the Stock Market

[gojo]

I seldom look at balance sheet on a stock I trade. I'm a technical trader and I'm usually in a stock one day to couple of weeks. If I go long on CRM, it'll be till it hit its 50% retracement line, then it probably will come back down and form a double bottom , who knows. Long term for CRM, I'm looking at about .05% profit, my style. As of yet, CRM hasn't  passed my criteria to buy.
I respect all trader and long term investor. I know we all have our own style. I'm not a person to say, it's my way or no way. I would like to hear from  all type of investors. Who knows this old goat roper might learn something new.

 

[gojo]

You didn’t have a plan to cash out GILD?

My first month, I didn’t use any plan and that was a big mistake. Now I have one, but still hesitate to cash out. When I started trading, my portfolio was all mutual funds at -10.8% YTD, I lost the gain of 2 years which was +6.7% and +5.8%. These funds did not even recover since then, I had 6 of them well diversified with a low fee. My portfolio is at +6.01% (-10.8% to 6.01% is not too bad I think) right now I have 0$ in the market, so if I do nothing up to the end of the year, I’m still happy with that. I follow my plan before entering a trade, even if I lost money, it will only be 2% and it means wrong timing. I give myself 1 years and will reevaluate if it’s worth the trouble or not. Like you say, the stock market is not easy, but it’s very challenging. I don’t need to make 50%, covering the inflation and the cost of living while maintaining the capital is my goal, augmenting it is a bonus. I’m not retired with a pension, I’m 33 so I need to play it safe, I do not gamble with trading stocks. Looking at a chart saying I should have bought that stock at that time is not like pushing the buy button when a portion of your capital you work hard to get is invested without knowing, even if the technical give you a good buy signal, that the stock will turn against you.

There a big difference between investing and trading, for the new reader that doesn’t know the stock market, read the difference and chose the one that you prefer.

Every Road Leads Home : Do you have a stop lost even if you're willing to invest in the market long term?

Feel free to let me know if my thinking doesn’t make sense.

I don't know what sectors you were invested in. In Mutual Funds, you can be over diversified. Profits and losers will battle each other. A Mutual Fund is already diversified, unless it's a sector Fund.

 

[Dust-In-the-Wind]

I'm not now, nor will I ever again be, an investor. I'm a trader. Why? Because a stock, a mutual fund or any "diversified" portfolio can potentially go to zero. Most who have a portfolio of stocks or mutual funds are paying exorbitant fees that are so well hidden that you have no idea how much they are. Also, there is no leverage in stocks or mutual funds, unless you have a margin account and can actively day-trade them. I prefer trading futures on the indexes, forex and short term vertical spread options. Maybe because at one point in my life I worked for a little company called Worldcom, I'm biased against stock investing. Went from $69 to $6. I says, hey, it CAN'T go any lower than that! Great time to buy more. Yes it can go to zero, and it did. That's when I decided to begin learning about trading, not investing.

 

[IGBT]

I'm not now, nor will I ever again be, an investor. I'm a trader.  Why?  Because a stock, a mutual fund or any "diversified" portfolio can potentially go to zero.  Most who have a portfolio of stocks or mutual funds are paying exorbitant fees that are so well hidden that you have no idea how much they are.  Also, there is no leverage in stocks or mutual funds, unless you have a margin account and can actively day-trade them.  I prefer trading futures on the indexes, forex and short term vertical spread options.  Maybe because at one point in my life I worked for a little company called Worldcom, I'm biased against stock investing.  Went from $69 to $6.  I says, hey, it CAN'T go any lower than that!  Great time to buy more. Yes it can go to zero, and it did.  That's when I decided to begin learning about trading, not investing.

SPY can't go to zero.  Well, if it does, there will be a LOT more people living in a van down by the river.  The expense ratio is pretty low too, about 0.09%

 

[Dust-In-the-Wind]

SPY can't go to zero.  Well, if it does, there will be a LOT more people living in a van down by the river.  The expense ratio is pretty low too, about 0.09%

SPY is an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) ...  based on the S&P index.  NOT, as I said, a mutual fund, a stock or a portfolio of stocks, which can all, potentially, go to zero. I day-trade futures contracts on the SPY.

 

[IGBT]

SPY is an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) ...  based on the S&P index.  NOT, as I said, a mutual fund, a stock or a portfolio of stocks, which can all, potentially, go to zero.

Welll, it is sort of a portfolio of stocks    Just a lot of them.

 

[vsession]

I don't know what sectors you were invested in. In Mutual Funds, you can be over diversified. Profits and losers will battle each other. A Mutual Fund is already diversified, unless it's a sector Fund.

It was mutual fund from different region, Canada, USA, Euro zone, Japan, Emerging market. Another one for the technology sector. There were not over diversified.

I'm not now, nor will I ever again be, an investor. I'm a trader.  Why?  Because a stock, a mutual fund or any "diversified" portfolio can potentially go to zero.  Most who have a portfolio of stocks or mutual funds are paying exorbitant fees that are so well hidden that you have no idea how much they are.

Good point, my fees for my funds were 0.7% to 1.1%. What I like about stocks, you set your stop loss the second after you buy and follow your strategy. I will never let a stock go too low before selling, I did that the first month, it was a mistake and took a big loss. Stop loss at 2% going forward and I've been doing well since then.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

I'm not now, nor will I ever again be, an investor. I'm a trader.  Why?  Because a stock, a mutual fund or any "diversified" portfolio can potentially go to zero.    Went from $69 to $6.  I says, hey, it CAN'T go any lower than that!  Great time to buy more. Yes it can go to zero, and it did.  That's when I decided to begin learning about trading, not investing.

That's where I use the old saying "never keep all your eggs in one basket"  My portfolio is pretty diversified so if one stock were to tank to 0, at worst case I'd lose 10-15% of my money.  Sucks, yes, am I ruined no.  And like the financial adviser I used to use said.......if your account ever becomes worth 0, you have nothing to worry about, because that means everyone's money has become worthless........it was that very advice that finally got me comfortable with investing.  Even still, I don't invest all my money. 

Aside from the stock market, I've also invested in some real estate, have done pretty well with that.  I'm up on two projects, even on one, and lost money on one.  But well ahead of where I started.  It's actually something I am potentially thinking about when I hit the road full time.  Buying a property somewhere, rehabbing it, and selling.  Then if I make a profit, live off those profits for as long as I can, then do another.  Figure it could bring me to areas of the country I'd never see or think about otherwise.  Florida seems to have a market this could work well in and it's somewhere I'd like to spend the winter months doing it.

 

[gojo]

The only bad luck I had with stocks, were the first year I traded them. Greed and fear are your two biggest enemies when playing the markets. I remember I made over 100% from Dec. to May. That was back when the telephone IDs came on the market. I made $11,000 profit and lost about 80% of it before the end of that year. The stock took  a dip and I bailed out, all through fear. Once I was out it came back up and doubled again. It was a penny stock, you can see why the profits were high. I found it in the IBD, rated 99-99. Penny stocks are $5.00 or lower, this one was around $8s, which isn't considered a penny stock. It went all the way to $29, before it took another dip.

Someone here trades the futures market, I'd love to hear about some of your trades. About 12 years ago I found a used futures course on ebay (I'm cheap) and been paper trading on and off since then. When I make my first million on paper, then I might start using real money.LOL

 

[Bster13]

SPY is an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) ...  based on the S&P index.  NOT, as I said, a mutual fund, a stock or a portfolio of stocks, which can all, potentially, go to zero.  I day-trade futures contracts on the SPY.

How about VTSAX? It's about as diversified as you can get for a stock-based fund.  0.05% expense ratio to boot! Love it!

 

[Dust-In-the-Wind]

The only bad luck I had with stocks, were the first year I traded them. Greed and fear are your two biggest enemies when playing the markets. I remember I made over 100% from Dec. to May. That was back when the telephone IDs came on the market. I made $11,000 profit and lost about 80% of it before the end of that year. The stock took  a dip and I bailed out, all through fear. Once I was out it came back up and doubled again. It was a penny stock, you can see why the profits were high. I found it in the IBD, rated 99-99. Penny stocks are $5.00 or lower, this one was around $8s, which isn't considered a penny stock. It went all the way to $29, before it took another dip.

Someone here trades the futures market, I'd love to hear about some of your trades. About 12 years ago I found a used futures course on ebay (I'm cheap) and been paper trading on and off since then. When I make my first million on paper, then I might start using real money.LOL

My futures trades aren't very complicated.  I'm a scalper and I am all in cash at the end of every market day.  I mostly trade the index futures (S&P, Dow, Nasdaq and Russell) and am usually only in the trades for a couple of hours at the most, more often, for just a few minutes.  I sometimes trade currency futures (Canadian dollar, Australian dollar). 

I started taking courses (futures, options, forex, etc) at Online Trading Academy ten years ago and continue re-taking them.  You pay once and can re-take for the rest of your life, no additional charge.  They have facilities in most major cities in the U.S. and many more around the world.

 

[gojo]

I've always invested in the stock market but was always very conservative and kept most my cash out of it.  However, once I became disabled I had lots of free time and studied up on it.  In the last four years i've grown my IRA more than the last 14.  Now i'm kicking myself because had I got into it when I was 20 I'd probably be able to retire.  I do have a great financial adviser as well, my grandparents used him for 35 years and did quite well by him so I do trust him a lot.  I have two IRA's, one I manage on my own and one he manages.  The one I manage i'm a little more aggressive with.  I don't have any set criteria for when I take gains.  For the most part my plan is to keep letting things grow until I retire and/or I need it.  I have a mix of mutual funds, bonds and stocks.  

I'd like to start doing some day trading.  It seems very possible to set a goal of making $100 per day which would be all I need to live on.  I can't find their website/blog but a few years ago I was reading about a couple who was on their 6 or 7th year of full time RV traveling all from stock market earnings.  He did a lot of options which I still don't understand.

My futures trades aren't very complicated.  I'm a scalper and I am all in cash at the end of every market day.  I mostly trade the index futures (S&P, Dow, Nasdaq and Russell) and am usually only in the trades for a couple of hours at the most, more often, for just a few minutes.  I sometimes trade currency futures (Canadian dollar, Australian dollar). 

I started taking courses (futures, options, forex, etc) at Online Trading Academy ten years ago and continue re-taking them.  You pay once and can re-take for the rest of your life, no additional charge.  They have facilities in most major cities in the U.S. and many more around the world.

PowerSclaper? Interesting.... Keep it coming I'm all ears. Do you have a strategy that you use? Charts, events, news or stupid news. Most of the news today are stupid to traders, lol.... Are there margins and maint. marginal cost? Guess if you trade option, there's no need for all that. Maybe there should be a New Thread on Futures.

 

[Goshawk]

Is anyone working with no-load ETF much at all? Am looking at vanguard various funds. Trying to get at least 10% a year no matter what that market. You would think that is easy.


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[Bster13]

Is anyone working with no-load ETF much at all?  Am looking at vanguard various funds. Trying to get at least 10% a year no matter what that market. You would think that is easy.


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VTI is virtually the same as VTSAX that I am in, so yes.

 

[ccbreder]

The only good advice is buy low sell high. The market is low this week. Wish I had 10 years to wait.

 

[gojo]

I don't know if you're depositing a lump sum or depositing monthly. When looking at a MF, look at the 5yrs performance, because one year might be a minus and the next might be a positive. Then you sum up each year and divide it by 5, the answer will be your performance. If you're depositing lump sum, deposit 20% of the total amount monthly. That way you'll be averaging down, if the market should be taking a downward trend. After 5 years (of the lump sum) start withdrawing 5% of annual profit, of your 5 year performance and leave 15% for reinvestment to cover inflation and etc. The dollar has been losing value for years, so you want you're account to keep up with the falling dollar.
Years ago when I traded Mutual Funds, I subscribe to The Fabian's news letter. Their rules were,  whenever the equity fund would cross a moving average, you'd move your funds to a money market fund. Then when it crossed back, you'd switch back into the equity fund. Some had rules to where you couldn't do this and there were some you could. By using this strategy, you should make 20% over a five year average. Today it's hard to do. Good luck, my last two cents..................

 

[IGBT]

Getting smoked in Gilead but hanging in there.  $77 for the stock and PE 6.8.  At least it pays a secure 2.5% dividend.

I will bail if it ever gets back to $90

 

[Annie W]

I like the S&P 500 accounts because the S&P 500 has outperformed almost all other ones over time and generally have the lowest fees.

All I have to do is find a way to check one thing whenever I can. No more schlepping my tablet and hotspot up a hill on a dirt road in the dark at 6:00 AM and dodging cars and snakes for half an hour while I see what is going on in the market.

I am just going to have to play it more conservatively until we eventually settle down for a while. Sad. But the play account is building up and I am getting old. I am not as willing to lose as much of it in the game as I once was.
I have been doing a little of it, but it's just not as much fun.

Wondering how many RVers play the S&P500 e-mini ?

 

[jonney38]

Wondering how many RVers play the S&P500 e-mini ?

I don't know what "e-mini" means. I do have Vanguard 500 shares along with individual shares.

 

[Annie W]

I don't know what "e-mini" means.

An electronically traded futures contract 1/5th the size of standard S&P futures,
E-mini S&P 500 futures and options are based on the underlying Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index. Made up of 500 individual stocks
representing the market capitalizations of large companies, the S&P 500 Index is a leading indicator of large-cap U.S. equities.

It is traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) via their Globex electronic trading platform. Trading is 23 hours a day, 5 days a week,
using the ticker symbol ES.
Each 1 point move in the S&P 500 index is worth US $50 per Emini contract
and the minimum move of the Emini futures contract (or tick size) is 0.25 index points.