The Speculator:This is the last Speculator column. Not, I'm happy to say, because the cash was blown in a mad moment at the roulette wheel. Rather, I will be switching soon to a new role within the Guardian.

A cartoon I came across last week captured the mood of this market. Two figures are being buffeted in a stampede of bulls. The first says: "You can either run with 'em or against 'em". The second, as he is propelled forward on a pair of horns, replies: "I suggest with."

With the frenzy over Rightmove, following this market could be the wrong move.

Nils Pratley: Emotional control, they say, is the most useful quality you can bring to the game of trying to make money actively in the market. I am starting to agree. There are so many ways to suffer setbacks - the wrong stock, the wrong price, bad timing, too large a bet, too small a bet - that shrugging your shoulders at each frustration becomes harder and harder.

Nils Pratley: Mining stocks, the portfolio's long-term favourite, were inevitably going to wobble at some point. Naturally, it would happen just as I had upped my bets on the sector. Last week was difficult: down £600 at one point, I was thankful for a loss half that size.

Nils Pratley: For most of the life of this exercise in speculation, I have thought I had been pushing my luck by running what felt like big positions in mining companies.

The Speculator: That's what we wanted: a gung-ho bid battle for P&O, an approach to BOC, the oldest takeover target in town, a resurgent Japan and fresh enthusiasm in New York.

The Speculator: Volatility, in the form of fast price movements offering potential for quick profits, is what spread-betting companies say their clients prefer. Personally, I hate it.

The Speculator: The old saying that it's better to travel than to arrive was on my mind last week, writes Nils Pratley. It's the problem of when to take your profits, a subject that has produced many well-known pieces of market wisdom.

Nils Pratley: If the water looks inviting, you should swim when you're winning.

Nils Pratley: I've banked £900 in profit but the learning experience goes on.

Nils Pratley: Suddenly this all seems too good to be true.

Nils Pratley: It's easy to deal with the losers but sudden winners can be tricky.

Last week was the first for ages in which I didn't close any positions. Next week will not see a repeat. One of the peculiarities of trading by spread betting - the method being used for this exercise in speculation - is that there is a modest financial incentive to make changes before quarterly contracts expire.

Nils Pratley: It's feast or famine these days. A fortnight of meagre rations ended in satisfactory fashion last week - a 4% gain was more than I could reasonably have expected and a welcome relief from several weeks during which the portfolio was showing a loss on September's starting capital of £10,000.

Nils Pratley: An apology is almost in order. The promise of thrills and spills has not been met and for the second week running the portfolio moved less than a tenner. I can only plead that it's not deliberate.

Nils Pratley: It is time to run with the bulls with a little more enthusiasm.

Nils Pratley: Plain-speaking is such a rare commodity I'm glad to put cash behind it.

Nils Pratley: Is this a rally I see before me? Time, maybe, to live a bit more dangerously.

The most arresting remark about the market last week was made by Roger Guy, one of those anonymous masters of the universe from the world of hedge funds whose views carry weight for the simple reason that he has a superb investment record.