Burrocrat's Account

[burrocrat]

dang i feel like i'm schilling for the brokerage site here, not my intention, there is a narrow window of opportunity for these trades but it has so far been profitable, sounding like a broken record, for the record:

schwab online allows clients to trade their in-house ETF funds with no commission but only four qualify for the deal, SCHB, SCHA, SCHX, SCHF, and they say they will add four more this month, mostly foriegn markets variations. trading these have allowed me to get familiar with the site and different types of orders without losing money in fees everytime i make a move.

The last trade on buy UNG cost 12.95 commission, and will cost another 12.95 when i sell. I set a minimum price target out that will net even, justified paying the transaction costs on that one because the small gains i made on trading the clunky SCH- funds can cover it.

That was more of a buy and hold type purchase to get commodities diversification in one of my retirement accounts, i will not be trading at 12.95 tax on both ends very often, need to move a large quantity of shares each transaction for that to be economical.

my strategy is to continue to identify a trading range/channel on the simple SCH- index funds, and pick off the highs and lows for a couple of percent each time. at my balances ($500-$1000 per trade) that only works when you are not paying commissions. but it does work.

[etftalk]

OK, thanks.

[burrocrat]

12/09/09 Buy SCHF at $25.37, regular brokerage account.

[burrocrat]

two new schwab funds to play with came online today.

SCHV: large cap value
SCHG: large cap growth

a couple more ways to fine tune the free trades, 6 funds total now.

[Bullitt]

Do these funds have redemption fees?

[burrocrat]

nope, only charges to my account on SCH- ETF's have been 'exchange fees' when selling, just a few pennies depending on how many shares, i'm guessing this is a market tax of some sort.

[burrocrat]

12/01/09 Buy UNG at 9.04

12/14/09 Sell UNG at 9.93, almost +10%, but trading commissions ate a good chunk of that.

That trade made me nervous, thought i'd taken a close look at it when i made the decision to buy, but soon after became aware of other factors that i didn't consider, what the heck is contango anyway, though i still think there is a lot of upside there. Paying trading commissions is only going to work for me on a long-term buy and hold, and that one wasn't it.

Bottom line is i know i didn't understand the investment and was uneasy every day it was in the portfolio, had to jump off the boat while we were in shallow water and i still had the positive return life jacket on.

Whew, i feel much better now.

[burrocrat]

Left the original purchase still in, 1/2 of position, gonna do the buy and hold thing on this part: 11/09/09 Bought SCHA at $25.65, filled 9:30 am, brokerage account.

12/14/09 Sell SCHA at $26.38, +$0.73 per share, +2.8%.

took the other half of that trade down, juicy prices and lock in gains, will put it back in on the next drop.

[burrocrat]

12/09/09 Buy SCHF at $25.37, regular brokerage account.

12/14/09 Sell SCHG at $25.81, +$0.44 per share, +1.7%.

All cash positions now in brokerage and roth accounts, should see some volatility in the next few weeks to get back in, freeing up funds for a possible move on SLV or GLD if the right opportunity presents itself.

[burrocrat]

oops, reread last post and it should be sell SCHF, not G. haven't bought SCHG yet.