Happy New Year Ka-Investa! A new decade has begun. We have a lot of things in store for you this year: one of them being the Investa Trading Grounds 2020 Season 1.
We, even before the beginning of the new decade, dedicated a huge amount of effort towards continuous innovation. You all know what our vision is; to enable 10,000,000 Filipinos to invest in the markets. However, we understood early on that not everyone may be hooked on trading. This is why we created a more fun and entertaining way of interacting with the stock market: the Investagrams Trading Grounds (ITG).
The amount of love and enjoyment we felt when everyone was able to play ITG for the first time was intense. Little did we know that we were able to create a gamified learning platform to make compounding your capital in the ultimate equalizer of wealth enjoyable. If you guys thought what we first released was the final output of ITG, think again!
Our team continued to find more ways to rapidly improve Investagrams Trading Grounds to make the whole experience even more gamified and enjoyable. What better way to make ITG more gamified than to implement mechanics similar to other online games? This is why we created a competitive environment: The Investa Trading Grounds 2020 Season 1.
We are officially launching Investa Trading Grounds 2020 Season 1 — a lot of amazing rewards and surprises await those who will be on top of their game until the end of the season!
Improve your strategy as you compete with other traders
Learn new techniques and disciplines in the process
The Investagrams Trading Grounds 2020 Season 1 brings many prizes
For the past three years, we have been hosting the Investagrams Trading Cuo – BIGGEST stock trading competition in the Philippines. The goal of the trading cup is to find and recognize some of the BEST traders in the country along with helping others jumpstart their investing journeys. Aside from your usual trading competition where we simply send over the cash prize to the winners, we require the Top 10 participants to defend their strategies in front of a live audience.
In line with our vision of increasing the number of Filipino investors to 10,000,000, we also want to inspire aspiring traders/investors or help shorten the learning curve of experienced traders through these defenses. Our Top 10 participants share their trading journey, top strategies, best and worst trades during the competition, and words of wisdom to the audience.
Every year, we look forward to meeting new and upcoming traders who are able to rise the ranks in our competition. Trading in and of itself is already extremely challenging, especially psychologically. That’s why countless market wizards talk about how important psychology is to have an edge in trading. Imagine what the participants of the Trading Cup have to go through; they don’t only have to manage their psychology in terms of their usual trading, they also have to handle seeing their rankings fluctuate on a daily basis.
This is especially true for the Investagrams Trading Cup 2019, the rankings were EXTREMELY close until the last day! The difference in total profit of the 2nd placer vs the 3rd placer was only 500 pesos, the 4th and 5th placers’ profits were only separated by 200 pesos, 6th to 9th place was only separated by less than 1,000 pesos, while the 10th and 11th placer were only separated by 100 pesos!
Investagrams Trading Cup 2019 Top 10 Regular Winners
The best thing about the past three Trading Cups is they were all done in different market environments. In 2017 we were in an amazing bull run which made it much easier to latch on to breakouts and ride winners for bigger moves. (Click here to watch the Breaking Highs Defense recap). In 2018 we were in a downtrend market, but there was a ton of speculation especially during the third telco fest. (Relive the moment of Outliers Defense and watch the video here). 2019’s competition was probably the most difficult as we were in a sideways market, which means everyone was prone to major whipsaws.
During the duration of the Investagrams Trading Cup 2019, there were also little to no speculative names popping out, not as much as compared to 2018. There were days that outliers could barely be found. Trading, let alone competing, in a whipsaw market is a very difficult task. Nevertheless, the WINNERS of the 2019 Trading Cup didn’t use that as an excuse to underperform. They showed true RESILIENCY in the face of adversity.
You’ve seen their results; it’s a product of hard work, perseverance, and extreme dedication. However, only one question remains: How did they do it? What strategy did they use? Learn from the WINNERS of the Investagrams Trading Cup 2019 during the competition defense this coming February 2020!
Watch out for our official announcement of the defense SOON!
If you’re like most perpetual students of the market, you’ve probably read a good amount (or plan to) of trading books. Many of which have been published even decades ago like Market Wizards, How To Make Money In Stocks, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, and the like. One common theme appeared in all of these old books; it was SO MUCH harder to trade the markets in the past. Many of these traders had to go on the floor of the exchange every day just to trade while we’re able to trade at the comfort of our homes.
The execution wasn’t an easy task either. Many of the traders back in the 1950’s – 1990’s, especially pit traders who trade commodities, had to go through an all-out screaming battle to get their orders filled. It wasn’t fast either, even if you traded at the floor of the exchange it took time for your broker to buy or sell your positions. With all the advancements in technology, along with the birth of online trading, executing trades can be done in mere seconds. Traders like Mark Minervini used to have to draw and update their charts by hand every single day. All we have to do is open up Investagrams to gain access to the charts.
Aside from being able to trade anywhere in the world as long as you have access to the internet, retail traders today also have access to features that used to only be available to institutional investors. Traders like David Ryan, Mark Minervini, Mark Ritchie, and William O’Neal didn’t have access to real-time price alerts, advanced screeners, automated analytics, and broker information when they were still in the early days of their journeys. Everything they did had to be done manually.
In today’s day and age, all traders, no matter where they are in their journeys, can have access to advanced features the traders in the books we read used to only dream of. No time to watch the markets? No problem, the InvestaWatcher’s got you covered with real-time price and news alerts. Don’t have the time to manually screen through stocks after work? No problem, the InvestaScreener+ will filter out all the stocks for you. Do you want to know the analytics of your trading to improve your performance? Then just simply enter your trades in the InvestaJournal and it will automatically compute all the statistics you need.
These are just some of the features all InvestaPrime+subscribers gain access to. Our tech team works tremendously hard to develop features that can help the community improve their trading. We interviewed Enzo Cagampan, an early InvestaPrime+ subscriber, to share his experience with the different premium features and how these have helped him unleash the best trader he can be.
Q: Why did you subscribe to the InvestaPrime+ and how has it benefited your trading?
A: Honestly, I wanted to grab the best option possible, moneywise. It cost PHP 5,998 and it included all the Investa products, the auto fib, auto sr, auto 52wkhl, and a booster pack (advanced learning modules) that is good for the year. What more can you ask for? Additionally, I wanted to have a streamlined, clear, and concise way of handling my trades. The InvestaJournal helped me assess my overall performance, and the effectivity of my different trading methodologies. The InvestaWatcher helped me during my busiest days when I couldn’t keep an eye on the market during school hours. The InvestaScreener also gave me a huge advantage to pick stocks that are at par with my standards (my parameters) with a click of a mouse.
Q: What’s your favorite premium feature in the InvestaPrime+ and why?
A: My favorite feature is definitely the InvestaWatcher. This feature alone has already provided so much value to me considering my personal circumstances. I’m still a student, so most of the day I’m busy with class. Not all my professors allow the use of gadgets unless permitted, so there are times I’m unable to keep an eye on the market. With the real-time price and news alerts all I have to do is feel my phone vibrate in my pocket then take a quick restroom break so I can execute if ever my entry, cutloss, or target profit is hit.
Q: Would you recommend other people to subscribe to the InvestaPrime+ as well? Why?
A: Definitely! Even for beginners in the market. As what I have said before, the InvestaPrime+ is INDEED UNDERVALUED. Also, the booster pack alone is worth more than what you have really paid for. This product is not only for individuals who want to take their trading to the next level, it’s also for those who have just begun on their trading journey or those who are too busy with their day jobs to watch the market all day.
The InvestaPrime+ gives those who are busy the capability to take advantage of the opportunities of the market. Having a full-time job or being a student shouldn’t hinder one from being able to compound their money; the InvestaPrime+ helps take this problem away with the real-time alerts from the InvestaWatcher and the fast filtering of stocks using the InvestaScreener+.
Q: How would you feel if the InvestaPrime+ suddenly disappeared?
A: With all honesty and objectivity, I would feel extremely disappointed. When the InvestaPrime+ was first announced, I was initially hesitant to subscribe due to the simple fact that I’m still a student and PHP 5,998 is a big amount for me. I could’ve asked my parents to pay for it, but I’m the type of person who wants to invest his own money into things that can help him improve. I really took my time in reflecting if I should invest in this product or just take my girlfriend out to Samgyupsal six times in a row (joke).
I thought about my personal circumstances, I knew I would benefit greatly from both the InvestaWatcher and the InvestaScreener+ since I’m busy with school work during and after market hours. These were the two features that I knew I really needed. After a few more days of deliberating, I finally made the investment. Let me tell you this, the InvestaPrime+ annual subscription was definitely a great investment; no cutloss needed.
I immediately made a return on my investment in the InvestaPrime+ on my $HLCM trade. I was in class when $HLCM broke out from its base, but luckily I was alerted by the InvestaWatcher immediately. I was able to buy it near 11 pesos then I sold it around 15 pesos. Also, I now journal my trades diligently and conduct monthly reviews of my performance with the advanced analytics given by the InvestaJournal. As of late, I have also been studying on how to use the InvestaJockey to add broker analysis to my strategies. Overall, I love the InvestaPrime+ and I would be extremely disappointed if it suddenly disappeared.
Our first ever Investagrams Trading Cup Champion, Javi Media a.k.a. @taylor, along with his longtime teammate Matt Flores a.k.a. @meflores, and 2018 Investagrams Trading Cup Top 5 Ken Arcano a.k.a. @anima recently joined forces to create DEEPTECH INVESTMENT MGT CO. which is an independent cross-asset investment firm whose mission is to deliver superior investment results under the strictest risk controls and with the highest level of integrity. Along with managing client money, they also have a PREMIUM subscription service called OPEN JOURNAL.
OPEN JOURNAL offers to its subscribers a unique style of engaging the markets. The @openjournal team teaches a methodology and framework that is widely misunderstood by many, but is used by some of the best traders around the world. Not only do the subscribers learn the ins and outs of DEEPTECH’s trading system, they also gain access to their technical outlook across different financial markets and asset classes — one that greatly helps navigate the ongoing volatility and keeps traders focused to where the bull markets are.
What do you specifically get if you subscribe to Open Journal:
Multiple Instructional Videos
Exclusive Learning Modules: DCS trading system, 3E framework, and many others
Trade Walkthroughs: Discussion of actual trades executed
Chart Sessions: Insights on requested stocks of subscribers
Video Profiles of some of the TOP TRADERS in the industry
Exclusive Community Platform with
Macro Insights/Market Outlook: Knowing where the opportunities are based on cycle analysis (Elliott Wave) and where the biggest opportunities are across financial markets
Weekly “Set-up” Library: Compilation of setups/opportunities based on the system taught updated weekly
Live Events
Monthly Town Halls: Meetups at the last Saturday of every month to discuss, review what’s happening in the market, fellowship, and flesh out freshly released techniques, trade opportunities
Video Coverage of Town Hallsespecially for OFWs and out of townies
Free 1-on-1 Consultation held every month (via live and Zoom)
TomaTrader’s Personal Experience
I’m extremely grateful to have a relationship with Javi Medina, Ken Arcano, and Matt Flores.
The first time I saw Javi was during InspirePH last April 2018 when I was still one month into my trading journey. I didn’t really know who he was, I didn’t know he was a professional fund manager nor the first Investagrams Trading Cup Champion; I didn’t even know what the Trading Cup was at the time. To keep it simple, let me just say that Javi’s talk during InspirePH sparked a fire in me like never before. To this day I will never forget when he said that to become a great trader you will need to COMMIT TO MASTERY.
I first met Ken last December 2018 when I was invited to join Kaizen’s meetup. For those who don’t know, Kaizen is a trading group composed of high-level traders who seek continuous improvement. Not only are they great traders, they’re also great people. I was surprised when I was told that Ken’s username on Investa was @anima; at the time, Anima was in the Top 5 during the Trading Cup. Ken, just like Javi, is a great teacher and role model. What inspired me the most was when he told me the story of how he took the leap from working in a corporate setting to becoming a full-time trader.
Matt was the last person I met in the @openjournal team. Matt is a very kind and humble person. Among the three teammates, he’s relatively more quiet compared to Javi and Ken. However, once you get to know Matt and have a conversation with him about the markets, you’ll realize that his quiet composure does not define his knowledge in trading. Matt and I usually have small conversations whenever we meet, and let me tell you that I’ve learned a ton in just a few minutes of talking with him.
There are countless of subscription services out there, but let me just say that relative to the price of subscribing to @openjournal, the value you will receive in return is IMMENSE. A lot of people ask me, “Can newbies join OPEN JOURNAL? Or is it only for high level and experienced traders?” One of the core methodologies used and taught to @openjournal subscribers is the Elliott Wave principle which may seem intimidating to beginning traders. Here’s all I can say, IF you want to take your trading to the next level and learn directly from some of the best traders in the country, then OPEN JOURNAL is for you.
Aside from the learning videos you can access online, which already provide tremendous value in itself, in my opinion the best part about @openjournal is the monthly town halls open to all subscribers. It’s relatively easy for anyone to create videos, post them online, and charge a fee for others to access the videos. However, the amount of effort and dedication to host a monthly town hall is on another level. The mere fact that the team does this on a monthly basis just shows that they sincerely want to help others take their trading to a whole new level.
I was lucky to be invited to their first Town Hall last August. The level of the concepts they taught to the subscribers were on a whole other level, but they taught it in a way that was simple & that everyone could understand. It’s truly different hearing the concepts taught in person rather than solely through videos. I was seated in the front row, so I did my best to take in all they were teaching. Even by just attending that one Town Hall, I can confidently say that I learned a tremendous amount of knowledge regarding their system, cycles, and the trading opportunities available based on the set-ups they teach — more than I ever would in any other event. Most importantly, great food was served (Pwede nang Shake Shak)! For all @openjournal subscribers, attending the Town Halls is definitely a MUST!
My final message to everyone is just to avoid missing out on an opportunity of a lifetime. I’m personally not subscribed to Open Journal yet as I’m still saving up for it, but once I’m able to save up enough money the first thing I’m going to do is invest in myself by subscribing to OPEN JOURNAL. Their 2nd Town Hall is on September 28, so to all of the people going don’t forget to bring your notebooks! How about you, magpapa-FOMO ka ba dito?
Let us give you a scenario to think about: You’re at your office desk patiently waiting for stock ABC to breakout and create a new all-time high once it breaches 5 pesos, it reaches 4.50, then 4.70, then 4.85. However, your boss suddenly calls for a meeting. You’re unable to watch the stock and simply hope for it to wait for you. The meeting ends after 30 minutes, but when you get back to your desk and quickly click alt+tab stock ABC is already up 30% from your buypoint. If you’ve experienced this, you know the struggle of being unable to watch the market throughout the day. Countless opportunities are lost due to the simple reason of being unable to execute during the day.
So, is this just how it’s going to be? One of the main reasons why those with full-time jobs chose to pass on the Trading Cup last year was due to the fact that they’re not always able to trade during market hours because of work reasons. Don’t worry, this time we got you covered. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you can now take advantage of the opportunities in the market. We’re now introducing our new and upgraded Investa VTrade!
You can now input orders and view your VTrade portfolio straight from your charts for much smoother and easier access. Simply choose the stock you want to purchase then click buy on the right side of the chart to place your order. Choose which portfolio you would like to purchase the stock. Then place your order price and the number of shares you would like to buy.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!
For those who are really busy, you can now choose and wait for a stock at a price you want to buy it using our new LIMIT ORDER! Simply choose your order expiry if you want it to be at the end of the day or when you cancel it. Once you click buy/sell, your order will be posted and will be executed when your bid/ask price is met. Now you don’t need to worry about being unable to watch the market the entire day!
Given that the Trading Cup is still a virtual trading competition, whenever you want to buy or sell a stock you used to need to do it at the market price in real-time. With our new Limit Orders, you can now set a buy order at a lower price as you wait for a stock to hit the support level or at a higher price as you wait for a stock to breakout. After setting your buy order, all you need to do is simply wait for your entry price to be hit. Not only that, you can also set a target profit so you can sell your position at an intended higher price without watching it the whole day. However, you will not be able to cut your losses automatically, so execution on risk management will still be done manually. To check the status of your limit orders, simply go to the Pending Orders tab.
Here are some examples
We know that every participant in the Trading Cup is going for the top spot, one missed trade can tremendously impact the outcome at the tail end of the competition. We understand the struggle of watching a stock for a long period of time, patiently waiting for it to hit your buy point, just to miss out on it because of a sudden meeting or anything that can make you unavailable to check the market. That’s why our team worked day and night to develop a feature that will allow you to take advantage of the opportunities of the market no matter where you are.
In one of our previous articles we interviewed Diolito Igloria Jr., or commonly known as Davinsoy Trader on Investagrams, to share more about himself to the community. As our team prepares for the upcoming Investagrams Trading Cup 2019, we took a look back at last year’s competition and who were some of the participants who stood out among the rest. Almost everyone on our team mentioned Davinsoy Trader, a super trader from Cebu. If anyone’s unfamiliar with Diolito, let us remind you of his achievements:
Investagrams Trading League 2019 Round 1 2nd Runner Up
Investagrams Trading League 2019 Round 2 Champion
Investagrams Trading Cup 2018 4th Runner Up
However, the greatest achievement we believe Davinsoy Trader got from the market was an opportunity to not only become a full time trader, but most importantly the opportunity to become a full time father. Sir Diolito’s story is tremendously heart-warming, especially for those of us who also want to take trading full time. He is a registered Electrical Engineer and former Accounts Manager, two very stable and good paying professions. He decided to go full time into trading during the tail end of the bull market last 2018.
Diolito’s first two years in the market resulted in him losing is entire capital twice without his wife knowing. Even after she found out, she still continued to deposit funds and support Diolito’s trading journey. Despite losing hard earned money to the market, he never gave up. Diolito continued to persevere despite wiping out twice in the market. With continuous learning, hard work, and dedication he was eventually able to recover all of his losses and more during the 2017 bull market.
From that point on, he decided to resign from his job and trade full time. Diolito now has the time to take care of his child while his wife goes to work. He treats his trading a business, not a game. After a few months, he joined the Investagrams Trading Cup 2018. We all know what happened after, Diolito ranked 4th during the Investagrams Trading Cup 2018 out of thousands of competitors who were all looking to grab a spot in the coveted Top 10.
Davinsoy Trader’s story is truly one for the books. He served as an inspiration for those of us who want to take trading full time in order to spend more time with our loved ones. Despite ranking 4th during last year’s competition, he continues to remain a simple and humble person. There is no doubt in our minds that Diolito is on his way to not only becoming one of the best traders in the country, but also one of the best fathers.
This week’s featured trader is not someone who was able to successfully spot a specific stock before making a significant advance, but rather someone who shared his execution with the intention of helping others. A huge shout out to Gagamba Trader a.k.a. @enzo_gagamba for sharing his execution on his $IDC trade.
Gagamba Trader was able to buy $IDC (Italpinas Development Corporation) when it broke out of its psychological and structural resistance at 6 pesos, his trade idea was confirmed when the volume spiked significantly above the average. His mindset was to nail down a decent swing profit with half of the position, which is why he sold half at 7 pesos, and keep the remaining half for a potential further advance.
One of the details that stood out to us is that he had a CONTINGENCY PLAN ready in case his original plan didn’t pan out as he expected. You don’t hear a lot of traders talk about having a contingency plan, but this is something Mark Minervini taught in his first book. Along with his basic trade plan for a specific position, he also has contingency plans in place for anything that may happen. As for the case of $IDC, Gagamba Trader initially wanted to trail the remaining 50% of his position using the 20 day, but he also had a backstop at 6.50 in case of a sudden sell down.
As we all know, $IDC was sold down significantly in a matter of days which prompted the need follow the 6.50 emergency backstop. He was able to strictly follow his plan and secure his profits. Gagamba Trader also reminds everyone to plan your trade and trade your plan. Kudos to Gagamba Trader for his successful $IDC trade, and for sharing your execution to the Investagrams Community!
On Technicals:
The reason why $IDC was able to make a 40% move in a matter of two weeks is because it was able to breakout of it’s downtrend channel with significant volume.
If you check the hourly chart, you’ll also notice that $IDC gave several continuation patterns. The stock gave four continuation patterns before temporarily topping at 7.35, which was also it’s previous resistance. As of the moment, $IDC will need to break above its previous high at 7.35 to continue the up move.
For the daily chart, you’ll see that $IDC was supported by the 20-day moving average. This is a good sign showing that there’s obvious demand for the stock which supported it during the sudden sell down.
Congratulations to everyone who was able to ride to 40% move of $IDC, and to those who were able to pickup the stock when it dipped towards the 20-day moving average. Lastly, kudos again to Gagamba Trader for sharing his execution, your FREE one-month InvestaJournal is on it’s way!
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