stock market

[spikethebest]

anyone on here use the stock market?

i am trying to get into it. it is so crazy right now. Good and bad.

Good--- things are cheap
Bad-- things can get really cheap very quickly, or companies can go bankrupt or taken over by the Feds at anytime

here is what i currently own...

individual companies...
MDT-- my employer-- 15% discount, but have to hold onto it for >2 years before I can sell it
C-- the largest volume trading stock on the market
IFUS-- penny stock, just to see
HLNT-- another even cheaper penny stock

retirement funds...
VFORX
VFINX
VPMCX
VWIGX
VEXPX
VWNFX
VWELX
VBMFX
VTINX

here is what i am watching hourly/daily to possibly buy
S
ODP

here is what i want to buy if i had the money
GOOG
AAPL

here is what i am staying away from because it is too risky
BP


ohh i wish I was trading on March 6, 2009.... biggest discount day in my lifetime. I was in US Army boot camp then...

 

[khanvict]

i trade penny stocks or micro cap market stocks from time to time. it's a whole 'nother beast than your traditionally listed stocks. a lot of manipulation, pump and dumps, and scams go on but nobody should be putting their money into penny stocks with the idea of long-term investing. these are very fragile momentum plays with ridiculous volatility that can make you a lot of money if you have good timing and exit strategies but if you cannot stomach seeing your hard earned money dwindle away in front of your eyes in a matter of minutes then it's advised to stay away from the pennies.

 

[spikethebest]

i agree 100%. one of the stocks is doing good, the other, not so much. it was a trial experiment. just wanted to see what would happen. a costly learning experience, but hey! what isnt anyways?

 

[khanvict]

i agree 100%. one of the stocks is doing good, the other, not so much. it was a trial experiment. just wanted to see what would happen. a costly learning experience, but hey! what isnt anyways?

have you learned technical analysis, or basically, learning to read chart indicators and trends? i feel like i would do so much better, or at least feel like i have an advantage, if i sat down with this stuff and learned it because i never did. i've been basically trading based on internet chatter and seeing where the momentum is which is like being blindfolded to the risks because sometimes it's hard to decipher the bs and lies with all the chatter out there and most of it is impulse decisions on my part. i haven't done too bad, though, or at least not bad enough to be discouraged because i still think penny stocks are my ticket to riches and i believe it's not a far-fetched reality if i can keep practicing and strengthening my trading discipline.

 

[spikethebest]

i have a simple plan....

buy 10,000 shares in 100 different penny stocks

hope at least 5 companies make it good, not google good, but maybe like $30 per share in 20 years

then I am rich.

what do you think?

 

[khanvict]

i have a simple plan....

buy 10,000 shares in 100 different penny stocks

hope at least 5 companies make it good, not google good, but maybe like $30 per share in 20 years

then I am rich.

what do you think?

i don't have the patience for 20 years, let alone 20 days when it comes to these things. i say you're better off buying 2,500,000 shares in 4 different .0001 stocks ($250 investment per company there) that you think have potential. i am sure you could flip one or two of them if and when they hit .0002 if you just wanted to get some your money back. if you're lucky one of them could run off to .001 or of course even make their way into .01 territory which by that time you are already at a 1000% gain which is when things get incredibly interesting.

my strategy is to concentrate my funds on one stock and just ride it for better or worse for what it's worth. i am an instant gratification kind of person so if i'm going to see a return on my investment i want to see it now, not a year from now and if i'm going to lose my money i don't want it to drag out over the course of time and watch the red chart bleed to death. i just want to take my lumps and move on which is why pennies work for me.

 

[spikethebest]

very good points, and reasons. I started messing with the market for retirement purposes. however, making $$ for now, and later isnt a bad idea, just never really thought of it that way. thanks for your incite.

 

[RichardS]

Short term trading is the only way to go. Buy and hold has been dead since the dot com bubble.

The real killings are made at the ground level. Start getting into private placements for companies that are yet to go public. Hold for two years and sell. No matter what it trades for you'll make it out like a champ.

I'm short the dollar and long gold.

 

[spikethebest]

Start getting into private placements for companies that are yet to go public.

How do you go about doing that? I use Scottrade, and I think I can only buy shares with public companies. How do I invest into private ones?

 

[bettinge]

The S&P 500 charts will be making a "Death Cross" in the next day or so. A very bad sign technically! This is when the 50 day moving average falls below the 200 day!

Don't re enter the market until IBD (Investoers Business Daily) gives you the go ahead. This is a great paper. You can get a feel for when to enter just by reading "The Market Pulse" of IBD in your local grocery store.

Be careful, learn, and a very good opportunity to enter will appear soon. I personally feel S&P500 at 980 will be a good entry point.

 

[khanvict]

The S&P 500 charts will be making a "Death Cross" in the next day or so. A very bad sign technically! This is when the 50 day moving average falls below the 200 day!

Don't re enter the market until IBD (Investoers Business Daily) gives you the go ahead. This is a great paper. You can get a feel for when to enter just by reading "The Market Pulse" of IBD in your local grocery store.

Be careful, learn, and a very good opportunity to enter will appear soon. I personally feel S&P500 at 980 will be a good entry point.

the thing about markets is people make money even when stock values drop 'cause you can 'short' a stock (i find this, in principle, to be very scary). just as much as some investors love to see prices rise there's an equal group of traders smiling just as brightly when it falls.

 

[RichardS]

How do you go about doing that? I use Scottrade, and I think I can only buy shares with public companies. How do I invest into private ones?

Private placements can be in public companies or private companies (attempting to go public). You won't be able to buy them through Scottrade or any discount brokerage. Your options would be to either work with a full service broker who has access to deal flow or open an account with a boutique investment bank. Big investment banks (ie. Goldman) don't really give a d*mn about retail investors (non-institutional).

Typically retail investors have better access to deals based out of Canada because they lack the SOX rules that cripple start-up businesses trying to finance through the capital markets.

You'll most likely have to attest to being an accredited investor. There are several ways to qualify, but the due diligence of the company stops with you signing that you are.

Once you subscribe to the offering, they will reserve the stock for you and you'll have so many days to send your check and send in the paper work. Every company does it differently.

See the catch is, companies can't advertise that they are raising money. Its a catch-22. You contact them, they contact you. Its like a financing dance.

---

the thing about markets is people make money even when stock values drop 'cause you can 'short' a stock (i find this, in principle, to be very scary). just as much as some investors love to see prices rise there's an equal group of traders smiling just as brightly when it falls.

Trading on margin is very scary. Shorting is overrated because you have limited gains and unlimited loss potential. The media has over blown the importance of this. Read about trading options, its safer and pretty simple once you wrap your head around the concept/terminology.

If someone's losing money, you better believe someone else is making money. Buy high, sell low right?... er

 

[spikethebest]

thanks for all that info. i would like to continue chatting about the market here if you guys are up for it. like discuss different companies, and the best prices for things and the contributing factors, and future things...

like ex-- APPLE-- the consumer report yesterday and now its impact on the stock, but is it really a good time to buy it? it was at a 52 week low of 137, and high of 279, and now it is at 250.

also BP is on the rise, and the cap could get sealed off, and gas prices are stable...so buy or wait or stay away?

also school season will be coming, so will officedepot/officemax/staples have their seasonal high again?

i would like to have this kind of discussion if some people are up for it.

any ideas?

 

[RichardS]

I like oil and gas because of the demand is pretty inelastic. If enough oil gets dumped into the gulf, we can expect prices to be higher at the pump. Higher prices, mean higher revenues and likely higher profits. Buy the dips and sell on strength next spring.

Apple is over valued. Never buy stocks when they are trading near the highs. Try living by this rule: "Buy the rumor, sell the news." Here is how it would work for Apple. Next summer bloggers and insiders will be chattering about the iPhone on Verizon or a new netbook, or something. Buy the stock. It'll bounce around, but slowly climb. When Apple officially makes the announcement, sell the stock. Don't worry if it goes up another $5. You sold without risk. Its called taking profits and its the only way to make any money on the market nowadays. Stocks normally fall after big announcements because the insiders already knew what was up and the expectations can be so high. I mean, what can Apple do to make its stock go over $279? Sell an extra 5,000,000 iPhone? Not likely going to happen. More likely they will sell fewer than analyst expect because of the antenna issues. Wall Street rarely rewards for beating profits, but it sure does punish when companies come up short.

 

[Laura]

Watching Bloomburg this morn and a guy really liked Swatch and Nestle for long term...
Swatch is watches.. cheap and not so cheap.. and they are merging with a jewelery company.. and marketing in Asia.. I think...
he recc to buy..