Official Stock Market Investing Thread

[cardboardbox]

Anyone have some advice about when to jump into the stock market? I'm a complete novice at this, just signed up to do trades a few weeks ago. I bought Chevron at 57.xx, got giddy when it got to about 65 and sold, then it kept going up to the mid 70s.

Then I bought Disney last week, decided that I'd try buying low on a given day and selling when it goes back up in the same day. Well it stayed down that day, went down more the next, and then I sold the following day, made $17. :| Its higher now than when I sold.

So, round three, I wanted to wait until the Dow got down to 20k and I'd buy some various stocks but now the market is up 1200 and I'm wondering if the rebound is already happening.

Any advice? Other than, buy now and forget about it for years.

[Hammer]

This market is extremely volatile so if youre going to try to day trade or look at short term plays you need to be prepared to take a major loss with your investments. You also should be prepared to be on top of whats going on in the market on a minute by minute basis. I wouldnt recommend it.

I would recommend buying some blue chip stocks and prepare to hold them for 12-18 months. Amazon and Costco come to mind but there are plenty.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[nullnor]

use this chart for noobs http://www.stock-anal.com/ anal stands for analyze. it's a beginners tool to TA. you can also learn candlesticks which are useful at www.americanbulls.com or you could learn real technical analysis. i used to listen to this guy on local radio Leo Leydon i always wanted to get his CD and chart tools. i think they still sell them and i haven't listened to him in years. don't even know if he is still alive but you can get the CD with the tools still i think http://stocksandtaxes.com/seminar-cd/.

your going to lose everything you have if you invest in the stock market right now. here's a tip, when you see the market bouncing back right now, it's short traders buying back in and then shorting. YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING INVESTING IN THE MARKET RIGHT NOW. you think it's a good idea, but it's really just a reverse dead cat bounce. STAY AWAY. wait for it to play out. learn how to technical trade and more importantly learn real fundamentals. i traded for years. you can't do it right now dude.

or if you want when this is over, get yourself a good money manager and give him 10k. those guys like revo and Hammer know what they are doing.

it looks great right now, you're thinking i can just jump in. you'll get killed out there right now dude. Good Luck! be careful man. or don't forget the file the proper paper work or you'll get audited. lol

[nullnor]

I won Papa Duece's stock trading contest. i went totally broke and had to borrow money and came back just day trading using TA. that's not how you should invest. it's fools gold. mostly it depends on the market, a chimpanzee could throw darts and pick anything when it's going up. but when it's going down it's the same, you couldn't pick anything that would really be going up. you'll just end up holding the bag right now. i can't imagine a worse time for longs to trade stocks right now. but if you have enough money you can get a margin account and short it. that can still be very dangerous unless you really are experienced.

i like you dude, but you have to be a total dumbass to want to learn how to day trade stocks right now. we're going into a depression possibly. it looks like one, it's not an opportunity to make money. if possible people should be putting everything in cash and ride it out. and then buy back when it hits bottom.

here's another tip, it's alot easier to find the top of a chart than a bottom.

[DMT]

I won Papa Duece's stock trading contest. i went totally broke and had to borrow money and came back just day trading using TA. that's not how you should invest. it's fools gold. mostly it depends on the market, a chimpanzee could throw darts and pick anything when it's going up. but when it's going down it's the same, you couldn't pick anything that would really be going up. you'll just end up holding the bag right now. i can't imagine a worse time for longs to trade stocks right now. but if you have enough money you can get a margin account and short it. that can still be very dangerous unless you really are experienced.

i like you dude, but you have to be a total dumbass to want to learn how to day trade stocks right now. we're going into a depression possibly. it looks like one, it's not an opportunity to make money. if possible people should be putting everything in cash and ride it out. and then buy back when it hits bottom.

here's another tip, it's alot easier to find the top of a chart than a bottom.

[revo]

The problem withe this market is that the drops and rises are swift and sudden. The volatility is insane. History has shown that of the 15 bear markets since 1950, only one did not re-test the bottom (which in this market is around 19,000 on the DJIA). And a bigger problem is buying stocks on a day when it looks like all hell has broken loose. Many investors have been killed by trying to catch a falling knife.

I usually subscribe to the O'Neill investing philosophy, which is 7% in either direction. Get out when you're down 7%, take gains, get back in when the going gets good. Under this, you miss the bottoms (as well as many lightning-fast rallies) and maybe this is too conservative an approach, but it seems to have worked well for me and my clients. I got all my clients out of equities and bond funds that held a majority in corporate bonds way back on March 8th. I've only dipped a toe back in the water here and there since over the last month.

Otherwise, I agree with Hammer that if you want to buy, just hold your nose, don't look, and buy some beaten up companies that should be able to survive this.

[Pauly]

I jumped into the market for the first time with most of my liquid savings when the DJIA was way down, but Im not day trading - I am buying blue chip stocks at all-time lows with the plan to hold on for 12-18 months at least. Ive done really well so far, but again, these are not leaps in the dark, I am grabbing established major company stocks with good dividends (5%) or companies that are sure to bounce back over time like UPS and Facebook.

[Hammer]

I jumped into the market for the first time with most of my liquid savings when the DJIA was way down, but Im not day trading - I am buying blue chip stocks at all-time lows with the plan to hold on for 12-18 months at least. Ive done really well so far, but again, these are not leaps in the dark, I am grabbing established major company stocks with good dividends (5%) or companies that are sure to bounce back over time like UPS and Facebook.

this has been and will continue to be my strategy. It has served me well over the last 10-15 years. Buy and hold if you can afford to, whether its your retirement account or trading account. Revo can give better advice to those heading into their 60's and retiring 3 years or less from now but for the time being, stay vigilant and not fearful. The Apples and other big companies arent going out of business any time soon.

[cardboardbox]

thanks for the advice guys.

Yeah, I know the smart and safe approach is to buy good companies while they are low and hold for a year or more. Its just so tempting to day trade but I know I will get burned eventually. I need to learn a whole lot more, actually I need to learn everything.

I've made on average $300/day the past 6 or 7 weekdays, until yesterday when I bought Chevron (again) when I thought it was at a daily low point and then it went down another 4 or 5 points and when that happened I just punted for the day, said to myself I'll wait until tmw. It was actually the 2nd time I bought CVX yesterday, first time I made about $300, then I got greedy. Kept refreshing CVX this morning until I realized the market was closed.

Thinking about buying a yearly membership to one of those investor websites, just to help me learn the basics.

[Steve 2.0]

Buy Low, Sell High

[revo]

thanks for the advice guys.

Yeah, I know the smart and safe approach is to buy good companies while they are low and hold for a year or more. Its just so tempting to day trade but I know I will get burned eventually. I need to learn a whole lot more, actually I need to learn everything.

I've made on average $300/day the past 6 or 7 weekdays, until yesterday when I bought Chevron (again) when I thought it was at a daily low point and then it went down another 4 or 5 points and when that happened I just punted for the day, said to myself I'll wait until tmw. It was actually the 2nd time I bought CVX yesterday, first time I made about $300, then I got greedy. Kept refreshing CVX this morning until I realized the market was closed.

Thinking about buying a yearly membership to one of those investor websites, just to help me learn the basics.

Try a subscription to Investor's Business Daily. I think it's $38/month after the first two months.

[Gregg]

This from msn today:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/warren-buffetts-11-best-stocks-of-the-bear-market/ss-BB12oUEf

[cardboardbox]

Buy Low, Sell High

good idea!

Try a subscription to Investor's Business Daily. I think it's $38/month after the first two months.

Is IBD a lot better than something like fool.com's $99/year sub? 38/month = $456/yr, eek!

This from msn today:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...et/ss-BB12oUEf

thanks

[revo]

Is IBD a lot better than something like fool.com's $99/year sub? 38/month = $456/yr, eek!

Isn't Motley Fool a collection of other investors making their pitches? I've never really used the site.

IBD is an investing newspaper which is now digital only. Their staff does the picking and highlighting of stocks, not any contributor. They have good lists and the entire publication adheres to the O'Neill investing philosophy of buy high sell higher.

[cardboardbox]

Isn't Motley Fool a collection of other investors making their pitches? I've never really used the site.

IBD is an investing newspaper which is now digital only. Their staff does the picking and highlighting of stocks, not any contributor. They have good lists and the entire publication adheres to the O'Neill investing philosophy of buy high sell higher.

I dont know about Motley Fool, but I do end up there a lot, for some reason I like them better than the others but that doesnt mean they are any better. Maybe I'll try IBD for 2 months and see how I like them and then try someone else to compare.

I got a good faith violation, so had to learn what that was. Sucks because I didnt mean to break any rules, I just didnt know.