It’s nearing the end of the year again.

Time to hustle to achieve your 2017 goals if you haven’t already.

While also time to start thinking about the new goals you want to set in 2018.

Blog portfolio 2017 has been running for about a year now.

In the blog posts, I would highlight the counters that appear interesting in the TradersGPS scans.

Just to keep a few positions for us to manage, so it represents a sporadic use of the TradersGPS system, instead of a daily scanning routine.

Even then, it demonstrates the power of the TradersGPS, producing a decent 23.5% return over the past year.

Typically positions are leveraged 3 times, so that gives us a respectable absolute return of 71.4% for our blog portfolio.

I’ve compiled the trades into a google spreadsheet which is viewable for you.

I’ve also included the links to the blog post which called the trade idea.

All figures are given in the context of a $100,000 portfolio, leveraged 3 times with CFDs.

The intention is to hold a maximum value of $60,000 per position at any one time.

Click Here To View The Spreadsheet.

2017 blog portfolio

Review

Below is a brief review of the trading done in 2017.

I’ve also discovered that the Pareto Principle(80-20 rule) might be more pervasive than I initially thought.

Probabilities

Reflecting on my trades, I am reminded that trading is about probabilities.

I don’t need to know the future, to make money in the markets.

I was wrong many times about what I thought would become a great trade, I was also wrong a few times when I thought a trade wouldn’t go very far.

In the end, I was still profitable because I kept to my rules, keeping losses small and letting profits run.

Here is an article about probabilities.

Risk Management

Strong risk management is always key, no matter at which stage of the trading journey you are at.

It’s the first thing you need to even progress from a losing trader, to a breakeven trader.

You’ll need it to progress from a breakeven trader to a profitable trader.

You’ll need it even more, to progress from a profitable trader to a highly profitable trader.

Here’s an article on consistency in trading.

Ride

Riding trends is important.

There were a lot of small winners and small losers, the ones which made the difference were the ones which I managed to ride trends with.

Don’t understand what I mean? Read on…

80% of my net profits came from 20% of my trades. (Pareto really seems to be on to something.)

I did a total of 41 trades, the top 8 profitable trades(20%), accounted for over $57,000 in profit, which represents 80% of my total net profit!

This means the majority of my trades are small wins and small losses which just even out.

While the REAL contributors to my net profit, came from trades riding big trends.

Taking partial profit reduced my overall profits slightly, but also improved the volatility of my equity curve.

This is personal preference, perhaps next year I shall allow more volatility in my equity curve.

Here is a very special interview with Captain America which talks about trends.

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Useful reading resources

Here are some investing/trading blogs which I’ve found value in reading through the year of 2017 as well.

Naturally we have a few familiar names, hopefully some sites I share will be new to you, so you can expand your trading resources.

You can click the headers to visit their site.

SGX Yield Stock

This is an informative blog which lays out stock yield information in a clear manner.

My go-to source to easily keep tabs on dividend stocks.

Turtle Investor

It’s not the trend following turtle investment methodolgy here.

This turtle investor believes in focusing on index investing for slow and steady returns.

More interestingly, he embarks on projects to experiment with what could create a new income stream for the man on the street.

His more recent project includes robo-advisory from 3 of the known providers in Singapore.

SGBudgetBabe

Her blog caught my eye when one of her posts went viral last year, about how she saved $20,000 in a single year, on a salary of 2.5k a month.

If you’re looking to get into the business of investing, saving should be one of your first steps to get into the game.

Her posts focus on saving as well as sensible spending from the perspective of the average Singaporean.

Her most recent post, as of my writing this, is an enjoyable and fairly inexpensive trip to Hanoi with her husband, at a total of just $700 per person.

TreeofProsperity

Here’s an interesting character, he achieved financial freedom at the age of 39 when his passive income exceeded his monthly salary.

So now he’s studying Law at the age of 40 at SMU with the intention of practicing law in the capacity of a corporate litigator, very admirable.

Dollars and Sense

This is not the usual personal blog, but it’s a very informative portal.

The articles are always written from a Singaporean perspective so you’ll be able to resonate with the content easily.

My Stocks Investing Journey

This is a website specializing in REITS.

He periodically provides very detailed reports and analysis for each REIT.

Great resource if you’re looking to invest in REITS.

The post 2017 Trading Review: A Modest 71.4% Return For Our Blog Portfolio In 2017 appeared first on The Systematic Trader | Trading Courses | Collin Seow.