Member Info for CHEQUEMATE

Hi BT, excellent news my friend. I had to laugh. As you and I well know, when you lose a dog (family) there is an emptyness, a void. I don't expect getting another pooch x 2 will have been taken lightly. It sounds to me as though you have both been wanting something to take the place of your last old fella (not that their place can be taken of course), each dog has their own nature. I guess one knows when the time is right. We had a 8 month old cockapoo puppy in the shop today, wonderful expression on his face, very friendly. We only allow dogs in the shop if they are carried because of the large size of the shop, so you can imagine the performance of man carrying beast, with the dogs expression being best summed up as "whatever!". Nutcases?, hmm, yeap, pretty much sums them up I think. Unlike grandchildren though you can't give the back to the parents at the end of the day. I'm sure your lives will be enriched by the additions. Good luck to you. "Must go, they are asleep and we have to go get some kip before they wake up." - now, is that you thinking that of the dogs or the dogs thinking that of you?!. Friends of mine lost their dog last year, Bliss (search and rescue dog (never quite made the grade)). Bliss and I had a very strong bond, a real understanding. Whereas Leo would shout at her to lie down (and she would), Sue (his wife) would speak gently to her to lie down (and she wouldn't), all I had to do was look at her click my fingers and point down and she would drop instantly!. Hmm, not sure what they really thought of that, lol, I think they saw the funny side. She would do anything for me. If we said "Bliss, shall we go to the pub?" she would say "woof", or "say goodbye Bliss", "woof woof", amazing. Brilliant dog. They have since got another dog, he is about 10 months old now, Border Collie. Working on him now but he is still full of puppy play so it will take some time. I have only been able to take him out alone these last couple of months, but there are signs that he's found another soft touch!. GBG - well, surprise not..........we are back up into the 420s again. It will be interesting to see if this will be allowed to rise above the 440 mark before being moved down again. That would confirm my theory that there is some programme by some automated robot or whatever which is identifying patterns and moving the price up and down to suit themselves. GBG is not the only share to suffer from this. If it is true then one can take advantage of it but that would take some courage in case it was wrong. Anyway, what will be will be. Apologies for being off topic for other folks Regards, take care CM

Hi JJ. I'm off work with something resembling flu so I have had time today to reflect and try to get my head around things here. In the past I would have been tempted to have sold out with such a % drop, but as I posted earlier there was nothing jumping out at me to push the sell button. More likely to be the opposite in fact. Thankfully the price has risen a little this afternoon which hopefully will bode well for tomorrow. I think it takes courage/brvado or whatever it is to buy a share which has fallen; I would rather miss out on any bottom and wait for confirmation that things are on the mend. I don't know iof you know anything about GDPR which has been quoted in todays fRNS and previous. It seems it is a little concern (hopefully nothing more) to DOTD. I looked it up on the internet to find out what it is all about and came across the following (hope the link works): http://www.shoosmiths.co.uk/client-resources/legal-updates/gdpr-general-overview-13282.aspx Maybe of some interest and clarrify things. I am a few pence down on my last buy in price, nothing drastic. My future retirement is still some 6 years or so away; just my personal pension kicks in next year beause I decided to take it at 60 not 65. I may as well have some money coming in (peanuts that it will be) rather than give any more to the pension company. Dare say they are related to market makers. Whatever happened to the last 10 years. Good luck with the work in the snowy woods. So f ar here in South Cumbria there has been very little, what came down overnight has gone, at least on the lower ground. More promised though. Stay well and good luck CM

Seems either there is a bit of a tree shake or the market has found something not to its liking. Maybe the following has had some effect on the share price so far early today - althugh this was already indicated in the previous RNS. Who knows?. Geographic Expansion EMEA Whilst core international sales represented 25% of total sales, up from 22% in H1 2017, our core EMEA business continued to grow at a double digit rate. This performance demonstrates the underlying strength of our offering, despite some customers lengthening their purchasing cycles ahead of the introduction of GDPR in May 2018. As clients assessed their customer data ahead of implementation, to comply, we saw some volatility in volume-related spending while these processes were worked through. We continue to work with our customers to help them ensure GDPR compliance and would expect normal spending patterns to resume following further guidance from the EU regulator. Furthermore, the improved data-sets resulting from the implementation efforts will likely lead to better data-driven insights for customers, improving ROI for them and growing revenue for dotdigital. Specifically, within the UK, dotdigital continued to focus on extending its market leading position through product development and innovation resulting in an increasing number of new clients signing up to the platform. We pride ourselves on our customer service and have seen high levels of customer satisfaction over the last six months following on from enhancing our Account Management service in the second half of the last financial year. In addition, we continued to invest in our dedicated sales team for the EMEA region and build our future sales pipeline. We have a strong growing pipeline, alongside an increased number of new customer sign ups, in the Nordics and Benelux markets. Real pain - just as i break even, down it goes. Patience I think. CM

On a quick glance at the RNS today, I don't see anything we didn't already know from the trading update issued previously, nothing exciting nor nothing pessimistic. It wouldn't surprise me if I have overlooked something though. Not sure what will happen today; could go either way or do nothing. Good luck all regards CM

A good day for XLM, back in the 180s. I looked at increasing my holding this morning but don't like buying in first thing. Could have got 175.8 but held out to see which way the price would go. Next time I looked the price was up to 176.9. Pushed the buy button for a small top up. Looked like the trade had been accepted and executed but found out the next time I looked my holdings hadn't increased. Bit miffed, although had the price fallen subsequently I would have been relieved. Not a big deal, it was only a small trade but come day end the buy price had risen by over 10p. For me, I probably have enough invested here and was a little anxious about increasing it further. That's life. There are other shares and other days. Regards CM

Hi JJ. Mark Slater is the name you are seaching for; son of Jim Slater. J.S wrote "The Zulu Principle, making extraordinary profits from ordinary shares", which was the first investment book I read which I could understand and be able to follow. Until Robbie Burns wrote "The Naked Trader - how anyone can make money investing in shares" it was the main book of reference I used. It was that book that I can honestly say pretty much transformed my portfolio from being a dead or very sick duck to something far healthier. If you haven't read the book I can recommend it. It was written before the internet came onto the scene and before there was easy access to brokers. The principles remain very relevant. To know Mark Slater has an interest here gives me more confidence. I may just look to increase my rather meagre holding here. The DOW has finished the day strongly and although it shouldn't have an effect on DOTD a bad day tends to affect many ships the next day over here. I think there is more volatility to come but SO far this week things seem a little more settled. Yes, totally agree about stress. I would much rather take a smaller return with far less stress than be pulling out what little hair I have left and having sleepless nights by taking on what would be for me higher risk. My risk appetite (did I ever have one?) isn't what it used to be. If what you post about major share holders is true then it accounts for over 75% of all shares issued. That is a lot leaving not a huge % in free float. That may be a good thing, I'm not sure, it's not something I have looked into previously. Incidentally, if I look at Stockopedia.com and use the Jim Slater Guru screen based on the Zulu Principle it comes up with 5 stocks that presently qualify: CNC, IPX, VP, ELCO and INSE. Just for information, not suggesting investing in any of them; certainly not without detailed research. Let us see what tomorrow brings. Good luck and regards CM

Oh for the use of a crystal ball Matt. I'm not sure just how much more of an idea Peel Hunt have than anyone else. With these price targets there is never a date set. Sometimes I wonder where these folk get there price targets from. But thanks for the post anyway. Regards CM

Thanks for taking the time and posting Frisby. Appreciated. Still in here and watching the general market. There is probably more volatility ahead. Regards CM

Can you cross your toes as well as your fingers?, ran out of fingers sometime mid week. Still in here but have reduced my holdings to just 3 now. Need to have more cash on the side. It's possible to have too much invested in the stock market; better to be more at ease. This is a learning time for us all. I need to be in a positiion where I have my mind on my work and be at peace not on what is happening on the markets. My private pension matures in less than a year so seriously hoping the markets will hold up. Was hoping (years ago) early retirement would be an option, ha ha ha, yeah right, dream on buddy!. Good luck all CM

Wonder if we will learn if OW will have been buying more shares at todays depressed price. Back to where we were on Tuesday. Hope others portfolios are holding up but like mine I guess they have been given a kicking over the last week or 2. Up to then I felt relatively restful over them but this week I have reduced my portfolio by half; down to 3 holdings from 6. Taken a couple of losses (relatively small) and a small profit on one. Wall Street up at present but it is very early and the main sell offs have come late in the day. Once this volatility is over I may be tempted to invest more here, but not just yet. Maybe once the U.S has accepted that interest rates are going to rise and get use to the idea then maybe they will settle down. How many times do they/we need to be told about interest rates...........it's no longer new news. Good luck CM

Didn't see the fall so low on GBG. Sold out of another of my holdings early on, taking a small loss, but still hold here. Tried a small trade earlier on a short on the FTSE, but that got stopped out for another small loss. Maybe I am thinking too hard and should just rest with the 3 remaining holdings and look for a rebound this afternoon on Wall Street. The world has gone mad. Talk of interest rates rising from what are historic lows and there is over reaction. Oh to know a market maker; bet they are quids in. Day off here, nice and sunny but cold. Take care CM

I have pulled out of IOM today at a slight loss. I have got a little nervous over the state of the markets, and although this is probably just a correction, I want(ed) to preserve capital and have another look once things have calmed down. I still have a few holdings and have taken out a very small short position on the FTSE via an ETF fund which I only see as short lived and have a stop loss on. Good luck all CM

Firstly, I seem to be quite busy on here lately - apologies. Secondly, with 1/2 hr to go to the close of Wall Street, it looks like another poor day, so volatility is back. Been here before as we've said before, never pleasant. Things do look rather bleak, but it is largely a case of getting use to the likelihood of interest rates rising and I'm hoping the news won't be the front news for long. Thirdly, and the main reason I am posting today. There was an interesting interview on Radio4 business news I think yesterday morning at 6.15 a.m. The issue of volatility arose but amongst the comments was algorithmic trading, if that is the right terminology. Apparantly there are algorithmic programmes which are designed to look out for shares which are trading within a pattern and,..........what would be the best way to put it?........play(?) with it?. That WOULD explain why there are so many ridiculousy small trades being traded simulataneously taking the share price down, taking the share price up within a range it seems of 400-430p. Not just GBG, many other shares too. That would make the/any share more volatile. Perhaps these algorithmic programmes start the whole process, but do seem to repeat them over. At some time the share will break out and the programme starts over again. Now, I may be totally wrong, and I may have misheard and it was early in the morning....but..... Regards CM Wall Street about to close, around 4% down, 900 points. Some necessary blood letting I feel.

Waited to see what the DOW was doing before making any decision. Have made a small top up but have had to pay just over 89p to do so when earlier I could have paid closer to 87p. Doesn't make a huge difference overall of course and timing will never be perfect. Only Investing what I personally am prepared to. Que sera sera but goog luck all the same. Hope I haven't put the mockers on things CM

Hello JJ. Difficult to know what to do right now. Do I top up a little at this lower price or am I/are we going to be caught in a suckers rally?. Is any correction over?. I do expect more volatility, experienced that many times before. Investing isn't a one way ticket to riches, there is always risk. I sold out of a couple of my holdings yesterday releasing some funds so I could reinvest some here. Naturally those holdings have risen but I feel a little happier having less to keep my eye on. It doesn't seem to matter how much we've been through previously it is still difficult to know what to do for the best. For me I think it is not being over exposed, certainly not with how cold it is here!. Decisions, decisions Good luck Regards CM

I couldn't get a price to buy 1200 shares for some time earlier and the price for 1000 shares was considerably more than to sell 1000. Looks like the mm were/are playing with the spreads. Not just here either. Pleased to be back in profit. Good luck all CM

Good to hear from you BT. The US - probably an over reaction to the obvious re interest rates, inflation and over valued stock market. However, I'd rather play safe than be sorry. I don't think the 2 stocks I sold out of today will shoot up, possibly drift up and I may be able to use the funds to buy into new stocks and/or add to my remaining stocks. I don't want to be holding too many stocks, it takes too much time staying on top of them and would rather keep it to 4 or 5. Tomorrow is another day and I will reflect on things again in the morning. LSE can't be believed BT. They seem to be having problems updating. It is not unusual for them to be all over the place of late. I have to use other sites to keep up with the true prices. Hope you enjoyed cooking, or more importantly, I hope Mrs BT enjoyed your cooking!. Good luck and regards CM

A few more pigeons circularing the statue today and it hasn't finished on the other side of the pond yet. It hasn't been the meltdown that some feared it would be today and GBG has held up relatively strong. I did sell out of 2 holdings early this morning, taking a loss on one and a reduced profit on the other. Naturally they both rallied to an extent but I actually feel a little relieved to be out of them, so perhaps that isn't so bad. Never got close to selling out of GBG. Wouldn't say it is a buying opportunity though. Still some volatility to come I fear. Hope all is well on other fronts. Regards CM

Very much agree. A couple of pence either way longer term won't make much difference. We can miss buying opportunities by waiting just that little bit longer. However, lets see what is about to happen on Wall Street again. The bell is ringing. Good luck all CM

LSE board hasn't been updating any figures for some time. Latest buy price is around 176p, a good recovery from earlier when I was being quoted sub 160p to sell. Having released some funds from sales earlier, one at a slight profit, one at a loss I could buy more here. Hind sight would have been earlier sub 170p, but nervous about jumping in, wondering what Wall Street will do later. It may recover a little or not and do what it did yesterday late on. Trying to sit on my hands. Regards CM