Anybody investing in the stock market right now?
 

I am a stock market junkey. Are there any other AFAers that invest in the market on a continual basis and trade using any of the platforms like Share builder, Scottrade or others. I am intersested in trading strategies.:thumbsup

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I'm in, have been most of the time since about 1995 or1996. Use the platform provided at work. Have exhanged funds long ago & that was because we had changed companies.

My philiosophy.............aggressive..........still investing..........too late to sell now.

heard this and like it......roller coasters and stock markets.........nobody gets hurt except those who jump out on the way down.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Yeah, I'm in...great time to buy. I trade through Scott Trade and have a great system to follow. Have you heard of the Holy Spirit :thumbsup

Just bought 6700 shares of a company that just filed bankruptcy.... :)

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

what about the forex?

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Currencies, stocks, options. I like CHB under 50 cents, AIG at $1 and then sell covered calls on the 2011 LEAPS strike $2.50, and currently trading around 35 cents (lower your cost to 65 cents). Soooo many beaten down companies, but one needs to be ready to ride out the storm.
For conservative traders, I like BMO, a strong Canadian bank, paying a 8% dividend! Do the math on that one, low risk at these prices, as long as the dividend holds....

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Oh yeah. I gotta good feeling about that Citibank stock I was given 10 years ago. It's gonna come back! C'mon baby, climb back in there!

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

A friend at work was showing me this Forex "robot" trading system. He bought the package ($150.00). He's playing with pretend money right now to test it out. I'm watching over his shoulder.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I've traded FX for years. Tell your friend, that every robot has a weakness, and he needs to ask or know what his is, before he uses real money. So many of those robot systems are sold using historical data, but when tested real time... they fail! If you know forex, you know that on news events FX can move 100 pips in a few seconds... well, guess what... your backtested robot system shows that you got a signal, and caught the trade. BUT in reality, you never even got filled, or where filled so far away from the backtested fill that it will totally change the system. Also, if it is a scalping program, many dealers won't allow the same fills in real time as when demo tested... MT4 systems are a great example of this.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I still prefer EUR/JPY. :)

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I trade some on Scottrade, but not a whole lot lately. I've been investing in silver coins - Silver Eagles and Silver Maple Leafs. I buy them from Lear Capital or sometimes a place here locally. Silver is supposedly going to really sky rocket in the next couple of years - we'll see!

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I use Metastock software and the thinkorswim trading platform. I trade just stocks, and for the time being am not involved in forex or commodities.

My goal is that by March 1st to be 80& in income strategies, and 20% in long term equities. My income strategies will be using index options with a mixture of iron condors, butterflies, and calendar spreads.

What is holding me up right now is developing an adjustment and exit strategy. I am studying that right now. I don't want to jump in until I have a complete business plan laid out.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

No way! I have lost too much $ in the stock market.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Heard for two different finical sources that the DOW is head down to 6000 maybe even 5600? Think that's true?

Are we in a Depression? I'm playing with some of my retirement fund. I figured I can lose it as easily as the Funds it was invested in.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Citi(C) is going to make some people a lot of money. There are some big money people buying into that right now, very discreet.

Did you see Barclays bank jump up last week. Serious money made last week. It is still going up.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

We just started buying like crazy! (Actually it is part of our 401K...) :)

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

At this time we have to ride it out. They do say that when the market begins to climb that usually you make back 70%+ in the first year of what you lost. Hold on!

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

You only lose when you sell at a lower price than you bought or the company goes out of business......I'm in it for the long haul.......

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Do you buy aggresively or buy to invest long haul? Some of the friends I have are only into dividends stocks.

There sure are some really good deals out there.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

It took me forever to get the handle on sliding stops. I moreso use limit sales and buys. Course, I watch it a lot. It is fun for me.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I think I could be good at the stock market....I just feel so uneducated about it. So, is Scottrade a good place to start? I've been trying to learn a little here and there the last year or so.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

the rich get richer cause when the market is down as it is now, they have the cash to buy, now is the time to buy, my opinion, ge, cat, and osk, look good, dt

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

The first time I tried to set a stop, I did a stop-limit at the last support. I meant for it to sell my stock if it went below the previous support, but it sold it immediately!

I had set up my stop at support limit, which meant anything higher than the previous support! :lol We live and learn! :)

I have learned that setting stops to buy and sell are one of the most important things you must master if you're going to be successful!

BTW, Check out AXE! That's my wife's company which is doing very well lately! Steinway (LVB) has been tanking!

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I looked at OSK. It does look good, but it may be temporary! There was heavy volume (big boys) to the down side on Jan 29th. It has gone up the last week, but on low volume. The chart looks like it's forming an upside-down flag, which means it may shoot to the downside soon!

What do you think?

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Warren Buffet made a comment that anyone can manage their own money better than a mutual fund operator. Coming from him that is probably good advice.

Have you ever read "Rule 1 investing" by Phil Town? That is a fairly easy to read book that explains some areas of the market in laymans terms. I know there are other books out there, this is just the one that caught my fancy.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Getting educated is the most important thing you can do to begin. You will be shark meat if you jump in without knowledge.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Have you seen any negative on ALU? I noticed that they are within pennys of their low last year!

I was in LVLT for a while, but they just got hit with a class action lawsuit. Stocks are down.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

When I first started, about 5 years ago, I put all my money in a stock, promptly lost it all! College costs money. I took about 6 months and started studying. The second time I got in I mainly did tech trading. Started making a little more that way.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

But how to start? I have had people give me advice, however, it's kind of like people talking about phonics methods when you don't know your ABC's. I need, like a little kids books to explain the ABC's first. :thumbsup

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I heard Phil Town in a live seminar about six months ago. The dude knows his stuff! Anyway...he said that it takes a mutual fund manager up to two months to divest in a stock. They have to do a little at a time to keep the market from going into a panic mode. They want to make as little of a wave as possible, so it takes a long time to move the money out.

An individual investor can get in and out immediately.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I would definately be much more interested in individual investing. It just makes sense to me to cut out the middle man. This is about making money, not paying someone to make money from you! This makes simple sense. Buying now, when prices are low also makes sense. I think I have some intuitive thoughts about money. But I don't have the foggiest about stocks. My husband invested some money in penny stocks and followed a board about the stocks and the advice of a computer and still lost it all. He really tried.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

There are sites like CBOE and OIC that have free educational courses, especially when considering doing options.

Internet trading platforms like thinkorswim and others offer free advice for beginners in learning their system.

There are some good stock trading books that will teach you a strategy.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

osk, is a sleeper, they have received two billion in new govt contracts in the last few months, the negativism in the market is holding them down, my opinion, dt

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Investing in penny stocks is like gambling! You might as well go to Las Vegas and have fun while you see your money vanish! People who invest in penny stocks are trying to hit a home run! Stay away!

You're on the right track with investing for yourself. The average historical increase on a good mutual fund is 8%. The average historical increase for an individual investor is 17%. Over a 15 year period, the difference could be hundreds of thousands of dollars. BTW, a GOOD investor can average 30%+ per year.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Thanks. I think a few videos or courses would help me out. I have read a couple of books but they left my head swimming.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Dude, your crazy if you think a good investor can average 30% a year! A high risk investor can do it, but not a good investor.... imagine trading that way when you were two years from retirement?

Everyone who is interested in stock trading, etc. must read the book "Juggling with Dynamite". It will teach you a lot.

For those of you who have 401k's and manage them yourself, I would simply say that the best play right now is to buy the indexes. Buy the S&P, DOW, and NASDAQ. That will give you long exposure to the market, and you don't have to worry about being right with the stock picking. You can limit your exposure with exit points, I will leave that up to your risk strategy, but I suggest you write them down in a journal prior to putting on the trade.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

See, we didn't know that about penny stocks!!

I would rather invest in real estate than do mutual funds. We have done fairly well with a few rentals that we sold in recent years. We are kind of sick of rentals though. But, at least we know about real estate. But, yes, I would love to fiddle with the market. I think I could do it. I have had people offer me some free advice but I feel I need more than a couple of hours of time. I need to know how to discuss the ABC's before I can move on to reading the newspaper! :ursofunny

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

This was in today's news:

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

See, this sounds like so much gobbeldy gook to me.

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

Warran Buffet has averaged 30%! :) Of course, he is superman when it comes to investing!

I'm convince that one can average over 20% and maybe 30%+ using index options. This strategy can actually be safer than buying and selling stock! I know people who have done it successfully for several years with a business plan that takes emotion out of the equation.

I agree with buying indexes like SPY as an investment which is better than a mutual fund!

Re: Anybody investing in the stock market right no
 

I won't dispute you can do that with options. Sure, no problem. You have the advantage of leverage. Spreads, straddles, Kondors, etc also can let you hedge your plays. Or go delta neutral and sell theta.

BUT the average investor can't do this in their 401K.....