One of the first choices I needed to make was which CFD trading platform would be the right one for me.

In Australia, there are two majors players: IG Markets and CMC Markets. It immediately became apparent that it wasn’t just their names which were similar. Both brokers offered CFD trading in shares, indices, FX and the like. They both offered their own trading platforms, which unsurprisingly, were very much the same. They were even the same when it came down to the sign up process: both claimed to have instant sign up, but actually took 2 days for me to get online. Mere coincidence?

In fact I could only identify two differences:

Brokerage fees

IG charges $8 whilst CMC charges $10. Now you might think that this is quite insignificant, but please, let me explain. That $2 difference in brokerage is actually quite a lot. In percentage terms it’s 25% more. And considering my minute starting capital, every dollar counts!

Trading platform

IG is by far more pleasing on the eye than CMC. And there’s just something incredibly corny about CMC’s marketing campaign featuring the lion with night vision goggles. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me…

More importantly, IG’s platform is browser based and CMC is a standalone software. This gives rise to several decisive factors:

1. You can access your IG platform anywhere that has a java enabled browser. And when one of my browsers did not support java, IG emailed me straight away with support information (small things like this make all the difference). Having access to my platform is important as I am a full time student with several part time jobs meaning I can’t be on my home computer the whole day.
2. CMC is more robust and flexible. But it is also a huge drain of resources even though it runs off java much like IG. My computer actually died the first time I used CMC. IG’s platform provides almost as good a platform with essentially all the features in a cleaner environment.

A few have told me CMC is better as it provides more features. Perhaps then I have not seen the full power of CMC. But as for now, I’m going with IG Markets all the way!

Which CFD trading platform do you use?

The importance of a trading diary

So according to Catherine Davey, CFD trading depends much on the respect between you and the market. Fair enough, I agree. And I’ve heard many horror stories about how people have lost big on leveraged investments. So Mr Market, you have my fullest respect - please don’t take all my hard earned savings and leave me on the streets.

Catherine states that many successful traders deem it necessary to keep a trading diary. Writing in diary form can allow one to describe the daily events and also express your trading emotions.

Catherine places a lot of emphasis on emotions. Especially how hesitation and doubt can play a critical factor when your on the clock. A trading diary let’s you learn from both your technical and psychological mistakes and become a better investor.

No need to reinvent the wheel

Hey, if it’s good enough for the gurus then its good enough for me. After all, this is why I bought the book.

Why bother making foolish newbie mistakes when I can learn from the mistakes other people have made? If the authors have the knowledge, skill and ability to publish a book about it, then I’m sure they’re doing something right! I’ll try to follow the tips, concepts and strategies used by the best and see if this whole CFD thing actually works.

So here goes my trading diary…

I’ve recently discovered the world of CFD trading

I’ve been investing in shares for the last 3 years or so. Don’t get me wrong, but shares suck! Seriously, it takes way too long for anything to happen. Sure you might grow your capital by 20% a year and double your money every four years or so, but when you have a starting capital of almost nothing, that million dollar goal seems awfully far away.

Enter a friend who studies actuaries and this thing called CFD. Interesting at first. Addictive soon after. It offers speed, excitement and riches - three things important to a budding 21 year old law student such as myself. I was hooked!

The thought of doubling my money in a few days just seemed so damn…

My quest for knowledge

Anyways, I hit the local Border’s book store and started reading as much as I can. It’s surprising how little number of good books cover CFD’s. Finally found one that I had actually heard about before called: Making money from CFD trading by Catherine Davey. The slightly ugly cover art disguised the true brilliance of the content within. After a quick skim through the first few chapters I was sold.

So here it begins, my attempt to make a killing off CFD trading.

Naive? Perhaps. But as Ralph W. Emerson said: “Every artist was at first an amateur“, and I sure am addicted!