LM portfolio as at 11/03/2022:
| Code | Sector | Date Bought | Cost | Value | Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LM045 | Gas, Water & Multiutilities | 06/12/2021 | £1280 | £1220 | (4.56%) |
| LM047 LM047-2 |
ETC | 17/01/2022 03/03/2022 |
£2530 | £2830 | 11.55% |
| LM048 | ETC | 31/01/2022 | £1260 | £1440 | 14.34% |
| LM049 | ETC | 07/03/2022 | £1290 | £1200 | (6.77%) |
More on last week's sales
First of all I got rid of JTC (LM028) as this was struggling to lift from its 750p level. With overall stock market weakness weighing on my mind I was short on patience so I sold the whole position and banked a small profit of £245.42. That's OK, although not brilliant, for a position with two units invested.
Next I tired of another two unit position in INVP (LM040) as this share price was making new 20 day lows and quickly approaching its 200 day SMA. Like I said, I was getting irritated with the market falling and wasn't happy to see the shares I was holding starting to fall in value so I made a snap decision to sell. A little more profit was banked here - £330.68.
Looking back with hindsight I probably shouldn't have had both of these shares in the portfolio at the same time as they are likely in the same sector of "General Financial". This was overlooked because JTC was listed as being in 'No specific industry' on my broker's website.
In any case, selling immediately made me feel better - like a fog had been lifted.
There was no more confusion, no more indecision on what was "best to do". The judgment was made, the share was gone from the LM portfolio and any risk of it turning into a loss was removed.
As you can tell from the articles posted to this website, I am far from a trading expert. I am just a normal person hoping to invest money and grow it over the long term. Sometimes I wonder if I sell positions too early when I should be letting them run for longer.
Many of the rules I follow I have been lifted from a series of seminars I watched from 2004 onwards. The person who runs these seminars is very much a trend trader and so he will recommend buying at new highs, selling at new lows and using lagging indicators like simple moving averages to make trading decisions.
Therefore by following these rules I am always going to be a little late. I'll always be buying in during the run-up and then selling after the peak.
In the case of Natwest (NWG, LM038), which was also closed last week, it ran away from me a little when it dropped 4.77%, 5.73%, 2.36% and 5.75% in the first few days of March with one slight up day of 1.62%. As luck would have it, it stopped dropping once I'd clicked "confirm" on the dealing page of my broker.
Oh well, that's always the way it works; you sell and the share starts moving up again.
Come Wednesday of this week I got the signal (3 days under 200 day SMA) to close off LM041 which was a one-unit purchase of Segro PLC (SGRO). A small profit - £36.29 - was generated.
This flurry of activity leaves the LM portfolio looking very empty with just 4 positions, the 4th position (LM049) being a new commodity trade opened last Monday.
It also means the LISA Millionaire fund has more money in cash than in investments but is only worth roughly the same as it was in May 2021.
When the market sentiment changes and we see the FTSE 100 and 250 moving upwards I will be ready to sprint out of the gates and load up with plenty of shares. With a little bit of luck this will push the value of the LM fund to new highs. It has happened before - just after the COVID drops the market turned around and continued moving upwards. I bought back in and made good profits.
However, no money is made if you jump in when market is falling. It's very important to hold on until there's some sustained progress on the up side.
Until then we wait.