New Traders Post Your Questions Here

Hi im relatively new to the stock market. Im not investing a whole lot of money, just trying to build it up over the long run. But anyways, ill get to the point. I just deposited $300 into my scottrade account and trying to figure out where abouts to go with it. Im reading on "tdcp" and all the potential there, or should i go for a more stable higher priced stock? I took advice ive seen off message boards the last time i tried to invest... let me just say QBID & GZFX didnt quite work out for me. I know i need to start reading up on everything also, i just dont know where to begin... its pretty overwhelming. Any advice on which direction to go on beginning a portfolio would be great. Thanks in advance.
Brian

glad to have you with us brian. we all been thier my friend. i am big on tdcp but you have to decide what you want to invest in. do the research and make your decision

Hello Brian. The best way to minimize risk is to diversify your portfolio. Now, with only $300 that can be tricky as dividing that up into let's say three stocks would only leave you with $100 or so per stock. In which case, if you do happen to pick a winner you'll be kicking yourself for not investing more. Commissions are what will kill you if you try to diversify too much with too little money.

I was in the same boat as you just a little over a year ago. I started with an initial $500 deposit. The best thing to remember is that in the beginning your goal should be to learn as much as possible, not to make the big bucks. Because more than likely, as you already found out, you will lose some money. And that's okay, as long as you come away knowing what you did wrong and what you could do different next time.

So the best advice I could give you to help minimize your loses is to paper trade. That way you get your foot wet to see how the stock market really works without having to worry about losing you hard earned cash. But when you do, trade with lower dollar amounts ($300 for example) to make it more realistic to you, rather than buying $100,000 of stocks as you sort of get ahead of yourself and it loses it realism. Then when you are finally ready or think you found a stock that suites you, trade for real money. But in the meantime, read as much as you can about the market and spend lots of time on this forum and slowly things will become less overwhelming and you will be well on your way ;)

welcome brain. i second what shuebakka said.

if you start to trade now, odds are you won't make the proper entrances and exits and will more than likely lose a significant portion of your money. you'll spend the next few months learning and gaining your money slowly back. so why not get rid of the losing aspect and spend time learning how to trade and then when you're ready, start making profitable trades off the bat? that way you're in the green from the beginning and not trying to recoup losses from previous mistakes.

it's very tempting to get sucked into all of the hype and think you're missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime, but truth be told, i gurantee there's an opportunity of a lifetime out there each and every day -- you simply have to know where to look ;)

any questions, just ask...

- sean

Brian the previous to post are excellent paper trading will allow you to hone your skills to the type investing you would like to do for the long term.

By this are you going to trade on fundamentals and be a long term invester seeking steady returns. Or are you going to conservative and play stock that a side from giving you a net gain in pps but give you added dividends also.

Or do you have the constitution to be a short term swing trader where you are trying to make a profit over 3 days to less then couple of months.

The thing you have to consider is that both of these styles has good potential for making money but each looks at the market from a different vantage point. Paper trading will let you see which type trader you have the knack for in the market.

Disq