Day Trading

The key to investing as a beginner is investing in safe companies that beat earnings estimates (i.e. surprise investors with better than expected profit for each financial quarter). Also, when one starts to invest, I certainly suggest diversifying your investments.

A model portfolio of winning stocks would look like this:
1. Financial Stock: Goldman Sachs
2. Energy Stock: General Electric
3. Biomedical Stock: Teva Pharmaceutical
4. Technology Stock: Google
5. Retail/Consumer Stock: Coldwater Creek \

This is just my opinion about how to begin investing in a conservative, winning way.

Here is also the link to a great website that is very comprehensive in teaching novices how to invest:

http://investopedia.com/

If you have to ask this question you are in no way ready to trade stocks online. Really.

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.

Banerjida,

You answered your question yourself, isn't it. Buying a stock is not a lottery ticket, it is part ownership in the business. If the business does well over the long term, so will the stocks performance. I am sure you have lots of examples in front of you -companies like ITC, HDFC, Ranbaxy, Infosys, and many more that have been doing well for decades, so have their stocks, if you held on to them.

Dada, its time you read a real Investing book, Try One up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch, to start with. You will forget about wasting time in evolving trading strategies, and invest the time and effort in picking real good stocks, as Peter Lynch practically shows you how to. (There are better books to start with, but I am guessing you will enjoy the anecdotal style adopted by Peter Lynch more than the slightly more academic but nevertheless excellent reads like The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham)

If you want to build long term wealth, change tack NOW. Or else, if you have enough money to fritter away, keep trying at the 1: 99 odds!

I like E*Trade, but there are other good ones, too. Also, look into dividend reinvestment plans, where you can buy just one share and keep adding to it over time. So, if you put in $50 a month, when the stock price is lower you buy more (because you can buy partial shares) and you buy less when the price is higher. Read "How to Buy Stocks Without A Broker" or go to www.dripinvestor.com.

Contact the Edward Jones investment rep nearest you. Go to their website at www.edwardjones.com and enter your zip code to find the closest office. With 10,000 locations, chances are there's one within 10 miles of where your live.

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.

Well, fx cfds are great and hedge funds use them to make millions.. but day trading? the answer above said it.. a losing game.

i think sometime ago i came across a emperical studied that proved day-traders lose everything in the long-run.

some of the best traders dont over-trade. they don't commit without any goal.

investment is key.

can potentially make lot of money from trading cfds from making 10 trades a year – holding them for sometime -provided u have the margin.. than from day-trading. the money u make today ull lose tomorrow.

Day trading “well” will take most people on average, three years to accomplish. That’s after 95% of those that try…. fail.

Here are some suggestions (to start);
Read;
Mastering The Trade, John Carter
Trading In The Zone, Mark Douglas
Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom, Tharp
High Probability Trading, Link
There are plenty more books to read. The typical trader reads a book every month or two (I average every 6 weeks)… I re-read them also.

Every night I watch videos on the market;

http://www.alphatrends.net/

http://www.tradingwithtk.com/

Weekend (Sunday) video;

https://www.shadowtrader.net/videoArchive.html

My broker has weekly “chats” that may be of interest;

https://www.thinkorswim.com/tos/displayPage.tos?webpage=onlineSeminar

In one word there’s only one way to be successful: Disipline

Here’s another web page that may be of interest;

http://www.mytrade.com/

Training for a fee;

http://www.investools.com/

Good luck….. it’s been a rough year! I’ve been a position trader for 30+ years. A swing trader for the past 1.5 years. I’m just getting into day trading (also)……………………….

In November there’s a TradersExpo in Vegas… if you can, it’s well worth the effort.

Trading is not an easy road to wealth. There are plenty of statistics to say that most people who go down it fail (90%+). I'm not going to say how much I make per week, but I will say I'm in the 10% (or less) who have succeeded. To me, you need two things to succeed in trading. #1 is a curiousity of how things work. Most good traders will tell you that "systems" are constantly breaking down (i.e., what works today won't necessarily work tomorrow). If you are going to be a successful trader, you are going to be constantly doing research for new things that work. If you don't enjoy the process of researching new ideas, I think you are doomed from the start. #2, you've got to be willing to learn how to handle emotions. Things are going to go against you, and at least in my experience, humans are wired to want to get away from the pain of a trade going against you. How you deal with these moments will define a lot of how successful you are going to be trading. Make a long story short…if you are looking for an easy road to wealth…this isn't it. If you like the game, and can't learn enough about it…then you will eventually find a way to succeed.

It's not just something you can learn overnight

there are so many things you have to look for, process, evaluate, and then take risk and invest.

in todays market, you better know what the heck you are doing or you will not make a dime i can guarntee you.

first thing, learn about stocks, how stock works, and all the terms pros use. http://www.investopedia.com

I'd start with http://vse.marketwatch.com and use imaginary $100,000 to begin with and trade on it to get a feel how trading works.

also.. i doubt you have that kind of money which you don't need that you can use for trading. unless you have at least 2000 dollars to start with and willing to lose it all for the worst possible. I suggest you get Mad Money from Jim Cramer and watch fast money on cnbc.

also visit Yahoo Finance

You will need a computer that is quick you will also need a highspeed internet connection and most importantly you will need level 2 charts that are not delayed that are up to the minute tick for tick with the market, which you will probably have to pay a subscription for. Most charts on the internet are delayed. If you don't know how to day trade you will need to learn how which I am assuming you don't understand the true concept of day trading most people don't they think it is based on volatility and momentum which couldn't be further from the truth. It is based on mocking the specialists and getting inbetween the bid ask spreads which have become very tight in todays markets. so educate yourself before you start.