DIY traders. Jump in with some limit buys.

hitchicken

Active Member
The DJIA is down over 400 pts since the 8th. Load up on some big caps and blue chips that follow the DOW curve, but offer to buy them @ 2% lower with limit buys. If they trigger, you can only gain. If they don't, you've lost nothing. Buy low, sell high. I've been waiting since Apr. 25th for this flat market to do something. Always remember, the DJIA always goes up.:yahoo: Short term stuff to be sure.

The Hitchicken
 

hitchicken

Active Member
Progess report. So far, so 'okay'...

I set up 15 limit buys on Thursday afternoon. By closing, 6 of the 15 triggered. 9 didn't. The recovery started sooner than I expected. Got C, CSCO, GEO, HPQ, MSFT and V (@market by typo, darn it.) At this point, I set them all up for a limit sell at 5% higher (just so I don't have to check them over the weekend), GEO caught me when my back was turned and shot up past the 5% and triggered a sell I didn't expect before the weekend even began.

Bottom line: I'm up 0.49% for my entire portfolio which may not seem like much, but for <2 days trading and only 6 stocks invested, that's pretty decent. The stocks themselves gave me 1.74%. All the remaining 5 stocks are higher. More good news is the DJIA is still down 0.825% from its recent high of over 21000 a few days ago. I've tighten up my limit sells over Saturday. Recovery (anytime) means profit.
 

Attachments

  • DOW5days.jpg
    DOW5days.jpg
    48.8 KB · Views: 223

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
I don't know crap about this stuff - but I do trust my broker. Since Trump was *elected* I've made money. If my portfolio continues to grow at the rate it's been growing since Nov, I will be sitting real purty come retirement time.
 

hitchicken

Active Member
The pollsters & the financial pundits got it wrong.

I don't know crap about this stuff - but I do trust my broker. Since Trump was *elected* I've made money. If my portfolio continues to grow at the rate it's been growing since Nov, I will be sitting real purty come retirement time.

Totally agree.

But it would be difficult NOT to make money in equities since Trump got elected. The DOW is up over 15% already since then. See the plot below.

My thread was aimed at the small minority that buys/sells stocks with online brokerage firms. The majority prefer to use brokers, mutual funds, gold, bonds, CDs... That's fine. Some of use prefer to DIY.

But since you mentioned brokers, I have 2 questions. If brokers are so smart, why don't they use their own cash to own private islands, private aircraft & yachts? Why do they need YOUR money? Why do they insist on keeping your money invested in a downward spiraling market? I wouldn't. I don't.

So what effect does the 1% to 2% annual fee they charge on your holdings (whether they make or lose you money) have on your end results? Check out the little Excel spreadsheet I whipped together to see the results. The impact can be huge. You can do a lot better without a broker or mutual fund.

I am bit astounded that people spend so much time on a $30K car selection or a $300K house selection, but leave a $500K in retirement in 'someone else's hands'.
 

Attachments

  • DOWtrump1.jpg
    DOWtrump1.jpg
    51.4 KB · Views: 116
  • brker1.jpg
    brker1.jpg
    129.2 KB · Views: 121

hitchicken

Active Member
Let's put this thread to bed... Please.

Not only because of the lack of interest, comments & views, but because I've just sold all the stocks I bought last Wednesday and this run is over. (A thanks to the sympathetic board mommy for her 1 response.) Yeah, I know when to quit.

The final summary: I made $767 from the 17th until the 24th. That was an increase of 1.23% in my total yearly profit from the 17th. Not great, but not bad considering 5 trading days, 30 minutes total effort and only a 2.41% dip in the DJIA during that time. Not my best episode, but still better than a 'buy and hold'. He made $0. I'm now out of the market and waiting for the next shoe to drop before jumping back in at the next dip (sounds terribly ghoulish, doesn't it?) Including a few plots and graphs summarizing the whole episode.

Being out of the market is dangerous because it might start shooting up and I won't make money. But I doubt it. DOW has been bumping around 21000 since the 25th of April and just now made it back (well, almost). Flat as Iowa. Trump, in the meantime, is taking his lumps with false news, incorrect polls, vocal chanting progs, Russian conspiratists, food stamp recipients and etc... so another emotional drop in DOW cannot be far away.

DIY, KISS stock investors. Be ready. Stay sharp. The next drop is soon! Be ready to buy.
 

Attachments

  • trumprise_flat.jpg
    trumprise_flat.jpg
    37.3 KB · Views: 107
  • threadhist1.jpg
    threadhist1.jpg
    39.6 KB · Views: 112
  • threadhist3.jpg
    threadhist3.jpg
    37.6 KB · Views: 119
Last edited:

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
But since you mentioned brokers, I have 2 questions. If brokers are so smart, why don't they use their own cash to own private islands, private aircraft & yachts? Why do they need YOUR money? Why do they insist on keeping your money invested in a downward spiraling market? I wouldn't. I don't.

My broker shuffles me around all the time. Probably twice a month or so I get a notification that they've reallocated at least some of my funds and here's what they did. I check it every week and I'm usually ahead of the Dow/NASDAQ curve.

I'm good at making money, and I'm good at budgeting, but dumb dumb dumb when it comes to the market. I admire people who can DIY, I'm just not one of them.

I am interested, so don't stop posting on this topic. Just be aware that I don't have anything intelligent to add to the conversation. :lol:
 

black dog

Free America
No thanks, I pay one of those College boys that mommy and daddy paid big bucks to get that ivy league education.
He has done well for me that past 25 years or so. Thanks Clay.

I would equate me picking good investments in the market to my non mechanical doctor telling me on how to use my hay bailer.
 

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
I would equate me picking good investments in the market to my non mechanical doctor telling me on how to use my hay bailer.

That's me, too. I don't know much about it, I don't have an interest in learning beyond the basics. Just like I'm happy to pay the car mechanic to change my oil and do my brakes, I'm happy to pay Fidelity to grow my money.
 

black dog

Free America
That's me, too. I don't know much about it, I don't have an interest in learning beyond the basics. Just like I'm happy to pay the car mechanic to change my oil and do my brakes, I'm happy to pay Fidelity to grow my money.

Yep... It's tough to beat a man or woman at their own game.
 

DoWhat

Deplorable
PREMO Member
At Fidelity it's nominal - not worth worrying about. So far they've made way more money for me than they've charged for their service, so I'm happy.

I was commenting to MAD.
I use Charles Schwab when I purchase or sell stocks.
It is just play money. Make a couple K, lose a couple, who cares.

I would never mess with my retirement account. I leave that to the professionals.
 

MADPEBS1

Man, I'm still here !!!
That's me, too. I don't know much about it, I don't have an interest in learning beyond the basics. Just like I'm happy to pay the car mechanic to change my oil and do my brakes, I'm happy to pay Fidelity to grow my money.

I use Fidelity too, have the right AA for my very low risk aversion and am happy. I selected along with my fid rep my selection of Large, Med, Small funds along with Int and bonds....

i just dont understand the shuffling around twice a month ....
 

hitchicken

Active Member
Uh, okay...

Stocks:
SCSS
TGB

Look em up.

I did.

It's easy to pick winners if you're looking at only their recent past. Look further back and they did not perform so well. Picking sectors, industries, businesses and gauging their performance by EPS, Rev / quarter, etc is a popular common approach. Brokers love to throw those meaningless calculations & buzzwords around to intimidate their prospects. TGB and SCSS aren't big caps. I want only want the biggest corps because they are the 'safest'.

I don't pick stocks. I pick events. If some whackos slam planes into high rise buildings, your stock is going down I don't care what it is. Rev/quarter, EPS, debt to equity, industry, sector, past performance become meaningless. Likewise, if someone finds a cure for old age, stocks are going up... related or not. Look at the DOW when Trump was elected. Most of the big financial gurus said we were in for a fall. Instead, it was a meteoric rise. So much for experts.

The price of stocks are determined by what the owners are willing to sell them for and what buyers are willing to pay. Nothing more. Events are influential. I buy and sell boring safe big corp stocks by events.

It's just my approach... and I'm sticking with it.
 

Attachments

  • scss.jpg
    scss.jpg
    37.7 KB · Views: 79
  • tgb.jpg
    tgb.jpg
    42.1 KB · Views: 98

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
i just dont understand the shuffling around twice a month ....

My most recent trade confirmation shows selling shares that were on a downward trend, and buying stocks that are on the rise. I can look at my positions online and see a trend developing, and pretty much know what will be sold soon so that money can be put into something else. Then I'll see a nice little rise in my summary graph, which always makes me happy.
 
Top