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Posted by Martin July 30, 2012
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Lending Club investing experience


If you ever heard about Lending Club, seen some ads about investing with Lending Club and making 9% or more, you probably wonder whether it works or it is safe investing. You probable tried searching on Internet to find out what others have to say about this type of investing.

Are you confused about the amount of articles?

Well I have been investing with Lending Club for about three years right now. During this period I read many articles from the Internet seeking what are experiences of other people who invest with Lending Club. There are plenty of possible articles on this matter!

The results of those articles articles may be very confusing and discouraging new investors. A lot of them basically claim that Lending Club investment is not that bright and that excellent as it claims to be. Many said that their return was actually lower that claimed. Many pointed out that there is actually higher real default rate than the one claimed.

What I have found is that many investors who participated on their private “tests” of investing with Lending Club actually mistaken this type of investment with savings account. They put their money to work, invested a few thousands of dollar and then forgot about them. At the end of their three year period they provided the results which were mediocre.

Investing with Lending Club is not a savings account. It needs your attention. It needs your attention almost on daily basis (depends how large your portfolio is). It is almost similar to investing into stocks and you have to do your homework prior to investing into debt notes. Fortunately Lending Club provides you with great tools to do it. You can set your filters up to weed out notes with bad records on file (I wrote about my filters in this post, you can check it out). After investing your work doesn’t end. I review my portfolio almost on daily basis and always check the notes how they are performing.

If I spot notes which look to me problematic, or showing a potential for trouble, I sell them. No questions asked, no double guessing. There are tools and strategies which can help you to find such notes in your portfolio and you can get rid of them while it is possible. It is late to try getting rid of note which are already late. You have to do your homework constantly, the same way as with your stocks (if you invest into stocks).

You cannot stay passive. Only active investor, planting his portfolio diligently and weeding out all bad weed will be rewarded. I am trying to do my part and to this day my return is 12.71% and I had no defaulted note for the whole time investing with Lending Club although I am investing into A to E notes. So if you are OK to do some work don’t worry, go for it and you will be pleasantly surprised. If you need help, you can write me a note and I can help you to start.




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Posted by Martin April 17, 2012
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My blogging break


Recently I stopped posting my trades on this blog. The reason was that I had very little time doing it and the second reason was that my trade results were not as I would wish and I slowed down in trading. At the end of the last year I was quite successful in trading and lately, thinking what a great trader I was I overdone trading and lost all my profit, so at this point I am again where I was last year.

To me it means going back to basics and trade with limited risk at a time. For me it is hard to say, since I wish to be fully invested if possible. I want all my money work for me and not sitting idle in the account. But maybe some cash reserve is needed to protect my holdings. A few months ago I overextended my trading so much that margin calls almost ruined my account. At this point I am going slow down in trading as well as working on my trading plan and start posting here more when I achieve some consistency in my trading.




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Posted by Martin March 01, 2012
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January Consumer Spending Growth Weak


Consumer spending rose less than expected in January even as incomes improved, an indication that Americans may still be unsure about the slowly recovering economy.

Personal income increased 0.3% from the prior month while spending rose 0.2%, the Commerce Department said Thursday. In December, spending was flat, but incomes rose 0.5%.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires were expecting both spending and income to rise 0.4% in January.

Source: www.dowjones.com




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Posted by Martin March 01, 2012
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ISM Feb Manufacturing Index Falls


The U.S. manufacturing sector’s expansion slowed in February, according to data released Thursday by the Institute for Supply Management. The report followed disappointing data covering January consumer activity that led some economists to mark down their estimates of first-quarter economic growth.

The ISM’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index fell to 52.4 last month from 54.1 in January. The February reading was the weakest since November. A reading above 50 indicates expanding activity.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected the February PMI to increase to 54.9.

Factory surveys from regional Federal Reserve banks as well as the ISM-Chicago’s local PMI all indicated a speed-up in activity last month. Thursday’s ISM report raises questions about the strength of the expansion on a nationwide level.

Source: www.dowjones.com




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Posted by Martin January 09, 2012
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New trade – FCX


Freeport McMoRan (FCX)

Bear Call spread

BTO 1 FCX Feb18 2012 42.00 Call
STO 1 FCX Feb18 2012 39.00 Call

Price: limit credit $1.20

Max risk: $180
Max gain: $120 if price stays below $39 at expiration

Update:
01/10/2012 – filled @ $1.2 ($120 credit)




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Posted by Martin January 06, 2012
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New trade – DO


This trade shall open on Monday next week:

Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (DO)

Iron Condor

BTO 1 DO Jan21 2012 66.25 Call
STO 1 DO Jan21 2012 61.25 Call
STO 1 DO Jan21 2012 52.00 Put
BTO 1 DO Jan21 2012 47.00 Put

Price: limit credit $4.61

Max risk: $39
Max gain: $461 if price is between 52.00 – 61.25 at expiration

Update:
01/09/2012 – trade canceled – market maker unable to execute as condor combination, it may work as separate spreads, so I will review later if it makes sense to add as separate spreads.




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Posted by Martin January 05, 2012
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New trade – UNG


U.S. Natural Gas ETF (UNG)

Long call

BTO 1 UNG Apr21 2012 7 Call

Price: limit debit $0.25

Max risk: $25
Max gain: Unlimited

Update:
01/07/2012 – canceled, it didn’t meet the entry price




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Posted by Martin January 04, 2012
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New trade – GLD butterfly


When looking at GLD recently, we can see that it broke below its 200 day MA as well as it broke thru its long term trend. It seems GLD is poised to go lower. Today the market showed a bit weak trading (compared to yesterday’s big move), so I believe, GLD can get lower during this month. Right now it is attacking 200 day MA from which it may go back down to $150 or even lower.

I will play this downtrend by placing a butterfly on GLD:

SPDR Gold Trust

Put Butterfly

BTO 1 GLD Jan21 2012 154 Put
STO 2 GLD Jan21 2012 150 Put
BTO 1 GLD Jan21 2012 146 Put

Price: limit debit $0.58

Max risk: $58
Max gain: $350 at expiration if the stock lands at $150 per share.

Update:
01/05/2012 – order filled @ 0.58




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Posted by Martin January 03, 2012
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New trade – ATI; Trade adjustment – SLB


I am going to open a new contingent order:

Allegheny Technologies

Long Puts

Contingency:
If the stock’s last price is greater or equal than 54.20 then:

BTO 1 ATI Apr21 2012 55 Put

Price: at market (expected price per contract would be $6.2)

Max risk: $620
Max gain: Unlimited (potential target: $11.70 or $1170 per contract)

Update:
01/06/2012 – trade canceled, it didn’t meet the entry price

I am also going to adjust the following position by rolling up the upper body of the butterfly:

Schlumberger

Put Butterfly

Unfortunately my broker doesn’t allow me to roll over with one order, so I have to close the upper body first and then open higher part later:

1st step:
BTC 2 SLB Jan21 2012 60 Put
STC 1 SLB Jan21 2012 65 Put

Price: limit credit $0.25

When filled, 2nd step will follow:

BTO 1 SLB Jan21 2012 70 Put
STC 2 SLB Jan21 2012 65 Put

Price: limit debit $0.93

This trade will be taken on both my accounts: TD trading account and ROTH IRA account.

Update:
01/04/2012 – I talked to my broker and they do not allow me to open an uneven butterfly, so I would need to treat it as spreads. For that I do not have enough money on my account and thus I cannot finish this conversion. Thus I am considering this trade as closed with a loss.
I sold the upper body for credit $0.23, with the original cost of $0.78 this trade is a loss 70%




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Posted by Martin January 03, 2012
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Trade adjustment CAT


Trade adjustment on Caterpillar:

Put Spread
STC 1 CAT Jan21 2012 90 Put
BTO 1 CAT Feb21 2012 90 Put
STO 1 CAT Feb21 2012 85 Put

Limit debit $0.15
New cost basis: $2.73




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