I shouldn't really call it that, as I don't trade very much, but I do keep scrupulous notes every day of how my shares in BHP, the world's biggest miner, are performing. I have held the shares for decades, and my patience seems to have finally been rewarded.
Yesterday, while I was floating in the warm-water pool, they shot up to $58.71, before flatlining at $58.25 for most of the day. When I was back at home and in front of my computer by mid-afternoon, I placed two belated SELL-order: one at $58.70, in case they shoot the lights out again, and a lower one at $58.50, after which I took an afternoon nap.
When I woke up again in time for the evening news, the $58.50 order had been executed at $58.52. I viewed it as an insurance policy against a possible price reversal — which usually happens after such a huge price surge — and an opportunity to buy back in again afterwards.
It's early next morning, and I have looked up BHP's closing price in New York: DOWN 2.11% to US$82.55, or AUS$114.36 at the exchange rate of 0.72182. Since one BHP American Depositary Receipt (ADR) is equal to two shares in Australia, this translates to AUS$57.18 for one Australian share, or down $1.34 on yesterday's Sydney closing price of $58.52.
If Sydney follows New York today — and it usually does — I succeeded in averting a "paper loss" of $1.34 a share on that portion of the shares I sold yesterday, and created an opportunity to buy back in again at a lower price in the hope that they will return to yesterday's price.
(Of course, at such an elevated share price, brokerage accounts for about seven cents a share, both buy and sell, so a profit is made only if the sales price is at least fourteen cents above the purchase price.)
Who said life in retirement was boring?
