Year-to-Date Performance as of May 2010

THIS IS OUR FIRST PERFORMANCE REPORT about what smallCOST had accomplished for the first five months of this year 2010.

Stock trading activity
smallCOST started the year 2010 on Week 1 ending January 2, with 5,000 pesos equity in our BPI Trade online stock trading account. Our stock trading activity began on Week 6 ending February 6 when we bought 100 shares of AyalaLand (PSE symbol: ALI) at 10.50 per share. We closed this position on Week 10 ending March 6 when we decided to sell ALI at 11.50 per share. We had a net profit of 49 pesos equal to a 1% return on our trading equity.

Equity build-up
By Week 22 ending May 29, we made two deposits to our BPI Trade trading account. First, on Week 21 ending May 22 with an amount of 15,000 pesos, and then on the following Week 22 ending May 29 with 5,000 pesos. Hence, by the end of May 2010, we had a total trading equity of 25,296 pesos including our net income from stock trading.

Buy and sell transactions
As of May 31, 2010, we completed a total of 5 buy orders and 2 sell orders. In the process, we had accumulated a net profit of 296 pesos representing 1.2% return on total assets. Our stock portfolio consisted of a single stock: ALI.

Return on equity
For computation of our return on equity on a weekly basis, we computed our average weekly equity and compared this against our year-to-date net income. This reckoning is not standard. This is our own devise and formulated for our own purposes. On this basis, we managed a 4% return on average weekly equity as of the month ending in May 31, 2010.

Balance sheet
Our balance sheet contains only 3 main accounts: Cash, Stocks and Equity. As of May 31, 2010, we have a cash balance of 2,026 pesos and our stock position valued at 23,270 based on purchase cost. Altogether, these two asset accounts total 25,296 pesos. Our total equity is equal to our total assets at this point.

Stock trading cycle
This is how our online stock trading activity looks like:


We start with our cash to buy stocks at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) through our online broker BPI Trade. At the completion of our buy order, an inventory of stocks which we can call a portfolio is then created. When our decision criteria is satisfied, we can then decide to sell any or all of our stock position using the same online broker, thereby generating receivables during the 3-day clearing period. After clearing, we collect our sales proceeds in the form of cash deposited to our trading account.

Next Post: Week 23 Ending June 5, 2010 Stock Trading Update

Trading China Banking Corporation (CHIB)

CHINABANK (CHIB) became an attractive buy for smallCOST since the company's Board of Directors declared a 10% stock dividend on top of the 12 pesos per share cash dividend at its 5th of May 2010 meeting.

To take advantage of the opportunity, smallCOST increased his stock trading equity by 5,000 pesos and bought 10 shares of CHIB at 437.50 pesos per share for a total cost of 4,398 pesos this week. Record and payment dates are to be announced.

Outlook for Week 23: smallCOST is looking for buy positions next week. If Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) falls below 13 pesos per share, we will buy more of this stock.

Stock Trading Game for Small Players

ONLINE STOCK TRADING could be a costly proposition for small players like us. Every time you make a trade, your broker's commission is a sure thing as other fees and charges that come with it, including Internet Cafe expenses. Yet even with the disadvantage we still love to play this game of money.

Our solution to this predicament is to increase our equity the quickest way we can. What we did is to save more, let go of all unnecessary expenses and transfer the funds to our BPI Trade account. Less eating out, less buying of newspapers, walking to save on bus fare, avoiding credit card use, and generating extra income by doing overtime work. These sorts of things are just to accumulate more trading capital.

Our efforts were positively rewarded when in Week 21, we were able to put 15,000 pesos more in our stock trading equity. We now have a total of 20,296 pesos in the capital including 296 pesos from our net stock trading gain. We sold our 100 shares of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) on Week 16 when we booked a net profit of 247 pesos which we added to our Week 10 gain of 47 pesos.

This Week 21, we also made two buys. We bought 1,200 shares of ALI when it hit 13.50 pesos per share or 50 centavos lower than our previous selling price. We ordered 200 shares more when the price went down further at 13 pesos per share.

Outlook for Week 22: If the trend continues and ALI share price falls further, SMALLCOST will add more equity and buy some more of this stock.

Trading The Ayala Land Stock

AYALA LAND INCORPORATED (ALI) is on a roll enjoying active trading this week at the Philippine Stock Exchange. SmallCOST took advantage of this and made a trade ourselves. Details of the transactions can be found in the Weekly Stock Trading Journal section.

Emotional trading
Examining the emotions involved in our decision to trade at this time, we have to admit it is largely motivated by the urge to play the stock market rather than the more logical goal of earning a decent profit. We would strive to veer away from this tendency the sooner the better.

Yet knowing the allure of placing the order, whether to buy or to sell, and the excitement of learning the immediate result of the trade relative to the closing prices, we know it is a difficult habit to break.

Ayala Land
On the 10th week of the current year, we closed our outstanding position of 100 shares of ALI which we recently bought the week ending February 06. In the process, we had a net gain of 49 pesos.

Trading at the marginal level of one board lot, we have no alternative but to split our gross profit with our online broker BPI Trade every time we trade. The solution therefore is to achieve the minimum value of 10,000 pesos for every transaction to spread the cost.

Our tendency to trade without much consideration to profit led us to purchase 100 shares of ALI this week at 11 pesos a share. A good volume of shares changed hands at this price in the past few days, so we thought we could do the same and grab our portion.

Anchor position
We are thinking of considering this board lot of 100 shares to be our anchor position. This means we would perish the thought of ever selling this position whatever happens to the market price of ALI. Let us see if we could hold on to this state of mind for as long as we can. (smallCOST could not and sold the stock on Week 16).

Stock trading game
The rest of our capital, we would use for position trading. We have a starting capital of 5,000 pesos. This means we still have nearly 4,000 pesos to play around with and place our bet on whatever stock we think would give us the best return, blue chips or no blue chips.

Weekly Trading Tracker 2010

Online Trading Lessons Learned: An Analysis of Our Performance Tracker

Weekly Updates 2010

SMALL CAPITAL ONLINE STOCK TRADING's activity will be monitored through this post and updated weekly. (For updates to this post see SMALLCOST Weekly Trade Tracker 2010)

Dito natin malalaman kung paanong ang halagang limang libong pisong (5,000 pesos) capital ay mapalalago gamit and stock trading sa Philippine Stock Exchange.

Week	Ending		Sell		Buy		Profit/ (Loss)		Total Equity		%Gain/ (%Loss)
	Opening Balance								5,000
1	Jan 02		-		-		-		5,000		-
2	Jan 09		-		-		-		5,000		-
3	Jan 16		-		-		-		5,000		-
4	Jan 23		-		-		-		5,000		-
5	Jan 30		-		-		-		5,000		-
6	Feb 06		-		(1,073)		-		5,000		-
7	Feb 13		-		-		-		5,000		-
8	Feb 20		-		-		-		5,000		-
9	Feb 27		-		-		-		5,000		-
10	Mar 06		1,122		-		49		5,049		1%
11	Mar 13		-		(1,123)		-		5,049		1%
12	Mar 20		-		-		-		5,049		1%
13	Mar 27		-		-		-		5,049		1%
14	Apr 03		-		-		-		5,049		1%
15	Apr 10		-		-		-		5,049		1%
16	Apr 17		1,370		-		247		5,296		6%

This is our last update as of April 17, 2010

Turning a Profit and Moving Forward

Updated April 7, 2023

As we close the books on our Weekly Trading Tracker for the year 2010 at Week 16, we are pleased to announce that we have ended with a profit of Php296.00 after 4 trades, resulting in an overall gain of 6%. While we are pleased with this outcome, we would like to be candid with our readers: we are not guided by any formal trading strategy, and we acknowledge that our knowledge and understanding of the market was not as extensive 13 years ago as it is now.

Beyond Luck: Valuable Lessons Learned from Our Trading Journey

That being said, we have learned an important lesson from our experiences in the market. We have discovered that, outside of a well-established trading system, luck can be the determining factor between a large profit and a deep loss. While some may argue that trading is simply a matter of luck, we believe that it takes a combination of both luck and skill to succeed in the market.

Empowering Yourself: The Importance of Continued Learning in Trading

For those who are new to trading, we encourage you to take the time to learn as much as you can about the market before investing your hard-earned money. Whether you choose to follow a well-established trading system or develop your own, it is important to have a clear understanding of the risks involved and to be prepared to make informed decisions.

Closing the Books on a Successful Chapter

As we look ahead to the future, we are excited to continue sharing our trading experiences with our readers. We hope that our Weekly Trading Tracker has provided some insights into the world of trading and has encouraged you to learn more about this exciting and ever-evolving field. Thank you for joining us on this journey, and we look forward to sharing more with you in the years to come.

Coming Soon: SMALLCOST's Return to Online Trading - Stay Tuned!

We invite all of our readers to stay tuned for our upcoming posts, as we announce the restarting of our online trading activities at SMALLCOST. We are excited to share with you our journey back into the world of trading and to provide you with a firsthand look at our experiences and results.

As we embark on this new chapter, we remain committed to providing valuable insights and lessons that we have learned along the way. We hope that our experiences will inspire and inform you as you navigate the world of trading and investing.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to sharing more with you in the near future.