Day Trading

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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.

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.

http://finance.yahoo.com/marketupdate?u

There is no single indicator to use as a crystal ball for direction. Volume is generally used as a confirming indicator.

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.

http://www.saveyournestegg.com/scam.html

You say you are doing OK – are you comparing your returns to their proper benchmark?

I recommend Vanguard for several reasons. They are client-owned so they do not have conflicts of interest with clients. They stayed out of the scandals. Their costs are very low. They are set up so that active trading is not allowed (so you don't pay the costs for active traders). They have excellent funds. Their philosophy is 'buy and hold'. They have a wide selection of mutual funds and ETFs. Their index funds are very well-managed (often the expense ratio is partially offset). They have excellent customer service.

Etrade is supposed to allow you to trade on 4 or 5 stock marktes around the world – a huge advantage for a really smart investor or one that wants to focus on international stocks, but useless to most smaller investors (or most that want to focus on mutual funds – like you, maybe).

There are some other good ones. You'll find that OptionExpress is very good (never used this one myself, but they are well rated). More expensive that scottrade but margin rates are lower and maybe they are faster at filling trades.

Anyhow, thats my take on 3 of them but there are many more out there. Of course only used ones that are sipc insured, and again – I'd advise searching for more specifics on this via an online search. FYI, I think kiplingers had an areticle about this about 1-2 years ago. good article but alot can change in 2 years (and I'm not positive it was Kiplingers)

Best luck.