What are the steps to becoming knowledgeable about the market?

vk60546 · Mar 22, 2016

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/06/how-jim-cramer-made-his-millions.aspx

I found this article on line which speaks about Jim Cramer, without college education, studying stocks for hours every day until he could amass a fortune for himself.

Question I have is where does one even begin to study such stocks? Does one start by focusing on an industry or picking a stock they like and learning all about it?

Where does one go for the info? Are the search engines sufficient or should one be able to search SEC filings, etc...? Thanks in advance to those who chose to provide some input.

cvds16 · Mar 22, 2016

you are basically on your own for that ... unless you go work as an analyst / trader somewhere ... and even they can be incredibly wrong ... some people swear by value investing and the stuff from Benjamin Graham, others say: just stare at charts untill you see blue ... don't expect succes overnight with either method ... it's a marathon, not a sprint ...

lawrence-lugar · Mar 22, 2016

vk60546 said:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/06/how-jim-cramer-made-his-millions.aspx

I found this article on line which speaks about Jim Cramer, without college education, studying stocks for hours every day until he could amass a fortune for himself.

Question I have is where does one even begin to study such stocks?

You're asking this question now...after you've been on this site since 2006

Talk about a slow learner and/or no initiative.

Traders are naturally inquisitive, self-directed learners. -- if you don't have this in you...then maybe this world ain't for you

Simples · Mar 22, 2016

vk60546 said:
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/06/how-jim-cramer-made-his-millions.aspx

I found this article on line which speaks about Jim Cramer, without college education, studying stocks for hours every day until he could amass a fortune for himself.

Question I have is where does one even begin to study such stocks? Does one start by focusing on an industry or picking a stock they like and learning all about it?

Where does one go for the info? Are the search engines sufficient or should one be able to search SEC filings, etc...? Thanks in advance to those who chose to provide some input.

The technical way:

Study the charts. Find any stock going up. Point is that by trading stocks short-term, you only really gain by price going in your favour.
Find "optimal" entries.
Explain to yourself why your method is flawless.
Paper trade your method.
Say "Duh!"
Refine
Rinse & repeat
...
Lose some more. Crickets chirping.
....
Profit?!

+ read and study alot while doing your day-to-day work and duties. There's alot of material through search engines and youtube. Too much material in fact.

If you can't do the work, if you get lost dreaming or if you are willing to lose your money before you've proven to yourself your trading plan can have a chance of working, nobody can really help you anyways. This is because every trade has a huge chance of losing, and you seriously need to not lose in order to grow money. One of the few ways to learn to think in the correct terms is by doing and failing cheaply.

Dunno the "fundamental way", but I guess you study the companies and understand alot about their numbers and the overall markets. I would guess though, that the fundamental approach works better for longer term investing.

Thing with the markets is, you've probably already gotten good advice from profitable traders already, but YOU yourself is just not ready yet to implemenet those ideas and thinking in the correct way. You need to experience what may work for you and slowly build on your own foundation.

It depends solely upon you and, for instance, you asking the right kind of honest questions: Is it really knowledge about the markets you seek?

sprstpd · Mar 22, 2016

Cramer almost had to shut down his fund due to poor performance until his wife bailed him out. So maybe get a wife that is a better trader than you and let her do all the trading.

kut2k2 · Mar 22, 2016

lawrence-lugar said:
You're asking this question now...after you've been on this site since 2006
Talk about a slow learner and/or no initiative.

Traders are naturally inquisitive, self-directed learners. -- if you don't have this in you...then maybe this world ain't for you

For sure. The OP should just buy one of Cramer's books. He's written two of them, and I'm sure he's egotistical enough to have put his history as a stock picker in both of them. Or go to the library, where books are free.

Pension_Admin · Mar 22, 2016

Start from a stock screener.

vk60546 · Mar 22, 2016

lawrence-lugar said:
You're asking this question now...after you've been on this site since 2006
Talk about a slow learner and/or no initiative.

Traders are naturally inquisitive, self-directed learners. -- if you don't have this in you...then maybe this world ain't for you

Yep, I'm not hungry enough, but it's partially because I don't know where to start. There is so much info available and it's confusing. Paralysis by analysis.

I have 401k at my job and tried trading with that money. Have been paper trading on and off. No consistency. On the one hand, I have not lost money (well, technically 401K is a bit down vs last years highs, but not by much). On the other, I've read about traders who have lost everything. I have not lost millions, and have not made any. May be this world is not for me, you are right.

kut2k2 · Mar 22, 2016

vk60546 said:
Yep, I'm not hungry enough, but it's partially because I don't know where to start. There is so much info available and it's confusing. Paralysis by analysis.

I have 401k at my job and tried trading with that money. Have been paper trading on and off. No consistency. On the one hand, I have not lost money (well, technically 401K is a bit down vs last years highs, but not by much). On the other, I've read about traders who have lost everything. I have not lost millions, and have not made any. May be this world is not for me, you are right.

You're farther along than I thought just going by your first post. What category does your trading strategy fall under? Trend following? Something else?

As far as stock picking goes, you can probably do better than Cramer. Here's a sample of what I found by googling "stock picking" ::

http://www.investopedia.com/university/stockpicking/

http://www.investopedia.com/university/fiveminute/fiveminute5.asp

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/16/cramers-tricks-of-the-trade-to-picking-stocks.html

vk60546 · Mar 23, 2016

kut2k2 said:
You're farther along than I thought just going by your first post. What category does your trading strategy fall under? Trend following? Something else?

As far as stock picking goes, you can probably do better than Cramer. Here's a sample of what I found by googling "stock picking" ::

http://www.investopedia.com/university/stockpicking/

http://www.investopedia.com/university/fiveminute/fiveminute5.asp

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/16/cramers-tricks-of-the-trade-to-picking-stocks.html

Thanks for the links. I'll check them out. My strategy involves picking the top stocks held by mutual funds that have done well. So, more of a 'herd following' strategy. Also am a member of seeking alpha and have been reading their opinions on various stocks. I'm curious on how do these guys become knowledgeable? I'm also a fan of Showtime Billions and am impressed by Axelrod's knowledge. I understand it's a movie but something in me believes that top traders/investors have similar knowledge of the markets.