Others   

What is your WORST trading experience....

singaporegal.

normally, when u refer to mention using TA. Which charts or indicators do u consult? How to select what is the best no. of days to use for MA?

 

Shucks... my worst experience was with Creative too. I bought at 17.... still holding it....

 

Hi Livermore,

Try using TA to time your entry and exits. If you're more FA oriented, I suggest you try to use Moving Averages (with larger number of days) to see the general trend.

 

I sold all my winners too early *Sigh*. I also got caught with company releasing of results. Now I try find when the results are coming out and where is my position on the stock.

 

This a general posting... feel free to hate it if you like... :)

The world of the stock market is a bizarre one. It is much different from the world of humans. This is not to say that you must be unhuman to take on the stock market. On the contrary. You must be more than just human.

If  you ask yourself whether there's anything or any person whom you dislike either in this forum of the stock market or elsewhere, you will find that it comes to your mind rather easily... I know.

Is this true of you? If your answer is yes, then you are, generally speaking,  not likely to succeed in the  stock market in the long run. This is because when you come to the stock market,  you also bring with you your character. In the stock market there's no room for likes and dislikes, prejudice and favouritism, shallowness and judgment.

The market beast won't care a damn whether you qualify to go to Nirvanaland or any Promised Garden... or whatever. As long as you remain judgemental and inflexible and unforgiving in your thoughts , the beast will spank you openly on the art with his bat. And you will not last long in the market. This is the way of the market. 

 

hey... what difficulty are you having with your Internet connection? are you using dialup ( I am :) or broadband? If you are using broadband, it may be the Java problem (not the earthquakes). Can you elaborate a bit? ... :)

 

My first stock, Econ (now Jasper), was already a big big mistake. Being so green to the market and ignorant, bought it at $0.85 many years ago based on hearsay after opening a trading account. It is now worth almost nothing.

Another one is Stamford Tyres, analyst had always claimed it has good fundamentals but it didn't perform. Until recently, the released result turned out to be below expectation and the share price dropped further.

 

 

heyhey....sigh, right now, i think i'll settle for regular internet access rather than alcohol. >~<

yep, don't get discouraged. the impt thing's to learn from mistakes. And lest i come across as such a 'golden girl' (iPunter, you're too effusive in your praises lah), lemme 'fess up now to my mistakes. haha.

in the past 5 years i've made two bad calls. First was when i bought into market hype about a 'darling', second was when i clung to a loser. I learnt my lesson at the cost of 14k. Thankfully investing's a battle and not just single wars; overall portfolio-wise i've never made a loss. But never again man. My current portfolio's all black, i have no favourite stock, nor favourite method. I take only what works.

yes, invest according to your personality! When I profiled retail clients in the past, what we realised was that, despite what they said, most singaporeans in reality are conservative investors (MBTI personality profile = ISTJ); very few are actually suited for aggressive trading. 

awchyeong and ten4one, you two are talking about growth stocks, essentially. these are the quiet babies that institutions tend to be bearish on (understandable, since they want to buy them without you knowing!), but which consistently grow into bluechip (or close to that) status. Like osim abt 2-3 years ago. I bought at ~82c (counting in share split), sold at $1.70 a few months back. All the while, FA reports basically said it sucked. But read between the lines in FA.

and hehe, let's spice things up a little amid all this down-talk. I'll drop a name for the FA people to check up on now: Eu yan sang. go read its report and tell me what you think. haha. ;)

 

It seem most ppl inside here are toking abt stocks costing above 10 cents. What about stocks that are < 10 cents per share? Those stocks once rise half to 1 cent you can reap alot of profits assuming you buy in 100-200 lots each time. Anyone practising such tactics besides those contrarians? :)

 

PatSeow8

Do not be afraid and do not discouraged.  What is important is to learn from one's mistakes and if you learn something from it you have indirectly make a profit in life which money cannot buy "wisdom". Don't give up there will always be another chance to make it right again in the stock market.  I was in the same predicament  holding onto most of the stocks that you also own and reluctant to cut loss hoping that it will go up and minimize my loss. At the beginning of this year, I re-evaluated my portfolio. The market was moving up. I have little capital and don't want to put in more due to previous bad experience also reluctant to recognize the loss once I sell out. The mentality is if I don't sell it is merely paper loss. There is no such thing as once bitten twice shy if we want to remain invested so instead of shying away totally, we must continue to study the market, learn from other forumers such as not falling in love with a particular stock, the winner today may become a loser overnight. Study your own risk appetite, regularly evaluate your whole portfolio and not just one particular stock, etc. There is a wealth of knowlege to absorb from forumers here. As I was not prepared to put more into the market, I made the decision to use only existing capital  I made the painful decision to cut all the underperformers (lost about $50K) and no regrets even if they eventually move up after I sold. I then move the funds into blue chips like DBS, Sembcorp, SembMarine, Capitaland, Cosco and Keppel Corp. My biggest winner was Cosco and Capitaland I have since recover my loss and make some profits. I would be very happy to just recover my loss of $50K and anything else was indeed a bonus.  If you can afford to hold on to those paper loss, I am sure you have another chance to make it work for you.   Cheers!

 

Worst trading experience for me was Chartered.... I bought at more than $3 plus and sold at around $1.10. Damn....  60-70% loss.

 

elf- thank you fot ur comment on my post. Ur "4-emotions'" is ready enlighten us especially the new trader.

Ten4one- I do agree the cheap stock does not means lousy stock, such as Thomson medical, Pan united, Chip ES etc. But i feel that  want to earn significant $ from them, u need to buy more lots. This end up price is not cheap and the risk is high. this is my personal feel, may be silly.

 

You better start offering her the best Shanty or Bloody Mary... before she stops dishing out the goodies to you...  hehe... :)

 

is elf a lady? i don't know that.. ha ha..

 

My elfindearchilde...

It is not just 'well said'...

You have just posted such a priceless piece on this forum that it deserves to be lapped up like bears passionately lapping up honey from a honey well.



Now, what did I say about value-added content! Way to go girl..

I think you are the real super gal...   hehe.. :) 

 

well said, elf...

 

ok, this is for the beginner trader (expert traders, do feel free to correct me: i am not always right):

there are four emotions which control the stock market: arrogance--it makes you think you know the market when you don't; greed--it makes you take unnecessary risks, terror and hope. The 3rd makes you short your winners, the last makes you cling to your losers. In trading, you _feel nothing_. That is how you post a profit. Read what IS, not what you want to see. Easier said than done, of course, i know that firsthand.



Also, for those who like FA. Pls be careful. FA works IF you know how to read the details between the lines. If all you see is 'target price: xxx; recommended "BUY", then chances are, you are going to spend your investing life averaging up your losers and shorting your winners.



FA reports are issued by institutional brokers. They work for the _institutions_. We are retail investors. In many cases, we're at cross purposes. (after all, when they want to sell, someone has to buy, isn't it? like i said before, greater fool theory. Pls don't trust 'recommended BUY' calls unless you read solid fundamentals in the same report.



CAO: singaporegal, smart call. The institutions knew before already that something was wrong. For the beginners, reports are always released at least 1-2 days, sometimes a week, to the institutions before the market knows. it gives them time to react. and personally, heh. i don't trust china plays too.

 

oh dear....my sympathies to all here. you know, almost all the stocks you guys and ladies mentioned were institutional plays where they intended to catch out the small guys. Do learn to read TA: if you're not in the fund mgmt biz, it is the best way to catch signals if people are manipulating the counter.

awchhyeong, your strat is right. And yes, DCA (what you are doing) works only with blue chip stocks--choose those linked with Temasek and you cannot go wrong. There's nothing wrong with being a defensive/long term trader. In a bad year, you will post 5-7% returns, in a good year, 25%.  

Act i did long postings on DCA strat and gave an eg (CHT) on how to see manipulation in another post 'what stocks to buy now'. Do refer to those. I'm no expert, but hopefully, it'll help those who are getting caught.

 

agreed with ten4one. if u make a mistake, admit it and move on to another. try not to fall in love with any particular one unless it is drop  dead gorgeous