Saturday, 4 April 2026

2025/2026 Tax year Investment Review - how did I do?

 After one year of actively investing and trading on Trading 212, I am now reviewing my trades and performance.

£120k Deposit Invest GIA

My strategy with the Invest GIA account was to invest in long term ETFs and shares and try not to sell them. Nevertheless, it seems I have made 91 SELL trades in the year. Some of these were done in order to  switch from Accumulating funds to Distributing funds, and recent trades were done for tax loss harvesting and Bed-and-ISA purposes. A crystalised gain of approx. £1k was made (after tax loss harvesting) and a total gain of £21k. My IRR for the year was  30%.

Note that although the net deposits amounted to £120k, this was done over many months,

£120k T212 Invest GIA - built up over a year

Results generated from www.cgtcalculator.com

GIA Invest Account

SUMMARY INFORMATION (Tax year = 2025)
Year    Capital Gain     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
25-26 1128

  1. SELL: 17.12472300 HIMS on 14/05/2025 at £47.08456 gives GAIN of £226.29
  2. SELL: 9.40733670 VNRG on 23/05/2025 at £106.30001 gives LOSS of £97.32
  3. SELL: 164.86508000 DAPP on 23/05/2025 at £6.7918 gives LOSS of £516.89
  4. SELL: .35487810 MA on 05/06/2025 at £430.48585 gives GAIN of £12.98
  5. SELL: 2.17539670 PLTR on 05/06/2025 at £86.79796 gives LOSS of £26.50
  6. SELL: 10.65063100 FINMY on 09/06/2025 at £21.61562 gives GAIN of £30.22
  7. SELL: 30.18465430 BNKE on 09/06/2025 at £206.84981 gives GAIN of £543.64
  8. SELL: .18793114 AMD on 26/06/2025 at £106.42196 gives GAIN of £0.06
  9. SELL: 71.47912250 RMV on 02/07/2025 at £7.72002 gives GAIN of £51.82
  10. SELL: 356.55030859 HIVE on 09/07/2025 at £1.57975 gives GAIN of £63.26
  11. SELL: 311.35551898 SOFI on 18/07/2025 at £16.0362 gives GAIN of £406.56
  12. SELL: 34.35250532 HMWS on 23/07/2025 at £29.10996 gives GAIN of £17.16
  13. SELL: 11.78445221 HIMS on 30/07/2025 at £49.21739 gives GAIN of £148.35
  14. SELL: 88.00785700 IUFS on 07/08/2025 at £11.36262 gives GAIN of £40.36
  15. SELL: 139.64032630 IUSU on 13/08/2025 at £7.74504 gives GAIN of £70.81
  16. SELL: 10.62191580 HOOD on 08/09/2025 at £84.73048 gives GAIN of £53.32
  17. SELL: 3.96052825 V on 29/09/2025 at £251.68865 gives LOSS of £3.18
  18. SELL: .69818316 XMMS on 29/09/2025 at £53.7538 gives LOSS of £0.13
  19. SELL: 6.64813501 AMZN on 29/09/2025 at £165.32005 gives LOSS of £10.87
  20. SELL: 78.19381700 IUCD on 29/09/2025 at £12.52388 gives LOSS of £20.72
  21. SELL: 187.79873000 BNKS on 02/10/2025 at £5.25674 gives LOSS of £12.79
  22. SELL: 174.75813000 FUBO on 02/10/2025 at £2.82774 gives LOSS of £92.23
  23. SELL: 7.79680404 AMD on 06/10/2025 at £153.90922 gives GAIN of £310.30
  24. SELL: 5.24303049 COIN on 07/10/2025 at £279.39376 gives GAIN of £106.39
  25. SELL: 57.86306760 LUG on 16/10/2025 at £57.0312 gives GAIN of £152.79
  26. SELL: 2.09763007 MP on 16/10/2025 at £62.87572 gives GAIN of £31.89
  27. SELL: 104.59248917 GRAB on 17/10/2025 at £4.1589 gives LOSS of £65.01
  28. SELL: 280.50490883 AT on 17/10/2025 at £3.25499 gives LOSS of £86.96
  29. SELL: 7.32103696 XDEQ on 20/10/2025 at £58.62011 gives GAIN of £31.54
  30. SELL: 231.11320598 IITU on 20/10/2025 at £30.98001 gives GAIN of £973.65
  31. SELL: 4.25885726 BNKE on 20/10/2025 at £238.20005 gives GAIN of £13.84
  32. SELL: 12.78301279 SWDA on 20/10/2025 at £94.64983 gives GAIN of £154.45
  33. SELL: 4.66751100 VNRG on 20/10/2025 at £124.80099 gives GAIN of £38.07
  34. SELL: 24.86172297 G500 on 20/10/2025 at £85.99002 gives GAIN of £137.86
  35. SELL: 417.68536168 HMWS on 20/10/2025 at £31.07126 gives GAIN of £1,027.83
  36. SELL: 7.45290895 XLKQ on 20/10/2025 at £638.40039 gives GAIN of £886.91
  37. SELL: 190.94017580 IUCM on 20/10/2025 at £10.18874 gives GAIN of £89.74
  38. SELL: 8.19845000 USPY on 20/10/2025 at £23.64715 gives GAIN of £4.03
  39. SELL: 239.25809100 IUFS on 20/10/2025 at £11.42486 gives GAIN of £124.60
  40. SELL: 65.67567263 HNST on 22/10/2025 at £2.61223 gives LOSS of £28.44
  41. SELL: 18.91514759 EQGB on 27/10/2025 at £489.04985 gives GAIN of £929.73
  42. SELL: 14.03600628 FTNT on 03/11/2025 at £64.66726 gives LOSS of £2.37
  43. SELL: 48.30002267 CDE on 03/11/2025 at £12.76956 gives GAIN of £16.77
  44. SELL: 3.84515619 REGN on 01/12/2025 at £578.16377 gives GAIN of £223.13
  45. SELL: 14.57725947 3SLV on 16/12/2025 at £37.59966 gives GAIN of £48.10
  46. SELL: 181.81818181 BOOM on 05/01/2026 at £7.20 gives GAIN of £309.09
  47. SELL: 5.35003929 SNDK on 20/01/2026 at £299.06322 gives GAIN of £401.23
  48. SELL: 248.53584765 PSRU on 09/02/2026 at £16.44399 gives GAIN of £586.92
  49. SELL: 2.42550878 LEU on 13/02/2026 at £142.95557 gives LOSS of £200.40
  50. SELL: 7.75224449 HOOD on 13/02/2026 at £56.3282 gives LOSS of £292.94
  51. SELL: 1.91849929 ADBE on 13/02/2026 at £192.36911 gives LOSS of £115.76
  52. SELL: 2.19839287 WDC on 13/02/2026 at £207.808906 gives LOSS of £1.52
  53. SELL: 1.36546857 INTC on 13/02/2026 at £34.71336 gives GAIN of £8.82
  54. SELL: 1.93501878 FSLR on 13/02/2026 at £166.26195 gives LOSS of £63.90
  55. SELL: .33067983 GEV on 13/02/2026 at £595.89362 gives GAIN of £48.83
  56. SELL: 15.57531428 UEC on 13/02/2026 at £11.84695 gives GAIN of £4.34
  57. SELL: .22039909 TER on 13/02/2026 at £231.03544 gives GAIN of £3.23
  58. SELL: 1.23687564 MU on 13/02/2026 at £298.72041 gives GAIN of £150.89
  59. SELL: .03443708 PYPL on 13/02/2026 at £29.038467 gives GAIN of £0.00
  60. SELL: .00653852 AMD on 13/02/2026 at £152.939809 gives GAIN of £0.00
  61. SELL: .00924387 APH on 13/02/2026 at £108.179799 gives GAIN of £0.00
  62. SELL: 25.82231656 SMR on 13/02/2026 at £10.73955 gives LOSS of £321.32
  63. SELL: .73819647 APP on 13/02/2026 at £274.848802 gives LOSS of £1.53
  64. SELL: .91565829 APP on 13/02/2026 at £274.8488 gives LOSS of £158.48
  65. SELL: .48168720 STX on 13/02/2026 at £308.6858 gives GAIN of £8.13
  66. SELL: .22801902 WDC on 13/02/2026 at £207.80891 gives GAIN of £18.99
  67. SELL: .00745747 NVDA on 13/02/2026 at £135.434672 gives GAIN of £0.00
  68. SELL: 17.82391209 NNE on 13/02/2026 at £18.6665 gives LOSS of £178.53
  69. SELL: 47.91201839 XSTC on 23/02/2026 at £99.35503 gives LOSS of £239.70
  70. SELL: 580.87076212 WITS on 23/02/2026 at £12.0685 gives LOSS of £289.76
  71. SELL: 19.66216145 PYPL on 20/03/2026 at £33.06859 gives LOSS of £135.39
  72. SELL: 8.67186681 OKLO on 20/03/2026 at £40.36616 gives LOSS of £283.61
  73. SELL: 72.41394148 SOFI on 20/03/2026 at £12.63527 gives LOSS of £585.03
  74. SELL: 4.68379939 TSLA on 20/03/2026 at £283.25082 gives LOSS of £173.31
  75. SELL: 106.45750804 LTBR on 20/03/2026 at £7.64606 gives LOSS of £731.33
  76. SELL: 39.34413059 NFLX on 20/03/2026 at £68.15782 gives LOSS of £369.97
  77. SELL: 136.12490786 SGE on 01/04/2026 at £8.47398 gives LOSS of £346.48
  78. SELL: 188.75131488 ISDE on 01/04/2026 at £20.71758 gives LOSS of £194.29
  79. SELL: 111.33273052 ICDU on 01/04/2026 at £11.54225 gives LOSS of £114.97
  80. SELL: 1.92339742 HOOD on 01/04/2026 at £52.36047 gives LOSS of £80.31
  81. SELL: 35.12478221 HIMS on 01/04/2026 at £15.4996 gives LOSS of £146.28
  82. SELL: 40.00000000 COPX on 01/04/2026 at £45.3495 gives LOSS of £135.38
  83. SELL: 2.43270416 CRWD on 01/04/2026 at £293.76774 gives LOSS of £88.27
  84. SELL: 39.19986815 PLTR on 01/04/2026 at £109.55062 gives LOSS of £71.75
  85. SELL: 2.76402668 MSFT on 01/04/2026 at £277.90615 gives LOSS of £231.86
  86. SELL: 8.00627516 BNKE on 01/04/2026 at £265.85022 gives LOSS of £119.11
  87. SELL: 3.49845351 LEU on 01/04/2026 at £139.92468 gives LOSS of £299.65
  88. SELL: 163.30041326 RFX on 01/04/2026 at £3.59999 gives LOSS of £133.73
  89. SELL: 66.05019815 WDEP on 02/04/2026 at £29.05502 gives LOSS of £80.91
  90. SELL: 10.54912172 APH on 02/04/2026 at £92.95371 gives LOSS of £126.84
  91. SELL: 63.13029061 UEC on 02/04/2026 at £9.94293 gives LOSS of £102.59

Despite all my trades, the NASDAQ (EQGB), FTSE dividend ETF (IUKD) or Van Eck Developed markets (TDGB) would have returned similar gains but only assuming a lump sum investment. However, I consider a 30% IRR a success as I have probably outperformed the market benchmark of SWDA or CSPX.

In another of my ISA accounts, I hold the Artemis Global Income Fund (acc.) - this gained 58% in the 2025/26 tax year (125% over 3 years)!


£20K ISA

This ISA was started as a lump sum of £20k in early April 2025. It gained 19% by April 3rd 2026.

This ISA was my 'trading' account. The idea was to buy and sell shares for a quick profit. In total, 217 SELL orders were processed.

At the end of the tax year, I made £3,714 with that 20k deposit, thus giving a 19% tax free gain.

So for all the buying, selling and risk taking in this account, it did less well than the Invest GIA account which had a much better IRR of 30%.

£20k T212 ISA - lump sum deposit of £20k

At one point this account was at £27k (37% IRR), but it has suffered from the Iran/Trump crisis.

What went wrong?

I made many mistakes in 2025/2026. The biggest was getting swept up in the nuclear/SMR hype. This industry is very long term (10+ years) and is very politically sensitive. I was in profit for a while but then it seems everyone sold while I held on. My choice was to wait perhaps 3-5 years to make a profit or cut my losses and sell. Once again I fell for the hype!

Silver and gold were looking like good investments (and the miners) but recently I have been surprised by them going down. This is because institutions are in need of cash (pension companies, etc.) and silver and gold are easy to sell just now. I expect silver and gold shares to increase again once the Iran situation is settled. Governments will be printing money and they will need gold to back it. Countries will be wanting to increase their wind and solar after the Iran crisis and it should also speed up their nuclear power programmes.

What went right?

Some of my successes were in buying shares in copper (Fresnillo), Korea ETFs (Samsung, Hynix), Sandisk, Seagate, Micron, WDC, semiconductor ETFs, Vertiv, Vernova, Teradyne, ASML, Alphabet and a few others.

Lessons Learned

I think my takeaway from this year should be to mainly invest in global index funds and to pick my satellite sector ETFs carefully.

When buying individual companies, I should always look at buying 'picks and shovels' companies. For instance, AI and data centers will need memory and hard drives and there are only a few manufacturers they can buy from. Nuclear power stations (whether large scale or SMRs) will always need uranium. Electricity infrastructure will always need copper. They also need silver, as do solar panel makers. Rare earth metals are also another niche to watch,

So I shouldn't try to put all my money on one or two numbers at the roulette table. Instead, I must try to identify trends and invest in the 'picks and shovels' that all those trending companies will need.

On my 'trading' ISA account, I should try to take a profit when I can. This year, if a share/ETF is showing a good profit, I will sell 1/3rd to 1/2 of it to crystalise a gain and put that gain into a core ETF to lessen the risk.

Here are my lessons-learnt takeaways from 2025:

  1. Ask myself - 'Would I buy these shares/funds now?' If not then sell at least 1/3 of them if in profit (or all of them if showing a loss).
  2. Am I betting on one or two 'horses' in an open race? If so, then to avoid trying to pick the winners.
  3. If a market is trending, identify the 'picks and shovels' and buy those - don't try to pick the winners.
  4. Try to reduce the number of holdings - if I am only buying £500 in shares of ABC and not £10k - then ask myself why only £500? Is it because I am gambling rather than investing?

Gold

The Middle East situation is causing a run on Gold, Silver, Copper, etc. because central banks and institutions need cash (dollars) and are liquidating their assets to pay for all the high-priced oil and gas (also food, defence, fertilizer, etc.). This means these gold/silver/copper prices will be dropping as they are forced to sell their shares and reserves. I will be holding on to my shares, but I will also be looking at buying more of these when they hit the bottom. 

Next week, I will have transferred £20k from my Invest GIA account to my T212 ISA account. 

The problem is, if the Middle East crisis suddenly resolves (Trump pulls out and safe passage is agreed for other nations) then the stock market will suddenly jump upwards and I will have missed the boat. So I will invest most of the £20k in some steady funds next week. I can always sell some of them to buy more gold/silver/copper when they look to be on the rise again.



Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)