After 365 days of cracking financial journalism, here are the top 20 stories that ShareProphets readers were obsessed by. 

Between Christmas Day and January 2nd we shall be publishing more than 20 share tips of the year – buys and sells. Eighteenth up is a second from Steve Moore.

Well the year is up, the results are in and my pick of five AIM stocks to sell has offered up a pretty good result. I doubt these shares could easily have been shorted, but I hope readers managed to avoid them at least.

There seems to be a palpable sigh of relief in the markets right now after the panicky trading days before Christmas, with Boxing Day’s stonking rise in the US followed up by another rip-roaring turnaround last Thursday. Trump is advising us all to go back to the tried and trusted “buy the dips” and even some prominent bears have been calling some big tech names oversold…

Thank you to everyone who sent in their photo over this Christmas break. A small reminder that ShareProphets' readers are real people, residing all around this planet. We have three more to share before reality engages once again.

Do you have exposure to gold and if not why not? Are you mad?

I have a bit of a rant about New Year's Eve. The Mrs and I will both be going to bed with a bottle of brandy by ten. In terms of stocks, I look at Amur (AMC), Cabot (CAB) and all that is wrong with AIM, Frontera (FRR), Metals Exploration (MTL) and Mayan (MYN). I have a handy tip to save money in 2019 and wish you all a prospoerous New Year.

Much as predicted by yours truly, AIM-listed Tern plc (TERN) has yet again extended the loans it has given to its principal investee Device Authority (DA). The point here is that these loans have been classed as a current asset ever since the first one was made, and they have been periodically extended – presumably because DA had no means by which to repay them.

An “Update on launch of own regulated brand” announcement from Veltyco (VLTY), that “further to its announcement of 22 November 2018”…

AIM-listed Minoan (MIN) has offered up some good news to its investors in that 11.325 million options due to expire today and which are not expected to be exercised will not be extended. Of course, the news I would like to see is the monetisation of the Cavo Sidero asset but given that the future dilution has come down (for a change!) this is a small piece of good news.

Cabot Energy (CAB) which, as Northern Petroleum, once saw its shares touch 140p today admitted that unless it gets away a placing at a “deep discount” (its words) it will go bust by the end of January. Its shares, about which we have been warning for eons, have crashed by 59% to 0.625p. To think that, less, than a year ago, former CEO Keith Bush raised $16.5 million at 5p. All the money's gone.

Asiamet Resources (ARS) is one that I have been wrong about in the past, as I wasn’t expecting the share price to drop as low as it has done, but that has been part of a more general trend amongst the AIM resource stocks that aren’t currently generating any revenue.

It has been a nasty month – and with New Year’s Eve still to come it could get nastier. So how is my little portfolio of high-dividend payers faring, and am I still doing better than cash in the bank (which is what I was, as a bear of almost everything, looking to achieve)?

Between Christmas Day and January 2nd we shall be publishing more than 20 share tips of the year – buys and sells. Seventeenth up is a first from Steve Moore.

AIM-listed The People’s Operator (TPOP) (until Thursday, but suspended) issued a statement at 6.24pm on Friday to update shareholders on its listing status (no Nomad and due to be booted to the great stockmarket in the Sky on 3 January) and its financial position. A prime example of a no-one-is-watching o’clock RNS – and read it carefully and it is clear that the Grim Reaper is hovering, and will strike imminently...

Every day until New Year's Day, we'll publish a picture of the view through a reader's window. Today's ShareProphets view from the window is Colin S in the Palace Hotel, Da Lat, Vietnam.

Hello, Share Revellers. It might be tempting, without doing any research at all, to compare Balfour Beatty (BBY) to Carillion and the dire problems there were there. But not all construction engineers are in trouble. Balfour Beatty looks set fair, in my humble opinion, for an increased share price and dividends...

Rockhopper Exploration (RKH) was one of the darlings of AIM back in 2010/11 and was a big hit with investors when it first discovered and appraised the Sealion field in the Falklands, but since then interest has waned.

On New Year's Day, we'll publish the top 20 most read ShareProphets articles of the year. But, aside from Tom, who do you think will be the most read ShareProphets writer of the year. (Hint: it won't be me.)

Between Christmas Day and January 2nd we shall be publishing more than 20 share tips of the year – buys and sells. Sixteenth up up is the second from Tom Winnifrith & Steve Moore at N50.