As I'm sure a lot of my readers are aware the ASX virtual trading game as just come to a close. I hope it was both successful and illuminating regarding the strengths and weaknesses of your trading strategy. I would like to post a special congratulations to Becky, the winner of the game increasing her portfolio to $130,000 from $50,000 a 260% increase!
Since reminding my readers about the commencement of the game, I have been asked several times for an update of how my own trading is going. I have held off from announcing my results, knowing that the stockmarket is a volitile beast and could turn against me at anytime.
As the game has now finished I feel as though I should let me readers know my results. However, I would first like to describe the types of trading and investing I was partaking in. I had three ASX accounts and was trading with all of them simultaneously.
The first was a purely technical trend following/ momentum style. The second was purely fundamental, and the third was a mixture of technical indicators and fundamental analysis.
The results are as follows:
Purely Technical: $48,793
Purely Fundamental: $50,622
Mixture: $54,262
Now before you jump to any conclusions, I would just like to say this is not a reflection on the styles of analysis. The type of technical trading I was pursuing was more suited to a longer timeframe and thus only really incurred costs rather than profit (we all make mistakes but with the capital is virtual it doesn't matter much!). The purely fundamental trading was also limited to certain industries as gaining an extensive knowledge across the full 250+ companies would have been impossible. Due to this I missed potential opportunities that could have been very profitable if they had been identified earlier.
Finally, the mixture of technical and fundamental analysis was wildly successful. This account was ranked inside the top 200 for a significant period of the game. The final rank was 288 out of over 17000 participants. It achieved an 8.5% return in only a few months, I think most people would be happy with that kind of return!
The takeaway from this post is that you have to try many different trading styles to find one that works for you. However, I do feel as though I have just been very egotistical and written about my success.
Let me know how you went or if you have any questions as usual email me on illuminatingfinance@gmail.com
