see, now this is a bit more like what I had in mind. Monday, bought Adacel at .44. Thursday, sold at .49: profit, $620, or 10 per cent in three days. March 15, bought BGF at .395, March 30, sold at .445: profit, $610 in two weeks.

and Biota has finally gone past my January stupid purchase price of $1.82 (after diving to around $1.40, when only the chart showing support at that level saved me from bailing out.) They announced today that they'd got US government approval to compete on the flu market for prevention - only the second compound to do so - and shares duly went up to $2. I could try to jump now and make $800 or so; but as I've said before, I waited so long, I'm inclined to keep an eye on it and see what it does, at least until tomorrow when people have had a chance to read the news in the business section.

something is going on with Adacel, I'm sure. no announcements, just a jump in the price. I have a small parcel on my "hold" list, but with no certainty and a volatile stock, I decided to get out - don't forget that all this money comes off my mortgage at 7 % p.a.

now hoping the ASX shares will move again - I stupidly took them off the market to see where it went, but they simply peaked just above my sale price and then dropped again. this time I'm leaving them there; a $400 profit on $7000 investment will do fine if it comes within six weeks of the purchase.

still not sure what to do about OLY. if BTA goes high enough, I might be able to afford to take the thousand-dollar lesson it represents about not buying "at market". ever.

apart from dumb luck and favourable gold prices/currency movements, I'm learning: the closer I watch the market the better I do and: sticking to a few stocks and learning what's cheap for that stock is a good strategy. as for my sell points, they need work.

very interesting: half an hour to the opening of the market, and the gold and asx shares are being requested at prices above what they're being offered for.

in other words, people have put their shares on the market at "x", the gold price has gone up, other people have determined to get the shares at x+10%, and the sellers have obviously not checked - or they're willing to stay low to get out of the market, I suppose.

I've adjusted my prices accordingly; I may not get the full morning spike that seems to occur, but I can't be at my computer in the first hour of trading and I am up to the hilt; it's time to take the thousand dollars or so that these rises represent and cool off for a minute.

bta has also made a pre-opening announcement that has created a similar situation; people looking to buy at $1.86, but others to sell at $1.78. that stock is so volatile that even though I could set a sale offer to get rid of the shares I bought at $1.82 three months ago, I'm hanging on just to see - and to see if I can get a really decent return for my trouble...

this is more like it: I've been watching the REA shares go up since I bought them last Wednesday for $3.65. I just sold them at $3.95, which on 2000 shares is a $600 profit. they may go up a bit more: I don't mind, it's enough for the moment, as I still have too much tied up in stupid OLY shares.

the ASX index is heading for 5000 points, which will be interesting; I'm hoping my ASX (company) shares sell before then. I'll then only put back in one of those two deals; if I have to wait forever for OLY and BTA to sell, I should still really only have two other parcels in the market, and until I sold the REA shares, I had five.

or of course I could dispose of my BGF shares, which are up, but not up enough. it's nice to know I can; I suspect they could go up quite a bit more, but I have to be careful and keep checking, and it's all rather distracting and time consuming. not that I'd mind if every deal could be like the REA one...

at last, some movement on the OLY front. they announced a new exploration licence and a sales deal to China that they modestly described as a "company-maker" and the shares shifted ten per cent. Still below what I stupidly paid for them, but not as much below.

also, the All Ordinaries jumped to 4950, very close to the magic 5000; if it gets there, my ASX shares might go. or people might be spooked.

monitoring the situation closely...

new purchases: BGF (yes, again) at $.395; approximately $5000 worth.

REA,which jumped a bit today, at $3.65. have no idea as yet at what point I'll sell either. soon, though; I don't have the money to fund these purchases, really. heh.

ho-hum. finally got rid of my VBA shares at 4 c more than I paid for them (a grand profit of about $80 after costs), only to watch them go up another 4 c within hours. keep in mind it took more than six weeks to make that first 4 c gain.

I surmise that this is a result of the failure of OzJet, and possibly Qantas's staffing woes. This kind of volatility is the reason I've taken my too-many BTA shares off the market; I could turn around in a day and find they've doubled in value and I've missed out. REA, which I hold about $2000 worth of (which I bought for $500 several years ago) did a big jump just after their halfyearly report came out - might look at them next.

but in the meantime, I am still stuck with: the BTA shares. OLY shares at 80 per cent of what I paid for them. and some ASX shares which will, I suppose, sell sooner or later. too much money in the market to get back in, and too much else to do.

now the computers are laughing at me. I tried to resubmit my sell order for the stupid OLY shares I bought too high, and the system basically wouldn't put it through until I confirmed the sell price. ie, it said "how much? you're joking. you won't get that."

I put it in anyway. it's going to be a long wait.

meanwhile, REA, which I bought $500 worth of at a dollar a few years back, has spiked insanely, and my $500 worth is nearly up to two thousand. should have bought more of those. ain't hindsight a wonderful thing? (remembering that at the same time, I bought a lot of other dotcom dogs that won't be mentioned here for fear of me breaking down and sobbing.)

wow. when it goes off, it goes off.

yesterday, acting on a combination of a hunch and annoyance at how long I'd waited for it to recover, I took my BTA shares off the market. today - 20 minutes ago - they announced a sale of a further 1.75 million doses of their product to the US government. the shares finally went above what I paid for them, and were going up by a cent every few minutes for a few minutes there.

now I have my 5500 shares and a dilemma; do I put them back on and take my modest profit, or given how long I've held on to them - nearly bailed out at $1.40 - do I hold them until the morning, in the hope that the overnight news (plus various bird flu outbreaks, little as I want to profit from that) will trigger more buy orders?

as I can be at my pc all morning tomorrow, I'm inclined to wait. if it gets above my purchase price solidly, at least I can get my money back - I was truly worried for a while - and there's a good chance with such a volatile stock that it will bounce much higher. exciting, scary stuff. (should be off at something else, but I'm being a bit naughty this afternoon).