Online Trading

[Sil-Abc]

Im sure theres some of u guys out there that invest and im starting to get into it but i wanted to kno what trading site is good for beginners. I heard about a few such as etrade and bloomberg but one sucks and the other is kinda overwhelming so i was wondering what would u suggest as a beginning point. any kind of opinion or information would be very beneficial to me. thanks in advance :D

[BustedS13]

i use scottrade, but that's more because my dad taught me, it's what he uses, and their headquarters is local, so if they screw something up, you can go to a local store and bitch.

finance.yahoo.com is where i track all my stocks, check stocks, and talk to fucking idiots who don't know what they're doing. avoid the message boards. they are ridiculous.

advice... here's some serious advice. every single person who trades has their own opinion on what works best, what you should do, and so on. most of it is pie in the sky bullshit. the only advice that most people can give you is going to be obvious anyway. basically, if advice overlaps from more than one person, it's probably a good suggestion. but, here's a few suggestions.

-make small goals. SMALL GOALS. my goal is 2% net gain every week. sometimes i make it, sometimes i exceed it, sometimes i fuck up. but 2% is very doable.
-check your stocks. check them every day. check new stocks, follow stocks others tell you about, check out companies you like or read about, whatever, just make sure you're staying active and looking at your portfolio and other opportunities every single day.
-if your stock has risen enough to reach your goal, sell it immediately, no questions asked. when i buy stock, i set my desired selling point and let scottrade take care of it automatically. i don't set it to alert me, i set it to sell. if it goes higher, oh well. i still reached my goal, i still came out ahead.
-don't buy into sure things or anyone's bullshit. everybody who daytrades is a shifty, greased hair, suspenders wearing, larry king looking motherfucker who wants to rape everybody else and cash in. when somebody tells you about this awesome new company or whatever, they're somehow trying to cash in on you buying it. this is 100% always true.
-and finally. major companies are safe bets. but the return sucks. when i feel like fucking around, i love penny stock. if you reach your goals, there's no harm in taking a chunk and throwing it at some really, really cheap stock. it keeps things interesting. this is where i use alerts and actually watch the pricing.

[ziptiedae86]

Two questions for you:
1. HOW MUCH money are you investing?
2. WHEN do you need the money?

If you are looking for a quick buck or don't have much to start off with (less than $1000), you're better off throwing your cash in a high yield savings acct or money market.

If you have a decent chunk of change burning a hole in your pocket or plan on investing for a long time, you will make the most money if you BUY and HOLD. We're young enough to dump money in and weather the storms of the market. Instead of picking stocks (which is very difficult and time consuming), consider some index funds. There are little to no fees involved in maintaining them (as opposed to mutual funds) and the return is a lot higher.


I also used Scottrade in the past, but have switched to Zecco for its low cost trading.

If you want to learn more, read up on www.investopedia.com, there are some good articles for newbies.

[BustedS13]

i actually started with under a grand. it's good to learn the ropes with a small chunk before getting too serious, i feel.

oh, and one other thing. your savings account is a good place to keep money you may need in an emergency. your stock portfolio is not.

[sr240mike]

I use prosper.com for group to person Loans, currently earning 13.5%, or for free trades I use Zecco.

[Sil-Abc]

yea, i already read up on investopedia and just wanted to get more of a personal feel from others. thanks for the help :D

[ziptiedae86]

Fed reduces rate by another quarter percent.

Holy shit stocks down 295. Time to buy buy buy.

So much for my turbo project.