The Naked Trader Book

My book The Naked Trader has just been published.

You can order it on next-day-delivery from the ADVFN bookstore [click here]

Much of the book explains the best way to use the great facilities available on the ADVFN website. If you've been wondering whether to start buying shares and are a complete beginner, then it's for you. I hope you'll find that there's a wealth of good stuff in there for older hands too.

I'm glad to say all the reviews so far have been very positive. Many have reckoned that the book is both informative and a good laugh too! I really hope by reading the book you will become a better investor, and - at the very least - learn from my early mistakes. You will also find out ways to get the best out of the ADVFN bulletin boards.

It's all written in plain English, if you know what I mean. Some investment books remain a mystery due to all the jargon.

I hope you will also find that I give you the essential techniques for picking the good shares – and, more importantly, how to avoid the bad ones. Clem Chambers, CEO of ADVFN, has also contributed with an excellent article on how to use Level 2.

ADVFN has very kindly allowed me to plug the book here, so apart from saying " Buy It!" let me move onto recent market activity!

It's been a very volatile couple of weeks and I think we could be in for a spell of big ups and big downs. The effect it's been having on my trading is that I am actually trading more! I feel that the reason for this (in this year so far) is that it has been easy to buy, hold and make money. But that's come to an end, except for some core holdings.

Now I am going to try and make some shorter-term trades to take advantage of the volatility. I've also opened some shorts. I think it's essential to have some open now in order to take advantage of the drops.

My first four shorts are in Meggitt, Blacks Leisure, Dairy Crest, and Provident Financial. I picked these as they were the worst looking charts I could find. I'm sticking with my second-line oils, such as Burren Energy and Tullow Oil - with Paladin being taken out, could these two be next?

With the market in a state of flux, I have halved a lot of positions. This enables me to have cash in the bank - giving me 'firepower' if the market tanks, and allows me to get stuck-in if bargains appear.

Despite the cloud hanging over the market, I took a little gamble on a tiny oil company called Aminex, buying at 18.5p. The price has already gone over 21p. I'll let you know how I got on in the next column.

In the meantime, enjoy The Naked Trader!