I’ve had this terrible thought. We fail to beat Eastonia tonight and Steve McClaren resigns.

So far, so good.

But who’s next for the Second Most Important Job In England?

Mourinho, alas, seems to be staying put with Chelski. Even Ranieri’s found a new job. But there IS one man who’s on the market for another Big Job…

…Tony Blair.

Come ON England!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am running away to Budapest. To write. Which means I’m closing out my trades and will be out of the market. I shall also miss the final episodes of The Apprentice, but am here to tell you that either Tre or Naomi will win, that Amstrad’s share price continues to languish - check it out for a good shorting opportunity - and that I made a bundle out of Nike. (Enough to buy several pairs of Crocs, those ugly-yet-comfortable cloggy thingees that were very fashionable last year.)

Apologies in advance if I am even slower than usual at replying to my email. I shall be living it up in the thermal spas. Writing, I mean. But do keep your messages coming and I absolutely, definitely promise to answer.

sally@sallynicoll.com

As promised. The winner of Eric Maisel’s book (featured last month, scroll down to find out more) is Stella R., for sending me the week’s best email. It took the form of a joke, and it goes like this:

Annie was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road. As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride. With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.

Resuming the journey, Annie tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. But the old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a white bag on the seat next to Annie.

“What in bag?” asked the old woman.

Annie looked down at the white bag and said, “It’s a box of chocolates. I got it for my husband.”

The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said, “Good trade.”

If you’ve read Bets and the City, you’re well aware of the dangers of going to Cornwall when you’re speculating on sterling against the dollar. (I still wince when I remember what happened - no wonder that particular chapter was called ‘Is This The Darkest Hour?”)

So it was some trepidation that I set off last month to Bath. I have no sense of direction, and it was entirely possible that something would go hideously amiss on the M4 - or do I mean the M5? - and I’d end up crossing the wrong county border.

As it happened, all that did go wrong was that my Ka started overheating, and I was returned somewhat ingloriously to Primrose Hill on the back of a low loader.

Back home, I checked my emails.

Whoooops. A message from Tom Tragget of the Forex Profit Alert telling me my sterling/dollar trade should have been closed.

Too late now. What was about to cost me more? A new expansion chamber for the Ka (Ford has the temerity to charge over a hundred quid for what is, in essence, a plastic bottle)? Or my dud trade?

Imagine my surprise when I logged onto my Finspreads account…. instead of a loss, I had enough for half an expansion chamber (preferably the half that wasn’t leaking).

So that’s the West-of-England jinx finally put to rest.

And there was better still to come.

Tom Tragett had also recommended a Euro/Yen trade, and I’d left it open while I was away. On 10th May 2007, it had made me £407.50 at £2.50 a point. Alas, the following day, the price had retreated and I was down £260. Nevertheless, I’d won enough to get the Ka fixed.

So overall, how did Tom Tragett get on in May? Well personally, I’ve ended a month of using his tips losing £195. But that’s just me, and I have to say I didn’t exactly follow them to the letter.

Mind you, neither did my fellow Finspreads trader Rob N, who’s sent me the following email:

“Hi Sally,

I subscribed to TT last month. So far, I’ve followed every tip and overall he’s done pretty well. The only downside I’m finding is that keeping some of the rolling trades open is costing a lot in overnight carry. Aside from that the tips seem to be producing a very reasonable profit.

I set aside an account just for this activity and by a combination of skill and judgement (aka luck) I’ve managed to double the amount I started with. Partly this is down to using more than the recommended amount on each tip so the winners have done really well. And other times I’ve grabbed the cash before the winners retreated. But overall the tips are first class and he even provides some reasoning behind the tips so one can sound knowledgeable in the pub. Especially handy is the SMS alert which allows for some ‘blind’ on-the-road betting!”

In other words, you pays your money and takes your chance. I’m reporting modest losses, whereas Rob - jammy bugger - has doubled his money.

What have I learned? From now on, I’m going to put on tighter stop-losses than TT suggests (Why lose 250 points when the trade has already lost 100?) and use the monthly contracts rather than the rolling contracts that he recommends. The spreads are wider on than on rolling contracts, but I’ll eliminate the overnight charges that Rob mentions. It will involve a bit of maths - spot prices are always different from futures, although they they move in the same direction - and it’s something of a personal preference, as you only make one trade, rather than a series of day trades.

So yes, I’m still willing to recommend Tom Tragett. Don’t forget, you can sign up for three months, and then if you don’t want to continue, they’ll refund your subscription in full. Just send me an email with Free Forex in the subject line if you’d like full details.

sally@sallynicoll.com