ASX Small Cap Lunchtime Wrap: Day trader makes $US6.3m, too scared to tell his wife

A Reddit user claims he took out $US400,000 in loans to day trade during COVID-19 – and made $US6.3 million. Now he has to tell his wife “without getting murdered”.

In a post that has now been taken down by moderators (probably because it sounds fake) ‘JustCallMeJohnSmith’ says he started day trading while he and the wife were juggling part time jobs and “eating eggs and rice, not buying anything as much as possible”.

“About three plus months ago I felt confident about my trading ability and took an extremely foolish amount of risk,” he writes.

“I pulled two personal loans of $US50,000 ($US100,000 total at 8 per cent interest. My credit is great, but I’m honestly still surprised both loans were approved.)

“I opened an account on margin and begin to trade leveraging $US300,000 on top of the $US100,000.”

A margin account is a brokerage account in which the broker lends the customer cash to purchase stocks.

He says the loans were paid off “rather quickly” and now he has $US6.3 million sitting in his account.

JustCallMeJohnSmith doesn’t know how to tell his wife “without getting double murdered”.

“We have both been living like monks for half a year and I could have easily done something about it a couple of months ago,” he writes.

“I have gotten obsessed with growing the account and haven’t withdrawn any money.”

Hilarious, fake or not.

In Markets…

Global markets and gold continue to break records.

US sharemarkets climbed overnight — the Nasdaq hit a record closing high — as investors looked beyond intensifying US-China tensions.

“Investors have been weighing a string of upbeat economic data including record job additions and a rebound in the service sector in June, against the surge in US coronavirus cases recently, but the S&P 500 is still up more than 40 per cent from its March closing low,” Morningstar writes.

“Markets also appeared to be in a wait-and-watch mode before the beginning of the second-quarter earnings season, which kicks off next week with reports from the big Wall Street banks.

“Quarterly earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to decline nearly 44 per cent year-on-year, the steepest drop since the 2008 financial crisis, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.”

Meanwhile, the gold futures price hit fresh 8-year highs of $US1,820.60 an ounce.

Iron ore rose to $US106.90 a tonne “bolstered by resilient steel demand and economic optimism supporting markets in China”, according to CommSec.

The benchmark ASX 200 index is rebounding in morning trade, currently up about 0.8 per cent to  5,970 points at 11:30am EST.

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm on Thursday July 9:

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SECOS Group (ASX:SES) will supply compostable bin liners into Woolworths stores.

Initial rollout will begin this month in 86 stores with “a view to expand supply through the broader Woolworths retail network”, the company says.

“Volumes will be subject to instore sales, however current demand for compostable bags via retail chains suggest good sales growth for this market,” it says.

The stock was up +85 per cent in early trade.

Praemium (ASX:PPS) is launching an $55.5m off-market takeover bid for wealth management platform Powerwrap (AASX:PWL), pricing it at an implied ~26.44c per share.

That represents a 138.4 per cent premium to the 6-month VWAP.

The Powerwrap board unanimously recommends the offer, and the stock is up ~50 per cent in morning trade.

~$20m market cap Venture Minerals (ASX:VMS) is closer to becoming an iron ore miner after signing a port access agreement with TasPorts.

The economics of the small Riley mine is well above feasibility numbers due to higher iron ore prices, the company says.

Venture is now seeking to finalise discussions on financing.

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks at 12pm on Thursday July 9:

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Click headings to sort.