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How to make a billion dollars:  i there, welcome to BFC's Stock Picking, Analysis, and Trading Megathread. I've gone through the 10 thousand posts or so old thread and tried to scoop out any info and guides I could! I will rely on the community here to make the OP as noob friendly as possible, I'm sure some of my info may be out of date or wrong! I hope you guys don't mind a lurker doing this, but I'll keep the OP updated at least. Thread for general savings information (IRA/401k) Previous thread Subforum rules and beginners guide.  he first thing to do, if you know nothing about this crap, is to bury yourself in books. - Need more recommendations/reviews!  '*-...THE BASICS...-*' ◄  ►The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing"...combines friendly guidance and sound financial expertise, giving readers a solid foundation on which to build a profitable portfolio." ◄ ►Options as a Strategic Investment"I have the 2nd edition which is over 20 years old but IMO is the best options guide out there today." ◄  ►Security Analysis"Where is the love for Ben Graham's Security Analysis? If a shouting chimpanzee like Cramer can get three of his books in the OP, what about the book that started it all?" ◄ ►The Intelligent Investor: A Book of Practical Counsel"By far the best book on investing ever written." ◄ ►Trade Your Way To Financial Freedom"Van Tharp’s books are by far the best work I’ve seen on position sizing, expectancy and money management. I’ve read" _________________________  '*-...GOONS RECOMMEND...-*' ◄ ►The Four Pillars of Investing◄ ►Way of the Turtle◄ ►Trading in the Zone◄ ►Trading for a Living_________________________  '*-...CRAMER...-*' ◄ ►Stay mad for life◄ ►Mad money◄ ►Real moneyforum legend dv6speed posted:I know "Jim Cramer" is a dirty word around here... but his books are really good at teaching newbies the fundamentals of fundamental analysis. Even if you don't like his stock picks... he can write drat good books in my opinion that are worth reading. While most pros probably won't get much value out of his books, he, and his co-author, Cliff Mason, really are able to write good books about a very dry topic that is easily approachable by a newbie/layman. After reading his books, reading other books will be much easier, and might not put you to sleep quite as fast.  '*-...FURTHER READING...-*' ◄ ►Market Momentum◄ ►Technical Analysis Explained◄ ►Technical Analysis of the Financial markets◄ ►Trading Day by Day◄ ►Intermarket Analysiss◄ ►Enhancing Trader Performance_________________________  OK so now you've read all that stupid garbage it's time to put all that knowledge to use. But don't use real money, use monopoly money. The virtual stock exchange is a neat toy, you sign up, create a game (portfolio), and you can buy and sell stocks (it even figures in average commissions). http://vse.marketwatch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx Use the resources below and see if you can make some gains with the VSS, if you lose everything there's a reset button. A great way to teach yourself how to study trends and news and apply that information. _________________________  Online guides and resources: List of terms and acronyms "I leveraged my short sell onto a zanado for IEX famangozo interest forcasted flamagadomba!" Day (active) trading A goons guide to day trading Investopedia A great resource for pretty much everything. -- Investing 101 -- Basic topics Motely Fool The cool place for cool people  SEC filings search "Search SEC filings, including the all-important 10-K and 10-Q annual and quarterly reports. Without these you're just wandering in the dark in my opinion." - Hobologist _________________________ Pinksheets: Who gives a gently caress _________________________  Choosing a broker! - Need more recommendations/reviews!Broker Discussion One of the most important investment decisions you'll make has nothing to do with stocks, bonds or mutual funds. This crucial decision is picking a broker. There are dozens of companies offering brokerage services on the internet, and many of them are just as good or better than traditional, brick-and-mortar businesses, but how to decide which one is best for you? Questions to ask~ -How's the customer service? -What are the fees? -How reliable is the broker? (your internet crashes and you have to get ahold of them NOW) -What features do I get for my plan? (account integration/various tracking resources) Goons recommend: E*trade "E*trade's account integration can't be beat in my experience. I have a Roth IRA, Checking, Savings, Global trading account, and a brokerage account with them and wouldn't change for the world despite the slightly higher commissions. They also have a good Iphone app, and supposedly a good blackberry one. TDAmeritrade I get some pretty cool features... I like being able to see the queue of orders that make up the spread above and below a stock's current price, so I can wedge in a stop or limit order into the queue at a useful point (e.g., stock is at $3, there's a ton of buys queued up at 2.98, I can stick in a buy at 2.985 and my trade gets executed before theirs. That kind of thing.) I can trade stocks (including major american exchanges but also OTCBB and pink sheets), options, bonds, mutual funds, and CDs. I can build bonds and CD ladders. There's some decent scripting: One Cancels Another, One Triggers Another, One Triggers Two, One Triggers a One Cancels Another, and so forth. As well as the standard stop market, stop limit, and trailing stop. Zecco I've never had problems with it, but the tools are not that great so I preferred to just rely on tradeking. Their execution time was always fine for me. I've heard that the major problem people have with zecco is the customer service. I was pissed when they upped the free trade balance to $25,000, but the trades are still only $4.50 each. I don't know how good they are for traders or whatever crap but I just do purchases for long term holding and the cheap price suits me well. If you want to do longer term investing, or do very basic trading, Scottrade (and Zecco I assume) will fill your needs. Other good brokers: Option House - Discount Broker Scottrade - Full Service broker Zecco - Very good discount broker Think or swim - Full Service discount broker Fidelity - Voted best brokerage in 2010 by some idiots. Featuring discount trades now as of mid 2010, is pretty good now. For srs day trading hotshots  Interactive Brokers Mirus Futures _________________________  TOOLS OF THE TRADE - Need more recommendations!Charting platforms: One feature of a dedicated charting program is access to a real time feed and downloadable past history for back testing. All of these software companies have a huge database of past data for a trader to tap, and can be requested at any time using the system. -CQG -E-Signal -TradeStation -NinjaTrader(see below) -http://finviz.com Execution platform: Another program you may need is an execution platform. Each comes with their own interface and broker compatibility options. Brokers usually support multiple options, such as Zen-fire, OpenTick and IQFeed. Talk to your broker about which their preferred execution system is, as each as a different opinion about which has the fastest quote and trade execution delivery. A List: -Neoticker Create automated systems and execute them into MB Trading, EFX Group, Interactive Brokers or FXCM -NinjaTrader Sends signals from TradeStation, ESignal or a custom application into Interactive Brokers, MB Trading or Gain Capital. Also a highly recommended charting platform.  Goons highly recommend these platforms for (!but not limited to!) futures:- Trading Tech (http://www.tradingtechnologies.com) - Stellar (http://www.stellartradingsystems.com/)  Picking the best tools is one of the most important decisions you'll make. There are dozens of options, and many brokers offer their own. Asking in this thread and including your goals is a good way to get on the right track. You're only as efficient as your setup._________________________ Agronox posted:May I also suggest that any gloating must include a link to the post saying when you bought or sold the stock? Disclaimer: Everything in this thread is a lie. You will lose everything if you do anything we recommend. Reading this thread is making you lose your house. Your kids will never get into college because you wont close this window. ________________________ Updated 9/15/2010 Umph fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Sep 28, 2010 |
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Jan 27, 2010 23:58
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 22:21 |
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Best illuminated manuscript thread in BFC  Someone asked about possibly changing the penny stock rule, so if you guys agree to change it just remember to amend the OP. BTW, it's spelled "lose" not "loose". Thanks for making a new thread!
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Jan 28, 2010 02:27
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May I also suggest that any gloating must include a link to the post saying when you bought or sold the stock?
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Jan 28, 2010 03:52
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I want to bring up, what was discussed in the other thread near the end, that we need to eliminate the penny stock rule, and instead limit the companies we are allowed to discuss by market capitalization instead of share price. Edit: Also, I think auction tag was better. Edit2: I know "Jim Cramer" is a dirty word around here... but his books are really good at teaching newbies the fundamentals of fundamental analysis. Even if you don't like his stock picks... he can write drat good books in my opinion that are worth reading. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Jan 28, 2010 |
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Jan 28, 2010 04:06
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*Waits for the permabulls to post why they dont understand the market is going down with earnings beats*
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Jan 28, 2010 04:28
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Yay, my name is off the Stock picking thread! Some notes: - TD Ameritrade bought ToS. - Ninjatrader is a great (top 3) charting platform, not just execution platform. - Thanks for keeping the automated penny stock post in tact, but you lost the hilarious graphic! Best of luck on the new thread.
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Jan 28, 2010 04:59
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dv6speed posted:I want to bring up, what was discussed in the other thread near the end, that we need to eliminate the penny stock rule, and instead limit the companies we are allowed to discuss by market capitalization instead of share price. I agree, just specifying no BB/pinks would take care of most of that instead of the inclusion/caveat of the 4-5$ PPS thing.
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Jan 28, 2010 05:10
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dv6speed posted:I want to bring up, what was discussed in the other thread near the end, that we need to eliminate the penny stock rule, and instead limit the companies we are allowed to discuss by market capitalization instead of share price. dv6speed posted:Edit: Also, I think auction tag was better. dv6speed posted:Edit2: I know "Jim Cramer" is a dirty word around here... but his books are really good at teaching newbies the fundamentals of fundamental analysis. Even if you don't like his stock picks... he can write drat good books in my opinion that are worth reading. TraderStav posted:- Ninjatrader is a great (top 3) charting platform, not just execution platform. Hobologist posted:Where is the love for Ben Graham's Security Analysis? If a shouting chimpanzee like Cramer can get three of his books in the OP, what about the book that started it all? dv6speed posted:ty moana Umph fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Jan 28, 2010 |
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Jan 28, 2010 06:04
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What's the opinion on PCG and AMZN? I'm thinking going in for AMZN and PCG for their quarterly...
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Jan 28, 2010 06:25
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Umph posted:How does it look to you guys now? I just threw out that number, we should discuss it before making it a rule. My argument for the market cap rule instead of the "no penny stock" rule is that for example, Sirius radio is trading around 60 cents, but yet, still has a market cap of 2.5 billion. Umph posted:Would you mind specifying a couple of your favorites for the OP? 1. Stay mad for life (more of a personal finance book, but has alot of great info for newbies) 2. Mad money 3. Real money I'm in the process of reading his current book, "Getting back to even." I'll get back to you on how I like it, and where I think it should fall in the list. I have confessions of a street addict, however I haven't read it yet, and it is really more of an autobiography then a book about trading stocks. While most pros probably won't get much value out of his books, he, and his co-author, Cliff Mason, really are able to write good books about a very dry topic that is easily approachable by a newbie/layman. After reading his books, reading other books will be much easier, and might not put you to sleep quite as fast. Edit: I have to admit, if it wasn't for Jim Cramer, I would not have even set foot in Scottrade's office to open up a Roth IRA and brokerage account. I've been following him for years, and while I sometimes disagree with him on certain things, still enjoy watching him and reading his books. Part of my enjoyment with Jim Cramer, is that CNBC even lets him on their airwaves, let alone give him his own show. Edit2: WOW... I never put the emotion and Jim Cramer together in the same sentence before, but it is the perfect match.
AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Jan 28, 2010 |
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Jan 28, 2010 06:26
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double post
Umph fucked around with this message at 07:41 on Jan 28, 2010 |
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Jan 28, 2010 06:55
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I would like one of the more experienced traders here to make up a post discussing trader psychology. Human emotions can often make it easy to fall into trading pitfalls of wealth destruction. (A goon from PITR who also trades would be drat good for this.)
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Jan 28, 2010 07:00
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I just want to clarify, why I believe we should limit discussion of low market cap stocks and pink sheets, etc. They may be annoying when people come in and talk about them, but this is SA, and we like to mock these kind of people. The real reason is so that some goon doesn't come in here and use SA as a way to push a few thousand shares of volume, which if done on several messages boards, is actually very possible to move a stock so the poster can reap a very large intra day profit with little risk to himself. This activity is also illegal, and technically we should probably report them to the SEC. Being that it is illegal, is actually why I think it should be a BFC wide rule, not limited to this thread. AbsentMindedWelder fucked around with this message at 07:20 on Jan 28, 2010 |
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Jan 28, 2010 07:14
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Where is the love for Ben Graham's Security Analysis? If a shouting chimpanzee like Cramer can get three of his books in the OP, what about the book that started it all? Edit: Also, http://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm lets you search SEC filings, including the all-important 10-K and 10-Q annual and quarterly reports. Without these you're just wandering in the dark in my opinion. Hobologist fucked around with this message at 07:35 on Jan 28, 2010 |
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Jan 28, 2010 07:27
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Hobologist posted:Where is the love for Ben Graham's Security Analysis? If a shouting chimpanzee like Cramer can get three of his books in the OP, what about the book that started it all? i wish security analysis was available as an e-book because i refuse to carry around a book that big
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Jan 28, 2010 07:43
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TraderStav posted:- Thanks for keeping the automated penny stock post in tact, but you lost the hilarious graphic! Not trying to question its message, but it is just kind of funny.
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Jan 28, 2010 07:47
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Speaking of looking at 10-K and 10-Q's... I also learned about listening to conference calls from Mr. . You can indeed get some interesting information from the "horse's mouth" so to speak, that isn't commonly repeated in the media.What you should do if you want to listen to them is keep them marked down on the calender. The companies investor relations website will list the scheduling details, and have available for download a sound file of the conference call for a period of time after the call is over. One of the ways that Mr. teaches to use conference calls, in addition to getting info about that company, is to gain insight into broader industry and sector trends that can spur some really nifty trading ideas. Fed-Ex, for example, is a good call to listen to, even if you never plan to trade FDX.I'm shamed to admit, I haven't listened to a conference call in a while, cuz I've been a lazy bastard. 
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Jan 28, 2010 07:49
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Cheesemaster200 posted:If that graphic wasn't AIG, I am unsure if it would hold the same weight as it once did. Kind of ironic given what it is trying to portray, its time period, and what actually happened. I watched most of it actually, it made for very captivating TV. The line of questioning most of the Representatives gave really shows their ignorance to how the financial system works and makes me wonder why these people have any business writing legislation. But, this is getting into something more suited for D&D, so I'll stop now.
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Jan 28, 2010 07:52
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So with toyota plummeting... buy now? Profit in a few months. ?
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Jan 28, 2010 16:58
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Nipple Drainage posted:So with toyota plummeting... buy now? Profit in a few months. ? However, it might not be a bad time to start accumulating toyota shares for a long term investment holding. You certainly, however, do not want to buy your entire position at one time, especially with this case. Ford preferred really looks better then toyota right now. Don't buy Ford common.
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Jan 28, 2010 17:10
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drat, techs have been getting pounded the last couple weeks. I guess they were the big leaders in the rally of the last six months, and were a bit overbought and overhyped (especially GOOG and AAPL). Kinda pissed I didn't get out of INTC at 20.75 like I originally planned to, though.
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Jan 28, 2010 17:44
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Cheesemaster200 posted:drat, techs have been getting pounded the last couple weeks. I guess they were the big leaders in the rally of the last six months, and were a bit overbought and overhyped (especially GOOG and AAPL). Lets not forget BIDU's jump to 25 P/S. Definitely overbought.
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Jan 28, 2010 17:55
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So how about that day yesterday? I put in a short on DFS (those bastards spiked my cc rate from 4% to 30% overnight, not to mention they suck). Also, I bought Toyota around 79, maybe a bit too early however I love this company and don't mind being stuck for a while. How's that for emotional trading? : /
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Jan 28, 2010 18:15
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Its amazing how the $1.40 per a euro was like the line in the sand for the carry trade. Now everyone is running to the door it seems. I'll wait for Dow around 9300 before I take a look at anything.
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Jan 28, 2010 18:22
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I'm in cash at the moment until poo poo settles down and am looking for short term trades... which I'm terrible at.
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Jan 28, 2010 18:35
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Built 4 Cuban Linux posted:i wish security analysis was available as an e-book because i refuse to carry around a book that big You can buy it for a Kindle, though Amazon doesn't seem to offer it in a usable format like PDF 
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Jan 28, 2010 19:06
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Janin posted:You can buy it for a Kindle, though Amazon doesn't seem to offer it in a usable format like PDF If you buy the 6th Edition, it comes with a CD. I believe the CD assists you in downloading pdf's from the McGraw Hill website for the entire original 2nd edition of the book. But I have not tried it, as I would rather read it in actual book form. I do have the book so maybe I'll try the CD someday for kicks.
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Jan 28, 2010 19:15
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Christobevii3 posted:Its amazing how the $1.40 per a euro was like the line in the sand for the carry trade. Now everyone is running to the door it seems. I'll wait for Dow around 9300 before I take a look at anything. I am familiar with the concept of carry trading, but am confused by what you meant with $1.40 being the line in the sand. Can you go into a little bit more detail with that?
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Jan 28, 2010 19:16
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Got my new screen up and running today.... You guys are jealous...  http://imgur.com/Z43Zx.jpg
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Jan 28, 2010 19:27
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Cheesemaster200 posted:I am familiar with the concept of carry trading, but am confused by what you meant with $1.40 being the line in the sand. Can you go into a little bit more detail with that? $1.40 us = $1 Euro It is roughly when early last summer when the carry trade started. It is supported by the Euro being at that or above in value to be worthwhile.
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Jan 28, 2010 20:29
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Christobevii3 posted:$1.40 us = $1 Euro More referring to why that level is being held as so important?
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Jan 28, 2010 20:47
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Because that is the time frame when a lot of people took out the loans. If you have forex negatively effecting the trade whats the point of holding?
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Jan 28, 2010 20:50
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Christobevii3 posted:Because that is the time frame when a lot of people took out the loans. If you have forex negatively effecting the trade whats the point of holding? So essentially people took out low interest loans in dollars, and then loaned them out again in Euros. This stays all fine and dandy as long as the Euro is equal or stronger in value versus the dollar. Right now, since people generally took out those loans in dollars around this exchange rate ($1.40), people are jumping ship, accelerating the strengthening of the dollar versus the Euro (and potentially driving down equities). Would that be a fair assessment of this current USDEUR exchange rate?
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Jan 28, 2010 21:18
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Yes, you get cheap dollars and go to a strong currency or growing market (SP500 and buy puts as it goes up since vix is low or buy asian markets with similar theory).
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Jan 28, 2010 21:26
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LactoseO.D.'d posted:Lets not forget BIDU's jump to 25 P/S. Definitely overbought. GOOG's market cap is still bigger than the market it serves. So there's a long way to go there. AMZN's FCF was pretty insane this quarter and unlike those idiots at GOOG they seem to know what to do with it.
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Jan 28, 2010 22:37
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dv6speed posted:I'm in cash at the moment until poo poo settles down and am looking for short term trades... which I'm terrible at. Then don't do it. The markets will still be open tomorrow if you don't trade today. Of course, the last couple of weeks the market might have been better off staying closed.
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Jan 28, 2010 22:40
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TraderStav posted:- Ninjatrader is a great (top 3) charting platform, not just execution platform. Maybe right on charting (though not sure how CQG isn't in the OP - it's generally regarded as best with esignal 2nd), but not sure about execution. Certainly in futures it comes way behind TT, Stellar, and CQG for popularity in professional environments - no idea what the best stock frontends are. quote:I want to bring up, what was discussed in the other thread near the end, that we need to eliminate the penny stock rule, and instead limit the companies we are allowed to discuss by market capitalization instead of share price. Don't think any objective limits are needed - I think you know a "penny stock" when you see it, whatever the share price/market cap is. f2a fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Apr 7, 2010 |
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Jan 28, 2010 22:59
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Cheesemaster200 posted:If that graphic wasn't AIG, I am unsure if it would hold the same weight as it once did. Kind of ironic given what it is trying to portray, its time period, and what actually happened. The actual result is irrelevant - at the time, a lot of people were coming into the thread saying that they thought a particular stock was a buy due to how far it had fallen, which is obviously a terrible way of making decisions. The chart was a troll, and a better explanation of why this is a bad way of valuing companies was this: quote:Interesting Citi datapoint:
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Jan 28, 2010 23:25
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Umph fucked around with this message at 09:04 on Jan 29, 2010 |
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Jan 29, 2010 04:49
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 22:21 |
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Sorry, no way to delete posts (assuming that's what you're asking). I suggest editing both of your posts to include pictures of cats day trading, like so:
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Jan 29, 2010 07:25
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