Week ending March 4th - £6,071
A good bump up in profit this week to £6,071 as some nice gains booked on Xcite Energy, Sirius Minerals and Bowleven. I have trimmed Xcite in the 330-340p range, not because I have lost confidence in the prospects, but because my account was over leveraged given the big buys made during the week as the stock collapsed to the £3 mark. I will buy back if there is another spring sale in Xcite.
Week ending February 28th - profit £1,728
Profit hit this week due to a Bowleven sale on one of my positions at £3.00, triggering a £2000+ loss. Annoying as BLVN recovered during the week. I have several positions remaining in the portfolio, but I generally stick to a 30% rule i.e. when a share drops 30% below my purchase price I sell. All in all a pretty awful February, after a great start to the 2011. But still in profit for the year, but frustrating to have let my Xcite gains from January slip through my fingers. Interesting though that my CFD account is still well in profit, but my spread bet account is the "problem child".
Jan 1st - Dec 31st 2010
£7,574
Gainers - Xcite Energy, Sirius Exploration, GW Pharma, Rockhopper Exploration, Falkland Oil and Gas, Coal of Africa
Losers - Dow Jones Index, Hambledon Mining, Nighthawk Energy, Templeton Emerging Markets (short), JPM Emerging Markets (short), ARM (short), FTSE 100 Index
Significant profits were made on pharma company GW Pharma (GWP) with the Sativex drug approval and on Rockhopper (RKH) following the Sea Lion discovery in the North Falkland Islands basin in 2010. However some misfortune on bets on the Dow Industrials and on several shorts which failed ate deeply into the gains. During 2011, I will not be trading currencies, the FTSE or US indices and focus on individual share investments.
Lessons learnt -
1. Be very careful with index bets e.g. DOW Jones Industrials. If positions move against you losses can suddenty be significant even with generous stop losses. I was caught out by the Dow Jones flash crash in May 2010 where the index fell nearly 1000 points in a few minutes.
2. Place shorts with extreme caution when the market overall is rising
3. Cut your losses on dogs quickly and don't become emotionally attached to a share.
4.Don't use stop losses on AIM stocks. The volatility can be huge and can trigger your stop losses with a short lived but catastrophic drop. Relieved that I didn't have any stop losses on Rockhopper when it had its crash on rumours of poor flow tests.
5. Let your winners run. Though a "profit is only a profit if you bank it" don't be tempted to sell winners when you've done your homework that the financial fundamentals make sense. I bought Western Canadian Coal back in 2009 for 40p. I thought I did well selling for 140p but it was recently acquired for over £8.
£7,574
Gainers - Xcite Energy, Sirius Exploration, GW Pharma, Rockhopper Exploration, Falkland Oil and Gas, Coal of Africa
Losers - Dow Jones Index, Hambledon Mining, Nighthawk Energy, Templeton Emerging Markets (short), JPM Emerging Markets (short), ARM (short), FTSE 100 Index
Significant profits were made on pharma company GW Pharma (GWP) with the Sativex drug approval and on Rockhopper (RKH) following the Sea Lion discovery in the North Falkland Islands basin in 2010. However some misfortune on bets on the Dow Industrials and on several shorts which failed ate deeply into the gains. During 2011, I will not be trading currencies, the FTSE or US indices and focus on individual share investments.
Lessons learnt -
1. Be very careful with index bets e.g. DOW Jones Industrials. If positions move against you losses can suddenty be significant even with generous stop losses. I was caught out by the Dow Jones flash crash in May 2010 where the index fell nearly 1000 points in a few minutes.
2. Place shorts with extreme caution when the market overall is rising
3. Cut your losses on dogs quickly and don't become emotionally attached to a share.
4.Don't use stop losses on AIM stocks. The volatility can be huge and can trigger your stop losses with a short lived but catastrophic drop. Relieved that I didn't have any stop losses on Rockhopper when it had its crash on rumours of poor flow tests.
5. Let your winners run. Though a "profit is only a profit if you bank it" don't be tempted to sell winners when you've done your homework that the financial fundamentals make sense. I bought Western Canadian Coal back in 2009 for 40p. I thought I did well selling for 140p but it was recently acquired for over £8.
