The idea of The Spread Betting Diary is simple; this column is intended to document of my journey into the world of spread betting, recording the highs and lows of someone who has until recently not even known what a spreadbet is.

A little background. The Spread Betting Diary is not actually a new idea - this is in fact the reproduction of my column that originally appeared on The Economy News under the name The Virgin Spreader.

The success of the column as it appeared in The Economy News provided the impetus for the creation of Spread Betting for Me. Our insight into this fascinating industry that brings the financial markets to the every day person simply can't be contained on one column any longer.

The story of spread betting will be told on the website but importantly my insight into spread betting through the eyes of a beginner will continue to be told in this column.

So the first few entries here will be the best postings taken from The Virgin Spreader column in order to provide the back ground and contextual framework within which the blog is set.

It has been quite amusing reading my earlier postings once again - at the time I was confident that my new spread betting 'hobby' would go smoothly, that the profits were just waiting for me to pluck them of an eternally giving tree of money.

Unfortunately it did not go as planned and I had my account cleaned out on two occasions.

But this is where I hope the blog provides a use, it is the mistakes that make us better, and nowhere is this mantra more true than in the financial markets.

They are highly unpredictable and unfortunately for those in spread betting this can hurt a great deal more due to the leveraged nature of the game.

At the same time the sense of achievement and reward that comes with getting it right after so many failures is fantastic.

And hence why I am still here today writing about spread betting despite taking a few beatings along the way.