Big gain today for anyone else's portfolio?

There were several days in recent months with pretty big drops, which prompted posts here. Today was the opposite for me, with a 2.87% gain on the day. Biggest reasons were that of my 8 top holdings NVDA, MELI, SHOP, and TWTR were all up more than 3% along with SWIR being up 2.44%.

Not a bad day, but 1 day does not a portfolio make, of course. I had been contemplating trying to branch out a bit to become less “tech-heavy”, but I don’t think I will be selling any of those 5 that had good days today anytime soon. I might even get a few SWIR calls before earnings.

I love the turbulence lately. Yes, my portfolio has dropped almost 6% in one day. On absolutely no news worth taking note of. I love those days, they make me a lot of money. As a result, my portfolio is at its highest point of the year right now. I am even withdrawing money to live on and my portfolio is still at its highest point no matter if I adjust for the withdrawals or not!

As a result, my portfolio is at its highest point of the year right now. I am even withdrawing money to live on and my portfolio is still at its highest point no matter if I adjust for the withdrawals or not!

You really do have to adjust for withdrawals in order to follow your portfolio meaningfully:

If you start with $100,000 and gain $10,000 to $110,000 you made 10%. If you then add $5,000 and now have $115,000 it doesn’t mean you made 15%. You still made $10%.

Conversely, f you start with $100,000 and gain $10,000 to $110,000 you made 10%. If you then take $5,000 out and now have $105,000, that doesn’t mean you only gained 5%. You still made 10%.

Saul

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SaulR80683: You really do have to adjust for withdrawals in order to follow your portfolio meaningfully:

Saul, I do adjust for deposits and withdrawals using the exact same method as you describe in the knowledge base. I agree those adjustments are necessary to give a meaningful indication of portfolio performance. All I meant is that even with my significant withdrawals, the dollar value of my portfolio is higher than at any other day this year. That is not performance and not related to how I follow my portfolio.

I didn’t have such a big gain over one day, but the last couple of weeks have been pretty volatile, leaving me back around the same level I was 2-3 weeks ago, which is pretty damn high. My margin account has more than doubled its value since spring 2016, despite occasional withdrawals that totaled more than 10% of that balance.

I’m amazed at how the market has behaved since the election in November. It makes me nervous, though, and amazed that all the recent news hasn’t yet depleted the exuberance. But it doesn’t feel nearly as hollow as the inflated values of most tech stocks during the dot-com bubble. Shopify today is not like AOL in 1999.

And some of the high flyers have already taken dives; e.g., ORLY and ULTA.

Hi EdGrey - fwiw - and IMHO, you might want to close out the margin account. Margin accounts feel like they can be great but when the market goes down, and it will, it might force you to sell to cover it.

Sox

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Hi EdGrey - fwiw - and IMHO, you might want to close out the margin account. Margin accounts feel like they can be great but when the market goes down, and it will, it might force you to sell to cover it.

Just because you have a margin account does not mean you are actually using the margin. It’s like having a credit facility while not actually borrowing any money. That’s how I do it and I love the flexibility I get for zero cost until used.

Denny Schlesinger

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