Hii,
I am new to this site and looking for assistance to manage how I use it.
1. How many stock you suggest you hold within your portfolio
2. How often do you trade?
3. How do you select the country, sector and style you allocate?
4. What other software you use to compliment Stokopedia?
5. Do people use this as a stock screener and then do additioanal due diligence or just plough into the the suggested stock?
Thanks in advance
Regards
On foreign shares it depends on what platform you use, on Ig Group (LON:IGG), US shares are free (if 3 trades in prior month) but have 0.5% forex fee, spreads on US shares tend to be much tighter often around 0.1-0.2%, spreads on UK mid and small caps can be 1-10%, there is also more liquidity than the UK markets, I was trying to buy some shares last week and the largest trade I could do was only £500, or sometimes there is no market. So I find buying US shares is not anymore expensive. If using £HL I would agree with you.
sorry I wasn't very clear on this. I was referring to the cost of the stockopedia subscription and suggesting focusing on one region is best for a beginner (myself included)
I'm only stating the rules I've developed for myself and as I pointed out everyone is different. You are of course correct about spread
some very good points here thanks. The little book of behavioural investing is a good introduction to this line of thinking
Hi Kevin, I see what what you mean now. Yes I agree. I did have the Europe section for a while but am UK only now. For US I use TipRanks which is free.
1 : I have two pots, one long term holdings (SIPPs), second pot short term holdings (ISA, trading accounts, leveraged accounts). Excluding the leveraged accounts (which tend to be tactical holdings), in the short term pot I plan on the basis of holding 15 positions, simply the value divided by 15, clearly this changes over time. I have two position sizes, entry and conviction, I could go straight to conviction and most often do. If the investment case is a no brainer I occasionally exceed my conviction position with a view to reduce it at some time in the future. I am rarely fully invested in his pot and often have some cash, which ebbs and flows based upon market conditions.
2 : In the second pot I trade typically once every 2 weeks or so, some weeks I could trade every day, some months I may not trade at all. In the first pot I could sit on investments for a year or more and trade very rarely.
3 : Predominately UK, I very rarely buy commodity stocks, I've been burnt too often on these. Although I do own a few at the moment in my SIPP. I do not diversity across sector, I buy where I see upside potential. However I check that I am not overly exposed by a particular sector and will if necessary reduce my exposure if it's becoming too overweight.
4 : Sharepad, I feel it complements Stocko, I read IC for ideas, but their timing stinks as they generally comment on results day, so anything that I find interesting I research and it sits on my watch list for a more profitable entry point.
5 : I have screens running, but tbh, I rarely find them a trigger to buy anything. Generally what happens is I think "I wonder what/if/why", create a screen, look at it, do a bit of digging, get bored, then forget I've got it. Sharepad has more sophisticated screening. In my early days I approached investing in a formulaic fashion, screens seemed to be a panacea, I've discovered over the decades they really aren't, well not for me anyway.
For reading I'd recommend reading a book from each of the guru screens, there is often some common ground in each. Bottom line is stock prices are based upon market sentiment, nothing more, nothing less. You need to determine whether that sentiment is grounded in fact or fiction, and when the market will realise this to be true.
Hi, I'm with Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL.) and I might have to pay £11.95 per trade (reduces with trading activity) but they are meant to secure a more favourable price due to their size and amount traded through them. OK, so very hard to gauge unless you can cross compare accounts, but depending on position, a higher dealing cost could potentially bring cost savings if a better price is secured. Worth researching :)
Hi, I was going to type a long and complicated post, but I’ll just say read (and then re-read after a few months) Robbie Burns – The Naked trader. It’s enough to get you up and running, and on subsequent reads you’ll absorb more after the basics are covered.
Short answers (based on my preferences)
All the best
Hi Andy, I have used both HL and IGG this year, the prices were exactly the same I have found and I did compare quite a few small caps at the same time. It was a concern when I moved part of my ISA to IGG but it’s was unfounded. IGG can partially fill orders at lower prices. They can also set limited orders on US stocks which you can’t on HL. With lower fees I find it much more flexible with trading. I will be moving more of my ISA over soon, it is about 50%/50% at the moment. There are some things that IGG don’t cover such as funds and Scandinavian stocks.
1. How many stock you suggest you hold within your portfolio
As many as you feel comfortable to handle. If your an obsessive control freak, then maybe five or six, so you can understand every aspect of the companies your invested in. If your happy taking a more technical birds eye view then 20-30 is reasonable, more than that, then just get a tracker.
2. How often do you trade?
Costs are very important - I have two accounts IG - need to do three trades a month to get free US ( just 0.5% fx) and £3 UK trades, also have HL - £11.95 reduced after 10 trades in a month.
For IG - I have done a £100 bed and breakfast US trade - buy one day and sell the next for 2 x 0.5 = £1 fx fees - so that's two of the three trades needed.
Somehow on HL I managed 10 trades in August and got £8.95 trades in Sept, but that was unusual.
3. How do you select the country, sector and style you allocate?
Only do UK and US - that is more than enough to consider. Sector - anything when taking more of a technical analyse approach. Style - never considered it, what do you mean ?
4. What other software you use to compliment Stokopedia?
My own :-) I download price history from US and UK shares and run it through my own software filters. First I look for a weekly MACD cross over or the MACD crossing above zero, the second filter does cup detection, sometimes it also detects the handle, the third looks for recent volatility contraction (5 days of < 1% price spread) . My software produces Trading View watch lists, which I import and manually reject the inevitable rubbish. So Trading View basic is my only other subscription (about £10 a month).
5. Do people use this as a stock screener and then do additioanal due diligence or just plough into the the suggested stock?
It's got to be a starting point, always do your own due diligence - create your own checklist - or steal it from Robbie Burns, (I know he's on here and I have bought all his books :-)
Must say from Robbies more recent selections, we now seem to be fishing in a similar pool....
Some interesting comments. I don't agree about if you hold over 30 stocks get a tracker, tracker in what? Some indexes have not performed well in the UK. The FTSE 250 is probably the best one. Or you could give it to a few decent fund managers to invest.
As you mentioned Robbie Burns, I think you will find, he usually has around 60 stocks on the go.
Good to see he is buying some of the stocks I already hold.
It detects cups fine, and very occasionally a handle, I normally add the most promising to a separate Trading View watchlist for a week or two to see how they develop. Problem is at the moment everything is very choppy, so good looking promising setups are failing quite quickly, shall persevere and see if it becomes profitable...
My thoughts are that tracking 30 positions at just a TA level is enough, any more is impossible, for me at least, of course others may find it easier. I'm thinking your in essence agreeing with me - FTSE 250 tracker (HSBC) seems to do really well, as do Fundsmith and Scottish Mortgage, (I hold all three) easy investments, no pain or worry, buy and forget. Why spend hours tracking 30, 40, 50 or 60 investments when you can buy funds/ trackers with zero effort and what seems like at least equal results?
Too make a real difference and exceed funds / index returns I'd say you need a small concentrated share portfolio, 20 shares max that you can keep a very close eye on - again it depends on the time you are prepared to spend as to what is an optimal number.
Maybe Robbie can keep track of 60 stocks without a sweat, I know I could not - and neither of us are working :-).
Well the FTSE 250 is only up about 25% in the last 5 years. Fundsmith and SM are not trackers. Fundsmith is ok, I do hold some but it’s more US based and so is SM. But yes it’s an interesting debate, would you be better off giving your money to a fund manager to invest than doing itself.
You can do a NAPS folio which only takes an hour to pick 20 shares. More concentrated may give you higher returns but also bigger falls, I know a few investors with concentrated folios who are suffering this year.
Before buying any active (as opposed to passive tracker) collective investment, whether an OEIC or Investment Trust, make sure you “look in the box” to confirm you’re happy with what is inside. The AIC website is a very good resource for checking out ITs. While it’s a good start to check the historic track record to see how good a manager’s performance has been in the past a lot of the very successful active funds of the recent past (such as Scottish Mortgage) have been focused on certain sectors which have done well but which you might currently be averse to. For example, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LON:SMT) is heavily into US tech stocks which have done exceptionally well over the past few years but may not going forward. As with buying a share it’s essential to DYOR thoroughly on what you’re buying into. (FWIW I hold Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LON:SMT) and am happy with it in a diversified portfolio).
Gus.
Yes a good point about checking the contents of funds, it has put me quite a few. Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LON:SMT) largest holding was Tesla, believe they have reduce their holding this year.
Welcome, Bill Savellis! - I hope that my answers to your questions are helpful and useful.
Question 1) How many stock do you suggest you hold within your portfolio?
Answer: I would recommend an even distribution of around 20 stocks/funds for good diversification. However, this may be very labour intensive for research and keeping updated. Therefore, you may wish to chose 5-10 companies that you have diligently researched and understand. I personally hold several funds in my ISA which I view as my main investments for better diversification and then plan on holding between 5-10 individual companies in my LISA, which I view as my speculative fund. I am considering a SIPP soon as well! Diversification is key both between sectors and geographical locations. There is an interesting video under the 'LEARN' tab - 'FOLIOS' - 'THE NAPS PORTFOLIO WEBINAR' video at the bottom of the page.
2) How often do you trade?
Answer: I personally don’t ‘trade’, however, I have regular investments coming out of my LISA/ISA each month which allows for dollar/cost averaging and lower buying fees. With regards to entry price, I tend not to get too emotionally focused on ‘X’ price as it is easier to average a better price over a stable purchase period. I.e if you want to invest £5,000 into a company consider putting £500/per month for 10 months to average a better price - This strategy has worked for me when investing in the AIM market as it is usually fairly volatile between May and October - The Wall Street adage 'Sell in May and go away’ comes to mind..
3. How do you select the country, sector and style you allocate?
Answer: I currently only have access to UK. However, I would consider USA, Canada, Australia and some European markets - However, by reading some of the threads it would appear research on companies isn’t as up to date on some of these countries, hence why I have just stuck to UK at the moment and use funds to diversify across geographical locations. I would consider expanding into other sectors if Stockopedia increased research and updates in these regions.
4. What other software you use to compliment Stokopedia?
Answer: My substitute primary source is Investors Chronicle Alpha subscription digital + print (£73.75p per quarter - not sure if Alpha is warranted but me and my partner split subscription costs across IC and Stockopedia which is nice!); I ike to read the magazine each week to get a basic grasp on current affairs, economics, personal finance and company/fund research; delivery of magazine is every Friday, digital subscription allows you to virtually see the magazine Thursday evening and you can also find articles in the magazine released on the website perhaps on the Tuesday/Wednesday (so a couple of days before publication) - I have previously used ADVFN; but became annoyed with the advertisements, pop-ups and limited screen time and have previously had subscriptions for ‘The Economist’ and ‘Financial Times’ - Financial Times do discount for online subscriptions for students which is well worth taking up if you have a family member at university - I think if you’re 16-19 in secondary education it is free and you can get a hefty discount for higher education students! - Alternatively you could always pick up the FTWeekend if you’d rather a nice weekend read (I found having a FT subscription and IC subscription too much as I wouldn’t read both, resulting in a waste of resources)
5. Do people use this as a stock screener and then do additioanal due diligence or just plough into the the suggested stock?
Answer: I mainly use Stockopedia as a stock screening tool to do further research; the financial analysis is very comprehensive and it explains under each tool how they crunch each number. I also find it saves me time when analysing the financials and there is usually a foot note indicating when research was last updated etc. Additionally, I find the Guru screens particularly interesting and find that they make for a very quick way to to screen companies - I tend to focus on Quality and Value as I aim to hold companies for 2/3 years + in a recovery position or undervalued by the market. I am usually fairly cautious on high momentum plays especially if a company has had a sharp spike over a 6 month period, possibly indicating a momentum trap; I tend to find they retrace a good 30% from peak highs hence why I recommended the dollar/cost averaging approach earlier as you can never tell when the peak will be from momentum plays!
Good luck with your investments and if you have any further questions I'd strongly recommend that you start a thread/forum - it is a very friendly community here on Stockopedia with vast amounts of knowledge being shared regularly!
So many questions except, in my view, the most relevant ones.
What is your investing goal? What are your timescales? How much money do you have to invest? How much time do you have to monitor and manage your portfolio?
Your questions, especially the last, imply that you have very little knowledge and that means you are at great risk of making mistakes. Use stockopedia as a learning resource and until you know better put your money into low cost tracker funds.
