Solid Performance – Up 5.07%

After the heavy falls that I incurred back in May, June proved to be a good recovery month with the value of my eToro portfolio going up by 2.8%, and July has been an even better month so far with the value of my portfolio going up by 5.07% with just two trading days left.

As you can from the screenshot of my portfolio performance below, or by checking out my SteadyProfits account on eToro, this 5.07% gain combined with my previous monthly performance figures for 2019 means that my portfolio is now up 7.04% in 2019.

This is not really something to shout about because the portfolio fell 8.74% in the last two months of 2018 when I first started trading on eToro, but I’m still fairly happy that my portfolio is now heading in the right direction, particularly with additional dividends due to be paid for many of my stocks in the next few months.

Dividends Received

This month was helped a lot by the fact that one of my biggest holdings, International Airlines Group (IAG.L), went ex-dividend, and as you probably know, one of the main benefits of eToro is that the dividend is paid straight into your account on this ex-dividend date.

I didn’t receive any other dividends this month but IAG paid both an ordinary dividend and a special dividend, and so even after eToro deducted their fees, I still received a total dividend of around 4.91% from this one holding.

Trading Performance / Current Portfolio

July was a fairly busy month from a trading point of view. At the start of the month, I sold my shares in Aviva (AV.L) for a profit of 2.21%. I also sold a small tranche of my GVC (GVC.L) shares for a short-term gain of 2.62%.

In addition to this, I traded out of Barclays (BARC.L) for a small profit, and sold my newly acquired BP (BP.L) shares yesterday for a small profit of around 1% because I didn’t want to hold on to them on results day (which was today).

Apart from this, I ended up buying some more shares in Aviva (AV.L) because they are currently very undervalued and still pay a very generous dividend, and still have my long-term stocks, GVC and IAG, which haven’t performed too well of late but are still very cheap based on their long-term earnings forecasts.

My other holding is Imperial Brands (IMB.L), which has bounced back strongly this month, but is still below my initial entry price. So this is another stock that I am prepared to hold for the long-term and collect the quarterly dividends while I wait.

Talking of dividends, the next few months should be beneficial for my portfolio because Aviva and Imperial Brands are both due to go ex-dividend next month, and GVC is due to pay another strong dividend in September.

Copiers

As I seem to say every month, I still don’t actually have any active copiers on eToro, which is disappointing. However I am just going to keep trying to make money as usual, and hopefully the copiers and followers will eventually come if I can continue to grow my portfolio and achieve steady profits, as per my username.

Risk Score

The one thing I have noticed is that my risk score has recently dropped from 5 to 4, which has to be beneficial because most eToro users are interested in finding profitable traders that don’t take too many crazy risks and who generally trade sensibly.

Final Thoughts

I have become a little disillusioned with eToro if I’m being honest because of the lack of copiers and the need to document every trade and dividend received for tax purposes, unlike an ISA, for example, where all the gains and dividends are tax-free.

Indeed I did actually consider withdrawing all my money and adding it to my ISA account, but for now I think I am going to continue trading with eToro for the foreseeable future and see how well I can do.

I know that I am capable of growing a portfolio quite substantially because I have done just this with my ISA. I think it will just take time for the compounded dividends and gains to start to really take effect, and the whole mess surrounding Brexit isn’t exactly helping matters either right now as I only hold UK stocks at the moment. So let’s see how the rest of 2019 pans out.

Follow Me on eToro

If you would like to follow my journey on eToro, simply go to the eToro website and search for SteadyProfits to view my live trading results and to see my latest trades.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment or portfolio management advice. 81% of retail investors accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

A Nice Recovery – Up 2.81%

If you have been following my eToro updates for a while, you will know that May was my worst month so far. After being nicely in profit for the year, my portfolio ended up losing 12.84% in value in a single month after the FTSE fell sharply.

Well the good news is that my portfolio bounced back a little in June, finishing 2.81% higher at the end of the month.

There is obviously still a long way to go to get back to where I was, but I am still fairly happy with this overall performance.

Dividends Received

This was one of the few months where I didn’t actually receive any dividends, so unfortunately I do not have any excess cash to reinvest back into the markets at the current time.

However the biggest holding in my portfolio is International Consolidated Airlines (AIG.L), and this is due to pay a huge special dividend when it goes ex-dividend in a few days time. So this will give me a decent amount of cash to reinvest.

In addition to this, Aviva (AV.L), Barclays (BARC.L) and Imperial Brands (IMT.L) are all due to go ex-dividend in August, with GVC (GVC.L) going ex-dividend in September, so this will definitely boost my portfolio.

Trading Performance / Current Portfolio

I haven’t actually placed any trades in the last month, therefore my current portfolio is still the same as before.

My largest holding is still IAG, but I am also heavily invested in GVC, Barclays, Imperial Brands, and to a lesser extent, Aviva.

In terms of performance, all of these stocks are currently in the red, but they are all massively undervalued right now, and I’m not overly concerned going forward because I am sure that they will all move into profit over time. In the meantime I will just sit back and collect the dividends while I wait for them to recover.

I am particularly bullish about GVC and IAG because these could both be trading at twice their current share price and still be fairly valued, but I think Barclays and Aviva are both fairly safe long-term holdings as well.

The only holding that I am slightly concerned about is Imperial Brands because this has performed really badly in recent months with so much negativity surrounding the tobacco industry as a whole. If I can get out at break-even at some point, I will probably do so, and will probably avoid this sector going forward.

Copiers

As my trading account is still in the red overall, I still don’t have any active copiers, but I’m absolutely fine with that. This will only happen when my account is showing sustained profits over long periods of time.

Final Thoughts

Overall it has been a fairly subdued month with little trading activity and no dividends added to my account, but as always, I am still confident that the value of my portfolio will bounce back strongly in the future.

All five of my holdings are hugely undervalued and it should hopefully only be a matter of time before the share prices reflect their true value.

However the reality is that this will probably only happen once we get some clarity regarding Brexit because at the moment there is still no clear resolution to this problem with no leader in place and no real plan of action.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment or portfolio management advice. 81% of retail investors accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

My Worst Month Yet – Down 11.32%

I started last month’s update by saying that this had been my best month yet because I was up 9.61% at that time, and I actually ended the month up 9.31% in the end.

However I’m sad to say that all of those gains have been wiped out because May has been my worst month yet.

At the time of writing I am currently down 11.32% this month, and am now only up 0.83% for the year, which is a poor performance.

Reasons for the Heavy Losses

The main reason for my heavy losses is because of the whole mess surrounding Brexit. With Theresa May resigning and the threat of a no-deal Brexit coming back once again, my portfolio has taken quite a beating because I am only holding UK stocks right now, and most of these are heavily susceptible to any adverse news regarding Britain’s exit from the EU.

The markets hate uncertainty, and unfortunately there has never been so much uncertainty in the British economy. At the moment we even don’t have a prime minister, and we still don’t know if there will be a soft Brexit, a no-deal Brexit, or even a second referendum.

In addition to this, we have also had the trade war between the US and China, which has weighed heavily on the markets.

As a result of this, the stock markets have fallen, with the FTSE 100 going from over 7500 to around 7140, before recovering to its current level of 7270.

I’m not going to make any excuses though. Shares go up and down in the short-term but good quality companies generally grow their earnings and their dividends every year, and so I’m not overly concerned.

Dividends Received

I haven’t been actively trading that much this month, choosing instead to sit on my portfolio of stocks and wait for my stocks to recover, and it has also been fairly quiet on the dividend front as well.

This month I just had one stock going ex-dividend – Imperial Brands (IMT.L) – and thanks to eToro’s dividend policy, this has already been added to my account.

Copiers

Unsurprisingly, after having such a poor month, I still don’t have any new copiers, and I wouldn’t expect to either.

However I am taking a long-term approach and am hopeful that I will soon have some active copiers once my portfolio is looking a lot healthier.

Final Thoughts

With my portfolio down 11.32% for the month, it would have been very easy for me to avoid doing a trading update this month, but I promised to document my journey as a trader on eToro, and so for completely transparency, I have to talk about both the highs and the lows.

It is never nice to see your portfolio go down so much in such a short space of time, but I am not at all worried because I am almost certain that every single stock in my portfolio will move into profit at some stage, and in the meantime I am happy to collect the dividends while I wait.

Indeed as soon as there is some clarity regarding Brexit, many of these stocks should surge higher almost immediately, but even if they don’t, I am confident of a recovery because I bought them all at a good price when they were on a very low P/E ratio, and they are all predicted to continue to grow their profits in the coming years.

My current portfolio includes GVC (GVC.L), Imperial Brands (IMT.L), International Consolidated Airlines (IAG.L), Barclays (BARC.L) and Aviva (AV.), and I would be happy to buy them all at today’s prices if I had some additional trading capital.

Follow Me on eToro

If you would like to follow my journey on eToro, simply go to the eToro website and search for SteadyProfits to view my live trading results and to see my latest trades.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment or portfolio management advice. 81% of retail investors accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

My Best Month Yet – Up 9.61%

It’s Bank Holiday Monday here in the UK and the markets will remain closed for one more day, so I thought this would be a good time to discuss my latest trading performance on eToro for the month of April (trader profile = SteadyProfits).

If you read last month’s update, you will know that my portfolio took a big dip after the share price of GVC (my largest holding) fell sharply from 700p to just over 500p.

This panic selling was all caused by both the chairman and the CEO selling a large amount of shares, but after a positive trading update earlier this month, it would appear that nothing is fundamentally wrong with the company, and they are still on course to continue growing their profits, which has helped to reassure investors.

This has resulted in the share price bouncing back to around 648p, and I’m sure that it will continue creeping back up towards the 700p level in due course.

Furthermore, it has also meant that my portfolio is now in great shape once again. After falling 2.65% in March, the portfolio is currently up 9.61% so far this month (and is up 14.02% in 2019), which I am obviously delighted about.

Trading Summary / Dividends

As mentioned above, one of the main reasons why my portfolio is up so much is because GVC has bounced back so strongly, but other stocks have contributed to this gain as well.

I currently have three other stocks in my portfolio – International Airlines Group (IAG.L), Barclays (BARC.L) and Aviva (AV.L), and these are all in profit at the moment, helped by a positive overall stock market performance, because they are up 0.24%, 5.07% and 1.87% respectively.

In addition to this, I also sold my two holdings in HSBC (HSBA.L) for a profit of around 1% in the hope that I will be able to get back in lower, and banked a nice dividend of around 4% (after fees) from my Aviva (AV.L) shares.

Apart from this, there hasn’t been much trading activity because I can’t really find a lot of undervalued stocks right now, but I have some capital ready to invest should the markets fall in the near future.

Copiers

Despite being up over 14% up this year, and over 5% up overall, I still don’t have any people actively copying my trades on eToro, which is a little disappointing.

It seems to be quite hard to get noticed on eToro, and I understand that many people are reluctant to copy traders who don’t have a long trading history.

However it would still be nice to have just one or two people copying my trades because I want to help other people make some extra money as well.

Closing Comments

As you can imagine, I am still very happy with my overall trading performance, particularly after seeing the portfolio fall in value last month.

In the future I would like to reduce my exposure to GVC a little, despite being very bullish about their future prospects, and diversify a little more into other stocks if the opportunities present themselves.

However I am still very happy with my overall portfolio because I bought some undervalued high-dividend stocks at some decent prices, and am content to collect the dividends whilst waiting for their respective share prices to rise.

Follow Me on eToro

If you would like to follow my journey on eToro, simply go to the eToro website and search for SteadyProfits to view my live trading results and to see my latest trades.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment or portfolio management advice. 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Not A Good Month

There was a time at the start of the month when the portfolio was in really excellent shape. I banked some small short-term profits on various stocks, sold a few of my longer-term holdings for a decent profit, such as Apple, for example, and my largest holding, GVC, was now nicely into profit when it was trading above 700p.

However the trouble is that if you invest too much into one stock, and that company announces some bad news that sends the share price tumbling, your portfolio can take a big hit, and that’s exactly what happened.

After a positive trading update from GVC, there was an RNS shortly afterwards announcing that both the chairman and the CEO sold a large number of their shares at a discount, which caused many investors to sell their shares in the fear that there was some bad news on the horizon, and encouraged traders to open short positions.

Subsequently the price has gone from over 700p to just over 500p, but the good news is that the CEO has announced that he won’t be selling any more shares, and has hinted that the company is still in good shape, which has helped the price recover to around 550p.

To be fair, I have a few other stocks in my portfolio that are down a little since I bought them, so this too has contributed to a fall in the overall value of my portfolio.

The net result of all this is that the portfolio is now down 3.73% for the month of March with two full trading days left.

Trading Summary / Dividends

With regards to my trading activity this month, I sold both of my holdings in Barclays (BARC.L) that I bought last month for a decent profit (plus I also received the dividend as well during this time).

I also took the opportunity to sell about 30% of my GVC (GVC.L) shares when the price got to 722p. With the benefit of hindsight, I wished I had sold all of my GVC shares because the price subsequently fell sharply, but I am still a firm believer in this company and based on future forecasts, it should still be trading around 700-800p at the very least in the future.

For that reason, I ended up buying some more shares at 587p, and received a healthy dividend when the shares went ex-dividend on 14 March.

In addition to this, I sold my shares in Domino’s Pizza (DOM.L) for a very small profit when the opportunity arose because I wasn’t really comfortable with my initial entry price, and then traded it again when the price dropped for a bigger profit.

I also sold my shares in Apple (AAPL) for an excellent profit at around $181.63. I was intending to hold on to them in the hope that they would reach $200, but I decided to bank some profits instead.

Finally, I also managed to bank a profit of around 3.73% trading Aviva (AV.L), so in terms of trading it was a good month, but GVC and a few long-term investments have pushed the overall value lower this month.

Current Portfolio

At this moment in time, GVC is still my largest holding, closely followed by International Airlines Group (IAG.L), which is ridiculously undervalued based on future forecasts and is due to pay a massive dividend later this year.

The rest of my portfolio is made up of financial stocks, similar to Warren Buffet, and includes Aviva (AV.L), Barclays (BARC.L) and HSBC (HSBA.L), all of which are very cheap based on fundamentals and pay an excellent dividend.

Closing Comments

Overall I am obviously disappointed with the whole GVC situation (I don’t think the directors realised how much of an affect their share sales would have on the share price) and the overall performance of my portfolio this month, but as my eToro username (SteadyProfits) suggests, my goal is to make steady profits over time, and I am 100% confident that the GVC share price will slowly recover and the other stocks in my portfolio will start to come good.

In the meantime I am more than happy to keep on accumulating dividends and reinvesting them into good quality high-dividend stocks. It’s all about being patient and reinvesting both profits and dividends, and if I keep on doing this, I’m sure that my portfolio will eventually be in really good shape.

Follow Me on eToro

If you would like to follow my journey on eToro, simply go to the eToro website and search for SteadyProfits to view my live trading results and to see my latest trades.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment or portfolio management advice. 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.