Anyone here interested in trading stocks or the stock market? I'm just starting a venture with my friend who has already been successful and it seems really interesting. Right now I'm on ameritrade, anyone else do this?

Use Scottrade.

Well thanks for that, but I got 20 free trades from ameritrade so I'm still using those. It's only 9 bucks a trade anyway, not a big deal.

I was a finance major and I would consider investing my second favorite hobby next to poker.

Tip of the day: Start investing in international markets/companies. (India)

I trade bonds for a living, so yeah...you could say I'm interested in markets.

Indices look like they want to break out. I'm still bearish on the economy, so I'm not loading up on stocks or anything...

Much of the current stock bounce is being attributed to speculation that the Fed is close to pausing on interest rate hikes, but I'd be careful with that.

Rates are still historically low, Bernanke is going to want to show he's an inflation hawk (like Greeny was) and come summer, energy prices will be on Neptune once again...

Aren't all bond guys? I've been told it's a prerequisite for the job! :wink:

LOL, it's our lot in life.

No kidding...I can't see when/where a lot of the energy stocks
will peak. Looks almost unlimited.

I once invested in WWE. Made a 26% return in just over a month. XFL ruled (well for my bank account)

any good books on the subject? i trade a little, but wouldn't mind do more of it and want to get a lot of information.

I took a Personal Investing class while I was going for my Associates, the textbook was fascinating and very informative. I'm sure there's countless books available on investing, not really sure what a good starting point would be. If your local Community College offers an investing class, buy the book. Better yet, take the class.

Wall Street Journal.


Not trying to be an ass, its a good resource

and Forbes

Here's what all the "investing" books say:

"Buy and hold."

Buy one of these books if you want to get a little bit more serious about trading:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/073520066...glance&n=283155

or

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081440680...glance&n=283155

You should be able to invest with a buy and hold mentality but have a much better feel for entry and exit points.

WSJ is an excellent paper all around. Most professionals consider Barron's to be the most informative mainstream publication on investing.

Yeah, barrons is good too, but I haven't read it or made any effort to since I graduated. I majored in freakin econ and I haven't followed the market in 3 years. How ridiculous is that?

I read this book a long time ago but it's still one of the best IMHO - each chapter deals with a market wizard and the author's interview with that trader.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088730610...5Fencoding=UTF8

good read

I don't know much about investing....

But Clark Howard says buy index funds and just sit on them, and you can't miss. And keep re-investing.

Thoughts?

Mad Money on CNBC

1. Most mutual funds don't beat the index funds

2. Pick a no-load index fund and your transaction costs are minimal

3. If you need to liquidate and get your$ quickly, no problem (unlike real estate)

4. Frees up your time (vs spending time researching individual stocks)

Unless you have an edge, I think that index funds make a lot of sense.

Cramer was the man back in the day when he ran his hedgefund. then he went Hollywood. :x

i would recommend common stocks and uncommon profits by fischer, still considered one of the best, and read the Intilligent Investor for the part on margin of safety.

I wish Chuck Norris would throw a chair at that guy.

Tomorrow should be a good one for the Bears as Yahoo and Intel are getting crushed after hours and IBM didn't exactly report a stellar quarter. Should be interesting to see if the bulls can regroup...

From Fil Zucchi on Minyanville.com

"Come tomorrow the market's ability to absorb the current selling wave will tell a lot about this market, IMHO. If Boo cannot mount a comeback on these type of reports "get Shortie" may take on a whole new meaning."

From Rev Shark on realmoney.com

"We're certainly going to scare out some bulls with this reports and right now it looks like panic."

From Cody Willard on realmoney.com

"This one's gonna be nasty tomorrow. Yahoo!'s a bigger disappointment relative to expectations than Intel. I don't call either one "ugly," perhaps because I remember "ugly" as huge misses and guide-downs. And no earnings, but lots of losses. That's my standard for ugly.

That said, the stocks will be very ugly tomorrow. Lots of bulls and longs will be throwing in the towel, that's for sure."

Bulls regroup tomorrow at old resistance and the market marches forward. you know what they say about strength on bad news, just wait for tomorrow. you heard it here first

I've never traded stocks. I heard it's kinda like poker, though. Just seems like too much work, to me. Am I right?

is this the guy obsessed with google?

goooooooooooooooooooogle!

i think it's his anti-depressants....PAAAAAAAAAAAAXIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLL!!!

it's too much work if you're not really interested in it. once you grasp the basics and get more in depth to how things actually work, then you should like it. just like in poker, all markets have fish.

Thanks, man. I'm actually interested in it. Do you have any links handy I could look at?

no specific links, but try google. the best piece of info i can give you is reading The Education of a Speculator by Victor Niederhoffer. if you get the grasp of this book, which any poker player should even though it's regarding another market, you are in it to win it. there's even a section on poker in the book which was published in 1997 before poker hit the mainstream. the advice is solid, for poker and ALL markets.

Thanks. I'll definately check it out.

and then, if someone wants to show me around, feel free to PM me for my IM contact info.

Here are the 3 books I'm looking at getting from Amazon. Let me know what you think of my choices...

How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad - William J Oneil


Coach Yourself to Success : Winning the Investment Game - Joe Moglia

The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing (RevisedEdition) - Jason Kelly

these 2 links are a good start

http://www.investopedia.com/university/technical/

http://www.traders.com/Documentation/RESou...y/glossary.html

www.fool.com (some free, some pay)

www.thestreet.com (free, realmoney.com is their paysite)

www.minyanville.com (University area is free - also have a pay site but much cheaper for students)

www.investopedia.com (looks interesting; looks like some good stuff for beginners)

I concur with what others said about Barrons - a must read on the weekend.

There's really two types of investing and you need to understand both:

Fundamental and Technical

Get some books on both aspects.

O'Neill is the founder of Investors Business Daily and founder of the CANSLIM method of picking stocks - I've heard good things about his book.

Haven't heard of the other two books

STOCK-SPLIT TACTICS QUESTIONED
Livedoor raid stirs up fear of Net stocks

By MAYUMI NEGISHI and TAIGA URANAKA
Staff writers

The Nikkei stock average fell below the 16,000 line Tuesday as worried investors sold off Internet stocks amid the dust kicked up by prosecutors' search of Livedoor Co. over suspected securities law violations.
The Nikkei lost 462.08 points in its biggest single-day loss since May 2004 to close at 15,805.95, down 2.8 percent from the previous day.

Despite the news, the downside is likely to be limited by strong buying by foreign investors, market participants said.

Experts said the fallout from the raid may have far-reaching effects that will prompt investors and regulators alike to review the way the market operates.

"We're in for a long debate now on how far investors and managers can go in the name of profit, whether the legal checks are enough, and how to build a system of checks to ensure confidence in Japan's market," said Hisahiko Saito, a professor of commerce at Keio University.

Central to the speculation is the tactic of using stock splits, which often boost stock prices. But Livedoor is not the only firm suspected of using tricky but legal price-boosting measures, he said.

"It's a tough call, because you don't want to discourage new entrants into the economy," Saito said.

Worried about possible rule-breaking by tech-oriented newcomers, individual investors rushed to dump Livedoor, partner Fuji Television Network Inc. and other Internet stocks, including Yahoo Japan and Softbank.

Some market watchers, however, welcomed the raid.

"It's a welcome break to the recent excessive rally, which would not have lasted anyway," said Mitsuru Yoshikawa, head of capital market research at Daiwa Institute of Research. He said the impact on the overall stock market was limited.

A manager of a U.S. pension fund, who asked not to be named, said overseas appetite for Japanese stocks remains strong, given the economy's fundamentals.

If Livedoor is found to have violated securities laws, other changes may be in store.

For example, new entrants and institutional investors may think twice before using tactics that are technically legal but considered "overly aggressive" by the Japanese business establishment.

Some established businesses and experts have questioned some of Livedoor President Takafumi Horie's growth strategies, including the use of large stock splits to acquire businesses.

Stock splits are common and usually carried out to lower the per-share price so small investors can buy shares more easily.

Livedoor apparently used price-splitting often as a tactic to boost its stock price. Although it is not clear yet whether investigators are specifically targeting this practice, the media have been led to start questioning the legitimacy of the tactic.

Splits are often accompanied by a sharp rise in the stock price. Horie raised eyebrows using this tactic by taking advantage of the jump in Livedoor's stock price to acquire businesses. The acquisitions in turn helped keep the price of his shares high.

"Although it is not illegal, it is very gray," Daiwa's Yoshikawa said, noting the practice has been criticized by experts. "It has been used by startups and IT-related firms. It is not a desirable practice."

In March, the Tokyo Stock Exchange asked companies to refrain from carrying out stock splits at ratios greater than 5-to-1.

The Japan Times: Jan. 18, 2006
© All rights reserved

people interested in investment opportunities would do far better to look at India, China and other international markets before looking at domestic opportunities other than index funds.

agree/disagree?

agree, not even close.

any other countries you'd recommend?
i'm a fourth year econ major, so good on the theoretical side, but not so good on the actual ummm doing stuff side

p.s. i need a job

bump for the bulls regrouping since yesterdays open.

shit, I was gonna do this but I forgot

PADDLE!! PADDLE!!!

i think the choppiness over the last week was the usual shakedown of the weak holdings before options expire tomorrow. this momentum should stick and continue into next week.

Looks like a decent short term sale to me.

The SOX is going parabolic as AMD cancels out INTC's bad news. Semicaps are running as LRCX reported a great quarter last night.

BKX isn't looking too good - that chart looks like it could be rolling over...

XAU is strong too - keep trying to get back some Gold stock exposure but waiting for a pullback. I also want to add some energy but I need to do some research there.

Small Caps are crushing Big Caps..

I'm actually 50% stocks/50% cash right now. What do you guys own?

I have as small caps:

AFOP
EXAS
TPTH
TUNE
RAE
APNS.OB

mid/large caps:

PIR
DWA
DSS
BBI
WFSL
ATVI
LYG
NZT
PLCM

metals:

SSRI

i think there's gonna be a tight trading range between the top line resistance of your chart and the 1244 support level. i'm looking for a breakout above the resistance if we can stay above the 1244 level. i'm betting it's accumulation in this tight trading range before a breakout :shock: we'll soon find out if i'm a masochist

The curve is inverted. Look what happens to stocks when that happens. A lot of smart people are predicting it doesn't mean what it used to, but I tend to side with history for things like this.

we may be talking about different time frames....my outlook is 6 months and nasdaq 2,600-2,800 as long as we can hold the 1,244 mark. if we do i think we break out. is your short term bearishness over the next month or so? maybe a few bear put spread options?

http://www.fullcontactpoker.com/poker-foru...4822&highlight=