ISA IQE holding sold - More Versarien bought, and had to get more Optibiotix

I cracked at lunchtime and sold the rest of my ISA holding in IQE:IQE.

The shorters aren't giving up, and with no prospect of news in the near future I've been toying for a while with cashing in all my big profits and just keeping my loss-making SIPP shares.

I think IQE:IQE probably have a bright future, and I really, really hope that's the case, and so want to keep a decent number of shares so I can benefit from that, and if the opportunity arises buy more.

There's just one nagging doubt, and that's the amount of time it's taking to get five new machines up and running to meet escalating demand. For the next 12 months, the cost of scaling up production looks like it will be huge, so the ability to generate cash is severely limited.

I'm starting to think that's why the shorters are still in control, and will be for some time.

I sold my remaining 3,035 shares at 118.1p and made £1,786.99 (99.4%) profit, liberating £3,575.39.

IQE:IQE has been by far my most profitable share. In fact, without it my performance would be rubbish. I've made £11,981.81 (128.6%) profit which is absolutely stunning, and whatever happens to the IQE:IQE share price from now, I'm happy with that.

I still have 1,809 shares in the SIPP but I paid 131.45p for those, so they are down by 11%, but I'll lock those away for the long term now.

The sale has made a dramatic improvement in my average monthly performance, lifting it to £490 per month over 2.5 years, which is 11.3% of the (recently enlarged) portfolio cost.

So why did I sell now?

It's because my two favourite shares of the moment have become so stupidly cheap that I couldn't resist buying more.

I want to get VRS:Versarien up around 10% of my portfolio value so I can top-slice to keep it at 10% as it climbs. I like that model and it works really well with CAML:Central Asia Metals, and the VRS:Versarien price has slipped just recently. It appears to be Miton selling their shares in order to meet redemption requirements. This has to be complete by the end of April, but given the cash has to clear before they can dish it out, I think they must be nearing the end of their selling spree.

My average purchase price is 75.12p and they closed yesterday with an offer price of 65p, so a full 10p cheaper then the ones I bought. With that in mind I bought 3,063 at 65p costing £1,999.90. By the end of the day the offer price had risen to 68p and bid price 65p, so the spread has been eliminated today.

This increased my holding to 7,626 shares costing £5,439.58 and a weighted average price of 71p.

Tragically they are down by 13% and losing £723 but when they bounce it should be good. Each 1p rise is worth £76, and when they shift they really tend to shift.

My other purchase was naughty, but I can't stand by and see another fantastic OPTI:Optibiotix RNS for a good revenue-generating contract result in yet another drop in share price. It's just too depressing! I was planning to sink all my IQE:IQE profits into VRS:Versarien but I absolutely had to get some more OPTI:Optiobiotix at this price.

My weighted average in the ISA was 66.9p but I bought 2,639 shares at 59.2p (crazy madness!) costing £1,571.24. This dragged my weighted average down to 66.3p. Hoped it would be a bit more than that! As usual, had I waited I could have bought them for 58p by the end of the day.

That takes my total holding to 63,361 shares and each 1p change in price is now worth £633. They are losing £5,837 at the moment, but I am so utterly convinced that these are going to be profitable this year, that I really don't care.

Needless to say the sale of IQE:IQE had a devastating impact on my portfolio paper profits which are down £3,704 this week and the gap between cost and value has a deficit of £10,336 with almost every share losing money. Only three shares are actually in profit, but that's what comes from investing in volatile startup companies that go through a significant period of doubt before the shares either plummet or soar. I only need one or two to soar (as long as one of them is OPTI:Optibiotix) for this strategy to pay out.

If OPTI:Optibiotix lets me down then the whole thing comes crashing down around me, but that's a risk I'm willing to take after following this story for 2.5 years as all the pieces of the jigsaw are meticulously put in place ready to create a stunning picture.