My 🔟 Biggest Investing Mistakes 🧵

I asked, “What are the first metrics that you look at when evaluating a new stock?”

I received 322 replies

Here are 10 great metrics to look at first (and how to find them):

1/ Market Capitalization

Why: Shows the current size/scale of the business

Where: @YahooFinance (image), @theTIKR , @KoyfinCharts ...etc

2/ Sales Growth Rate

Why: Shows the business model works & current growth rate

Where: @stockcardhq (image), SEC filings, @theTIKR...etc

3/ Free Cash Flow

Why: Is business generating cash or burning cash?

Where: @YahooFinance (image), SEC Filings, @stockrow1...etc

4/ Returns on capital (ROE, ROIC, ROA)

Why: Shows capital efficiency of business

Where: @stockrow1 (image) , @ycharts , @YahooFinance...etc

What are the first metrics that you look at when evaluating a new stock?

I own 7 stocks that are 15+ baggers (and counting)

Here are 10 traits they all have in common:

The data:

Stock / # of bags / purchase year:

$AMZN / 15+ / 2010
$FB / 15+ / 2012
$GOOG / 15+ / 2009
$MELI / 15+ / 2011
$CMG / 20+ / 2012
$NFLX / 60+ / 2010
$TSLA / 60+ / 2012

1: Founder-led

$AMZN - Bezos
$CMG - Ells
$FB- Zuck
$GOOG - Page
$MELI- Galperin
$NFLX - Hastings
$TSLA - Musk

Founders tend to be:
+Detail oriented
+Innovative
+Mission driven
+Think long-term
+Have skin/soul in the game

Look for founders!

2: Consumer-facing

All of these companies attract millions/billions of consumers

This eliminates customer concentration risk and enables long-term brand building

3: High sales growth

All of these companies were growing revenue 20%+ BEFORE I bought them

Sales growth is the engine that drives profit growth

Profit growth is the engine that drives stock appreciation

Find companies that can grow sales 20%+ for decades

Over 51,000,000 YouTube channels exist.

99.8% of them are a waste of time.

Here are 10 channels that are GUARANTEED to entertain you AND make you smarter🧠:

1/ @theatlaspro

I had no idea that geography, geology, biology, and ecology could be so

2/ @TheCrashCourse

10 minutes lessons on any almost subject that you can think

3/ @MarkRober

Former NASA engineer teaches science lessons through videos that will entertain the whole

4/ @thephysicsgirl

Short videos that explain physics in a fun and easy-to-understand

My inflation strategy:

Own businesses with recession-proof demand and pricing power

OK, I guess I have a thing to say about the stock market. I have done kind of what these Reddit folks are doing with it, in that I have invested in the stock market when I was not at all rich, using parts of my paycheck that it probably wasn't wise to risk. I don't now. (thread)

But, like, it worked out okay for me. I even shorted some stuff. I didn't coordinate with anyone or whatever, but I don't think on the individual level the stock market is *inherently* malicious. If you're privileged, you're going to be exposed to it (through 401ks, etc.)

And I don't think it's wrong for people to try to make money off of it outside of the 401k/retirement context that's socially normal, *especially* if they're desperate like I was. There *are* strategies that you can use that, while risky, aren't exactly like gambling

Like, gambling is risky in a different way. You are always working with a fairly consistent set of probabilities in gambling, and they're never in your favor (outside of grey area gambling like between friends, where you could hypothetically actually still card count)

Anyway, like, on shorts: I don't think they're evil. I think they're dangerous. For an individual, a short always carries a small risk of individual bankruptcy. There's USUALLY not even a huge upside to them; they're not mystical or magical, they're basically reverse "longs"

A thread on Risk and Returns

Trader X -

Net-worth - 5 Cr
Trading capital - 25 lakh

Trader Y -

Net-worth - 30 lakh
Trading capital - 25 lakh

Trader X take risk of 2% per trade and he makes about 30-40 % Return on trading capital per month,

Whereas Trader Y only risk 0.25% per trade and he makes about 3-4 % on Trading capital per month.

Trader Y saw how much trader X is making with the same amount of capital that he has.

He is frustrated with his mediocre results as compared to Trader X, though he don’t know the fact that Trader X Is only trading with 5 % of his total net worth.

Trader X has much more risk taking ability in Rupee terms as compared to the Trader Y because he has higher net-worth.

Trader X will not have much impact when he goes into deep Drawdowns , 40-50% where as if the Trader Y goes below 15% DD , it will have deep psychological impact on him.

Even if the Trader X makes 100% return on his trading capital , turns 25 lakh into 50 lakhs ,

Over the last 18 months, I have scaled my income to around ₹10,00,000 or 10 lakhs per week with drawdowns below 10%.

How?

@niki_poojary taught me how to form a weekly trading plan.

I'm going to share what I've learned in this thread.

Here's the simple 10 step process: 🧵

1. Check on the daily chart if Bank Nifty is in a higher high or lower low:

A higher-high (HH) is a bullish pattern, it signifies that it is difficult for the market to go down.

If that has formed on the daily chart, the market will give all the surprises on the upside.

If the market is in a higher high mode, look for good opportunities to sell puts.

Usually, at a higher high, traders buy on breakouts and also buy the dips.

If you want a good Risk-Reward, you can sell puts on a dip. (Only if it's showing some reversal)

2. Take High Probability Trades

Simply knowing a higher high or lower low does not make money. It gives you a bias for the week.

Still, you should try to take higher probability trades that align with your view of the market.

This will get you consistency and a good mindset.

3. Support & Resistance

I would say Support Resistance is the most important and favorite thing for @niki_poojary.

She keeps updating these levels with charts on her Twitter handle during live markets daily.

Attaching some examples will do a detailed thread on this later.