I bought a stock, 5,000 shares at .09 cents. I meant to buy at .05 cents, and that's what my confirmation said before I placed the order, but I didn't realize that the quote of the stocks are 20 mins delayed. Sharebuilder doesn't offer actual real-time quotes, imagine that. Anyways, my account ended up a couple of hundred dollars short, mainly because it still processed as 5,000 shares at $0.09. Anyways, I put a limit order in to sell all of the shares when they hit $.010, low and behold, it hit 0.10 today, but my shares haven't been sold. Called SB, and they said for large orders, it could take a couple of days over a few different trades, and that I would be charged $11.95 for each trade.
Is there a better place or way to do these types of trades? Thanks!
One other thing, I use scottrade and am very happy with them.
As for WHY your would want to this, contrary to the last answerer'a assertion that brokers don't find bonds sexy and hence don't bother learning about them, throughout their 135-year history, Edward Jones made their business on selling quality bonds to individual investors. I've found some of the most knowledgable people I know regarding bonds to work for Edward Jones. In addition, they do so much bond business that they get optimal pricing and that is in turn passed on to you. When calling around for price quotes, at the very make sure you include them, you won't be sorry.
I should point out that unless you need the money, now is probably not a good time to be selling your bond. Although long-term interest rates (i.e., that of most bonds, which are driven by economic factors) have little to do with short-term rates (which are directly driven by the Fed), we are nevertheless in a rising interest rate environment and your bond undoubetdly is worth less than it wa a year ago. Of course, you could be banking on that and need a tax loss for some reason, but barring that, if you're getting good interest, hold onto it until rates go down again to get a more advantageous price.
Of course, when buying bonds specifaclly for the interest income, you should learn not to even care what the price is. It's hard psychologically, and it takes some getting used to, but it's worth it. After all, if you're buying a cow for the milk, then what the hell do you care about the price of beef?
Hope this help!
–J.
http://www.collective2.com
People can subscribe to your system there and you have a number of ways you can charge. One advantage of using them is that you have an independent auditor of your results. Another is that they do all of the billing for you.
Unfortunately, not free.
But even if you decide not to use them, you can still get some idea of what other people are charging for their methods — while seeing what kinds of results they are generating for those charges.
P.S. I hope by "developing a trading strategy for the last 6 months", you don't mean you've been tweaking historical data to generate those results. There have been a few systems on Collective2 that looked great in their presentation of backtest results, but failed miserably going forward.
What exactly do you think the "other" day traders do wrong?
If they are "ignorant" as you suggest – what should they know that would make them less unsuccessful?
If this is more than idle boasting – you should take your results in the real world to a publisher and get a book out that allows the ignorant masses to understand your superior techniques and live off the royalties!
For more clarification, there are about 252 trading days in a year. On average, looking at the history of the stock market, what percentage of these days are "up" days for the market.
Say you want data on the Dow. Go to http://finance.yahoo.com, click on Dow, then click on Historical Prices. Set the date range and click Get Prices.
Highlight the resulting table, Ctl-C to Copy, and then Ctl-V to paste into a spreadsheet program such as MS Excel. It may take several pages to get all of the data.
Simplest way: In the spreadsheet program, create another column, call it Change, next to the last column of numbers (Adjusted Close). Calculate this column as the value directly to the left, minus the value above and to the left. Count the minus signs (down days) and the zeros. Subtract from the number of rows and you'll get the pluses.
A more elegant way, if you are intimate with how to do formulas in your program, is to do an IF statement that does the following: IF the Adjusted Close is greater than the previous Adjusted Close, then enter 1; otherwise, enter 0. At the bottom of this column, have it calculate the sum. That will be the number of UP days.
Best of success.
www.thesecret.com.au
David Schirmer is the guy to learn from.
While day trading is neither illegal nor is it unethical, it can be highly risky. Most individual investors do not have the wealth, the time, or the temperament to make money and to sustain the devastating losses that day trading can bring.
Here are some of the facts that every investor should know about day trading:
Be prepared to suffer severe financial losses
Day traders typically suffer severe financial losses in their first months of trading, and many never graduate to profit-making status. Given these outcomes, it's clear: day traders should only risk money they can afford to lose. They should never use money they will need for daily living expenses, retirement, take out a second mortgage, or use their student loan money for day trading.
Day traders do not "invest"
Day traders sit in front of computer screens and look for a stock that is either moving up or down in value. They want to ride the momentum of the stock and get out of the stock before it changes course. They do not know for certain how the stock will move, they are hoping that it will move in one direction, either up or down in value. True day traders do not own any stocks overnight because of the extreme risk that prices will change radically from one day to the next, leading to large losses.
Day trading is an extremely stressful and expensive full-time job
Day traders must watch the market continuously during the day at their computer terminals. It's extremely difficult and demands great concentration to watch dozens of ticker quotes and price fluctuations to spot market trends. Day traders also have high expenses, paying their firms large amounts in commissions, for training, and for computers. Any day trader should know up front how much they need to make to cover expenses and break even.
Day traders depend heavily on borrowing money or buying stocks on margin
Borrowing money to trade in stocks is always a risky business. Day trading strategies demand using the leverage of borrowed money to make profits. This is why many day traders lose all their money and may end up in debt as well. Day traders should understand how margin works, how much time they'll have to meet a margin call, and the potential for getting in over their heads.
Don't believe claims of easy profits
Don't believe advertising claims that promise quick and sure profits from day trading. Before you start trading with a firm, make sure you know how many clients have lost money and how many have made profits. If the firm does not know, or will not tell you, think twice about the risks you take in the face of ignorance.
Watch out for "hot tips" and "expert advice" from newsletters and websites catering to day traders
Some websites have sought to profit from day traders by offering them hot tips and stock picks for a fee. Once again, don't believe any claims that trumpet the easy profits of day trading. Check out these sources thoroughly and ask them if they have been paid to make their recommendations.
Remember that "educational" seminars, classes, and books about day trading may not be objective
Find out whether a seminar speaker, an instructor teaching a class, or an author of a publication about day trading stands to profit if you start day trading.
Check out day trading firms with your state securities regulator
Like all broker-dealers, day trading firms must register with the SEC and the states in which they do business. Confirm registration by calling your state securities regulator and at the same time ask if the firm has a record of problems with regulators or their customers. You can find the telephone number for your state securities regulator in the government section of your phone book or by calling the North American Securities Administrators Association at (202) 737-0900. NASAA also provides this information on its website at www.nasaa.org/QuickLinks/ContactYourRegulator.cfm.
Instead, read the Intelligent Investor and follow Warren Buffett. Get a great job and invest the proceeds wisely.
Best Regards,
Docmase
Because a security was sold that had not yet been paid for, this account will only be allowed to make purchases using settled funds for the next ninety days. Learn more about this restriction.
When reading this, I did not understand how they could restrict me. I never used the money I had for over 90 days. So how come my money was unsettled? Any clarification would be great. Of course I am going to call my broker as well.
Unbeknownst to you, you are being a risky (also unwanted) customer given your trading with "unsettled funds."
Good luck.
