I have been thinking long and hard on the capability I have had to obtain and financially handle a loan. I am not as skeptical as most people, because I know that as long as my monthly payments are within my budget, I cannot fail. Yes, I will pay back more over time than I initially got the loan for, but that means I will have money right now instead of over time. That means that over time, with a little luck and the right placement of investments, I will be able to recoup those loan losses.
I got a $9,000.00 loan from Upstart after trying several other places and reviewing their rates. Upstart, found through LendingTree, approved and transferred the resulting $8,504.73 (loan total minus origination fee) on 6/27/2019 to my bank account.
Robinhood’s system allows you up to an immediate $1,000.00 of the amount you transfer (I transferred $7,401.00). I purchased:
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Total |
| IGC | 75 | $ 1.66 | $ 124.50 |
| APHA | 25 | $ 6.98 | $ 174.50 |
| DYAI | 50 | $ 6.00 | $ 300.00 |
| NBEV | 18 | $ 4.51 | $ 81.18 |
| NRZ | 20 | $ 15.83 | $316.60 |
| XXII | 3 | $ 2.04 | $ 6.12 |
These stocks are doing fairly well a day later.
Considering the sheer number of shares, even increases of a few cents leads to large profit. And because Robinhood charges no commission fees, a $0.01 increase of 50 shares is $0.50 I can get back as needed.
Once the remaining $6,401.00 arrives some time next week, I have plans to buy large quantities of other stocks that will hopefully (and with a little effort) generate large enough profits to start reinvesting in yet more stock.
Will I pay off the loan if I get the change? Definitely. If I make a few thousand, even over the course of a few months, I will likely reinvest it immediately. However, once I hit certain thresholds, such as $3,000.00, I will likely pour that right back into the loan repayment. That will help reduce the overall amount I need to pay back without reducing the amount I have invested.
The Remaining Money
So what happened to the rest of the loan? The transferred $7401.00 to Robinhood doesn’t account for the whole amount received. That’s right!
I invested the remainder of the loan money, which totals $743.00, in income (dividend-yielding) portfolio sections on Fundrise.
While these are ramping up, they will provide higher dividend yields per quarter to be reinvested into the portfolio. I am confident that this addition can yield long-term benefits beyond trying to play the stock market for extra money.
More Money, More Problems
So this one is going to get a little long. I sold off some of my single shares and bought a bunch of different other ones for the setup.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| SIRI | 1 | $ 0.00 | $ 5.70 | $ 5.70 | $ 5.70 |
| SPWR | 3 | $ 9.73 | $ 11.19 | $ 33.57 | $ 4.38 |
| SRAX | 1 | $ 2.78 | $ 4.66 | $ 4.66 | $ 1.88 |
| SRAX | 1 | $ 4.47 | $ 4.66 | $ 4.66 | $ 0.19 |
| ACB | 1 | $ 6.71 | $ 7.81 | $ 7.81 | $ 1.10 |
| ACB | 1 | $ 7.69 | $ 7.81 | $ 7.81 | $ 0.12 |
| ACB | 2 | $ 7.53 | $ 7.81 | $ 15.62 | $ 0.56 |
| GE | 1 | $ 9.24 | $ 10.69 | $ 10.69 | $ 1.45 |
| GPRO | 1 | $ 4.90 | $ 5.35 | $ 5.35 | $ 0.45 |
| F | 2 | $ 9.75 | $ 10.13 | $ 20.26 | $ 0.76 |
| CLNE | 1 | $ 1.97 | $ 2.50 | $ 2.50 | $ 0.53 |
| CLNE | 1 | $ 1.99 | $ 2.50 | $ 2.50 | $ 0.51 |
And now for the purchases made when that sweet, sweet $6,401.00 dropped.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Total |
| CBL | 250 | $ 1.02 | $ 255.00 |
| WPG | 9 | $ 3.74 | $ 33.66 |
| WPG | 116 | $ 3.80 | $ 440.80 |
| AMD | 1 | $ 31.24 | $ 31.24 |
| HEXO | 2 | $ 5.16 | $ 10.32 |
| HEXO | 98 | $ 5.28 | $ 517.44 |
| NIO | 9 | $ 2.88 | $ 25.92 |
| NIO | 141 | $ 3.22 | $ 454.02 |
| ORC | 100 | $ 6.34 | $ 634.00 |
| PUYI | 50 | $ 9.04 | $ 452.00 |
| SOLY | 50 | $ 12.45 | $ 622.50 |
| NBEV | 82 | $ 4.56 | $ 373.62 |
| APHA | 50 | $ 6.89 | $ 344.50 |
| RUN | 15 | $ 20.21 | $ 303.15 |
| RUN | 5 | $ 19.54 | $ 97.70 |
| NRZ | 30 | $ 15.39 | $ 461.70 |
| VSLR | 75 | $ 8.09 | $ 606.75 |
| IGC | 224 | $ 1.45 | $ 324.80 |
| PSEC | 75 | $ 6.60 | $ 494.98 |
| XXII | 19 | $ 1.95 | $ 37.05 |
| TRNX | 4 | $ 0.37 | $ 1.48 |
That was mostly concluded between July 2 and July 8 of 2019.
Also on July 8, I sold SOLY as it jumped considerably.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| SOLY | 50 | $ 12.45 | $ 14.45 | $ 722.50 | $ 100.00 |
SOLY continued to climb a little after that, but remained relatively even. It was up over 25% since market open. I figured I would take the $100.00 profit and watch it closely, instead of potentially missing the marker.
TRNX seemed to be doing exceptionally well, up almost 75% or $0.155 since opening at a peak at 10:25AM. It had dipped a little since it’s high of $0.3648 per share, but I went ahead with it using cash I had left in my account, and then some of what I made from SOLY.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 2000 | $ 0.3171 | $ 634.20 |
It looked like the high fluctuation was dying down, so I then sold.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| TRNX | 4 | $ 0.37 | $ 0.3371 | $ 1.3484 | ($ 0.1316) |
| TRNX | 2000 | $ 0.3171 | $ 0.3371 | $ 674.20 | $ 40.00 |
Of course it then proceeded to jump to $0.35 a share and stay around that level about 5 minutes after I sold. Again, risk and reward. I always choose to mitigate the risk and take the lesser reward. I could have gotten back $20.00 more, for a return of $60.00, but chose to get a return of $40.00 to mitigate the risk of it going down further. The constant fluctuation could die at any time, even depreciate in value very quickly as other investors like me decide to sell off large quantities. That could be in 5 minutes or 5 hours. I am fairly risk-adverse when it comes to day trading. A little bit of profit does just fine for me.
Now, today I’ve made $139.87 more than I had. What to buy now…
SPWR seems to be on a good upwards trend since January. It isn’t fast or far, but more recently it has been going up at a larger rate. I had previously sold 3 shares at $11.19 each for a profit of $4.38, so lets take about half of what I earned and put it towards this stock, which seems to have a lot of growth potential.
ACB is another one I sold off earlier, 4 shares for $7.81 each for a profit of $1.78. Cannabis is a growing market. With $397.86 left, I’ll go ahead and take the risk that it’ll go down a little more today and in the coming week, for the potential that it will recover within the next month. It has a lot of ups and downs, both as an industry and historically. Largely, I believe that cannabis has the potential to do very well in the long term. This doesn’t leave me with anything to spend on sudden surprise-growth stocks, like I did earlier with TRNX, but it does mean that as the stocks do well, I won’t have any cash laying on the table not gaining. I am not as much a fan of risky day trading ventures as I am of short-, medium-, and long-term stocks that have good value or potential value.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| SPWR | 30 | $ 12.20 | $ 366.00 |
| ACB | 53 | $ 7.45 | $ 394.77 |
I am now watching IGC for any jump to $1.67 or higher for a return of $50.00 or more.
PUYI has been the big loser here, currently at $7.56 per share or a loss of $74.00 since my purchase. It has only had one week of downward movement, but it’s peak was $13.94. Movement that wide has me a little on edge.
As of 2:00PM on July 8 of 2019, here are my purchases and current portfolio on Robinhood, and what I have sold (and the profit, which to me has been very significant so far).
About 2.5 hours after selling, SOLY has skyrocketed to almost $17.50 per share. If I had waited to sell, I could have gotten $150.00 or more back than I did. Sometimes waiting is good, but I play the market very cautiously. Maybe too cautiously. That doesn’t mean I won’t play cautiously going forward, but it is a reminder that sometimes selling early doesn’t always yield the best results. Market movements are largely unpredictable, and since I didn’t do my due diligence and check on the news, I have no idea still how long that run will last.
SOLY has been on a very sharp incline since Friday’s close. Next time I will look around for more information before selling off short. It doesn’t hurt to only have $100.00 extra instead of $250.00 extra, but it does make me a little sad. Sometimes these things happen, and I won’t dwell on or regret making the decision to sell. I know I am cautious and wary of the market, especially since this is a loan and not my own money. I will continue to monitor SOLY as it progresses and see where it eventually falls off, and look to see if another opportunity to sell other shares develops that will allow me to put back into SOLY when it has good potential to grow again.
With extra leftover cash, I purchased TRNX as a gamble since it had such good earlier gains.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 14 | $ 0.21 | $ 2.94 |
July 11 of 2019, SOLY has again skyrocketed from an open of $17.90 to a high of $21.85 at 1:25PM. I expect another downturn before the July 15 trial data release. If it’s favorable, which seems likely, the price should skyrocket again. I likely won’t be trying to ride the wave unless other things fall into place before that.
IMUX again soared north of $17 in a day.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| IMUX | 3 | $ 13.48 | $ 17.00 | $ 51.00 | $ 10.56 |
Time to double down on TRNX since it has wild volitility. I won’t put in more than $55.00, but I can afford to watch it frequently for wider fluctuations.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 208 | $ 0.245 | $ 50.96 |
CBL (which has hit a profit of $50.00 before) and NIO (which has hit a profit of over $100.00 at one time) I intend to keep for a little longer to see if they can gain some more upward trend. I intend to sell CBL at a profit of $75.00 or higher, and NIO at a profit of $125.00 to $150.00.
Second and Third Week of July
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| TRNX | 208 | $ 0.245 | $ 0.265 | $ 55.12 | $ 4.16 |
| TRNX | 14 | $ 0.21 | $ 0.265 | $ 3.71 | $ 0.77 |
| AMD | 1 | $ 31.24 | $ 34.49 | $ 34.49 | $ 3.25 |
I received an Nintendo (NTDOY) dividend of $0.58.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 35 | $ 0.325 | $ 11.38 |
| CPRX | 20 | $ 4.10 | $ 81.96 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| TRNX | 35 | $ 0.325 | $ 0.355 | $ 12.42 | $ 1.04 |
| VSLR | 75 | $ 8.09 | $ 8.19 | $ 614.25 | $ 7.50 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| CTL | 10 | $ 12.29 | $ 122.90 |
| WMC | 50 | $ 10.05 | $ 502.50 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| RUN | 15 | $ 20.21 | $ 20.25 | $ 303.75 | $ 0.60 |
| RUN | 5 | $ 19.54 | $ 20.25 | $ 101.25 | $ 3.55 |
| PSEC | 75 | $ 6.60 | $ 6.72 | $ 504.00 | $ 9.00 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| BABA | 5 | $ 174.00 | $ 870.00 |
| TRNX | 90 | $ 0.4397 | $ 39.57 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| PUYI | 50 | $ 9.04 | $ 10.04 | $ 502.00 | $ 50.00 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 1600 | $ 0.3125 | $ 500.00 |
So you may be asking yourself, why sell all these shares at such a low profit? The answer is simple. These are non-dividend yielding stocks, which means their profit or loss depends entirely on the stock’s value. I would rather get a slight profit and miss larger gains further down the road for other opportunities in the present. CTL and WMC are both dividend-yielding stocks.
BABA has been approved for a 1-to-8 stock split (every 1 stock you hold becomes 8 stocks at a value equal to 1/8th of the stock price). So at $174 per share, my 5 shares become 40 at about $21.75 each. It is likely that this will result in a higher stock price during the first day of trading in the new bracket. They also have plans to do an IPO in Hong Kong, which is why the stock split is taking place. However, the time frame for this is up to mid-2020, so it might take a while, but it is my estimation they will want to do this sooner rather than later. At any rate, I am set for that.
TRNX also has a split coming mid-August. They will be creating a second stock symbol at a 1-to-1 conversion, meaning every 1 share I hold of TRNX will give me an additional share in the new company. This divergence means the stock price will be cut by the price of the new stock. So if TRNX’s split company is TRNY and it is $0.20 per share, then TRNX’s current $0.30 share goes down to $0.10. Also like BABA, though, this stock and the new stock are likely to trade heavily during the first day of the split.
These opportunities could net a decent profit. I have no guarantee of that, but my feeling is pretty good that if nothing else, I will be able to within the next year sell off both of these with at least a 10% return. And that’s ignoring market fluctuations. I will continue to load up on TRNX until it splits off and then start looking for opportunities to sell. In the meantime, if it gains double it’s value, I can sell off immediately if it’s not close to the split. It is likely that the closer to the split time comes, the higher the stock price may fluctuate. Time will tell if that feeling is correct.
I have placed multiple high limit orders (despite my earlier revelations to not do so) on the remaining non-dividend-yielding stocks. These higher prices are to the effect of several dollars per share higher than the purchase price. This will lock in significant profit if it does hit that limit, without the early out that was taken in some earlier limit trades because of the low margin between buy price and limit sell.
As you can see from the above selling history, PUYI went up an additional $1.00 by the time the market closed. That is an additional $50.00 for selling those 50 shares. Again, I will highlight that I am very cautious when it comes to profiting, in that I would rather sell quickly while a stock is going up for a smaller profit, than wait and potentially lose out on the amount I already have locked in. In the long run, this short-term outlook will change, I think, but it works for now as I am sitting on $290 in profit.
You may also notice that I included at the top Accaliah’s share of SIRI, which was used along with an extra $25.00 to buy more shares of TRNX (not included in my above last 2 weeks of activity). I continue to closely monitor the stocks held in both accounts (in this case Accaliah’s only has TRNX, but that may change into further dividend-yielding diversification as I obtain more money).
Fourth Week of July
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| CPRX | 20 | $ 4.10 | $ 4.65 | $ 93.00 | $ 11.00 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| ESPO | 2 | $ 34.11 | $ 68.22 |
| CTL | 2 | $ 11.44 | $ 22.88 |
This week has seen TRNX climb to a huge gain pre-market on Monday, subsequently going back down to the mid-$0.45 from a high of $0.60 and fluctuating to around the mid- to low-$0.53. I intend to hold TRNX unless it gives a gain of over 200%. If it does, I will sell it, and then look for another lower opportunity to buy more using those profits. Unless I get that amount of gain in profit, I will hold until after the company splits into two different shares, which looks likely even if the board and CEO does not want to do so, and look for an opportunity to sell.
I chose ESPO as an alternative to other dividend-yielding stocks already in my portfolio because eSports is a growing industry. While I cannot put a lot in immediately, this does give me the opportunity to observe the growth (or decline) of the ETF, the first one I have purchased. While ETFs have an annual expense for the fund’s operation, they are managed to bring more profit than the expense (as all ETFs should). This ETF has an expense ratio of 0.55%. This would mean that on a balance of $1,000.00, the expense would be $5.50. Given the fund’s YTD return of over 24%, it has current significant gains, and I have the expectation that as eSport becomes more popular and profitable, this will go up, as game developers will be able to host and get better returns from their marketing.
Here is ESPO’s information provided at https://www.vaneck.com/etf/equity/espo/overview/?vecs=true.
This should be an interesting introduction to ETFs, and although I will not use ESPO’s success or failure as my only standing point toward my views on ETFs, it will help to shape them.
I received a dividend from GE of $0.01 on July 25 of 2019 and a dividend from NRZ of $10.00 on July 26 of 2019. I do have 50 shares of NRZ, but because I purchased 30 of these after the dividend date, it was only using the 20 shares I had to calculate the value. If the dividend stays the same, I will receive $25.00 on the next pay date. Using these additional funds and the remaining cash in account, I purchased:
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| CTL | 1 | $ 11.48 | $ 11.48 |
| TRNX | 7 | $ 0.49 | $ 3.43 |
I continue to remain very optimistic about TRNX’s high range potential and am still trying to convert my non-dividend stocks over to dividend stocks (more of what I own already or others that I do not own yet). HEXO, APHA, NBEV, SPWR, and ACB are all doing very poorly at the moment, and so I must hold on to them until they produce even a little profit. Stocks like NIO, ORC, and TRNX are the only thing keeping my portfolio within a couple hundred dollars as it dips below profit into loss, which does not account for the profit I have made from stocks I have sold off, just the value gained and lost from purchased stocks in my portfolio.
End of July
SPWR’s earnings call had it climbing upwards of 20% after hours. Since I had been wanting to get rid of this stock because it provides no dividends, I had set a limit sell for a small profit of $6.00. As I watched the stock climb early, I purchased a few shares back at a higher price and waited until it soared even higher. Overall I came out of SPWR with a profit of $33.75.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| SPWR | 30 | $ 12.20 | $ 12.40 | $ 372.00 | $ 6.00 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| SPWR | 25 | $ 13.11 | $ 327.75 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| SPWR | 25 | $ 13.11 | $ 14.22 | $ 355.50 | $ 27.75 |
While SPWR did hit a high of about $14.87, I was waiting for it to begin to dip before I pulled out of it. This way I could get the best value instead of, as usual, exiting early. The dip occurred at a high of $14.23 recorded because of the quickness of the volume of trades. All in all, very happy with the result. I was able to get out of SPWR far more than I would have if I hadn’t been watching it when I did. Although, had I not had a limit sell, I could have potentially netted a profit of about $60.00. Regardless, a little more than half of that, I am happy.
With $400.10 in cash now, I purchased even more shares of TRNX. I know, I’m really quadrupling it down. As I’ve said, TRNX is doing a reverse stock split before the stock splits off into two companies. I will end up with a certain number of shares of TRNX’s parent company and that same number of shares in their spin-off company. That will occur in a little more than 2 weeks, so there’s still some time to wait and see what the stock now does. All told, I have $1,459.91 invested in this venture based on the current stock value.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 915 | $ 0.4371 | $ 399.95 |
Beginning of August
After an earnings call on August 1 of 2019, APHA jumped after-hours to over $6.50. Holding it for better prospects on the next day, I managed to sell at $7.20 ($0.01 below the high up to 2:00PM EST on August 2). While the profit was minimal on the overall stock, it made back what it had lost. APHA was one of the stocks performing very poorly in my portfolio until the earnings call.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| APHA | 25 | $ 6.98 | $ 7.20 | $ 180.00 | $ 5.50 |
| APHA | 50 | $ 6.89 | $ 7.20 | $ 360.00 | $ 15.50 |
With $540.00 back to spend, I increased my holdings with TRNX (again) and increased my shares with CTL which is expected to have a positive earnings call on August 7 after market close. Not only will this likely increase the price per share, which will give me an opportunity to evaluate whether selling the shares is a good idea, but if the earnings are insignificant, I will be able to hold it for dividends at a later date. CTL has reduced their dividend yield by a little over 50% during the last 2 quarters, so I remain wary of putting too much towards it.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 1060 | $ 0.4247 | $ 450.18 |
| TRNX | 100 | $ 0.4238 | $ 42.38 |
| CTL | 4 | $ 11.89 | $ 47.56 |
My average cost for TRNX shares is $0.39, so I am still making a tidy profit of $175.00 or more on the 1600 shares I purchased at $0.3125, with the share price now at $0.422. Their earnings date is August 13 and will likely skyrocket the stock even further. Presented with significant profits, I may sell before the stock splits off, if it ends up doing so.
Second Week of August
With the pending split to TRNX, there was a lot of movement. A LOT of movement.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| TRNX | 90 | $ 0.4397 | $ 0.5000 | $ 45.00 | $ 5.43 |
| TRNX | 1600 | $ 0.3125 | $ 0.5000 | $ 800.00 | $ 300.00 |
| TRNX | 7 | $ 0.4900 | $ 0.5000 | $ 364.00 | $ 0.07 |
| TRNX | 728 | $ 0.4400 | $ 0.5000 | $ 457.50 | $ 43.68 |
| TRNX | 915 | $ 0.4371 | $ 0.5000 | $ 530.00 | $ 57.55 |
| TRNX | 1060 | $ 0.4247 | $ 0.5000 | $ 50.00 | $ 79.82 |
| TRNX | 100 | $ 0.4238 | $ 0.5000 | $ 50.00 | $ 7.62 |
I also sold a significant portion of all of my non-dividend yielding stocks to prepare for purchasing power.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| HEXO | 2 | $ 5.16 | $ 4.83 | $ 9.66 | $ -0.66 |
| HEXO | 98 | $ 5.28 | $ 4.83 | $ 473.34 | $ -44.10 |
| ACB | 53 | $ 7.45 | $ 6.61 | $ 350.33 | $ -44.52 |
| NBEV | 18 | $ 4.51 | $ 3.64 | $ 65.52 | $ -15.66 |
| NBEV | 82 | $ 4.56 | $ 3.64 | $ 298.48 | $ -75.44 |
| CBL | 250 | $ 1.02 | $ 0.89 | $ 221.68 | $ -33.33 |
| IGC | 75 | $ 1.66 | $ 1.04 | $ 78.00 | $ -46.50 |
| IGC | 224 | $ 1.45 | $ 1.04 | $ 232.96 | $ -91.84 |
| NIO | 9 | $ 2.88 | $ 3.16 | $ 28.44 | $ 2.52 |
| NIO | 141 | $ 3.22 | $ 3.16 | $ 445.56 | $ -8.46 |
| EA | 1 | $ 103.20 | $ 92.64 | $ 92.64 | $ -10.56 |
| FIT | 3 | $ 4.45 | $ 3.32 | $ 9.96 | $ 1.06 |
| XXII | 1 | $ 1.97 | $ 1.89 | $ 1.89 | $ -0.08 |
| XXII | 3 | $ 2.04 | $ 1.89 | $ 5.67 | $ -0.45 |
| XXII | 19 | $ 1.95 | $ 1.89 | $ 35.91 | $ -1.14 |
| IDXG | 1 | $ 1.090 | $ 0.74 | $ 0.74 | $ -0.35 |
| IDXG | 2 | $ 0.9534 | $ 0.74 | $ 1.48 | $ -0.43 |
| IDXG | 1 | $ 0.7000 | $ 0.74 | $ 0.74 | $ 0.04 |
| IDXG | 2 | $ 0.6967 | $ 0.74 | $ 1.48 | $ 0.09 |
Even though this was a loss of $369.81, my earlier selling of TRNX had given me $494.17, so in selling everything and TRNX I had obtained a profit of $124.36. This additional money, which equaled out to $4,604.48 I put straight back into TRNX.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 4971 | $ 0.8192 | $ 4,072.25 |
| CTL | 13 | $ 11.64 | $ 151.32 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| TRNX | 4971 | $ 0.8192 | $ 0.9192 | $ 4,569.34 | $ 497.10 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 5320 | $ 0.93 | $ 4,072.25 |
| TRNX | 604 | $ 0.83 | $ 501.32 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| TRNX | 5320 | $ 0.93 | $ 0.945 | $ 5,027.40 | $ 79.80 |
| TRNX | 604 | $ 0.83 | $ 0.945 | $ 570.78 | $ 69.46 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 6219 | $ 0.90 | $ 5,597.10 |
With a huge total profit from selling shares of $1,142.66, I was able to secure a much larger position with TRNX prior to the split. I intend to hold this until after the split, meaning that I will need to hang on to the stock from August 15 until after September 1. Once the split occurs, I will evaluate the market and see if I can sell for a significant profit. I will likely continue to hold $1,000.00 to $2,000.00 in TRNX as well as the split company, given they actually have very promising business ventures. But if the profit is good enough, I’ll take it. During the split time frame, if the profit exceeds 50%, I will likely sell foregoing the potential of profit after the split. This is because a profit of 50% would be the equivalent of $2,800.00 and I would withdraw the whole amount, approximately $8,400.00 or better. This would cover my loans and still have given me money to put into dividend stocks and others that I will continue to hold and play around with. The likelihood of that happening is low, so it is not my expectation that this will happen. The price of TRNX would have to go up to $1.35 per share.
All things considered, I am happy that I was lucky enough to secure the funds to do these type of market fluctuation trades. I just have to make sure I come out on top. With a profit of over $1,000.00, though, that should not be hard at all.
Second Last Week of August
TRNX has done poorly. Very poorly. Whether by a concerted effort of people that want to see the stock fall significantly, or by mismanagement, or a combination of many other things, TRNX has plummeted from a high of over $0.90 per share to a Friday the 23rd closing at just under $0.40 per share. In 10 days it lost over half of its value.
News about the reverse split and the spin-off shares of Taronis Fuels, alongside a lot of hyped up news from Taronis about their various exploits caused a huge surge in price per share for quite a few days. I was one of the ones riding the shares on the way up, locking in profits along the way and finally settling on $0.90 a share before close on Thursday the 15th. This was purportedly the day that at close the company would take a listing of everyone who had stock in their company and then if those shareholders held those shares through September the 1st, they would be granted an equal number of shares in Taronis Fuel.
However, because of their inevitable removal on September 19th from NASDAQ due to their being under $1.00 per share, a reverse split was necessary. SEC rules dictate that a reverse split could not occur during a spin-off, so the spin-off was delayed until November. The reverse split, a 5-to-1 or 6-to-1 conversion will take place on Monday the 26th. There is skepticism within the investor community as to whether or not this will even matter. At a share price of $0.40 at closing on Friday the 23rd, that would mean 1 share on Monday’s split would be worth between $2.00 and $2.40. Many people are worried this will not be enough to keep the stock over $1.00 for the 20 consecutive days needed to remain on NASDAQ listing per their requirements.
If the split does not do the trick, the company will move to the OTC trading center. While this is likely to reduce the chances of shareholders being capable of finding buyers and sellers for this stock, it is certainly not the death of the stock. Additionally, with the reverse split occurring prior to the spin-off, it is speculated that the spin-off shares will be more valuable. It is also hypothesized that the spin-off was always going to be postponed and that management knew this and was not actually dumb enough not to know that a split could not occur while a spin-off was in progress.
Regardless, the share price drop means that my total return as of this time is $-3,143.73. So, being the bullheaded idiot I am, I am staying in the stock instead of cutting my losses early, selling low, and buying lower again for the chance at riding the next wave up. I will stay in at my $0.90 per share until it meets or exceeds that threshold again. Given the split, that would mean a share price of $4.50 to $5.40 to break even after Monday. It is further speculated that the share price will drop even after the split, and not insignificantly. It will certainly be a learning experience no matter which way it goes.
I have additionally sold my 5 BABA shares; the price has fluctuated between $164 and $178 since I purchased it at $174. As the prospects of the Hong Kong IPO in the midst of the protests is stark, I have decided to opt for other stocks that are dividend-yielding, and can easily absorb the less than $50.00 loss in my total profits. I have purchased 10 shares of VZ, 3 shares of LYG, and 3 shares of MRK.
MRK has had shaky, but consistent upward trends since December of 2017. It looks to be in a good position to continue upward, and the dividend is $0.55 per share. VZ has been even more shaky, but has a decent track record of lows to highs since July of 2017. It has a dividend of $0.603 per share. LYG I have been watching for a while and even though it does not fluctuate a lot, it has gone down considerably in the last 5 years. It pays a dividend of about $0.055 per share with a history of recording dividends in April to pay in May and recording in August to pay in September. While I missed out on this round of dividends, 3 shares would not get me a lot to begin with so I am simply going to watch and see where it goes. If it remains relatively steady, I should be able to purchase more later before the next record date.
While I have not accumulated a lot of shares in any of them, this can be a decent base to start with until I can free up some of the money tied into TRNX.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| BABA | 5 | $ 174.00 | $ 164.25 | $ 821.25 | $ -48.75 |
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| TRNX | 1 | $ 0.4198 | $ 0.4198 |
| MRK | 3 | $ 84.90 | $ 254.70 |
| LYG | 3 | $ 2.38 | $ 7.14 |
| VZ | 10 | $ 55.93 | $ 559.30 |
Currently an ORC dividend is pending, which will be recorded on August 30th and paid a month later. The dividend, $0.08 per share, will equate to $8.00 for me at the end of September. As of close on Friday the 23rd, my total return for ORC is $-43.00.
Could I have waited for better opportunities all around? Sure, I certainly could have, but I have a cushion to play around with and I’m not concerned with making an immediate profit. While I’m investing with loans, and thus paying between 14-25% more for the money I have borrowed, I will also have that much money to play around with once I am finished paying off the loans. I may have spent more over all, over time, but this allowed me to get where I am today without the waiting to accumulate the money needed to invest over the time it would have taken to invest this amount.
Was it worth it? Eh, yes and no. It’s experience. I’m willing to pay more now for the opportunity to get more back later. Should I ultimately diversify in dividend stocks and leave it, instead of so actively managing? Probably. Will I continue to stubbornly do exactly what I’ve been doing going forward? Absolutely!
Mid-September
I’ve made a few purchases and sells, bolstering my dividend-yielding stocks.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| LYG | 3 | $ 2.38 | $ 7.14 |
| LYG | 3 | $ 2.68 | $ 8.04 |
During this time I obtained $7.50 as a dividend from CTL and $31.25 as a dividend from WPG. I later sold LYG’s shares due to their next dividend payout being in April 2020.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Buy Price per Share | Sell Price per Share | Sell Value | Profit |
| LYG | 6 | $ 2.38 | $ 2.66 | $ 15.96 | $ 1.68 |
| LYG | 3 | $ 2.68 | $ 2.66 | $ 7.98 | $ -0.06 |
Using the dividend funds and the sold LYG funds, I purchased 5 shares of COTY and used the remaining cash to buy an additional share of TRNX.
| Stock Symbol | # of Shares | Price per Share | Buy Value |
| COTY | 5 | $ 10.57 | $ 52.85 |
| TRNX | 1 | $ 2.01 | $ 2.01 |
ORC’s continued monthly $8.00 dividend with WPG’s quarterly $31.25 will give me over $50.00 per quarter and allow me to further diversify within dividend stocks, likely expanding my shares in COTY, CTL, and MRK until they reach 50, 50, and 20 respectively. I am still waiting for TRNX shares to produce either a significant gain themselves, or pan out with Taronis Fuels shares in November (there’s still 2 months until we find out about that). All told, my significant loss has come from TRNX’s split, as the new TRNX shares would need to achieve a value of $4.50 per share for me to break even on them. While I regret buying back in at $0.90 per share before the split, I was certain that the Taronis Fuels shares would be distributed at that time. I was cautioned on an online forum regarding the share that I should sell as the price was going down for a slight loss once the Fuels shares were off the table until November, and then to buy low once the split occurred so that the return would make up for the loss. Had I not gotten back in at $0.90 per share before the split, I may have held off on repurchasing TRNX until November when the deadline for the Fuels shares returned, although I likely would have poured a good quantity of that money toward other dividend shares in the meantime. My regret was that I did not do more research into the Fuels shares and their timetable, so that I could have known the shares would be pushed back to November after the split. Regardless, I am in TRNX for the long haul now more than ever, as I will not sell at a loss unless it becomes necessary to reduce my income for 2019 income tax (I’ve gotten back over $1,000.00 in returns from stocks since January, and that can be taxed heavily).
I have plans to expand my dividend portfolio further and further, with my sights set on such stocks as:
| Stock Symbol | Price per Share | Dividend Pay | Dividend Paid | Per Period % (Approximate) | Yearly % (Approximate) |
| IRM | $ 32.04 | $ 0.61 | Quarterly | 1.9% | 7.6% |
| MO | $ 40.78 | $ 0.84 | Quarterly | 2.0% | 8.0% |
| M | $ 16.26 | $ 0.38 | Quarterly | 2.3% | 9.2% |
| OXY | $ 44.52 | $ 0.79 | Quarterly | 1.8% | 7.2% |
| NLSN | $ 22.63 | $ 0.35 | Quarterly | 1.5% | 6% |
| IVZ | $ 16.90 | $ 0.31 | Quarterly | 1.8% | 7.2% |
| ABBV | $ 71.07 | $ 1.07 | Quarterly | 1.5% | 6% |
| HPT | $ 25.00 | $ 0.54 | Quarterly | 2.1% | 8.4% |
| DIAX | $ 17.96 | $ 0.30 | Quarterly | 1.7% | 6.8% |
| SEMG | $ 16.58 | $ 0.49 | Quarterly | 2.9% | 11.6% |
| TRGP | $ 41.64 | $ 0.91 | Quarterly | 2.2% | 8.8% |
| AM | $ 7.70 | $ 0.31 | Quarterly | 4.0% | 16.0% |
| VET | $ 17.11 | $ 0.17 | Monthly | 1.0% | 12.0% |
As you can see, all of the stocks above have a dividend yield of about 1.5% or better each pay period, which yields 6% or better yearly. I will likely start with the higher yield stocks like SEMG, AM, and VET; and any other monthly dividend stock I can find that has a 0.85% or better yield. Once I have those, I should get a more significant flow of dividends to put into yet other dividend stocks, which in turn will produce more. I may also return to my currently selected dividend stocks to ensure they meet the criteria I’ve set for the newer ones, and may reallocate as needed.
End of September
After a little calculation, I decided to sell my 30 CTL shares for 22 VET shares. This is because over the course of 3 months I would get $7.50 from CTL and $11.22 from VET (CTL provides their dividends quarterly, while VET provides their dividends monthly). With the additional $3.72, and the fact that the dividends will be paid out at the middle of each following month, I will begin to accumulate more money in dividends more quickly. This is the starting ground for my review of my dividend stocks, where I will take into consideration their value, history, and dividend yields. I may end up changing more stocks over to ORC or VET.
ORC’s cost right now is about 2.98 shares of ORC per share of VET. Since ORC’s dividend is commonly $0.08 per share and VET’s is $0.17, almost 3 shares of ORC is a better value than 1 share of VET. However, ORC’s share price has gone down since my initial purchase and looks to be continuing in that direction. VET, on the other hand, has a less severe downward curve, and has had more fluctuation between downturns. If I was going to price and dividend yield specifically, I would definitely snatch up more ORC shares, but I believe that I will add at least 28 more shares of VET and look into other monthly dividend stocks to compare.
Once I have that information, I will review my other dividend stocks and see how they compare. While most of them have not fluctuated much in terms of return, their dividends wouldn’t yet have made up for any downturns in share price over this short of a term. I will do all those calculations at some point in the future and post them here for both myself, and anyone else that reads this. While the monthly dividend stocks may seem very appealing because they will likely have higher returns than quarterly dividend stocks, it is also important to note that the trade off is that the dividend may be cut if the company faces significant profit or revenue losses. I try to keep this in mind, but it doesn’t play as large of a role in my decision-making as it probably should. Nevertheless, it is all a good learning experience.
More Analysis
Sorting by the highest dividend yield annually, the top 5 are WPG, AM, ORC, JQC, and VGR. NRZ, WMC, VET, SEMG, and GNL follow those up as the only other ones that would give back 10% of the base cost of the stock yearly. M comes close, but is short a few cents. Of course you wouldn’t want to just dump all of your money into WPG with a staggering 24.69% dividend return annually, since the company could decide at some point to cut or remove their dividend based on their financial situation. Read up a little about what they are into and you’ll see they’re a REIT that has a lot of shopping malls, and the concern there is that online shopping is supplanting malls. This could mean a dividend cut or removal in the future, if they can’t outfit or renovate their malls and quick up the pace to accommodate the further lack of retail tenants.
It certainly would not hurt to put a lot of money into WPG and soak up that quarterly dividend while it lasts though, because you’ll gain over $70.00 more annually on $1,000 invested than any of the other stocks listed here. There may be other stocks with a similar or higher return not on this list too, but these are the ones I looked at. Following WPG is AM. With a 17.59% annual rate of dividend return, and with prospects to continue increasing it, the concern is that they will be using up most of their free cash flow with very limited scope for expansion.
In reading up on AM, I saw an interesting recommendation in MPLX, which has increased it’s quarterly dividend almost every quarter by $0.01 or more. While that can be good, and a sign of company growth, it can also mean they’re finding less expandable area and are returning more to the investors. I think in this case, it’s the first option, in that they are growing and therefore able to pay investors more, and are still giving a lot back into the company’s growth.
Now, I don’t look at balance sheets for this information. I’ll let other people look at the balance sheets, because anything can change at any time that will negatively (or positively) impact a company or stock. What I tried to do here was create a short-term wealth-building dividend portfolio to work towards while I wait for something to pan out with TRNX. The more money I get back monthly and quarterly, the more I can put back in to other dividend stocks, diversifying for that inevitable day one of these dividend stocks fails and plummets and I’m forced to sell at some sort of loss because I didn’t see it coming. I’ll be covered in the short- and long-term with a more varied portfolio of dividend stocks, and can continue reinvesting them in more dividend stocks.
I will, likely, start from the highest yielding stocks and go down from there, based on the cost of the shares. For example, $5 stocks I will likely try to buy up to 100 of, while $75 stocks I will get maybe 10. This is not to put a certain amount into the stocks, but that I really don’t have a whole lot to play around with right now. Getting 25 shares of a $75 stock means an investment of $1,875. That’s a lot of money, and I can get far more for 375 shares of a $5 stock, even though the price fluctuation between the two may end up being the same percent, or the larger stock is likely to outperform the smaller stock in the long run. I am simply in it to get some money generating every month and quarter that I can use to expand.
November
I traded out my shares of TRNX, despite it being down, for quite a few other shares in other places. TRNX really is not going anywhere, and so when it spiked higher than average I took the opportunity to remove my position. The Fuels shares, when they come, will not make up for the value TRNX lost over time, and so getting out of it now at less of a loss is a much better way to go. Besides, the management seems completely fluff and PR bolstering great “could be” and “may come” promises. But the financials behind the company paint a stark picture of continued losses. While those losses have year-over-year decreased, they are still significant. Here’s a look at what I did in the last few months:
I sold CTL (30 shares) for $12.85 per share ($385.50 total) and purchased VET (22 shares) for $17.47 per share ($384.34 total).
I got a ORC dividend of $8.00.
I purchased TRNX (5 shares) for about $1.90 per share ($9.48 total).
I got a MRK dividend of $1.65.
I got a VET dividend of $3.26.
I got a WMC dividend of $15.50.
I purchased ORC (3 shares) for $5.70 per shares ($17.08 total).
I got a ORC dividend of $8.00.
I got a NRZ dividend of $25.00.
I purchased ORC (2 shares) for $5.57 per share ($11.14 total).
I got a VZ dividend of $6.15.
I purchased WMC (3 shares) for $9.98 per share ($29.92 total).
I purchased NLSN (10 shares) for $19.36 per share ($194.00 total, after depositing that much).
I purchased TRNX (1 share) for $1.96 per share ($1.96 total).
I sold TRNX (1,251 shares) for $2.75 per share ($3,440.25 total).
I purchased IVZ (100 shares) for $17.60 per share ($1,759.50 total).
I purchased VET (28 shares) for $14.66 per share ($410.48 total).
I purchased NLSN (15 shares) for $20.92 per share ($313.72 total).
I purchased DIS (5 shares) for $146.13 per share ($730.67 total).
I purchased MRK (2 shares) for $84.70 per share ($169.39 total).
I purchased COTY (4 shares) for $12.33 per share ($49.32 total).
I got a VET dividend of $3.25.
Selling TRNX
Selling TRNX was about a $2,175.00 loss, but as I have said earlier (though more recently) it seems to be a lost cause. I would rather not wait to find out if it will go up more or if the Fuels share spin-off goes well. At least this way my money is spread out across a few good dividend stocks and is not contingent on one stock doing exceptional at any given time. I did have plans to repurchase about 1,250 shares (to make up for what I had sold) when the price dropped, which would still give me some money to play around with, but the price has not reached the target I wanted to have enough to play around with yet. I figure if it does, I can sell off some of the IVZ or other shares to accommodate the cost. I also have only a little less than a week to determine if the Fuels shares are worth getting, considering the price of TRNX now and what the Fuels shares are likely to be. I don’t want to lose too much more value over this.
All told, I have only lost $1,053.20 in my trading. This can help to offset some of my higher income and bank credits for opening accounts earlier in the year when it comes to taxes for this year. Plus, I have a bunch of dividend stocks now that can help pay me back over time. Right now there are dividends pending for ORC on 11/29, NLSN on 12/5, and COTY on 12/27. I have also considered selling all of my shares on Robinhood to repay my loan and consolidate money on other platforms to pay off my credit cards. Right now I have no interest on my credit cards as long as I pay the minimum amount because those are deals that last 12 months from the time I got the card. The loan is the big one, and has about $6,200.00 remaining. I will continue to monitor to find out what the best course of action will be, because the dividend payments do not equate to what I am paying in interest, but it is still nice to see the market fluctuations. I would have about $1,100.00 left over in stocks if I paid off only the loan, so we’ll see. More calculations are needed!
A Beginner's Experience With Investing 
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