Dear all

Hello everyone, how is everyone doing? =)

In my original post in 2018, I made a decision to move on from Bursa to the US Market. The main reason back then was to practice short positions (not interested in IDSS). Here are the quick links to previous posts

https://klse.i3investor.com/blogs/testing.com/2018-08-27-story-h1455133482-_Alex_Goodbye.jsp

https://klse.i3investor.com/blogs/testing.com/2018-09-02-story172269-_Alex_Reminiscence_of_a_newbie_trader.jsp

During this transition, I was also involved in regular work, so my time is divided between screen time and active employment. For some of you who might know, I am also doing a doctoral study on behavioral finance. The motive is a selfish one. I want to know myself more. So here are the quick updates.

I was on passive indexing until that March 2020 plunge. Seeing that the volatility is back, I shifted more time into active trading in both US market (via IBKR broker) and also locally in Bursa. Long story short, I made back all my gains from losses in passive funds, but trailed S&P500 performance by quite a lot (S&P 500 bottom at 2200 ish, and is now 4200 at this time of writing). Nevertheless, I'm quite happy with my decisions. I strive to be a student of the market, and the market did exactly that, i.e., teaching me lessons that I hope I will never forget in my trading career.

Immersed in work and long hours of readings, I have moments where I sat back and think if my previous earnings in 2017 is but just luck. Kahneman, the most respected behavioral finance Nobel winner, along with Thaler in behavioral economics, got me thinking about probablistic bet, my tendency to get overconfident, my wilful refusal to sell losers and hold on to winners etc. I enjoy reading people's perspective on things in life, to read it and meditate and reflect upon my own trading experience.

I saw many new counter names in Bursa which I know not of. I saw Mr DIY IPO which I did not participate, and Vitrox that I sold off in 2017 for some RM600 profit now shooting through the roof after the pandemic. I also revisited that good ol' Hengyuan forum to see what's happening. I remembered all companies that made me big monies (and those that made me losses too, I will remember you forever haha). 

So what happened during these years? The world of option trading is opened before me. I learned a thing called option wheel strategy, and I did it on one large-cap stock. Talk about GARP investing (growth at reasonable price), the one which I lament on, that it's so hard to locate the candidate in our local market. But when it comes to the USA and the international, we're talking about big names like Apple, Nvidia, that Broadcom (Tan family from Penang anyone?), and...... your younger YOLOers GameStop at WallStreetBets is on my watchlist too.

The order execution speed is crazy. Easily 10 times faster than Bursa. If you do day trading, the market starts at 9.30pm (it's morning time at the USA). Too fast even for a young man like me. Now I adjusted my trading horizon to be much longer, around 3 weeks ~ 2 months holding.

I'll update this blog another time. For now, wish everyone take care and see you some time =)

Alex