michael eraklis kashioulis @MikesTrades: "Today I trimmed around half..."

United Kingdom

Today I trimmed around half of the portfolios Lloyds position, locking in gains of between +70% and +95%, a solid return for one of the portfolio’s longer-standing holdings. If you’ve followed along over the past few years, you’ll know I’ve been a big supporter of Lloyds, especially when it was trading below 40/50p. It’s been a reliable stock in the portfolio, not always flashy and jumping up, but consistent, with managable volatility, and often a quiet performer in the background. With the stock now up over 50% year-to-date and trading above 80p, it felt like the right time to take some profits. While I still hold the other half, I’m watching closely as a few headwinds emerge. We’ve already seen a close call with the car finance compensation scheme, which was softened after a recent ruling, but could have had a very different outcome. It’s one of those moments that reminds you how quickly sentiment and policy can shift. Looking ahead, there are potential pressure points: the upcoming UK budget in November could bring renewed attention to the Bank Levy (unconfirmed), and falling interest rates may start to weigh more heavily (higher rates were one of the key factors in some of my entries earlier on). The capital released will be redeployed shortly to other stocks I see could now outperform. I'm sure we'll add more to Lloyds again in the future! $LLOY.L (Lloyd's Banking Group PLC) $UK100 $ISF.L (iShares Core FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (Dist)) $VGK (Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF)

Not investment advice. The author may have financial interests in the mentioned instruments.