Stock Market

[KU40 173]

Does anybody play in it? Might be interesting to have discussion not only on the market but the state of the economy and things. I know the owners of the board dislike politics, so PLEASE LEAVE OUT your views on those. I don't want to hear Obama did this or Bush did that if it's just to bash and be dramatic.

I started almost two years ago, part of it was out of the opportunity to gain money, part was just because I was bored. The market obviously changes everyday in response to different worldly happenings, and it keeps my brain occupied. I started out with long term holding views in mind, but in just a few months I got sucked in to trading more short term. I'm not a daytrader at all. I've done that with one stock twice with success, but I don't like it. My timeframe is usually a couple weeks to months, depending on market conditions. I'm both a fundamental and technical trader, that is to say do look for particular chart patterns or cues, but I have to like the underlying company's financials also (or the state of the US if it's an index play). Some trades are based on strong financial standing and future prospects alone. I do some rolling stocks (those that go up and down within a range and you try to trade their short term tops and bottoms), some covered calls, some growth plays, some value plays.

I won't get into my positions yet. But it looks to be a good start to the day after the good personal income and spending reports this morning.

[Frostedflakejake 148]

It's kind of funny that this has come up here on SSA. The majority of the money I spent on my system came from my profits in the market, mostly in Ford Stock. Now, being as young as I am, I don't play in it much. I've also been known to short sell stock, mostly google and precious minerals. I'm definately thinking of getting back into the investing game. The recession obviously hit hard, but for investing via stocks, it did have a benefit. Ford stock dipped all the way to around $1.20 or something of that matter and now its around $12.20! Man i wish i held onto mine longer...

I think it's something that if you have the time to put into, you should definately do.

Not sure if that's what you were looking for in a response, but it's my own personal experience. my little personal experience.

[KU40 173]

No, that was a good response. I have used ETFs for shorting the market and oil this year also.

My dad is a Goodyear tire dealer and he wishes he would have mortgaged the house to go all in on goodyear stock when it was around $4 last March. It went up to $18 five months later. But that's how it goes when market extremes come about. Not sure we'll ever see a buying opportunity like march 2009 again in our lifetimes. Honestly I kinda hope not, because that would mean the economy is way in the crapper again.

I spend a lot of time everyday looking at stocks. Honestly sometimes I think I watch too much in that I overthink and try to micromanage too much on a day-to-day basis rather than on weekly or monthly trends. It's too difficult to anticipate the market everyday. That's why quite a majority of daytraders lose money.

[Godsmack 360]

I dabble in it. I do not have alot into it, but some are relatively solid stocks, some are a bit shakey. Some are just 'eh I like the company'.

My dabbeling started due to boredum and free time. I have made a small bit of money and if some of my stocks keep going like they are, I could make quite a bit more pretty soon.

J

[Aaron Clinton 2,372]

I would like to get into a few low risk, low return ones while I am in a contract position and nothing is going into a 401k at the moment.

[KU40 173]

I'm worried the market it making a short term top right now. The S&P500 can't seem to get through 1,150. Today's substantial downward action didn't help. Many people just aren't in the mood for risk right now. The forward P/E ratio for the S&P500 is actually pretty low, around 13, when using 2011 earnings estimates of $90-95 for the index. The market norm is 15-16. So IMO there is quite a bit of room for it to go up once things are truly stable. Housing seems to be stabilizing. That'll help.

But I went into a 3x leveraged index ETF last week right at the apparent wrong time. I was looking for the S&P to break through 1150 and it did so I bought thinking that was a big resistance overcome, but it didn't stay above there but for a matter of hours. False indicator. Bummer. Still holding though, employment reports for September come later this week. Those have probably the biggest impact on the market, IMO, since everybody is worried about it.

[emh9009 199]

The market interests me, mostly for the chance to test myself in seeing/reading about something and taking a risk with something i trust. But i'm nowhere near the point to put any money forward. What do you use to trade? website, someone do it for you, or how do you guys actually do it? I know there is scottstrade and other companies like that, but they seem too "mainstream" and don't seem like they are worth it. Maybe im missing something.

[GoBigRed313 4]

I play it a bit and monitor it more than anything. I work in Portfolio Risk Mitigation for a large brokerage house and I can't make heads or tails of the market right now. Everyday I am waiting for the catalyst to drop the Dow 1,500 to 2,000 points in a week's span. There doesn't appear to be a lot of genuine investor confidence at this point to keep pressing the market higher.

[KU40 173]

The market interests me, mostly for the chance to test myself in seeing/reading about something and taking a risk with something i trust. But i'm nowhere near the point to put any money forward. What do you use to trade? website, someone do it for you, or how do you guys actually do it? I know there is scottstrade and other companies like that, but they seem too "mainstream" and don't seem like they are worth it. Maybe im missing something.

I use Scottrade. Honestly I don't think it could be easier. I do all the trades myself online. You can also call the broker and tell them to do a trade for you, but why do that when a couple mouse clicks do the same job (provided you're near a computer anyways). I picked scottrade because trades are $7 (one of the lowest I found), there is no yearly maintenance fee, and they only required $500 to start. I would MUCH rather trust a more mainstream company than a small, internet-only, discount place. I never fully checked them out, but I'd be worried that when you call nobody would be there or if there was any risk of them being shady. Scottrade has brick and mortar offices you can go into also. *This is not an endorsement for Scottrade, just telling my experience.

Several websites/companies allow you to have practice accounts where you don't use real money, you just practice your trading style with fake trades. If you're really interested, you might look into these. However I can't recommend any since I never did it.

[KU40 173]

I play it a bit and monitor it more than anything. I work in Portfolio Risk Mitigation for a large brokerage house and I can't make heads or tails of the market right now. Everyday I am waiting for the catalyst to drop the Dow 1,500 to 2,000 points in a week's span. There doesn't appear to be a lot of genuine investor confidence at this point to keep pressing the market higher.

That has largely been my impression as well. Retail investors have been pulling their money out of funds for a long time. I think until people get more confidence in the market, it's going to be dicey like this. I read on some message boards and it seems like everyday somebody is posting about their anticipation of that 1,000 point DOW drop in 1-2 days. Everybody is worried about it. That flash crash in May did a ton of psychological damage I think. I think it'll take a lot of time for people to regain trust, and chances are by then the market will have risen another 20%, be fairly valued, and they won't gain anything on their money or get in just in time for the next pullback. Average investors always get both in and out too late.

[Impious 1,476]

I wish I would have dumped money in 18 months to 2yrs ago when everything was bottom of the barrel pricing. So many stocks have doubled, quadrupled or better since then. Though I'm sure millions across America feel the same.....oh well, such is life.

I don't have the patience to play the market, and I'm not sure why but it's never really interested me all that much either. Just a bunch of people trying to predict the future, making money by trading money and holding the country's nuts in a vice while they do it. That's not politics, just the way the economy works

And although I don't play the market or really understand economics all that well, I have been paying much closer attention over the past 2 years to what's happening on a economic level, as the turbulence has greatly affected things at the workplace and my companies financial stability. I work for a subsidiary of AIG (won't be one for much longer though)......there for a while I thought I was going to be out of a job. Pretty crazy watching the stock drop from nearly $80/share to barely $1.

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

Buy gold and silver coins. Then your retirement is a hobby.

[GoBigRed313 4]

I play it a bit and monitor it more than anything. I work in Portfolio Risk Mitigation for a large brokerage house and I can't make heads or tails of the market right now. Everyday I am waiting for the catalyst to drop the Dow 1,500 to 2,000 points in a week's span. There doesn't appear to be a lot of genuine investor confidence at this point to keep pressing the market higher.

That has largely been my impression as well. Retail investors have been pulling their money out of funds for a long time. I think until people get more confidence in the market, it's going to be dicey like this. I read on some message boards and it seems like everyday somebody is posting about their anticipation of that 1,000 point DOW drop in 1-2 days. Everybody is worried about it. That flash crash in May did a ton of psychological damage I think. I think it'll take a lot of time for people to regain trust, and chances are by then the market will have risen another 20%, be fairly valued, and they won't gain anything on their money or get in just in time for the next pullback. Average investors always get both in and out too late.

60-80% of all trades on S&P stocks are via HFT from proprietary trading desks. The market is far from fairly valued now and if it continues to push higher, it will crash just as violently as it did 2 years ago. It's hard to project future earnings, and company's earnings projections are rather rosey considering that the average consumer has no money to spend, banks have less money to lend and less people whom to lend to, and foreclosures keep skyrocketing slowing down construction and eliminating jobs. Unfortunately, I believe the market as a whole is going to be volatile like this for quite some time. Small traders can make some money, but it is like playing with fire depending on what you play, how much you play, how diversified you are and whether or not you are leveraging against your current holdings. I am not trying to discourage anyone from trading, but be careful and don't get greedy.

[Godsmack 360]

The market interests me, mostly for the chance to test myself in seeing/reading about something and taking a risk with something i trust. But i'm nowhere near the point to put any money forward. What do you use to trade? website, someone do it for you, or how do you guys actually do it? I know there is scottstrade and other companies like that, but they seem too "mainstream" and don't seem like they are worth it. Maybe im missing something.

I use Scottrade. Honestly I don't think it could be easier. I do all the trades myself online. You can also call the broker and tell them to do a trade for you, but why do that when a couple mouse clicks do the same job (provided you're near a computer anyways). I picked scottrade because trades are $7 (one of the lowest I found), there is no yearly maintenance fee, and they only required $500 to start. I would MUCH rather trust a more mainstream company than a small, internet-only, discount place. I never fully checked them out, but I'd be worried that when you call nobody would be there or if there was any risk of them being shady. Scottrade has brick and mortar offices you can go into also. *This is not an endorsement for Scottrade, just telling my experience.

Several websites/companies allow you to have practice accounts where you don't use real money, you just practice your trading style with fake trades. If you're really interested, you might look into these. However I can't recommend any since I never did it.

See I use Merrill Lynch 'Edge' through Bank of America. No minimum, 9 bucks an online trade, instant money transfer for funds for stocks, and GREAT customer service.

Couldnt be easier to work with, do research on, or to get a hold of. When the site was down they didnt charge me a dime to transfer money over, or to do my trades as it was not my fault the net was not working. This is when BOA and Merrill Lynch were joining forces.

J

[KU40 173]

Great day today, market up 2%. I love holding TNA on these days, it went up over 8%. Unfortunately I needed most of that to get back to even on it. At least I'm back in the green now, just hope it sticks.

[Godsmack 360]

Go money go!!!!

J

[audiolife 14]

Just be friends with aides for democrats on abanking committees they seem to invest on insider trading, buy in and sell at the exact right times LOL

[Godsmack 360]

I need some insider advice.

J

[slim142 9]

I have money I can put into the market, but Im waiting for the market to return to 10,300-10,500 (which should happen in the next days)

But the problem is which shares to buy :S

My friend who was into the market (and would be of great help) went back to south america so I have no guidance.

[Godsmack 360]

Just research, research, research.

Its free to do, and it helps ALOT.

J

[KU40 173]

I sold three of my long positions yesterday to book profits. Sold TEL, SYNT, and TX. It's hard to tell if the runup the last month was in part due to anticipation of good earnings results or not. Sometimes you get these runups into earnings season, and then people sell once earnings actually come out. I'm waiting for another good entry point like you, slim.

Alcoa reported earnings a couple days ago and did better than expected (although their estimates had been revised downward in August, so they were just beating lower expectations). CSX railroad, Intel, and JP Morgan reported in the last 24 hours and all did better than expected also. These companies are often used as bellweathers for the rest of the earnings season because they are large companies in several different industries that report early in the time period. But if you ask me, other bellweathers reported a couple weeks ago, those being Carnival Cruise Lines and Priceline.com. Both of them also blew away estimates, which means people must be travelling more.

[Godsmack 360]

People are DEFINATLY traveling more from what I saw before we left. Seemed like we always had tourists around.

J

[Godsmack 360]

Hopefully Avon gets into a bidding war and goes well abopve 44 dollars a share.

J

[KU40 173]

You like the makeup, huh? Haha. Hey, whatever makes money.

I'm not quite sure what to make of today's action. As I mentioned, CSX, INTC, and JPM all reported good earnings and even decent guidance going forward, yet CSX was the only one to advance today. Kinda worries me that INTC and JPM were red all day, in what was such a good market day. A surprising number of solid companies that I follow were also red today. One thing "experts" say is that once solid companies level off and the junky companies are the ones advancing the market higher, the rally is near its end.

There's also talk of QE2, aka quantitative easing, where the Fed buys a bunch of treasury bills in order to pump money into the economy. The talk of this one is on the scale of $500 billion. Some say anticipation of this has been helping to drive the market up the last month, because markets love money input (more spending = +earnings, plus the money infusion essentially lowers interest rates, making borrowing cheaper). Unfortunately this destroys the value of the dollar, which we've also been seeing over the last month. You can thank that for gold being at all time highs and oil being above $80 again.

Does anybody follow macroeconomics?

[Godsmack 360]

Eh not a makeup 'fan' but if it makes my stock portfolio or bank account go up, I always root for it.

I did notice alot of solid companies in the red or just treading water, but when that happens I usually make more on my 'no name' stocks. While it indicated the market will probably go down further, it just allows me to come closer to even, and find a nice solid point to sell them off.

With as turbulant as some of these stocks have been, I am REALLY glad I am not in super deep.

J