Haha Kfann, those points really resonate for me, especially these two:
22 Nov 19: "....this investment will take several years to unfold. Patience." [how did I not see the turbo potential?]
30 April 20: "...they are taking the business in the right direction..." [Vertical!! not ENE you conservative prat]I have been accumulating since November 2018 with a 3-5 year horizon for it to be a multi-bagger. Then along came Bevan and yesterday's announcement..!
Bets on companies like 3DP for me are all or nothing, having done the same on NEA (which I note Kfann was/is also a holder of) starting in 2010. When COVID hit, I was down 50+% on my 3DP. Given the all or nothing approach I was not going to sell but I also did not have cash to buy more. To be honest I probably wouldn't have bought more regardless as I had already established the position I wanted.
To elaborate on all or nothing and what is the right entry price and timing, I openly admit I am a terrible trader and have two stories to share.
The first was my initial purchase of 3DP. I'm copy & pasting this from an email I wrote to a friend at the time (November 2018):
It's [3DP] not too far away from cashflow breakeven in the next 12-ish months although that will require a capital raising = dilution. But I'm willing to wear that risk. [present day note: in hindsight I was still too early here, despite having watched the business since IPO in 2016]
I went and looked at the market and to get 500,000 shares I needed to soak up everything from 4.4c up to 4.9c. I put in a limit order for 500k @ 4.9c and it got stuck in "Processing".
2 minutes later I get a call from CommSec advising me why: because a movement from last traded of 4.2c to 4.9c would be a 16% movement. CommSec would get in trouble for allowing me to move the stock price that much in one go. It would mean the market cap jumps some $3m+ thanks to my <$25k order.
Apparently ASIC and the Corporations Act requires CommSec as the broker to ensure there is some "price discovery" before allowing such a movement.
I explained to the guy I don't want to fart around with a partially filled order but he said thems the rules. I basically have to buy at 4.4 or 4.5c, wait a while and see if any new sellers come in because my order is in market, then only after some period of time I can amend the order upwards.
I asked if there is some % threshold, like if I stayed under a 10% rise would that be ok and he said no, there's no hard rules about % movements, ASIC just wants to see price discovery to minimise or prevent market manipulation.
Guess I should thank ASIC and CommSec for getting a better price - I ended up putting in the order at 4.5c and got all 500k at that price.
The second part of "I have no idea about timing" comes from October 2019, right before 3DP did their capital raising.
I was the bozo that bought at the top of the market for 6.4c. I did so because I had just met Ian at an event Canary Capital hosted and liked what I heard. I had a pretty strong feeling the CR was coming, and likely at 5c, but I also knew that as a non-s708 I would not be able to participate. I paid a premium in market thinking that 3DP would rocket after the CR removed the threat of further CRs. I was wrong again -- that pretty much was the peak of the market until recent times, with 3DP hitting a low of 1.8c on 19 March!
How far we've come.
