Thread: Day Trading/Investing

Don't go through a brokerage firm like Edward jones or that. Do the research yourself and go through "ing direct"(although Chase is about to buy them out). I was with Edward Jones for 2 years and they lost me almost 20,000 dollars because I had a total old school investor who wouldn't sell no matter what. I am with Ing Direct and doing it myself. It's not much but in two years I have made 5000 investing in stock, exchange traded funds and CD's. I just did like you and read a ton of books(about 6 months worth). Just have confidence and you will do fine. Good luck

Zecco allowed free trading in the past. It looks like they now
charge a small fee, but it looks like it is less than the rest of its
competitors.

Learning the technical indicators is very easy. I always found the
valuation texts to be very open ended and difficult to master. The
topic of valuation takes a lot research as well.

I never really felt comfortable with the whole system and have not
invested as of yet.

Originally Posted by sosc

Zecco allowed free trading in the past. It looks like they now
charge a small fee, but it looks like it is less than the rest of its
competitors.

Learning the technical indicators is very easy. I always found the
valuation texts to be very open ended and difficult to master. The
topic of valuation takes a lot research as well.

I never really felt comfortable with the whole system and have not
invested as of yet.

Zecco for stock trading based on cost
optionshouse.com for vanilla derivative trading based on cost

thinkorswim has the best tools

I don't mess with that stuff anymore but just a tip never invest more than you can afford to lose. when i did i stuck with the tech sector which I was in and pharmaceuticals cause I have good friends that work in that sector as well.

can't believe a lot of the BS on tv. a lot is just hype to drive stocks up/down when they wouldn't have originally.

I use scottrade and for what I do I love it. It's simple and provides a great deal of info on stocks and for what you seem to be after would probably be a good choice. It has a starting minimum of $500 and no minimum activity/trading. There are a few finer points to investing with lower capital that you'll want to consider. I'm not an expert by any means but I have a very small portfolio (5-6 stock investments) that has remained in the green for some time now. I can prob help answer some of ur questions if you wanna shoot me a PM or I can explain on here.

I was definately wanting to be more of a trader, rather than investor. But I just have this feeling that I will need to invest in the beginning to build more capital, and avoid excess fees.

Of all of the books I have read, the most influential/informative I have found are the Market Wizards books by Jack Schwager, as well as his Getting Started in Technical Analysis (I am only about a third through, but awesome examples of trends and signals so far), Rich Dad Poor Dad - this one was great for putting it into perspective what you should be doing with your money, I am really good with my money as it is, but now I know what I can do. I still have two of Peter Lynch's books to read.

Most important points I have gotten from these books: you have to learn the style you are comfortable with, realize that there is both winning and losing and expect to lose sometimes, 5-10% capital in any one stock is ideal, visualizing how much you could possibly lose on every trade -- placing stops, not being greedy - taking profits but riding it too long will teach you, and diversity.. sticking to one sector isn't the best idea as they often move together.

I have always enjoyed working from my computer, I have made money playing video games and the economy that surrounds them, so I think day trading would be great for me. I will probably use the technical + news approach, news really does fluctuate the markets quickly.

So, I have been looking for free sites for information, places I can research for now, since I am waiting until September to start up with a broker. So far, I found bigcharts.com to be the best for charting. Finviz.com for trending/sector watch. Earningswhispers.com for earnings reports. I flip between marketwatch.com and cnbc.com for news.

Anyone have any other suggestions for helpful sites?

Be careful, if you day trade FTC requires you to hold a $25,000 minimum and they will liquidate your account if you fall below that. ("A pattern day trader is defined in Exchange Rule 431 (Margin Requirement) as any customer who executes 4 or more round-trip day trades within any 5 successive business days.")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_day_trader

Margin trading has similar rules, must maintain minimum margin requirement. If you fall below that, they forcibly sell your stocks. Lost $25,000 from this rule.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_Call

Originally Posted by mryar

Be careful, if you day trade FTC requires you to hold a $25,000 minimum and they will liquidate your account if you fall below that. ("A pattern day trader is defined in Exchange Rule 431 (Margin Requirement) as any customer who executes 4 or more round-trip day trades within any 5 successive business days.")

Pattern day trader - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Margin trading has similar rules, must maintain minimum margin requirement. If you fall below that, they forcibly sell your stocks. Lost $25,000 from this rule.

Margin Call - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

when the hell did they come up with that rule? I stopped day trading in '99 after being hassled by the SEC over some trades I made.

Originally Posted by LAM

when the hell did they come up with that rule? I stopped day trading in '99 after being hassled by the SEC over some trades I made.

Not sure. You know the old adage, you haven't lost until you sold? Doesn't mean shit when the govt forces you to sell.

The rule was made to prevent amateurs from coming into the game and losing everything, what it ended up doing was what it was supposed to prevent (like most govt regulation).

Margin calls used to happen when your account value approached zero, I had margin calls driving me towards zero.

Worst part is, the stock (Intel corp) is now about what I bought it for. If govt hadn't come in and made me sell, I wouldn't have lost $25000.

Fuck govt.