Andrew Baxter

Like all traders and investors, I periodically review the performance of my portfolios and check in on whether they are getting the job done. I say periodically, because the temptation – a dangerous one for many – is to be constantly watching and let’s face it, this is a long term game, not a get rich quick punt, right? For the sideways to slightly bullish market As such, over the past few months, one of my personal favourites – the covered call, has continued to deliver the cash flow I seek from that particular portfolio. For example, this calendar year, in the Australian market, FMG being the one blot on the ledger, we have had only one loser from 13 closed positions. For those that obsess about win/loss ratios – a flawed measure in my book – that is a 92% win rate for the calendar year. Of course, this is a reflection of the underlying market conditions, which have been supportive of the strategy. * Market conditions have been more “choppy” in the US, howe...

  The goal for any investor is to make money. Most of us would prefer to make a lot of money, and in a short period of time. But the shorter the time-frame, and the more money you want to make, the greater the Risk in being able to achieve those goals. For this reason, investment strategies have nearly always focussed on Buy and Hold approaches where the selection of a sound businesses should have the ability to produce a capital gain, if not, at the very least a dividend return. But the traditional method of investing may not provide the returns you ‘need’ to achieve your financial goals. Hence more speculative strategies are adopted in an effort to make more money quicker. Some become quite adept at achieving this, but for the majority of us, the elusive ‘key’ that unlocks this universal goal remains well out of reach. What are the methods of investing? Investing has several different methodologies that can be adopted. Traditionally, Value or Growth invest...

  Being able to joint the dots between news and decisions for trades, is a learn able and very lucrative skill. This morning is a case in point where last night’s dreadful earthquake in Japan, reminded us all of the painful memories from the Tsunami of 2011.  On seeing the news, and checking in with our neighbours, to make sure their family in Japan were OK, it was also time to get the trading weaponry lined up. Fukushima and Uranium Trading 2011 saw a run on Uranium stocks, not surprising, given the disaster at the Fukushima power plant.  This time round, sentiment should see a similar perception and subsequent reaction by the market.  By being able to get a bead on the market, what is likely to drive sentiment, particularly recent history from just 4 years ago, there were likely to be many profitable opportunities in the Uranium sector. In particular, the prospects for shorting (profiting from the potential fall in stock or commodity prices), wa...

  This European debt situation is a rudderless ship on course to crash against the “rocks of default”! It seems like it has been months that we’ve been talking about the European sovereign debt situation, but in fact it has been years. The current problems are not a new situation that has all of a sudden appeared and investors have had to face quick decisions as to what to do with their investments. No. The debt situations that Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain are undergoing are the result of years of “kicking the can down the road” – the phrase that has been coined to explain how economic problems have not properly been dealt with from the outset, creating a situation where unless there is a massive upheaval to the financial system, then we could be faced with the largest financial crisis the world has even seen. The European Union was developed as a means for freer trade amongst partners to fight the power of the United States in controlling glo...