Market Depth Analysis: Bid and Ask Volumes

While exploring DBS vickers platform due to my participation in the SGX bull charge stock challenge at Investing Note, I came across a certain market indicator that I didn't pay much attention to in the past. The feature is called "SGX Market Depth". The unfortunate thing is that it is only available for free under promotion till 28th September for me after which, I might lose access to this feature.

So, what does it do? Why is it useful?

Using the example of AEM (a stock that jumped 14% in a day today), under the "Bid and Ask" tab gives us a series of Bid and Ask. Bid refers to the price buyers are queuing to buy and ask refers to the price sellers are willing to sell. The volume is also indicative for the price. This means that the info is useful when we like to enter or cash out a position. This is because sellers might not want to sell unless for a certain price. When cashing out a position, it is also favourable to sell at a price where it is just before huge volume selldown by bigger players. This will ensure your order gets filled first instead of it being behind them.

It is quite sad that I might lose this access after the 28th September so will have to try to find an alternative that can give such info.

Otherwise, the "Trade Distribution" info and "Time & Sales" info will be intact and remain free to access for me. In a way we will still be able to track the volume transacted at specific prices to help make our trade decisions.

Having said that, most of the online brokers have a decent system and information to access and make decisions. More often than not, we might not have time to screen through every single parameter so this might be one of those things to observe when entering/exiting a position.

Then again, we ought to be familiar with the systems/software that we are using as we are relying on them to make our trade decisions.

Until Next Time,
K.C.

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Challenged by friend: SGX Bull Charge Stock Challenge

Late last month, a friend challenged me to take part in this SGX Bull charge challenge where they give players a virtual capital of $50,000 and after 3 months, results would be tabulated to see who had raked in the most profit. The winner would have $10,000 donated to a charity of choice and a trophy. (And maybe some publicity for my fledgling blog) 🤣

If you trade/invest, you might want to follow this stock challenge as there are some really good investors like Brian from Forever Financial Freedom (Ranked 2nd after Day 1).

I am going to update my status and ranking on this page perhaps once a week:
https://30yearoldinvestor.blogspot.com/p/sgx-bull-charge-stock-challenge.html

The Full challenge can be found here: https://www.investingnote.com/simulation_campaigns/sgx-bull-charge-stock-challenge

To be honest, I was hesitant to uptake the challenge. My Financial Analysis/Technical Analysis skills are still quite some distance from where I want them to be. Surely I would be "thrashed" by the seasoned PROs over at Investing Note (a social media platform for Singapore investors). But I felt that this challenge would take me out of my comfort zone so, challenge accepted. 🔥

At Day 2, I'm ranked 24th out of 146. Not too bad huh. HAHAHA.

Not too shabby I hope. Hope to keep it up!

Lesson points so far:
Even before day 1 the preparations began and I wanted to formulate a strategy. These turned out to be a bit time consuming. Things I learnt so far include:

• Looking at stocks in the SGX I never knew existed.
• Looking at their Financials
• Charting them to see if there are trends and trigger points
• Looking at what everyone else is buying. 

So far I must say this challenge is pretty interesting for me. As a somewhat new investor, my capital is not much. Having virtual capital allowed me to test some of my strategies and positions. And also pushed me out of my comfort zone to make trades and follow through with a bit of fear, excitement and anticipation.

I'm quite excited to see how this competition unfolds.

Just going to challenge myself.

Until Next Time,
K.C.

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The ONE thing schools fail to teach us

Money. Finances. Always an important topic that is relevant in all ages. Yet, if there is anything our education system has failed to teach us about, it is about personal finances and handling money. In the past, information was not always readily available to the average person. Rich(er) people usually have the money, contacts and knowledge to their advantage.

Edit: One reader who is a teacher said now that they have started to teach financial literacy in schools at primary two. A good start perhaps. Better late than never.

Today, the internet boom has leveled the playing field quite a bit in terms of knowledge dissemination. If we search the internet well enough, there are a ton of information readily available.

But, the enemy is usually always ourselves.

I'm also lazy.

Too bad I went the long way before someone like Lorna Tan (Invest Times editor) collated the book above. There are many books on finances worldwide but hardly many for the Singaporean context. Most of the content in the book are not biased but factual and has some case studies and scenarios which are applicable to many of us.

A quick glance at the contents would find the following important concepts that are brief, but detailed enough to enlighten the average Singaporean on the following:

• CPF
• Legacy planning (what happens to our wealth when we pass away)
• Planning finances for yourself and loved ones
• Credit Card and debts
• Insurance
• Investment tools common in SG market (ETFs, REITs, bonds, Singapore savings bonds)

Too bad, I already know much of these stuff but I took about 5 years to know them, and through some obstacles. Anyway, I bought one copy and figured that someone I know around me can borrow this from me and benefit from it.

If you are lazy like me but still care about your money, you will probably like this book.

Until Next Time,
K.C.

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Related topics:
1. About K.C. What is my story?
2. My 3Cs to money/investing
3. Why you need to set aside money for savings first