2017 was a big year for CEO.ca in which we saw the community grow to regularly having more than 1,000 users online during market trading hours (and often up to 1,500 users online at one time). We also saw multiple traffic records set including number of users online in a single channel at one time (500+ people in the GGI channel on the morning of November 20th after the company released drill assays).
While CEO.ca has emerged as THE place to go to learn and chat about junior resource stocks, 2017 saw CEO.ca firmly embrace the emerging cryptocurrency trend as HIVE Blockchain (A company which CEO.ca founder Tommy Humphreys had a hand in creating) became the first publicly traded cryptocurrency miner in Canada.
CEO Pro also emerged as an indispensable tool for trading Venture listed stocks - I could not imagine trading Canadian shares without it!
In the spirit of sharing, learning, and looking forward to next year I decided to ask some of CEO.ca's regulars what their biggest lessons were in 2017 and what they are looking forward to in 2018...
@Ty: “I have learned that my bias and view of a market doesn´t mean anything until a market proves itself and aligns with my bias. I think it is very important to keep an open mind and act accordingly when the reasons to take a trade are no longer valid. I realise I have much to learn about trading and investing and wish to continue developing skills (whether old or new).”
@HHorseman: “In 2017 I learned how important people are in this tough business. I think a lot of investors are underestimating how much expected value changes depending on who is running a company. Buy the best with a proven track record.
* That the market is impatient and that time-arbitrage seems very profitable especially in a bad market, when people gladly sell a good stock just because it might be an additional month or two until the next catalyst.
* Let your winners run and exploit the crashes... The power of psychology can drive prices much higher than you would expect, and the same goes for the downside. Pick up companies that are progressing but gets no credit, and at the same time don't be too quick to take profits.
In 2018 i’m looking forward to a hopefully strong year for silver and gold miners, since I think silver is undervalued and a lot of gold companies get no credit for $1300 gold. I think 2018 will be a lot more exciting than 2017, and it's starting to look as if inflation will finally make at least a brief come back.”
@Excelsior: “In 2017 I learned that investors seem more interested in the narrative of unknown potential than proven resources in the ground and systematic documented results. Most of the high fliers this year (Arizona Silver, GT Gold, Novo Resources, Garibaldi, etc..) happened off pure unwarranted speculation, drill core photos, youtube videos, and a few lucky grab samples before drill assays were even known. The stories promoted the potential of massive deposit dreams, and investors all piled into just a few names (almost at the exclusion of all else). Meanwhile, many proven companies posted legitimate progress in their production efficiencies, cost reductions, improved economics on their development projects, or continued delivering on drill results where resources were better understood, and yet the market yawned at REAL systematic progress. What I'm looking forward to in 2018 is a resumption of the next leg of the uptrend that started in Precious Metals in 2016, and possibly the year where Uranium equities will start to claw their way out of the depth if longer term spot prices and offtake agreements push the U prices up to meet the cost of production.”
@JamesKwantes: "Averaging up is often a better idea than averaging down. Which can be hard when you're a contrarian at heart."
Bob Moriarty: "The ongoing monster crash in bitcon is going to teach the snowflakes an expensive lesson in what happens when bubbles pop. And there will be more coming in 2018. If you don’t sell when you have a profit, the only other alternative is to sell at a loss."
@Allan: “ A lot of people talk about following their dreams, but not so many actually do it. At the beginning of 2017, I made some pretty big moves, especially moving away from my friends and family in Canada to run my companies from Mexico. The hardest part has been being this far away from my son, but when the opportunity to move came up, I knew it was a good lesson for him and me about making a move when opportunity knocks. In 2017, I've focused on setting a strong foundation of growth for the two companies where I'm CEO, and I'm looking forward to passing several milestones in 2018.”
@HighROI: " 'It's not what you know, It's who you know.' A well-known phrase that aptly applies to improving ones success in the market. I can attribute most of my returns in 2016 and 2017 to relationships, whether it is getting an expert opinion on $NXE or getting access to a financing that is trading 50% below market with a full warrant or getting in on the 30 cent $HIVE PP. Cultivate those relationships, take a chance and bet on those who have shown success even if your understanding of a certain sector is limited and show gratitude to those who helped in your successes. For 2018 I am cautiously looking forward to a really good bull market across the commodity space."
@BTO: "In 2017, I learned to accept that I’d already missed the bottom in crypto (a long time ago), and started to learn how to manage that feeling of having missed out completely. I hadn’t. I learned that there were still endless opportunities to get in and profit, both in coins and in the stock market. For some of these, I chickened out (I’m still kicking myself for not buying Stellar Lumens at $0.02 when I was told to by a very plugged in crypto friend). For others, I took the plunge and am very happy I did. I believe the rise of crypto and blockchain will continue into 2018 and well beyond — and in particular for the alt-coins in the near term. This is still the ground floor, in my opinion. Bring on 2018."
@Vaughan: “One thing I've learned is that when markets get crazy, don't be too rational or you'll leave a lot on the table. I'm thinking of both weed stocks and cryptos, where I left more gains on the table than I took out. 2 to 3x my return.”
@PamplonaTrader: “I think one important lesson learned was that the market favors liquidity. This was especially apparent in the lithium stocks - the larger cap lithium stocks moved well in advance of the juniors. I think we are seeing that in base metals stocks now with larger more liquid stocks advancing strongly while most of the juniors play catch up.
I'm looking forward to spec money rotating from junior lithium and cobalt stocks (and maybe some weed and crypto) into base metals and energy stocks. It took forever for the lithium juniors to catch up to the majors because retail spec money lags behind smart institutional money.”
@EvenPrime: "A year ago I wrote this post: https://ceo.ca/stockpickingcontest?ea952da39f12 Who would have known? That single message would be the start of something so special. Reflecting back over the 365 days, I've made hundreds of new friends. Smart people like you all who are so eager to teach, as I was so eager to listen and learn. My biggest reward in 2017 is by far the knowledge gained. In 2018, I hope to see this trickle into the portfolio gains :)"
@HRA-Coffin: "I learned people will pay $500 billion in valuation for non-proprietary code strings of dubious utility which tells me speculation is most definitely not dead. Good to know and I'm hoping some of those same speculators will be willing to pay up for new discoveries in the mineral exploration space - something much harder to create out of thin air than a new crypto token - and that a few names I own are among the ones making those discoveries!"
@MiningBookGuy: “In 2017, I learned that the exploration/discovery process is incredibly misunderstood in the mining world. Speculators often don't want to do the hard work for understanding real economic discoveries, because there are many 'easier' ways to make money. And larger, professional investors often don't have incentive to look at the early-stage discovery plays, especially when the market cap is quite small.
In 2018, I look forward to the possibility of multiple, major discoveries in the same year, and hopefully taking advantage of this by owning at least one major discovery early. So much money has been raised for exploration in 2017, and the time seems ripe for more discoveries.”
@Murat: "In 2017 I learned that well-designed protocols are what allow people to coexist in large groups without depending on the force of a central authority. And since authority is always prone to corruption and mischief, no matter how benevolent the original staff is, protocols are the way to go if we want long term solutions.
I also learned that communities thrive better with a mixed bag of opinions and transparent discussion of opposing ideas. however I also saw first-hand that what ruins a community is loud repetition of the same ideas over and over - usually a sign of desperation.
In 2018 I am excited to try and formalize some of what we have learned about running online communities, and get closer to our goal of having a self-policing community that does not require hand-picked moderators. I'm super excited to try and create meritocratic communities, because we all know democracies are flawed due to giving too much voice to uninformed people who suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect.
I am looking forward to seeing new technological developments in Bitcoin (namely Lightning Network) because I think it will revitalize optimism for the crypto space, and give it some utility beyond mere speculative investment.
Finally, I am stoked to finally become a Canadian in 2018 because I think Canada is dope."
@Goldfinger: “In 2017 I gained a deeper appreciation for the power of teamwork. We make things much harder on ourselves by trying to be lone rangers out there. My tendency has often been to be a lone ranger, however, in 2017 I was able to clearly see where this tendency was limiting me and holding me back from a wealth of possibilities and growth. Building teams of like minded, knowledgeable, and ambitious people focused on a similar goal is probably the single most powerful thing that we can do. CEO.ca is a great place that can help you build a team of fellow investors with whom you can bounce ideas off and learn from. We all have our own unique set of competencies which we can contribute to one another. We can all win by sharing insights from a place of integrity and a desire to learn and grow.
2017 was also a year in which my baby, the Trading Lab, reached the next level - not only in terms of subscriber growth but also (and most importantly) in terms of performance results and the quality and diversity of sharing in the Lab.
I also learned more about cryptocurrencies in 2017 than I had ever dreamed possible! 2018 is a year that offers tremendous promise for market participants in all sectors as we see multiple forces and trends all begin to intersect and potentially reach critical long term inflection points; I believe we will see extraordinary opportunities across markets in 2018, particularly for those market participants who are willing to keep an open mind, be flexible and take advantage of the opportunities which may arise throughout the year (several possibilities include a major stock market correction, bursting of the bond bubble, crypto madness, etc.).“
Here's to an amazing 2018 and thank you for being a part of CEO.ca!!
DISCLAIMER: The work included in this article is based on current events, technical charts, and the author’s opinions. It may contain errors, and you shouldn’t make any investment decision based solely on what you read here. This publication contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited to comments regarding predictions and projections. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. The views expressed in this publication and on the EnergyandGold website do not necessarily reflect the views of Energy and Gold Publishing LTD, publisher of EnergyandGold.com. This publication is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Always thoroughly do your own due diligence and talk to a licensed investment adviser prior to making any investment decisions. Junior resource companies can easily lose 100% of their value so read company profiles on www.SEDAR.com for important risk disclosures. It’s your money and your responsibility.
