Day Trading

First, try trading virtual money on a Simulator real time at Investopedia.com

Look into the Investor platform at TerraNovaOnline.com
I think this one is free if you open an account there. I use the full-blown package called RealTick for $250/mo. The Investor platform is the same software, sized down to one screen. I use five monitors. This is very technologically advanced softwarefrom Townsend Analytics, the one that digitized the entire Nasdaq last year. Cutting edge technology. If you make some money, then definately upgrade to RealTick.

You pay tax on the profits when you fill out your 1040 tax form at the beginning of next year. Make sure you keep enough money set aside to cover the taxes you will owe. If you make high profits, you may want to send in quarterly estimated tax payments so you don't get hit with on underpayment penalty.

The brokerage wouldn't have to do anything. You have to deposit the money into the brokerage account and have cleared funds before you can trade. You would have to use a cash advance or a credit card check to get money to deposit into your brokerage account.

So your estate would owe the credit card company, just the same as if you had run up your credit cards on anything else. The executor of your estate would have to sell something to cover the debts, and the stocks would be a likely a candidate. So really, in the event of your death, the credit card company doesn't have a specific claim on the stocks, but a general claim against all of your assets, before they are disbursed to your heirs.

Puts are exchange traded options; they are definately public as long as you are trading them. As a buyer of a put option, it gives you the right to sell your stock at a pre-determined price, called the exercise price.

For instance, if you own stock now selling at $10 each and want to protect your portfolio against losses, you could buy a put option. Say, your stop loss is 10% loss. You would either sell your stocks when they fall below $9 each. However, this would not guarantee a stop loss because every seller would be freaking out and wanting to sell these stock. So, the stock price might even fall to say $7 each, missing your stop loss.

To hedge against the extra loses, you would have bought put options that would give you a right to sell your stocks at $9 each regardless of how low the stock prices would fall.

Another way of benefitting from options would be to write a spread. At the moment, because the market is bearish, writing bearish call spreads would be the best way to make a lot of money. However, because these spreads are credit spreads, no broker would let you write the spread, without you having an amount of cash in your account, should your credit spread go wrong and your written options get exercised.

These strategies of write credit spreads are better left to more experienced investors. If you are fairly new at stockmarket inveting, I would suggest that you put your money in less volatile investment vehicles like fixed income stuff like savings bonds, CDs etc.

So you've been short term trading a highly speculative market and losing your pants. Now you want a risk free method to trade this market? Are you seeing an issue?

Definitions time folks:

Savings – reserve funds invested in a safe vehicle to protect ones assets and receive a small return in exchange for giving up current purchasing power.

Investing – putting capital at calculated risk in order to achieve higher returns.

Trading – Speculating on short term movements of securities prices, involves high levels of personal risks but provides benefits of providing extra liquidity & effecientacy to securities market.

Now professional traders, a) have the financial ability to withstand prolonged periods of losses, b) understand there is no "perfect" method, and c) even if they had found something even bordering on effective, wouldn't distribute it freely as it would dilute the efficacy of their method (And with the current state of the mortgage markets we're learning just how falliable even those "propietary" methods can be).

Sounds like you need to back up. Start building your savings, then your investments. After that, if you must, you can start a trading account. But, honestly I've made far more in two years of investing, than I did in 10 years of trading. (Simple math lesson one, if a stock drops 50%, from that point it has to go up 100% for you to break even — meaning minimize your loses is more vital than maximizing your gains).

Thinkorswim.com open an account with $3500 and download the desktop. best broker firm and if you make 30 or more trades a month they will pay for you internet service! i daytrade with them and as long as you want to buy between bid and ask and place the order it gets you in instantly. $3 option trades. $5 stock trades up to 1000 shares .0125 cents per share after that. cant beat that! email me if you need some help too im always on the market M-F during market hours.

Most of the trading in fx markets is done by major banks, for their clients or for their own account. The 'fool' may have been a government, or a company needing won to pay for a shipment, or an oil company, or a bank. The dollar isn't 'propped up', it trades quite freely.

I do the occasional day trade in my td waterhouse account. I keep enough cash in the account to cover my trades, so they don't have a problem with the day trades.

Woow, that is a bad business practice.

Based on my information the did the same thing to several other traders and they all had to go to court to get their money.

it is so funny because on their Ads they are claiming that they are very honest.

Ha Ha ,

Now we know what is the meaning of honestly

Yes I have. When I first started trading I had an E*Trade account. One month I went to take out some money and I requested a check. I checked to MAKE SURE that they had the right address and they did, so I waited….and waited…and waited. Three weeks later I was told that it was not their fault, even though I never received the check. "We mailed it out," was the only response. I never had any mail not get there from other sources-they dropped the ball somewhere. I ended up having to pay them to cancel the check AND pay for the wire through to my bank-they refused to take ownership of the problem. I told them to forget it and just close the account.

Did you trade during that time? Day trade restrictions are sticky, but usually the rep can remove them on a one-time basis. If its the first time there should be no problem at all. Did you speak to a manager? Thats a day trade call-similar to a margin call but generally much lesser priority. Once you bring the account back up, at most brokers, everything should be roses.

If you are generating that kind of commission any of the other discount houses would be glad to have you. There is no sense in going with such a no frills broker if you are treated like that.