MoneyWeek's trading tips - how did they fare in 2024?

This was a good year for markets, with the FTSE and S&P 500 rising by 10% and 30% respectively. Similarly, while I suffered some reversals this year, it was generally a profitable 2024.

Tips carried forward

I began the year with 13 tips: seven longs (Computacenter, Mitie, Watches of Switzerland, Howden Joinery, SThree, easyJet and Moonpig) and six shorts (Paycom, GameStop, Sunrun, Robinhood, Joby Aviation and Carvana). As usual, all were closed during the course of the year.

Construction firm Mitie was the first to be closed, at a profit of £40. Watches of Switzerland was then stopped out, resulting in a loss of £468. My short of trading platform was Robinhood, losing £723, while my short of car retailer Carvana left me £950 in the red. I decided to take profits of £666 on IT firm Computacenter.

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I took losses of £200 on card company Moonpig and profits of £515 on payroll software firm Paycom. Kitchen firm Howden Joinery was closed in issue 1206, taking profits of £510.

My short of video games seller GameStop made at a profit of £462, recruiter SThree was closed with a profit of £234, and solar energy firm Sunrun at a profit of £300. Budget airline easyJet was closed in issue 1214 at a profit of £235. My short of air-taxi firm Joby Aviation was at a loss of £375.

Overall, eight of the tips that I began the year with ended up in the black, and five in the red. While the profits outweighed the losses at £246, this was down from the £2,128 they were making at the start of the year.

Tips made and closed this year

I made 21 tips in 2024, with 13 of them closed during the year. Travel concession operator SSP was closed at a loss of £648. I had better luck with spread betting firm IG Group, with profits of £604, and car company GM Motors, with £452 in the black.

While building materials-supplier Builders FirstSource was closed at a loss of £150, I did far better tipping Rolls-Royce Holdings, which was eventually cashed out at a profit of £1,253.

I turned my attention to leisure company Hollywood Bowl, which was closed at a loss of £203. I tipped retailer Next, which was closed out at a profit of £205.

I tipped Royal Caribbean Cruises. This proved to be by far the most successful, since it made £2,940 by the time it was closed. Payments firm Paypal also made a profit of £800 when it was closed.

My suggestion that you should short bank Axos Financial ended with a loss of £850. Builder Vistry and foreign-exchange specialist Alpha Group also lost £518 and £510 respectively when they were closed out.

My worst tip was bitcoin miner Riot Platforms which was closed at a loss of £960.

Overall, the big size of the wins meant that I emerged £2,415 ahead.

Ongoing tips

As the same time, my ongoing tips are also doing well. Out of the six ongoing long tips (Marks & Spencer, Harworth, United Airlines, Hilton Food Group, Trainline and Domino’s), four are flourishing.

M&S is at 389p, making a profit of £700. United Airlines has reached $97, making profits of £1,584. Trainline is at 421p, making £102, while Domino’s is at 340p, producing a profit of £6.

The only two exceptions are developer Harworth, which is at 112p, losing £252, and Hilton Food Group at 901p, losing £51. My two shorts, Trump Media and Technology Group and Ocado, are at $35.77 and 319p respectively, making profits of £569 and £6. Overall, my open tips are making a net total of £2,664.

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