Stock Market

Personally I use my bank's trading platform. Alot of people will probably tell you not to because most banks charge insane commissions, but I'm satisfied with mine - $9.95 per contract and max of $29.95 per trade.

There's site likes Scott Trade that simply charge a flat $9.99 per trade though, which is very nice. But you can't do this with Scott Trade:

1) Execute a call contract to buy 100 shares
2) Sell the 100 shares less than 5 minutes later and get a $500 profit
--- This is as far as Scott Trade or any other platform can go at once ---
3) Withdraw the money from my investment account into my cheqing or savings account and have access to the money within a few minutes

And since I deal mostly with $500+ sums at a time, I don't really mind paying the $20 more that my bank charges in exchange for instant access to the money (i.e. for emergencies or paying bills etc, instead of 1-2 weeks like it will take you with other systems).

 

Thanks for the rep.

Yes, I do watch the market in real-time to execute more precise entries, but the intent is not to buy and sell the same day. I am looking to make a profit in 3-5 days.

 

Wow, some people here have absolutely no idea about how the stock market works in general or really how to pick stocks.

To the people saying the stock market is risky, this is simply not the case. If you stick your money into "blue chip" stocks for long term periods of time (3+ years) you are going to make money. The stock market isn't the place where you want to try to get rich incredibly fast. It is the place where you want to invest your money wisely so that it continually grows as the economy grows (and some great stocks will even grow a good bit in a downturn of a recession).

Learning how to invest and what to invest in is reading, reading, and more reading. You need to listen in on conference calls, you need to read press releases and KNOW WHAT IS COMING. Watching CNBC isn't a bad idea either and people like Jim Cramer from "Mad Money" can give you some great stocks to begin research on.

Honestly, who would buy E*Trade right now? Grabbing a financial right now is a GREAT idea but E*Trade? I honestly just don't see the logic in that move, even long-term as there are many other financials that are going to benefit much more than E*Trade when the FED cuts on December 11th as Bernanke has said that they are GOING to do. Drop your E*Trade and please do yourself a favor and pick up one of the strong financials for a long-term investment such as Goldman Sachs [GS] or Citigroup [C]. One of Cramer's personal favorite picks is Annaly Capital [NLY] because they are going to be the financial with the most ties to the FED rate cut.

 

Grizvok - I'd be careful on what you say. You are a newbie here and telling people this is a good way to get alot of flaming back to you. The stock market is risky, you are never guaranteed a positive return. People who take the time to study it and the companies they're interested in can minimize the risk, but there's never a guarantee.

I primarly deal with Options, because I can minimize the risk. Rather than losing several hundred or thousand dollars on buying stock, the only risk I assume is the $9.95 it costs me to get the contract. It also enables me to diversify way more, as I can spend $995 and buy 100 contracts spread across 15-20 companies and easily walk away a few months later with several thousand in profit.

I agree that blue chips are relatively safe, but the returns are fairly low.

But I don't agree with listening to what some "investing professional" has to say. Those folks charge you insane amounts of money to get weekly "tips", and most of the time it's BS. Most of these guys buy a huge amount of stock of a specific company, then shortly after recommend everybody in their list buys it, which drives the demand through the roof and raises the price, then the "expert" sells the stock they bought a few days/hours before and make a huge profit while the people on their lists end up losing money.

 

I would personally recommend investment funds, that invest in stocks. They are professionally managed and the people who run them have the best interest to make a profit.
There are also index funds which track popular indices (S&P 500, etc).

 

You never know, they could still be discussing deals to get out of there 12+billion dollar debt and other things. Im just going to wait it out and hopefully get the money back I put into it

 

Firstly, I am not talking about listening to random investors at a bank or something. Those people have absolutely no clue what they are doing. Also, I never said to blindly follow somebody's advice. Please read what I said. "Watching CNBC isn't a bad idea either and people like Jim Cramer from "Mad Money" can give you some great stocks to begin research on." You listen to what they say and you begin YOUR OWN RESEARCH through listening in on conference calls, etc. And last time I checked I don't get charged extra to listen to what Jim Cramer says on TV Also, the only investor that really has that amount of money to create a ridiculous amount of buzz around a stock is Warren Buffet and he ALWAYS holds long-term so I wouldn't be worried about anything there.

Again, read what I said. The stock market IS NOT about getting rich quick, it is about investing wisely with your money in a variety of sectors and into companies that still have growth potential but are still considered blue chips. The returns for blue chips can still be pretty damn huge! McDonald's for example is the best performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 35%. I am 18 years of age and investing even $10,000 now is going to be AWESOME for me when I get older especially if I stick with blue chips and nothing way too risky.

And lastly Shazz, the key to a good trader is knowing when to get out and it sounds like you have no idea when to do that :{

 

You must be correct. That is why the government requires every financial advisor/brokerage to post a disclaimer stating there is risk of loss when investing in stocks.

As Shazz said, there is ALWAYS risk and it can never be eliminated.

Also, the long term approach you mentioned may not align with a particular individual's goals. That is why you should consider your unique situation(starting capital, time horizon, experience, ability to monitor) before making an investment in ANY stock. Rule of thume is to slowly move from equities to cash as you grow closer to your goal. (retirement, college etc.)

Good luck!

 

Umm I actually bought it when there CEO stepped down. There for it shot up to $6.00 (.78 cents gain that day) + and thats where I bought it. Then it dropped down from there. I didn't really want to hang on to it. But I guess now I have to wait it out

 

I need an ebook created on "Stocks For begginers" Basically covering how to make money in the stock market (a basic beginners guide)

Anyone interested in writing the book for me shoot me a quote. Nothing fancy just the basic everyone needs to know.

 

Read what I said please, I said STRICTLY blue chips. If you throw $3000 in McDonald's like I am doing and (yet again read that I said long term) it is a guarantee that it is going to go up. I would personally never try the "get rich quick" approach when dealing with the stock market because you are just asking for trouble investing in penny stocks and the like. I simply see blue chips as INCREDIBLY low risk, long term plays.

Your example of the government requiring disclaimers wasn't really good because there are more than just blue chip stocks on the stock market and therefore things that are much more high risk.

 

shazz how much have you lost on e trade?

 

Dude!...you're still ringing this "no risk" bell?...(actually I noticed you turned it down to "lower risk")....they said the same thing about other "Blue Chips" like....Woolworth's (once the world's largest retailer)....MCI (once the 2nd largest telecom in USA).....Enron...(a worldwide leader in energy)

If you purchased McDonalds in 2000 you would be just getting in the black in 2007. Is 7 years in the red considered low risk?

What is long term? 10, 20,30,50 years? Seems to be subjective for you and once again relative for each individual.

"Guaranteed to go up" is also subjective. You buy a "blue chip" stock and the market corrects but you hold it for 10 years and make 10%. Is that really making a profit? You just lost 10 years of opportunity by holding a dog and would have done better in a bank CD.

Also, even if you buy shares directly from a "Blue Chip" company they will also require you to sign a risk disclosure. So yes, the risk disclaimer comment is not just about none blue chips.

At the end of the day YOU can buy whatever stocks you want and have as much faith in your selection as you want, but don't post poor investment advice when the entire investment world understands the risks that have always been in the market.

 

Well, in 2000 and a bit onward from there the economy really really sucked and comparing then to now (even though we aren't doing so great isn't really a fair comparison). Also, McDonald's did not have NEARLY the world-wide expansion that they have today especially their ventures in Asian countries (which is ongoing).

And if you would notice I never gave investment advice I simply said "the stock market is not the place to try to strike it rich with penny stocks because there is too much risk at stake." Sure I mentioned McDonald's or one or two other stocks but my thesis or point is to research research research and then research some more. And you never ever invest all of your money into one stock like McDonald's (of course I know that THERE IS risk). You need a diverse portfolio for long-term investments if you want to succeed (and I think doing so reduces risk even further).

 

I find this really funny:

Then we get:

And now we have:

Now aside from this and the other comments you have made in your postings Grizvok I suggest you review why you are even posting here. Your first posting to this thread opens with a general insult. You haven't really added anything constructive. All you've done is try to defend your posts because it's created a backlash from people not appreciating what you've said thus far. Take a hint.

 

Around 2500

 

I was simply acknowledging there is risk in the stock market but if you are scared of it all the time like so many are YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY MAKE MONEY. Which is why I was saying there is little to no risk involved in large incredibly well-established companies. That is really all I was trying to get across to people, the stock market isn't something to be afraid of, it is something to study and revere and make decisions based on how you perceive the situation which you find through good and deep research. You can read about a stock all you want but when it comes down to making the money you have to inevitably put your money in and hope that your reading paid off.

At least that is how I was when I first learned about trading stocks and stuff, I was simply scared of just letting my money float around like that but I decided to take action and it paid off for me.

 

Christian Little:
I have never dealt with options before at all really, do you prefer trading that way as opposed to just buying stocks right out?

Thanks.

 

Everything is a risk when it comes to making money from investing money.
But as mentioned above, a portfolio of blue-chips, is something that has a good balance of risk/profit on a long run.

 

What is a good software for trading,stocks or options?