OK---here's the poop. And I sure hope it doesn't smell anything like it!
Just got a fill on an early morning purchase setup:
200 NGL priced at $21.50.
It took a couple of hours to get the fill but it did come through. Will it drop further? Maybe. But the bigger question for me is this:
How do I regard having paid $21.50 today?
Obviously this can be answered by a simple "Yes!" But it is simple only because I'd thought it through earlier this morning before placing the order. Things to be considered:
1. How will it affect my overall cost basis?
Not much as it's just 200 units against the earlier-held 7,500 units.
2. Am I in control of my destiny or might my use of margin hem, me in?
My margin utilization stands at almost $55,000. If I had to raise cash, I'd sell off 5,500 units of ALDW without hesitation as it would nearly wipe out my margin. But I'm not seeing reason for alarm, not at this time.
3. How secure is my deepening investment in NGL?
That's not hard to compute mentally. It's done incredibly well for me so far. My cost basis is now $13.50 and I'm showing a gain of $61,000. And this is what's on the book for 2017. However, I've steadily taken gains off the table from time to time as other scrumptious opportunities arose... ALDW comes to mind first, of course. And that one is sporting a $26,000 gain so I'm more than pleased with related outcomes.
Perhaps most important of all is my conviction with regard to both NGL and ALDW. If I'm wrong in terms of how I approach these two, then so be it. I'm prepared to take my lumps, same as most everyone here, I'm sure. But working the stock market is all about surveying the company's market so as to realistically size up its stock-related opportunities. I think I've done my homework and if I've screwed up, then I'll suffer any consequences. But I've been calling things profitably for a long, long time and I don't see cause to doubt my instincts. As for my brain? It's been shot for years. lol
Adding it all up, I smell computer driven pressures being brought to bear on NGL and ALDW both. Everybody knows energy is one of the choicest places to be right now---in America, for sure. I've made good money every year since the mid-1990's when I decided to focus largely on energy stocks. I've not suffered a down year yet. And if it should happen? Sooner or later, we all shoot ourselves in the foot.
So now I stand at 7,700 units of NGL at a cost basis of $13.50.
Amen!
