John Walsh’s Monthly Trading Academy
“Given that I swung to a £30k + profit at the 11th hour of the Academy and that clinched the win for me, I felt I’d had enough excitement for the time being!” I also closed my Vodafone (VOD) and Thomas Cook (TCG) long trades and since then they have not pushed on much, although I did close my EasyJet (EZJ) and William Hill (WMH) long trades for a nice profit — both of which have gone up even more, and then some! I guess EasyJet will be joining the FTSE 100 before long. I have closed my PZ Cussons (PZC) short position for a small profit after it released some not exactly inspiring results, but it has since started to move back up and so I may open a new position shortly. I also closed a long position I held very briefly in Safestore (SAFE) which released a positive statement, including its French arm which is doing well. Trades that I still have open from the previous month are the perennial punters’ favourite — Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) and which, with the ongoing litigation with Excalibur, is still very much range bound, hogging the 200p level. My current long position is slightly down, but nowhere near my stop loss for now. Two other trades from the previous month I still have open are my short positions in Stobart (STOB) which has just moved into profit as has my Barratt Developments (BDEV) long after its share price seemed to take a breather following its posting of what I felt were great results a few weeks back.
Another one that I have recently opened is in buliding materials and plant hire company Ashtead Group (AHT) and which has been on a clear uptrend for some time with plenty more to come I think. Since opening both of these positions Lonmin is at a slight loss while Ashstead continues to rise nicely. People have recently asked me what I look for in a trade and my answer is “kiss”, as in keep it simple stupid! I find the simple ways are the best ways because in the markets if you complicate things too much, you may end up looking at everything but trading nothing as we saw with one of my competitors on the Academy competition. I basically stick to looking for stocks in a clear up or down trend and also equities that are hitting new 52 week highs or lows as well as taking a look at the daily risers and fallers to see if any are worth investigating. Well, that’s enough from me for now, I hope you enjoy reading about my trading escapades as much as I enjoy writing them and I look forward to writing more in the coming months for this fantastic publication that I have had the privilege to have been asked to write for. Remember, you control the trade the trade does not control you. Kind Regards, John
Regarding new trades, I have opened a long position in Lonmin (LMI) — a stock that I am aware Spreadbet Mag’s been very positive on and whose share price has come down some recently, but I think may have now turned a corner and we could see some upside back over 400p.
March 2013
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