Any person, website, company that is going to charge you for trading tips is most likely making more money on you than they ever will following their own advice.
The whole premise behind active trading is that the market is ineffeicient and thus, short-term opportunities arise to take advantage of such innefficiencies. The problem is that once an inefficiency is identified and gets mass publicity, it ceases to work as the trading/investing community starts to discount that information into the price.
What you need is education, not tips. Its the difference between being given a fish and learning to fish. Some strategies very well may work 80-90% of the time IN SOME SCENARIOS. But nothing will work 80-90% of the time in every kind of market.
There are really 2 main kinds of strategies out there.
1.) Those that work in a trending market
2.) Those that work in a range
The only thing these paid services are SOMETIMES good for is leads. Its up to you and your education & judgment to determine if these leads are good enough to implement with your hard earned cash.
But in order to decide this, you must have some method that you are consistently using to discriminate between what makes a good and what makes a bad trade. If you are not willing to take the time to learn this, then you should simply put your money in an ETF and/or mutual fund and be happy with getting your 8-10% on average.
If you are willing to educate yourself there are a number of resources available to you.
http://www.EliteTrader.com is a thriving community of traders where you can get brokerage reviews, vendor reviews, educational material reviews, etc…well worth looking into.
http://www.WilyTrader.com is a blog where you can see first hand what it is like to be an active trader and get a feel for the different kinds of strategies that are necessary for success.
http://www.traderfeed.blogspot.com is Brett Steenbarger's website where he talks about the psychological aspects of trading
http://www.Amazon.com : and look up the following books/authors:
The Master Profit Plan
Mastering the Trade
Brett Steenbarger (Get both of his books)
Trading For a Living
In short, just be very careful about any service offering you the sky. I guarantee you that such rewards to not come without great risks, and more often than not, those risks will come to fruition way before you see a dime of those rewards.
Hope this helps
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I'll tell you what ….tell me what the market will do next Tuesday and I will strongly consider your offer.
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.
According to the explanation given by the book I'm using, a gain of 0.5 is a gain of 2. How did they get that?
Then it goes up for 4 days at an average of 0.5 per day.
That means that in 4 days it went up by 2 points.
(= 4 days x 0.5 points/day)
This equals 89.5
They are asking what does 89.5 have to gain in order to equal 5% more than 87.5 (starting price)
This is 91.875
So the difference is the gain required 91.875 – 89.5
= 2.375
I'm using the $100,000 stock simulator and I made 1200 dollars in a couple of days but I haven't been able to get passed that. Am I supposed to sell or is this a cycle in which a few days or weeks have to go buy before it goes up again?
How often am I supposed to trade? Everday or every week on average?
There are technical market sites that provide technical indicators that predict when a stock is over bought or over sold. Many traders use those. That limits trading to once every couple of weeks or even a month or so. Some stocks such as oil stock for example are real good candidates for that type of trading.
Others, such as myself, are fundamentalists. We will buy and hold a stock for years maybe. The daily and weekly cycles do not mean too much to us other than perhaps providing an opportune buying point. After all why settle for 2 or 3 points when there are 20 or 30 to be reaped, maybe more?
There is also the tax question to consider. Taxes on short term trades are considerably more than long term. Another point to consider is as long as a stock is not sold there are no taxes to pay. If a company is a growing company, why sell at all?
When doing the EXPECTED price you will also have to factor in the daily averages so that there would be some type of relationship between the stock you're tracking and the general market
No one has ever found a way to calculate what the market will do, or what particular stocks will do
Here are a couple of US brokers I can recommend:
scottrade.com
tdameritrade.com