Short Term Trading Weekend Lounge 18-20th Mar

Originally posted by webbj ↑

The CMC platform is very good for what you pay for in my opinion.

All of the trading mentioned in my last post was in a single CMC account. After 11 trades for the month, brokerage is $9.90 which is the cheapest I am aware for a retail mainstream advertised rate where you can just sign up on-line.

I originally swapped to CMC with the intention of using it for short-term trades. Since then - for my system - I have realised the brokerage is less important. Its still money but if a $1000 parcel ends up being worth $1500, the difference brokerage differences mean a 46% return or 48% which is real but not as significant as I first expected. If you are doing dozens and dozens of trades, this might be more of an impact on your return.

Further to my last post, of the $33k capital, I turned it over quite a few times - buying and selling just under $400k worth of shares. Brokerages was around $1500 with CMC. If that was CommSec, I would have paid double the brokerage but it would still easily come out ahead at a porfolio level - from very modest trade sizes.

A benefit of CommSec though is that you don't need to have cleared funds for open orders. This is fantastic for bottom-fishing. I often have multiple low orders in for stocks and you can sometimes be surprised with a bargain - especially the ones trading crazy below cash. Getting some GRV at 1.2c recently is an example when it has cash nearly double that. Having lots of open orders can be risky if you aren't paying attention and bad or left-field news comes in though - especially if you don't have funds at call to pay them in the T+2.

CMC will reserve the funds for open orders, even if it never executes - this to some extent dictates my strategy for that account. I can't afford to lock up money that might or might not ending up going through, not to mention the deep-value plays are often longer term so having the cash locked up for a few months is not quite the short term trading often in this thread.

If anyone wants to watch a pro in the boneyard, they should pay close attention to @minoil, its not unusual to suddenly see HotCopper love on a shell or a stock - then look through the posts and realise that he has been there weeks or months prior soaking up shares at a fraction of the price the masses are now paying!

One problem with CommSec is that the orders expire. CMC ones sit there indefinitely, I have lost my place in the queue a few times which can be frustrating if you are trying to flip something for a few pips and its not super liquid etc.

Conditional orders with CommSec are stupid expensive. CMC they are free so worth considering as well.

Thanks, would love to hear more about how you do what you do - especially finding all the left-field prospects in the first place.

Expand

thanks Webby, i'm flattered !!
i think we covered how to find stocks before..........but..........a brief run down on my methods, though its certainly not anything technical.
picking 20-30 roughies out of the AFR...........thin them to 3M MC or less..........low number of shares, low debt, not much activity within the company. That gets me a short list............
T20..........who's there (most important)
who's buying, or, a new appointment to the board
any hints of future direction
collaborating info with friends/associates
liquidity.........not frightened of tight stocks, but will try to assess if its possible to get in, either with small orders to stay under the radar, or a big one to flush out any big holders wanting an exit...........i usually dont worry about liquidity for an exit, as i am primarily going in to wait for an event, which will provide the liquidity (having said that, i have been caught in stocks that wont even let you out at all !)
HC threads.......quite useful to get sentiment, and pick up little scraps of info about company or board etc........saves a lot of google searching............No posts on the thread will prick my ears up.......as will posts by one or two posters only (lonely guys, stuck in a slow moving shell!!)

For the goldies i have traded, it was basically finding ones with a nice little resource, and having the chance to tackle a big holder getting out (GMD, BAR were prime ones).....

so many factors, but its basically research, assembling the clues...........and...........gut instinct is a big factor, trying to predict the future and having the conviction to go in alone...........sometimes it works, sometimes its a disaster !
We all have our methods for stock picking...........my methods would probably horrify some traders, and, i wouldnt know how to pick a TA entry, or assess a company on its financials, or, assess a tech acquisition............we all find our niche, and find other posters who a good at their assessments, and, getting a mix of all that, gives us all a head start on the market..........and...........this is the thread where you find the pick of them (as well as the XSO thread)