Excited and Scared...First post here

P

PayPerView

Hey Guys (and girls)

I have been trading and investing (and saving) for many years. I have finally pulled the plug on my Buy and Hold financial planner last January in a once in a lifetime call that this market was going lower..By doing so, I saved myself a ton of money of course.

I have been trading more and more and have decided to transition out of my current business into full time investor/trader. I have many years of business and am comfortable with risk taking and risk management as well as understanding psychology (my own and maybe the markets...but i doubt that one!).

I have not done any particularly great trades but have managed to move in and out of cash to take advantage of buying opportunities and to limit downside.

I've been averaging 20 trades a day and got 500 free trades at Ameritrade to start.

I am opening up an account at Interactive Brokers as well.

My goals are modest (I think)...I would like to make 10-15% return annually..Like I said I am spending most of my time doing this.

I naturally gravitate towards companies I understand and can relate to.

I might want to mix up my strategies including some swing trading, perhaps some day trading as well as some portion into fixed income.

I am glad I found this forum. Looks like a great resource!
 
Quote from maxpi:

you think you are scared now, wait until you go into the Politics and Religion forum.....
More...

It is Trading and Journals that will inflict the mortal wounds.

Wait until PayperView discovers some people here have more than one Username.
jjf
 
Quote from jjf:

It is Trading and Journals that will inflict the mortal wounds.

Wait until PayperView discovers some people here have more than one Username.
jjf
More...

lol...I have enough problems without getting into Politics and Religion..

But I am guilt of two usernames..the first one had a problem activating..

Now what do i do..

buy hold or sell?

or hide?
 
Welcome to the forums!

Your timing is good, as there used to be more trolls on here but they all seem to have died with this bear market... hmm

I also think you are approaching this the right way, so best of luck.
 
Good luck as well.

Remember, you are your own best friend, trust no one and trust nothing you can't verify with your own two eyes.

Backtesting is for lazy people . . . forward testing in real-time is for professionals but time consuming.
 
Welcome fellow foot soldier..



I can recommend a couple things, now that you are actively trading.

in order of importance.


1. use and maitain stops, ( live to fight another day)
2. trade small until you find your methodology
3. there are no holy grail timing systems out there.
4. many systems/formulas/indicators will work, and by work, i mean give you a slight edge, the hard part is taking all the signals.
5. watch out for story stocks, fundamentals dont mean shit in the timing game. is google making more money now than 2.5yrs ago. ?? YEs, so why is at 380, when it was at 705, back then. And for every google there are 35 companies that went to zero.
6. Stick to high volume, steady moving stocks, qqqq, spy, appl, rimm,qld, sds. try timing the market with them, you can get in and out quickly.
7. Dont read guru/speculator posts or bullshit new system indiciator warriors. Get a good book on TA anything from John Murphy or Martin Pring and read, watch and research on your won.


Good luck, you goal of 15% is very doable, trade small until you know what you are doing, i cannot express the importance of this last statement. If and when you are still doing this in 5 yrs, that one statement will be the reason you are still tradiong.

EF
 
Quote from PayPerView:

lol...I have enough problems without getting into Politics and Religion..

But I am guilt of two usernames..the first one had a problem activating..

Now what do i do..

buy hold or sell?

or hide?
More...

At first you will feel completely underwhelmed by the mental midgets you will be sharing this site with, but once the entertainment adrenalin kicks in you will be just fine.

Remind me again, is this your third or seventh Username.
Oh what the hell, it doesnt matter just so long as you are funny
jjf
 
Amazingly, I have never or almost never used stops...That changed tonight after I went to a seminar for traders this afternoon. It was pretty basic stuff but I got a better feel for how to do it.

I consider myself so disciplined, blah blah but I have to admit I entered a trade today with 2 sell orders and after reviewing I realized it's just way way to risky..it was about 15% of my portfolio. Even tho I had stops in place, it was too large a trade..I worked my way out 1/2 the position throughout the day and have set up sell limits tonight..

Just when I thought it was safe to go into the water...lol

Thanks for the encouraging words!
 
How do some of you invest/trade your retirement accounts? Do you treat them differently?

I made the mistake (of course in retrospect) by treating them differently and not going to cash as quickly as I did in my trading account.

My retirement accounts represent about 15% of total portfolio..I have trouble subscribing to a buy and hold strategy in them..I almost gave in and gave them back to my old financial buy and hold guy to manage but I just can't do it...I can screw it up as well as he can..that much I know..

I am actively (compulsively) trying to get a handle on the way to approach the entire portfolio. I bought good sized positions over time in TIP and NXR..The rest is in cash and in and out of positions as I suspect most here do.
 
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