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.
ALSO – where (online) can I find the daily amount of stocks trading hands?
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.
If some make this a Career or job on the side How do they make money fast enough?
OH YEAH uh How much Cash do you need minimum to get started really?
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/
finance.yahoo.com is the website that i use the most during the day, i am a daytrader also.
If you need more advice just feel free to contact me.
I hope that you will chose my answer as the best one.
Thanks
An important aspect of day trading is to have a set investing plan. Day traders don't always make a profit on each trade they do during the day but if they keep to their plan (if it’s a good plan) they will be more likely make a profit for the day.
The barriers to becoming a day trader are experience and cash. You need both to succeed in the stock market.
They impact the market in a few ways. First they add volume to the market. They also can increase the speed of spikes. When a day trader sees his stocks tanking he will sell them. This will drive down the price more. Conversely if he sees a stock that is starting to rock he will buy. This will increase the value of that stock.
I'm making a killing on the USDJPY. Sold $100k on Sunday when it broke 121, sold another 200k late Monday night when it broke 120 and did another 100k Tuesday morning when it broke 119. Closed out 300k today at 116.73 and am holding the other 100k over the weekend.
Between stocks and Forex, this is one of the best weeks I've had in quite a while.
A fair average might be 4-8% per month, assuming you are trading successfully. Day trading needs to be treated like a job and a business.
You will lose money, and you can make money. When your returns exceed your losses consistently, you can consider yourself successful. Keep educating yourself, and learn to manage your risk/losses.
As far as day trading it could be really sketchy at best because the trend is on a 24hr schedule but reading the news on recals product safety that sort of thing or what ever the news.
Ok case in point XM is doing great
Howard stern says hes signed a 5 year contract with serrius
Overnight 10's of thousands signed up for service.
I'm willing to be XM's stock slid nearly as much as sirrius's went up.
Here are this month's best traders:
http://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx
Good luck.
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.