21 and clueless

Quote from guntd:

hi, found this forum randomly, saw some good threads and thought why not start a thread and see if i could get some help. basically im 21, play poker, go to ucsd for bioengineering and have about 25k to trade with. ive been trading for a couple months, but really dont know what im doing. i read the news and basically buy when i think the stock is coming back up and sell when i have a nice profit.
anyways ive always believed that whenever you start something you should get a good book or website and read up. thats what i did with poker and it worked well.
so if anyone wants to recommend a good read that would be awesome. if someone whos done this for a while wants to be a mentor that would be even better( but i dont know what i can really offer in exchange for a mentor).

alright thats all, sorry if this is considered spam at all.

Also check out 'The Complete Turtle Trader' by Michael Covel This reads more like a history book..... a tale of a group of traders from the 80's called the Turtles. Amazon.com
 
so an update....

account is currently at 35k was at 40k before the last few days and a stupid buy with macys. still dont really know what i am doing. might just sell everything and buy google long term. thanks for all the replys and i will update again!
 
Quote from guntd:

so an update....

account is currently at 35k was at 40k before the last few days and a stupid buy with macys. still dont really know what i am doing. might just sell everything and buy google long term. thanks for all the replys and i will update again!

Being completely honest... if you moved up that much that quick and don't know what you are doing, quit while you are ahead and reduce your position size for a while until you know why you are ahead.

And that last statement is probably the antithesis of what you want to do. Any good trader will tell you right now to wait for confirmation of the next rally before even thinking of buying a stock longer term. And most traders will tell you right now is suicide to buy something *long term*.

Your money, but I seriously advise you to reduce your size and rethink your last statement.

If we hit a bear market you better be damn prepared to buy and hold (a bag) for 2-3 years if that's what it takes.
 
Quote from trader28:

Trading in the Zone... Mark Douglas

According to RiskManager, it was Michael in fact( see second post )... It's one of his 3 favourite books :D ( just kidding )
 
Quote from guntd:

so an update....

account is currently at 35k was at 40k before the last few days and a stupid buy with macys. still dont really know what i am doing. might just sell everything and buy google long term. thanks for all the replys and i will update again!

You're 21 and have 35K account? Wow.
 
Quote from guntd:

so an update....

account is currently at 35k was at 40k before the last few days and a stupid buy with macys. still dont really know what i am doing. might just sell everything and buy google long term. thanks for all the replys and i will update again!


My newbie opinion would be: If you are going to put all your eggs in one basket (HIGH RISK) than you you better have a good exit/cut loss in place NOW. Don't risk it all on a hope and a dream.
 
If I were this kid, I would move to Vegas. Hook up with Bright or Assent and trade 6:30-1:00. Then it would be off to the casino's to take money from the touristas at the poker tables. When I was out there I met quite a few guys that made a living playing poker.

PS: You could also get a job tending bar in the evenings and meet some nice honeys. Oh to be young again!:D
 
thanks for the responses guys,
its not that im totally clueless. i feel i can pick good stocks and with the market doing well that can make you money right? i tend to trade stocks in cycles and watch for trends. i know you are suppose to "diversify" but i feel if i pick more than 3 stocks at a time my profit is so small that i mightest well take that money to the poker tables. so i usually trade 2 to 3 stocks at a time now. also i am not stubborn, if i feel the market is indeed going to turn bearish i can cut my losses and sit on my profit until i feel like it is a good time to get back in.

currently i trade macys and fxi. fxi seems to be a good etf and i feel it will perform well all the way up until the olympics. macys, eh i gambled here, i do feel that it is under valued, but i dont feel that it is that great of a stock. i was hoping it would get bought out and feel that is a mistake to do unless you are absolutely sure. although i was pretty sure.

i will keep you all posted!
 
hey guntd

ucsd... bio engineering... poker... you sound familiar...

I went to ucsd management science and then rady... my brother was in bio engineering too 2006...

hope you're making money...
 
Back
Top