... i read through all the message boards looking for hope... Ah yes, if I only had a nickel for every $1 I lost doing this I would be a rich man. That brings back some memories.
Wow...truly great quote. I think I'm going to start a list of them and post it in a couple years... I lost my cherry to TACO Cabana...bought 50sh at 6, some moron analyst downgraded it (but I had gone peter lynch style and asked friends who lived in TX if they had ever been to the restaurant and they all really liked it so I didn't sell...this is back when I was a value investor, mind you) and it went down to 4, and then it go bought out and I got out at 8 and change...ah, my youth...
My first trade was long 1000 shares of a stock that was then called BFX (Bowflex). Listed I believe on the ASE, I paid about $1.05(Canadian)....I ended up selling at about $1.10 after a few months because I didn't think it was going anywhere. Now you'll find it listed on Nasdaq under DFXI. Oh well. DarynC
Like many of us, I too will never forget my first foray into the world of stocks. 1998, I'd recently celebrated my 21st and finished reading "One Up On Wall St", and dammit, if a bunch of grade schoolers were gonna beat the pros so was I. So I sat my parents (who didn't know jack about investing in stocks, or investing in anything, just your average post WWII work-hard-n-save immigrants) around the dinner table and explained to them how we woulda been millionaires by now had we simply owned stocks for the past 25 years. So after many a heated debate they handed over $10k of their hard earned and away I went. Since I didn't wanna look bad I thought well, I'll go for some big caps, cos, well they're probably safer. So in the Peter Lynch spirit of things I went and bought me some Coke and Gillete. I mean, I can't get enough of drinking the stuff, and damn, every guy I know shaves right? Plus doesn't Mister Investment himself, the Sage of Omaha, one W.Buffet owns the same said companies? Can't lose deal if I ever saw one. Remember what happened in '98? Man, I'll tell ya what, having money on the line sure makes you learn pretty quick. Lucky I was always the inquisitive type. With my positions losing money hand over fist, I began to question the value of the "wisdom" I had been taught. Remember the Russian financial crisis? Even then it seemed pretty stupid to me to hold on when you're certain everything's going down. And what about all the TV shows? I quickly realised "expert" opinion on the direction of the market doesn't exist. And it really bothered me that all the investment advisers talked about investing for the long term blah blah blah and here they are on TV discussing what the market was doing TODAY. I realised pretty quick there was no way I was gonna hold my positions for even 2 months, let alone 20 years.
Not first but second trade was short 1 contract of Soy Meal. Cought couple of limit-down days move and got high on CME trading floor. Few months down the road withdrawal followed.LOL
1995, working in computer field, I wanted to buy CA - computer associate, a software maker, walked into local Schwab office told them I want to buy some shares of CA, filed out paper work then they asked how much do I wanted to buy and no they don't take credit card, so on that day I became a proud owner of 4 shares of CA. I remember lots of snickering in that office when I walked out.
Opened $500 E-trade account, at the time they gave you $50 to open account with them, so nothing to loose, right? Bot MCHP with all the account money, exited for a loss + $40 in commissions wondering how long will it be before commissions will wipe my tiny account clean... :eek: Bob
Opened an 2.5k account at Dreyfus to trade options. February 1998 - My first trade was a straddle on LU @ 70. They were about to or just had done a stock split. Made money on it that same day & closed the position. Wow! that was easy. My account (or should I say my friends money) was gone in about month or two.
Hi All My first trade had to be the luckiest of all time. It occured in 1996. I worked for 13 years as a salesman. In those 13 years I managed to save around 24,000. I got fed up and quit. One morning I was reading an article in the newspaper about AT&T spinning off one of its divisions called Lucent Technology. I called every broker in town trying to find out how i could get in on this IPO. Every place turned me down. But, I finally found a brand new Paine Weber office dying for new clients. Much to my surprise they offered me the opportunity to buy around 1100 shares. Since, I didnt have any money coming in, I only bought 700 shares. The offering price was around 20 bucks(cant remember) But, I kept those shares for quite some time. By the time I sold them with splits they were worth 320 bucks a share. Will never, never work for anyone else again!!!!!!!! By the way, the broker at Paine Weber called me everyday after that IPO took off to sell it and buy a stock called Cirrus Logic. These big institutions are nothin but a bunch of crooks. Take Care Sterling
I don't recall the symbol, but twas a swingtrade and twas a winning trade... a pretty bad way to start a trading career, since it lowers one's guard and creates a feeling of trading immortality...