Buy Low, Sell High

When you're around people who are involved with the market, you will usually hear the phrase, "Buy Low and Sell High." Of course it makes sense. The most common way to profits from stocks it to buy in hopes of the stock rising (therefore making money for each share you own) then selling to lock in your profits.

Over time I began to realize another look into this phrase of buying low and selling high. Here are a few of my high points that i thought i would share with you. As my interest in trading and the idea of consecutive returns began to grow on me, I realized on thing- I like the feeling of seeing a stock chart with a up-trend or incline over the past few days. To me, it gives a feeling of security that a stock is already doing well and in hopes will continue to do so. Of course the stocks' run will end eventually. You just need to realize when to get in and out of that particular investment. As i was saying, I prefer to see an uptrend before i decide to buy. In conclusion, you can think of my statement as, buy high, sell higher. That is what i began to learn over the past months or research, but remember, stocks trends do seem to change every so often.. Dont' feel you HAVE to invest in a company who you thinks trend is almost over. There are many many more opportunities out there. Remember that.

Another point I have that goes along with buying low is this- A stock could drop, drop to a penny stock, go bankrupt, out of business. That would cause a stock to be low and a beginner or newcomer to the stock market ordeal could relate this quote to it and say, "the stock dropped, its low, soon it will return to its normal price, i will buy." NOT ALL THE TIME, if a stock drops, it doesn't mean it will come back in price.

Make sure to remember:

• Buy Low, sell high is correct, but there are limitations. If a stock drops drastically, there could be more room for it to drop.
  
• Buy high sell high is what i use often, but dont' get me wrong by this. A stock has it up-trends and down-trends. The different trends should end sooner or later. They will not all last forever.
  

Questions? spncr2@yahoo.com

Types of Trading??

Hello once again. Let me note that NOT everyday will there be a post. My plans are to have a new post every other day. The reason for this is to save a little time on my part, but for your sake, if you arn't able to read the day's post, then you would still have an extra time to catch up.

Anyways, today (or maybe next time) I am going to talk a little about types of trading (hence the title), a few different orders that can be used to save YOU money when buying/selling stock and the different types of investment. Hopefully by the end of the post you will understand a few more things. I will try my best! ;)

There are many types of trading . One for example is just buying a stock in hopes of the stock rising in price, then selling. (earning profits when stock price rises). Another type of trading is called, Short Selling. When you short a stock you are betting against everyone else, betting the stock will drop. Selling a stock "short," means earning your profits when a stock drops. I use both of these techniques in trading.

I wont go into much detail about another type of trading called "options trading." Infact, i havn't even learned much about it yet.

"What do I invest in?" Here are a few things-

• Stocks
• Bonds
• REITs (real estate investment trusts)
• Mutual Funds
• ETF's (Exchange traded funds)

I am going to leave out a few of these in regards to hopefully minimizing the confusion later on.

First, lets get stocks out of the way. Like i said in my previous post, stocks are ownership of a company. But remember, a stock is just ONE company. At this stage, i trade ONLY stocks and ETF's (which we will talk about later).

Mutual Funds are hundreds and hundreds of stocks in one investment. Mutual funds are alot less ricky compared to stocks. The funds are "divisified" unlike buying shares of ONE single company. Being diversified among many investments creates less rick, but less reward. Remember this- In the game of the stock market, risk brings reward. Without risk there will be no reward. (in our case, reward means profits). Only certain types of brokers can buy and sell mutual funds for you. I chose not to invest in these on my own. I trade almost daily and enjoy it. Mutual funds are a long-term investment, mostly for your retirement (40, 50, even 60 years from now). I do have money invested in mutual funds, but that is from my parents. Sometime, go up to YOUR parents and ask if they own any mutual funds. There is a good chance they do. They may not know alot about them, but hopefully they are making money in regards to a safer retirement.

On to ETF's, or exchange traded funds. I buy and sell these alot. As for risk goes, they are more risky than mutual funds, but a little less risky than stocks. I would say in the middle somewhere. They are diversified like a mutual fund, but not quite to the extent of hundereds and hundreds of thousands of stocks. They may consist of 60-200 stocks. ETF's usually track the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ. But, the advantage to owning an ETF is that they are less ricky, but in the end give you back some nice profits, AND can be sold through any broker JUST like a stock.. You can buy and sell througout the day with any broker unlike a mutual funds where you have to pay alot more to go through each transaction.

I think that wraps it up, but Pleeaasssee if anything is confusing, anything at all, email me at spncr2@gmail.com. My goal is to help others learn and if all you are doing is getting confused, then I am not doing my job.

Here are a few high points to remember-

• I trade stocks and ETF's on my own. Stocks are VERY risky, ETF's less risky, and Mutual Funds with hardly any risk.
• ETF's and Stocks can be traded through any broker.
• Mutual funds MUST be traded through a larger broker (and more expensive) where they manage your money, not you.
• Selling a stock short means profiting from when the share price drops.
  

Have a great weekend!
All the best,

Stock Market: A New World

If you decided to keep up-to-date with my blog, I wish you the best of luck on this new adventure that we are taking.

First off, in the next few posts I will talk about 3 VERY important issues that make the stock market what it is today. Those three things are as follows-

• Buy Low, Sell High

• Fear and Greed

• Supply and Demand

Like I said, these hot topics determine what the stock market does. But before we get into technicals of how the market operates, lets learn what a stock the stock market is.

When you buy "stock," you are buying a small fraction of ownership in a company. Seriously. But when i say small, i mean small. There are companies that have over hundreds of millions of shares, to only a few hundered thousand. You buy stock in hopes of making money through the company(s) you invested in.

Of course buying ownership (stock) in a company costs money. Where do you supply the money? Through a stock broker. There are many brokers out there, and it all depends on how much time, money, and effort you want to spend on investing. You can have companies invest your money for you or learn the ropes of the stock market and take investing into your own hands. I decided to take my own money into my own hands. My broker is Scottrade, and they charge $7 every time you buy and sell a stock. So, to profit at all you must earn more than your commision prices (being $14 total). Other brokers charge more and less for their services. For example, Ameritrade, another broker charges about $11 every transaction. Totalling $22 before any profits! Ameritrade has a good reputation and offer nice software packages to go along with your trading while cheaper companies don't offer as nice of benefits. Software packages consist of live charts, screeners, and more. It all depends on which type of trader you want to be.

Here is a quick list of types of brokers and there commissions-

• Full Service- expect to pay at least $200. They do everything for you. The only say you have is to get reports back from the company asking how much money they made or lost.
  
• Discount- charge about $40. They handle in-house research and carry out your buy and sell orders.
  
• Deep Discount- charge roughly $10. The firms charge even lower commission because they exist for the purpose of carrying out stock trades; nothing else. Investors don't get much research assistance but are ideal for those who want to conduct their own research and just need someone to place their trades.
  

Here is an easily understandable explanation of how the process of buying and selling stock works. *Make sure to click back when finished reading.*

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"The Market"

Every day you hear the market is up or down. Have you ever gotten the real meaning of what "the market" is? Usually it refers to the U.S. stock market and measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average, abbreviated as DJIA or called, The Dow. Dow corning you might say? Eh, not quite. In fact, not even close. The Dow is the average of 30 well-known Companies such as IBM, McDonalds, Merck, Wal-Mart, and Microsoft. Since the Dow is an average it is a simple way to judge the trend of the overall makret.

A more popular index is called, Standard & Poor's 500, or S&P 500 for short. It tracks 500 large companies. The S&P 400 mid-cap tracks 400 medium companies, and so on. Where are the exchanges where buying and selling is happening? 3 places- New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system (NASDAQ) .

To trade on the NYSE, a company must have at least 1.1 million shares of stock outstanding, boasting profits of $2.5 million or more, and be worth $18 million.

Next is the AMEX which is smaller than the NYSE. To be listed here, a company must have at least 500,000 shares of stock outstanding with a total of at least $4 million and annual pre-tax imcome of $750,000 or more.

The NASDAQ is a little different. It is all computerized. On the other large exchanges, there are people inside buying and selling. With the NASDAQ, there are no floors of people, its all in a giant computer system. To be listed here, a company must have at least 400 shareholders, outstading stock worth at least $8 million, and annual pre-tax income of $1 million or more.

Now, is all of this about the indexes necessary to know? I guess not. It is nice to know what the NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ are, but how large the companies must be and the regulations of being listed within them are not that important. This is just the beginning, so don't panic if you don't quite understand at the moment. As i go on, things should start taking place and you will begin to realize the way the market is played.

All the best,

A New Beginning!

Welcome!

Stick with me as I find my way to the insides of "Blogging." My goals in regards to this Blog are to share my ideas and put-forth my ever-most helpful advice relating to the stock market and the world of investing

At this day in age, individuals along with couples are trying to take investments into their own hands. That is what my family did, I want to teach you all about it. Anywhere from technicals and fundamentals of stocks and stock charts to investing as a whole. The game of the market is wonderful to know. It consists of keeping up-to-date with the latest news and the economy. So many things relate to the market, and here is where you can find some of this information!

Think about this. In the near future, my generation will be running our families businesses, wealth and living conditions. You want top of the notch, correct? In order to fulfill that, we need to learn from eachother. Here is your chance to learn and educate the uneducated. It will only benefit you and others in the world who WANT to learn. You make that decision. But when push comes to shove, you will be greatly appreciative that you did take this opportunity to expand your horizons and take things under your belt that will only help you in the future. There's nothing to lose other than a few minutes here and there of learning.

Hopefully you find the time and effort to read upon my knowledge that I offer to you. I thank every one in advance who chooses to make a change in their life. I look forward to reading your comments and emails.

All the best,