A Profitable February

After the dramatic stock market falls that we saw in December (just after I started trading on eToro) and the rebound that we saw in January, it is fair to say that February has been a lot quieter in comparison.

Nevertheless, I did manage to post some small gains from my trading (my portfolio is currently up 1.49% for the month with just a few trading days left), and the good news is that at the time of writing, my portfolio is now in profit overall, as you can see from the chart below:

A notional starting balance of $10,000 is now worth $10,138.76, which is not bad at all because despite all the turmoil, it represents an overall gain of around 1.39%.

Of course I would have liked to have made a lot more in the last 3 months, but it was a difficult time to be invested in stocks, and overall I am fairly content with my current portfolio and its future growth and dividend-earning potential.

Here are the monthly returns for January and February 2019 so far:

Current Portfolio

After having quite a lot of spare cash sitting on the sidelines, I am now almost fully invested.

My portfolio is currently 100% in stocks, and my largest holding is still GVC (GVC.L), the global sports betting company that is rapidly expanding into the US market with a joint venture partnership with MGM.

They are due to report their latest trading results next week, and as is so often the case, the markets are expecting some more solid results, with a possible dividend increase to come.

The share price has actually been trading at very low levels with the gaming sector currently out of favour, but it has bounced back sharply this week, and is now not far below my average entry price.

Apart from this, I still have a decent holding in Apple (AAPL), which is currently in profit, but I am not planning to sell this until it is at least $200.

I decided to buy into two banking stocks this month, namely Barclays (BARC.L) and HSBC (HSBA.L), which has had mixed results, but it is still early days.

Barclays is up nearly 4.74% at the time of writing, but this will be reduced back towards my initial entry price because it goes ex-dividend tomorrow.

However at least the dividend goes straight into your account on this date with eToro, and you don’t have to pay until the official payment date, even though you only receive 85% of the total dividend payout.

HSBC is actually down a similar amount right now (4.33%), but it has recently gone ex-dividend. So this running loss has been negated somewhat by the 2% dividend that I received last week, and there are more dividends due every three months.

Finally, I also decided to buy Domino’s Pizza (DOM.L) this month because this is another good dividend stock, and is currently very undervalued based on future projections for the next few years.

With regards to outgoings, I sold my FTSE 100 tracker (ISF.L) and my holding in British American Tobacco (BATS.L) for a decent profit of 2.41% and 4.03% respectively, and also closed out my investment in Philip Morris (PM) for a very small profit, but this has turned out to be a mistake in hindsight because it has continued to surge higher.

Dividends

As I mention in my bio, dividends are very important to me, which is why I will predominantly trade stocks and ETFs that pay decent dividends, regardless of whether I am trading with a short-term or a long-term view.

Capital growth is great, but over time the effect of reinvested dividends cannot be underestimated, and the good news is that more and more dividends are now starting to be added to my portfolio.

This month I received dividends from Apple and HSBC, and I have another generous dividend payout from Barclays due tomorrow morning. Plus there is also a large dividend payout from GVC scheduled for next month, as well a final dividend from Domino’s Pizza to look forward to.

Closing Comments

My first few months trading on eToro were fairly tough due to the plunging markets, but I am very happy with my performance in 2019 so far because I am now back in profit and regular dividends are now starting to come through.

I didn’t actively trade that much this month because the markets are very high and there are few bargains to be had, but I am still happy to have picked up some shares in Barclays, HSBC and Domino’s Pizza, which should do well in the long run.

The only real disappointment is that I still don’t have any active copiers, but I’m sure that will come in due course if I can continue to grow my portfolio.

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 advice nor portfolio management. 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Profile Page Changes on eToro

If you are a trader or a copier on eToro, you will know that everybody’s profile page used to show their overall profit (as a percentage) for the previous 12 months.

This was quite useful because it obviously gave an instant snapshot into how successful a particular trader or copier has been for the last year.

They also used to show how much profit or loss each person made during the last trading day, which many people liked to see as well.

However it would appear that eToro have decided to remove both the 12-month performance figure and the profit percentage from the previous day from each person’s profile page.

To show you what I mean, this is what my previous profile page used to look like…

… and this is what the new profile page looks like…

(click here to take a closer look at my profile page on eToro)

Why Have They Done This?

The cynic in me thinks that they have done this because so many of the traders on eToro lost a lot of money during the previous 12 months when the price of all the major cryptocurrencies crashed, and the stock market crash in November and December only added to these losses in many cases.

Therefore because so many traders are nursing heavy losses from the previous 12 months, it will only discourage people from opening a new account or investing money if they see many traders sitting on big losses when they view their profile pages.

Of course people can still see their trading results by looking at each person’s Stats page, which shows their entire trading history from the time they first started trading.

However the key point here is that last emphasis is placed on the results from the previous 12 months and the results from the previous day because these figures are no longer quoted.

My Thoughts

In many ways this may be a smart move because the most profitable traders and investors will make money in the long run, but are still capable of having losing days, months or years.

So this may be the real reason why eToro have decided to remove these two performance figures. They may simply want to encourage people to look at people’s overall track record rather than encouraging people to invest money into copiers who have impressive trading records from the previous 12 months.

It’s not really that important, whatever the reasons. I just thought I would mention this change because it will affect both traders and copiers on eToro.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice nor portfolio management. 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

A Profitable January

It is fair to say that my account is still suffering from the drubbing it took in November and December, which as I said before, was one of the worst times that I could have opened an account and started trading stocks.

Nevertheless I’m not overly concerned because my eToro account (SteadyProfits) has recovered quite well in January, and I see this as a long-term game rather than a short-term road to riches.

At the time of writing, my account is up 4.23% this month with just one trading day left, but overall it is still down 4.88% since I first started trading in November.

(In reality my account is only down 0.82%, but I made the mistake of making a big deposit when I was in profit for the month, which has negatively distorted my performance results for the year).

Portfolio Analysis

After Apple (AAPL) and British American Tobacco (BATS.L) both surged higher this week, my overall portfolio is now looking a lot healthier.

Both of these stocks are now just below my entry price, but there is still a lot of upside potential in both instances because they are still massively undervalued based on their low P/E ratios.

I have a minimum long-term target price of $200 for Apple based on forward earnings estimates and I am still confident that BATS will hit 3000p at some point this year, which is about 15% higher than it is today.

I have one other tobacco holding – Philip Morris (PM) – and this too has recovered strongly, but I will probably look to get out at break-even in this case because my entry price was far too high in hindsight.

The good thing about PM is that it pays a decent dividend every 3 months, just like BATS, so I have no problem waiting for the price to recover, and I may just decide to hold on to it for a few years even if it gets back to $80.

My biggest holding is GVC, which is establishing itself as one of the biggest gaming companies in the world, but this has performed poorly this month.

Nevertheless this is very much a long-term holding and I am still holding out for a minimum price target of 800p, which should hopefully be taken out some time this year because it is still trading on a low P/E ratio and has a high dividend yield at its current price of 662p.

My only other holding is my FTSE 100 tracker (ISF.L), which is now up 1.52% overall, but I don’t really pay too much attention to the price of this ETF because this is a long-term holding that I intend to keep for many years because of its lucrative quarterly dividends and its long-term growth potential.

Short-Term Trades

As well as holding stocks for medium and long-term gains, plus of course the dividends, I also like to trade stocks on a short-term basis whenever I see some good opportunities, and in that respect, January has been a very profitable month.

I opened long positions on Aviva (AV.L), GVC (GVC.L) and IG Group (IGG.L), and managed to bank some decent profits from each of these stocks.

Outlook – Dividends Coming Soon

Although I am waiting for the markets to have some kind of pull-back in the coming weeks, I am very confident about the coming months because the ex-dividend date is rapidly approaching for all of the stocks and ETFs in my portfolio, and because eToro pays dividends on this ex-dividend date, these funds will soon be added to my account ready to be reinvested.

I also have a decent amount of cash sitting on the sidelines ready to be reinvested should the markets fall in the meantime, so I feel that I am in quite a strong position.

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.

You might also like to read my review of eToro to learn more about how this social trading platform works, if you haven’t already done so.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. This content is for information and educational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice nor portfolio management. 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Bad Timing

Joining eToro and opening a live trading account (SteadyProfits) in the middle of November 2018 was not the smartest move I could have made in hindsight.

In fact with the stock markets falling so sharply in such a short space of time, it was probably the worst possible time to open an account because it has been practically impossible to make any money from stock trading during this time.

Yes I could have opened some short positions, but I generally avoid opening short positions unless I am hedging an open position, and to be honest, I really didn’t think the stock markets would fall as much as they have done.

Trading Performance

It is normal to get some kind of Santa rally just before Christmas, but that failed to materialise this year with all the negative sentiment that surrounds the global economies at the moment.

However the markets have rallied after Christmas, and thankfully my portfolio is now looking a little healthier. Indeed, I have also received a few dividends this month, which has also helped boost my account a little bit.

Nevertheless, my account is still down quite a lot, and it was not the start I was looking for because these early stats are not going to attract any followers or copiers at all.

According to eToro, I am currently down 8.32% overall, as you can see below, but this isn’t strictly true.

I actually made the mistake of depositing a large amount of capital when my account was up a few weeks ago, and this had the effect of negatively distorting my stats.

The chart of my performance shows the real story, and as you can see below, a theoretical starting account of $10,000 is now worth $9,535.93, which represents a running loss of just over 4.46%:

This is still not very good, but with the markets crashing so hard, I am not too dissatisfied with this performance as we head into 2019.

Current Portfolio

At the moment I hold a mixture of UK and US stocks. My core holdings are GVC (GVC.L) and Apple (AAPL), which I am very confident about.

Both are currently in negative territory, but in the long run, I have a target price of $200 for Apple and a minimum target price of 800p for GVC, although looking several years ahead, the price could easily reach £15 – £20 in my opinion if their partnership with MGM starts to generate some decent profits from the highly lucrative US market.

Apart of these two holdings, I have a decent investment in ISF.L, an ETF that tracks the FTSE 100, which should be a good long term investment at these levels, particularly as it pays a dividend of 1%+ every 3 months.

I also have two tobacco companies (BATS.L and PM), which have both fallen sharply in recent months, but they now have low P/E ratios and pay good dividends, so I am confident of making some good long term returns on both of these. However I am kicking myself for buying PM far too early. I definitely got my timing wrong on this one.

Finally, I am also invested in MDY, which tracks the mid-cap S&P companies. I also entered far too early here as well, but once again, this should be a decent long-term investment.

Risk Score

My risk score dropped to 4 just recently since I made a large deposit and started buying real stocks instead of taking leveraged positions. However it has since edged up to 5, possibly because I opened one leveraged position in the past week, which is still OK, but I will be looking to bring this back to 4 or less in the future.

Final Thoughts

Looking ahead, I am still confident that I will make some decent returns from my eToro trading account, and eventually start to attract some copiers in 2019.

My timing has been poor up until now, both in terms of when I opened an account and when I bought certain shares, but I will continue to invest in good quality high-dividend stocks, as well as undervalued ETFs and growth stocks, and will also continue to open a number of short-term trades when the right opportunities present themselves.

So I will finish by wishing you all a Happy New Year, and I hope that we can all make some decent profits in 2019 and beyond.

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 advice nor portfolio management. 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

New Funds

If you read my previous update, you will know that I have been trading CFDs with eToro so far (under the account SteadyProfits) due to my modest account size, which has led me to take a shorter term view that I would normally.

Well all that is about to change because I added some new funds to my trading account earlier today, and so I am now ready to take things a lot more seriously.

By having a larger account, I will now be able to meet the minimum trade size requirements when purchasing stocks, whether for short-term trades or longer term investments, and won’t need to use leveraged CFDs any more, which not only push up my risk score, but also incur small fees every day when they are held overnight.

I have still made some small profits from CFD trading so far, as I will discuss below, but to be honest, I don’t really feel comfortable using leveraged instruments to trade stocks and ETFs because of the fees, which may appear small, but soon add up if you are holding on to positions for weeks or even months at a time.

Recent Results

After a weak start at the end of last month, my trading account is up 6.19% in December, and is now up 1.18% overall at the time of writing, as you can see below:

I’m fairly happy with this after the big market swings that have taken place since I started trading on eToro about one month ago.

At the moment I have no open positions having closed my remaining long positions yesterday, but I did manage to bank some decent profits since my last update by taking long positions on BP (BP.L), Barclays (BARC.L), Imperial Brands (IMT.L) and Lloyds (LLOY.L).

I would have made a lot more, but I got my timing wrong on GVC and ended up cutting my losses on this position, but I will be looking to get back in with an actual share purchase at some point because this stock is grossly undervalued.

Risk Score

As a result of trading CFDs, my risk score of 6 is far too high right now, and I think this will prevent me from being copied in the future, but hopefully this will come down when I stop using leverage.

Future Trades

It looks like the major stock markets are positioning themselves for a Santa rally because they have already risen nicely in the last few days.

Therefore there is a chance that I might not get the opportunity to buy into some of the stocks that are currently on my watchlist, such as British American Tobacco (BATS.L), Imperial Brands (IMT.L), Barclays (BARC.L), Lloyds (LLOY.L), GVC (GVC.L), BP (BP.L), Legal and General (LGEN.L) and Apple (AAPL), but some of them are close to my preferred entry point if there is another sell-off in the markets.

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 advice nor portfolio management. 81% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.