Is the Time to Invest in Banks approaching?

FraudBuster

Have ALL the banks disclosed ALL their dodgy lending or are they doing an Anglo Irish?

gozomark

depends what you classify as dodgy - do you mean illegal, or ones that have gone bad ?

tradetime

Miss_R wrote: »

For people who bought barclays shares in the last week or so....Have you still held on to them? Have you sold them? How long will you hold on to them for?

I bought some barclays shares and i am unsure as to whether to cash on or hold them in for the long term.

Background info; i am only 23 and i usually invest in funds but i decided to buy some barclays shares when they were down low. As a novice i wouldnt mind if someone gave me some general info on what they think about bank shares...etc. (yes i have read the thread).

Hi Miss R, I can't comment on the first part of your post as I have not bought any bank shares. I think it is a sector that is extremely high risk at the moment, but along with extremely high risk can come extremely high reward.
As to what you should do, I would assume when you bought them you had a plan. You did have a plan didn't you? Thus unless something has changed you should follow your plan.

RickyRah

Miss_R wrote: »

For people who bought barclays shares in the last week or so....Have you still held on to them? Have you sold them? How long will you hold on to them for?

I bought some barclays shares and i am unsure as to whether to cash on or hold them in for the long term.

Background info; i am only 23 and i usually invest in funds but i decided to buy some barclays shares when they were down low. As a novice i wouldnt mind if someone gave me some general info on what they think about bank shares...etc. (yes i have read the thread).

I'm in a similar situation to yourself and as a fellow amateur I'm a little unsure as what to do. I bought in at 75p and am quite happy with how things are going. I also bought into RBS at 17p where I feel I am best to hold on tight for the long road to recovery. In terms of all 3 banks I think there is likely to be a great long-term reward for taking such a high risk, it all depends on how much you like the 'N' word!

I think I'm going to hold on for up to 12 months. I have a 20% stop loss on my BARC shares but I'd hope it won't be needed!

Reaper

A profit's only a paper profit until you sell. There is a strong argument for selling your shares now and locking in the gains.

Personally I have decided to wait until the formal release of Barclays results on 9th Feb before deciding - however note that they may well have just informally released the good stuff in their open letter (which is what caused the price to leap up) and there may be nasty stuff in the small print which makes them fall. Personally I am hoping they will make some announcement on the 9th to say they will make a dividend payment in the second half of the year which would make their shares price shoot up, even if it is much smaller than in the past. However I have no evidence they are planning that whatsoever.

Unfortuantely nobody can say whether the price will go up or down. All we can say is what is the level of risk & reward - the answer to both is high.

Miss_R_4

thanks for the responses. my mind is a lot clearer on what i had to do. just reading the business section in sunday times and it seems before this all kicked off in the beginning of jan barc shares where at 180p( cant really tell precise no from the graph). so i know there is a bumpy ride ahead of lots of dips but hoping to ride it out and hopefully cash in my paper gain.

tradetime- I did have a plan......but with pressure to sell them i forgot my long term goal which was to hold them for the long term. thanks for reminding me of the PLAN.

rickyrah-yes i also have a stop loss for my barc shares. i have invested what i can afford to lose but i have my limits and will take the exit door when i am at my STOP loss.

Reaper- the 9 feb is circled in my diary only one more week to go. ..... seriously i am so interested to know what the !!!!!!s r going to say. i am hoping that barclays dont shoot us in the foot, as i have a feeling there statement may contain a nasty suprise.

melbury

I was about to buy Lloyds shares the week before last at 44p - had filled everything in and just had to click the buy button.

However, like a moron I decided to wait a bit longer thinking they might go back under 40p. The rest is history - wasted opportunity. Talk about he who hesitates and all that, I have been kicking myself all this week.

[Deleted User]

re barc. There is a saying `Buy the rumour, sell the news

lol edited because of grey cells malfunction`

tradetime

tradetime- I did have a plan......but with pressure to sell them i forgot my long term goal which was to hold them for the long term. thanks for reminding me of the PLAN.

Good for you Miss R, many people get into the stockmarket without a plan, whilst it is possible to formulate a plan at this stage, it is always better to have one before you start, once you are in emotion often gets in the way and clouds the issue. A good plan ahead of time helps keep emotion in check, just trade your plan from here

tradetime

kittie wrote: »

re barc. There is a saying `buy on news, sell on fact`

Or "Buy the rumour, sell the news."