Post #43: YTD update

I had a very disappointing month, my YTD is experiencing another draw down.

I'm back at 74% YTD with only a month to go before the year ends.

Is my 100+% goal return possible before year-end? I guess we only have to wait and see.

I am currently 75% cash as the index went below 8200.

Sold my $EW , $PXP and $MEG, stops hit.

Only holding $ROCK with a 7% gain.

Things like these happens, I need to be more sharp and focus. I made a lot of mistakes and I'm taking notes of them to avoid the same mistakes again in the future.

Good luck to us all. May all our goals be reached before this year ends.

Post #42: Sold some, bought some

SOLD

I sold $MAC today at +40% gain.

I also sold my $STI at a very minimal profit (+2%??). This one has been consolidating for some time now, maybe it needs to go back to my watch-list for now.

BOUGHT

I bought some $ROCK today at P2.00. My stop will be placed at just below P1.90.

chart by www.bigcharts.marketwatch.com

Also, bought a very small position on $PXP when it showed a sell-off late in the afternoon. Stop at below P10. Note: This is a speculation play with very small amount invested. 


Current portfolio:

$MEG
$EW
$ROCK
$PXP

Post #41: $PRMX out, bought $EW

Quick updates:

Hit my trailing stop in $PRMX when it went below P7.00 today. I took out a small profit. This will stay in my watchlist for now.

chart by www.bigcharts.marketwatch.com

Moved my funds to $EW as it broke P34 resistance. Expecting it to fill the gap just below P34 but not lower than it, or stop loss will be initiated.

chart by www.bigcharts.marketwatch.com

Current stocks in Portfilio: $EW,$STI,$MAC,$MEG

$STI stop @ P1.60 breakdown
$MAC @ +58%, stop at P22 breakdown
$MEG  @ +15% , stop at around P5.30 breakdown

Good luck to us all!

Alex

Post #38: Portfolio's YTD update

As of October 30, 2017, my Portfolio's YTD return is at 81.60%. The few months of drawdown slowed down my progress, but I'm still confident I can make it past 100% by year-end.

I'll just continue to watch my stops and look for other opportunities. As long as I keep my losses small and ride my winners, my portfolio will be alright. I'm also looking for ways I can further improve my system.

Portfolio update:

screengrab from Philstocks App

Hope everyone enjoys their All Soul's day holiday. This is a good reason to take your mind away from the market and spend quality time with your family. Always remember, time is the most precious and priceless investment one can have; spend it wisely.

The last two months of the year should be good for stocks. Bring it on!

Cheers

Alex

Post #37: Watching $STI

Since I have some extra funds from the profits I took from $WLCON, I am currently looking for a new stock to buy.

There are really some interesting stocks like $IMI and $SMPH for example that are very tempting at their current set ups. 

Another stock that I find interesting is $STI. It looks like it is posing for a breakout. And I like the fact that it doesn't get a lot of attention yet. 

I'm thinking of buying it at it's current price of P1.60 and put my stop at below P1.50. We'll see what happens.

Current portfolio stocks:

$PRMX +19%
$MAC +11%
$MEG +13%
$PGOLD +8%

Post #34: SL (Stop Loss) instead of TP (Target Price)

I really don't believe in including a target price on my trading plans. For me it is a very limiting belief. It is like putting a limit on what you can achieve when you can do so much more. As a trader who mostly rely on price action to trade, Iv'e got a few reasons why I don't use a TP (target price), but instead I am more strict on putting a SL(stop loss) in all of my trading plans.

First of all, I believe that no one can predict with certainty where the price of a stock is going. We can only speculate. Therefore, to put a TP on a stock is like predicting that the stock cannot go up much further. In fact, even fundamental analysis can only assign a valuation to a stock but can't predict it with certainty. It is the crowd sentiment that is moving the stock prices, which is highly driven by emotion, which we all know are intangible and can't be measured.

Let your winners run. I like to keep trending stocks running until they ran out of steam. As a position trader, I'm not really looking for quick gains but I'm looking for stock that I can milk. I won't easily sell a 50% gain if I know the possibility of it reaching 100% is probable. I trade not for quick and small gains, I'm after for bigger moves that will significantly affect my portfolio's percentage gain.

To minimize risk using this no TP method, I always put a stop loss (SL) on all my trades. Before I buy a stock, I already have a stop loss. This is even more important to me because my stop loss will determine my position size. (More on this on my later posts). As the price goes up, I move my stop to what I think is the next best support. I trail my stops. I only sell when my stop is hit.

Having no TP but using a SL strictly might not help you sell at the top, but it will always keep you from selling too soon. The trailing stop will help you keep your profits safe. My main goal is to let my winners run, trail my stop as they run up to secure some profits, and sell before the trend reverses. It is simple for me, No TP only SL.

Portfolio update:

Sold my $WPI at P1.22 as I think it is quite lagging and moved my funds to $MAC.

Bought P15.30
Stop: P14

chart by www.bigcharts.marketwatch.com

Current portfolio:

$PGOLD (+8%)
$WLCON (+64%)
$PRMX (+12%)
$MAC (new)
$MEG (+11%)

PS: Let's connect at Twitter.

Post #32: Waterfront Philippines

Bought $WPI yesterday at P1.31 and I put my stop at below P1.20.

chart by www.bigharts.marketwatch.com

I am putting my stop tighter on this one as I consider this as a very speculative trade. I am trading solely on the price action; a tightening range and drying volume looks good to me.

Let's see how this one will go after a few days. If there's anything that will cause me any concern about this stock, I'll get out as fast as I can.

The index is looking great at above 8300 as of today. Let's see if it will confirm its breakout next week.

Portfolio:
$WLCON
$PRMX
$PGOLD
$WPI
$MEG (my sister's stock)

Cheers.

Post #31: PSEi 8300 and beyond?

The index showed some strength yesterday when it broke its previous high.

It looked like money is moving back to the blues.

Will some second liners take a backseat and let the blues in-charge?

Or will this rising tide float all the boats?

I got a lot of questions in my mind right now, but the only way to find out  is to wait and see.

Portfolio update:

$BLOOM

chart by www.bigcharts.marketwatch.com

I sold my $BLOOM for a minimal profit when it started to show a downward trend right after Razon sold P3.5 billion worth of his shares in an overnight placement. When 11 Pesos broke, that's the last straw for me. Longer term, the added liquidity might prove to be good for the stock. But right now, I'll act based on what I see on the price action.

Current portfolio positions:

1. $WLCON
2. $PRMX
3. $PGOLD

Now, I  have some funds to look for a new stock. I might be able to enter a new position in a few days.

Note: My sister invested to me part of her savings. I bought $MEG for her, she is now up 10% with $MEG at P5.30. I didn't include this stock in my YTD portfolio performance as I consider this as not my part of my personal portfolio.

Post #25: My love story with $BEL and $STI...

Me with the love of my life

We all have love stories to tell. Some of our stories have happy endings, but others don't end the way we hoped them to be. Some gave us unforgettable heartaches but some also gave us good memories. What is important with all of these experiences are the lessons we learned from them. Trading is similar to dating, some stocks will break your heart, but some will make you happy. Some of the decisions you made you will surely regret, but the lessons will stick to you and make you a better trader.

This story is about what happened to me in $BEL and $STI. One seduced me twice but broke my heart in the end, the other made me happy once and is giving me another chance to be with her again.

I believe that a picture or a chart is still worth a thousand words.

Let me show you.

After two attempt to woe her, I finally decided to let $BEL go. It's clear to me, we are not meant to be, at least for now. Maybe someday..

chart by www.bigcharts.com

On the other hand, another stock is giving me a second chance at her. They said love is sweeter the second time around and hopefully $STI will prove it to me once again. I enjoy a good challenge and looks like she is up for a game.

chart by www.bigcharts.com

What lessons did I learn? I learned that you will make mistakes no matter how careful you are. And I also learned that it is okay to make mistakes, for mistakes will teach us valuable lessons. Finally, I also learned that mistakes should not discourage us in making new trades, take the challenge and try again and again until you find your happy ending. Never give up on love.

Port update:

$IMI +77%, $WLCON +28%, $STI +7%,$MEG +8%

Post #24: Bullish or Bearish?

Where do you think the market is heading?  View from Victoria Peak, Hong Kong, photo by yours truly.

People always ask me if either I'm Bullish or Bearish with the market. It's like people want to know my opinion of the market and then see if it validates their views. If you really want to know the answer to that, just turn on the TV; we'll never ran out of expert opinions on the matter.  But then again, market predictions will be different from one expert to another.

The market will go where it want to go. It doesn't care about my opinion or yours. I trade what I see, not what I thought the market is going to do. I don't listen to any analyst on TV, all of them are as clueless as me as to where the market will be next week or any time in the future. If you trade with this kind of mindset, you'll approach the market without any opinion. And without any biases, you'll see beyond the smokescreen of your opinions. You will see clearly what the market is telling you.

So, where do I think the PSEi is going to go? I don't know. No one does. If some analyst tell you that the index will end this year at 8500 level, he is either using a crystal ball or is making it all up. Some analysts from a Philippine brokerage already figured it out and posted it on Twitter yesterday, but I'm still scratching my head here.

I don't have an opinion on the market, I am neither bullish nor bearish. It is because I honestly don't know where it is going.

Portfolio update:

Sold my $BEL at -4.94% loss today. I want to move my funds to a much faster stock. I am watching $STI again.

Current positions:

$MEG +10.45%
$WLCON +18.84%
$IMI +86.09%

Post #23: The need for heroes

I like to call people that I look up to as heroes. Some will prefer to call them mentors or teachers. When it comes to trading, I call people I want to emulate as my heroes because they don't just teach me how to trade, they also inspires me to dream. There are many reasons why we really need mentors or heroes in our lives. This is true for any endeavor we want to pursue, whether it's trading or financial and career success.

Meeting Mr. Tony Herbosa of Trader's Apprentice Pilipinas. I consider him as one of the people I look up to when I was just starting 5 years ago. 

Heroes inspires us. We always look up to them, like they're some kind of a super human with super powers. We want to be like them. Being inspired, we are charged with an awesome energy of enthusiasm that will help us complete the tasks we should do to  attain success. Mentors will make us realize that our dream is within our reach, because if they can do it themselves, it is also possible for us to achieve.

Mentors will help hasten our success by showing us what kind of mistakes we should avoid. We will learn from their mistakes. They will show us patterns that we cannot possibly perceive by doing things on our own. They will leave guideposts for us to follow, blueprints that will help us get started. No matter how smart we are, we will make mistakes that will slow down our progress. Recognizing those mistakes earlier will help us progress faster.

Great teacher will not just teach us what to do, they will also show us how to think. Correct mindset is crucial to our success. Our mentors, those who've already done it, thinks differently from the rest of us. They perceive things differently, and have a different mindset that will help them operate differently from the rest of the masses.If there is one main reason why they are more successful than most of us, I will attribute it to their different way of thinking and doing things. By looking into the minds of our heroes, we will have a glimpse of how different they think and we will learn what kind of winning mindset that works we should possess as well.

Some of my heroes I never met personally. Books will help us look into our mentors and heroes  minds.

I believe that getting mentors is vital to our success. They will guide us, put us in the proper mindset and inspire us to dream bigger and take action. It doesn't matter what kind of endeavor you want to succeed on, getting a mentor will be beneficial to you. We all need heroes to look up to.

My stock portfolio update:

$BEL P4.05 (-4.94%)
$IMI  P10.52 (+50.59%)
$MEG P4.54 (+6.92%)
$WLCON P6.07 (+10.98%)

Post #22: Portfolio update

Quick updates:

Sold my $MCP for a 54% profit. It showed sign of slowing down, I could be wrong though.

Bought some $WLCON at P 5.36/share. Stop at P5.30 below.

Sold $MCP at 54% profit. Photo screenshot from my Philstocks android app.

I currently have $IMI,$WLCON,$MEG and $BEL in my portfolio.

Remarks: Index resistance is at 8000.

PSE Index is seeing resistance at approx 8000. Photo by www.bigcharts.com

Post #21: YTD portfolio performance

I am quite satisfied to report that my current portfolio is up 15.26% YTD. I started monitoring my portfolio performance since January 1, 2017; a good way to assess myself if I am indeed making progress in this business. There are plenty of reasons why you should monitor your portfolio performance too.

By plotting your performance you will know if your system is really working for you. Looking at your performance, you will get a more concrete look at your portfolio's movement. This way you know where you are in relationship to where you want to go or what you want to achieve.

By seeing your YTD performance, you'll have a chance to assess yourself. You will learn what you did right/wrong in a particular time or trade. This way it is easier to make adjustments, simply by looking at your performance chart, you can pinpoint your mistakes as well as the things you did right.

Another important reason why you should monitor your performance is bench-marking. This way you will have an estimate on how well  you are progressing compared to your peers, to the index or to other funds manager. This can motivate you to learn more for you to be able beat the index or the mutual fund managers. If your'e doing well, this could also give you motivation as you are patting yourself on the back.

So I encourage every trader to monitor their YTD performance; make a record of it and make a graph out of it. It can help you physically look at your progress, asses yourself and your system, and motivate you by comparing your result with others.

Portfolio update.

My current positions are in $MCP,$IMI,$BEL and $MEG.

The market is feeling a little bullish and people seem to be more willing to buy it up.

I'll stick to the only thing I should do,let them(stocks) run and just watch my trailing stops.

Note:Edited June 6, 2017 to correct inputs in the YTD chart.

Post #20: You can always go back in...

I believe that it is always safer to be on the sidelines than stick to a  slow or a down-trending stock. You can always go back in when situations changes in your favor.

This is what happened to me in $BEL.

chart by www.bigcharts.com

I bought it back at P4.15/share. That P4.00 breakout looks strong to me so I decided to hop back in to have a position.


I know that  I could've a lower average if I held on to it. It was a mistake, my stop is actually at P3.75 but I though it to be a slower horse so I sold it for a small profit.  I bought $MEG which I thought is having a stronger momentum than $BEL. Only time will tell if I'm right or wrong.

I currently have the following stocks in my portfolio:

$MCP +34%
$BEL +0.58%
$MEG -3%
$IMI +14%

 I will just watch my stops from hereon. Funds will be moved between these 4 stocks according to momentum strength.

Post #19: Some lessons in patience and letting go

I made a recent blunder, I sold my $BEL for a small profit hoping to find a faster stock.

Guess what? $BEL broke out and made a new 52-week high a day after I sold it.

chart by www.bigcharts.com

$BEL broke P4.00 and is looking to stay above it.

Although I felt bad about my latest blunder, I fully understand that no one can perfectly predict what the price is gonna do next. The earlier you realized this, the better.

I didn't kick myself out of that mistake. I know there is no way I could've predicted that breakout happening.

I don't like it when stocks hit a new high then hit it's 2-week low. That's the only reason why I sold $BEL.

I still have cash left and is watching if $BEL is worth another try.

Meanwhile, I bought $MEG at P4.10 average.

chart by www.bigcharts.com

My other two stocks are doing much  better, looks like their upward trend is still intact.

I'm up 31% in $MCP and +11% in $IMI.

In port:

$MEG,$MCP,$IMI

Post #18: $BEL out, and another possible entry...

Sold my position in $BEL today as I don't like that it hasn't broke P4.00 yet as of this time.

Though $BEL will remain in my watch-list as long as P3.75 holds.

$BEL will have its time, but it's not yet now.

I can always comeback in when my signals  tells me to.

Right now, I'm watching a possible position in $MEG. Funds from $BEL will move to $MEG if my signals are confirmed.

For now, I only have $MCP and $IMI on my portfolio.