--- title: "2024 Mid-Year Review Summary (Part 1)" type: "Topics" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/topics/22364506.md" description: "Set a star to receive notifications when the article is updated, otherwise it will be buried in the WeChat feed. The overall performance in the first half of this year was very good, mainly from overseas investments and arbitrage, including but not limited to Hong Kong IPO subscriptions, US stocks, Web3, airdrop hunting, etc. Below is a detailed breakdown. 1. Hong Kong IPO Subscriptions First, let’s explain what Hong Kong IPO subscriptions are for newcomers. When a new stock is listed in Hong Kong, a certain proportion of public shares must be offered, and retail investors like us can participate in the subscription. Compared to A-shares, Hong Kong IPO subscriptions have fewer participants, and the winning rate can often reach a few percent or even tens of percent, making it easy to win..." datetime: "2024-07-10T09:13:52.000Z" locales: - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/topics/22364506.md) - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/22364506.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/22364506.md) author: "[六爷漫谈](https://longbridge.com/en/profiles/4983.md)" --- > Supported Languages: [简体中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/topics/22364506.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/topics/22364506.md) # 2024 Mid-Year Review Summary (Part 1) Set a star to receive notifications when articles are updated, otherwise they will be drowned in the WeChat feed. The overall performance in the first half of this year was very good, mainly from overseas investments and arbitrage, including but not limited to Hong Kong IPO subscriptions, U.S. stocks, web3, and airdrop farming. Below, I’ll break it down one by one. **1\. Hong Kong IPO Subscriptions** First, let me explain what Hong Kong IPO subscriptions are for newcomers. For a Hong Kong IPO, a certain proportion of shares must be publicly held, and retail investors can participate in subscribing to these new shares. Compared to A-shares, Hong Kong IPO subscriptions have fewer participants, and the success rate can often be a few percent or even dozens of percent, making it relatively easy to get allocated.    In earlier years, to ensure a successful listing, the IPO price was generally set lower than the secondary market price, so after listing, the shares often rose. This meant retail investors could easily obtain new shares at a low cost and sell them immediately after listing to profit from the price difference. During the bull market from 2019 to 2021, Hong Kong IPO subscriptions were highly profitable, and many people made significant money through this arbitrage method. However, as more retail investors subscribed to IPOs, the IPO prices increasingly aligned with market prices, so post-listing performance became uncertain—some rose, some fell. **How was the Hong Kong IPO market in the first half of the year?**  It was a 50-50 split, and overall, it was quite challenging to navigate. Looking back, the number of rising IPOs wasn’t small, but during the subscription phase, it was hard to predict which ones would rise.  If you subscribed to all, with only 50% rising and factoring in subscription fees, the expected return might be negative. So, subscribing to everything wasn’t a great strategy, especially since it wasn’t a broad rally. The ones with relatively high certainty, in my opinion, were Quanxin Biotech and Laopu Gold, which I focused on. Quanxin’s gray market rose 38%, with a profit of 1,500 yuan per lot. A B-group allocation got 20 lots, netting 30,000 yuan.    Laopu Gold’s gray market rose 50%, with a profit of 2,000 yuan per lot. A B-group allocation got 10 lots, netting 20,000 yuan. After Laopu Gold, many thought Hong Kong IPOs might revive, leading to a broad rally. Unfortunately, Yuanxu, which was oversubscribed over 2,400 times, broke its IPO price and fell dozens of points, dashing hopes. Subsequent IPOs after Yuanxu also broke their prices, making a full recovery in Hong Kong IPOs unlikely in the short term. For the second half, I think there will still be opportunities in Hong Kong IPOs, but careful selection is crucial. If you pick right, the returns can still be substantial—making tens or hundreds of thousands from one IPO is exhilarating.    **2\. U.S. Stocks** U.S. stocks are where I’ve allocated significant capital, and my accounts performed well in the first half. Main Account A returned 16%, and Main Account B returned 10%.  Smaller accounts performed even better, with a 127% return.  The main returns from U.S. stocks didn’t come from frequent trading but from holding positions.  My holdings include U.S. tech and semiconductor stocks like NVIDIA, Apple, QQQ, etc. For details, check my Longbridge portfolio—scan the QR code below: Of course, I do trade, mostly on a monthly basis. I traded more actively earlier this year. For example, I added to my NVIDIA position at $500+ (equivalent to $50+ post-split) in January but ended up selling too early. The small account’s high returns this year came from holding only NVIDIA. I’ve explained before why I split accounts: first, to avoid constantly checking and selling out of fear (looking back, my main account sold too early, while the smaller one held steady). Second, the Investor Protection Fund compensates up to 500,000 yuan per account if a brokerage fails. Other profitable stocks included TSMC, Microsoft, Meta, etc.—mostly U.S. tech and semiconductor leaders. I won’t detail them all here. Almost none of my holdings fell; most kept hitting new highs.    My worst decision in the first half was reducing positions in April, thinking U.S. stocks would correct. For a week or two after selling, U.S. stocks did correct—NVIDIA dropped 10%.    But by May, they rebounded, and June-July saw new all-time highs. Trying to time the market is incredibly hard.  At least it’s just missing gains, not losses.  Among ETFs, the Nasdaq rose 20% in the first half, and the S&P 500 rose 15%—U.S. stocks are just too strong.  Nasdaq 100 ETF—I assume everyone holds some? It was a must-buy earlier this year, with a simple strategy: just DCA. But now it’s at all-time highs again, so a pullback is possible. The only ETF in my portfolio at a loss is XBI, down a few points. With rate-cut hopes repeatedly dashed, rate-sensitive sectors underperformed.  For the second half, I’ll focus on stability. Shorting is too risky (even if a correction seems likely), and it’s hard to chase the stocks I sold too early. Tough spot. I’ll bet on rate cuts by adding U.S. bond ETFs—they should perform well if cuts happen. I’ll also hold more cash in USD money market funds, which still yield over 5%. That’s it for now. Next time, I’ll review web3 separately. **That’s all for today’s share. If you found it useful, feel free to follow, repost, or like!**$NVIDIA(NVDA.US) $Apple(AAPL.US) $Tesla(TSLA.US) ### Related Stocks - [NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/NVDA.US.md) - [Apple Inc. (AAPL.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AAPL.US.md) - [Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TSLA.US.md) ## Comments (14) - **小鱼儿爱吃猫 · 2024-07-10T11:44:30.000Z**: Missed the old shop, should have bought a necklace pendant - **六爷漫谈** (2024-07-10T11:45:17.000Z): Hahaha, then I'll go get a pendant tomorrow. - **Tesla Fans · 2024-07-10T11:34:29.000Z**: Would like to ask if Six has sold all $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) to realize profits? - **六爷漫谈** (2024-07-10T11:34:59.000Z): No, still holding some positions. Let the profits run. - **Tesla Fans** (2024-07-10T11:36:07.000Z): I only have a small portion of my position in $Tesla(TSLA.US) transferred to $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) to build a new position. - **六爷漫谈** (2024-07-10T11:36:39.000Z): Hot money is now all concentrated in the leading tech stocks, either switching positions between them or holding. - **火红的猫 · 2024-07-10T11:25:13.000Z**: Same question