I have not moved the $25K out of the checking account to a brokerage yet. Suggestions on where would be best/lowest overall fees? Also, I guess it will depend on what style and markets I trade as to who I go with?
With your 25k, you'll get at least another 25k from your broker as leverage. With 50k...yes that is enough. I have 135 shares of CFC, and if I sold yesterday, I could have made 532.00, (and I have a lot less in my account than you.) Thats JUST 135 shares..so yes, 25k is good in my opinion. I agree with the last part here...it will be good as a beginner to go slow at first.
IB (interactive brokers) has the lowest commissions, but I dont know about their other fees. Most brokers like IB have demo accounts that you can download..I've never been a big fan of IB's platform, but thats just me. "Also, I guess it will depend on what style and markets I trade as to who I go with? " Yes. If you were to go with a direct access broker (like Tradestation, Genesis, speedtrader, for day trading) you get great leverage intra-day, but they'd charge outragous interest rate fees for overnight holds, which makes these brokers BAD for swing/ position traders. IB is good, but also look at MB trading, Scottrade, and Charles Schwab.
Here is step1 of the advice given to CM in September 2006 that most said was the best advice they had seen in a long time: "IF you have a valid plan, AND you can follow it, the money will come." You need to: 1. Write down your trading plan. Entry and exit rules, position sizing, risk management, etc." I do not know how to begin to write down a plan as I am completely new. Is there a step before this since I have not traded regularly before. He had or thought he had a plan, but I am even newer to trading. I understand that basically I need to create a valid trading plan that has at least proven successful in paper trading, and I need to realize losing is part of the game so not to get shaken by it. Also, I need to keep it simple. Then follow the plan to a tee understanding what the risks are before I ever place a trade. But before that: What do I do/read to begin creating a plan - how do I begin to formulate entries/exits, etc. ??????? Will some of the big boys comment as well. Thanks again! Jason
jason586, How serious are you? If you have not yet read this book please go get it and digest it so that it becomes second nature in your thinking and trading: http://www.amazon.com/Trading-Rules...78652566&sr=1-1 How serious are you? I hope this helps. Tom
A good list of books: High probability trading ** Come into my trading room ** Trading in the zone The idiots guide to trading like a pro The master swing trader ** Technical analysis of the financial markets I suggest getting the three I market with stars
Thank you for your question: I am not sure how to answer that except to tell you what I have done since deciding the explore trading as a possibility of creating an additional stream of income (even if it takes time to develop). I am serious enough to respect the markets and the statistics that support the large percentage of traders who lose. I am serious enought to follow up on the different threads, links, etc. to begin to understand what I would be committing myself to. I know I am not ready to trade or even to paper trade as I have to first get some core fundamentals down which is what I am doing in the reading and rereading some of the threads that have comments like "this is one of the better threads at ET" or "this is great advice for any newbie". Because of these threads, I am beginning to understand (in theory) what it will take emotionally to trade well, but there has to be a starting point to understanding how to formulate a good trading plan, and I understand it is easy to waste time and energy reading and chasing "less than great" material. The link to the book on amazon went to a page that stated the item was no longer available. I typed in "Trading Rules" at amazon and got over 2000 items; I believe the book you were trying to point me to was Trading Rules: Strategies for Success by William F. Eng. Please correct me if I am wrong. I was a bit concerned that it only had 8 reviews versus other books with many times that many reviews. Yet, this does not indicate it is not the best first book to learn the fundamentals. Also, the reviews were good. Again, thank you for your recommendation. Would others confirm that this would be the best starting point to submerge myself to begin understand trading and that the information is the book is solid??????
Thank you CM. Would some others confirm the books CM recommended as solid and the best places to submerge myself and which are best or would Trading Rules be a better place to start???? Thank you all for your patience. I am trying to practice what seems to be one of the essentials in trading which is being patient for the right move (book/info at this point). Please do not be offended if I ask others to confirm something that has been suggested. Thanks again!
Most swing traders will try to buy a strong stock that has pulled back. A higher risk strategy is to buy breakouts, ie stocks that are making new highs. Or try to catch reversals, stocks that have bottomed and seem set to turn up. I would suggest you get all of William O'Neil's books. You may be able to get them free if you subscribe to Investors Daily. Two sites that used to have pretty decent educational materials were http://hardrightedge.com/ and http://www.lbrgroup.com/index.asp . I haven't read them lately but it appears they still have the educational material. A conservative way to start would be to trade ETF's, which insulate you somewhat from some of the accidents individual stocks can have. The Investors.com website has a nice feature that ranks them. I think you need to be careful with your approach of asking strangers for info. This business has more than its share of snake oil salesmen. There is no correlation between what someone charges for advice and what it is worth. If you think you can buy some magic software or subscribe to a service and get rich, you are likely to be disappointed.
Jason did you loose the 25k yet? if not check out the pork belly pits .. you could very easily double your money in a few days or lose it all in a hour or two