Monthly Progress Review: February

It is time again for my Monthly Progress Review.  This article will highlight the twelve trades I made in the month of February, as well as the profit (or loss) I received for each trade.  This month I also added to one of my long term dividend holdings because I felt the entry price was right. Hopefully that particular trade encourages some of my devout dividend investor readers.

In other news, my technical analysis has continued to improve, and as a result it has allowed me to be somewhat more aggressive in my active trading.  These 'chart based' trades as I'll call them, have been more profitable than some of my other methods.  Furthermore, (and this is the most exciting improvement for this month I believe) is that I have begun shorting. Overall, another extremely active month for me in terms of buying and selling.  I was proud of several of my trades, and especially disappointed in some of my others. I guess that's the way it goes.

Nonetheless, listed below is a summary of the dividends I received for the month of February in my Dividend Income Portfolio, as well as the profit or loss from my day trading activities:

Recent Trade...

Good afternoon all,

Rarely do I highlight individual trades 'mid month'; typically I wait until the end of the month and roll them all up in my Monthly Progress Reviews.  But, I haven't written in awhile and thought I would provide a quick update to my last trade. 

This month I have already made 10 trades, but my last trade in particular was the 'riskiest' and most complicated trade I personally have ever done.  Many pros will laugh at its simplicity, but for me as a novice retail investor, I thought it would be worth mentioning and possibly soliticing some feedback from some of my readers.  All of that said, here are the details of my most recent trade:

Today I bought 200 shares of Proshares Ultrashort QQQ ETF (ticker QID).  From Morningstar, 

ProShares UltraShort QQQ could be suitable as a specialty satellite holding either for high-frequency traders who understand how this exchange-traded fund works and who have a very high risk tolerance, or for investors who hold a bearish conviction toward large-cap growth stocks, most of which are tech companies. This ETF also might be a fit for investors who prefer avoiding the unlimited loss potential in short-selling individual stocks, those taking a speculative position, or those seeking a near-term hedge.

I then immediately sold a covered call of 2 contracts on QID as well, making a premium of right at about $225.

I think the Nasdaq is completely too high right now, and I am expecting a pull back in the near term.  Things in Greece are completely affecting the markets right now so we'll see what happens.   

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

DividendPartisan

Update to 10th Trade

Good afternoon,

I wanted to provide a quick update to my 10th trade now that I have officially exited.  For those who read my last post, you saw that I was 'stuck' for about two weeks due to a bad move on my part.  Here are the details and outcome of that particular trade: 

The stock I chose was JetBlue (JBLU).  JetBlue is a great company, but I have quickly learned that airline stocks are risky, to say the least. I'll just leave it at that for now. 

Anyway, here are the details of the trade - I had been watching JBLU fall for several days in a row and I was hoping the following would occur: the stock would level out, the price would slightly rise as buyers took over, and I could scalp about $100 gain, and then get out.  Unfortunately this trade was somewhat undisciplined and I entered too high.  In fact, I should have never entered period.  As my skills in technical analysis improve, it is clear that I was entering at too high of a price.

Nonetheless, I was stuck holding JetBlue since the middle of January (at a relatively high purchase price) unable to exit due to its ~4% drop or so in price.  Unwilling to take a loss, I had to wait it out and hope for a rebound.  To complicate things further, I was extremely nervous to hold over its upcoming earnings.  The stock had recently been downgraded, and as earnings approached the price continued a slow decline.  In fact there was one point where I was down around $4000.  Fortunately, I kept my emotions in check, the stock rebounded, and I was able to exit prior to JetBlue's earnings call.  (Now, for those who follow JetBlue, or read stock headlines in general, you'll notice that JetBlue actually beat earnings and the stock rose another 2% or so). 

That's ok by me.  For my particular situation, I was happy to exit prior to earnings, and I even made $99.21 on the trade.  Hallelujah.  

Now, my profits for January total at $1,297.93.  Think how large of a portfolio I would need to earn that amount in dividends.

In other news/analysis, I am expecting a large market pullback in the near future.  With my limited technical analysis abilities, it appears that almost every major company is over-bought and volume is low.  We'll see what happens.

Take care,

DivPartisan

Monthly Progress Review: January

It is time again for my Monthly Progress Review...the first monthly progress review of 2012!

This was another huge month for me in terms of buying and selling.  My day trading plan is in full effect; however, I continue to earn dividends from my 5 core dividend growth holdings, such as Realty Income (O).

In the month of January, I made 10 stock trades.  In this article I will highlight the details of each trade - showing you exactly which companies I bought and sold, AND their corresponding profit or loss.  Overall, a very exciting month to begin the year.

Without further adieu, listed below is a summary of the dividends I received in my Dividend Income Portfolio and the profit (or loss) from my day trading activities for the month of January:

Dividend Investing Vs Day Trading...

Hello all,

As many have seen, recently I drastically altered my investment strategy to include day trading.  This shift in strategy left my portfolio with just five dividend stocks: Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Proctor and Gamble (PG), Realty Income (O) and Anworth Mortgage (ANH)... and not to mention many fellow readers baffled in disbelief as well.

Although there are several who frequent DividendPartisan that feel I have completely abandoned my dividend growth investment strategy and should potentially change the website's name, a closer look at my holdings and their overall percentages will reveal otherwise.  In fact, four of my holdings (ABT, JNJ, PG, and O) made up over half of my original portfolio before I started selling my smaller holdings in order to fund my day trading - a fact that should not go overlooked when defining my investment persona... :)

Nevertheless, I have indeed been actively Day Trading for almost 30 days now, and as a result,  I thought I would share some things I have learned in regards to.... what are somewhat polar opposites of Day Trading vs Dividend Investing.

Naturally, I'll use my personal journey and my own real-world portfolio in this process.  My decisions and my trades are actual earnings, or losses, that others can hopefully glean some wisdom from.  I hope you enjoy this review...