could you speak english, for us stock know-nothings?

Hmm, interesting idea! I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for the suggestion, Clovis! :)

I apologize lonelyfarmgirl. It is within a very narrow world in which I discuss the markets, rarely in a public forum. Let me say, I know very little about stocks as well. To me they are symbols which I buy and sell. Sometimes making money and sometimes taking a loss. My time is primarily spent trading futures, not stocks. I do know a few things about the overall market, such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones. My main point in the post was about the current state of the Dow Jones Index. The Dow Jones index along with the S&P500 and to a lesser extent the Nasdaq, are barometers for the overall stock market. Many of the stock market indicators used by traders have been warning the stock market is near a level where it can go no higher until it first changes direction and moves down lower. I know we don't like to think of prices going lower if we own a stock, but that is the nature of the cycle. If you look at a historical chart of the stock market you will notice that it zig-zags in a direction, never it a straight line. 3 steps up 1 step back, 2 steps up 3 steps down, 2 up 1 down and so forth. We have been in a straight line up, traders have been very nervous for the past few weeks wondering when we will hit the top and head back down. I believe we are at the level where buying will cease and we will get a much needed healthy pullback to lower prices. It is healthy because as prices go lower, it will attract new buyers and the next move up will be stronger. Expect the market to eventually sell off and go lower, no one knows for sure when it it will happen, but I think that time is very soon.

LFG,

I wonder if a book or two like this one would help:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Small-Investor-B...e#ht_878wt_932

Have you checked out your local library? They should have a decent selection of books like these.

so based on this speculation, should no one be buying? It seems if people believe everything is going to tank soon, then why would you buy now, instead of simply waiting for everything to decrease in value? Wouldn't that be ultra risky?
Really, I am just trying to wrap my brain around it, not be controversial.

Some sector tools. These are ETFs with leverage. You trade them as stocks, but they encompass sectors.

FAS 3x Long Financial
FAZ 3x Short Finacials. This allows you to short a stock without a margin account as the "Long" is actually a short. Use this to bet against the financials.

SPY Long S&P 500

SSO 2x Long S&P 500
SDS Short 2x S&P 500 a bet against the overall S&P 500

TNA 3x Long Russel 2000
TZA 3x short russel 2000 a bet against the russel 2000

There are plenty more of these ETFs. Google "ETF", direxion, ishares, proshares etc.

Learn some chart patterns

Learn some candlestick formations

Learn some fundamentals

learn some technical indicators.

When all that is well behind you, you may actually trade price action and make some money. :clap:


SSO Long 2 S&P 500

First of all, I have no idea what others believe about the market, this is my opinion. The rest of the traders could be buying hand over fist and the stock market could soar up to the moon . . . and leave me behind in the dust. . . It would not be the first time such a thing has happened and will not be the last. For the time being, I am not looking to buy any new stocks. Nor am I selling what I currently own. However, I have orders placed in the market to sell my stocks (a protective stop) at prices very close to the current price. If the price goes down a few per cent on those stocks, the order will be triggered and I will be out of them. That is how I am playing it for now. In a nutshell, I am waiting before I buy and sitting with a hair trigger to dump what I now own.

News events and market action over the next few days may change my view, I try to keep an open mind and roll with the flow. At this time I am cautious. Next week I may be bullish. One day at time and see what unfolds.

The amount of volume in yesterday's market was the lowest it has been a while. That indicates to me that many traders are looking at this level and choosing to stand on the sideline and see what happens. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is possible for some stocks to go up in value as the Dow Jones goes down. For instance, you may own a stock and the Dow drops 500 points over a few days and during that time your stock can actually rise in price. It happens. It is somewhat rare, but it happens.

I can not tell you what the market will do this afternoon, tomorrow or next month (no one can) if I did know, I would tell you. I try to always keep an open mind and have a view on the market, it helps with my decision making. If I am wrong I try to quickly accept error and move on. The market is always changing, as I said, this time next week I may be very bullish, it just depends on what happens between now and then.

lonelyfarmgirl, I have 2 suggestions if you are interested in reading material. #1 - Go take a look and plot around on the Investor Buisness Daily Newspaper site (much of the site is FREE, although they have a subscribers section too) and/or pick up a copy of their printed newspaper, it is about $2.00 for the paper, does not matter is it is a few days old or not. #2 - Get the book from your library called. 'Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator' by Edwin Lefevre. It is a great novel and wonderful read. That one book is required reading by 99% of the new employees hired by brokerage firms, trading houses, etc. It is a great book for anyone trading or not trading.

Added: The IBD, Investor's Business Daily was started by William O'Neil a successful stock trader. His whole system is based on what he calls CANSLIM. His formula for CANSLIM is always printed in the newspaper, it is free to read and understand. His paper, IBD rates stocks based on this system. It is interesting to say the least. Read about it and make up your own mind. You may try to google CANSLIM as well. Good luck.

At the end of the day, it's anyone's guess. Two analysts can look at the same data and make different predictions. There are so many variables (take the international situation, for instance) and everything can change in the blink of an eye! (Remember 9/11?)

But that's what makes it so interesting ... :)

What about your housecleaner? :hysterical:

As long as the house cleaner is riding the wave, it's all good!.

With QE2 and free money for everyone, be bold. This wave will not last forever.
:banana02:

I agree, but while it lasts, what fun! :D

(BTW I said the previous because I'm a housecleaner.) ;)

This past Monday I sold the right to someone to buy my 1400 shares for $12 a share by March 18th.I received $136 for giving someone this right.On Monday my stock was only trading at $9.56,so I gladly will sell to to someone for $12 a share 5 weeks from now.
What's the catch you may ask.My risk is that my stock could potentially excede $12 a share in 5 weeks and I am still obligated to sell at $12 on or before March 18th.If the stock isn't $12 on March 18th,I get to keep my shares.The $136 is mine regardless of what happens.This is called writing covered calls.

Groundhog,

That is very interesting indeed! What mechanism do you use to make these trades?

I haven't delved into options at all.

So, are there stocks to buy and sell for things like wool, beef, soybeans, lamb, copper, etc? How does that work?

Reason I ask, the price of lamb is going through the roof. Lamb sold, here anyway, at the wholesale buyers for higher than its ever been in history. And I know the price of cotton is up 14%.

Options are a sucker's game unless you are doing like he is and WRITING them. We can debate it for hours, but math is on my side. The house maintains a huge advantage that cannot be overcome.

Open an account with a broker that allows Futures trading. They are easy to trade. Easy in terms of the mechanics. Not easy to masteras with all trading.

Google "how to trade futures" for a start.

http://www.cmegroup.com/

This is the link for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, once you are on their home page you will see a row of buttons listing the different categories offered at the exchange. Choose Agriculture and it will show you all of the products traded in Ag, along with the rules and margin requirements. These are heavily leveraged, meaning you can deposit a reasonable amount of cash with a broker to open your account. There is nothing wrong with being leveraged, IF you manage your risk. NYMEX is the exchange in New York where many different commodities are traded. google it if you are interested. I don't know about ETF's for those things you listed. I really don't care for the ETF's. You can buy stock in companies which will closely track certain commodities. For instance, fertilizer companies can be a play in nitrogen. I think it is possible to do what you are asking, however you will need to do seek them out.

EFT? Did I miss what that was?

The main reason I ask about the commodities, is I think that would be a reliable thing for me to play with, in stead of trying to follow random company stocks. I am deep in dairy country, and closely follow wholesale buyer prices on all sorts of animals and their products, and grain crops, etc.. Those things, I know about.

I agree with Tobster, and as he said, spend some time on the cme site. You must have an understanding of delivery, size, month of execution etc. and you will likely use leverage for even a small number of contracts.

10k to trade an e mini is advised. let alone the softs or crude etc.

As I said, spend a few days reading up on the cme site for an understanding or this could easily be a 50 page thread.

ETFs are exchange traded funds. They're funds you can buy and sell like stocks. More info here: http://www.morningstar.com/Cover/ETFs.aspx

My husband really likes these guys. Recently he gave me a list of some to check out:

CGMRX
CAMAX
FAIRX

Well, today was another good day in the market! Some of my funds settled last night, and I had a feeling I should make a buy this morning, even though I didn't have anything lined up. So I looked at ALLT -- which I'd bought and sold last week -- and noted it was down $1 from its recent peak, and also off in after hours trading. I put in an order to buy 300 shares, then called DH and had him set my sell for +35 cents ... two hours later, it moved! I cleared $85.

So far in the first 48 days of 2011, I'm up $771. :)

My First post
 

Hey hey, I found a thread on something I actually know a little about! LOL

That said, I'll start with mentioning Trade King. I have an account there and it's only $5 (4.95) per trade. That isn't option or anything fancy, straight stock trades.
It's made it easier to make small trades when I'm just guessing... LOL

Now to lay out a few stocks I've done well on, mind you all I'm not a day trader. I hold em a lil longer.

OIB It's a muni ETF that pays .04 dividend every month. I got in at around 5.50. The price I'm less concerned with, as long as they pay that dividend every month.

I dod well to get into Ruger early. Bought a gun from them, then stock at 790ish. If they go under 12 I'd buy more.

Last, Novagold. The one time I listened to Jim Cramer.

If I was gonna recommend any of those it'd be OIB any time it's under $6. With a sweet divined for the price it's better than money in the bank IMHO.

Anyone using puts and calls in the grain futures market?

Thanks for the info on OIB. There are some strong dividend stocks out there.

Especially some of the heavy hitter blue chips that are still at a decent price. T, VZ, COP, CVX, TRV, DOW, CAG, SO, all come to mind.

Willow...sending you a PM about that stock we've been talking about.

Thanks Clovis! You have mail. :)

This morning's pick was SPWRA, a company I'd been watching for about a week. It came out with a really strong earnings report and 2011 projection on Friday. Its stock went up around 60 cents then, but I thought there was room for it to move higher. I bought 200 shares and set my sell as usual to net $80 ... I don't think it was in my portfolio 20 minutes!

It's a good thing I didn't get greedy as it made a U-turn shortly thereafter and now is down 25 cents for the day! But my profits are safely squirreled away ... Up $851 for the year now! :D

Keep your stops tight Willow, and be very careful of any over-night holds. Gaps down can be killers on swing trades.

The market has been so hot that the last couple of buys I've made went round-trip in under a day (sometimes under an hour). I guess this is good in some ways, bad in others.

Take a look at WLK. Now there's a stock I flipped back in January for my usual $80 profit. Its earnings report just came out today and it beat analyst estimates by .52! :eek: It's up more than $2 today, when the rest of the market is tanking.

If I still had my 100 shares, I'd be up $967. :sob:

Willow, thanks for starting this very interesting thread!

I'd like to ask you some specific questions about your Etrade experience if you don't mind.

My only experience in this area has been some mutual funds where you have to invest a certain minimum amount each month and it's invested on your behalf. Beyond that I don't have any experience.

My questions for you are:
1) When you opened your initial account with Etrade, do you have to maintain a high minimum balance? Let's say you open an account with $500. How much of that would be available to buy your stocks?

2) Let say's you buy stocks for $300, and you sell for $400. They take out their fees and your profit is $80. Can you have all of that 80 transferred to you anytime? I guess what I'm saying is: if you have a certain amount you want to risk, can you take all your profits (if any) out? Or does Etrade require it, or a portion of it, be reinvested? I know reinvesting is wise, buy if you choose not to, do you have to?

3) Is there a required monthly investment beyond your initial account opening, or can you buy/sell just when you choose and how much you choose?

Thanks so much!

You're welcome! In answer to your questions:

The whole $500. However, the transaction fee is based on how much money you have invested through eTrade. I think the regular fee is $12.99 (IIRC) but if you keep at least $50,000 in eTrade it drops to $9.99.

No, you can yank your money anytime (or just leave it in an eTrade saving or money market account -- it doesn't have to be reinvested). Or you can link your eTrade account to an outside bank account and move money back and forth electronically at no charge (which is what I do). DH says eTrade also will give you a debit card or checkbook linked to your eTrade account if you prefer. (I don't know if there is a charge for that since I don't use those functions.)

No

Yes

Hope that helps! :)

Thanks, Willow. That does help. I think it would be a very long time before I'd get to $50,000 and the $9.99 fee!

I buy and hold. I look to increase dividends. You might look at weyerhaeuser. it seems to be on sale.

What is the symbol?

What other dividend stocks are you watching or buying?

I like:
Lilly (LLY)
Duke Energy (DUK)
ATT (T)
Verizon (VZ)
BP Prudhoe Bay Trust (BPT)

Nice high yields.

I only have a position in LLY right now, which is a fancy way of saying "I own a few shares." LOL

I like

wy ( today) on sale!!!!!!!


rsg
rtn really long term
jnj



I will add more later & as always do your homework

Weyerhaeser... Be careful there. They've moved from a Timber land company largely to a manufacturing company. By that I mean most of the money they makes appears to be from paper mills.

For my money Plum Creek (PCL) is a better bet on pure Timber. It's a RIET that has to pay out 90% (I think it's 90) of their profits in dividends to maintain preferred tax status.


As always with advice, your mileage may vary

(WY)good to know. Reaserch is vital. They do seem to be diversifying away from raw materials. They are into housing development and building materials or vlaue added products. I know they have some of their devisions in a REIT I understood that is not for all divisions only the ones dealing w/ realestate. any more info on that ?

They do still have contracts to farm the timber? Are they sub contracting it out. SE ok is still a huge hub for them. I am watching and getting more info.

Well, if we go back to 2009 WY was in such bad shape they were turning down the heat in their offices to save money. For a company that size that smells like disaster to me.

Last year they made about $0.48 per share profit and paid out $0.60 in dividends. They have the cash to do it, but for how long?

Mind you I may be missing the boat completely here. I'm in Wa. which is where they are headquartered and a lot of folks around here work for them. A lot of the news from the mills doesn't inspire confidence to me. Again, I might be missing the boat. I'm a fairly conservative investor most of the time.

Yes, with the downturn in the housing industry, I'd be leery of buying stock in a lumber company! Of course, they do other things, too.

Well I finished the week $28 to the good, as the stock I bought Tuesday (FCS) climbed out of the -$189.99 hole it initially fell into. Gulp!!! The company has good fundamentals, though, so I had reason to believe it would bounce back, and it seems it has.

Why WY???

Seems like there are tons of stocks to buy with better dividends and better yields.

Well, my FCS moved in the opening minutes of the session; I'm up another $80, $931 for the year.

This morning I picked up 100 shares of Clovis' SLW! So far it is looking pretty good! :bouncy:

That's great, willow. Want to be my mentor? :help: Just kidding, you've already helped me more than you know.

I'm getting ready to start. Doing lots of research, learning, paper trades. Currently looking at the different brokers. I like the looks of Tradeking, $4.95 trades, good education section for beginners.