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Old 12-08-2013, 08:57 PM
 
24,352 posts, read 26,826,712 times
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Stop losses are good when trading. Pretty much every trader uses them, but you need to make sure you are using them correctly. I wouldn't recommend a person who is just starting out to use them because they won't know what price to set them resulting in a lot of small losses. If you are a person that gets very emotional seeing your money go down say 10%, stock trading isn't for you. Likewise, if you are the type of person who could never sell at a loss, stock trading also isn't for you. If you are trading, you don't need to think about retirement accounts in my opinion. If you are investing, it would be a good idea.
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Old 12-28-2013, 04:28 PM
 
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The advice and answers provided are fine. However, you need to decide whether you truly want to trade or invest in the markets. Those are two different things that require different preparation. I am not a finance guy. However, I knew that there was money to be made trading. Bought some of the "we can teach you to day trade" training material. Was not very accurate. A good buddy turned me on to a NYC guy that developed his own style of trading using only technical indicators. At first I wasn't interested since it sounded too complicated. I met the guy, Anthony, and he showed me his results. Proof was in the pudding. The trading system was broken down in such a way anyone can understand it. My wife learned and does it. A year later and I can actually call myself a real day trader. Few points worth noting, I only deal with blue chip companies (no penny stocks). Only trade weekly options (no swing trading or long term). Only trade the first hour of the day. Changed my life and bank account.

Again, I suggest you determine whether you want to be a trader or investor, first.

Best,

FS
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Old 12-28-2013, 09:29 PM
 
Location: Atlanta, GA
14,834 posts, read 7,386,464 times
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For investing, I think very few beginners should be trading individual stocks. A low cost no load mutual fund or index fund would be a better choice.
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Old 12-28-2013, 09:33 PM
 
24,352 posts, read 26,826,712 times
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These are my favorite ETFs...

VCR - Consumer Discretionary - 375 stocks
VHT - Health Care - 315 stocks
VIS - Industrials - 357 stocks
VYM - High Dividend Yield - 384 stocks
QQQ - Nasdaq 100 - 100 stocks

These have pretty low expense ratios and contain good quality stocks.
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Old 12-29-2013, 03:09 PM
 
874 posts, read 1,261,236 times
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This doesn't directly address your questions, but it would be a good idea to hop onto some investing websites/forums to learn from the ground up. Investopedia can be your best friend for learning terms and strategies, and then you can find traders on Twitter or Stocktwit and find a style you like (i.e. Wild West day-trading, Warren Buffet tortoise-style -- slow and steady, with strong fundamentals, wins the race). There are also good newsletters and watching/listening to Bloomberg never hurt anybody, either. There is a world of resources out there. Check them out, cherry pick the ones you like (this may take awhile, but it's good to keep it simple), then jump in!
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Old 01-03-2014, 02:00 PM
 
Location: San Mateo ,Ca
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I'm not an expert but before you start investing in indiv. stocks, day trading etc. you might want to read some bks. by John Bogle, Vang. fame, & or Ray Lucia, Buckets of Money, on the best & easiest way to make $ over the long term. Investing auto. ea. mo. into broad based index funds is the best way I know to make $ over your lifetime esp., if you're young. Fidelity Index funds are the lowest cost ones I know. Maybe Vang. has some lower particular index fund choices. Most day traders lose most or all of their $ eventually. When you buy into funds auto. ea. mo., it takes all of the guessing & timing out of the equation. Many people don't even make what their indiv. funds make because they try to outguess the mgrs. of the funds by selling out at the wrong time, etc.
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Old 01-04-2014, 07:22 AM
 
Location: Wartrace,TN
7,997 posts, read 12,692,233 times
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My free advice...... (worth every penny you are paying for it....)

1) I assume you really mean "trading" (multiple trades a day) vs "investing" (Buy and hold for days, weeks, months or years). If you intend to trade you will need 25,000 in your account to comply with the pattern day trader rule. This only applies to stocks; if you trade futures the requirements are lower.

2) Do not sign up for a 4000.00+ "trading course" from some guru. If their system worked why wouldn't they be trading it instead of making a living off of "students"? Sure, there are a few good mentors out there but from reading many trading forums the people that payed for the courses seem to feel ripped off for the most part.

3) Start reading.
StockCharts.com - ChartSchool
This website will give you a good overview of technical and fundamentals. I do not suggest you "join" it, just look at the free stuff.
You can also do free stock screening here; FINVIZ.com - Stock Screener

4) Set up a free "paper trading account" at the broker of your choice. You can practice before you commit real money.

5) When you start, start small. Don't jump into one trade with everything in your account. Don't shoot for home runs, take the base hits. Use good risk management. From what I have been told 90% of all traders fail. I believe they fail because trading stocks is perceived to be "easy" and doesn't require much work.

6) I would give trading futures serious consideration.

1) Lower capital requirements for active trading.
2) Increased leverage.
3) More favorable taxation (60/40 rule) and easier tax filing.
4) Fairer marketplace. Insider trading, company announcements, surprise analyst upgrades or downgrades and "Tweets" from market manipulators do not happen in the futures markets.
5) Liquidity. If you stick to very liquid futures contracts your bid ask spreads are usually tight.
6) Commission costs are much lower for futures than for stocks.
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