Do you trade stock ?

I would be very interested to learn how many of you out there in ATS land actually invest directly in stocks ?

If we could take that one further , how do you pick a stock and more importantly how you go about researching a stock ?

Lastly , I am not asking what stocks you invest in as the point to this thread is not to pump any particular stock .

Trying to pick stocks that you plan on holding for a while is very difficult, because you're making a bet that from the time you decide to buy until the time you sell the company will continue to grow. The problem is anything can happen from buy to sell and if you plan to hold the position for a while you also expose yourself to a lot of risk. Especially these days. The only safe long term investment right now is food.

On the other hand day trading for all the small intraday moves is much more profitable, much easier to learn, and less exposure to risk.

I am out of the market right now. It is too volatile for my tastes.

I like to take the Warren Buffet approach to investment and run in the opposite direction of the lemmings. Be greedy when others are fearful, be fearful when others are greedy.

I think the best advice is to read up on the stock news in popular news outlets, then do the exact opposite of what they tell you to do. If the "man on the street" is saying you should buy gold, sell it. If the "man on the street" is saying you should get rid of Microsoft, buy it.

My husband day trades stock every business day. We're not making a fortune but we make enough to pay our bills and both stay home.

He likes trading the ETFs, either bull or bear positions, depending on what his charts tell him. He has, over the years, put together some pretty reliable indicators on his charts that tell him which way these ETFs are going. I personally don't do it but I add my input and search the internet for news articles and things which may impact the market.

What we have learned is, the market is crooked. High Frequency Trading Programs make it much harder for the little home trader with just a home computer and his wits. The news which gets fed through the financial channels is nothing but free advertising for certain stocks and ETFs. Bad news usually indicates they're going to make the market pop, to catch everybody off-guard. Good news means it's ready to drop.

Trading stocks is like taking a day trip into Bizarro World, where everything you hear will have the opposite result.

The stocks to stay away from (as we have learned from experience) are the penny stocks. There's lots of entities out there pulling the old "pump and dump" schemes on these. They get a bunch of suckers to buy in when the stock is cheap. When they buy in and the price goes up a bit, the schemers sell their stock and run. The stock drops like a rock and every body else loses their money. They do this by sending emails promising riches, and have shills on the financial message boards pushing these penny stocks as a sure thing.

ETFs take a bunch of companies together within a certain sector such as energy, technology, pharmaceutical, etc., so you're betting on the performance of the whole sector, and not just one company.

There is also the VIX, which is the "panic index" ETF. When the stock market panics, the VIX shoots the moon. Silver and gold ETFs, when they go up, can net one a lot of money, but it is impossible to figure it how and when that is because these are not based in the reality of actual silver and gold, but "paper" silver and gold, and those ETFs are manipulated like nobody's business.

It has been fascinating, maddening, exciting and bad for our blood pressure to get involved in this craziness, and it has taken my husband years to finally figure out all the tricks and traps. Of course, it helps to have money to trade with. You need a minimum of $25,000 to trade with, but optimally one should have at least $50,000, so that makes it unavailable for most Americans.

One can learn to trade Forex and can start a trading account with as little as $250. You can start a "practice" forex trading with play money for a few months, and if you get the hang of it, you can start with real money. Forex is the Foreign Exchange market, and if you thought the regular stock market was a mine field, Forex is like running through the mine field blindfolded.

reply to post by FissionSurplus

It has been fascinating, maddening, exciting and bad for our blood pressure to get involved in this craziness, and it has taken my husband years to finally figure out all the tricks and traps. Of course, it helps to have money to trade with.You need a minimum of $25,000 to trade with, but optimally one should have at least $50,000, so that makes it unavailable for most Americans.

No you don't.

One can learn to trade Forex and can start a trading account with as little as $250. You can start a "practice" forex trading with play money for a few months, and if you get the hang of it, you can start with real money. Forex is the Foreign Exchange market, and if you thought the regular stock market was a mine field, Forex is like running through the mine field blindfolded.

No it isn't.

reply to post by Max_TO

I trade stock. I like some new technologies that are associated with Universities or Associations as they are likely to check them out reasonably though I did get burned on a new tech that even won awards from Popular Science and were on newscasts.... you can never tell how convincing (and crooked at the same time.... just check out our politicians! Professional crooks and liars, many of them) so ya never know.... the president may leave for South America with the Secretary! But.... new tech may mean explosive growth. Also, necessary companies no matter the state of the economy. School supplies are a nice seasonal bump for many companies. I have a water infrastructure stock as we all need water and leaking water is bad, investing in infrastructure pays off in the long run if you find areas where municipalities are responsible. What else? Hmmmm Old companies that actually put money into research and development instead of just putting cash in a CEO's pocket. Look at Corning. I own stock. They make Gorilla Glass. That covers tablets and cell phones. Ya think people will do without cell phones? They turn off their Land Lines first! I have an alternative oil company that has military contracts for biofuel. I have a company that is developing a way to lower viscosity of oil in pipelines. Why? They don't compete with Big Oil, they make Big Oil more efficient and profitable, so its a win win. Stuff like that. Better Ideas that are coming to market, Older Ideas that are patented and have a good fairly cornered market. Stuff we all need from companies whose competitors have been disappearing and giving them a bigger market share. But you do need to keep an eye on the volatile market and PLAY the market, don't just sit back. You can sell and rebuy a stock over and over across a fluctuating area of price and continue to make money even when the stock doesn't take off for a long term as long as you are an active trader keeping an eye on the charts and markets.

reply to post by Max_TO


I trade in FOREX (Currencies).

More fluid, can make money out of bad situations. Find a reputable site, download the trading demo and give it a try.

i am the man on the street.if you invest in stocks or 401k ,you need to read paul b farrell at marketwatch.com.once you do ,you wont invest in stocks.if you are desperate to invest your mula in stock.buy toilet paper co.s.short term gold.if you were like me,invest in your own future.because the world doesnt have a future.at least not for another ten to twenty years.fruit and nut trees,guns and ammo,security cameras,solar.
i think you get the picture.

I have silver. It has about doubled in a bit over a year

i just trade forex....
the secret is time, not timing....what time it is on your watch....80% a week
one has to trade only this system, and have the mind to not over-gamble.

I didn't realize there were so many currency traders here.

I agree Penny stocks have their risk. Golden rule is never invest anything you are not willing to lose. That being said it is much easier to invest in these types of stocks now. The interenet has made researching CEO's and the entire management much easier. I believe in finding companies at a level of around .0015/share and investing $100-$200 a piece. I do this for 20 different stocks ranging from alternative energies to rare earth materials to up and coming health care companies sure to be gobbled up by larger companies that may someday see them as competition. This takes roughly $3000 total and is just a portion of my investment future. I also have seeds! I try to cover all bases.

For instance a small penny stock I bought for .0023/share in May just made a 100% gain last Wednesday. I doubled my money and then cashed it out and am no longer investing anything but profit in that company. I use that money to buy 3 or 4 more promising small companies. In Pennyland I always invest in principles and CEO history. Keep in mind owning 50,000-100,000 shares of .0023 will look really good if it ever reaches a $1. The PR's and message boards are filled with BS. Cruise them for a while watching maybe 5 stocks everyday for a few months and you will begin to find patterns and even cash in on "Boiler Room " stocks. You just won't make as much money as the market manipulators.

To start I recommend going to StockCharts.com and reading the section called "Chart School" learning how to read charts and recognize patterns is essential and not difficult. I learned them by making flash cards (I know funny). Have fun it may be monopoly money anyways!

Yes i trade my hard earned for physical stocks.The market is doing well.
Governments cant print bullion.

I trade bull and bear stocks, FAS and FAZ
I also trade ETF's like DIA, SPY, QQQ and also the inverse of these stocks: DXD, SPX, QID.
I think it is absolutely essential to learn technical analysis and how to read charts.
Looking at and reacting to news in a company who's stocks you hold will not cut it because usually the big guys get the news way before anyone else and so the market has already adjusted long before the news is made public.
My advice would be to study books on technical analysis and become good at reading charts. Learn all the different indicators and how to react to different situations.
The best thing to do when first starting off is use a simulator. There is a free one on investopedia.
This is absolutely crucial because nothing is as valuable as experience in the markets.
Use a simulator for a while and learn to handle whatever the market throws at you. If you lose then try and understand why you lost and how you can improve.
The 2 things you need to learn to control when trading is fear and greed.

reply to post by Max_TO


I don't day-trade anymore so my stock picks are almost always researching trends to see where I can get in at a low.. like riding the waves, sitting back and waiting for a good one, then timing the out. Broker sites have some amazing tools now, I personally enjoy E-trade, and they have nearly every tool you could want starting out or using it moderately. They also have a debit card directly to your trading account which is awesome. There are better and more technical tools out there that you can purchase.. personally one day I'll have a Bloomberg Portal .. just to say I have one.

But there are literally hundreds of different trading styles, and depending on the style, which usually has to do with your goals, would determine the type of tools you would need and use. Also it would depend on the brokerage you want as well..