Trading the stockmarket (NO Referrals)

Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2005
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Bristol
I'm looking forward to getting my portfolio to a decent size. At the moment, even on a share i really believe in i'm only ~£1000 and so whilst a 30% growth is excellent. It's still "only" £300 and so from a wealth perspective doesn't make much impact. I know it'll compound etc, but it can feel you're not really growing particularly.

In a few years i'll be able to increase the level of trades substantially and so it should feel much more worthwhile. Whilst probably increasing stress levels more :p

That's why besides learning the ropes, stocks and shares really aren't good investments in terms of hours-to-pay.
 
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Soldato
Joined
25 Sep 2006
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14,358
I suppose the issue is when it hits around 30k+ and it's very tempting to just go blow it on a new car :p

Save and invest a further £30k instead over the following four years (instead of shelling out a monthly) and at 5% it'll have doubled by year 15 and the car will have paid for itself ;)
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2005
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Bristol
I would not want to calculate time in hours lol. Probably be better to learn a course in that time.

Certainly be better to do Deliveroo.

You have to start somewhere for sure but you can I've posted the selling cupcakes analogy here before. If you want to make your money work harder than a savings account, there's a lot of easier and quicker ways than stocks and shares (unless yoy buy funds longterm and are strict at being fairly hands-off).
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Feb 2004
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London
So is anyone betting on retail stocks, given the lockdown easing plan coming?

I've gone for Marks and Spencer. I figure there are plenty of posh people who will want clothes when they emerge blinking into the light.
 
Caporegime
Joined
22 Nov 2005
Posts
45,277
So is anyone betting on retail stocks, given the lockdown easing plan coming?

I've gone for Marks and Spencer. I figure there are plenty of posh people who will want clothes when they emerge blinking into the light.
with retail there's probably going to be announcements of stores never reopening and share prices falling.

covid pushed everyone online apart from the OAPs and probably killed off most retail for good, apart from people looking for sales as retail sell off last seasons stuff for a loss :p

maybe short term and bail after q1/q2 earnings its worth a risk but I doubt it.

most people who invest these days don't follow any logic though and just pile on any old crap so you never know
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Feb 2004
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Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Yeah. My preference would be something like Boohoo. A growing online presence and with the addition of the Debenhams brands I imagine they attract some older women vs their teen/younger brands like Pretty Little Thing.

As people start going out again I feel people will start buying clothes again.
 
Soldato
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Hondon de las Nieves, Spain
Too late to get on the Argo train long term? Going well again today I see

I topped up at 280 as funds from another sale finally became available. It's linked to crypto generally so i think it's good exposure to that side of things. Whether i believe in BTC or not, it seems clear that there's a hell of a lot of money being piled into it.

My theory is that Argo has the ability to benefit both from the rising price of BTC but also from mining new coins so in theory it should actually increase in value more than simply holding BTC myself.
 
Soldato
Joined
20 Dec 2004
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15,842
Too late to get on the Argo train long term? Going well again today I see

Hard to say. Buying in to a chart that is up 2,800% in 3 months is always going to be a risky play.

Mining BTC is an odd one compared to tradition commodity acquisition, because the technology is engineered such that the upside is strictly limited. The more resources you put into mining it, the lower your rate of return. The higher the token value, the more other people mine it, which also lowers your return.

Argo never going to suddenly tap into a rich new vein of Bitcoins :D It will only ever get harder to mine them.

Personally I don't buy into Bitcoin on principle because it's got such serious fundamental issues around it's ecologic impact, same as I don't buy fossil fuels or other industries that dead-ends long term.
 
Associate
Joined
10 Jul 2010
Posts
61
Hard to say. Buying in to a chart that is up 2,800% in 3 months is always going to be a risky play.

Mining BTC is an odd one compared to tradition commodity acquisition, because the technology is engineered such that the upside is strictly limited. The more resources you put into mining it, the lower your rate of return. The higher the token value, the more other people mine it, which also lowers your return.

Argo never going to suddenly tap into a rich new vein of Bitcoins :D It will only ever get harder to mine them.

Personally I don't buy into Bitcoin on principle because it's got such serious fundamental issues around it's ecologic impact, same as I don't buy fossil fuels or other industries that dead-ends long term.


I topped up at 280 as funds from another sale finally became available. It's linked to crypto generally so i think it's good exposure to that side of things. Whether i believe in BTC or not, it seems clear that there's a hell of a lot of money being piled into it.

My theory is that Argo has the ability to benefit both from the rising price of BTC but also from mining new coins so in theory it should actually increase in value more than simply holding BTC myself.

Thanks guys. Just starting out with play money away from the main vanguard safe space .
Seen Argo mentioned a lot here but haven’t had time to do my own research. The indirect crypto exposure is intriguing.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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9,508
Thanks guys. Just starting out with play money away from the main vanguard safe space .
Seen Argo mentioned a lot here but haven’t had time to do my own research. The indirect crypto exposure is intriguing.

Some people say why own the miners when you can own the gold. I do it because I can use my ISA.
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Jul 2004
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Stanley Hotel, Colorado
Gold and miners are different things, different categories I'd be forced to say. I still own shares in a mine with cost averaging into $1850 causing a problem as it had that cost when the price was far below, outgoings exceeded available cashflow. Its not easy business , seems they had erratic returns. I've no idea they'll ever return value back to me as a shareholder, some chinese firm owns them no doubt indirectly by direction of the chinese government who have every intention of realising a higher backing of gold to fiat then presently recognised.

Gold is cash best held from one decade to another, on a historic standard rather the current floating unknowns. The gold cant change, its got no liability bar a small holding fee. Don't own paper debt of gold, own the actual gold because its an obvious situation that will spike or not. Volatility is an expense that is paid for same as insurance covers an event so gold is pointless till it has a use maybe overnight. A paper promise to own hold kinda defys the point, unless its a trade of course then fine.
The miners for gold are high risk, maybe the highest kind of risk but so far as I know that risk is in the price. Barrick took over the GOLD symbol on Nasdaq from the formerly FTSE listed Randgold and of course ABG also gone. If you own FTSE then you sold 2 gold miners there automatically when they delisted. Anyway Barrick isnt expensive afaik and its the largest to the point it can take over any of the others possibly, they arent expensive or hyped they are valued correctly as risky. Where as most of the market ignores risk vs value as we have loose easy money.

Anyway I just came to post SUPP from FT or more famously Woodford's bain. Well below asset value, I thought they may had done better with an emphasis on healthcare but I guess its too much research.
I'd rather hold undervalue steady concerns but also everything is high risk seems like. Lloyds is undervalued I reckon but its easy to judge the risk wrongly
 
Associate
Joined
20 Mar 2003
Posts
88
Talking of Woodford - to date I have lost £3k from the whole HL - Link - Woodford saga...with still a small amount tied up. I had previously held his previous fund with Invesco Perpetual. Thankfully I had sold my other holding in my ISA when it was at a high (and gain) so the losses could've been much much worse.

Since that I have moved out of active and into passive and divided between fund platforms.

Have read he wants to start an investment firm again and there is a push for an independent inquiry.

Anyway today I made a first decent gain on a share as I bought KNB yesterday - up 120% :)

Got impatient and sold ARGO early (small gain) three weeks ago, before it lifted off last week :rolleyes: idiot :p
 
Associate
Joined
12 Jan 2003
Posts
2,005
The environmental impact of mining is an interesting one. With many companies pushing for their pension schemes & own investments to be more socially & environmentally conscious, do we think that investments in Crypto from the big institutions will be limited long term?
Does the proof of work v proof of stake difference with some cypto potentially mitigate this?
 
Associate
Joined
25 Aug 2008
Posts
947
I just sold CHRY today on its RNS.

Potentially an overreaction, but raising a further 600m shares when 400m currently in issue and not announcing at this point what the funds will be spent on made my mind up.

45% gain in 3 months so cant complain. Will monitor their placing document.
 
Soldato
Joined
15 Feb 2003
Posts
10,054
Location
Europe
The environmental impact of mining is an interesting one. With many companies pushing for their pension schemes & own investments to be more socially & environmentally conscious, do we think that investments in Crypto from the big institutions will be limited long term?
Does the proof of work v proof of stake difference with some cypto potentially mitigate this?

No reason for it to be, just power the machines from cheap renewables like solar. Solar has never been cheaper. If you have the right climate it's cheap and easy to set up a massive array, which can supplement other sources.
 
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