anyone trading stocks at all?

I’m thinking of taking the plunge.

I’m not an expert.

I’ve been doing a little reading.

I may open a trading account online.

Does anyone have one of these?

Any good recommendations?

I’m looking to invest around ten grand to start.

Any help, or discussion would be nice, because I’m a complete amatuer.

How hard can this stuff really be?

If you’re not an expert and also not inclined to spend a lot of time on an ongoing basis researching individual stocks, then I’d suggest investing in a mutual fund. BTW, do you have a 401K? If not, and you’re working, then you should consider that, because it gives you a lot of tax advantages. But beyond that, mutuals are pretty easy to research as far as performance. Problem is, things are so volatile right now, it can seem like a crap shoot. I’d suggest reading up on mutuals in “Money” or other consumer-targeted financial webzines like Motley Fool or Financial Times so that you can get a sense of how competently each has been managed. If it were me, I’d hold off (invest the money in a CD or something short term and safe) until Obama has taken office and the course of this crisis is settled a bit. But if you want to get going, then at least read up on it to get a sense of the industries that look promising and look for mutual funds that include them. It’s pretty risky to load too much into one stock in these up-and-coming industries, because you don’t know how well any company is going to do. And it takes a lot of time to keep on top of it. I prefer having a mutual fund manager do that for me, although most of what I have sucks right now. But what pretty much everyone else has does, too, so I figure I’ll just have to wait it out.

If I spent half as much time watching stocks as I do watching ILP I think I might have a chance. I’m talking about money that I don’t really really need, and I do have a 401k. I’ve already got a program that lets me monitor twelve at a time. I’m not into big risks. For instance, I might put 7500 in things like southern company or others that have good long term records, and toy around with the rest and just see how it goes. Oil companies are losing right now, but if the news stories are right about this price break at the pumps being temporary, it might be fun to buy just a little while it’s cheap and see where it goes. I’ve always been a news junkie and I’ve never lost playing craps at the casinos, except one weekend where I lost at three different ones in three different states. But I was all coked up and just acting recklessly. I wouldn’t trade stocks under the influence of anything stronger than weed.

5 steps:

  1. For an introduction, study stockcharts.com like there is no tomorrow.
    1a. Especially learn stochastics.
    1b. Also learn a convergence/divergence type oscillator like MACD.
  2. For advanced training, surrender your will to the undisputed “master of the markets,” Jay at UndergroundTrader.com.
  3. Be very, very afraid.
  4. Go broke.
  5. Go back to step 3 until step 4 stops happening.

I can’t possible imagine what that would involve. I mean, who would study stocks if there were no tomorrow?

I’m no expert,but if I had spare cash I’d be investing in the banks here in the UK.

They support our economy and are now underwritten by the government. In th elong term there’s only one direction their stock can go.

First of all, technical analysis is worthless…if it worked any better than fundamental investing, everybody would do it, and everybody would get wealthy off of it.

Few mutual fund managers outperform the major indices. Rarely does a mutual fund, over time, outperform the S&P500 index for instance. You can invest in a mutual fund that traces the index, or you can invest in an ETF, which trades like a stock, but consists of a basket of companies, like a mutual fund. They’re nice because you don’t have to wait until the end of the day to sell.

Warren Buffet is a contrarian investor. He buys when everybody is selling, and sells when everybody is buying. He says now is a good time to buy, and if there is anybody I believe when they say that, it’s him.

Generally, if you are a moderate investor in terms of risk, the rule of thumb is you should have (100-your age) as the percentage of stocks in your portfolio. So in my case, (100-23 = 77%) of stock in my portfolio. If you are willing to take on more risk, use 90 instead of a hundred. Less risk, use 110. That’s just a very general rule of thumb.

Anyways, there are tons of different kinds of investments. The safest kind at least give you a return that will negate most, if not all, of inflation. Anybody who doesn’t invest is doing themselves a serious disservice.

Love the stocks. I use Zecco to trade, because they’re good and they give you a bunch of free trades each month if you account has more than 2.5gs.

As for strategy, Dorky nailed it. Indexes and passively managed funds are almost a sure thing, because in general the market expands. If you want to buy your own stocks, you should make sure to diversify. That sounds like a tool stock-broker term, but it’s pretty simple in concept and it’s effective: buy a bunch of different stuff, and when some of it goes down, other bits go up. By ‘different stuff’, I mean lots of industries, big and small companies, stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds, every fuckingkind of asset you can get your hands on (even cash, a bank account will do).

But what’s the fun in all that. Another thing Buffet says is that if you know what you’re doing, you don’t need to diversify. He is as successful as he is because he reads about companies 12 hours a day or some ungodly amount like that. I find it way more interesting to research and invest in individual companies. So far, little luck, but who hasn’t had bad luck the past few months? I’m with Buffet: now’s the time to buy.

If I buy and sell stocks in the same day, more than 4 times in a 5 day period I’m classified as a “pattern day trader” which means that according to the SEC I have to have a 25000 minimum balance.

I don’t have quite that much. Is the way around this to simply hold out and sell in the morning?

I don’t like the idea of being bound in that way.

Any suggestions anyone?

Selling that much is usually a bad idea anyway. You end up getting fucked because of the bid-ask spread: the difference between what people are asking for the stock and what people are actually willing to pay. When you buy, you pay the ask price, and when you sell you receive the bid price. Because those prices can differ by many percentage points (I found a stock at one point with a 17% difference), you’re starting at a loss. Unless you REALLY know what you’re doing, it’s better to hold for a while.

Are you thinking of making this your primary source of income? Day trading is a full time job, and a pretty stressful one from what I gather. It would totally fuck up your high.

EDIT: On second though, coke might be the perfect drug for such a venture.

I’m just thinking about it as a hobby. Sort of like gambling.

Any tips on where to find well organized information for beginners?

lol u went into the future read my mind then went beck in the past and posted this before me!!! :banana-dance:

I think that u go back to step 1 until step 5 stops happening

Carleas- generally you will only find a spread that large on the pink sheets or very thinly traded stocks. Stock on large exchanges with high volumes rarely have a spread more than a few cents.

There are other reasons to hold on to a stock for a longer period of time. If you sell a stock that you’ve held for less than a year, you suffer short term capital gains as opposed to long term capital gains, which can really make a difference on the taxes you pay.

Another thing you’d have to be careful of with trading frequently is good faith and free ride violations.

A good faith violation occurs when, let’s say you sell XYZ stock on Monday, then use the proceeds to buy ABC stock. If you sell ABC stock before Thursday (XYZ’s settlement date), it would be considered a good faith violation, as ABC stock isn’t considered fully paid for.

Also, be cautious of free riding. That’s when you buy a stock, then sell it without paying for the initial purchase by settlement date. Even if you make a profit, it’s considered a violation that can result in the closure of your brokerage account.

Most brokerage firms offer free tools and research to help you make a decision when you’re investing in stocks and mutual funds.

Like i saw written on the wall in a tube sta. in London, by, a merril lynch ad.

“Let them dig their own fucking graves”