Aftermath

Yes, as predicted, the most brutal of hits to $TSLA stock since I first bought it comes today after the announcement of the lawsuit against Elon from SEC.

I don't want to play conspiracy theorist too quickly, but there's something really fishy about this whole ordeal.

The Timing
This at the end of the third quarter, and anticipated to be Tesla's most significant quarter to date in the history of their company. Profitability, accolades on performance, manufacturing and delivery milestones. One of my Facebook buddies said it best:

The Expediency
How is such an investigation so quickly started, resolved, and pasted all over the public news streams? Within one week? Really?

The Hypocrisy
Yes, that's a strong word. But it seems that there was a 2008 market crash, that there seemed to be clear investment criminals involved, and they weren't indicted or even penalized? What's that about?


Yes, clearly I'm upset over all this. But I'm also upset because...

...I WISH I HAD AVAILABLE US FUNDS TO PURCHASE $TSLA TODAY!! This is a huge opportunity before the Quarter 3 report, which will likely send the share prices back up.

As promised, here's my positions today:

MY POSITIONS FOR TODAY

As of September 28, 2018 closing

SEC sues Elon Musk for fraud - Does it matter?

Holy cow!

The breaking news is that SEC is suing Elon Musk for making a fraudulent statement about having funding secured to take Tesla Private.

Bloomberg Article:

Gali at HyperchangeTV on a rant... and on the right track.

$TSLA is already down to around $274 per share after trading hours. Tomorrow, the stock is going to sink further, and I am literally belly aching that I don't have any USD funding available in my trading account to buy more stocks right away.

This is not a deadly blow for Tesla by any stretch of the imagination. While I feel like Elon really stepped over the line with his "funding secured" tweet, the company itself will continue. There is a fear that Elon may be removed as CEO, and that's probably the only concern around. However, Elon will always be connected to Tesla in an integral way, and so I'm holding on my shares and still long on the stock price.

The worst of this will likely be tomorrow, so I'll post my positions summary again after the market closes for the week. For now, it's still healthy.

MY POSITIONS FOR TODAY

As of September 27, 2018 closing.

Ford's Desperate Attempt to Look Good Financially

Every morning I glance at my stock prices and scan through the related news that the Yahoo! stock ticker shows (standard app on iPhones). For $TSLA, the FUD news is always rampant. But sometimes, it has just enough credibility to be worth a read.

Today, there was a full-on Ford Motors-positive headline that showed up in the $TSLA feed:

September 25, 2018

I did a video but my video editing skills fall short of acceptable. LOL.

Essentially, this is a strategy used by media to dictate public perception. There's just enough "Tesla" talk in the article to get it to appear on the $TSLA news feed. But it's only to relay one thing -- the headline. In fact, this didn't even show up under the stock news feed for Ford!

However, if you take a look at the Ford stock, it's nothing close to recovering... and is instead falling back down.

See that tiny little bump at the end just before it fell in price again? That's what the article is referring to. Hardly a come back.

I am growing accustomed to the absolute news trash talk about Tesla. It's so commonplace that I don't really notice it as much anymore. Unfortunately, when I talk to others who do not follow Tesla, the general comment is usually about how the company is in trouble and failing. Well, I guess that's why there's lots of "hindsight" regret when people talk about having passed on the chance to invest in Apple or Google back when they had a chance to get it at a bargain basement price. I didn't exactly buy $TSLA at the IPO, but it was low enough to make this a very fun ride for me!

Bottom Line: If you pay attention to the company, and drown out all the external noise, you will see that Tesla is headed in the right direction, and all data points to an incredible year and a profitable future for the company. I'm so long on this company, it's not even funny anymore.  (Well, maybe it's a little bit funny, especially when Ford is trying to use the Tesla news feed to get some attention! lol!)


MY POSITIONS FOR TODAY

As of September 25, 2018 closing.

Norbit's Gambit - Some Downsides

Back in early 2016 when I was first looking into how to buy $TSLA shares before the Model 3 unveil, I discovered a currency exchange strategy called Norbit's Gambit. Since then I've used it for all of my conversions from CAD to USD in order to purchase shares on the US Market.

There are plenty of resources out there to teach you how to use Norbit's Gambit to save on currency exchange fees. Here's the one I originally used:



There's a couple of things I am doing (or not doing) that does create some disadvantage. Don't get me wrong -- this is still the most affordable way to convert my money to USD. But it's not a perfect system.

The Wait

When you contact your broker to journal over your shares, you have to keep the completion timeline in mind. There's a wait for your trade to settle, which can take 2-3 business days. Then there's another 2-3 days for the request for switching your DLR.TO to DLR.U.TO (essentially another wait for settlement) before the funds reappear in your account. But this time, the stock you may have changed substantially in price. So a quick purchase is not possible. It's best to take care of this step (about a week's worth of wait) and have the funds sitting in your account waiting for a purchase opportunity.

Closing An Account

I ended up closing an account in exchange for opening an RRSP account (Canadian version of Retirement Savings). In this case, I chose to withdraw the funds from my margin account, and make a transfer to my new RRSP account from another existing one at one of my banks. And I recognized that if you choose to convert through Norbit's Gambit, you can only convert as much as you are able to buy DLR shares. There will always be a leftover. I was able to transfer the leftover to my new RRSP account, but I'm not recognizing there may be some issues with the leftovers.

Fortunately, I'm not intending to ever close my trading accounts in my lifetime. These will go to a beneficiary. But if you are intending to do it, you may find yourself having to do a one-time conversion with your broker, including the fees. This is on top of the fee to close your account.

Managing Two "Currency Accounts"

So once you have started to convert some of your funds, you will find that you are often tracking your US funds separately from your CAD funds. This isn't much of an issue really, but it means having more residual funds in both currencies. As I watch various stocks in both the Canadian and US Markets, I realize I to keep double the cash balance in both markets if I want to respond quickly to any purchase opportunities. Because I'm not investing a lot every month, this holds me back from purchase stocks here at the beginning of my investment journey. Eventually, I'll have a stockpile of cash saved up to allow me to respond more quickly.


THESE ARE NOT HUGE DOWNSIDES, but they are areas that I've experienced personally since using Norbit's Gambit. The upside of saving those currency exchange fees absolutely trumps these problems. But they are good to be aware of, nevertheless.


MY POSITIONS FOR TODAY

As of September 21, 2018 closing.

$TSLA Bounces Back - Okay, What Else Is New?

Just as always seems to happen, $TSLA rallys back shortly after a steep drop in price.

It is up by almost 5%, or $14.06 per share. That's all of the loss plus 40% more made up in a day. This is the life of a Tesla share -- up and down as often as the opinions in the news change. I have no idea how this happened, but the news articles out there are certainly still trying to demonize Elon Musk and push the demise of Tesla.

I mean, take a look at this nonsense (again, no surprise it's from CNBC):

I read stories like this with a bit of a smirk because, well, they are saying these things in public, and we can eventually capture the information and laugh in hindsight at how big of a failure it was to focus on Tesla failing rather than focusing on catching up with their technology.

Tesla has already won really. It's just a matter of time before it is globally acknowledged. I don't ever expect an apology or a confession of error from the likes of Jim Chanos or Bob Lutz. But it will certainly be an general unstated truth in a matter of time.

MY POSITIONS FOR TODAY

As of September 19, 2018 closing.

FUD before the Quarterly Sales Report

I am at constant awe at how Tesla ($TSLA) continues to rise above the FUD talk coming out of the media. It has been particularly rampant lately -- so much so that the balance is completely out of sync with reality. It must not be easy for Tesla employees to endure this abuse from the media, so I give them props for keeping their course. Actually, I am giving them more than props. I gave them my money in the form of shares! hehe.

$TSLA is down again today, but not to my dismay. Something happened just before 11:40 AM that dropped the stock by about $10/share. Suspiciously, it will probably be discovered as another game being played by the short-sellers who plaster negative news through their usual media outlets and then start share dumping to make it look like their news is real.

I'm not going to comment right now about the Department of Justice probe into Tesla. There is too much unsubstantiated noise, and I'd rather wait until there's something of substance to report. If you scroll to the bottom of this post, you'll see that after 5 days (3 business days), Tesla stock is up.

FUD Increase Just Before the Tesla Quarterly Earnings Report
This is something I wish could be tracked. The general experience is that the FUD news seems to increase in intensity as we near the next Tesla Quarterly Report. I've noticed over the last two and a half years that the stock generally increases substantially after receiving all the positive news in the Quarterly Earnings call. It's as if the short sellers do everything to sink the stock before it comes out to lessen the blow to their short gamble. This upcoming third quarter is anticipated to be a financial fulcrum point for Tesla. This is the point at which Tesla will post a profit on an ongoing basis. And all the reports indicate that it is likely to happen. This is the single biggest blow to any $TSLA short seller -- Tesla profitability. As a result, the FUD has been exceptionally fierce lately.

If you are not familiar with the term FUD, it represents "Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt." It's a strategy used to instill these qualities in the public about something or someone -- in our case here, Tesla and Elon Musk. They are targeted with the sole intention of ruining their value and reputation. Because Tesla is the most shorted stock in history, they are particularly susceptible to this kind of abuse.


However, I am not even remotely concerned. I am learning to look at long-term intentions, and the benefit that comes from keeping your eye on what's important. And from what I can see, the stock is doing just fine.

MY POSITIONS FOR TODAY

As of September 18, 2018 closing.

Buying CMC Shares

So on Monday, I bought 12 shares of CMC (Commerical Metals Company).

CMC as of September 13, 2018

Why? It's a very personal and non-financial reason. A long time friend of mine happens to hold some stock in this company -- the only stock he has. His dad used to work there, and he even worked there for a short time. So my reasoning was essentially for social reasons. I wanted to track a stock together with my friend, and go through the highs and lows of it all. It's just another connection that we would have to talk about. Of course, I looked into the company's business and historical financials, and made the decision to do it. I still have to go into these things with my eyes wide open!

I had a small amount in an RRSP I had been holding for over 10 years, and decided I would just add it to my existing RRSP trading account and to buy the shares. In mid-August, I sent in the forms to transfer the funds to my trading account. Once it finally arrived (about 3 weeks later), I put Norbit's Gambit to work. I bought as many DLR.TO shares as I could afford, and then contacted Questrade to journal it over to DLR.U.TO. It takes about a week to process when you include waiting for the trade to settle (a couple of days) and then waiting for the transaction to the US version to complete (another few days).

Well, Monday, the transaction showed up in my trading account. I sold my DLR.U.TO to obtain the US funds, and then did something ridiculous without much patience or understanding. I eyeballed the stock price of CMC for the next 10 minutes -- I mean literally followed it refreshing the page like a complete ignoramus! I wanted to catch the price on the way down. A few days later, I realize that was a complete waste of time and emotion. After caving in and buying at $20.65, it was down by $0.40 the next day. And I say what lots of uninformed traders say... "If only I waited." -- though I'm sure I'll learn that's not a good strategy either.

Well, the CMC stocks are now in my possession, and seem to be doing fine, despite a small initial hit after purchase.

TODAY'S POSITIONS

As of September 13, 2018 closing.

Trying My Hand at Stock Trading

When I look at the date of the last blog post here, it blows my mind! I'm in such a different place in my life, and reading through the few previous posts makes me realize just how full my life really is.

But these days, I'm trying something new.

Back in January 2016, I had been following Tesla Motors for a few months while shopping around for the next car I would buy. When I came across this possibly of buying an electric car, I saw the opportunity to realize my teenage dream. Then once you start following Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, you get hooked! I'll save my experience with setting up my trading account and buying my first stock for another time. The point here is, my only intention with buying $TSLA stock was to be a prestige stock holder as a way of showing my support in their cause. I wanted to buy it, and then never touch it.

Now it's over 2-1/2 years later, and my experience following the Tesla stock through ups and downs have taught me a lot about how my emotions can take a similar trajectory. With the high volatility of Tesla stocks, I've been emotionally elated, deflated, and ultimately more resilient to the wild swings in price and inconsistent behaviour of $TSLA in contrast to the general market and comparable tech stocks. My fear of investing has subsided substantially, and I'm ready to look at more stable opportunities. For the last couple of months, I've been indulging in research into how to invest for passive income, and honestly -- I'm so excited!

I'm thinking about tracking my trading activities, and commenting on reasons for my decisions. I don't know how this is going to go, but I have a source of disposable income that will allow me to experiment. I'm trying to think through how I will post my holdings without compromising my personal security. So bear with me.

This morning, a Norbit's Gambit transaction just completed that allowed me to pick up my first non-Tesla stock. I'm quite excited to start tracking and evaluating a different company. My first pick was purely social. A friend of mine owns a few shares in $CMC (Commercial Metals Company) and I wanted to buy some to join the ride and have something to do together. I did some digging into what areas of major operation they have. I like that one of them is recycling. They have been around for over 15 years, and seem to give a pretty consistent dividend payment of $0.12 for the past decade. That says "reliable" to me. The stock price is also very manageable at just over $20/share.

Others that are on my radar include a lot of Canadian Banks (all of which survived the great market crash of 2018 because of the solid regulations put in place) -- in particular, Bank of Montreal ($BMO.TO) because of their consistency over 100 years, and CIBC ($CM.TO) because I see them a bit ahead of the curve with their entrepreneurial approach to client care and recruitment.

In the US, I have my eye on Coca-Cola ($KO) and McDonalds ($MCD) as staple businesses with strong global presence and a long-standing history.

Of course, there are SO many others that I'm watching. But these above will likely be my first "try-outs" as I get my feet wet. Here we go!!!

Results as of Market Close on September 10, 2018