Starting an SHC trading group

The idea of an SHC trading group has cropped up a few times; so maybe it’s type we give it a kick or kickstart.  We can gather together, just for the purpose of discussing trading tips, trading platforms, and sharing knowledge.

To make it simple, we keep the group small and manageable.  Let’s meet at the MPH cafe, as usual 1500 to 1800 hrs.  The date is Thurs 28 Oct 2010.

Can we have an EO for this event?  Perhaps, to lead this through for one year.

Registration list:

  1. Terence Seah
  2. Weng Hon
  3. Dolly Lim
  4. SB Khoo
  5. Alice Seah
  6. Able Tan
  7. Simon Lee
  8. Jazz Soh
  9. Ronald Lee
  10. Andrew Thio

Terence Seah

Author: Terence Seah

Founder

23 thoughts on “Starting an SHC trading group”

  1. Hi SHCians

    Sorry pals, due to work commitment I am unable to attend. However, as usual for the past couple of months I shall continue the sms of trading tips to some of you.

    Regards

    Abel Tan

  2. Hi Terence

    Please register me, tentatively, as I have to wait for some people to come and collect some bulky items at my place.

    If I can make it, I’ll come.

    Thanks and Regards Jazz Soh

  3. Hi SimonL #6,Jazz #5, Dolly and SB Khoo, and all previous participants,

    The SHC Trading group is a starter event. so we will gauge its interest over time. From the event, we will gather feedback and work on how to develop further programs. So, am all ears.

    Place is inside the MPH cafe at 63 Robinson Road. C u.

    Terence Seah

  4. Have any of you, who are using Internet Trading Platform, been disadvantaged by certain practices used by your Broker . If you do, it wld be useful to share your experiences and views here. I encountered some and these spooks me :
    1) When a cut loss price is exceeded, the position is not closed but left to run a good distance of further loss before the cut loss is triggered.
    2) When there is drama in the market, the Internet Trading Platform is shut down. The last one was on 19 Oct evening, when China lifted its interest rate.
    A situation where you can have a long position and you know that the price is dropping swiftly but you can’t access the trading a/c to deal with it and you don’t know at what price the cut loss is going to be triggered [see 1) above].

    I had a discussion with an Intl. Banker last week. His remarks were that I am using the wrong Broker – that prompted me to seek consensus.
    HC

  5. Hi Hou Chong,

    These happenings are common in broker’s trading platform especially if the broker is a market maker and that the derivative is not traded through an exchange. Therefore, having a right broker is important. It is a bit sensitive to discuss the tropic here and would prefer to discuss it offline. If you wish, you can furnish with more details related to the incidents to my email (ronaldxxlee@gmail.com) for further understanding and analyzing.

    Cheers

  6. Hi Hou Chong,

    I am using Poems and so far I have not faced any problems in respect to stocks and shares (cash trading & CPF)which are for long-term investment. For trading, I am using CFD and normally I would input the stop-limit order using a standalone program CFD Trader at 9 am so it does not really affect me.

  7. Hi Hou Chong,

    About your unfortunate experiences,

    “1) When a cut loss price is exceeded, the position is not closed but left to run….”
    When this happens I will say you have been ‘jobbed’, as mentioned before, the futures and commodities market is now well regulated, much less so than the scurities market, therefore dealers find this an ‘opportunity’ to job. Since there is no/not much regulation, the practice continues to build up. My reaction is to look for another broker. I don’t bother with excuses. Some big/brand name brokers will have good top mgmt who will support your complaint and these are the ones I would stick with.

    “2) When there is drama in the market, the Internet Trading Platform is shut down…..”
    When this happens I simply close the a/c. The rule is markets cannot shut down. They must be allowwed to trade so the participants can participate. Remember when the Singapore Stk Exch shut down in 1976? It took them many years before the Western fund mgrs forgave them. Remember the CLOB saga in M’sia? They are still suffering today and many US fund mgrs have not forgotten Mahathir’s actions in closing the CLOB and currency markets then. I am sure I speak for many Singaporeans who swear off, and also at them for losing tons of money when the CLOB was closed.

    Please, please, when this happens, be very suspicious and close the a/c before any real damage is done. You don’t need these type of brokers like the plague.

    A small proviso here for the securities market. Even for those using the internet to trade, when the market is ‘off’, for any reason, you can still call the house dealers to execute your trades. Why? Because teh market is more established and the mgmet wants to caover all possible bases, even in a market meltdown. Problem is you might not get through the phone in a market meltdown.

    Good luck.

    CU tmr

  8. Hi RonaldL #13,
    Thanks for your input. I certainly agree with you that having the right Broker is important. I brought up this subject on this open forum with the hope that by sharing, our members who are intending to take up trading in future, will be better informed when it comes to choosing the right Broker/s. Look fwd to discuss with you further.

    Hi Steven Ng #14,
    The stand-a-lone program CFD Trader sounds interesting. I will be in touch with you at a later time to find out more. TQ for sharing.

    Hi CharlesC #15,
    You confirmed what I suspected about “jobbing” in 1). The shut down mentioned in 2) was even more damaging. Fortunately for me, only petty vols were involved in 1) whereas for 2), I lost US$x k on Tuesday but I made US$x k + US$y k profit on Wed. jointly with a partner. So it didn’t bothered me too much but only to affirm my decision to open a new a/c with another broker.
    C u tom.
    HC

  9. Hi Hou Chong, Charles,

    Sometime ago, I opened a forex trading account. Excited as ever, I went about trying some real and serious money, after a few months of testing the trading platform. As usual, impatient and wanting to make $1,000 per month for my retirement expenses.

    Then, during one of the SHC Trading club discussions, Hou Chong raised a question to fellow traders on stop-losses. Of course, I was curious, if one sets a stop-loss, this would mean any prices loss would be limited. As the discussion goes on, I realise the online trading platform need not do so as instructed. This happened to me a few years back, and being green, I only blamed it on myself, although I was dead sure I set the stop-loss.

    I hope that for other SHCians, especially new traders planning to toy around with forex, do note there is a lot to read and learn how to trade, and that one has to keep in touch with the world’s current affairs. Over the weekend, I learnt this repeated warning from HenryY, don’t be greedy. OK, back to staying sane with a $1000 a month target.

    Terence Seah

  10. Dear Charles, very well said. In this day & age, “jobbing” is absolutely not tolerated. PERIOD!!!.
    Dear Hou Chong, have zero tolerance for crap coys, quaks & charlatans. It’s good U share the negative technicalities of some coy’s platforms in this forum. ( need not mention coy’s name in the process).
    Dear Terence, allow me to further elaborate since our SHCian frds r not privy to our conversation. hehe

    Greed & Fear have been described as one of the weakest link in a trader’s pychological makeup. This is the conventional thinking. As in our last descussion at the “bra”, my thinking is that a little greed & a little fear is good for the soul. When there’s too much fear, it then overwhelms our rationality. When there’s absolutely no fear, then tht’s when the fruits r ripe for an absolutely fall. Remember the $one billion & the myth of the “lords of the ring” hahaha

    Similarly greed is relative to each individual, greed must be seen from the perspective of our own “comfort level” in the position size tht v undertake. Our “comfort” r derived from our ability & willingness to take a certain potential loss everytime v undertake a trade. As v hv discussed before, most good traders can almost always discern where the markets are headed, but the “greed” of their “large” position size ensures tht their stops are almost always taken out before the markets moved where they thot it shud move to. So in short, if V hv the “right” position sizing tailored according to our risk tolerance & comfort lvl, the chances r higher for our ship to move closer to it’s home port.

    Also remember to avoid those who promises U paradise but cant do trading to save their own lives….hehe Thank You.

  11. I have just open two Forex practice accounts, Oanda and MT4. Mt4 seemsto be one computer trading platform. I can only assess it from my desktop computer. have not played with them much. Reason is that my flat is having some problem with the wiring and experience blackouts often these few days. the contractor will be rewiring my whole flat. takes 3 days. works starts on tuesday 2nd Nov.
    Looks like my trading will be interrupted for 2 to 3 days.
    Hopefully, I can use the Oanda brokers for trading forex in the near future.
    Do anyone of you use Oanda?

  12. Hou Chong
    Am not sure what you mean by your internet platform shutting down. Do you mean that it hangs or that the main system doesnt work?

    Hanging could be your ISP’s fault. I know of a few persons that have faced this issue including my brother. Unfortunately, Spore ISPs dont seem to handle well very high surge demands.

    PS: for ISP issue, you wont be able to access via the Internet other sites also (eg Google). During this time you might notice that your modem is reporting an error

    Would agree with Charles that if it’s your broker, you should change.

  13. Hi Andrew,
    May I elaborate. Normally there is a “Live Trading” button on the Broker’s website where one would click to bring up the trading platform after the username and password are keyed in. On that occasion, the “Live Trading” button was missing on the Broker’s website.
    You and Charles are absolutely right, no point toying around with a Broker once their practices were found to be less than ethical. Thanks for the advice.
    Incidentally, sometime when a trading platform freezed up, it can be caused by incompatibility betw the Brokers software and your pc operating sysytem.
    If such situations, just shut down the pc and open the trading a/c in another pc with a different op system (windows/mac/linux)
    HC

  14. The SHC whatsapp group “E-tradingEquities”, like all other existing chatgroups, will be given more autonomy. I have decided to relinquish my role as admin and moderator. This will give more creativity and freedom to the chatgroups and its new Group Admin. This takes immediate effect.

    This group admin is now: Simon Wong.

    To participate, plse contact SimonW here.

    Terence Seah

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