This week was about one thing, and one thing only. IPOs.

I’ve avoided IPOs for a while, largely because it’s a very risky game unless you time things just right and also because I rarely have enough of a cash balance to make it worthwhile to participate. They’ve also been plagued by tech issues in the past which has made me pretty wary.

This time, things were (mostly) different. I had Christmas Eve off work and planned to sit in my pyjamas all day anyway, plus I’d finally lost patience with Hudson-Odoi and managed to market sell him a couple of days before, meaning that I had a decent wedge of cash waiting to be spent.

Like many others, I was lucky enough to jump on my targets at a low price – Zirkzee and Levitt for quick flips and Cherki for a long term hold (I did also flip some of him due to getting so many, so cheaply). It really does pay to keep a decent sized cash balance.

I won’t comment too much on the supposed tech issues but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was part of FI testing new IPO mechanisms. They definitely didn’t get it right but I do think it could be a step in the right direction if it allows more traders to get on at a lower price – as long as they get that initial price right, and not too low.

A quick summary of the rest of the week as I’m a bit short of time today:

Premiums – fairly static, dropped a few quid during the week but had a decent rise on Sancho due to the news of Erling Haaland apparently agreeing a move to Dortmund. I swapped CHO for KDB as he seems a solid hold for the next 6 months based on PB potential, CL and Euros involvement. Bit of an injury risk I’ll need to keep an eye on though.

Performance – also static with the winter break not helping. Sabitzer, Gnabry and Xhaka getting a bit of a bounce – Gnabry presumably because traders suspect a positional change in the near future. Up a few quid over the week and looking to invest in another player or two over the next week.

Potential – increasing faster than the rest. Alena rose on the news of the loan to Betis, rises also for transfer targets like Bergwijn, Kulusevski and Tonali and under-the-radar youngsters Oscar Rodriguez, Sergio Gomez and Kluivert. As well as adding Cherki, I brought in Benrahama as a top prospect in the Championship with likely transfer links in January.

I lot of traders have seen huge rises over the last couple of weeks – I’m not one of them. Two reasons for this – I don’t have a lot of EPL players so the winter break is hurting me a little and I don’t tend to chase rises on rumours as I’m not usually into quick flips. I’m set up for the medium term and I’m pretty comfortable with that but it does mean that I’m not making as much as I perhaps could if I was trading in and out every day.

As always, you can visit the individual fund pages if you want to see exactly who I hold and how they are doing. Happy trading all!