posted
As a newbie , i have a question for all you long timers. I Just recently transferred my account from TD waterhouse to Choice trade because of the high commsions i was being charged. I currently have $150 worth of stock in the account and hopefully plan on depositing another $150 cash . With that amount how long will it take me to reach $15,000 or is reaching that amount unrealistic. I have done paper tradeing now for 2 weeks , with a starting balance of just $150 cash ,and i'm already up $185 in just two weeks.
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posted
frankly, I'm surprised you can open an account at those levels...but, hey, good for you...
lesssee...two weeks you basically doubled...you're gonna run with $300...
300 x 2 = 600 next 2 weeks
600 x 2 =12 next 2 weeks
etc?
Is that what you're hoping for?
If so, then, yeah, I gotta say I think that's unrealistic...
You will have losing trades more often than not; hopeably NOT losing more than 7 to 17 %, but one killer can turn $300 into $30 or worse...
I've read some of your posts, and can sympathize. My opinion? Do NOT count on doubling every week. You need to play as sure a thing as you can find, and build up at the rate of 12-27% gains each trade, always making sure to protect to your "tools"--which is capital. With that limited stake, it will be hard to ride "shakes" and "dips" once you quit paper-trading and load up for real. Yet, please take praise where it's due--you are wise to paper trade...
Therefore, I suggest a longer time frame. To do what you need to do means Not Trading some days/weeks...remember, cash is a position, too.
-------------------- Nashoba Holba Chepulechi Adventures in microcapitalism...
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posted
$15,000 is unrealistic.. possible but not for awhile.. instead concentrate on your trades.. not the #'s of what you can make or not make in a certain time period.. if you do great but if you don't make that number.. dont be surprised... you will lose more then you will have winning trades... and if you do not have discipline and money management your cash will be depleted.. if you can save/raise more money.. around $1,000 instead of starting with $300 .. commissions however small they may be will eat up your bankroll.. if your not well funded... would you play poker with a small bankroll? ...
-------------------- Let the world change you... And you can change the world.
posted
I just started trading a couple weeks ago and I also dont have a whole lot compared to many who have 100s of thousands. I only have around 3 thousand. What im doing is I have set it up so that 100 dollars every month is takin out of my bank and deposited into my stock account. This way over time my account will grow from stocks and my own personal finnances. I think this would be a good idea, even if you only put 50 a month it would help. It would be hard with 150 because if you make a twenty percent gain on a trade which is 30, your commision fees even at 5 dollars would take ten away which is 33 percent of your profit. Besides that you couldnt diversify becuase the commision would be most of your profit. Also I think you need to have a margin account to trade pennies if that is what you were paper trading with and I think pennies often have a large spread between the bid and the ask so it isnt as easy as on paper. Mabe someone else knows about that, I havnt traded pennies yet. You will most likely need more than 150 to open a margin account. Im probably only up about 15 percent in the last couple weeks after my loses are factored in but I still think that its ok. Even if you only averege 10 to 20 percent a month every month you would have a lot of money after a few years. If you look on the section 1000 to 100000 club on the posting that is called 5000 to a million it explains how if you were to only make ten percent a month after a short amount of years you would have over a million dollars. So really even a five percent gain a month if done every month would be very worth while. I thought that was interesting and a little more attainable than trying to double my money every month.
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Thanks alot for all your insight , even though some of the ideas expressed i couldn't comitt to,1.) like adding more money to my account ,i wish i could but with out a job and a steady cashflow thats impossiblie. I'm also wondering about loses, how do you get a lose with penny stocks . If the stock drops wouldn't you just hold for the long term or just buy more to average down . I on my TD waterhouse account have done exactly that , i have been holding CMKX now for 18 months , LBTN now for 2 1/2 years and PCCR for 2 1/2 years . Also ECUI for about 18 months also. All waiting for the big jump back .I guess you could use a stop loss order, but on paper tradeing i have yet to have a loss. I'm so desperate that i'll even take as little as a $15 gain on a stock pick, at $5 com thats still a $5 profit.
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Never hold penny stocks for the long term.. especially if they are stocks under $1 per share.. they are meant for short term trading whether daytrading, swingtrading or position trading... and always i REPEAT always put stop/losses on your positions whether a mental stop/loss or a actual stop/loss order from your broker.. never average down... Trading is gambling like Poker.. you are just trying to take the gamble out of the game and put the odds in your favor... as for not having the money right now.. you can do alot of things to raise the money.. such as holding a garage sale of unwanted things in your house and/or even selling those things on Ebay till you raise the necessary money for your account.. with Penny stocks you want to make a profit on a small move.. for example with a .50 stock.. you want to buy at least 500 shares of it at $250 for the whole position.. every time that stock moves up .01 in profit you are making $5 ... it moves .03 you just made that $15 instead of holding for more then a year to make your $15 which seems what you are doing now because you are not well funded and have to wait longer then us to make that same $15 .. anyways you can make it your goal to make let's say $50 per trade.. which only needs to move up .10 for you to make that $50 (500 X .10) ... you can do that week in and week out.. with several stocks.. two stocks you can make $100 a week etc.. etc.. so you can see the possibility of a small .10 move.. with 500 shares... but always put stop/losses on your positions just in case the trade moves against you and you limit your losses and protect your profits.. also never put more then 1/3 or 33.3% of you bankroll in any one stock.. hope this helps you see the light.. not having a stop/loss order is like walking on a tightrope with no safety net below you.. you'll fall and splat on the cement like a tomato...
-------------------- Let the world change you... And you can change the world.
posted
I agree with what machiavelli said. Years ago I tried to start trading stocks and bought a bunch of tech stocks. I didnt put stop losses on my stocks and they went down 20 percent. I bought more thinking I would averege down and they went down another 20. And again and they went down another twenty. I eventually lost everything from trying to averege down and not putting stop losses. It took me about 4 years to even consider trading stocks again after that. Unless you have an indication telling you that a stock trending down is going to reverse, dont buy it. Even if it is undervalued. Also I have been helped greatly by reading as much as I can about trading. Maybe while you are looking for a job this would be a good time to do as much studying as you can. I am confident I will do better next month then this because I can now see the mistakes I made this month. There are lots of free online books and im sure there are books at the library if you cant afford any.
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If anyone needs book recommendations let me know... just on a side note some of my picks to watch this week are :
IESU CGHI CLN FMDAY TCOM VRSO
As always do your own DD on someone else's picks before you enter a Trade.. these are just my picks for this week.. doesn't mean I am right.. only you can determine that on your own...
-------------------- Let the world change you... And you can change the world.
posted
Machiavelli, I have been following this BB for about a year now and I have learned alot from your posts, and the posts of many others. A year ago I made a promise to myself to "never get burned again", after I jumped into a penny stock blindly, without proper knowledge. I was very upset at myself about this trade, but realized it was an important learning experience. So I decided to just sit back and educate myself by reading the posts on this board, and many books(several that you have recommended, and continue to recommend, on which seems to be a daily basis) at home. I have read some books on candlesticks, a couple about short term trading and some on swing trading. I have polished up on some of the important indicators like, RSI, MACD, OBV, and moving averages. At times it is difficult sitting on the sidelines, without placing a single order for over a year now. Although, I do feel I am gaining a certain discipline that I can apply, for when I do get back in the game and start trading again. Hopefully, many newbies will read this post and understand how important it is, NOT to buy a stock on an impulse,(like I foolishly did) even if you happen to make money with that particular trade. The odds will catch up with you. Do your reading first! I do not post very often, and when I do, it is usually a short post with a question that I am looking for a quick answer to. As a matter of fact, this is by far the longest one yet. I do apologize for the length, but I figured it was a good opportunity to let some of the people on this board get to know me a bit. I do have a question for you Machiavelli. I am interested to know where do you find your stocks, and after you find a few that are worth researching further, what steps do you take. In other words, do you go to a certain website and punch in the stock symbol, etc. A problem I am having is, I end up going around the internet from website to website, pulling up different charts and looking at different indicators. I am tring to narrow it down a bit. I know this question is directed to Machiavelli, but I will welcome any members to answer with their different methods. Thanks to all in advance.
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I use smallcapcenter.com's technical search.. they give me a list of stocks and i go through them on bigcharts.com via candlesticks and other indicators till i find the stocks that fit my criteria.. if none do then i wait another day... patience is a virtue in this game.. some people don't have it because they need to be in a stock position everyday... i've learned otherwise...
-------------------- Let the world change you... And you can change the world.
posted
Thanks for the reply. I find bigcharts.com very useful also. Still learning how to set up the different parameters, trying this and that until I find my own method. Sometimes too many indicators can hurt more than help. And yes, patience is very important. It was someone on this board that said "cash is a position too". Thanks again Mach.
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the indicators i use are Candlesticks, volume, Moving Averages, RSI and OBV (though i might change to MACD instead of OBV soon.. not sure yet. have to experiment with that) ....
-------------------- Let the world change you... And you can change the world.
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