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Stock traders thread (pg. 2)
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| *~LiSa-LoO~* |
| Any tips for first timers? |
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| jester |
| quote: | Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~*
Any tips for first timers? |
Look around and read up on companies. One thing is, if you are looking at US stocks stay away from US/European banking companies that trade in the US.
One thing is for certain, don't put all your eggs in one basket ;)
I made some good money with Bank of Montreal (BMO), thing is its almost at its all time high. You can take a chance of buying now and it going higher or it going back down (and you'd lose a lot of money). I was lucky enough to get BMO at $33.89 per share back in December 2008 and now its at $64+. I almost doubled my money in two years.
All I can say is stay away from BBD.A, but look into POW (its down at the moment, but its one of the best companies in Canada). |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~*
Any tips for first timers? |
1. Start small, don't invest 50k on your first couple of trades.
2. Research a stock before you buy it. Make sure you understand something about their business and what could cause their stock to go up/down.
3. If you plan on "trading" (as opposed to holding onto stock forever), then set profit/loss targets in advance and stick to them. Don't deviate unless something really fundamental has changed.
4. Never try to catch a rally. Right after a major upswing is usually the worst time to buy. Don't panic-sell either.
5. If you want to play high-risk trades then do it with "risk capital" - a specific amount of money you set aside that you are willing to accept a total loss on.
6. Pay attention to the major indexes. If the Dow/TSE is tanking, it doesn't really matter what you own, it's going to tank too.
7. Keep your Xanax prescription renewed. |
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| tvmann |
more first timer advice:
1 - Avoid the use of debt such as margin loans or other borrowed money. Debt will magnify your profits as your investments rise and can be addictive and make it seem easy to make money. But if your investments drop, your equity rapidly goes down and if you don't sell fast enough (and selling in a dropping market is not an easy decision for most people) you can lose a huge amount of equity. Profits made with borrowed money are easily vaporized, everyone sorta knows this but you only fully appreciate it in a meltdown.
2 - If investing in stocks, keep the number of stocks to a minimum, 1 to 3 for starters. You should think you have a good understanding of each company, not only their products or services but also their management and financial situation. A small number of owned stocks will let you spend more time and brainpower on each company. You will need to monitor each company by checking their news at least once a week, or ideally every day, at sites like Yahoo Finance.
3 - Personally I prefer looking for companies that will probably do well for many years, with large stock price gains. That means I can be more familiar with their situation as time goes by, and I find it easier and more profitable than looking for quick trades in companies I'm not as familiar with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_bagger
5 - If you end up with some good profits, avoid the temptation to diversify or "diworsify" by buying additional companies that you don't fully understand or won't have time to monitor closely. Only buy companies you understand and have time to monitor. |
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| Nrg2Nfinit |
Im playing the comodities
I try to time natural gas, with HNU and HND. double leveraged etfs which cannot be held for more then a week or so due to deterioration.
Thursday is the natural gas report at 10:30 am you can get a good 10% in 5 seconds, or lose.
Holding some leveraged oil etf HOU, its a good time to buy because the contracts have already rolled over. If oil hits 90 dollars or so per barrel in a 3 week time frame you can see yourself making a good 10 to 15 percent.
Equities, im holding RIM at 91 dollars (have to dump it soon because its never going to reach that level again.
TNDM.US. Good valuation call.
Some UUU (uranium one). Valulation is crap, but when uranium prices start to rise this thing should head up north.
Looking for a good pullback to buy some more equities. The ETF game is very risky, you can lose alot of money and sleep if you don't have a position strategy or stop losses. |
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| Nrg2Nfinit |
| lol its funny no one mentioned stop losses. Always have a stop loss position to avoid losing more then you can afford. |
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| *~LiSa-LoO~* |
| Thanks for the tips guys. I don't know if or when I'm going to start, but it's something I've wanted to look into and will definitely use some of your advice and tips. |
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| DigiNut |
| quote: | Originally posted by Nrg2Nfinit
Holding some leveraged oil etf HOU, its a good time to buy because the contracts have already rolled over. If oil hits 90 dollars or so per barrel in a 3 week time frame you can see yourself making a good 10 to 15 percent. |
HOU and other oil ETFs aren't based on the spot price, they're based on futures contracts. No correlation with the spot price. If this is how you've been trading so far, I suggest you start reading the prospectus. |
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| *~LiSa-LoO~* |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
the prospectus. |
I'm so excited I know what this is! I'm writing my Business Organizations exam on Wednesday and have been studying for it this weekend, which is one of the things that made me want to research my own interest in entering the stock market. |
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| Nrg2Nfinit |
| quote: | Originally posted by DigiNut
HOU and other oil ETFs aren't based on the spot price, they're based on futures contracts. No correlation with the spot price. If this is how you've been trading so far, I suggest you start reading the prospectus. |
Lol i know how these ETFs work. Where did i mention anything about spot price? We have fully rolled over to june contract now so this will be the contract we will be using for most of may.
http://www.hbpetfs.com/pub/en/Contract.aspx
http://datasuite.cmegroup.com/dataS...cted_tab=energy
you can track commodity contracts live here. These prices directly correlate to the half the % gains or losses of the ETF prices so long as etf volume is large.
Wednesday is the oil report at 10:30 and Thursday 10:30 is the natural gas report.
analyst estimates can be found on bloomberg or first enercast.
http://www.firstenercastfinancial.com/e_news.php?cont=34891
Warning to those with a faint heart. These ETFs are very risky and volatile and ONLY meant for day traders. |
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| Skipper |
Had a convo with someone on the sales desk last week about when to know the market is getting too hot:
- Cab drivers start asking for stock tips
- The lowest paid people in the firm are swinging for the fences in their PAs
- Friends who have very limited investment experience start asking how to get in or start asking about specific stocks that have soared
^^ All happening right now
Personally if I were just getting into the market I would probably pick one or two more boring blue chip stocks to sit with for about 6 months. Get used to following earnings announcements/news releases, watch the stock reaction, try to follow some analyst commentary to understand what moves the stock and what doesn't. Get used to the movement in the overall market before going all in. |
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