Member Info for MrMath

Really feel for the LTHs (including myself!) but IMO if you have not got out yet (fortunately many have) then you will only get even less from your 'investment' by waiting. Very often the price seems to drift down from the offer price, and there isn't even a firm offer on the table yet!

"Lost over a 100k on this plum"

Know the feeling ...

Got to admit illbetabuck, your timing was spot on. But a lot of work for an £800, or so, profit.

In one word, greed.

After a few years of steadily growing my portfolio with FSTE100 and 250 stocks, decided to take a gamble on the AIM in order to grow more quickly. Well it didn't work out, but only invested profits from other shares - so not too bad really. Lesson learned - it's back to slow and safe(-ish) for the foreseeable future.

"Mr Math I agree the what does it matter attitude does kick in when you are well down like I am. But the logic bit is hard to figure."

Robins, was not advocating Sell, Hold or Buy, just warning against letting the 'what does it matter now' attitude rule your judgement. Whatever decisions you make on this share, I hope they work out for you.

When you're down a lot it's easy to lose perspective on the value of your remaining investment, since it's now only a fraction of your original. A sort of 'what does it matter now' mentality can set in. But this attitude is born of emotion, whereas to be successful at investing you must always consider the current situation and facts with an air of detachment and logic.

Very low volume today (lowest since 21 March 2019). The HL figure of circa 7.5m seems correct.

urges investors to buy British shares as they predict election and Brexit will bring a boost to UK economy.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7729607/Goldman-Sachs-urges-investors-buy-British-shares.html

SXX included?

Nobody can predict with certainty this share, or any other for that matter, so what you need to consider is your current level of exposure. Do not over expose yourself to a single share, only buy more if your SXX holding will still be balanced within the rest of your portfolio. If you do not balance your portfolio you will lose in the long run.

Let's say you do buy more and the share rockets, and now you're very happy but you're still neglecting to balance your risks. Chances are you will lose it on the next share or the one after that ...

"learnt a lot about the art of investing while invested in Sirius"

Second that!

Sirius was only my second foray into high risk shares and although my strategy for lower risk shares works well, both forays into higher risk shares have been failures except for what I have learnt when dealing with this type of share:

take profits when you can;
don't get greedy - prices don't increase forever - so I'll say it again, take profits;
don't get drawn into over investing in one share, however good it seems. Set yourself limits and stick too them;
consider carefully both sides of an argument no matter how annoying you find the contrary view (to be clear, I'm talking about reasoned argument with supporting evidence not blind statements or opinion);
be patient - you will make better decisions.

"Losses are losses, anyone that refers to losses as paper losses is kidding themselves."

Second that! Ignoring this reality is very damaging to any long term investment strategy.

illbetabuck, to be fair to the writer of the positive article they were only talking about risking a small sum, "when only a small sum is invested," although I agree the line you highlighted is rather amusing in isolation.

"I'm down well over 100k - i exited at mid teens ... But my initial entry was at 37p."

Cliffedge, very similar to my situation. Was down £130k when I exited mid-teens and my worst buy was £40k at 38p. However, still watching and waiting, so not back in yet.

"thanks to the help of some of the genuine people on this board I have diversified"

Bellers, well done for diversifying. It's more than a good idea - it's essential. I've covered my SXX losses with other shares, mostly the bigger players: AZN, GSK, DGE, ... But like to be well up before increasing risk level, so don't have the luxury to step back in at the moment.

Was considering buying a chunk of these yesterday, but didn't :-(

" despite the temptation, I’ll wait for news."

My thoughts as well.

"And a second one"

Probably the same buyer as they bought the same amount only 8 minutes later, so £150k spent by someone.

"ex d 7th Nov, payment 20th DEC"

Looks correct but where did you get your information?

It's not listed here, yet: https://www.dividenddata.co.uk/ex-dividend-date-search.py?searchTerm=BP.

(Based on last two years, they declare on the final Tuesday of October for an Ex-Dividend date of the Thursday of the following week).

When the trade price is exactly midway between the Bid and Ask.

"So I suppose I can see why some posters can be influenced, even though none of us should be."

Fred, do not worry about being influenced, we all are to some degree and that can be a positive thing. It does not make sense to read this board with a completely fixed mindset, resolute on not being influenced.

We do our research (including reading this board) to gather information and learn the opinions of others, to better enable us to form our own opinions. The important thing is to get your information from as many sources as possible.

"GK Traded this well, based on high levels of research and understanding of the risks. I reckon he got over confident."

Agree with your assessment, dogstar. Particularly, the part about getting overconfident. It can happen very easily when one is trading well, but regression to the mean nearly always gets you in the end.

When GK posted that he had bought a chunk at 15.08p I recall thinking, "Not too much, I hope, could be setting yourself up for a fall." I think that's what's happened. That hundreds of k's profit he talked about has gone up in smoke.