day tradingsoftwareday traderstock day trading
Ok, i have some money to risk. I want to learn more about charts and trends and what is bullish when this part of the chart does this or that. I know I am talking in simple language, I just dont want to get all complicated. Please help! THank you for your time!
Day trading


I'm giving you some web sites to check out for day traders and swing traders. This will give you a "feel".
http://www.alphatrends.net/
http://www.thekirkreport.com/
http://www.slopeofhope.com/
http://www.tradingwithtk.com/
http://www.thinkorswim.com/
http://www.redoption.com/

Also, some good books to start with are;
Trading In the Zone, Mark Douglas
Mastering The Trade, John Carter
High Probability Trading, Link
Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom, Tharp

Learn the basics of "Technical Analysis" before you read these books. Understand Candlestick Charting, Moving Averages, Support & Resistance, RSI, Channels etc.

There are many great books out there…. Don't read any of them until you've gone through these. Don't ever underestimate the importance of money management, position sizing & trading psychology.

This will take at least a year to get through. Do it and you'll save yourself from many costly mistakes.

Day trading


The most important thing to look at is risk versus reward. It takes a lot of skill to be successful at day trading, and a lot of cash. According to SEC regulations, you must maintain an account balance (minimum equity level) of at least $25,000. However, you will only be classified as a day trader if you buy and sell (or sell short and buy to cover) the same security within one day, and do this four or more times over five days or less. This means that you can make a day trade (or two or three) and not have to worry about your account being frozen, but make a habit of it and you will see your account suspended for up to 90 days.
Besides account requirements, there's also taking into consideration commissions versus trade value. To buy and sell stock can cost anywhere from $10-$40 overall, so you should be expecting profit exceeding this before entering a trade, which means trade size is a key component. Average daily volume of a stock wil lgive you an idea of what you can expect to be able to buy or sell.
Utilizing different technical indicators such as stochastics, RSI, MACD, moving averages, and price change patterns could give insight into possible future price changes, but these are all speculative and should be used with caution. I would caution anyone who is a beginner trader/investor about day trading. For short term gains, it's better, and less risky, to find stocks about to increase over the next few days/weeks/months. You'll more than likely realize more gains at less of a risk. It's up to you to learn how to do this correctly, but it can be a much more reliable method of trading rather than day trading. Good luck!
I am new to all this. Where can I learn the basics?
How do I find a cheap, easy to use broker? There are SO MANY - how do I chose? The ones I've heard about include Ameritrade, eTrade, Sharebuilder, TDWaterhouse, ScotTrade, Fidelity, the list goes on! What makes them all different?

What I know: I'd like do invest relatively conservatively (IE - no day-trading). I'd like to invest in ethanol. I'd like to invest for down the line…

The only resource I'm using now are
http://www.investingonline.org/index.html
Yahoo! Finance.

HELP!
Update:
I'm probably looking to invest a few thousand for now. That may increase but I dont foresee investing more than 5-10K.
As far as where I was planning to put my money - mostly in stocks in NYSE or Nasdaq. Prob not smallcaps/penny stocks, but I did have my eye on an IPO or two. BTW what are franchise stocks?

I was actually thinking about Sharebuilder - it comes highly acclaimed. Why is touted so much? Advantages / Disadvantages?

Day trading


You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks, as individual stocks are too risky. With a few thousand dollars, this means buying mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money conservatively, in money market funds and bond funds, and part aggressively in stock funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea how aggressive you want to be.

Investing in a mutual fund IRA for retirement may give you an income tax break. Talk to your tax adviser. You may also be able to invest in a stock mutual fund via a 401K plan at work.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

I been trading on my own but i don't seem to get it. not sure everytime i get in a stock i seem to get out on a lost profit. never know when to get out. I want to do it on my own but i think i need more help. Any recommendation on a excellent broker that does day tading for u. i need a second income that bring some stability. help. thanks
Day trading


Day-trading is not easy for a novice or part-time investor and in order to be done successfully you will need to put a lot of time into research and analysis of various market trends. Also, any good broker will advise you against trying to become a day-trader because of the potential losses and risks. I would personally leave day-trading to the professionals with a lot of capital and time. However, if you want to start investing successfully try to set the goals for the security that you choose as well as an appropriate exit strategy before you even make your purchase. Make sure that the goals you set include the amount of commission that you will pay to buy and sell the security. Also, and this is extremely important make sure that you purchase and sell with limit orders not market orders.
From the prospective small investors point of view, which market is the better one to do day trading/ penny stocks .. and why.
Day trading


Here's something many traders don't know:
To "day trade" or "scalp": A trader MUST have - AT ALL TIMES - AT LEAST $25,000 U.S. CASH in his/her/their trading account.

This does not include any stocks or trades the trad err might be in. This is cold, hard U.S. CASH.

As soon as the account goes one cent below $25K, a whole different set of rules comes into play.

Check with your broker or any broker to confirm what I write. There MAY BE exceptions.

As far as penny shares:
They are far, far, far too risky and volatile.

Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed doing my best to answer it.

VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!

I am new to trading stocks…never have but know a little bit about it. I really can’t find the time to read a book by William O’neal I purchased and I am trying to find some time to finish it. My wife’s uncle who is a dentist makes about $2000 per day trading. I want to start with $1000 that I have in my newly opened scottrade account. Is it a good idea to pay about $20 per aided stockbroker trade? I am really wanting to make some money to move out of my parents home and help them out as well.
Day trading


I would not recommend you to jump into day trading. It’s not for beginners, and you could potentially lose a ton of money in a matter of minutes. In addition, day trading would require a lot of money, and trading with $1,000 would definitely not be enough to cover for the commission costs.

You will need a broker to make stock trades for you but different types of brokers will charge different amounts. Full-service brokers will provide you with a lot of advice. However, their commission rates are much higher than the ones from discount brokers, who only make the transaction of the trade. Personally, I prefer discount brokers because they are cheaper and they allow me to make my own decisions.

I currently use Firstrade ( http://www.firstrade.com/ ). I prefer them over Scottrade because they offer free dividend reinvestment (DRIPs), which is essential for long term investments. They also have slightly cheaper commission rates and much lower commission rates when compparing to ther big name brokers such as Etrade, Ameritrade, and Schwab. Their customer service and website are great as well. I would definitely recommend that you check them out.

If you aren’t comfortable with your invest skills, instead of getting a full-service broker, I would suggest that you try mutual funds. Mutual funds are diversified, thereby less risky. They are also professionally managed so you don’t have to worry about what to buy or sell. To learn more about mutual funds, you could visit Investopedia ( http://www.investopedia.com/ ).

I went to this workshop on how to trade options. They charge $3000 for 2 days sessions. Do you know where I can get to learn it with less cost or no cost?
Day trading


No.

$3000 is too high a cost to pay to learn what's all free and available all over the net.

Go and download the "OPTIONS TOOLBOX" and play with it. Everything you need to know is there.

You can get this from http://www.cboe.com/LearnCenter/RCTools.aspx

Explore CBOE - Chicago Board Options Exchange, for wealth of free information on options. There you have links to other sites too - Options institute etc.

Buy the book - Options as a Strategic Investment by Lawrence G. McMillan, for lot less than $3000 ( think it's $50 at Amazon.com )

p.s.
Mr.DowJones assessment that Option trading is riskier cannot be more wrong. On $ for $ basis, with respect to Risk & Reward, stock trading is lot riskier than option trading. Options goal is to minimize risk and maximize reward. No such thing with stock trading

I’m not understanding the restrictions that the SEC has on day trading? Is there some reason why there is a $25,000 minimum deposit in order to become a day trader? Why $25,000 plus? And please do not say “because day trading can be very risky.” As we all know any investment can be risky whether it be a stock option, equity, or even starting a business. Every investment is based of o speculation.

That being said, with the market has been swinging up and down the way it has been in the past few months and I’d like to get in and get out quickly on certain trades.

The fact that some of these brokers expect you to to hold a position for weeks or even months is just ridiculous, especially in a market like this one.

Does day trrading affect the market in a negative way? Hell, it can’t be worse than naked short selling.

Ive found some loop holes in certain online brokers and have been able to successfully day trade but it is very hard and not really fast enough. I was wondering if anyone else knows of any online brokers that allow day trading for the small investor without heavy restriction.

Day trading


Nobody expects you to hold a position for weeks/months. they just need you to wait until you have settled funds (3 days).

the restriction is to make sure that small investors (i.e. people who don’t even have 25k) don’t lose their shirts, and cheat the IRS out of tax revenue, because you are totally inept and will have carry-forward losses for the next decade.

this, of course, gets re-packaged as concern for small investors who need protection from themselves. but don’t let that fool you - it’s all about the tax revenue. nobody really cares enough about you to bother protecting you.

I am not talking about going to a casino or playing the lottery. I want to "day trade", which I know is risky, or do some short term type of fooling around. Does anyone know where I can get some commentary and ideas on this? I am thinking of some kind of blog, or some type of club or something. I want this to be fun, too.
Day trading


Go on Suzie Orman.com
Or watch her show on MSNBC Saturday's 9pm eastern..
I know this sounds silly but watching this show has saved my credit and get out of debt
Im planning on trying my luck doing a little day trading. i will be using bank of america brokerage and will get the commission free trading. any suggestions on stock I should take a look at. stocks that are some what volatile that I could buy low sell for a small profit and do it again the next day.
dont worry people i am a long term investor. 90 percent of my money is tied up in index funds and some quality stocks like garmin for long term.
to common sense:
you wrote "With BOA you get 30 free trades a month. But it costs you the difference of earning 5.30% (like www.GMACBank.com) vs. their very small rate"

I put the 25,000$ you need to get free trades in one of bank of america's high yield cds which i locked in at 5.34 percent.
The cds count towards eligibility for commission free trades.
to everyone else who said that I shouldnt do this because day trading is very hard and i am doomed to fail:

I will be placing limit order trades and just set the limits for the highs and lows that I want to buy and sell at.
I feel that is somewhat safer. I will try to buy on a down day and place a limit order sell for like a dollar or 2 above the price i bought it for depending on the stock price of course. The gains wont be too big but at least ill have no commssions eating away my gains.
what do u guys think of that?? still bad idea?

Day trading


Picking a trend in just one day is almost impossible. You don't want to hear this, but starting out daytrading like this, you are like a little league football player lining up against the pros.

When you spread your time frame out a bit, you even the odds a little more and give yourself a better chance. It's still not easy, but why start off against impossible odds?

Here's some ideas that might help you manage risk a little better and actually have a chance: http://www.srsfinance.com/Smart_Money_Principle.html

Sorry if I'm raining on your parade. I don't mean to. GRMN, BTW, looks great. Just make sure you keep a stop loss under $95 and trail that up higher as the price moves higher. Nothing worse than letting a winner turn into a loser.

Best of luck