[Closed] Any Stock Market Traders Here?

I play the game, currently only in the UK, have just filled the paperwork out to trade US shares.

Have done quite well out of it, I like making the educated gambles. It is nice to make £££ from my keyboard.

I am watching/investing in

BP
Spire
Capita
Rightmove
Google
Amazon
BA tabacco

I am into rdsb rather than bp, payday today as it happens. Depending on your buy in price you should be looking at a now sustainable 5% yield paid quarterly.

BAT too, been my star performer this yearalthough its off its highs it will be back.

Also look at unilever ulvr although highly priced, you can play spot the ulvr products when you get bored shopping in sainsburys.

Tbh if you arebuying for income the buy in price is academic, some you win some you lose.

Good luck btw

Capitalist pigs!

No fair play really , how did you start? I am a capitalist piglet

Only dabble a little. Need to do a lot more research before I play with more money.

RDSB and Sound Energy are my current investments.

Mainly funds here, lots of US tech stuff so have had a good year. Some individual stocks, safe utilities for income.

I started many years ago with £250 per month, since then various share schemes have helped out, especially when I cashed them in and reinvested.

I'm probably the otherside of your US trades.

Pleasure to be doing biz with you

I'm interested in dabbling a bit. How do i go about starting? what sites do I go to?

I'm interested in dabbling a bit. How do i go about starting? what sites do I go to?

Open an account at http://www.hl.co.uk/ (other brokers are available but HL are the easiest site to use). Bung them some cash and choose your stocks/trusts/funds etc.
Funds spread the risk a bit, allowing you to invest in multiple stocks in one hit.
Take Tips from pundits or the bloke down the pub with a pinch of salt.
For the basics of how everything works read "The Naked Trader" by Robbie Burns.
READ THE PAPER!
Good Luck.

Soooo... if you had £500 to buy some shares, which ones? IQE?

Soooo... if you had £500 to buy some shares, which ones? IQE?

Well they've just about doubled in the last few months so it depends on whether you think they have legs. I'm holding on to mine, FWIW...

Are you wanting a quick punt or long term growth?

Another Sounder here, lth. Amazing prospects.

Soooo... if you had £500 to buy some shares, which ones? IQE?
Well they've just about doubled in the last few months so it depends on whether you think they have legs. I'm holding on to mine, FWIW...

Are you wanting a quick punt or long term growth?

Quick punt I suppose, just to get a feel for it.

Another Sounder here, lth. Amazing prospects.

What has?

Sound Energy (SOU), long term holder. I haven't got the cojones to trade this one.

Quick punt I suppose, just to get a feel for it.

Russia.
Their main export is Oil. OpEC has just agreed to reduce production. Non OPEC, inc Russia, has agreed too. The price of oil is going to rise.
EU sanctions on Russia are ending this year and quite a few smaller EU nations are getting pissed off with being shouted at by Germany. French president to be, Fillon, wants to cosy up to Putin, and Donnie J positively loves him!
It could go tits up if the OPEC deal falls through, but Saudi Arabia won't let it. THey've had to resort to selling the family silver to break the US shale boys, and now they're broke (relatively). Like a footballer with a gambling habit, coming to the end of their career...
There are plenty of ETF's focussing on Russia, or JPMorgan Russian (JRS).

Read, Where are the customers yachts? Among the quotes:

10. On who’s to blame for poor advice: “The burnt customer certainly prefers to believe that he has been robbed rather than that he has been a fool on the advice of fools.”

Reading this with interest, I've just started small scale after a tip from a friend. (Amur minerals, a small exploration mining company on the up if anyone's interested in a punt. I've done ok out of it)
What companies for the best dividends? If I'm looking for some long term investments who should I be looking at?

For long term investments, Scottish Mortgage are a reasonable punt, as is India. Buy and forget...

OP well done to you. The Nasdaq (lots of tech stocks) has doubled in 10 years plus some currency gains too. The most important thing imho is to back the right market/sector then the individual stock is a secondary decision.

I don't trade individual stocks mostly as it been forbidden in almost every work contract I have had for the past 20 years (I am an investment manager and personal trading is regarded as a conflict of interest). I did dabble around in the banks post 2009. I tend to allocate my pension and have had a focus on US and Asia past 10 years. We are now at a very interesting tipping point with potential for the US to move ahead strongly (markets are postive on Trump) and downside in Asia (over leveraged, increasing regional competition)

@mitsus mining companies are like buying a lottery ticket, could be worth a lot or zero. Always rumours and price run-ups based on "discoveries" as well as a leveraged bet on commodity price

mitsumonkey, that swhy i bough t a load of RDSB shares last christmas. They were as low as they had been for about 5 years and i was very confident that they would only go one way. Plus knowing very little about investing i wanted a rock solid company which as i was contracting for Shell at the time i knew they were. Their dividends are around the 5% mark. And i just reinvest every quarter.

BUT i know very very little about this game, i work with a very smart lad who has done extremely well out of it but none of it was luck. He does an extraordinary amount of research into where he plows his money into and waits. He plays the longer game.

I got burned with mining* stock that was tipped, went unlisted pretty much overnight. Worse thing about it is that it still shows up as a line on my portfolio. In reality probably a good thing, as keep reminding me of the "dead cert" going wrong.

Was a good lesson, and fortunately an early one, was only in it for £250.

*sector pretty much irrelevant, can happen with any share.

/edit
Oh, monkey with a pin very worth reading.

Well done rdsb holders. The smart money turns them over and buys them back as the share price does not get over 25 gbp, now they re at 52 week highs at just below 23. Watching with interest as to how far they go this time. I hold some for income and some as a punt.

Other income stocks as asked above,

Tobacco - bat and imt. Both yielding similar but imt will at some stage be bought out, it may be a long wait or it may be next year.

Pharma - gsk

National Grid is a good play as its low 9 quid and will pay out c 70p as a special divi next year post sale ofits gas infrastructure.

For income look at what neil wooodford holds and copy his portfolio, his biggest holdings are on his website.

The mkt has priced in all the above of course so its 3rd hand news.

My mixed bag portfolio yields 5% which i am more than happy with, it was designed as such. I expect capital growth of 2% so combined growth of 7%, compounded thats a doubling every 10 years.

Dont forget in all this that central banks are following policies of deliberately mis-pricing risk globally. Hence, valuation and other key drivers are massively distorted. Bonds and equities are both mispriced. Take care.

We are now at a very interesting tipping point with potential for the US to move ahead strongly (markets are postive on Trump)

Indeed, but US stocks are already very expensive, so could it all be about to go pop?

The late Sir John Templeton often reminded us that "Bull markets are born on pessimism, grown on skepticism, mature on optimism, and die on euphoria."

Donnie seems to have introduced quite a bit of Euphoria to the markets...

I also got burned by mining stock/tips from friends. I wont invest using word of mouth-they're probably too late to invest in by that point and carry very high risk. I do have a list of mining companies that are still in the exploration/permit stages and as soon as I get the news feed they've located what they're looking for I'll make a small investment. Patagonia Gold and Alecto minerals are 2 I've got news feeds from. Too risky just now though.

Small mining and energy stocks are all very well if you've already developed a nice portfolio over the years. If your small punt on a tungsten mine goes tits up and loses all your investment it's no big deal as it may be just 1% of your portfolio.
If it's one of three of four stocks you hold it's a very big deal indeed.

Good point re asset markets being inflated. Impatience is expensive, always keep some cash in hand to snap up some bargains.

Donnie seems to have introduced quite a bit of Euphoria to the markets...

People see him as very pro-business. Is that euphoria or reacting to a new President and his "make America Great Again" agenda ? He's speaking about spending trillions on US infrastructure, great for construction built with US materials by US workers. Corprate tax cuts to pursued companes to bring money back onshore etc ? I think the reaction is legitimate

os short-sigheted. US equities are expensive but have been bouyed by excess liquidity. Yellen now has to withdraw this slowly....caveat emptor.

Corprate tax cuts to pursued companes...

I think you're right. 2017 is going to be a very interesting year indeed!

I made about over 40% out of Amur in 3 months, dragged my initial investment out leaving 'free' shares as a suck it and see investment, we still think it has legs.
Bought BP with the money I got out.
I agree mining companies are massive gamble but op asked if we'd like to share so I did.

This isn't me taking a pop at people who invest and/or play the markets, but a genuine question.

What are your ethical considerations when investing? If you're investing in companies like BAT and oil producers, do any ethical concerns you have take a back seat to profit, or is it possible to invest ethically?

Bp shell and barclays make up my investments this year

All have doubled at least as I hold plus div's which has kept me happy.

Fundsmith trundling along turning over a steady income and maintaining value

Flops have been woodford fund. Which has been floating between a few. Hundred in the red to breaking even. But never any more.

I never act on tips. I watched the Falklands oil exploration companies strip thousands out of colleagues. "Can't go wrong they said"

Mind you when I bought shell a colleague was buying shares where we work with the advice to me that "they cant go any lower" -they dropped to half that value the next month and have stayed there since.

ECG factors are becoming increasingly relevant

Still overshadowed by excess liquidity plus need for yield - ring any bells?

Flops have been woodford fund. Which has been floating between a few. Hundred in the red to breaking even. But never any more.

I invested (thankfully) at launch and am getting a good return at the moment, fingers crossed it stays that way!

Most of my HL funds are doing okay which is more luck than judgement though!

What are your ethical considerations when investing? If you're investing in companies like BAT and oil producers, do any ethical concerns you have take a back seat to profit, or is it possible to invest ethically?

Tricky one...
I recently sold my stake in BAe because of their involvement in Yemen, and gave the proceeds to Warchild charity. (You could ask; what did I think the'd be used for?), but that doesn't preclude me from sticking Saudi petrol in my car.
I wouldn't knowingly invest in Indonesian funds that grow palm oil, or any co that exploits animals. I would imagine there are quite a few nasty surprises in most funds.
It is possible to invest ethically, and there are "ethical" funds, but they all have different remits.

1)US shares are not overpriced if you strip out the tech companies.
2)Time in not timing is most important fact.
3)Enron and Lehmann Brothers were viewed as solid companies before they went to the wall.
4)"Successful investing is easy,it consists of finding two or three great companies and sitting on your Ass".Charlie Munger.
5)A punt is not investing it is gambling.
6)View yourself as part owner of a company and not the owner of shares.Concentrate on the fundamentals/prospects for that company AND NOT ITS DAILY PRICE MOVEMENTS!
Good luck.

3D printing is not the way to go

3D printing is not the way to go

Why's that?

Very interested to see this topic continue to grow

This is what I do:

- Long term investments. Dividends will only provide you with generally small returns, but then of course it all depends what you are looking for. You can make a lot more money if you invest long term. With long term you only need to check the price say twice a day max.

- For stock choice, just look around you, see what is happening, what people are talking about/ buying, and consider what YOU think are good products/ companies. For instance some people on another thread were touting Dell as making fab laptops - if you hear this enough times then they probably are and it may be worth a closer look.

- I only invest in things I have a basic understanding of, i.e. Apple, Google, 3DSystems etc. Banks and mining shares etc I have no clue about so stay away. I never listen to tips. You have to go with your own instincts.

- If you find a stock you like the look of, watch it and read the news connected to it every day. In a while you will know a lot more about it and how the price fluctuates, who the competitors are etc.

- When I buy a stock, I always write down a get out high and low price, i.e what I will sell it at if it goes up and the losses I am prepared to take if it goes down until I sell. And I have never once followed this advice.

....would be interested to hear of the problems with 3D printing stocks referred to above though?

Lot of people were talking about the money they made from a Mr Madoff.Alot of people were wrong.

Half of all earnings on the stock market since 1900 have been from dividends.Reinvest them for the magical results of compounding.
I think big gains are less important than avoiding losses.I,ve learnt this lesson the hard way.

So forgive the noob question, but is there a way to make it work starting out small(lets say £200)? Seems to me like the buy/sell fees (£12.50 typical?) will eat up a massive proportion of any likely growth?

Am i missing something, or do you really need to make larger investments for it to make sense?

So forgive the noob question, but is there a way to make it work starting out small(lets say £200)? Seems to me like the buy/sell fees (£12.50 typical?) will eat up a massive proportion of any likely growth?

Am i missing something, or do you really need to make larger investments for it to make sense?

No. You can start with whatever you have. Certainly, the initial dealing cost (about a tenner) and stamp duty (0.5%, or 0 for funds and AIM stocks) can eat into your capital, but if you're intending to invest long term the cost will become irrelevant. Charles Stanley will trade funds for free and you'll only pay the ongoing charge, but they're expensive for shares at £11.50 a pop. Funds are a good place to start as it's easier to get information about a particular sector- mines, banks etc or country- Russia, India etc than it is about a single company. The information is there but you'll get it later than everyone else.
If you intend to trade frequently you'll soon find that dealing fees will eat into your capital, and you will also lose money on most deals - that's guaranteed!
You can also add as littla as £25 monthly by DDr.

Don't forget your tax liabilities. You'd have to be making a fair bit to need to declare capital gains but IIRC dividend income needs to be declared on a self assesment.

Don't forget your tax liabilities. You'd have to be making a fair bit to need to declare capital gains but IIRC dividend income needs to be declared on a self assesment.

Though you get £5000 divi income and £11k capital gains tax free.
Open an S&S Isa. It may not make sense or save you anything initially but 2, 5, 10 years down the line it definitely will!

(Or a SIPP, and get a 20/40% top up from the gov.)

Apologies, my earlier comment with regard to dividends was possibly incorrect - what I should have said is that I personally have only made smallish amount via dividends. I am not a dividend investor nor do I know the history of the markets and therefore am not really qualified to comment about them.

Buying high yielding stocks has been a good trade over past year or so - hasnt it? My wife's income funds have done very well. I only hold on to a few banks (legacy positions) because of the yield and they have also rallied strongly on yield curve steepening (even though this is slightly misunderstanding what has been going on with their NIMs)

I check my portfolio daily but as an income investor you dont need to. I like the quarterly payers - shell, unilever, mmm tobacco, gsk.

Also, since starting my own portfoilio c 5 years ago i have never had 1 instant when all 10 constituents were in profit. There are always losses but the bottom line is the key.

As said above listen to what people are talking about, walk round thhe high streets and see which shops are busy.

Good luck, its not for the faint hearted but i consider it a fair reward for the risk involved.

Think back a year when BP and Shell were yielding 9-10% they really couldn't afford and pure vanity stopped them cutting their divis. Instead of waving their willies at each other they should have been streamlining their businesses, investing for the future in alternatives.
Shell have a new CFO starting soon. I wonder what she'll make of it all?

I started off a share dealing i.s.a around 5 years ago and have averaged 16.2% average return over that period. Funnily enough this beats most hedge funds in the city. I typically hold for around 2 to 4 months. I found out it is pretty pointless investing less than 5k as profits and compound return are to small.

and have averaged 16.2% return every year over that period. Funnily enough this beats most hedge funds in the city

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/16/warren-buffett-slips-but-still-winning-epic-hedge-fund-bet.html

Yes when shell was 13 quid jan 16 they yielded c 10%. Even at todays 52 week high of 23 odd they yield 5%. Now crudes at 55 usd the dividend is secure and the asset sales more likely to find a buyer. Sadly though when all is going to plan is when you get a big shock so i m looking to crystalise some gains and buy them back.

Sadly though when all is going to plan is when you get a big shock so i m looking to crystalise some gains and buy them back.

Remember, the internal combustion engine is in a similar position to the Carthorse in 1916.
Oil's on it's last hurrah...

Thanks. I stick to around 6 big companies and look for issues/problems to buy on the dip. I jumped in tesco after the big accounting dip, legal & general the day after brexit crash, easyjet recently after droppibg lots, low end of tullow oil when the city shorters went all out at it. Pick well known stocks which you like the product.

Shell have a new CFO starting soon. I wonder what she'll make of it all?

I am sure there is a joke in there!!

I'm an easy jet fan. Lots of headwinds but a well run company.

Ezj are c 10 quid, amazing its a 70% fall from its 52 week hi.

I am waiting to get back into national grid, ng, but i am hopeless at spotting the lows.

Was it not keynes who said picking the winners was like a beauty contest, but you chose the sentiment behind the judges, something like that anyway.

Just sold easyjet on monday at 10.42. Buying back in under 10.00, good profitable company, will do well long term

I currently track and trade in:
1.legal & general
2. Tullow oil (risky company but big movements)
3. Tesco
4. Glencore
5. Lloyds bank
6. Easyjet

All ftse 250 with well run businesses. I would rate them fairly low risk except tullow and glencore.

Back in Uni I used play a bit with the stock markets. I used to subscribe to a monthly newsletter and after initially being very sceptical I started buying their tips. My Best Buy was Zerco (Baltimore tech) that I bought for £3.50 per share and sold after 12 months for £21 per share. They went on to a high of £140 per share after getting a White House contract. Had I held the stock I would've been able to buy a house, instead I bought a car. I did lose on some stocks but I more than made up for it with the winning stocks. It's ok to take tips as long as you do further research.

Once the kids are full time in school I will look to getting back into it. So can you keep this thread going for another couple of years please....

Go on google and type "tullow oil share chart" click on the 5 year view option... good example of how the markets can stuff you. This is a ftse 250 which traded at £15 a few years back, recently went to £1.20 !! Now around £3. Company had good reserves and great prospects. A few really big hedge funds colluded to short tullow and drive the price down and the collapse of oil from 120$ to 30ish $ did for it. Just some perspective.. you can easily loose. You have no way of knowing what shorters will do, and its all allowed and legit. Tullow is still shorted at 14% of all shares in circulation, easyjet around 3%. No tipster saw or predicted the tullow story.

Yes the shorters do drive the price down. I have some sainsburys and at one point c 10% of their stock was shorted. They do get burnt though, its a brave call as they pay the divis while they are shorted. Double burn if it goes against them.

As said above if you dont understand what you re getting into avoid, my neighbour does all sorts of crazy transactions and despite her explaining to me many times, i still do not have a clue what she s up to.

I would suggest Funds are a good idea for the beginner as they also provide a factsheet which gives all the key info and with a little research you can learn to understand

So can someone explain, in plain English, what the shorting mechanism is and how it affects prices. Lets turn this into a learning experience for all.

Essentially it is shares lent to a hedge funds or individuals on the understanding they buy that amount back in the future. Say they borrow at £10 and close the short 2 weeks later at £8 the hedge fund profits by £2 per share shorted. They are betting on the share price going down. If it went the other way and they had to close in a rising market at £14 They loose £4 per share shorted. Think that's roughly the idea? Others may better explain.

If your buying a share hoping for a rise you are "long". If you are "shorting" you are betting on a drop.

P.s i have never shorted so may not be 100% correct. Jamba is your man to ask.

Shorting is selling shares you don't own, in the hope of buying them later once the price has fallen.
Back in the old days you would have up to two weeks to cover your position. Not sure what it is these days.

Shorting exaggerates the lows, i usually wait to see an upturn before buying. Catching a falling knife and all that. Also, most trading is done by computer now so when a stock moves out of its moving avg, the computers say buy or sell. Therefore the his and lows get exaggerated.

As said above a 5k outlay is really the min to cover fees and stamp duty. I try and make 200 profit, sometimes i hve done it in a day sometimes it takes a few months.

Nice to hear other experiences

Shorting is selling shares you don't own, in the hope of buying them later once the price has fallen.
Back in the old days you would have up to two weeks to cover your position. Not sure what it is these days.

Now you have to settle which you do by "borrowing" the stock. However this is something only big investors do, most retail investors used CFDs or spread betting to do it.

Yes the shorters do drive the price down.

Only if they outweigh the buyers, I have never understood the logic of the short-haterz

An investment involves working out the PV of a series of cash flows. The PV is either equal to the current price, above it or below it. You investment decision is based solely on which of the three is valid at any moment in time.

So what is the moral difference from acting on a stock whose current price is > than the PV (shorting) versus acting on one whose current price is < than the PV (going long)?

Only if they outweigh the buyers, I have never understood the logic of the short-haterz

An investment involves working out the PV of a series of cash flows. The PV is either equal to the current price, above it or below it. You investment decision is based solely on which of the three is valid at any moment in time.

So what is the moral difference from acting on a stock whose current price is > than the PV (shorting) versus acting on one whose current price is < than the PV (going long)?

Nature's way of telling you you've paid too much...

Naive question re shorting, but why do the companies agree to lend their stock to someone who's express interest is tanking the share price? It seems like a potentially harmful arrangement. I mean I can see that me personally borrowing BP shares to short makes no odds either way. But if your company is going through a sticky patch, and the big dogs are lining up to short the bollox of it, then I can see why you might want to say no you can't have any.

It's not the companies that lend them. It's a third party, who do it for a fee...

Thm, thats spot on re cash flows. I remember the bp md horton years ago saying a share price was simply a sum of future cash flows discounted to todays prices. I think the issue is how do you value future cash flows, even the oil majors are difficult with their reserves.

I think the brokers lend their stock out to the shorters but clearly they earn a fee and hope they get it back.

Long term investors like insurance companies and pension funds will lend to short sellers. The borrower pays a fee to borrow the stock which gives some extra income for the lender and the borrower will usually post collateral (basically give you a deposit) so the risks are fairly low. If you're in it for the long term then the short term fluctuations are largely irrelevant, so might as well make something extra from them.

I think the issue is how do you value future cash flows

I used to write stuff all about that. I am a valuation geek!!! Not on Oil companies mind.