Share Investment, Discussion & Tips

[d000hg]

Yeah. I am considering throwing the cash in this week and then leaving it a few weeks before deciding what to do with it.

[pjclarke]

If Millipede and SNP form an alliance, stocks and £ will crash beyond belief. The borrowing will go through the roof.

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[d000hg]

But house prices will soar?

[rl4engc]

Anyone looked into Swing/Short Term/Technical/Algorithmic type trading?

I researched it a couple of years ago, but never took it any further. Essentially you (or more likely a script using software like Wealth Lab Pro) scan for any symbols (doesn't have to be a company) whos recent candlesticks/indicators could indicate the start of an up or down trend. If it looks like it could be a goer you invest say 1% of your total capital into it, but have very strict rules on when to exit (no emotion involved).

I like the idea of this as a) It appeals to my Softie side, and b) I'm not naive enough to think if I spent ages researching the fundamentals of a bunch of companies, I'd be any closer to predicting their fortunes; i.e. I think any share price already reflects the cumulative knowledge (including 'insider') the market has about that company.

Things that put me off a bit:

1) Broker commission; the nature of short term trading means you're going to be going after lots of small rises e.g. £10k total 'trading fund', 1% per trade = £100, typically a rule may be to sell if you reach a 7% gain, but a lot of places were charging that in commission per trade, thus wiping out your profits.
2) Shorting a stock; My limited research/understanding I think this wasn't permitted in UK (i.e. making money on a falling price).
3) If there were some 'holy grail' set of rules that could make money on any stock, then this is what all the institutions would be using in their automatic trading?

Anyone dabbled? Or even tried it on a practice account?

[mudskipper]

I'm quite tempted just to stick some cash into Neil Woodford's new fund when that launches. If he can match what he's done in the past, I'll be pretty happy

Did you? I stuck in a fair whack - I'm happy enough

[jamesbrown]

Did you? I stuck in a fair whack - I'm happy enough

Good call. I'm still kicking myself for not doing so a couple of months after launch when it was a few % down. I think it's up around 20%, right? I generally don't believe in actively managed funds, but there's no denying he has a good record, and if you don't mind sticking your money in long-term, there's a good chance you'll do well.

[mudskipper]

Good call. I'm still kicking myself for not doing so a couple of months after launch when it was a few % down. I think it's up around 20%, right? I generally don't believe in actively managed funds, but there's no denying he has a good record, and if you don't mind sticking your money in long-term, there's a good chance you'll do well.

Not quite - 17.9%, but can't complain about that. Neil Woodford's Fund | Invest with Hargreaves Lansdown

[SimonMac]

Now is a good time to remember that shares are a long term investment

Another 2.8% down today, which has nearly wiped out almost my entire profits in my SIPP which I had build up since my first trade in August 2012

Who wants to retire anyway?

[MarillionFan]

Now is a good time to remember that shares are a long term investment

Another 2.8% down today, which has nearly wiped out almost my entire profits in my SIPP which I had build up since my first trade in August 2012

Who wants to retire anyway?

Buying opportunity.

[pjclarke]

Buying opportunity.

WMFS. An object lesson on why stocks are for the long term. You've made a paper loss after a paper gain. Unless you're just about to retire, not too much to worry about, indeed if you're investing for retirement you're probably going to be a net buyer of stocks for the foreseeable, this is a chance to pick up some quality businesses at bargain prices, if you can catch the falling knife ….

I have no idea were the market is going to go. I prefer it going down. But my preferences have nothing to do with it. The market knows nothing about my feelings. That is one of the first things you have to learn about a stock. You buy 100 shares of General Motors (GM). Now all of a sudden you have this feeling about GM. It goes down, you may be mad at it. You may say, "Well, if it just goes up for what I paid for it, my life will be wonderful again." Or if it goes up, you may say how smart you were and how you and GM have this love affair. You have got all these feelings. The stock doesn't know you own it.

The stock just sits there; it doesn't care what you paid or the fact that you own it. Any feeling I have about the market is not reciprocated. I mean it is the ultimate cold shoulder we are talking about here. Practically anybody in this room is probably more likely to be a net buyer of stocks over the next ten years than they are a net seller, so everyone of you should prefer lower prices. If you are a net eater of hamburger over the next ten years, you want hamburger to go down unless you are a cattle producer. If you are going to be a buyer of Coca-Cola and you don't own Coke stock, you hope the price of Coke goes down. You are looking for it to be on sale this weekend at your Supermarket. You want it to be down on the weekends not up on the weekends when you tend the Supermarket.

- Warren Buffett.