Trading 212 £203k portfolio update 22/08/2026 + Tips

After a bad Tuesday, the market seems to have recovered, despite the news of the USA economy debt being serious.

£150 Deposit (+£53k)

Market movements this week (see video below)

T212 GIA

T212 GIA (IRR 91%)

Invest GIA holdings

T212 ISA

T212 ISA (IRR 55%)

ISA holdings

Trades

In my ISA account, I sold Hensoldt, Semi-conductor ETFs and I did a cheeky trade buying Moderna and then selling again for a very quick £160 profit.

I also purchased a token holding in two rare earth companies USA Rare Earth and Lynas Rare Earths (I already hold MP). These two holdings then proceeded to go up nicely during the week. I expect to top these up later when the price goes down again and am looking to liquidate some time next year when they may well double (fingers crossed!).

In my Invest account, I sold Seagate, Vertiv, nVidia and ASML and topped up on Hynix.

This has left me with approx. £17k in cash at the end of the week.

Market moves

Metals (gold, silver, copper) seem to have had a good-ish week. The USD Fx rate seems to be getting worse which has weakened my USA stocks.

It seems USA interest rates are being deliberately kept down which is encouraging share prices, but this won't last. USA Fed rated should rise and this will make owning US shares less attractive to investors.

Hedging by buying GBP shares (e.g. EQGB rather than EQQQ) seems to be sensible punt and perhaps buying more UK LSE holdings (e.g. IUKD) might be a safer play.

Here is a good video to watch for this week...

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Next week

I think shares may continue to rise, but I am prepared to take profits on an AI/semi-conductor holdings should the price start to drop. I am expecting a big correction soon and am keen to preserve my gains. The Iran situation is extremely brittle. I have thought for a long time 

Tips

I think my miner holdings are adequate and am not looking to buy more. My memory shares are down at the moment but should recover. I don't intend to buy any more. I want to keep my spare £17k of cash fairly fluid, but I may use it to buy CSH2 or perhaps an ex-US global ETF, EU/STOXX or a UK ETF.

Given the apparent success of Moderna, investing in similar mRNA companies may be wise when the price is attractive, but pharma companies are volatile and high risk.

AI has returned this list:

Here are the main clinical-stage mRNA cancer programs that are publicly visible right now:

Company	Cancer program	Phase	Notes
Moderna / Merck	Intismeran (mRNA-4157)	3	Adjuvant melanoma; also phase 2 programs in RCC, bladder, metastatic melanoma, NSCLC, and solid tumors.
BioNTech	BNT111 / personalized mRNA programs	2	Melanoma, head & neck cancer, colorectal cancer. ScienceDirect
CureVac	mRNA glioblastoma vaccine	1	Clinical oncology program, but not phase 2/3. ScienceDirect
Genentech	Autogene cevumeran (R07198457)	2	Advanced melanoma. ScienceDirect
Gritstone Bio	saRNA cancer vaccine program	2	Colorectal/colon cancer program, though it was terminated. ScienceDirect

For phase 3 specifically, the clear mRNA oncology program in the sources I found is Moderna/Merck’s intismeran.

For phase 2, the biggest active names are Moderna, BioNTech, and Genentech.

I have not researched any of these. I find that the Media has little in-depth understanding of the trials - their scientific papers are extremely hard to interpret. There is a lot of smoke and mirrors and obfuscation. Drug companies are very good at not telling the whole truth (e.g. the drug may have been successful in treating the cancer, but sadly it had merely delayed death by 6 months).

Unless you are very familiar in this area of pharma, I would advise you to stay clear of it, especially if it is a small company (on AIM market, etc.) - you can easily lose 100% (don't ask me how I know!).