Internet Stock Trades Help?

[46Driver]

Anybody got any information on stock trading on the internet such as e-trade, ameritrade, etc? I am getting tired of paying commission fees and would like to purchase a few small stocks - starting with Krispy Kreme!

 

[fLYbUDDY]

I have been using a professional broker, but am thinking about doing the online thing for some of my own picks. I looked into scottrade and they seem to be pretty good so far. You can open an account @ 500 bucks, 7 dollar trades, and no inactivity fees. I haven't really looked into the others yet (to compare) but heard from a few people that all the 'reputable' online brokers are fine. Happy investing!

 

[fLYbUDDY]

BTW--Just took a quick look at KKD and they seem a bit over priced, no? Also, I don't know much about the company but I would probably be careful with the non-Atkins friendly companies, you know? Check out some of the Chinese stocks. CHA is amazing. I've watched them go up 36+% in just a few months (the question is now, how much is left?) I am no stock expert but I definitely think there is a lot of opportunity and potential right now in some of the Chinese firms.

 

[satpak77]

Ameritrade is very reputable and reliable

9.95 a trade

dont day trade, your profits have to out-weigh transaction costs PLUS give you enough profit just to make it worth your energy. Aint gonna happen, this aint 1999

Instead buy the strongest stocks in the top industry groups and plan on holding 3 to 9 months before sell

3 books REQUIRED reading before you decide to "play the stock market" are

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...3742609/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-0180728-1622425

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...3742631/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-0180728-1622425

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...3742631/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/002-0180728-1622425



Some basic rules are BUY in Bull markets, be on "standby" or Sell Short in Bear markets, and dont fight the trend. NEVER Buy as stocks fall in price, that is what 80% of general public does and it the worst thing you can do

read those books

 

[starchkr]

Scottrade is good if you don't mind holding stocks for awhile. They have $7 trades on major markets if the stock is $1.01 or higher, and $12 + 1/2% if it is below $1.01. Also a big drawback is that if it is below $1.01 you must place a limit order instead of a market order. The settlement for your transactions takes up to 7 days as well, which means if you sell a stock and decide to buy another you may not sell your new stock until the settlement of funds has completed from the sell prior to your purchase without getting in trouble with the SEC. All kinds of slow stuff if you wish to buy and sell often.

Some stocks i have been trading lately include:

WWWNQ.OB (bulletin board) - 100% return in the last 4 days from my original purchase amount on monday.

PTEO.OB (bulletin board) - pharmaceutical co with potential to jump in the next year or so.

SIRI - sirius radio- 1 month ago as low as 1.80, closed a couple of days ago at ~3.90 - more than a 100% return from a month ago.


My strategy is to look for past performing stocks which are being dumped for some reason or another and snatch them up. Every one of them has returned a good profit so far, with a couple of them returning a 100% profit or more, as shown above. Bulletin boards are my favorite because their volatility is so high. They do not abide by the major market rules and will usually return just a little more when you find the right one. BB stocks require a limit order on Scottrade at $12 per trade plus 1/2% no matter what the price.

 

[starchkr]

One more thing....

Day trading is not possible with Scottrade, but probably with some of the others if you pay a higher commission.

Also in my strategy i stay away from anything that is over $5.00 per share. This allows more shares to be bought with lower amounts of funds just in case you start to lose money on a certain one. This also gives a greater return if your stock goes up quite a bit. Say you buy something at $40 per share and it goes up $2...you make a fairly good profit if you own a lot of shares, but what if that original purchase price was $4 instead? Your $2 share price increase just made you 50%. I see it happen everyday.

 

[starchkr]

Thought i would bring this back to the top.

WWWNQ.OB up 400% today alone.

 

[Majik]

I use Ameritrade and a trading trend analysis software program called Wizetrade. I thought about Scottrade but the several thousand "wizetraders" on our message board hate them. Poor execution and other complaints. I soon learned that $9.99 vs $7.00 per trade is cheap. If you're interested in wizetrade, go to the site www.wizetrade.com The software is about $4,000 (and I'm tight, so it took a lot of faith to get me to spend that money) but we've made an 80% return since April 03. I enjoy trading as much as I do flying, so it's really a plus for me. Also a great fallback if I ever lose my medical, get furloughed, etc... I knew nothing about trading stocks before 2003 and I wish someone had told me about this program years ago.

 

[Cardinal]

Ameritrade has been accurate, reliable, and fast over the past 4 years. No frills, however, unless you want to pay extra. For $8 trades with cash, margin, and IRA options, I'm content. I've never had to call customer service or tech support, they have their act together.