It's been a while

Hello!  It's been a while since I posted here.  Seems like I still get some visits from time to time on this little old blog I've neglected for a few months.  I've been discouraged since the beginning of 2016 in my ability to trade.  But I'm still alive and kicking.

I haven't been tracking my trades or my dividends since the beginning of year.  I've been adjusting and now I have 38% cash in my IB margin account.  I am not as trigger happy as I used to be.  But I will get back into the game once I see an opportunity.

My YTD results sucks as you can see below (March 3rd results), but all in all, I'm still keeping treading above waters.

November Option/Stock Performance

This continued upward surge is only thanks to two of the 

FANG members that I have open positions.

Above $100k!

I would like to document this day as my non-registered account at Interactive Brokers hit over $100k today!  To be realistic, this may be wiped away any given day.  

What a wild ride this past month has been as shown in the graph below:

The market has been quite bullish for the most part.  Cracks are starting to appear on certain days, but market has come back roaring after each set back.  There are the naysayers calling for a market correction in these conditions.  They will be hailed for calling it "right", but how many opportunities will they miss by standing on the sidelines?  

No one has the magic ball to tell the future, or else, everyone will be filthy rich.  There will be winners as there will be losers on the other end.  I choose to be on the winning side on the most part!!

Portfolio Figures: Quarterly Update

This blog is to track my progress in my stocks & options account. In general, I haven't really been keeping a good track record of my overall portfolio. I've switched in and out of many discount brokerages. Currently, I have two brokerages for CASH/MARGIN/OPTION, TFSA and RRSP.  

QUESTRADE TFSA (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  $31,000.00
Current Equity:  $45,573.05 (+749.91)

QUESTRADE RRSP (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  $40,000.00 + $8,000.00 = $48,000.00
Current Equity:  $73,116.86 (-1,651.03)

INTERACTIVE BROKERS CASH/MARGIN/OPTION (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  $59,242.46 + $4000.00 = $63,242.86
Current Equity:  $93,612.99 (+3,429.24)

BALANCE TRANSFER @ 0.99% GOOD TILL OCT 2015
Current Loan:  -$13,521.20

TOTAL PORTFOLIO VALUE AS OF MAR 31, 2015:  $198,781.70

I am quite pleased with the performance of my overall stock portfolio.  My gain is 49.75% from my original investment.  

Early March, I transferred my account in kind from Virtual Brokers to Interactive Brokers.  With this consolidation, I can concentrate more on option trading with increased margin and buying power to work with.

I have not contributed $5,500 to my TFSA for 2015.  Right now, I am focusing on saving up cash to repay my balance transfer loan by October 2015.  I do not wish to take money out of my stock portfolio.  Plus, I need to account for other upcoming expenses such as car insurance, property taxes, and wedding!

My goal of reaching $200k is within reach now.  I will reset my goal for the end of the 2015:  $225,000!

Showing Less in Public

Personal finance is indeed personal.  Perhaps, I was over sharing my detailed progress line by line.  No one really cares except for me.  It is my money to be made, not yours.

In my Progress Tab, I've taken off my detailed dividends, detailed option trades, detailed stock trades and detailed trading expenses.  Now it's just a summary of my monthly activity in my overall stock/option portfolio. 

I will still continue to live tweet my trades and talk about my option/stock trades.  But now, it leaves more to the imagination.  I won't lay it all out as before.

Anyways, I'm at full trading power at Interactive Brokers.  Time to really put the money to work.  

February Option Performance

February 2015 marks my sixth month anniversary since I opened my Interactive Brokers account (IB)!  So how am I doing thus far?  Well check out my results in the graph below:

This month, I ended up realizing $1,125.43 in option premiums, but I spent $81.21 in commissions!  Not bad for a side gig eh?  The fruits of my labour is starting to sprout in full force.

IB is my starter account to see how successful I would be at trading options. Month after month, I've been growing this account with limited funds.  I am quite surprised with my results.  A cumulative gain of 23.44% since inception!

Finally on February 24th, I decided to move my Virtual Brokers (VB) account over to IB.  Hopefully by early March, I'd be at full trading power.

Take that Dividend bloggers!  

Comments within Portfolio

Alibaba Group Holding announced disappointing numbers and the market has turned its back on them. They have since retreated back to $90/share from a high of $120/share.  Is this an opportunity to pick up more shares? 

Chipotle Mexican Grill missed guidance in their earnings report.  Share price dropped dramatically from its highs of $728 to $673 (-6%).  I opened a bull put spread earlier this week for $655/$650 expiring Friday, Feb 6th.  If CMG holds above $655, I will stand to profit $140 less commission.  I am trying close this earlier to avoid any surprises for tomorrow. Update:  Closed position for 20c debit @ Feb 5th.

Costco announced a special one time dividend payout of $5 per share.  Stock is up 8% since announcement from Jan 30th and holding.

Disney also reported earning this week with great magical numbers.  Stock jumped 7% last couple days.

Oil is up from last week boosting my overall stock portfolio.

Portfolio Figures

This blog is to track my progress in my stocks & options account. In general, I haven't really been keeping a good track record of my overall portfolio. I've switched in and out of many discount brokerages. Currently, I have three brokerages for CASH/MARGIN/OPTION, TFSA and RRSP.

QUESTRADE TFSA (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  $31,000.00
Current Equity:  $44,823.14

QUESTRADE RRSP (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  $40,000.00
Current Equity:  $66,767.89

VIRTUAL BROKERS CASH/MARGIN/OPTION (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution:  ??  got to figure out
Current Equity:  $62,575.75

INTERACTIVE BROKERS CASH/MARGIN/OPTION (Combined CAD)
Total Contribution: $11,000.00
Stock Transferred:  $6,212.00
Current Equity:  $23,608.00

BALANCE TRANSFER @ 0.99% GOOD TILL OCT 2015
Current Loan:  -$14,086.61

TOTAL PORTFOLIO VALUE AS OF JAN 2, 2015:  $183,688.17

2015:  I plan to contribute $5,500 to TFSA and $5,000 to RRSP.  I will try to add more funds to my Interactive Brokers account by liquidating my Virtual Brokers account to do more option trading.

GOAL:  Reach $200k!