Buying and Selling The Same Stock

Birdman2015

I have bought and sold shares of the same company 3 times in the past few months. On 2 of the occasions I have invested £5K and on the 3rd £1K. I made a tidy £2,200 profit over those 3 transactions.

The stock is quite volatile, up and down all the time at the moment and my strategy has been to buy when low and try to guess when it has reached a peak before a fall again.

My question is, will purchasing and selling the same stock in short spells over time ring any alarm bells with anyone suspecting something untoward is going on?

AnotherJoe

Not at the sums you are taking about. Try adding a couple of zeroes at the end someone might take notice.

Pincher

This is what gets you noticed:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35863848

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financial-crime/11553433/British-trader-Nav-Sarao-charged-with-triggering-global-markets-flash-crash-in-2010.html


Have a look at the recent movie The Big Short.

You have to have really bad luck to go to jail.


There is a £1 PTM Levy for trades over £10,000, but it's more to do with take overs.

Biggles

No. Thousands of people are doing the same thing all the time. Mind you, most of them are losing money. ;-)

JohnRo

Pincher wrote: »

You have to have really bad luck to go to jail.

Or just be a really easy target and convenient scapegoat.

Stitch-up doesn't even get close to describing what would otherwise be laughable charges were it not for the US injustice system making them. At least he's got the right complexion...

racing_blue

Alarm bells would ring, but only in my own head.

Do I know why the stock price is volatile?
What will I do if I buy low, but it drops further, and keeps dropping?

I guess if I could answer those questions it might put the alarm on snooze.

Pincher

Now that you mention it, the pattern of my trades obviously shows I have a split personality.

Pincher wants to make money, but Anti-Pincher just wants to ruin my life by making me lose all my money.

I wish they would notice the bad trades, break down the door, arrest Anti-Pincher and take him (or is it HER?) away.

Thrugelmir

Birdman2015 wrote: »

My question is, will purchasing and selling the same stock in short spells over time ring any alarm bells with anyone suspecting something untoward is going on?

Who is feeding you the inside information?

Pincher

Just to pass the time.

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/investing/2014/06/02/insider-trading-famous-cases/index.html

Birdman2015

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Who is feeding you the inside information?

What "inside information" would that be?

Ozzuk

Unless you are getting inside information then you are just doing what everyone else is trying to do (and it sounds like more successfully!).

Of course if you mean will the taxman notice then that is a different question, if you aren't trading in an ISA then you should be declaring it (not forgetting you can offset losses).