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The best signs that the market will soon get a kicking are always anecdotal....

Published: 11:26 02 Nov 2017 EDT

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Markets The best signs that the market will soon get a kicking are always anecdotal. I've had plenty.

Someone in a pub (who didn't know me) tipped me a dodgy oil share. (I pretended to be impressed.)

I'm getting emails from people about Bitcoin - and the like. Some are boasting on how much they are making and I'm thinking: Watch out for the bailiffs coming to take your plazma TV when it all crashes and you didn't realise how much your spreadbetting exposure was...

A company with no assets said it was changing its name to add "Blockchain" to it and immediately went up 300%. That one reminds me of the internet boom when any company saying they were adding an internet site doubled in a day.

I note a lot of questionaire answers to those I send to people coming to seminars tell me there is tons of crazy gambling going on.

People have lost interest in companies making real money and are after companies trading on massive multiples that haven't made a bean yet.

Most people are sitting on massive debt with no way of ever paying it off. People are using "contactless cards" for smaller items. They basically can't really afford them.

I could go on. Doesn't mean the market will crash anytime soon. It can go a lot higher if this is a bubble.

All I am saying is make sure you get out fast when it starts to tumble whenever that is. If you get left holding the pretend currency baby, you might end up crying like one. Boo Hoo. (Talking of massive multiples).

Interest rates went up today for the first time in years. But don't expect them to rise much more anytime soon.

Can you imagine if they were pushed up to the 5-6% levels pre crash (which is where they would be if we weren't in trouble with debt).

The housing market would crash as those overborrowed would have to sell. So would the markets. But would that be a bad thing long-term? Those in their 20s have little hope of buying property in the south anytime soon.

I've continued heading into some more cash topslicing things that have made me giant profits. More in a mo.

I've bought into gambling company 888. (LON:888). A FTSE 250 company.

This one was as high as 300p but came back after being slapped on the wrist and fined for not being responsible towards its customers. (Frankly: you can't stop addicted gamblers from gambling. It's not possible to nanny them. They carry on till they are broke and they will use whatever avenues open. Trust me, I have met loads of them.)

Then a major shareholder sold out. But the shares have slipped quite a bit, enough methinks to make them a bargain and not only a possible return to 300p but I also wonder that it could be a bid target from any number of bookies - it is an area where there has been some bid activity.

So I have snapped some up. I would probably get out fast if they slipped much below 235. There is plenty of support around the 240 area.

Shares in LON:K3C slipped for a couple of days, I wasn't sure why and researched it again. Couldn't find much wrong so I bought some more.

At its AGM last week it said it was trading comfortably within expectations and achieving solid growth.

A director has bought some shares this week. Results Jan 15th. They should blossom soon.

Packaging group Smith DS (LON:SMDS) shares were hit by a warning from Mondi but I felt that gave a chance to buy.

We talked about these at the last seminar where I said they looked interesting and weren't that far off gaining entry to the FTSE 100.

A pretty decent trading update this week shows the warning from Mondi did not actually extend to Smiths. So to me they look like an interesting buy.

I bought some Somero (LON:SOM)  . The new Barclays account won't allow it as it is down as American (Barclays is now is a terrible offering) but others do including IG.

Its last trading update was encouraging and I made a lot of money on it last time round. Now it is higher of course but I suspect given a strong market it could shift back up to all time highs. Dividend is also up 10%.

What can I say about GB Group? (LON:GBG) It has made me a fortune over the years, first in at 20p and now over 400p! It's time to buy some more. It continues to be in the right area, ID intelligence which only looks set to grow more. A very strong trading update last week prompted me to buy again.

Revenues are above expectations and I like its recurring revenue. I expect to carry on holding this and wonder if a bid could materialise.

And I used a dip in the Zytronic (LON:ZYT) share price to buy back the ones I sold in the last update. A solid and growing company, it looked like profit takers took the price back - an inline statement was perhaps a bit terse too! However it could easily head back over 600.

I bought a spreadbet in RyanAir. (LON:RYA) I find it hard to value airlines so don't often get involved but it has been hit hard recently by various factors however its trading statement seems to shrug a lot of that off so it seems worth a go but thinking of it as a bit shorter term, hence the spreadbet. Its load factor reported today is a touch higher. Shares should take off soon.

I'm on the verge of buying some more Alliance Pharma (LON:APH). A breakout through 60p could see quite a big rise. It tried once yesterday, I'm in if it does.

I continued going into more cash in case of a market correction given we are still close to highs.

Took profits on some of the longer-term trades.

Sold the last of the Sct for a profit of £9,331. Too good a run to ignore a final profit take. Part Renew for a profit of £3,840 after a strong run, still hold some.

SSY got tipped by the IC, so with thanks for that I exited for a very nice profit of £1,915.

If your shares get tipped by the IC or the Mail you often get a massive false rise, worth taking advantage of if you're already in with a good profit, the market makers see the buyers who don't do their research and just buy straight from tips coming and mark the price well up before they can get in.

Part of qtx went for a profit of £9,084. Pay went for a profit of £177. ITV simply kept on slipping and sliding so reluctantly booked a lot less profit that I should have done at £527. Coming back down to a decent looking buy price given the daily small falls so looking to get back in soon.

  The Pets At Home short was a real winner and I have banked the rest of it profiting by £975. All together the short made a combined profit of £1,850.

Purrfect, even though some of you thought I was barking mad. Taking all profits into account that's a total profot of £25,849 to add to the growing cash pile which I am going to keep adding to for fire power when a bear market kicks in.

Good gains continue in a lot of shares. Indeed some of the newer buys have seen leaps on good statements. A great statement this week from ULS sees the shares well higher. Same for Flowtech Fluidpower which have soared after a good statement. Recent buys Numis and Jarvis have both seen very good gains.

Longer-term trades still going higher include Yu Group (LON:YU), Iomart (LON:IOM) , Entertainment One (LON:ETO), Alliance Pharma,. Everyman (LON:EMAN), Morgan Sindall (LON:MGNS0, Safecharge (LON:SCH), Burford (LON:BUR) and GVC (LON:GVC) among others. The short in Devro is close to being closed for a small loss, I wouldn't give it much past 250.

Anyway let's hope the markets can keep going higher till at least the year end! But a reminder when downslides happen they can happen quickly out of nowhere. Have a plan.

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