Help Needed For Trading Shares

Hi All,

I have noticed throughout the threads here on ATS that some members are pretty clued up on how to trade on the stock market. My predicament is this...

I dont have a huge amount of spare money but i do have a monthly allowence that i have factored into my budget that i want to invest. I dont want to give it to a bank as so to speak, i want to try at trading shares and buying/selling on the stock market myself.

My bank (RBS) does have a stock broker service but they cahrge £20 per trade, i was hoping to find either software, or a "real time" company that i could open an account with, see live data prices and deposit any amount of funds. i.e. opena an account, view share prices from global markets, deposit say £100 and buy shares.

I know this is in the global meltdown forum which is ironic but i strongly believe there are areas within the markets that can be profitable.

I want to use it as a hobby at the moment and try my hand at it, then see where it takes me.

Can anyone help?

Ive come to appreciate Etrade.com. They have a lot of different account options. They have a lot of helpful tools and advisors. They only charge like 7 to 9 a trade. It may be the best. Unfortunately, I believe they have a minimum to open, but not a minimum to keep acct. Regardless, I would suggest going to the site and reading up. When it comes to buying and selling, the thing you are going to do most, is read. Infact as you read and look at charts, you may realize how rigged it all is. Dont buy lincoln financial, as I am sure someone there has inside track of the manipulation of stock. Thats my personal opinion.

You may want to look at other investment options too. The market isnt the only avenue. Depending on how much you have to start with, it may be better to drop into an account that gains some interest until you can gather, say 1000 together. The thing about the market is, the goods are expensive, and the rest is like finding a quarter on the beach. You should seriously read, read, read all options before throwing your money around. Some stocks give dividends, which is sort of like profit sharing. Maybe twice or 4 times a year they will send you a check of the ratio of value your stock is worth. I have one that sends me like 30 dollars every 4 months, and I typically roll it over to buy more of their stock. You cannot have too much info before investing. Good luck!

Iv'e been interested in trading shares as well, I tried a program called Plus 500 which seems to be quite good, Its a minimum £100 deposit and you have a demo account from which you start with £20,000.

I recommend getting into bitcoins and trading on the bitcoin stock exchange. The more risky investments give you 7% return per week and the more solid ones give you around 2-3 percent return per week. This stock market will be a major player in years to come. Fees are miniscule and you don't even have to pay any fees if you do it right. Transferring bitcoins to and from the exchange is very very fast, no waiting for banks and best of all no taxes.

I'll never trade in the dinosaur markets again
glbse.com...

reply to post by jrmcleod


To risky to me these days...I pulled right out without coming ahead...damn its pretty scary abroad

reply to post by jrmcleod


So basically you want insider trading knowledge. Get yourself a broker and learn basic knowledge of the stock market. I'd steer away from European stocks and be very careful with alot of American stocks. Look for steady growth shares - stay clear of risky investments if you are looking for long term profit.

Trade with bitcoin. The fees are completely insignificant and it's more volatile than most other currencies/shares. Not to mention it's designed to be deflationary.

www.mtgox.com

edit: another good point brought up by ollncasino (in post below) is the bots, and bitcoin doesn't have anywhere near as many huge corps with advanced bots doing trading.

reply to post by jrmcleod


I have heard it said that 99% of day traders lose money.

I don't know if it is quite that high but you will be competing against large companies that trade automatically by computer, so they don't sleep. You have to.

Essentially, your trading strategy appears to be based on the assumption that you can beat the market. It is unlikely that you can react faster than a computer or that you can be awake for 24 hours a day. What also tends to happen is that any gains that day traders do make, are eaten up by the transaction costs.

If you really do want to invest in the stock market

1. Buy at least 30 to 35 different types of shares to diversify non systemic risk (the risk of individual firms losing a big order or a strike).
2. Have a long term plan and stick to it i.e. Don't allow yourself to react with emotion to short term losses.
3. Hold onto shares over a long term.
4. Don't day trade. Institutions that do what you plan to do love day traders. That is how they make their money. Taking it from you guys. You can make money day trading but you certainly won't do it in the long run.

By the way. It is likely that stock markets are greatly manipulated by the big boys to fleece day traders and indeed non institutional investors in general.

Fear rises while Dow's 1,000-point drop remains a mystery
What Really Caused the 1000-Point Stock Market Plunger?
Stock plunge raises alarm on algo trading

Why did the Dow Jones suddenly drop by 1,000 points?

Did someone get careless at the controls of the levers and almost let the cat out of the bag?

It looks likely.

You need to buy mutual funds until you learn what is going on. All the big firms, Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. have low cost programs which allow you to invest small amounts on a monthly basis. You should plan on holding these funds for life. Once you have established this for a while and have watched the markets up and downs then maybe stick your toe into trading. Pick about 10 stocks that you wish to follow. Watch them trade to get an idea of how they act. Once you have a feel for where they bottom and top, you should be able to do fairly well.

I do this for people as a living. I actually just trade one vehicle (double SP 500) back and forth in addition to their long term holdings.

Imo you should NEVER trade until you have used a trading simulator long enough for you to be confident that you can consistently make a profit.
Imo using a simulator like the one on investopedia so that you can trade the market using fake money is absolutely crucial and trading with real money when you haven't got any kind of trading experience is suicide.

Also newcomers shouldn't day trade as it is very tricky and hard to predict, instead you should swing trade.

Learn technical analysis, learn how to read charts and indicators, patterns, trend lines, moving averages, support/resistance etc.

I have been using a simulator now for about a year and been learning technical analysis for 3 years and I still dont think I'm ready to do it for real.
There is so much to learn that the mind boggles.

I highly recommend this youtube channel:
www.youtube.com...

Imo its the best technical analysis you will find.

Also check out their website, they have a chart school for learning how to read charts:
freeonlinetradingeducation.com...

There's lots of interesting advice from posters so far. I don't know how it works in the UK, but I can give you my observations of watching my husband day-trade for 3 1/2 years in the US.

It is true that over 95% of investors who attempt to trade in the market lose their money within the first year. This also happened to my husband, only he had the ability to cash in more inheritance and keep on going, which isn't usually the case for most people.

He uses Scottrade, which requires a minimum of $25,000 US Dollars in order to actually trade on the market. He started at a time when it was impossible NOT to make money (the crash of late 2008 here in the US), so he got a little uppity and thought he was a trading genius. Then he got suckered into penny stocks and lost most of his bankroll. Here is hint number 1: Stay away from "penny stocks", or stocks which typically trade under $5 per share. There is a great deal of "pump and dump" schemes, in which internet shills and "free" websites push these stocks, getting the inexperienced suckers all in, and then they drop the price into the basement and the suckers lose their money. Stocks under $5 cannot be shorted, but they are hazardous and many of them are "shell companies" which produce nothing and their actual worth is overly-inflated. Yes it is fraud, and there is a LOT of it on Wall Street and on the London Exchange.

Hint number 2: Learn to read charts. Bollinger bands are an excellent way to see which way a stock is headed. It is not a sure-fire bet, but rather an indicator. Get some books on the subject, and see tutorials online (such as on youtube). I have even learned to read them in a basic sort of way. My husband used to be a computer programmer, so he was able to see patterns that I do not. He has done some excellent charting on his own, which are published on the net, but because they have his name on them, and I wish to remain anonymous on ATS, I can't give you the links.

Hint number 3: Due diligence is important when researching a potential stock. You may have to go back a ways to see how the stock performs. Current market behavior, however, is a bit screwy, with all the craziness going on, so it is only to familiarize yourself with what you may expect.

Hint number 4: Trading ETFs can be lucrative if you become familiar with them and how they trade. ETFs are usually a group of stocks that are similar (such as oil, natural gas, gold, etc), so the price of the ETF is usually the average of the group.

Hint number 5: I cannot stress this enough: IGNORE THE MSM, unless you want to get suckered. All the financial channels, such as Bloomberg, will do pump-and-dump on a grand scale. For example: Gold has been going down for a while now. They had some guy from London on, saying that gold is no longer a "safe haven" and all the smart investors are flocking to paper currency. They pushed this idea most of the day. What happened the next day? Gold skyrocketed. Typically, whatever they say on there is usually B.S. meant to steer the investor in the wrong direction. Listening to the news and scouring the net for stories to give you a hint of which way to go is a sure-fire way to be mislead. They understand the psychology of the novice investor and play them like fiddles.

Hint number 6: Don't be afraid to short a stock. Many investors find that going bearish on a stock is uncomfortable, as you are betting that stock will fall in price. Shorting is a quick way to make money.

If you are unable to get up a sizable bankroll to trade on the regular market, you can trade on the FOREX (foreign exchange). That requires much less in the way of money, and many sites will let you do a practice trading account. When you have 3 months in a row of success (make more money than lose), then you may feel safe in trading your own money. www.forex.com... Keep in mind that currency trading is terribly volatile, that's why these sites developed practice accounts.

We are able to live in the middle of nowhere and survive without working thanks to day-trading, but it is not to be taken lightly. It takes a great deal of study and time. It is legalized gambling, so if you don't want to study and put the time in, you'd have just as much luck going to a casino.

Best of luck to you in any case!

reply to post by jrmcleod


call chuck

If you do the opposite of what Cramer says on mad money you will be successful. Disregard all other replies.