CFD Trading Report Monthly Wrap, a detailed look at where we made and lost money during the month.
In an attempt to improve our service, we will now report our performance on a monthly basis, dividing our trades into three portfolios, Australian Stocks, UK Stocks, and Global Markets, which comprises commodities, currencies, bonds, and US indices. Going forward, we will report overall portfolio results for each of the three trading accounts, each in their home currency, AUD, GBP, and USD.
For each trading portfolio, we will provide
- A table of the closed trades from the month, with a combined Profit and Loss (P/L)
- A Portfolio Performance Table. The information in this table is rolling, i.e. the trades for the month are added to this table on a continuous basis. This table contains trades that were opened after 1 Dec 2008.
Below are a few notes which provide further explanation.
Current Account Balance – includes all closed trades from 1 Dec 2008 to the current month end
Overall Return – Total P/L to date, as a percentage of our starting balance
Win % - Percentage of trades where we book a profit
Scratched Trades – Trades where we were stopped out at break even
Max % Drawdown – This is the maximum amount, in percentage terms, in which our account decreases from our maximum equity line. Graphically, it is the maximum distance between our Maximum Equity (Pink) Line and our Current Account Balance (Blue) Line in the chart below.
AU Equities – July 2009
As usual, we begin the Monthly Wrap with a look at the Australian Equities account.
As evident from the table below, there were 12 trades which were closed out in the month of July. From these 12 trades, we booked 6 winning trades, 5 cost us capital, and 1 trade, Asciano Group (ASX: AIO), we exited at breakeven.
In summary, we made A$4,784.34 for the month, which in turn, gave us a monthly return of 7.33%.
To the overall trading account, and after eight months of trading, the Australian Equities account is currently sitting on a capital return of just over 40%, with a win rate of 64%.
Closed Trades for July 2009
Portfolio Performance from 1 Dec 2008
Equity Chart from 1 Dec 2008
Encouragingly, after trending sideways for the past two months or so, our equity line has also pushed to a new high. To re-iterate, the blue line is our equity line, and is updated every time a trade is closed out, while the pink line shows our equity maximum. To put it another way, this is highest level our trading account has registered.
UK Equities – July 2009
During the month of July, we closed out seven position on our UK Equities account which encouragingly yielded a return of £1010.73 or +5.04%. On a closer look at our closed positions, we booked 4 winning trades and 3 losing trades whilst none were scratched. Although the portfolio remains in negative territory, we continue to work hard to improve the overall performance.
Furthermore, with the FTSE100 rallying strongly over the past two weeks, this has presented a number of buying opportunities, and as it stands, we currently have open positions in Peter Hambro Mining (LSE: POG) and Home Retail Group (LSE: HOME) with a handful more that are setting up nicely.
Closed Trades for July 2009
Portfolio Performance from 1 Dec 2008
Equity Chart from 1 Dec 2008
Global Markets – July 2009
We were again quiet on the Global Markets account, largely due to the fact that the USD Index remained range bound. As evident in the table below, we booked a solitary loss on a Crude Oil trade early in the month. However, with the US Dollar Index again pushing lower, we currently have open positions in the EUR/USD, GBP/USD and Spot Gold.
Closed Trades for July 2009
Portfolio Performance from 1 Dec 2008
Equity Chart from 1 Dec 2008
The Month Ahead
Although both indices, the FTSE100 and ASX200, appear overstretched in the near term, we continue to trade with the trend, which remains up.
On the Global Markets front, with the US Dollar breaking down from a triangle consolidation pattern, quite a few markets are beginning to trend. We are currently long the EUR/USD, GBP/USD and have been set on the first leg of our Spot Gold trade. Should the US Dollar continue to weaken, we will hopefully be in a position to book profits on the positions during the month of August.
Happy Trading!