Position Trades

August 2026 Position Trades Recap: I Sold $PYPL in Full

September 1, 2026 · 3 min read

Disclosure: As of August 31, 2026 I hold positions in AMZN, BE, CNSWF, HOOD, META, MSFT, MSTR, ORCL, UNH in the account this recap covers. This is a record of trades already taken, not a trade idea; open positions can change at any time after publication without notice. Not personalized investment advice. See full disclaimer below.

The Month in One Paragraph

I closed one name and added to another. $PYPL came off the book completely on August 28 at $54.31, two weeks after I trimmed a third of it at $59.91 on August 14. The same day I finished selling $PYPL I added to $BE at $218.40. Nothing else in this account moved all month.

Closed This Month

$PYPL

$PYPL was a new position as of my July portfolio update, opened at an average cost of $44.05. I trimmed a third of it on August 14 at $59.91, which is 36.0% above that $44.05 average. The rest went on August 28 at $54.31, or 23.3% above the same cost.

PayPal daily closes from late July through August 2026, with the August 14 trim at $59.91 and the August 28 exit at $54.31 marked.

Both pieces were green, but the trim was clearly the better sale. The stock was lower on August 28 than it had been on August 14, so the rest of the position came off at about two thirds of the gain the trim got.

Adds and Trims

The $PYPL trim on August 14 at $59.91 was the only sale in this account before the full exit, and it took a third of the position off. On August 28 I added to $BE at $218.40, and that was the only buy in the account all month.

Still Open

9 names carried into September. The most recent full mark I have is from August 7, so every percentage below is as of that date, measured against my cost in each name.

$AMZN has been in the account since early 2026, and I added to it in July as part of the rotation I wrote about at the time. It was up 27.5%.

The one I put money back into is $BE, at $218.40 on August 28. The read is the same AI power demand story I wrote up in June, and the add says I still believe it.

$CNSWF hasn't been touched since I opened it in April, no adds and no trims, and it was up 30.8%.

I've held $HOOD since March and taken pieces off it on the way up. What's left was up 22.7%.

$META is the quiet problem. I opened it in March at just over $618 and it sat 4.2% under that on August 7, so it has gone basically nowhere for five months while everything around it worked.

$MSFT is a re-entry. I closed the old lot back in March and bought the name again after June 15, and it was up 35.1%.

The worst position in the account is $MSTR, and it's not close. It was down 40.1%, and I haven't sold any of it, which means I've been wrong and patient at the same time.

$ORCL goes back to February and I've added to it since, which brought my average cost down to $137.23. It was up 7.1%, the smallest gain among the green names.

Best percentage in the book is $UNH at 53.8%. I've trimmed it twice on the way up and the rest is still working.

Carrying Into Next Month

9 names go into September, one fewer than August started with. $BE is the position I'm watching closest since it's the only name I added to, and the thing that breaks that read is simple: if AI power demand stops showing up in real orders and revenue, the add was wrong. $MSTR is the other one that matters, because a 40% hole isn't something one good month repairs. The rest of the book is doing what I bought it to do.

Howard is a full-time trader based in New Jersey with 13 years of experience across Forex, crypto, equities, and futures. He started Position Note to document his trades and analysis in public. All positions are disclosed. Nothing here is personalized investment advice.