The grass is always greener?

Wednesday, 28th July 2010 10:02 - by Boredmum

I have some shares that I am fairly happy to leave for growth opportunities. I also trade to keep my interest in the markets and hopefully make small amounts of profit. I am afraid that, in my trading, I tend to suffer with the view that the grass is always greener. It probably comes from impatience. An ideal trade for me would be something that I can be in and out of within the hour. Unfortunately, any longer and I start to see opportunities elsewhere. I know that many people use T10 trades, T20 trades, etc. (a settlement period of 10 or 20 days). I am not sure if the benefits outweigh the downside with these, but I am happy to trade with the monies I physically have. The downside I have in trading with physical cash is that I buy into a company purely for a trade, and if it doesn’t move quick enough then I am out and on to the next one. Of course, the grass isn’t always greener and the most common scenario is that the stock I have left alone goes up and the one I have bought into will stay stagnant. For example, I sold out of a share last Friday at a slight loss, thinking that I would have a better chance of an increase in Gulf Keystone Petroleum (TIDM code: GKP) due to rumours circulating of a possible buyout. Since going into GKP I have noted that the grass is not as green as I expected it to be. I also made a couple of trades on Friday at a slight loss; Nautical Petroleum (TIDM code: NPE) and Petro Matad (TIDM code: MATD). I did, however, make some money across Friday/Monday in Caspian Holdings (TIDM code: CSH) and Connaught (TIDM code: CNT). The thing is, if I just left my money in the original two for a couple of days more, I would have been better off. I must try to be more patient and remember that the grass isn’t always greener...it just looks that way from the other side.