
Good luck

Recently I made a trade and lost money which reduced me under the 25,000 min to have day trade status-
Si no big deal I was given 5 busness days to meet the requirments and transfer money but when I called the etrade dept they told me that even if I transfer the money over within the 5 buisiness days I will be restricted to a cash only account reguardless which means I will have no day trade status even though I would deposit an additional $30,000.
I do not understand this- has anyone else had problems with Etrade and customer service?
Etrade is very nasty and argue on the phone all the time with me, which is terrible considering in 3 weeks I sent over $6,000
in commission trades alone-

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.

There is an alternative. BUT, I wouldn't recommend it.
You could engage in a Carry Trade. Again!! I do not recommend you do this for Day-Trading options or stocks!
You short a currency (the JPY is pretty popular). Just like shorting a stock, you get a credit. Since Forex is not regulated by the same Margin Rules as Equities, you can get 50K for a simply $500 account. With that credit, rather than buying Bonds with a higher interest rate than the rate of the shorted currency (Fed rate is 4.25, so you could get a bond around that rate, which JPY rate is .5%..you profit from the difference) you put that money into your options account. You need to be careful that you leave some room in your Forex account, as you do not want a Margin Call on this. And you need to make sure you monitor the currency market to make sure that the JPY's flat…although if it is dropping, you have the added bonus of making money there too.
I am not suggesting you do this, but just saying that there are possibilities out there. Just don't use this one, as it you need to be aware of what you are doing.
How can I get info about major "upcoming" economic news. Like govermnet reportings, and the like (in one single place). It seems like every other day there is some news poping up. Which web site is the best, in your opinion, in reporting this kind of stuff? Thanks

and you're not hedged with options, I take it.
***
with the current capability of computers, browsers and broadband, why limit yourself to only one news site?
you can have multiple such sites open in multiple browser tabs or multiple browsers.
look for the upcoming news/events list in places such as
money.cnn.com
yahoo finance
your TDAmeriTrade brokerage site
and/or any subscription services you get such as
investors.com
wall street journal online
bloomberg news
etc.
1) I understand that Demat account is controlled by ndsl / cdsl through their agents (DPs) and holds shares in electronic form. But what is Trading accoun, its structure and function? Who opens and control this account? Is it the broker?
2) Other than the opening charges of demat a/c, are their more charges such as maintenance of demat a/c or other hidden costs. NDSL site gives the details of many DPs with their fees etc in table format (which is difficult to understand). What i thought actually was that i had to pay only broker charges+service tax, when i deal with share market. What may be other hidden costs?
3) What are brokrage charges for intra-day and dilevery that can be considered good enough?
4) How vulnerable is share market (specially intra-day) to the market games/manipulations by some experts or parties having big amounts or many computer terminal
Guys, If you cant answer all the parts of my question, you are free to answer portion of it as well.!

PS. Im aware on how people think this is extreamly dangerous, but im not compleatly sure why. Please inform me. Please also note that im not planing to invest lots of money. maybe 3 or 4 thousand dollars.
Thank you!


Brokerage(Standard)0.1% of volume
Service tax12.24% of total brokerage
STT 0.025% of the total vol traded-only for sell
Stamp duty0.002% of the total vol
Turnover tax0.0035% of the total vol
I would appreciate any advice of where to look. What's Your experience?
Thanks
Mutual Funds is what I have already in my 401k. I don't plan to touch that.
I am also not planning to do day trading, becuase of the high risk and lack of time (I have a day job). It looks like I will be doing what they call position trading (buy and sell in the time frame of weeks-months).
Which online broker do you recommend?
etrade, Scottrade,…?

Check outthis link at TerraNova Online. The Investor platform is an escellent trading tool for a beginner, and is limited to one screen. I use RealTick and five screens, but it costs $250/mo. Ask about a free trial.
http://terranovaonline.com/
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.
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.
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.
What you should try is a free trial of their Investor platform, which I think is free anyway. 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.
Read vociferously:
"Which Is Better, Buy-and-Hold or Market Timing?"
"Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Market Timer
The Beginner's Bible in Technical Analysis is:
Edwards & McGee"Tech. Anal. Of Stock Trends"
Droke, ClifTechnical Analysis Simplified
Kahn, Michael N.Tech. Anal. Plain & Simple
Kamich, Bruce M.How Technical Analysis Works
Lefevre, EdwinReminiscences of a Stock Operator
Lofton, ToddGetting Started in Futures
Lowenstein, RogerBuffet (Warren)-The Making of a Capitalist
O'Neil, William J.How to Make Money in Stocks
Oz, TonyHow to Make Money From Wall Street
Rotella, Robert P.Elements of Successful Trading, The
Schwager, JackStock Market Wizards
Schwager, Jack D.New Market Wizards
Sperandeo, VictorTrader Vic-Methods of a Wall Street Master
Wasendorf, RussellAll About Futures
Slutsky, Scot and Darrell JobmanComplete Guide to Electronic Futures Trading
You can get every one of these books from your local library. If they don't have it, ask about Interloan Library System.

Learn how to invest:
1. Do not chase past returns. People that buy stocks or funds because they have done well in the past are doing exactly that.
2. Do not market time. Market timing is buying based on your (or your newsletter, or your TV, or neighbor's) guess about what is going to happen in the future. Even if someone knows something, you've already missed the boat. The price already reflects what you just found out.
3. Use index funds. Over time, index funds outperform actively managed funds, mostly because they do not have those high expense ratios. Some actively managed funds do beat their index, but the ones that do usually do not do so consistently. So why gamble? Use index funds. If you want to use a few actively managed funds, make sure that the costs are very low. Vanguard has some good ones.
5. Diversify. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Own a mix of bonds, domestic equities (large, small and mid cap funds), an international fund and perhaps a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) and emerging market fund. Four to six funds is all you need. Know your risk tolerance and set up an appropriate asset allocation. Rebalance as needed.
6. Consider taxes. Use the least tax efficient funds in your tax-deferred accounts and the most tax efficient funds in your taxable accounts.



