How do I get started?
I am determined. I have asked so many people and they all tell me to stay away, but that can be for 2 reasons. 1) they dont know anything, or 2) i really should stay away. But i dont give up that easy. I want to learn more about stocks, what to look for, a much better understanding of how they work, what type of brokers to look for and what i should stay away from as a newbie.
Additional Information:
How do I get started?
I am determined. I have asked so many people and they all tell me to stay away, but that can be for 2 reasons. 1) they don't know anything, or 2) I really should stay away. But I don't give up that easy. I want to learn more about stocks, what to look for, a much better understanding of how they work, what type of brokers to look for and what i should stay away from as a newbie.
Answers
426 points
MONEYTREE answered 6 months ago …
if your talking about day trading, yes it is dangerous, but can also be very rewarding if done right, long term is not anything to be afraid of, day trading is very stressfull, but if its really something that u think u might like , then dont stay away because u never know u might really be good at it someday. First u find yourself a broker, and deposit some money, most places take nothing less than 500 DOLLARS, but daytrading u need 25,000 thousand to start, so do your homework before u do anything, read all the books u can read, and soak in all the information u can. good luck
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4085 points
EthanR answered 6 months ago …
Since Moneytree answered this question in relation to daytrading, I will answer it in relation to longer term trading. I don't think you should stay away, but I do think that you should educate yourself as much as possible before you risk dime number one. So for now, forget about the broker, and instead go over to your local library or book store and invest some time and a little money into reading some famous books about stocks. I am thinking of people like Peter Lynch, Norman Fosbeck, John Murphy, William O'Neill, Burton Malkiel, and many others.
After you have spent considerable time reading about stocks, choose no more than five stocks you are interested in, and spend a couple of weeks looking at their charts and studying their information. You will then learn about stock market behavior. Once you have done this, take another week and try paper trading, ie. pretend investments on stocks at specific prices, buy and sell to see how you would have done. After you do all this, come back and ask the questions about setting up with a broker.
If you don't take the time to really learn what to do, you will lose money, and then all those people who said to stay away will all say "I told you so!". But if you learn how the right way and then you make a lot of money, then you can tell them that they were wrong! Good luck.
3963 points
MNSL answered 6 months ago …
I think if you want to become successful in the market always you should stay in the market.
Do not stay away from the market. At different times, there are different opportunities.
Some said stay away from the US Dollar for the last 3 years. Actually, it went up. Then recently some said stay away from stocks when time was bad. Some stocks are up more than 100% now. Some shorted the market in April and May.
However, first you must learn as much as possible. Once you learn you can invest intelligently and can build up investment strategy.
Then do not follow the crowd. Eg: Now crowds are following some wrong sectors and. they will understand their mistake once they see financial results in the next financial year.
Remember future earnings, results are more important than current results. In addition there will be big shift in spending power of baby boomers, demographics changes etc during next 10 years. Therefore, some sectors will have less demand and some sectors will have more demand.
I will give some examples now:
Even Citi and BAC stock prices went up more than 100% during short period
Then if you have invested in Sanderson Chicken Farms few months before when it was, trading around $20 now you should have realized more than 100% capital gain. It is trading at around $ 41 now. Investors have given more value for this stock than some hot stocks in leading auto, banks, insurance and manufacturing stocks. They are trading below $10 now.
Now next financial year will be crucial for Sanderson Chicken farms. If they cannot perform as they expected we must sell the stock before it is too late. We should find another promising stock before market discovers it. If they achieve their targets and plans, we should keep this stock for the long run and it will go above $100. I do not know where it will stop specially during next five years.
You have to do thorough study on the company before you invest and before market discover it. Sometimes it will stagnate for some times. If you have patient you will realizes gain later.
678 points
BoxCar answered 6 months ago …
Everything you learn in life has a "Learning Curve" or process we must go thru.
You learn by misteaks, ha, but better to learn from someone else's mistakes.
At first you will have failures, so be on guard that you don't overcommit too much$
Use your own intuition based on your own knowledge. Ex- I made 100 fold on HOG
As a motorcyclist I realized the a similarity between stereo systems & motorcycles
There are tweeters, mid-range and woofers. Jap bikes made up the first two and
had built up a huge backlog of customers. As they aged they would naturally go to
woofers, more manageable and in keeping with mature status as bikers aged.
When I saw Harley had SOLVED all their problems of vibration with '82 rubber
glide I knew they had a future potential as yet untapped. When stocks plunged in
'87 stk mkt crash (an overdue adjustment) I bought as much HOG stlk as I
could muster (only $500 worth) 32 shares. That stock split 6 times doubling
every 3 years and when it became 1024 shares I sold it ALL for over $50,000
in 2003 their 100th anniversary model year. Why sell? Who wants a 101st ann.?
