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Shocks and scares?

Wa10
Level 19: Quirky
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Just curious, does anybody else enjoy playing the stock markets? Whether investing for long term growth/income, trading for short term profit or a mix of the two.

 

 

I'd love to say that I have loads of money invested, and that I've made a fortune, however my interests are a lot more modest than many I'm sure. I manage my own pension investments, and have a few £ invested for a rainy day, however my real pleasure somes from a bit of speculation of shares which will either lose me a few coppers, or make me my fortune! Penny stocks as they are known, smaller entities often on the AIM or similar 

 

I bought into a share a couple of years ago off the back of a rumour of some potentially good news, thought I may have a chance to grab a quick profit which would exceed the interest the money could earn in a savings account, but with the full understanding that it was a big punt and I could lose the lot. The spike came and went, and I was sat on a massive % loss for the best part of those 2 years (quite glad that it was only a few hundred tied up). The good news is finally starting to materialise after all of this time, and currently seeing consecutive says of 20%+ rises and close to 2 weeks of growth :D. 

 

Hands up, as I saw it starting to build I increased the stakes and gambled a lot more than I usually would do, but so far it's paid off to the extent that I've made back the losses and cashed out my initial investment, meaning that now whatvever happens it's pure profit, so I can sit back and watch the chart climbing. If the news confirms what we're all expecting, then I may be back in again for even greater profits, but for now I'm quite content to make some money for nothing. wink 

 

It's not always panned out this way though 😞 Don't even mention Northern Rock to me! Haha. That was certainly a lesson in how not to play the markets.

 

Would love to hear of anybody else's experiences, and whether others here enjoy a bit of a dabble as I do? 

I work for O2, however any advice or opinion given in this community should be considered my own and not necessarily representative of Telefónica UK Limited.
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viridis
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I have 11,593 shares in an African coal mining company.
Since buying they have got permission and building a coal powered power plant and have exclusive mining rights for the coal and minerals in that region.
I'll sit on them for a few decades and see...
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viridis
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^not a joke either.
I know African coal mining does seem a bit jokey
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Wa10
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Nothing wrong with a bit of African mining @viridis, I'm sat on 53,125 shares in a company involved in gold mining in Africa. Now that sounds really impressive, until I mention that they're worth about £50, haha!

 

None of the good news in the pipeline that it sounds like yours has, but it's one of those truly speculative punts that helps me keep a foot in the market in case anything happens. If something a bit crazy goes off (as has done with a couple of Oil shares) then 53k shares could end up being worth an awful lot more than a round of drinks. 

 

Good luck with yours. slight_smile 

I work for O2, however any advice or opinion given in this community should be considered my own and not necessarily representative of Telefónica UK Limited.
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Anonymous
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I would but don't know we're to start
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Wa10
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Alas, I end the day with a 0.05p per share loss on my "next big thing", how fickle the market really can be. Still, at the end of 2 weeks of gains I really can't grumble...and if the news we all know is in the pipeline drops tomorrow then that fraction of a penny will pale into insignificance. 

 

@Anonymous There are some great blogs and forums around - I tend to read Motlet Fool quite regularly, and use the LSE forums/chat to keep tabs on other investors thoughts.

 

 

I work for O2, however any advice or opinion given in this community should be considered my own and not necessarily representative of Telefónica UK Limited.
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Anonymous
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Ah cool thanx I'll have look
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sheepdog
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I did dabble a bit with AIM stocks mainly because they don't attract tax in an ISA when buying but cashed out at a relatively minor loss a while back. Incidentally it was good timing as looking back at the values now, they've halved or gone for some reason or another.

 

Not that I put a lot in given the risky side of AIM but what really annoyed me was no matter how much research you did, the C-level execs would happily either close up, issue more shares, change their name or basically use AIM as a windfall cash generator for themselves. Saying that I did profit from a few (don't you just love the attitute of AIM being rumour based to drive share prices rather than solid facts) and did the sensible thing and sold at the right time.

 

More disappointed at a couple who unfortunately got caught up in the dramatic oil drop killing their tech so folded which were interesting investments. I have a few of the absolute loss makers remaining and a couple that have long term potential in an ISA which is more of a curiosity now to see what happens over the years.

 

Sticking with funds now that cover certain sectors as buying individually (in both senses) is too much of a risk given the market is really rigged for the traders. Had quite a bit of success in the past with funds though they are long term committments and more manageable. 

 

Next year, I'm looking at peer to peer lending but that brings in more risk so researching carefully all the companies out there before committing. 

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Wa10
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Oh there's no denying that funds tend to be a lot more stable - granted there's no real chance of a massive win, but at the same time you don't often have to worry about the heart attacks brought on by 50+% swings, as I've had to endure today haha.

 

The AIM market really is so manipulated it's untrue, but from time to time there's big news which even the crooks can't control, despite trying their hardest.

 

Watch out for some very big news involving the black, wet stuff - it's not really hit MSM yet, but will do very soon I'm sure, and then all bets really are off with this one.

 

 

I work for O2, however any advice or opinion given in this community should be considered my own and not necessarily representative of Telefónica UK Limited.
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