On Day 1 of the new season I started fresh with a £1,000 balance. The aim is to see how I get on when facing the same challenges that a new trader would.

I didn’t get any help from the Summer bonus, I can’t profit from long term holds and could not prepare for the new season months ahead. We’ll get there eventually, but we all have to start somewhere.

I’ll be trying to show not just the trades but my thought process and reasons behind decisions I make. The specific players I pick are less important.
For new readers, you can check out the original post where I introduce my overall strategy and explain the opening selections.

As I obviously have an existing portfolio, I will not make these exact trades but they will be tracked realistically. I will also own every player on this list for real so the selections will get my full attention.

I always say though, don’t blindly follow any picks you see from others including mine. Do your own research and if you see what I see, great, but you have to know why you have bought the player and be happy with it.

The 1K Challenge Portfolio

• Portfolio Value: £1,295.9.55

• In the bank: £93.3

• Value Increase from £1k: 38.8%

• Value Change from Week 8: 12.3%

Portfolio Performance

It’s been over two weeks since I updated the Challenge! With the International Break plus getting the new site up and running, I have had less time for writing.

I have still been ticking the trades along in the background though. So how has it been doing? We’ve had another really good couple of weeks, gaining 12.3% ROI since Week 8. Altogether, we have now gained 38.8% ROI since the season start.

With a few rocky periods for the market this season, I think we can be really pleased with that. It’s the Monchengladbach boys T. Hazard and Plea, picked up following my Bundesliga Scout Report leading the charge in recent weeks. And from the Ligue 1 Scout Report, Kamano.

They have continued to impress, and despite not winning a dividend, they have shown the consistent big scores that have led to other traders taking notice. We have also had a big rise for Ramsey (who I have now sold, more on that below).

Aguero and Thauvin, two of my mainstays, have remained steady as has Traoré. But it has not all been rosy. We saw small drops of 10-20p for Alberto, Savic, Payet, Dubois and Anton. And Alcantara took a real kicking with a 50p hit following the goals/assists announcement.

Decisions

Sells and Holds

The big sale this week is Ramsey. As I said in the article that day, I was very happy to offload him during his little media spike as people piled in for those dividends. This is a good opportunity to demonstrate something I talk about often. You must aim to sell when other people still see reason to buy. If people want to pile in for that dividend, that’s fine by me. I’ll sell to them all day if I think the player has become over priced.

This way, not only did I sell at the peak I also avoided paying the spread on an instant sell. This makes a huge difference and is worth massively more than the dividend I skipped on. Back down at £4, he isn’t a bad shout for a player with a good media story looming in January. He could be worth going back to if the price drops any further.

Elsewhere, I had a few things to ponder but in the end, was happy to stick with what I had. Dubois is quickly becoming the problem child of my portfolio. After a difficult start, he came back and scored early this month before promptly getting himself a thigh injury. It’s not too bad though, and at the discount, I don’t think it will be long before people want a good attacking Lyon full back. He just needs a consistent run of games.

Alcantara took a shellacking from the goals dividends announcement but he is a player of such quality I don’t really care. He’s this price for a reason and he will show his quality before long.

Buys

The Ramsey sale freed up a good chunk of cash (£164 to add to our £10.10 in the bank). Unfortunately, the cash became available too late for Karamoh from my Hidden Gems article.

He’d already had a price spike since and I rarely chase a rise. Instead, I went for Napoli’s Fabian Ruiz who I picked out in the same article. He hadn’t risen yet and his performances of late have been very promising. A full run down on him is in the above Hidden Gems link.

Next Week

We have £95.6 in the bank if we want to make a quick buy, so I’ll be on the look out. Other than that, don’t panic is the aim. It’s fairly rough seas at the moment and people seem to be chasing their tales a bit. I’m happy with what I have so other people can do what they want. Obviously, if something serious really changes we have to react but you cannot let the herd drag you into trades you don’t want to make.

FIT