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Online Share Trading

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Long vs Short Term Trading

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Werner_1
Super Contributor
I love discussing this because it gives one an idea about the other people on the forum... Lets see who is a long term investor and who is a short term / day trader... what type of average annual gains do you achieve? would be cool to know who does what around here?
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57 REPLIES 57
Rams
Super Contributor
I do it all.....I don't trade to live off it...so income diverted to long term investment which is performing more thn 20 %, but adding all the time.......I also have income from 2 other sources...
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WES
Super Contributor
I am both. Buys shares for longterm investor to never sell and uses cfd's for short term trades, but not intra day trading. Trade in same shares as I invest in, examples Naspers, Woolies, Dicovery. Cfd's gives you gearing, but interest cost can eat your profits if you hold on too long.
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Som2
Contributor
I only started this year. I am long term investor, and I am just happy that the portfolio is currently green.
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AP
Regular Contributor
I've just started Nov last year. I don't have much time for trading so I'm an investor, but do little bit of trading (busy learning). My target for this year is 20-25%; not sure if I'll get there...currently at about 18% (not bad taking into account a few mistakes...)
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MarkD
Contributor
Investor. I have a really simple strategy that I apply when making an investment, and it works for me. I find I can get growth of around 20% (excluding divs) per annum with minimal effort. I'd like to be able to understand some of the more detailed technical tactics and strategies, but because I dont, investing floats my boat just fine.
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Not applicable
68% return so far on my trading portfolio, but because it is leveraged, that can swing either way in a relative heartbeat. On average, I hold a CFD position for 150 days. Long term - hard to gauge year on year returns, because I shuffle portfolios. Just ditched my over exposure to listed property and sold my BTI stock, and bolstered my positions in Rolfes and Metair. Also starting to nibble at Curro for a long term hold and keeping some cash aside for Discovery. But the latter is not quite at the 'extreme price' level yet to make it interesting
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warhippo
Super Contributor
Well done AP. However, if it involved too many sleepless nights - the STX40 is +20.69%
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orange68
Super Contributor
intraday trader, alsi and almi(1.5 years) and momentum investor (2years)5 top 40 shares and satrix... 60% trading profit goes into investing 40% goes into things i never really need.....but like. percentage profit isnt a big deal as i think as long my selection and timing is good il be happy. only cfd's traded were discovery and naspers... but index is way more fun.....if you have time on your side
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Werner_1
Super Contributor
Ok, its only fair to tell my story... since 2005 i have been a long term investor, then i played around with some SSF and Warrants but i stopped that around the financial crisis time. I think that short term stuff needs more time and with my day-job its not possible... So i focused on long term only, unleveraged investing and this has proven quite successful. this year i am currently standing on 38% gain and hope this will move a bit more before the year-end. I get all weird and wonderful ideas about long term investing strategies and valuations, so I dont need to trade the short term, i have my occupation on value/growth strategies for long term portfolios...
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Major
Regular Contributor
Long term investor mainly, with a few warrants for hedging the portfolio. I aim to hold for at least 3-5 years, and beat inflation by an average of 5% throughout that. So far this year up 12%, so meeting my objective, but underperforming index mainly through exposure to resources.
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hexadecimal
Contributor
I am an investor, 90%, the other 10% I started trading with last year Oct. I'm being ‘schooled’. In other words I was down 17% from Oct to Feb 2013, but re-thought my game plan and I'm up in total 10% on my trading account. My main investment account is a 5 to 7 year plan. I put in 10k (+10% per annum) per month. I was going to invest in a property, but thought to allocate my savings from a ‘property purchase’ to a ‘Market purchase’. I started with a lump sum (like a deposit and transfer fees) and add in all bonuses and extra cash every month, as if I'm buying a 2mil property. I will review this after the ‘purchase’ is done. Trading is secondary, I need more experience and knowledge. This will come.
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Preston
Super Contributor
70% long term trading , 30% short term trading.
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Werner_1
Super Contributor
Why dont the guys here tell us what their gains are in percent.. so far only 3 or 4 of us did this...
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Not applicable
Long term investor, short term ALSI trader.

With investing Im happy with 15-30% CAGR
With short term ALSI trading I look at 60-100% CAGR

More money is in my investment account as I take profits out from trading and put it into something safer.
Whats misleading though about the trading CAGR is that one is somewhat capped with how much you can double a year, ie. its easier to double R100k account than it is to double a R1mil with the ALSI due to the low intraday liquidity.
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Not applicable
a quick calculation for my investment portfolio - based on STB monthly reports shows a 16% growth - dividends included, since January.
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Rams
Super Contributor
good point about the ALSI...at most action is when FTSE opens in morning, then when US opens in afternoon....in between not much happens...i never take new trades between 12 and 14h00...but with a good plan, you can easily make 50-100% or more per month on your 100k(trading 3 contracts).
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Not applicable
yes, my experience though is that once u reach 20ctx a mechanical system is at fullest, u need to move over to a different set of rules (or system), especially with a stop and reverse cause u get to a point where a SAR means u actually moving 40ctx.

Discretionary and EOD systems can handle more ctx better, but both still also suffer from the same problems as well.

What most of us see is how easy it is to get rid of ctx when things are going right, but what they miss is how hard it is to get rid of your position when things are going wrong, and when the ALSI moves against u 200p in 5min and u need to change 40ctx...
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Werner_1
Super Contributor
I actually bought my GND shares back the other day :)
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reyden
Frequent Contributor
Breakout/Darvas system using daily closing price, YTD 46.57% (Long only, 2% risk, 10% allocation per share)
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