This month was a huge gamble... I loaded big on the blue chips. Singtel, Genting, Keppel...

All my stocks sank into the red. I was trying to find the bottom but couldn't see the trough - yet. My funds are running low and I should see the stocks bottoming out shortly, with increased optimism on the Geopolitical situation.

Same news - US-Iran conflict swinging oil and shipping stocks, AI again carrying tech sector and particularly NASDAQ to ATH. But on my end, I haven't been monitoring much, just thinking which red is better entry. Long shot, I hope I betted right.

Addvalue was a miss for me, although I cashed out small profit. Could have heeded the signs but the mentality of "cut loss" set in when I should be on "take profit" mode.

Hope for a better month in June. Again, not much time to monitor the market.

Update #54:

Luck seemed to be on my side this month... By a stroke of luck (and expectation), many of my counters bounced from low! Shoutout to Metaoptics, iFast, Marcopolo netted me 1.5k :D

Rex was a total surprise, didn't expect a white knight to pump it back to the 0.11 range! Took the chance to cash out my holdings which was "seriously injured" from the plunge earlier in the month. Sadly I didn't buy more, else I might have reaped even more profits :D

This month, while I had the greatest monthly gains in my trading "career" to-date, I had made alot of mistakes, missing out on even more gains... Metaoptics lost out on at least $400+, safe to say, as I was eyeing for exit at 0.8X, but scaredly-cat me cashed out at 0.7X.. Same for iFast, could have earned at least $200 more, Top Glove - another $600 more at least, CSE another $50, koh eco, another $300... so yea, my emotional actions cost me about $1k in profits, which could have gained me $3k for the month had I been more disciplined.

Coming May might be a sell-in-may-and-stay-away month, as volatility continue to keep major funds on the sidelines. Yesterday was a first sign of sell-off as markets take time to review the potential about the tech trends.

On my property side, I kinda miscalculated, thinking but I have up to 1.8m budget but sadly, forgot about the cash difference. I need to set aside enough cash first before I can continue using CPF. Re-strategising... 

Update #53:

This month was a risky one. War just started, and Trump administration was coming out with all sorts of nonsense to justify their "hammer now" actions. The consequences were disastrous. Key energy routes on strait of Hormuz was cut, driving energy prices, risking inflation and greater Geopolitical conflict.

Coupled with the fact that - I am trying my luck at my first EC! And realising I (we) am/are actually able to afford it, I felt the sense of achievement at how far we've come. Unfortunately, our queue number was way off (1364 of 1420?? Wth?) And there goes our chance. Back to building up funds for the Woodlands South EC.

Realised a trend in my sell-off. Once counter turns green I sell. Which is, if I were to compare fairly with my losing counters, unnecessary. I probably have to let it run for a while first, see where the bull ends. Who knows, it might be a breakout.

Lost out on Oiltek and top glove as a result. More for Oiltek, shot up to 1.2. Could have netted a good 1.6k had it let it run for the month. Oh well, lesson learnt, I need to 1) identify whether it is a bull signal and 2) PATIENCE.

Entered Rex and Marcopolo. Rex threw me off the day after I entered... auditing issue, news of ongoing concerns broke out, sending the counter into a nosedive. Am at 4 figure loss as at writing. But idk, im trying to see how low it can go, may have some bounce back, subject to some unexpected events that may end Rex once and for all (like winding up, suspension :( )

For Marcopolo seems like a more resilient counter. Though still falling short of expectations, news volatility might make this a safer counter for fund inflow than other vulnerable counters.

So to conclude, my portfolio this month went into the red... let's monitor.

Update #52:

Blogging now only cos I was driving end of the month. T'was a short but real busy month... and it's been a year since my major setback in trading. I'm constantly reminded how that month of emotional trading burnt a huge hole in my wallet..

And I'm relieved I did not let history repeat itself. Am low key proud of that :) Manage to cash out my Toku with a little profit. Enough to support my trading portfolio. 

Two of my major holdings took a hit - Genting and lendlease. Genting - results missed estimates, exposed to a few downgraded calls. Lendlease - they plan to issue rights to purchase the rest of PLQ. 

Lucky I cashed out Genting with abit of profit before it dived. Seems my luck with Genting was going strong in trading... while the same in my investment portfolio is bleeding damn badly :(

Geopolitical tensions escalated quickly, and I bet its going to correct alot of counters already outperforming. Yea, those blue chips, talking about you...

Update #51:

The instability of the US dollar triggered massive sell-off in US treasuries. Coupled with the AI race not only to beat the competition, but in terms if raw materials, particularly metals, silver and gold rushed into all-time highs, attracting more fund inflow into this safe haven commodity to hedge against the depreciating US dollar. 

Gold related stocks were pushed to all-time highs together with gold itself. Major AI participants stepped up their game and maintained their bullish trend this month.

Having opened my trading account for a year, I'm somehow surprised that despite sinking myself deep into losses (probably about 4k+?) early last year, I managed to recoup my losses by this month! So is that how trading works? If yes, then congrats to me, I just found out how to play the game. The next step is to survive the game.

This month Rex International bumped up my profits (again). And thanks to this new IPO stock Toku, I netted a few hundred. Since I had some profit as buffer, didn't feel that painful to cut losses for some stocks (GKE, Top Glove).

Still learning how to cut and reduce properly. I found that this month I tried to exit a tad too early for Top Glove and Rex; could have exited at a higher price. But nevertheless, at least my bearish bet was generally correct; the stock slid back down to mid 0.190s after touching 0.205.

Keeping a chunk of Toku still, see if any angel BBs would like to pump some hot money in. In the meantime, Feb shall sit and wait for a few more opportunities.

Update #50:

Portfolio corrected much this month. REITs came down and then pulled back up on last few days, on speculation of US interest rate cut.

Tried my first US market trade, entered GOOGL small. Cashed out with a little profit but not sure if diluted due to exchange rate.

Biggest bets now are on top glove and UMS... 

Hoping to exit UMS with a profit. Breakeven at 1.44, if can hit 1.45 and above before the ex bonus issue I think should be OK.

Top glove announced results this month and planned to increase capacity to meet rising demand, hopefully it can rise up on par with previous price when it was previously running at this capacity. Plan to exit 22.5 or 23 depending on market sentiment.

Wrapping off the year, I'm kind of mixed with my results. Disappointed in some of my emotional trades, which I hope to reduce such next year. Also to learn cut and reduce, so even if I FOMO-ed in a stock and it starts trending down I know I can cut and reduce to average down the price. I think a lot of my fear is because I am blankly staring at my prices fall and yet don't dare to do anything.

Saving grace is - I managed to sustain my portfolio above 80k! Which is encouraging start for me, so now I need to maintain this level while aiming for 90k.

Coming 2026, I shall start to cash out all my CDP and pump more into the trading acct, maybe leave a 10k portfolio inside to reap dividends and such. Otherwise, to cash in on the stock market I need to be more heavily vested in the trading portfolio. 

Update #49:

Portfolio still hanging on at 80k+.... since I cashed out my Keppel and Mapletree Panasia REIT, I transferred it to my trading acct to support my trades. Got a scare when I FOMO-ed all in on Metaoptics, but lucky enough to out with a low margin of profit. I should not touch that counter if I am not ready enough.

Renewed my SGBBT subscription although I did not make much, but those insights are pretty interesting and gave me enough tips to try my own trading style.

Anyway on a macro scale, markets remain cautious about AI, crypto is entering a sizeable correction, and speculation about interest rate remain. Monies move everywhere as sentiments remain mixed. This is probably one of the times I should not put all my eggs in one basket, and keep my funds for any visible opportunity that surface.

Made a mistake with top glove last month and now I am stuck. UMS as well, but I'm more optimistic about UMS as they're going to stock split and then I can cash out, although most likely with small margin.

Reaching end of year, I remember I shld find chances to cash out if possible as retails are likely to push prices up without much BB intervention. Let's see if I can transfer more funds over to my trading acct.

Update #48:

REITs expectation grew through the month as all expected Fed to cut rates in Oct. Portfolio peaked at 83k before correcting downwards. Some less than extraordinary earnings report plus Fed's curved ball saying "No data for December's rate decision" veered investors away from REITs, prompting major selloffs. That made my portfolio lose earlier gains (just less than a few days ago!)

So such was true that "Sell on news", But then again, no one knows how the news is going to turn out, so it's still anyone's guess whether should hold or sell. Risk-averse investors should just cash out gains once hit target. 

Nevertheless, I manage to maintain my 80k. Trading got not so lucky even thought I realised a bit of profit. Unrealised losses surged thanks to my foolish call on Top Glove.

Anyway, November should be a less active month as I continue to monitor the REITs movement. Not sure if there is any optimism lingering around to stir up bull run. If not, I should just close my case and let my portfolio run till end of year.

Update #47:

I got a little lucky this month. It's a rising tide that pushes all my REITS further up, and some tip-offs from BBT group got me FOMO-ed in some penny stocks. Most of them pulled back towards end of the month, but overall still bullish.

For the first time ever, despite losing so much over the past 3 years, I finally saw my portfolio exceed 80k! That calls for a mini celebration :D Slow and steady indeed helps. I never expected to reach this milestone at this time.

Next couple of months, I should try to maintain my portfolio above 80k, that would form a good support as I gear myself (I mean, my funds) up for a sustained bull run.

Been busy with work, activities and grab this few weeks. Hope to find some time to monitor the market in Oct and bail out my losing trades... also to try learn cut-and-reduce method. Pain but oh well...

Update #46:

Shall update today since I will be overseas thru end August :) 

Interesting month. My investment portfolio shot up, thanks to REITs carrying the bull run. Analysts intense marketing of REITs as Fed opens doors to interest rate revision in Sep. Though no promises, I think most investors would be positive of a medium term uptrend for REITS, which makes some of them worthy of entry.

I am tempted to enter some, but come to think of it, I should diversify my mix with other sectors. Having pulled out of semicons, I have a bit of funds to deploy into the next one. Thinking whether to add back Boustead and UMS when they come back down, or should I shop for others...

Outlook near term is bleak, so I should remind myself to wait, and wait, before entering.

Trading portfolio didn't do as well. Although I cashed out a few profit trades, kinda dumped the losing ones in a corner to accumulate unrealised losses. Hoping to use my cash outs to add and lower average price.

I have some funds on hand, thinking which others to enter and work on the timing. So far my win trades were all due to rising tide, but its time to do technical Trading and profit cos of technique, not rising tide.

Update #45:

A volatile month... but STI found good grounding as global monies found its way here as a safe haven amidst the volatility. Tariff truce reaching deadlines and markets rushed to stamp deals with US much to Trump's delight.

Update #44:

Highlight of the month would be Isarel-Iran conflict outbreak.. sending another shockwave into the market since trump's tariff went into effect in April.

Volatility increased thru the month, hitting a support level before rising as trump forced a ceasefire down Iran's and Isarel's throats.

Probably self proclaimed, but many traders scooped up some stocks likely to float once ceasefire was passed.

Oils also had a boost from the war but was short lived. For a moment I wanted to enter but thankfully I hesitated, else I'd be in for a big Loss this month.

Cashed out SIAEC as it descended from all time high, thinking let's get some profits locked in first, then re-enter once reach support. As at end month it was bolstered at around mid 3.10s, perhaps sustaining till ex-div. 

Also exited Manulife Reit since got some kind soul pushing up prices, and decided not to play since its not yielding.

Was kind of satisfied with Boustead, as I was not expecting such a surge. But I exited a bit too early as it shot up with more marketing later in the month.. cries in 1k losses and beyond..

July will see Fed decision determine the market, especially Reits that are fundamentally reliant on interest rates. I entered FLCT and MPAC just to get some... lift. See how it goes, I may cash out FLCT if the price is right.

Update #43:

 Again another rocky month... I tried to slow down my trades so to observe my stock movements. 

I'm grateful to have entered SIAEC via CPF in April. Aviation stocks bounced the highest from the low in April as air traffic stats signaled resilience to the trade wars. Come to think of it I should have gone all in using cash as well... since I was that confident that it would bounce. But too late...

Memiontec Holdings is my biggest bet this month. Keep adding to observe the counterparties. Not much interest generated, so I think I should lie low and wait for hot money to rotate around the market to this counter.

Medtecs bounced, and I took the opportunity to cash out.. Lucky me, it was a temporary spike and it dropped back. 

But Missed out on exiting Genting and Capitaland. Now deep in red. Sigh.

I guess my strategy for now still has to be exit with a few pips profit, don't hiam too much.

Update #42:

Trump tariffs set off at whole chain of market meltdown worldwide. Sg got shot down as well, but thanks to strong fundamentals, recovered

Tried playing but got caught in the slide halfway through entering. Panic buying and selling. Oddly enough, had i just stayed put, I would have earned as iFast and YZJ bounced back. Damn. Emotional trading again.

As for the rest, I tried profiting trades as they climbed up in the technical bouncebacks. Still not enough to cover my losses...

Let's try look on the bright side... I think really have to go thru the slowly climb slowly climb route. Have to work hard against my greed to FOMO in.

Let's try out this mth and see what happens.

Update #41:

 I am still learning... this month is pure trading, and I realised heavy losses from MIT LREIT and Genting.

Stocks went back up after I sold... looks like I'm not that good at spotting lows yet. Lesson (not quite yet) learnt - go against my gut feel. Though plus point is I made that first step to cut loss.

Thankfully (or not) those counters still within that range, and my unrealised loss upon selling is not that astronomical. Pumped in some to my trading acct to continue my battle on penny stocks.

I learnt I cannot dump huge amounts in right at the start. This causes anxiety and apparently CounterParties can see this and start pouncing on my trade, which then I will lose.

Start small amount, go bigger as it drops further, and cash out even if it is a little. Hit some green mid-month but greedy me tot it can go further... now plunged back into the red.

Got a fright when I entered YZJ FH a bit too high, I need to measure my FOMO levels. If I have to enter at the ask price, I should do so, and scrimping on that 0.005 did not do me any help as I find myself entering much higher as I missed my previous order. For now volume is still relatively healthy, price still sustaining, but I should exit soon, maybe 0.83 if signals show slowing vol.

Strat 1 - Tried my enter small on iFast. Realise I wasn't so emotionally controlled as I deal with it, cos I had already the mind set on entering more as it plunges further intraday. 0.1k at 7.41, then it plunged further, added 0.1k at 7.35, then 0.1k at 7.32. exited at a small profit, but for that capital and time frame I think I did quite ok, and this strategy looks sustainable. Shall hunt for another stock with such fluctuations and try out.

Strat 2 - Sell down and buy back, vice versa. Only risk is that I must know this is a up-trend or down-trend counter. and cannot trade too much. tried that on YZJ and ok la, made a couple of cai-png money.

I think more likely I'm going with Strat 1. But either strat, the key factor to me not losing control is - always make sure the warchest is thick enough to play on the downtrend. 

 This month I was burnt heavy.

Ok, as promised, I set aside 6k for some trading play. After a huge burn on my portfolio last year (and still burning), I am going to focus more on trading and observe how monitoring volatility can help me recoup some of my losses.

As I think about my trades, to earn 3k all I need is:

- 1 trade of $3k net profit; or

- 10 trades of $300 profit; or

- 50 trades of $60 profit; or

- 100 trades of $30 profit

Based on my risk appetite and current market, don't think I am able to handle that 1 jackpot trade of $3k profit. Used to be able to do when I was still at the pioneering stage, but in the interest of time I think I need to play my funds more strategically to tap on profits across multiple counters, instead of dumping into 1 and expecting it to grow. Not every stock is like my UMS, or my Keppel DC REIT at the early stage. I must admit I no longer have early entry advantage, as more informed traders and investors enter the market to kill each other.

My second best bet? Probably a mix of the 10 trades and 50 trades. All using my $6k starting fund. First few hands were ok; I mean after watching AEM and some help / guidance from SGBBT, I am able to sense better the entry point. Just keep emotions in check and enter and exit where necessary. 2 winning trades from AEM. Then another from Capitaland; but I must say I was consumed by greed as I tot will go past 2.53, I had half the mind to exit from there but no. End up desperately existing at 2.49 (lucky bounced a bit) before price went further down.

It helps to see the behaviour of the stock. Every stock got its own "playing style" I realise. So far I am more used to AEM's stock movement behaviour; at least there's more trading interest and if I see traders have difficulty pushing down the price further (do I call that support?) then chances are I can enter at that range. To confirm perhaps wait the next day, nevermind letting go a few pips just to get assurance that my hypothesis is correct, and then I enter.

Just re-entered AEM today at 1.46 and by closed at 1.49. Buying pressure seems to be there. So we'll lie in wait and see. Should go past 1.5+ next week, and again I need to remind myself, just cash out once I hit my target selling price. No more than 1.6 or I may find myself in panic selling again.

Another stock I tried my hands on - manulife US reit. Ok not too confident on this, but seems to find "support" at around the 0.09X level. I entered abit too high as the moment after I entered, it went back down to 0.094. I'm pretty confident, though, that I will see a 0.1XX level. And I will cash out then. Again, hit or miss, no one knows, all about chances and probability.

Oh, and a more reassuring thing is with the Cash plus trading acc, my brokerage costs that used to eat into my profit is now down to a measly 0.08%. So for my both trades I only get discounted like, 2-3 dollars? That also gave me more confidence to play since I can cash out at a lower margin than having to feel the pressure to exit after 10pips kind of increase, which is almost impossible to expect from every trade.

This year I'm also reorganising my summary.. Won't show my top 5 since it's practically the same list every mth. Maybe I show my total portfolio, cut by trading and investment.

Update #38:

 Has it already been... 3 years? Wow time flies...

Sadly I did not manage to hit my 80k target, cos of so many foolish trades I did this year. Could have hit if I did not let emotions get the better of me.

Anyway, I am probably going to try trading next year, starting with following SGBBT recommendation. set aside 5k or something, see how far it brings me. 

Anyway, did not track much as I was busy with work; rate expectations corrected most stocks as Fed gave a modest 25 pip cut and a conservative interest rate outlook for 2025. Only towards the end of the year did some kind of rally pushed up the market a bit. But my REITs tanked even more.. I thought my FLCT was entered quite low already but did not expect it to go down even further.

And Mapletree Ind Trust play smelly... I knew I submitted the scrip dividend late but marketing trading price was at 2.21, they decided to take in my submission and issue me at 2.30.. wow... I mean its peanuts la, but to play like this...

I took a chance to sell off my AEM at 1.43, considering I missed so many boats out of greed, I shall just materialise that tiny bit of profit, 1 trade at a time. Think this is more a logical trade than an emotional trade, and seeing how AEM always fluctuate, it should perhaps come down sometime again for me to enter?

For 2025 I aim to pump in another 10k - def should hit 80k target liao la.

Update #37:

Warchest: 5751.16

Big news this month - Trump's comeback win in the presidential elections made clear who are the winning and losing markets. Icing on the cake? The addition of Elon into his executive administration mix. 

What else are we expect to see from US Capitalist administrations? It's all about the money and power. Markets that bet on Trump of cos win big, and vice versa.

I was not too involved in that, just that perhaps my REITS that are very dependent on US Federal cuts may get shaky. All tanked even further; I was kindof relieved I cashed out my FLCT before it tanked. Netted less than 300, but more importantly, saved me from a 24 pip loss. Re-entered at 0.915.

Anyways, I for don't know what reason, signed up for this "SGBBT". Paid $250 for a 1-year "subscription" as the admins called it. Erm, not that I made money from the 'insider info', but I guess I understood the game rules better - how the institutional players, or as the layman calls, BB, play. TAs are also reviewed and it was interesting to see how most of the analysis were so zhun that even if I follow blindly, I would still get to profit. Having my fingers burnt bad in trading over the past years, I was still hesitant to play the volatile trading market, so I thought I would stick with those that have slower movement.

Next month will conclude 3 years in my project D. Ups and downs - mostly downs, but I am glad I maintained my discipline to keep investing, pumping more funds, and using my money wisely. Well for 2024 I suppose I went lax on my wallet a bit, spent more on hobbies and wants for myself. Need to tell myself, not to lose sight of my end goal.

Update #36:

Warchest: 60.86

 As many would have seen it coming - that 0.5% cut was a desperate attempt to paint a rosy picture for the market. Well, not quite. Inflation data bounced and we are on the way down in terms of confidence of another rate cut - not likely to happen in Nov unless fed I politically motivated to.

Reits saw some light, but went back into the dark. Now all very red like before the rising sentiments of rate cut. I tried offloading FLCT and Keppel Reit, seems to work. But dumped it back into a rubbish stock - AEM - with a tinge of hope that I can recoup my losses, even if just a bit.

Nope, it went down further. But after all these lessons I feel that I should still hold; I lost one chance to exit and cash out abit of margin. I must remind myself to cash out if the 2nd chance comes.

It's nearing the end of the year... from what I observed, year end prices will usually find some support and relief. Should I..?

Update #35:

Warchest: 2290.87