These updates were previously provided on the main website under the Vince Stanzione review page but I’ve decided to move them onto the blog as it is easier to post them here.

A load of trades expired on the 14th June 2011 and caused a large move in the balance of the account.

Here are the important numbers:

Trades opened: 42
Winning trades: 28
Losing trades: 13
Break-even trades: 1

This leaves my spread betting account up 24.1% from the balance at the close of play on the 15th March 2011 (the time of the last update).

28 trades rolled-over – can you guess why? These will all expire on the 20th September 2011.

As this account approaches its first anniversary, the overall return on closed positions is a very healthy 27.08%.

Speaking to a business associate over the weekend it occurred to me that not everybody has a vast understanding of spreadbetting and that, compared to some, I’ve got plenty of experience! My account with Finspreads was opened way back in 2004 and has had many ups and downs.

In fact, I discovered some old trading statement emails from back in April 2004. These showed just how undisciplined my trading was in the early days.

For example, I lost almost 50% of my bank in just 10 positions over a week (!) and then made 20% from 9 positions over the next two weeks when I was on holiday and away from a computer.

The style of trading I adopt now – where I often don’t check my positions for days, and only open new trades once a week – is far less stressful and appears to be performing quite well at present.

With the low amount of funds I have I am limited in the markets I can trade. All of my trades over the last year have been on UK shares that are under £7 whereas back in the days where I was losing a lot of money I would trade Gold, GBP/USD, US shares and stock indices.

My main aim for the first 12 months of this new, cautious approach to spreadbetting was to simply not lose money and providing that I don’t suddenly make a huge mistake or get caught on the wrong side of all of my trades, I could end up doing better than I imagined.

With stop losses in place on all my trades, I know that I am covered to an extent against a sudden crash (or boom) in the markets. Providing we don’t see massive gapping occurring in UK FTSE 350 shares I should survive.

What was missing in my trades back in 2004 was a solid money management plan. Everything I traded was at, say, £1 a point or £2 a point. It was always rounded up to the nearest pound.

Today it is different. One trade I opened this morning is for 72p a point, another for £1.05 a point. A few weeks ago I opened a trade for £5.23 per point but this has the same risk as all of the others.

Is this money management plan helping me to make successful trades? Maybe. What it definitely is doing is allowing me to relax. I know the worst case scenario for any trade I make and that makes it far less stressful.

No margin calls, no anxiously watching the screen hoping for a turnaround.

Risking only 2% per trade means I’d have to have 50 losers in a row to go bust. Although this can happen, the likelihood is low.

At the moment, it is quite enjoyable to be a “spreadbettor”.