So a good guess would be 40%.
CAPITAL ON A MARGIN ACCOUNT. ANY GOOD ADVISE
ABOUT WHAT SHOULD I KNOW.
Here are four rules you must have, if you don't you will loose money
1 – A written sound trading/investment plan with rules that will not only help you but more importantly protect you, mostly from yourself.
2 – Sufficient trading/investment capital. Use your own money, there’s no need to go into debt so that you trade/invest.
3 – A written money management program in place. Remember never invest 100% of your capital into any one security and never have 100% of your capital invested.
4 – A full and complete understanding of the rules & regulations of the industry.
Here are some of the rules that I follow, in additiona to the four cardinal rules above.
Never buy or sell based on anyone's, including your own, market predictions.
Stick with up-trending stocks.
Never buy stocks in danger of filing for or actually in bankruptcy.
Never average down.
Always sell when management cuts sales or earnings forecasts.
Only buy stocks with real sales and real earnings.
Always diversify between industries.
Don't buy stocks just because they've gone up.
Never sell a stock because an analyst proclaims it is overvalued.
Always look for companies with new ideas, new styles or new products.
Orders after an execution – a “stop loss”
No security is to be purchased at a price that is below the 50-day moving average price.
Good luck, based on your question, you're going to need it
Online trading has lowered commissions to the point where they are no longer the primary consideration. Ditto for good execution, if indeed they are Direct Access. If you decide later to trade commodities, options, futures, or currencies, TerraNova may be the only one that you can trade everything, real time, online, direct access. A lot of online brokerages claim to give you direct access, but if they take more than a second to execute your trade, it aint direct.
What you probably should be concentrating on is the best trading software or trading platform. But even then, everyone's criteria are different.
Find the articles online that have evaluated and compared online brokerages. I found a good one online in Barron's, but you'll find others in the trading magazines. Active Trader, Futures Mag, etc.
This is worth putting a little time and effort into, because it's a pain to switch, so once you choose, you're kinda stuck with it.
Townsend Electronics, the Parent company of TerraNova, is the one that digitized and electronified the Nasdaq. They are technological industry leaders and have a powerful and well built trading system.
I use RealTick at TerraNovaOnline, but it costs $275/mo. I think the Investor package is free to use, and just uses one screen.
What you should try is a free trial of their Investor platform, which is free. Their rates are good also, but of course, it depends on how often you trade. It will take you months to learn all the bells and whistles of what this program can do.
The other top-of-the line program is TradeStation, but it costs big bucks to join and operate. Some people consider it the Cadillac of trading and technical analysis.
TerraNova is the home of the Day Trader, so they think nothing of you making several hundred trades a day. You don't have to do that, but it's okay here if you do.
Here are this month's best traders:
http://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx
Hope this helps.
My take is that someone is deliberately swapping shares, huge chunks at a time, at ridiculously low prices to keep the stock price down? Why go to the expense?
The market is at a price consensus or is in a consolidation phase. The bulls and bears are in consensus; no one is more powerful than the other.
You will also find that penny stocks are usually less volatile than bigger value stocks.
>>My take is that someone is deliberately swapping shares, huge chunks at a time, at ridiculously low prices to keep the stock price down? Why go to the expense?
No I doubt anyone would be doing that deliberately. There is no point to such exercise – waste of time and money.
Maybe people who bought earlier at a cheaper price are taking profits and people who are hearing the news are buying in.
Good Luck!
I found some useful tips in stock trading. It includes stock basics, how to protect your profit, find a potential increase share, control and manage stock risk, when to sell/buy stock and so on.
http://www.bernanke.cn/stock-trade/
Best Wishes && Good Luck!
And it is a Fed rule that when you buy a security it must be paid in full prior to its sale, if you sell with out making payment in full your account is restricted for 90 days or until payment is received and you can not use the proceeds of the sale to cover the purchase amount due.
The $25,000 item that every one talks about is that if you day trade the same stock 4 times in 5 five days you will be considered a pattern trader AND you must
1-open a margin account
2-maintain equity of $25,000 at all times, The 25,000 is NOT a balance but equity and you must have that much in your account at all times.