A little investment fun

[ckelly78z]

On the mining TV show "Gold Rush", some of the teams make more $$ from the TV proceeds than they do in gold.

 

[gwave]

What if the ads are the real gold rush and that is the only reason we are #blessed with shows like gold rush, ice road truckers, pawn stars.

 

[C-Cat]

So, I got 100 USD in Robinhood to start out with (plus 1 free Zynga for 5 bucks, so I have 105 in theory . So IGBT, would you mind maybe telling us when you buy and sell a stock?

 

[ckelly78z]

If this is money to play with, (and possibly lose), I would check out the "percentage gainers" in the Wall Street Journal. These stocks, and penny stocks are the ones that have moved positively in the last few days the highest percentage of their initial value.  This doesn't guarantee they will continue to improve, but it gives you an idea of what is moving.
Keep in mind that lately, the stock market has been really volatile (up and down swings), so your question isn't easy to answer.

 

[IGBT]

So, I got 100 USD in Robinhood to start out with (plus 1 free Zynga for 5 bucks, so I have 105 in theory . So IGBT, would you mind maybe telling us when you buy and sell a stock?

Hah!  Well, right now I am buying, or rather holding 100 shares of Gilead, purchased at $62.90 last week.  They are $63.30 today so a $40 gain but Gilead pays a $0.62 per share dividend on Sept 13 so I might hold out for either the run up to that and sell at $64, or just hold through the dividend and sell in October for $63.50 or so.   Normally I would probably have leveraged by buying 10 Jan 2020 calls instead of the actual stock but I am scairt of the market right now with all of the trade stuff and pharmacutical political stuff.

 

[gojo]

GILD 
x-dividend  =  9/12/2019
pay date   = 9/27/19

If you buy after x-dividend, you won't receive a dividend.
Best to buy 60 days prior., to save on taxes.  Excluding IRAs

 

[gojo]

This for the new investors. There's probably more swing traders here than long term investors.
Say this stock would take a dip, That does not mean you should sell and take a loss. GILD (ticker symbol) looks good when it comes to dividends. It's been paying quarter dividends since 2015. Starting in 6/12/2015, it paid $0.43 -- 6/13/2019 it paid $0.63.
It seems to be increasing from $0.04 to $0.06 annually. That's an average of $2.52 @ 3.95% 
annually and increasing.
To me the charts shows a down trend, BUT,,, if some good news comes out between US and China, then forget the charts.
I been riding MFA (ticker symbol) since 10/18/2018, in the up and down market. Price of the stock doesn't bother me. In the recent dip, I bot. more. I'm in at an average of $7.21 and with a dividend of $0.20 quarterly. That about 11.09% annually.
I also like to buy stocks and sell Options (covered calls) on them, ones that pays dividend. in case the stock would take a dip. That's another story...……………………… Good luck to all...……………………..

 

[IGBT]

Gilead definitely has been in a downtrend since peaking a few years ago with their Hep C drug, which now has serious competition and falling sales (because unfortunately it cures people, unlike most drugs...sarcasm here).

Still, it has a bottom somewhere, and unless they make a stupid large purchase, they have more cash on hand than debt.   I like trading it in the range of $62 to $64, buy closer to $62, sell closer to $64.   

I did a small amount of trading in the last week and barely made $100, but hey, every little bit counts.   Currently at about $9700 all cash.

 

[C-Cat]

So far I made 6.83 on my $100 initial funding a few days ago. I'd like to learn more about IGBT's trading philosophy! Are you always only holding on to a stock until it's price (hopefully) rises a certain amount? Are you spending a lot of time researching and watching the market? And are you automating buys and particularly sells in any way?

 

[C-Cat]

Here are my results so far: Started with $100 a week ago, got one Zynga at $6.09 for free, did 2 trades so far and now I have $109.81 in my account... still have a lot to learn, but it's a start!

 

[winterwanderer]

I have a friend who lost his entire savings using that app, buying stocks that looked good. And he is far from being the only one. When the market is booming, the thrill of success is a gambler's high. Then the bear growls. Without a method to your investing, your chance of long-term success is essentially ZERO.

As a teen, I used to do yard work for a guy who makes a living advising stock market investors. He has a free website packed with info for wannabes: stockbee.blogspot.com. If his stuff is complete Greek to you, you shouldn't be throwing more than pocket change into the stock market.

 

[IGBT]

We all have friends or uncles or brother's stepson's ex wife who have lost money in the stock market.  It isn't new news.

I started this as a fun personal challenge with money I could afford to lose and I will not add any money to the account.

That being said, I made another $100 or so last week but was cautious.  Currently at $9829, a total gain nearing 300%.

 

[C-Cat]

Yes, you got to treat this like gambling. This is not investing, it's basically day trading or speculative trading... I will only stock up my initial investment if I can afford to completely lose it!

 

[gojo]

We're all entitled to our own opinion, ain't that nice. I been trading the markets for many years. What I'm fixing to show might be a little bragging to some. Back in early 2018, we were in a long bull market. The charts showed that the volume was gaining grounds. I never follow the crowd, when everybody is buying , I sell and vice-verce. Where the long red line is on the chart, I told my friend and family to switch their  IRA's and 401K's, the equity funds to the money market funds. About 6 days later, the market reversed. I also like divergence between the stock trend and relative strength, it usually tells you when the market is weakening.
I also did this on a later date, this is one of the charts I didn't delete.

 

[IGBT]

Whee!  Hit $10,000 for the first time today!  Ended the day all cash at $10,020 plus the ~$70 in free stocks.

Not quite 15 months and over 300% gain, $2500 to $10,020

Next stop, $25,000.

 

[ssminnow]

Take the 10,000 out and start over with the same amount you started with. Don't get greedy, they will take it all from you!!!

 

[IGBT]

Wow, with the volatility in biotech I was able to nab some Merck at $79, then resell a few minutes later.  Made $400 this morning.

Now at $10,490!    It seems so easy it almost doesn't seem legal.

 

[gojo]

Interesting! I might learn something here. Kind of, like going to the ATM machine and with drawing money. lol...….

 

[IGBT]

Made a few more trades in Merck and Gilead.

Now at $11,450.

 

[Travelmonkey]

You're killing it! Started with $2500 in July 2018 with no additional deposits? Is this an IRA? If not, what about taxes?