This is an opportunity for me to summarise my trading in my head so I can look back in future and see how far I have come (either forward or backward from here) This post is as much for my own benefit as for yours.
On a personal note, I very much enjoy your contributions to the DT forum and wish you all the best in your trading!
I am a newbie myself and enjoy following the DT forum and read up detail on loads of ASX stock forums and company announcements each evening after I get home from the office and everyone has gone to bed!! I see my trading as me fitting in a second job. It is not my real job at the moment since I have not learnt enough for it to be a certainty of income as yet. You will also note from the details below that I have a combination of experience from daytrades to holds.
My current plan/strategy in this "second job" is to learn as much as I can while taking (what I consider to be) managed risks. I have "played" with a couple of stocks with a longer term view (eg I held CNX for well over a year) and have also been in and out of countless stocks for quick profits and losses (eg FMG, BUY, MMRO - did very well on MMRO, CTP etc). In all, I guess I have been in and out of say 20 stocks over the past 3 months - not a lot by some people's standards but IMO more than I needed to be in and out of. Again that is part of what I have learned from my experiences.
I will reflect on a couple of buy/sell stories below (I think Winkatcha made a great point in his post re openness and ability to learn from others and I am happy to contribute to the discussion with the same level of candor too)
One trade that I am most proud of was a LOSS - believe it or not! BBI - bought at 13.5 and sold at 13 within less than 1 minute. It was that day a couple of weeks ago (when it ran up from around 6-7c - I got in too late but acted on my gut and closed quickly - which was perfect decision since 5 minutes later it was back at around 10ish!! While I was one of the "idiots" that bought 100k of the mere 600k traded at 13.5 that day - I was one of the smart ones to sell at 13!!
Moral of the story: If you buy on gut, be prepared to sell on gut too and live with the decisions either way. Kill the emotion as best you can (since I am aware buy/sell on gut in itself is doing so on emotion - but this is a stock forum not a philosophy one).
Watched MMRO versus MMR and could see how it was tracking. Bought in and out maybe 10 times in a day and made a bomb. Mistake - I was free carrying some of them from that day's profits and did not have a firm stop in my head. A better trade would have been to close all at what I thought may have been the top. If the run continued then I could have rather bought again as a fresh trade.
Moral of the story: Free carrying is not all it cracks up to be or better said it's still your money so respect it as such and close your position if move back down is more than you'd like it to be.
Like MMRO/MMR - have done same with PRR/PRRO, LBY/LBYO, BCN/BCNOA etc. Just watching the premium/discount to heads
BUY - too hyper active for me the first Friday when it went to 12. I was in and out at 10 for brokerage that day. Came back later to fight another day and made a nice little return summarised in this post on the BUY thread http://www.hotcopper.com.au/post_single.asp?fid=1&tid=983743&msgid=5483890
Moral of the story: When playing with a spec treat it like a spec
FMG - had an order in the market not realising it would hit (it had been at 4.50 and the order was at 4.10) - when it hit (I had not been watching the price that day) then I saw the confirmation come through and rather than get greedy sold at 4.22 for a quick in/out - this, at the time, I consider to be my first real day trade
Moral of the story: When it is not in the plan - at least gain a lesson from the experience.
BJT/AJA - Nice little earner after watching the movements in price for a while and mental charting of where highs and lows can be. When not to expectation, close the position and do not get greedy
NTC - Bought in early 20's closed at 32. Disappointed by my sale so honest enough with myself to buy in again at 32 and 31 and saw it run to 40 a day or two later
NBS - Bought as a long term hold - saw too many mixed singles - closed what I did not trust - I may be wrong on this but I will sleep better with the confidence I have in cash over lack of confidence from poor communication from company
IPL - Bought at 3.00 (after waiting from 2.80ish) for the graph to break 3.00 targeting high 3's- saw it hit 3.30 and then return to 3.15. Decided to close at 3.29 so added sell order to stack - it hit and continued up to 3.39 (felt okay since everyone should make their money too) and watched it drift back to 3 and a little lower still.
Moral of story: Be prepared to change your view if it does not follow as you'd expect - I was looking for a faster breakout above 3
OEL - Bought at 6.8c - watched range from 7 down to 6.2 - gut feel was 5.9 was bottom - pumped more at 5.9 and still holding - regret I had an order to sell at 6.8 which I pulled and this would have hit - it is now back to 6.3/6.4 - time will tell but am holding this since I still feel this is bottomed out and while not much talk on the stock I feel some reliable HC posters will comment on this when they feel no good (eg Kevi, haspete, PJ etc)
SDL - Had watched from 14. Bought at 20 - rose to 22 or 23 that day. Still held. Range traded 18-19 for days/weeks. Saw it hit 17.5, bought more - gut feel was it would not hold and did not like what I saw in market close auctions - so closed entire position at 17.5 - this has proven good. Target for re-entry was 15 but am waiting to see if there's a chance of 13. Currently at re-entry target already and watching from sidelines.
TAM - bought at 5.1 (twice) sold at 5.5 and 5.4 - not greedy to take it to 7 since I know nothing about this stock
BCNOA - same story as TAM - I knew nothing about this and played roulette. Did not chase the price when buying (thanks Ipod - I think of you each time I do this). SP did not move quick enough to expectation (set by Aksier who had been following this stock for a while) and realised that I was too late - closed for brokerage - in and out at 1.9 - could have closed for 2 - but I was not in it to make a quick one or save brokerage I was seeking higher 2's and happy that I got out.
CXY - long term potential - started to learn to filter good news (eg extra resource find - IMO so what - since no commercial operation yet) and sometimes sell into this type of good news with confidence. Also held trading bundle and long term bundle which allowed me to add orders in sell stack which I had not even acquired yet and this helped my position in the queue when these types of announcements came to market.
MMB - Bought a few weeks ago at 70 (did not chase 80 where it was at the time) and will hold this for Toronto stock exchange listing - "they" say people understand Platinum better in Canada and London (where new director is based) and I have a target of $1-$1.50 on this and happy to hold based on homework I have done - SP not doing much on ASX but there is not much talk about it. In my favour, tightly held, excellent credentials of majority shareholder, very strong reported platinum finds so far - I do not mind that market has not reacted - as a point to note - look at SFR (no one talked about it at 6c and it is now $3-$3.50 - extreme example but point is that people talking about a stock is not the only criteria for it to rise) - Also not a stock from DT forum due to volumes.
The list could continue....
All said and done Viphar, don't only follow what day traders talk of, do your own homework too and be prepared to stumble on stocks by chance - you can surprise yourself. There are quite a few others I have traded successfully but on similar principals as above mentioned (eg tracking option versus heads like with MMR) and ones which I hear of on DT and jump in and out of bed with rather than take home to meet the family - lol
My sentiment is that amount invested is not so imported as %'ages gained. As a guide to success for me on my learning curve - I started the year down 67% on invested value - changing plan from only long term holding and playing the market I have overall gain of approx 50% in last 2-3 months (alone) and have made back all my losses carried at start of year. It gives me a kick to annualise that in % terms - yet still I do not feel I have learned enough to give up my "day job" - I have much to learn about the markets and myself.
That said, I remain non greedy and know that I could be down as quick as I can be up - but enjoy what I am doing more and have removed the addiction factor by killing the emotion of holding onto any one particular stock
