Go to grerard3's thread on 'new looking to open an account' and it talks about it (LT)some. I will have to look up where read negatives on lowtrades but read them in last week after posting a recommendation of both TD and Lowtrades.

I dont thing you will go wrong with TD if opening account with low amount of money and I dont hesitate to start any rookie there if if have several thousand to open with. Again just my opinion.

I am with Trading Direct $9.95 per trade no minimum to open account) and often trade same stock same day. To not be caught up by daytrading rules you must follow certain basic rules.
A trade is a daytrade if: you buy and then sell the same stock or if you sell,buy and then sell same stock. You may sell and then buy without it being a daytrade.

If you have more than three daytrades in a five day period and you do not have daytrade account. Your account will be frozen for I believe 60 days, so is a serious matter.

With only $600 to start you will be opening a Cash Account (These rules are set up by boards and SEC so is true whichever broker you use). This is fine and in my opinion the best way to start. When your equity or cash position is maintained higher then $2000 you may open a margin Account. This allows you to 'borrow' from your broker amongst other things. They tell me it also relaxes somewhat the daytrading 3 of 5 days rules. To actually daytrade you must maintaing $25000 in your account and have a margin account. I currently am well over $25k but still am using cash account.

I simply try to not buy and sell same stock same day very often, and it has worked alright so far.

As far as what type of stock to buy you need to develop your own style. Obviously try to minimize your risk while picking stock that has a good upside.

My advice to anyone getting into the stockmarket is buy and READ (At least once and over time several times) Peter Lynch's book 'One up on Wallstreet'. It will set you on your way to understanding the market and if take principles to heart, it will help you immensly in any type trading you do.

I trade penny stock and look for those that tend to be seriously undervalued. With shares that sell under .05 that is often very hard to tell. In Lynch's book he says 'if you are right 50% of time you can do very well in stock market', and the same is true in Pennys. It only takes two or three big winners a year to make the year if you are only making a small profit through rest of your stock. Learn to do your own research while taking advantage of others as well.

Message Boards are dangerous and to be avoided if you cant filter the 90% junk and fluff and pumping from the good stuff. I never looked at a message board for first ten months and I think that helped me immensly.

Stock for you to look into that I believe may have good future success is; ERHC - closed today at .59 and up about 50% for week. Special circumstances oil stock. By far my biggest holding at this time. I am very confident this is a good one. You have to look beyond the financials to see its value. Research present and past news for last year. CDED - company in beginning stages but prospects look good. CIRT - I like a lot. Should be profitable in next quarter or two. Thats enough for now.

Update
Still like CDED and CIRT especially if either goes under .06, although like CIRT slightly better. ERHC had a rough Friday moving down to .80 from .89 but expecting it to come on strong next couple weeks perhaps doubling or tripling. I also rate it a strong buy longterm and 5 years from now it could be $10 or $20 stock but it will hit some bumps so is (like all pennystock) somewhat risky.

I posted this on another board. Take a look. I believe that it was mentioned to go and look.

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I have a low trades account and here is what I have found.
1. I have traded over 100,000 shares at a time. No limit.
2. They do have something on their site regarding a percentage above the $5 trade if you trade over 1 mil (I believe)
3. They tend to be a little slow with the trades. You need to plan good.
4. If you buy today and sell today, $ will not be available until next day.
5. If you buy today and sell tomorrow, $ is available the same day.
6. You can't do market orders on large volume sales. Must be limit.
7. I have had problems with stop limits.
8. Haven't wire transfer any $ yet, but a check takes 6 days after they receive it to clear.
9. OK site for people just starting out or with a lack of funds.
10. The ticker you get is a few min. behind.
11. They sometimes will not allow you to buy at half increments. i.e 0.01 --> not 0.015, and sometimes you have to put in a buy or sell for full cents. You can not go anywhere past 2 digits beyond the decimal.

Hope this helps and good luck,

Jimbo

Anyway enjoy many of your posts, and if you disagree on Lynch with me we can do it agreeable. I did find he helped me a lot though, and all I have traded is pennystock.

I was so frustrated today with TD that I promised myself I was switching brokers. After I cooled off a friend reminded me they are a pretty good broker and much better than most of others for low penny stock. Once again decided not to switch but SOMEDAY will open a second account at Ameritrade just to see if they are better.

My background is studied stock by reading etc for a couple of years then got in in Feb 2003. I was fortunate to do alright overall and hit HLSH for 9 bagger (could have been 20 bagger if I had held on to it), so ended year at $25000 after putting in $4000 during year. I am value oriented and tend to hold short to medium term rather than just hold or daytrade.

This year up 25% first quarter. Started to move everything into ERHC in March and fully invested in it by first part of April. Account tripled in April when ERHC hit high of .95 (average buyin under .34) but in last week dropped by almost a third.

Being totally in one stock is a good way to get ulcers or lose your shirt, and I knew this going in. Since I am totally convinced this is great stock, so went against my principles and fully invested. CHILDREN, DONT DO THIS AT HOME! Seriously almost never a smart move but am committed to it for the short term but as quickly I can make good profit (Still think it will be over $1 in 2 to 3 weeks) will sell at least 50% and diversify.

Anyway hope you do well and let me know in a year or so how the tech approach works for you with real money.