Since the first of the year, we have taken profits in the following stocks (investment dollars removed and "free" shares left in portfolio):
BV, CLDX, CYTK, EBIX, FIRE, INFN, INVN, MAKO, OCLR and SGMO.
Positions added to or initiated (no big bets placed, just relatively small trading positions)
AAPL, EOX, GLW, LPTH, NVDA, and ZIOP (not a reco on these, just playing/anticipating small moves)
In the case of EOX and ZIOP, we reentered a couple of small positions where we had taken large profits out of the stock in anticipation of weakness. We've just added a little stock from the sidelined profits.
Largest loss/mistakes of 2012:
MTG, OCZ and RSH - failed catching the falling knives with oversized positions...no more of that going forward!! Also, didn't have the proper downside stops in place at the time, again, no more of these types of mistakes in 2013!
We learned a lot from these trades though! In particular, MTG. We let it get away to the downside and then failed to keep track of it when it cratered and rebounded! Had the right idea but didn't let the stock trend play out before getting on board. This has been very, very helpful with our more recent trades. These mistakes were very costly at the time! However, we've more than profited from the experience.....by not allowing losses to snowball!
Best gains of 2012:
CLSN, CLDX, CIEN, FB, RDN and CF ---> Maybe I should stick to trading stocks that have symbols which start with the letter C!!!
CLSN was an awesome ride, timed beautifully in March, as was FB at $18 in August and buying RDN in May at $2.25!
Our timing is much improved. We have not had to trade out of a loss yet this year and only once in the past 3 months. We've also scaled back position sizes to reduce risk. Similarly, we're not aiming for the fences with our trades. We've been taking gains as they appear and have done a much better job of letting the winners run. We've mostly sat on the sidelines during large downtrends and this has also improved our winning percentage.
We have been very, very fortunate in our timing for the past few months. After a very shaky month of September, we've seen our portfolio rise 18% since Oct,1st of last year.
Good trading to all!!
TO |
