The First Month: Pretty Good!
A log of my first 31 days back in the game
What a fun month! I planned to just dip my feet in the water, as it were, and am very encouraged by the results.
I bought into a total of six stocks (AMK, DSGX, MNTV, ON, ONON, PCYG), closed out of five. (I’m still holding ONON, which is in the black as of this writing.)
Of the five, PCYG breaks my heart. It was my first buy in this new adventure, and I jumped out way too quick. How much too quick? I sold at 6.93 and it’s been dancing around 9.00. Well, at least I didn’t lose money.
The Trades
Note: I don’t share the number of shares I’ve actually bought. However, I do buy in a fixed dollar amount, represented by “1x”. “.5x” is half that number. That number is irrelevant because we’re talking percentages here. Your “x” could be $100, $1000, or $100,000.
MNTV was a mandated sale because of a merger, a fact I missed in my otherwise fastidious research.
Trading Log
NOTE: This log omits MNTV because the sale was mandated by the merger, vs. my own judgment. Still showed a profit, but I can’t really take credit nor blame.
16 June 2023
SOLD 2x DSGX (closed) at $79.05
If you cross-reference the chart for DSGX and my trades as reported below, you can see this has been a harrowing journey for me. Yesterday, I was patting myself on the back because I was up over 3.25%.
Then this morning, DSGX took a dip (probably due to profit-taking) and I got nervous, so I sold to close.
I netted 2.77% on the deal, which doesn't sound like very much, but I was already in 2x, which tied up a lot of my stake for trading. I'm happy to take the money and run, but I have a feeling DSGX still has some spring left.
14 June 2023
BOUGHT .5x ONON at $29.905
ONON has crisscrossed my radar for months. When it crossed again after me getting back into trading, I decided to try a half X buy.
8 June 2023
SOLD .5x AMK (closed) at $30.145
After lingering without much movement since I bought it on May 23, I was alerted to a sudden jump in price, so I got out, netting a sweet 5.36% profit.
7 June 2023
SOLD .5x ON (closed) at $90.595
My portfolio was mostly green when I checked in the morning, and I got an alert telling me that ON had crossed $91 a share, meaning my humble BUY (5/16/23) had grown just a hair under 10% in value ($82.81 > $91.00).
I kicked myself for my automated SELL the previous day at $87.99.
Then, a mere few minutes later, I saw more red in my portfolio. Yikes, was the market's morning enthusiasm waning so quickly? ON was suddenly $90 and change, so I got antsy and quickly sold my remaining shares at market value ($90.595).
FINAL: Bought at $82.21, sold for an average share price of $89.29175, meaning 7.83% in three weeks.
I'll take it.
BOUGHT .5x DSGX at $75.59
Several weeks after my initial buys, including one dip buy, DSGX still seemed wobbly. Yet the fundamentals remained firm, at least on paper.
Faced with either making another dip buy or getting out and taking the loss, I decided to go for the additional buy.
6 June 2023
SOLD .5x ON at $87.99.
Price-wise, ON has been unsteady, making me unsteady. (I told you, I get antsy after a price goes up 5%.) When I saw the price hovering around $88 and change, I put in a trigger order to sell half my shares at market if the price dipped below $88.00.
Which it did within a matter of minutes, apparently, triggering the sale.
This netted me a mere 6.8%, but since 6.8 is greater than 5, I was happy.
24 May 2023
BOUGHT .5x DSGX at $75.415
I was dismayed to see DSGX drop 3 points so abruptly after making a full buy just a couple of days before.
I reviewed my research, and my initial reaction seemed justified. So I took the opportunity to buy on the dip.
23 May 2023
BOUGHT .5x AMK at $28.48
Presented most of the signs of upward pressure I like to see. A little leery on the industry type (a financial holding company), so I went with just a half X buy.
22 May 2023
BOUGHT 1x DSGX at $78.42
Presented all the signs of upward pressure I like to see.
17 May 2023
SOLD 1x PCYG (closed) at $6.93
Even though I just bought this yesterday, I was eager for a positive trade, so I jumped and sold as soon as I saw green.
16 May 2023
BOUGHT .8x at $6.66 and .2x at $6.75 PCYG
Presented all the signs of upward pressure I like to see. Every indicator is GREEN and the price is right where I like to see it, crossing the 50-day SMA.
This stock was moving so fast that my online broker split my order into two chunks, with dramatically different prices. Off to a good start!