Want to get started

T

trekracer

Hi Guys,

First off, I am new here, and Im not quite sure how the forum works, but I tried posting this thread earlier and I dont think it worked, but if it does come up soon, ignore this one:D . Anyway, I am interested in getting started very actively trading. I currently have a stock account for long term gains, but it would be good to have one that mabye grows a little faster, and I think trading would make a good hobby(obsession:D ). Anyway, about my self...my name is Jake, I am currently a high school student. I do a good bit of stock market research, so I know a decent bit about investing. My question is, where should I look to get started in day trading? I will be able to open an account with around $1000(I guess thats not very much in most forum members eyes), but then I am not trying to make a million dollars by next year, but it would be nice to support my other passion, bicycle racing. Any help and guidance would be great!

Thanks,
Jake
 
if you want to make a little foray into the markets and not lose much, get your hands on $5000 (i don't know what you can do with 1k), buy 1 NQ (nasdaq) future, and leave it alone. Don't even watch it. Forget when it goes down 50 pts.

Just come back to it in 1 year. You'll easily make $2k on that one contract over the course of a few months. (100 pts)

To make money trading, most people here consider even $50k too little to actively work with. And for those that don't have any experience, the cost of entry is higher (sorry, but you can't paper trade your way out of making no mistakes. real money works differently).

Some guys here like whitster can make a great living off a 10k account, but that takes years of experience, losses, and -MATURITY- to do. Age is meaningful in the sense that older people often have the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Mistakes and errors are made young regardless of how brilliant you are. Now that has no bearing on if a 'mature' person will be better than a young trader; he just has one more point in his favor.
 
Quote from scriabinop23:

if you want to make a little foray into the markets and not lose much, get your hands on $5000 (i don't know what you can do with 1k), buy 1 NQ (nasdaq) future, and leave it alone. Don't even watch it. Forget when it goes down 50 pts.

Just come back to it in 1 year. You'll easily make $2k on that one contract over the course of a few months. (100 pts)

To make money trading, most people here consider even $50k too little to actively work with. And for those that don't have any experience, the cost of entry is higher (sorry, but you can't paper trade your way out of making no mistakes. real money works differently).
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Cool, thanks for the advice, I knew 1k wasnt much, but 50:eek: , oh well, I guess I will be waiting a while before I can seriously invest.

Thanks-Jake
 
Quote from trekracer:

sorry, what?
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Jake... he means when people like you begin to show up here wanting to trade.... it means that every person and their grandmother are now into the market... meaning that its over heated and headed for a big correction.

But dont mind him.... you too can learn to trade. But, not now. $1000 will only be enough for a tiny tiny lesson in wall street, and at your age, your brain does not work in the same way as it will 5 - 6 years from now, your thought process is not wired for the ficious market.... at least not yet. Wait a little. get some more $$ and when the time is right... you will have a much better chance of learning the market. And by much better change i mean a drop in the tub.

right now:

you = chicken nugget
market = grizzly bear
 
He's joking because when "dumb-money" from new traders who want a peice of the action starts coming in, its usually a sign of the market turning.

Anyways, I'm not sure you'll be able to do much with 1K. I recommend MB Trading (www.mbtrading.com) because you can open a cash account with 1K and a margin account with 2K. I dont suggest you actually use the margin, but having one lets you short stocks and your trades also "appear" settled instantly rather than waiting 3-days... it just makes things easier. Most of your trades will also only be $1 which is very important... you dont want to be spending 1% of your portfolio value everytime you place a trade with some of the more well known brokers (etrade, scottrade etc.).

Your not going to make anything significant, so just do it to learn and pick up patterns and see how news and expectations affect stocks and whatnot. Well thats all the advice I can give you considering I myself am only a sophomore in college. Take a look at the other threads on here- eventually it will start looking like english :)

BTW www.investopedia.com is your freind
 
Quote from lilduckling:

Jake... he means when people like you begin to show up here wanting to trade.... it means that every person and their grandmother are now into the market... meaning that its over heated and headed for a big correction.

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Thanks, I can see what you guys mean with it getting over heated though, after all, I guess a lot of members make their living through the stock market.
 
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