AN EXPENSIVE LESSON

I had a call 10 minutes ago which almost gave me a heart attack. It was from my brokerage, informing me that I had done a “naked” short sell…..which is illegal in Singapore, and subject to a minimum penalty of $1000.


It turned out that I was careless. The stocks to be liquated were held in my CPF investment account. I forgot about the fact and sold it off without ticking the box which says “CPF”, making it a cash sell inadvertently.

Thankfully, it has all been resolved, although it cost me about $150 after all the transaction costs have been factored in and by the fact that I had to resell those CPF stocks at a slightly lower market price etc. I still ended up reasonably in the black overall, but that was $150 which did not have to be spent in the first place! My heart aches.
My heart is still palpitating from the close call, and you can be sure I am NEVER, EVER, going to do my stock market transactions in a hurry from here out.
I have no idea how those intra-day traders handle the stress, but I guess this means I’m not cut out for that kind of work. Anyway, I am going to go make myself some tea and calm myself down. There is no way I can make myself work for the next half an hour…..