SoS: Stopped out of everything.

So 5,000 has been broken on the Nifty and the WIDE stops on the Short Only strategy have been hit. I was expecting a move up but was thinking it would stop before this - guess it was not to be.

Crappy return, of course - a negative 10% in just about a year. Not surprising for a short strategy; and I'm sure if I had real money on it things would be different. It's very strange, actually, to have no real money backing this strategy; I'm sure if I did I would manage it better (and who wants to lose this much!)

When we planned Moneyoga I remember hearing that this "virtual" portfolio stuff is only a learning exercise - the real test is the emotional damage the volatility of real money can do. Which is true, I guess - I've been strangely unattached to the losses of a "virtual" strategy, and been on the wrong side of most of the move!

There will be a time to return, and given we are currently way overpriced, the only thing I'll do is setup Nifty puts on it. A better way to short perhaps is to find stocks that have very short term underperformance and take small bets on those - in a bull rally it's tough to hold shorts on a fast moving stock. HDFC is still way overvalued, but to short it weakness must build; and there is absolutely no sign of weakness.

The blowout will come, but when, from which level? That's not a question worth answering - the Taleb bet might be the only useful one, when you spend small amounts buying what will give you an outsized return in one of the following months.

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4 comments:

Manish Chauhan said...

Even I am not too excited at 22+ Nifty PE , History was never my favorite subject , but market has tought me that its important .. :)

Better to not look for very long term .. A short term fling with some stocks would be as tasty as in real life .

In one of the talks in Bangalore ,I happened to hear Uma Shashikant , where she mentioned HDFC as an excellent long term bet , ofcourse "with disclaimer" ..

I beleive HDFC would be a good stock to hold :0 .

Manish
http://www.jagoinvestor.com

nimish said...

What is ur outlook on GIC Housing Finance Co. Ltd. ?

Indian said...

Hi deepak, I think this is the best step you have taken this year, even though on virtual strategy. But, our mindset affects our real returns too, I think u will agree to this. I would like you to research in how one could earn from stock-specific upmoves, even though sensex/nifty may not move much. I feel rest of this year will give good stock specific opportunities to earn.

I respect ur analysis and pointing the minute details you bring upfront for reading. Please take it as constructive criticism and continue to enlighten us with ur analysis.

Deepak Shenoy said...

Manish: HDFC is ridiculously overvalued :) but the stops have to be respected! Still you're right, there's just too much enthu sittin on the markets.

Nimish: be careful. Lot of people are strutting around talking about it. The stocks always had good earnings, but never a high p/e, and you might want to be careful!

Indian: thanks mate. There will be more as time flies...

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