Carol, I would trade Cisco, Cisco and Cisco. You can't make any money in it till you trade bigger size but it is a great stock to learn on. You can see the trend change and you can see the market makers more clearly. It is very liquid and you can move out quickly if you have to (I often buy on the bid and then sell out at the same bid price if I want out or 1 cent lower) Don't trade the active stocks until you can make money in Cisco. Then move onto MSFT, KLAC,QLGC etc. That is how I started out - and I still trade cisco more than any other stock.
for trading these three stocks 1) Daily charts? 2) Intraday Charts? - What timeing period - hourly, 30, 15, 10, 5, 1 min charts? - What indicators? Candle, MACD, stochastics etc?
Doesn't anyone out there trade midcaps. I've watched other stocks and the wiggles kill me, but the small caps seem to go in one direction at a time. And if it goes the other way, it is for a very short time Has anyone else noticed this difference, and for those guys not trading 20000 at a shot, why trade the big caps over small/mid?
chris, for liquidity. For example if you are trading intc,csco,dell or any such big cap, then you can put in an order on say 1000 shares and if it moves your way add to it up to 10,000 or 20,000 shares. If it moves against you, you can get out quick with minimal damage. When you trade something more volatile, the whipsaws can freak you out of the trade. However that having been said, on smaller accounts when you are paying commiss per share you are often better off trading MSFT or KLAC since you can get bigger moves (30cents) on 2000 shares. You could probably make money in these trading only 500 shares. I use a 5 to 1 ratio so if I trade 5k cisco I will trade 1k MSFT. For me works out to about the same risk. However for a beginner, The best is to start with something very liquid like cisco
BOTH DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH CUSHION I HAVE IN THEM AT THE TIME AND WHAT THE MAKET IS DOING sorry for caps