Fixed Odds betting has some big advantages over financial Spread Betting especially for those starting with smaller accounts. With Spread Betting you’re paid by the number of points you are correct by, with Fixed Odds you can make a large return with the market moving just a few points in your favour. Another massive advantage of Fixed Odds over Spread Bets is that you don’t need to worry about using Stops.

Apart from One Touch bets, with Fixed Odds you are buying time, similar to an option, so your bet could be wrong for days or weeks yet by the time expiration comes you can still end up in the money and win. Many traders have the right view on the market but their timing tends to be out and they are stopped out when using a spread bet, only to see their trade move in their predicted direction. By using a Fixed Odd bet this takes away the worries of day to day price spikes.

Here are 8 Top Tips for Fixed Odds Trading

1.  You can make money from Up, Down or Sideways movements

With fixed odds you can make money from markets moving up, moving down or staying in a sideways range, a concept that even professional traders find hard to grasp. Even after big falls in the markets in 2008 most traders are still conditioned to want to buy low and sell high.

Remember that markets fall faster than they rise so down bets can make quick profits. With fixed odds you can back currencies, shares and indices to fall all with limited risk and the most you can lose is your stake which can be as low as £10.

Sideways markets can be backed using Barrier Range bets. Until Betonmarkets.com introduced these it was very complicated to make money from range bound markets and you would have had to use options strategies such as selling options. Now you can do it with a simple bet and with strictly limited risk.

You would be surprised how often a currency, share or index actually stays in a range – until recently you could not profit from ranges.

2.  Learn to love volatility

With fixed odds, bookmakers such as betonmarkets.com you can place an UP/Down bet which basically means “I don’t know what the market is going to do but I think it’s going to move.”

As long as the market moves Up or Down and breaks above or below your predicted barrier you will be paid out. This bet is ideal after a market has been going sideways in a narrow range for awhile as the odds of a breakout becomes more probable. Those that follow charts can look for contracting triangle formations. As the price squeezes you know at some stage it will breakout normally with a big move. With Up/Down bets you don’t have to predict the direction of the breakout as long as it does breakout within your predetermined time.

Tip: Buy a bit of extra time. We all want our bets to payout as quickly as possible for the highest payout but I suggest taking a slightly lower payout and buying a few extra days of time. So let’s say your offer is 40% for the NASDAQ touching 1550 in 14 days, try going for 18 days, the extra few days have saved me on many of my trades.

3.  Use One Touch bets

Markets tend to be like lightening, they look for the path of least resistance.  When a market breaks above a resistance (ceiling) level you will tend to find the market will carry on in the same direction for at least a few more days. Just as a market breaks down through a Support (floor) the market carries on falling until its next support.

Using a One Touch bet traders can back these events, remember you’re saying the market just needs to touch the given level and that would be enough to payout.

So let’s use a recent Gold example. Gold started to build up momentum and broke over the $830 an oz level, looking at the chart I could see $850 was the next potential target, so I placed a ONE TOUCH bet that Gold would touch $850 within the next 14 days. Gold went on to hit $870 within a few days, so the bet paid out. Of course, if Gold did not touch $850 during the 14 days then my bet would have expired worthless.

If I do see the bet going against me and time is running out I can sell the bet back and look to salvage some of the stake.

A quick tip – markets have a tendency to move to round numbers both on the upside and downside, you often see this happen in currencies, indices and individual shares. Look for possible moves to next levels, especially on falling markets, if you look at the way the Dow Jones fell from 9,000 to 8,000 in a matter of days back in October 08 this demonstrates the point.

4. Balance Risk and Reward

Everyone likes the big payouts; however, you have to remember there is a reason why you’re being offered a 300% return, that’s because there is a fairly slim chance that the bet will not payout. On the opposite end a 1% return is hardly going to make you rich and should the bet go wrong you would lose a large stake.  

The simple answer is to look for a balance and mix and match trades. In my own trading I am looking for returns between 40% to 100%.

Tip: Look to tweak your bets. Before you accept the bet you will be shown the odds and asked to confirm whether you’re happy or not. You can adjust the levels and dates and see how this affects your payout.

5. Be a disciplined trader not a reckless gambler

After a good run many become over confident and start taking stupid risks. After a poor run many try to play catch up and want to make their losses back fast, both actions are the easiest way to lose your trading capital. Many books have been written on Money Management with complicated formulas. The key should be that no one trade should ever cause you so much damage financially or emotionally. How every sure you are the XYZ is going to rocket, only a percentage of your trading bank should be risked.

6. Run two bets together, trading a pair

Another strategy is to trade two different markets that have a negative correlation. For example, Gold and the US Dollar. Gold is priced in US$ so if the dollar weakens then Gold tends to rise. Gold is also used as a hedge against falling currency values. So you could look to have a Bear bet on the US$/Euro and a Bull Bet on Gold.

The Japanese Yen and the US stock markets is another pair that can be traded. You may have heard of the Carry Trade, where the Yen is sold as money is borrowed in Yen and then the Yen are converted and invested in higher yielding currencies such as the New Zealand Dollar.

If you look at the Euro/Yen and say the S&P500 you will see that as the Euro/Yen weakens (so money is flowing back to the Yen  which is the funding currency)) as does the S&P500. If you see a funding currency strengthen such as the Yen it means traders are taking less risk which is not good for equity markets.

7.Seasonality – History does repeat itself in many markets

My trading style uses technical analysis with seasonality. Most know what technical analysis is however seasonality is not as well understood. Seasonality is using the calendar and past results to forecast the likelihood of the same happening again. For example, Gold tends to be strong in September where as stock markets tend to be weak. Periods around market holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Independence Day and the first few days of the month tend to be stronger. The well known saying, “Sell in May and go away,” whilst not perfect, has worked as a good base to a trading system which I used to make large profits in 2008. You will also find seasonality in commodities and some currencies. Watch the Yen strengthen around March time as large Japanese companies close their financial books and tend to put Yen back on their balance sheet.

8.  Combine Spread Bets and Fixed Odds

Let’s say you have a core view that the FTSE100 is going down and you have placed a spread bet to back this idea. After a week or so the FTSE100 starts going up or sideways, you could of course close your spread bet or you could leave it open and look to place a fixed odds bet to run along side it, maybe a barrier range, so whilst the market is going sideways your spread bet will not be making money but at least your fixed odds will make a profit.

Are you missing out?

Many using Financial Spread Bets or CFD’s have a tendency to look at fixed odds as a poor mans options market or haven’t treated it as a serious trading platform. 

Fixed Odds financials are now over 10 years old and have come along way and offer both small and not so small clients a way to back markets in unique ways. I have personally used Betonmarkets.com since 1999 and have traded a good few million pounds worth of bets during the last few years. I can assure you that it’s a serious trading vehicle that can compliment both spread betting and other forms of investing and its popularity will continue to grow. You can open a fixed odds account within minutes and start trading with as little as £25.

Vince Stanzione has been trading markets for over 23 years. He now trades his own accounts as well as teaching others and is the author of “Making Money from Financial Trading.” For more information go to www.fintrader.net

Understandably, with every new team start, there is always going to be hesitation, awkwardness and general lack of coordination on their part. But by making the effort in providing an exciting, challenging and enjoyable event, your new team will see that effort, and no doubt match it in their commitment to fulfilling their expected duties in the workplace.

It’s highly recommended that the event that you choose is as close in substance and action, to the tasks that they will face in the workplace. Team building events prove excellent in breaking tensions with new groups, and directly putting them into a situation where they are required to actively work together.

Also remember that, the more physical and demanding the event may be; the harder the team will work for their reward. An event of this kind will stimulate them to continue to work hard together because they will see that successful teams working hard together deliver the outcomes and are rewarded for it.

It’s important to understand that no matter how quickly you want to put your team together, they will go through the stages of Tuckman’s model of teams. Tuckman’s model suggests that teams go through several stages in their development. The first is forming, their first formation, the early stages of connecting with each other. At this point, they are highly dependent on their leader. The second is storming, the honeymoon is over and personalities assert themselves and potentially clash. Thirdly, is the norming phase, where the team is working well together, and working well with the leader. Lastly is performing, when the team has a clear awareness of its goals and why it is doing what it is doing and team operates with leadership making only necessary interventions.

If you can take your team through to the final ‘performing’ stage before they hit the actual work environment by planning a challenging team event, you can speed up the Tuckman model.

Perhaps this is also the crucial point at which you can assess the personalities of the groups. The team’s strengths and weaknesses can be identified here, and strategies and interventions put in place to improve, correct, adjust and build on existing conditions.

A well-planned event can provide an excellent opportunity to begin motivating and driving your team towards goals. A particularly competitive and goal orientated team event can provide an essential backbone to their induction – sending a message of motivation and competition to your new team start.

Successful organisation and execution of an event also shows your commitment to your workforce, giving them the drive to succeed in their career and the want to achieve more. Ensure that they know that you are serious, determined and dedicated to making their experiences both memorable and rewarding.

Enable your new team starts to settle in quickly and prove efficient immediately by contacting  Simon Lovegrove at The Center for Professional Development on +44 178 449 7025 or visit europe.cpdinfo.com today

Step 1: Get start by learning the basic first

Many affiliates try to learn how to run before you know how to walk by implementing marketing tactics and strategies without really understand how to make them success. That’s why many of them failed. If you really interested to earn extra income online through affiliate marketing; then get yourself understand first on how affiliate marketing works. Since affiliate marketing is a business of promoting other people product, you need to learn the how to advertise effectively so you can drive the targeted traffic to the destination page(destination page can be at your website or merchant’s landing page). There are many ways to advertise your affiliate business, learn up the pros and cons on each type of advertising program. Pay special attention to pay-per-click advertising program such as Google AdWords because you may want to drive instant traffic using the competitive but effective marketing channel.

Step 2: Find Niche Market You Are Interest In

Once you have learned the basics knowledge of affiliate marketing. Your next step should be finding a niche market to focus on. You can choose to start with the market where you interest is or you can choose the market with high demand. But, if you really want to earn extra income online with affiliate marketing or you are planning to quit you day job once your affiliate revenue beat your day job income, then you should always choose the niche market with huge money circulating around. Such markets may include finance, mortgage, make money online, gambling or education. The markets with huge money circulation will normally very competitive, you should prepare to face the challenge if you want to make a success.

Step 3: Find Targeted Keywords

Most affiliates tend to register a domain name for their website before they do keyword analysis to find the targeted keywords for their niche market. In fact, you should conduct the keyword analysis and find a list of keywords that targeted to your selected market. The key reason to analyze keywords before domain name registration is identify the main keywords that you can included into your domain name; this help in search engine optimization to get better position in search results on the main keywords.

Step 4: Set Up A Website

Although you can choose to do affiliate marketing with direct-linking method which you do not need to have a website, you diverse the traffic generated from your marketing activities directly to the merchant website. This direct-linking method may work find in the past day, but with today’s competitive market, you need to have very good strategies if you want to success using this method. Hence, it is advisable for a new affiliate to do affiliate marketing with a website to pre-sell your visitors before you link them to merchant’s website. At the same time, you need to learn up the search engine optimization techniques so that you can optimize your website to be search engine friendly for your targeted keywords in order to get the free and highly targeted traffic from search engines.

Step 5: Setup, Run, Test & Refine Marketing Campaign

Finally, you are ready for business. You should put your efforts to drive free traffic from a few proven traffic-build methods such article and web directory submission. Although it takes some times to see the results, it’s worth in the long run. At the mean time, you may start to drive traffic to your website using paid search marketing such as pay-per-click or Google AdWords advertising to drive instant drive to your website. No all campaigns will deliver equal results. You should setup, run, test and then refine your ad campaigns until you get profitable campaigns that generate revenue for your affiliate business. Be ready to face some losses during the marketing campaign testing phase.

Summary

Affiliate marketing is a profitable business. You can use it to earn extra income online and even replace your day job income. If you want to success in the business, you need to do it right and you can use the above tips to guide you through.

You are going to have to learn to save money. It can be hard to learn, but is actually quite easy once you get the hang of it. Here are a few tips for getting started.

First, you have to start organizing your finances. This will help you in seeing your true financial situation. How will you be able to get out of debt if you don’t know how much debt you have? How can you save if you don’t know what you are spending? Gather all of your financial documents and calculate what your monthly bills are. Take the time to create a budget. Be honest and include everything — otherwise your budget won’t work.

In order to truly budget, you are going to have to know what you spend each month. This helps you see where all the money is slipping out. You can use a computer and personal financial software or a small notebook. The key is to write down every penny you spend. This sounds time consuming, but can be a lot easier if you simply get receipts for every purchase. Then write them down every couple of days. Anything you don’t get a receipt for you will need to write down immediately.

Now the savings begin. You look at what you are spending and see where you can cut things. You may need to be extreme and cut out everything but the necessities. Satellite TV and cable can go. You can reduce your cell phone plan and use it for emergencies only. You can look for ways to reduce your utilities and grocery bills. If you are buying coffee each morning, stop buying it and make it at home instead.

If you have your paycheck direct deposited into your account, have your employer split it and deposit a portion into your savings. This can be $10 or $200. It doesn’t matter. The idea is to start saving money. When it is automatically put in your savings and you never see it, it becomes quite easy to forget about it. If you get a raise, have the amount of the raise put in your savings each month. When you never see the money, you learn to live without it. It is the easiest way to save.

If you want to protect your budget from disruptions, you need to start a savings account that will handle your annual expenses. These are the things that don’t come due on a monthly basis. You need to save for Christmas, holiday spending, birthdays, annual insurance premiums, property taxes and other annual events. By saving this amount, you won’t stretch your budget beyond its limits later.

With the same idea in mind, you should start contributing something towards an emergency fund. You never know when something will break down. When it does, it usually puts you in a financial pickle. You can avoid the stress to yourself and your finances by having an emergency fund. Most financial advisors recommend that you have at least three months of expenses in the fund. Don’t let this discourage you. Put anything you can in there. Even if it isn’t a full month’s worth, it will help out in an emergency.

This is ironic. One of the best ways to save money is to get out of debt. And that is why you start saving money in the first place. So I guess you could say that by getting out of debt you can save even more money. Think of how much you are paying in interest. That amount could be going into your savings and earning you interest. Instead of paying a lender, the bank could be paying you. It is important to get your debt paid off first, then work on your savings.

Don’t focus on trying to save a certain percentage of your income unless that goal drives you to save. The key in the beginning is to save as much as possible. Have goals that you are working towards. Budget wisely and make saving a habit. It will pay off in the long run.