Personal trading policy

The author of Metals & Machines invests in the sectors it covers. These rules exist so that the author never trades ahead of, or on the back of, what Metals & Machines publishes.

1. Who these rules cover

The author, and any account the author controls or directly benefits from, including accounts of household members.

2. The 48-hour rule

The author does not buy or sell any security or fund that is named in an issue during the 48 hours before and the 48 hours after that issue is published. This applies to the weekly issue, free and Pro, and to alerts.

3. Funds that hold companies we mention

The author's funds hold many of the companies Metals & Machines covers, and Metals & Machines publishes every week, plus alerts, so those companies come up in most issues. Applied literally, the 48-hour rule would leave only short windows to trade these funds. So:

• A fund the author holds is treated as "mentioned" whenever one of its top 10 holdings is the subject of a signal in the issue.
• Regular purchases through a pre-scheduled investment plan (fixed amount, fixed dates) are allowed at any time, provided the plan is published on the Disclosure policy page at least 30 days before it starts, and is not changed more than once per quarter.
• Any other purchase or sale of these funds must fall outside the 48-hour window of every issue in which they are "mentioned" under the first point.

4. Other restrictions

• No short selling, and no options or other derivatives, on any security or fund covered by Metals & Machines.
• Any position in a covered security or fund is held for at least 30 days, except to meet the 48-hour rule or in a genuine personal emergency.
• The author never trades in the opposite direction of a signal's framing in order to profit from readers' reactions.

5. Disclosure of trades

Any change in the author's positions in covered securities or funds is shown on the Disclosure policy page within 7 days, with the date of the trade.

6. If a rule is broken

Any breach, even an accidental one, is disclosed in the next issue and logged in the public track record, with an explanation.