Are stop losses all they’re cracked up to be?  That’s got to be the $20million dollar question.

I’ve been reading all about them via the Incredible Charts newsletter.  Over the last three weeks, they posted 3 articles on Stop Losses – Help or Hindrance?  The argument for the use of stop-loss rules seems inherently sound, yet there appears to be no real evidence that stops are providing the safety benefits that many traders expect.

This obviously generated a lot of comments on their forum.  You can check it out here it is definitely food for thought. http://www.incrediblecharts.com/sitemap.php?mgroup=162

Well, we’ve been trading for 13 weeks now and the market has moved around quite considerably, over this time there have been a number of horrific natural disasters, the Aussie dollar has reached record highs, commodities have started to drop in value and there has been a general level of uncertainty in the overall market. Fun, fun, fun.

I must admit that I’ve been fairly ‘hands-off’ on my trading lately, without any real reason to jump into the market completely.  My portfolio has remained the same for awhile now without any additional buying or selling.

ILU – this stock did actually break my stop loss rule and pulled back three days in a row (my rule is to exit after two consecutive stop losses).  However, Id’ just been reading up on stop losses and decided to sit and see what happens.  After all ILU has been on a strong uptrend and due for a slight pull-back.  In this instance it paid off, as the share has continued again on the uptrend.
However, if I’d played that strategy with MND and not sold out after two consecutive stop losses, I could have lost another whole dollar on each share.

QRN is trending sideways and I’m watching closely with finger on the trigger ready to sell if it drops much more.
So I currently hold, ACR, QRN, ILU and $15k in cash.

ASX200 – down (-1.65).
My portfolio – +1.95%

Your current portfolio (live)
Portfolio total $51,015.00

National performance (at close 19/05)
National leader $56,676.71
National average $48,164.07
Your ranking (at close 19/05)
National ranking 1053 of 10334
State ranking 214 of 2136

Sometimes trading can be very hard and frustrating – especially when the markets are all over the place.

The Australian share market on Thursday experienced its biggest daily decline since the peak of Japan’s nuclear crisis in mid-March, as disappointing employment data exacerbated a sell-off caused by global risk aversion stemming from European sovereign debt concerns.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 84.1 points, or 1.8%, at a fresh seven-week low of 4696.1. Trading volume was stronger than usual, at A$5.8 billion.

On the charts, the index broke its 200-day moving average support line at 4712. It also triggered a bearish pennant pattern, giving a target of 4525, according to Dow Jones Newswires technical analysis.

From the game newsletter there are only 16% of players who have their portfolio in profit and the average player portfolio value is $48,143 – so at least that is reassuring to know that it’s not just me struggling with this market.  I was surprised to see I wasn’t doing too badly compared to the national average – but I think at this stage of the game, if people aren’t in profit they pretty quickly lose interest in their trading.

The organisers reviewed the top 15 player portfolios, there is an even mix of strategies amongst the leaders who have been holding; only holding cash or continuing to trade. So no real gems of advice there.

My last trade was on 9th May, when I bought into ACR which was holding a nice up-trend even in this dodgy market.
So I currently hold, ACR, QRN, ILU and $15k in cash.

ASX200 – down -2.89% – my portfolio squeaks into the positive by .01%.

Portfolio total $50,009.52

National performance (at close 12/05)
National leader $57,604.85
National average $47,916.85

Your ranking (at close 12/05)
National ranking 1587 of 10320
State ranking 307 of 2136

The Australian share market extended a recent decline to a 10-day low Friday after an indecisive night on Wall Street, combined with European equity market weakness related to sovereign debt worries, offshore falls in BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, and more weakness in base metals.

Japan’s nuclear crisis, disappointing revenue from Alcoa, and Goldman Sachs’ recommendation to take profit on a basket of commodities including oil and copper pushed the Australian share market down 1.8% over the week. It was the first weekly fall in the past four weeks.

[Read more...]

Well the market has shaken off the last downturn to return back to where it was at the end of February, when the game began.

So the market is up .02% (as at 31^st March) and my portfolio has clambered up 1.36%.

The market reached a low during the game period of -6.37% on 15^th March and my account hit -2.63%. 

So still well within my risk levels.

  [Read more...]

Well, what an interesting week.   Adding to the unrest overseas, Japan gets hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami.  It has literally devastated the country and our hearts go out to each and every one living through this.

Here’s a brief overview of what happen in relation to the markets. [Read more...]

As we end week 2, was off to a terrific start with a jump to $52,500 in less than a week. 

My initial share choice of:  MND, WOR and RHC were great choices.  MND and RHC went ex- dividend in that time.

However… what with the unrest overseas, the markets are re-acting badly.

[Read more...]