Comments on: Insider: My Spec Jumped, Now What?

By: Kelly Reid

Kelly Reid — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:13:52 +0000

In reply to Matthew Lewis. Aww snap...

By: Kelly Reid

Kelly Reid — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 08:13:28 +0000

With TCG Mid approaching your $35 target and buylists now coming in over $20, your article here looks PRETTY DAMN GOOD. There’s a reason he’s the best in the business, folks.

And about the short-term spikes and selling into them: a wise mentor of mine, a successful investor, told me to leave the last 10% for the next guy. I couldn’t agree more. The capital you liquidate at 80% of a theoretical max that might never come can be shunted into another play as opposed to hoping to grind out another few percentage points.

The exception here is when you’re taking modest gains to cover your basis and some profits. Sometimes I’ll sell 70-80% of a position if I think there’s still 30%+ upside and it’s easily traded. If I’ve already made cash profits on the play I’ll leave a very limited amount of exposure on the stove 🙂

By: Corbin Hosler

Corbin Hosler — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 19:30:56 +0000

In reply to mirageOfHope.

Thanks! I usually use Ebay on the Instant Spec scenarios, because buylists usually don’t rise as much as sell prices on these. Because it’s almost all driven by hype, people are the ones demanding cards, and stores don’t get quite as giddy. As such, it’s usually worth taking the “ebay hit” and outing on there rather to buylists. I can sometimes score a better deal through one of my contacts, but there’s nothing wrong with Ebay here. For instance, it’s where I got rid of my Scapeshifts after that unbanning.

By: Corbin Hosler

Corbin Hosler — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 19:29:17 +0000

In reply to Mathieu Malecot. Agreed. When you have larger holdings, this is a great move to actualize profits or at least hit your break-even point.

By: Mathieu Malecot

Mathieu Malecot — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:54:34 +0000

In reply to Jose Gasque. 1st rule : don't lose money

By: Jose Gasque

Jose Gasque — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:00:14 +0000

I like to sell enough to cover my initial investments as soon as I can because I am risk adverse.

By: mirageOfHope

mirageOfHope — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 17:42:13 +0000

Corbin, as usual, your theories seem sound to me. Thanks for the breakdown on these speculation scenarios. What do you find is the best avenue for actualizing profits in the “Instant Spec” scenario? I tend to avoid these and target cards fitting the “Slow Increase” scenario, but I’m guessing I just don’t have as many quick avenues to dump off cards as more experienced financiers such as yourself.

One interesting point that perhaps we should consider in this discussion is something brought up by Jose Gasque’s post is the option to hedge in the “Slow Increase” scenario and sell part of your holdings off early and keep some around in the event of a further increase.

By: Jose Gasque

Jose Gasque — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:46:05 +0000

i just sold mine as well. I nearly doubled up. Maybe I ditch the mythics too soon though, I sold off the consencrated sphinxes around 8. Next time, I’ll hold half until I get the word from here.

By: Matthew Lewis

Matthew Lewis — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:14:55 +0000

I’ve just sold off my last Hellkites online. I think there is going to be a big shakeup in the Standard format. I mean, new sets always shake up Constructed but we’ve never seen a new large set like Gatecrash get introduced in the middle of a block. What this suggests to me is that unlike previous iterations of Standard which tended to see decks evolve over time by adding in some new cards, making small modifications and adapting, we might see a more drastic change due to the larger influx of new cards. Time will tell, but my bets are on a much different standard environment in 3 months than we have currently.