And now I'm a "day trader"?

sawinredneck

sawinredneck

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So now the wife has a new idea, I should become a day trader and make us money, I don't have anything else to do right?
Fine, but I haven't a clue to even get started! I know nothing about this! I know at least one on here tries his hand at this, so any information, PM or in this thread, to help a total idiot down this road will be appreciated!
 
Lots of opportunities out there, Andy. No offense, but the question becomes, ARE YOU SMART ENOUGH? I know a guy in the states with a system that made ten grand on the ponies last month. He was playing the stock market, but now the activity at the track is his thing.

I do know that before my friend got into trading, he spent a heck of a long time studying. Being on disability can help afford that. That is what I meant by smart, by the way, being prepared, not questioning your IQ. :lol:
 
I consider myself reasonably smart but I've lost my ass on the stock market. Every time I am sure something is going to go up, it might go up a little but then something unexpected happens and it drops like a rock. If I hold it thinking I'll eventually make my money back then it keeps dropping forever. If I sell it for a loss then it rebounds 3 days later. My current holdings are down about $10K but they have now turned into long term investments. :roll:

There's a huge difference between investors and day traders. Day trading is gambling for rich people. First off you need a minimum of $25K in your account or else you're limited by law to 3 day trades in any 5 day period. A day trade is when you buy and sell the same stock on the same day. Most day trading is done using options instead of actually buying the underlying shares of stock. You can control a lot more stock with less money but if it goes the wrong way then your options can become worthless in a New York minute. And options expire every month so if a trade goes bad you can't wait it out.
 
If you can't afford to loose it don't even get in it .My stuff can vary 50 grand one way or the other every 3 months .You don't make a dime or loose a penny unless you sell it though .Other than that it's just ink on paper .

If you're gong to be an actual day trader it takes a lot of money and a damned fast connection in real time not 10 minutes after the fact .You have to pay for those connections .
 
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Yeah, got that Dennis!
The money is, and isn't a problem, which makes this an even hairier ordeal! We have "some money" but it's tied in with the MIL's, which this crazy woman, every time Boeing drops a fraction she wants to sell it all NOW! I keep trying to explain to her that Boeing is about as secure as it gets and it WILL come back, and no sooner than I say that, it does, but she has to buy it back at the higher price! Faceplant!
Good info Brian, I know there for a while you were doing good at it, sorry you are down, but takes some of the wind out of the sail when I talk to the wife about it!
 
Have you done any trading at all before? Saying you're going to be a day trader if you've never bought or sold a stock is like saying you're going to be a tree climber for hire if you've never run a chainsaw.

The first step is to decide where to open a trading account. But in order to do that, you need to research a little. Even tougher since you're not familiar with the various trading platforms available from different brokers. IMO TD Ameritrade is one of the better options. They also bought out Think or Swim (TOS) a couple years ago and that is also a very popular platform. TOS lets you open a 'practice' account so you can learn how to trade in real time without risking any money.

Here's a good forum to join if you're serious about this: http://www.hotstockmarket.com/f/ It used to be better when they used a vBulletin platform but they 'improved' and lost about 2/3 of the membership.

And ignore everything Cramer says. He's a hack and you can make more money betting against him than listening to his suggestions. Lots of people make money betting against the buying pops his recommendations create, the pops only last about a day on average.
 
I am sure I saw Become an Instant Day Trader! pills in my Acme catalogue the other day.

Andy, play the market for pretend like kids do in high school economics classes and see how you do. Kind of like fantasy football but with more teams and players to chose from.
 
A lot of the day traders these days use extremely complex computer programs with algorithms to buy and sell stocks at minuscule profits. They play with such small fractions but big numbers to make money. Some trading companies hold stocks for no more than a few seconds at a time.
 
Is it still true that safe investments have minimal return, and the riskier ones can bring bigger profits? I heard that generalization once.
 
My "Money Market" savings account is currently earning a whopping 0.07% APR. ~ just sayin'
 
Al Smith said:
It's not a game that would be wise in my opinion that a novice should get involved with .
Click to expand...

+1 Al.

Andy, if my wife came to me and told me to do some day trading... I would tell her we would have pretty much the same odds in Vegas. Just saying.
The market is highly volatile right now and they hold all the cards... Fortunes are being lost and made in the blink of an eye.
 
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  • #20
And this is why I asked! I wasn't real hip on the idea, but didn't shoot it down right off the bat, I know Brian had done quite a bit of it and figured some of you might have tried it as well.
There are some companies I THINK should do well coming out now, BUT are they going to get gobbled up by the larger companies and drop like a rock? With the volatility of the economy people are starting, bankrupting and starting another company in the blink of an eye just to fish someone like myself into investing.
Thanks for the input, I think I will advise her into some stocks I think are going to do well long term and ride it out. But for the "fast buck" I'm not feeling the love for playing with someone else's money if the market is as volatile as I thought it was, and as much as you have backed it up to be!
 
It's fooked that interest rates are so low, that the only way to make a decent investment on money that you can't afford to lose, is to gamble with it. What were money cd market rates up to once, seven or eight percent?
 
You can always hook up with a micro lending place (look on line) like Prosper and make a better return on your dollar loaning other people money. Rob has done it, AA rated loan pays you back about 8% and up from there based on risk and rating. Basically, you are funding a lender. The lender does all the leg work and billing.. you are the money....
IMO you have a better chance of a return of your investment than in the market right now.
 
You 'll be lucky to get 3 percent on a CD then it takes 50 grand worth .Rental property if you've bought it right and owned it long enough 8-9 percent ,maybe .

Stocks ,bonds historically long term about 11-12 percent .Keep in mind the market has volativity or else they wouldn't keep buying and selling .Ups downs etc .Not for the weak at heart or easily discouraged .Then you have to consider any dividends into the mix too .The price is set by consumer confidence not neccessarily by what a company is worth .

Of course this has nothing to do with actual day trading ,that's for the high rollers .
 
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