Current returns for 2008/09 financial year?

[Mr J]

Quality is subjective.
You dont know how good quality is until a time after when.
Why is a call to action.
When is action.

If action (why) is never taken then you dont have a when.

Which is why I said they necessitate each other, but my point is that a quality "why" - "why" meaning good underlying trading philosophy - is what is important, as quality "whens" will naturally follow.

 

[jonojpsg]

man thats got to seriously hurt!! at what % of the buy price should you put stop losses? and do they charge extra for using them?

The "standard" trading figures are risk 1-2% of your capital on any one trade. This means if you put 10% of your capital into say BHP at $30, and you are willing to lose/risk 1% (of capital) this is 10% of your trade or $3. Hence you put your stop loss at $27. Comsec charge you $10 for an executed stop loss.

Many other ways of doing it, eg technical/chart indicators, support/resistance, etc. but it SHOULD come back to how much you are willing to lose on each trade. I am still making trades without stop losses and it's something that I really need to get over, thinking that I know better and that this time my trade will only go the way I want it to.

In reality, I'm surprised I'm still liquid

 

[craigj]

Let me get this straight

Bought 1 lot at $27
Bougth 1 more lot at $18
Bought 1 more lot at $13.50

That's epic, epic, epic averaging down. I really hope this works for you every time. Cause the day it doesn't work your going to lose the lot




How can you make a capital loss on a trade that is profitable?
Can you please fill me in
Im sure a few of my clients will be happy to know they can do this!

have sold the $27 parcel at $20 x 300 shares = loss of $2100
my dollar cost aver. was 19.14 so am reducing my holding and wes is still a profitable trade


to the others i bought fmg at 4.8 it was the 3rd stock i ever bought and i have learnt the hard way about trying to catch a falling knife i will have to sell before june 30 for the capital loss unsure whether i will buy back in
always felt to much risk with this stock to dollar cost average

 

[johannlo]

You're doing great mate

I entered in Jan with a similar amount but made the mistake of being too conservative and also sold a bunch of smaller picks at 10-20% (which have subsequently doubled lol). I really wandered into it thinking 'as long as its more than a fixed deposit I'm doing alright' mentality + 'how much worse can it get'.

Fortunately I started getting into it and in early April I shifted half of my portfolio onto small mid-cap explorers and am sitting on ~15% up including reinvesting everything I made and dividends. So your 50% is awesome to me

Still there's a few horses left in the 'is it breaking out' pile so hopefully this rally can continue, then I can re-learn the painful 'do I sell now' dilemma

 

[craigj]

with the do i sell it now dilemma

sometimes i will sell half realise a gain and then monitor the price the next few days to see whether the price is still running or if profit takers are coming in

doing this with ROC at the moment

 

[jono1887]

sometimes i will sell half realise a gain and then monitor the price the next few days to see whether the price is still running or if profit takers are coming in

How do you tell the difference???

 

[Julia]

How do you tell the difference???

What do you think will happen if profit takers move in, jono?

 

[jono1887]

What do you think will happen if profit takers move in, jono?

Umm.. the price will drop again...
So essentially you don't know, you sell half, and hope for the best that it will continue to rise??
so if: Profit takers come in - drop
Price is actually rising - up

 

[johannlo]

Its basic hedging your bets, kinda like the reverse of doubling down. Good tip. I already did this with my Toll shares and thank god as they bounced up a dollar literally an hour after I sold half to reallocate into miners. After doing nothing for 6 months + no major announcements = confusion for this small time newbie

 

[craigj]

yes it is reverse of price averaging in it reduces the variation in profit margin due to timing we cant all pick when a share is at its high and it is the perfect time to sell

bought into ROC at .41 rose sharply last week sold half at .595 and the other half at .645 on friday average is .62

initally it got to .66 intraday but was at work saw .595 as good chance to lock in half profits and psychologically once you have locked in half profits you are not so jittery when price drops to .55

 

[Loose]

There should always be room in your trading sytem to average down, I'm sure most on here have done it at least once. The important thing is to do it for the right reason. If you still have confidence in the fundamentals of a company and have legitimate reasons to trade then do it. Having said that setting a stop loss should be on top of your list as must do's otherwise it could all go up in smoke.
As far as returns for this year go there would be a range of -30% to sky is the limit around here so try not to consider what other people are achieving, focus on your own methods, chart your progress and remember you never stop learning.

Good luck

 

[beamstas]

There is a quote in Guppys book

It goes something like this

"Never,Never Ever average down

 

[mazzatelli1000]

The important thing is to do it for the right reason. If you still have confidence in the fundamentals of a company and have legitimate reasons to trade then do it.

Good luck

Sorry for the cliche - but the market may stay irrational longer than one stay's solvent.

Averaging down - done this before and found my maximum allocation was in a losing position
Prefer to put on full allocation and scale out depending on legitmate reasons

 

[jono1887]

There should always be room in your trading sytem to average down, I'm sure most on here have done it at least once. The important thing is to do it for the right reason.

I've done twice and it can be a useful tool in increasing profits... but i do see the point in having a majority of your capital in a loosing stock... got to use it in the right situations i suppose

 

[anthonyriley]

hey guys! many of u trade CFD's if so you will know results like 1000% arent impossible, you really need a structured trading plan and the right mentality/mind frame. And when u consider u can get margins on the major index cfds of like 0.5% thats a lot of potential!

 

[jono1887]

hey guys! many of u trade CFD's if so you will know results like 1000% arent impossible, you really need a structured trading plan and the right mentality/mind frame. And when u consider u can get margins on the major index cfds of like 0.5% thats a lot of potential!

It also gives you the potential to loose like 1000% aswell doesn't it? With a CFD, wont one person in the transaction always be loosing out whilst the other makes the profits??

 

[MRC & Co]

It also gives you the potential to loose like 1000% aswell doesn't it? With a CFD, wont one person in the transaction always be loosing out whilst the other makes the profits??

Na, everyone gets a car like the one in anthonyrileys pic!

 

[jono1887]

Na, everyone gets a car like the one in anthonyrileys pic!

If only life was truly like that
We can only dream i guess...

 

[anthonyriley]

I agree with what u guys are saying, but the isnt the key to have a trading plan. Shouldnt we all be aiming to make a profit. . . if so why is everyone always worrying about stop losses as if they automatically think they will make a losing trade. For the me they key is to know ur stuff inside and out, live it basically and then when u trade you dont have to second guess yourself. If you have backtested and backtest and live tested ur strategy and it works then why cant you achieve results of 1000% increases.

 

[anthonyriley]

It also gives you the potential to loose like 1000% aswell doesn't it? With a CFD, wont one person in the transaction always be loosing out whilst the other makes the profits??

Also think of it like a sport. . . .you arent exactly gonna out in a soccer world cup final as a goalkeepern be like OMG how many goals am i going to let in or how unprepared i am. . . .your gonna go in with confidence and know and see the victory if your not then its a waste of time really.