always trust MY instincts... they are right the vast majority of the time.

0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
Reply Retweet Like 1 View Tweet activity

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
1m1 minute ago
More
Of course these are two VERY GOOD INVESTORS... @Financial_Orbit in particular... but you don't always have to 'follow gurus'.

0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
Reply Retweet Like View Tweet activity

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
1m1 minute ago
More
I read @Financial_Orbit content every day... I still made money out of @Tesco going down when he was long... I read @wheeliedealer content every day I still made money being short on @boohoo when he was long...

0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
Reply Retweet Like View Tweet activity

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
3m3 minutes ago
More
Hopefully I may have reached a new level in some way... I'll get right into it now...

0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
Reply Retweet Like View Tweet activity

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
3m3 minutes ago
More
Shares been going v well lately... powering through with my shorts...

Shares

Shares and spreads again performing well... leading to more followers...

LLoyds and Capita's turn to kill it today.

I think I can make a hell of a lot of money with shares and spreads over the course of my lifetime and I am in for life.

Shares and spreads doing very well lately @HSBC up big time, centamin up closed out of my @boohoo today in profit, @Tesco down today @AskLloydsBank up...

Shares and spreads doing very well lately @HSBC up big time, centamin up closed out of my @boohoo today in profit, @Tesco down today @AskLloydsBank up...

Friday was another nice day for my shares and spreads... poker today and happy to connect with and learn from more property people!

Friday was another nice day for my shares and spreads... poker today and happy to connect with and learn from more property people!

twitter

You Retweeted

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
9s10 seconds ago
More
Happy to hear from any of my new writing followers about share writing opportunities!

0 replies 1 retweet 1 like
Reply Retweeted 1 Liked 1 View Tweet activity
You Retweeted

Mark Howitt
‏

@MarkHowitt
37s38 seconds ago
More
Over 550 followers on twitter now thanks to @Ocado ... Just so you all know I'm a share investor really- only just started shorting shares. Long term buy and hold mainly. I have over 150,000 views on my share articles worldwide and website at http://www.markhowitt.blogspot.com

Global Reach

Getting more influential on twitter...

First Time On Bloomberg

First Time On Bloomberg

Bloomberg

Goal Day

Good to get some quality new connections recently... most new twitter followers I've had in a day. Especially interested in connecting with people with experience in property in Huddersfield and West Yorkshire. Property research continues...

Shorted @ocado and @boohoo again today... both overvalued.

Shorted @ocado and @boohoo again today... both overvalued.

Good start for my shares in 2018 with SSE recovering, and Centamin continuing to climb...

Good start for my shares in 2018 with SSE recovering, and Centamin continuing to climb...

Researching property investment more, feel free to contact me about it.

Researching property investment more, feel free to contact me about it.