Final Week

 If nothing else the stock game has proven out the great social experiment. Not unlike the bell curve to the left, my emotions drove most of my stock buy and sell activity. I notice my earlier strategy went out the window. Prior to the last week I was making at least half thought out decisions. My big fear starting out was losing all my money.

During this last week I waited for a couple of my losers to rebound (hope). I had done fairly well on my Canadian portfolio and was up from the high teens sitting at 8. Wow. I considered what could I purchase and maybe make some cash on in the final week to see if I could climb the US rankings (greed).

On my watch list I had been tracking Silvercorp for a few weeks, it had been on the rise (hope). Buying on November 9, $30,000 worth, imagine my shock when on the 10th I was down almost $2400! (fear). I will give it a day (hope).

Sitting in front of my computer screen on Friday November 12th staring at my stock portfolio, though logically I know I can not recover from my, now $3,600 plus loss, I wonder if others may have done the same (hope).

I later that day I read that Silvercorp had bought a Mexican mine located in China on November 8th; after reporting record sales and announcing the first ever dividends to be paid out. Click here to see the drop of doom. Choose the one month view.

My biggest Losers were...

Avon

MGM Resorts

Silvercorp

My Big earners were...
                               Estee Lauder  Argonaut Gold
                                         Canadian Natural Gas       





Considering my over all performance I am pleased. I finished 6th in the Canadian market. If I had not made that last greedy silver trade I would have finished 14th in the US market but I did so instead I finished 21st . I did hang in for some stock to rebound CNG and LULU those paid off. I did use my hunches to produce some good results. I believe I may not be cut out for 'trading' with other peoples money. I find I am very intersted in selling stocks of a company I own or work for.

In the end the learning was worth any mental anxiety after all it wasn't real.



Economic Event #2

As I read the following article from Newsweek the fact my week preformed as it did made some  sense. Especially as it relates to the silver stock. I am grateful I closed my Canadian protfolio earlier in the week. Perhaps there is still hope as my unknowing classmates wait until 2pm waiting for profits to push them forward in the rankings as the game ends.

Canadian Stocks fall as 

Chinese Interest rates concerns Weaken Oil

By Matt Walcoff

Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian stocks fell, headed for the biggest weekly loss in almost three months, as oil and metals dropped on speculation that China will raise interest rates.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index decreased 139.89 points, or 1.1 percent, to 12,794.85 as of 10:44 a.m. in Toronto. For the week, the index has slipped 1 percent.

The S&P/TSX surged 17 percent in the four months ending last week as the U.S. dollar plunged and commodities rallied on concern U.S. monetary stimulus would weaken the currency. The greenback is having its biggest weekly gain since August as unease over European government debt sends the euro lower.

Chinese stocks declined the most since August 2009 today as investors speculated the People’s Bank of China will raise interest rates. Yesterday, the country said consumer prices increased 4.4 percent in October, the most in two years.

Crude oil retreated the most in three weeks, losing 1.6 percent to $86.38 a barrel. China is the world’s second biggest user of the fuel behind the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Department.

Energy Shares.

All of the major base metals traded on the London Metal Exchange fell, with zinc tumbling as much as 4.7 percent. China, the world’s largest metals consumer, sold zinc from its reserves at below-market prices to curb recent price gains...    

The story goes on to finish  ...BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. advanced 3.7 percent to C$61.53, extending its three-day increase to 11 percent. I guess I could have held on to that stock.

To read the story in it's entirety please click here.

Invester Terms

Buy Break

source: Investopedia  

When a stock appears to have met resistance at the $50 price level for the last year. Many traders will watch the price movement around $50 very closely because a break above the resistance would suggest that a likely surge higher will follow. Technical traders use a break above resistance to signal a good opportunity to buy because a resulting surge of upward momentum commonly follows.

Gap Sampl

Gapping

source: Investopedia 

To employ a gap strategy an investor can scan the morning prices for a gap and watch to see what the stock does in the first couple hours of the trading day. In general, if the price goes up, it signals a buy, and if it goes down, a short. There are several variations of the gap strategy.

Ichimoku Kinko Hyo

source: Investopedia  

"Ichimoku" is a Japanese word that means "one look." This charting technique was created by a Japanese newspaper writer. It does look very complicated when a trader sees the indicator for the first time, the complexity quickly disappears once you gain an understanding of what the various lines mean and why they are used.

In my web search to learn more I came across a blog Introduction to Ichimoku. The blog writer has committed himself to helping others understand how to read these charts, a sample is  show below. The blog also provides comments from other users of the chart. To read the blog or see the chart in more detail just click here.

Sample Ichimoku Kinko Hyo Chart

Climbing the Ranks

Finally I can report my portfolio is in the black! Earlier in the week I noticed I was creeping up and ended the week at 16 US and 15 Canadian. This was helped by the markets having a good week, I also noticed I  beat (up 1.56) the S&P (up by 0.36). 

Since some of my losers were up, I decided to sell, take the cash and buy just one more stock.

So happy to sell Krispie Kream. It had looked so promising but  something "happened" as the stock, which had gained rapidly since August, started dropping. Silly me. 

 I thought Agrium was a good idea. I don't know if I had thought for a longer period of time perhaps I would have realized it's not planting season!

CF Holdings I bought because it was one of the top earners in our game. Turns out not for me. Bye Bye.

Shoppers I sold because I just felt I could invest the money more aggressively for our last few weeks.

I have 11 stocks in my portfolio and other than AVON which has lost  over one thousand dollars, the US group is doing well. On the Canadian side I am now ahead on the  CNG stock (up over 100 this week) and LULU is almost at break even. Rim is sucking but I hold high hopes. The big winners are my gold stock and MasterCard.

 I am so glad I unloaded several stocks this week and made some cash too! I considered again the holidays and what does everyone buy? I tossed around the obvious then it hit me. I bought at 25.03 and it closed the week at 25.29 making me 250 bucks so far.

More of the Same

I am still at the bottom of the rankings mostly due to CNG and LULU. But I have gained on myself!

This week I researched companies like Hallmark and Carlton and others such as Cadbury and Nestle. My thought was to look at what I considered Holiday stocks. In the end either I did not want to purchase after viewing the history or the Brand name belonged to a big conglomerate like P&G.

I sold short Agrium last week and after a few days it rebounded and  I  covered. I don't like the idea of selling short. Perhaps if there is a company out there I would support pulling the plug on I might feel different.

I had MasterCard A on my watch list for a while and decided to go for it. I have no idea what the A stands for. I assume this is a great season for retail and by buying a retail related stock, like this one,  perhaps it's will have the effect of a mutual fund. I should benefit from all retail purchases.

I am not sure what I was thinking Last week I sold my US RIMM stock because I did not like the up and down action. This week I bought RIM Canada. I have to trust for a bit that my subconscious knew what I was doing. I feel a bit like a dork on this one.

I sold Estee. I  didn't want to but I really was not performing as it had in my other group.  It had been a big winner there and in the end I lost fake money at every turn. I may regret this.


My plan for next week is to make a decision about CNG and LULU and to plan a mini strategy that may contribute  to my portfolio as our game approaches the end.

Sticking my neck out.

The stock game reminds me of dating.
Hoping things will change, but not really having any control over the change. Trying to guess what might happen, will things improve?

Just not being able to toss in the towel because of the time invested so far. On the bright side...Playing stocks rarely leads to housework.