Sunday, August 19, 2018

Trying to sell my thinly-traded stocks

It is important to disclose my current position in the market before discussing the market. I currently hold on to the following shares in my for-public-sharing portfolio:

Colex
F&N
Delfi (former Petra Foods)
Hong Leong Finance

There is also about 30k in cash sitting the portfolio following sales. At current market value, the total portfolio is just under water for the first time in many years. I also have a fair bit of company shares that are listed overseas.

My position is that the market will be bumpy going into the second half of 2018. This has been true to a large extent. After peaking at about 3,600 on 30th of April, the market has been largely below its start point in 2018. The STI is currently at the same level it started on 1 July, the start of the second half of 2018. It has lost in a few days, most of its gains in the recent mini rally.

I am trying to selling my thinly-traded stocks for quite some time and I am open to your comments below. I am currently of the thinking that it might be okay to sell the shares bit-by-bit and incurring multiple trading fees. This is because there are insufficient bids to clear my holdings in one trade. As a long term investor, I am looking to preserve my capital and hunker down in cash as the bear market which I think is happening makes its second and more scary plunge. 

The first plunge occurred from 30th April to 1 July, wiping out 400 points, or 12% off the index in 2 months. I expect the STI to visit 2,850-2,950 in the coming 4-6 months via the second and more scary plunge. With a combined duration of 6-8 months, this will probably be the shortest bear market we will see at least in my lifetime. I will try to go into cash (I have been trying for some time) or accumulate cash and pick up some good stocks just before Chinese New year 2019. 

Do your own due diligence. Your mileage may vary. I am just sharing my views.



8 comments:

  1. Hi SSP,

    Check with your broker on this. Some brokers allow you to sell the same stock multiple times in a day under one transaction fee from what I heard. That is how the big boys manipulate the prices by buying/selling multiple times in a day :)

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    Replies
    1. If i key in an order, and it gets filled multiple times in a day, i am only charged 1 transaction fee. But if i key in multiple orders on the same day, i will get hit with multiple transaction fees

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    2. Hi SSP,

      No, I just confirmed with DBS Vickers on this and it is correct. (as long as the settlement mode and counter is the same and within one trading day /all buy Or all sell trades)

      So example, you have 1000 shares of Colex.
      You sell 200 shares at $0.29,
      then sell 400 shares at $0.30 in the noon
      and then lastly sell 400 shares at $0.28; all within the same day. It will be charged under one transaction fee based on the total sum sold. Thus, you should check with your own broker and this will allow you to slowly sell your shares through the day, due to its low float.

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    3. thanks for this. very helpful! nevertheless, the problem to sell them still remains

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  2. Does big boys interested in thinly traded stocks?

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  3. Hi CW88,

    BB sure don't :)
    I meant big boys buy at small volumes to accumulate more shares while pushing prices up Or down. If it breaks out higher, bb gets richer. if it plunges, they have the luxury to leave it there and hold it.

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  4. I kinda of agree that current STI trending is really looking bad. The serious plunge can happen towards end of 2018 or in 2019. Better to hold more cash positions now.

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  5. Hi Singapore stock picker, this is really an interesting piece of information from your side. Thinly traded stocks can be a problem for anyone out there. I wish that you are able to sell your stocks soon.

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