Message to New Comers : On the occasion of my celebrating 4 months & 1000+ posts at the forum

Let me start by saying , even if one has years /decades of experience no one can predict the market 100%. If one can he/she will be the richest in the world and will not be participating in these forums.

Relying on Rumors, basing your buy decisions on only what others say ( just depending on Broker recommendations) and being too academic will not make you succeed at CSE.

It is good to educate your self by reading books on Stock markets ( also you can refer to the help section of this website) .
But the truth is reading 100s of books itself will not be adequate to survive at CSE in the present context as they are written and based on research on matured markets with wider participation and less manipulation ( note I said less not none) . Books will certainly educate you I agree but,

to survive at CSE one needs

a) some fundamental
b) some technical
c) and most importantly the greatest asset of all "Common sense" which no book can teach you effectively .



I recall sometime in 2007 ( pl don;t quote me) or so I bought some DFCC shares for Rs 140. A good price at that time which I bought as an Investment ( not a gamble). Then I got some additional bonus shares also.

During the War time I saw this go down to Rs 50! Nearly had a heart attack by looking at it. (JKH was at Rs 60+ if I recall).
I could not help feel why I did not put money in a Fixed deposit at 20% per annum. But then again I had the common sense to hold it as it was an Investment. I was a victor last year with very significant gains very much more than fixed deposit. I was happy of my decision with spanned few years which paid off in the long run.

The biggest problem I see now is that many people enter to gamble at CSE making it a Casino. They want 50-100% profit in a few days. Stock markets are supposed to be Investing places not gambling. Many who enter with gambling intension get brunt due to this.

As some may know the Savings account interest rate in USA now is 0.2-0.5% ? I am not kidding it is 0.2-0.5% Per Year! So if one gains 5-10% in a stock market per year they are happy and content.

At CSE we now want 50-100% gain within short times. This is not healthy practice. I think we got spoilt during the last 2 years.
Last couple of years one could have blindly put money into CSE and got a good return. If one does that now blindly he/she is bound to get burnt. People who invested during war time will know that even 20% gain was a big deal.

If you put money into a Fixed deposit one will gain 10-15% per year in Sri Lanka. So if one is to gain say 30% per year in the market it is not a good achievement?

Though I have much more to share, as this getting long and I have other matter to attend to I leave you with one last sentence.

Learn the basics, Invest not gamble, know your investment period, have Patience , have lesser Greed , know your entry and exit points and you will be a victor on the longer run at CSE

Good Luck

Other member are welcome to please share their own experiences/view for the benefit of the New Comers.

slstock wrote:Let me start by saying , even if one has years /decades of experience no one can predict the market 100%. If one can he/she will be the richest in the world and will not be participating in these forums.

Relying on Rumors, basing your buy decisions on only what others say ( just depending on Broker recommendations) and being too academic will not make you succeed at CSE.

It is good to educate your self by reading books on Stock markets ( also you can refer to the help section of this website) .
But the truth is reading 100s of books itself will not be adequate to survive at CSE in the present context as they are written and based on research on matured markets with wider participation and less manipulation ( note I said less not none) . Books will certainly educate you I agree but,

to survive at CSE one needs

a) some fundamental
b) some technical
c) and most importantly the greatest asset of all "Common sense" which no book can teach you effectively .



I recall sometime in 2007 ( pl don;t quote me) or so I bought some DFCC shares for Rs 140. A good price at that time which I bought as an Investment ( not a gamble). Then I got some additional bonus shares also.

During the War time I saw this go down to Rs 50! Nearly had a heart attack by looking at it. (JKH was at Rs 60+ if I recall).
I could not help feel why I did not put money in a Fixed deposit at 20% per annum. But then again I had the common sense to hold it as it was an Investment. I was a victor last year with very significant gains very much more than fixed deposit. I was happy of my decision with spanned few years which paid off in the long run.

The biggest problem I see now is that many people enter to gamble at CSE making it a Casino. They want 50-100% profit in a few days. Stock markets are supposed to be Investing places not gambling. Many who enter with gambling intension get brunt due to this.

As some may know the Savings account interest rate in USA now is 0.2-0.5% ? I am not kidding it is 0.2-0.5% Per Year! So if one gains 5-10% in a stock market per year they are happy and content.

At CSE we now want 50-100% gain within short times. This is not healthy practice. I think we got spoilt during the last 2 years.
Last couple of years one could have blindly put money into CSE and got a good return. If one does that now blindly he/she is bound to get burnt. People who invested during war time will know that even 20% gain was a big deal.

If you put money into a Fixed deposit one will gain 10-15% per year in Sri Lanka. So if one is to gain say 30% per year in the market it is not a good achievement?

Though I have much more to share, as this getting long and I have other matter to attend to I leave you with one last sentence.

Learn the basics, Invest not gamble, know your investment period, have Patience , have lesser Greed , know your entry and exit points and you will be a victor on the longer run at CSE

Good Luck

This is well done .. Keep going on...

Well said slstock........

May u have the blessings for another 100,000 posts and 100+ years...

congrats slstock, you guys been so helpful to the others in the forum and never hesitate to answer any question in the forum, guys like you smallville and few others make this place wonderful

Rep from me

This says it all by SLstock ,

Learn the basics, Invest not gamble, know your investment period, have Patience , have lesser Greed , know your entry and exit points and you will be a victor on the longer run at CSE


Fully agree

well said.
thank you for sharing ur knowledge with us

slstock wrote:Let me start by saying , even if one has years /decades of experience no one can predict the market 100%. If one can he/she will be the richest in the world and will not be participating in these forums.

You should be able to predict the market atleast to an extent of 80% on the selected stocks you have interest on bar the stupid direction and major news changes as a good investor! Unless you will not be able to make any inroads in this market in the future if you don't even know WTF is going to happen to the stocks you know! People who are taken completely by surprise and can't predict anything about their stocks are the ignorant lot thats going to end up giving away their cash when market hits a rough bear market!

Just remember the war time huge bull runs won't be their in the future and you will have to be smart to earn something extra in the future CSE!

PS:- even if some one can predict market by 100% in CSE you can never be the richest in the world not even be 1000000000 richest in world! it depends on the current cash in hand and the amount of bull run market and stocks rising! You don't get anything out in CSE for identifying going down stocks or knowing a bear run is happening! These are just stupid things and just eye candy for the ignorant!

Great achievment. Wow! an average of 8+ post a day, how did you manage this? May be lots of dedication to this forum.

does patience==greed??

+ rep from me.

slstock wrote:

to survive at CSE one needs

a) some fundamental
b) some technical
c) and most importantly the greatest asset of all "Common sense" which no book can teach you effectively .


During the War time I saw this go down to Rs 50! Nearly had a heart attack by looking at it. (JKH was at Rs 60+ if I recall).
I could not help feel why I did not put money in a Fixed deposit at 20% per annum. But then again I had the common sense to hold it as it was an Investment. I was a victor last year with very significant gains very much more than fixed deposit. I was happy of my decision with spanned few years which paid off in the long run.

Thanks slstok for sharing ur experience and ur advice. These two paras are very impressed to me.. Yes u are very absolutely correct, We have to buy the shares for the Investment not for the gambling. Most of my holdings also (80% of the portfolio) are kept as investment with some decided time frame ( 1 year, 2 Years). to be frank i have some speculative stocks, which i do not know reason for the movement. These days i ll try to exist from those stocks and buy some good picks for the Investment.

However present mkt condition gives unexpected return/ loss for only gambling stocks. Nobody knows the reason for the price movement of these stocks. We should avoid in investing in these stocks..

Keep going Slstock,+ rep from me.

Thanks for your views.

Rajitha wrote:

You should be able to predict the market atleast to an extent of 80% on the selected stocks you have interest on bar the stupid direction and major news changes as a good investor!

Yes correct. For your selected Stocks you buy should have an I idea. That why I also said "Learn the basics, know your investment period, have Patience , have lesser Greed , know your entry and exit points.

Rajitha wrote:

PS:- even if some one can predict market by 100% in CSE you can never be the richest in the world not even be 1000000000 richest in world! it depends on the current cash in hand and the amount of bull run market and stocks rising! You don't get anything out in CSE for identifying going down stocks or knowing a bear run is happening! These are just stupid things and just eye candy for the ignorant!

Do you know of any one who can predict the Market 100%? That would be impressive. I am not talking about the selected stock we buy after study but the overall Market behavior?

But then again if one can predict, just think, If one starts with Rs 1000 and and can predict the market he/she can first double the money within the shortest period. This process can be continued until he is super Rich ( mabye richest) after decades. I am not saying overnight. Reminds me of the story where if we keep doubling what we have what is going to happen. It is interesting to read Dhammika Perera story to see how he got rich to this extent.

slstock - great words of wisdom. Investing in stocks is a long game and I dont mean 6 to 12 months. I think the key is that based on fundamentals and analysis we can have a strong opinion as to what a stock would do in the future. The hard part is when new evidence comes to light and I don't mean a change in share price, that makes you change your original view, then you must have the courage to get out. The biggest mistake I have made is being too attached to my shares in the face of evidence that my initial view was clearly wrong. Now 7 times out of 10 I take my losses or profits when I see that my original reason was wrong. Thats very hard to do.

kiwi wrote:slstock - great words of wisdom. Investing in stocks is a long game and I dont mean 6 to 12 months. I think the key is that based on fundamentals and analysis we can have a strong opinion as to what a stock would do in the future. The hard part is when new evidence comes to light and I don't mean a change in share price, that makes you change your original view, then you must have the courage to get out. The biggest mistake I have made is being too attached to my shares in the face of evidence that my initial view was clearly wrong. Now 7 times out of 10 I take my losses or profits when I see that my original reason was wrong. Thats very hard to do.

I understand what you mean Kiwi.

When you study a company and purchase for medium and long term of course there can be short term volatility. You bought the company shares for a reason and due to confidence. It can dip much below the price you bought in short term as share price always do not go up. Markets reacts to news and financials most times. The question one should ask is why I bought the shares and for what period of time? If I hold this for 1 year can I still get the price targets I estimated? Should I be concerned about the short term volatility. If yes one can exit.

If one wishes to lock their shares for 1 year ( example) then we will not care about the fluctuation. But if one is concerned about the Opportunity Cost and short term loss then we are more short term investors than longer term isn;t it?


Laughf bought GRAN for Rs 205 and EPF bought SPEN for RS 230 if I recall. They bought them when overvalued. They couild have bought for much lesser. But these guys would have had a reason to buy being big investors they are. They guy are still holding onto them as they have believe in longer term and not short term.

Of course as you say it best not to get too attached to shares. Once you buy a medium term stock but then find that the company iwill go down the drain for some identified official issue ( and there is no hope to recover) then ofcourse we can exit to cut down bigger losses. But we should also note any company can take momentary hits from quarter to quarter. It necessarily won;t mean next quarter they won't recover if they are strong and with good management.


Companies with higher seasonal volatility should of couse trade at lower PE and our estimates should be lower. ( plantations etc). But even amongst them one can find short term and medium term companies depending on their strength and demand. Example Rubber based companies vs tea based companies.


So in summary I believe to be a good investor one needs Short term, Medium term and Long term shares in portfolio. Mostly importantly identify what is short term what is medium and what is long.

If one is all short term then what I said above does not apply. Stratergy is different. This is only for medium and long term investors who hold due to identified reasons.

But as you say "the biggest mistake I have made is being too attached to my shares in the face of evidence that my initial view was clearly wrong" then ofcourse we need to adjust our position.

Key to study carefully and get into investment stocks and not gambling one early.

All the best. I am sure you will be succesful in the future as you are a fast learner.

Learn the basics, Invest not gamble, know your investment period, have Patience , have lesser Greed , know your entry and exit points and you will be a victor on the longer run at CSE

Well said!

Have u left anything for us to say? I dont think so.... Thanks for the support you've given so far and we all expect it to be continued for years to come..

There were times even so many felt bad about the market and you were there with confidence answers So that support rendedred to all is highly appreciated.

Well I really hope everyday that there'll be some one in this forum who can predict the market 80% accuracy for all of us to reap the benifits..
Lets collectively find the guy who can do this

Appreciate this thread as a new comer
Hope you don't mind borrowing your quote as my signature
(coz I need to remind that to myself always..!)
Thank You.

Dear SLStock,

Impressed on very balanced excellent piece of article on this forum. Take all your points as correct and it shows your indepth knowledge and wisdom that you have with regard to trading.

You always gave new comers helping hand ,as I remember you as a great guy reponded to most of my queries after I joined this forum and made me aware finer points of trading. Thanks a lot for them. It helped me a lot.

So nothing like your experience in trading in shares. More you make mistakes, more you learn. I made mistakes and learnt at a cost. Learnt bitter lessons with sacrificing hard earned monies. I am still learning and continue to learn may be until I quit trading shares.... (But now at a lesser cost)

Great stuff bro, pls continue the same

slstock wrote:
Learn the basics, Invest not gamble, know your investment period, have Patience , have lesser Greed , know your entry and exit points and you will be a victor on the longer run at CSE

Nicely said. Rep from me!

thanks for the valuable advices & for signature , + rep