Beginner sites for Investing/Stock Market?

[brownstein]

Thinking about dabbling into this stuff, my knowledge so far consists of RRSP's and Mutual Funds (limited). Also, are there any good sites for setting up a virtual account that I could try for a couple of months first? Thanks.

[Rehan]

http://www.shakesprimer.com/
http://www.ndir.com/

[Samir]

SITES:

http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/

http://www.globefund.com/


BOOKS:

Personal Finance For Dummies (Canadian Edition)

[brownstein]

Thanks Rehan, I have a couple of night shifts right now and will do a lot of reading, I just found this site (http://investsmart.coe.uga.edu) and setup an account to try my luck for the next month or two with fake money. Seems like a lot of info to take in right now.

Edit: oops, thanks to you too samir. :)

[guest10586]

http://www.investopedia.com/

[pandaharo]

www.forex.com

www.refcofx.com

foriegn exchange accounts free $50000 mock money trial. It's SUPER risky, but kinda fun.

[Gold Monkey]

www.stockcharts.com (they have a great chartschool available for free there).

A good book you may want to look into is: 'A Beginner's Guide to Short-term Trading' by Toni Turner. Book costs like 20 bucks at <a href=../autolink/redirectpage.php?linkid=32 target=_blank>Chapters</a>. I highly recommend it.

[ctam]

If you want to start, I say start with using real money. Say 50 or 100 bucks.

Using real money (even just a bit), you will see the emotional side of you in the market. Do you practice swimming by doing breast strokes on land? Or do the instructor take u right into the water (or someone just push you)? :)

[bmwguy]

Here is a great collection of information for begginers on another site:
http://www.marketmillionaires.com/showthread.php?t=347

[robattoronto]

I'd recommend you start with lets say $500... To trade each time, it costs around $24... so thats $48 to go in and out.... Thats like 50% of your $100 spent in transaction cost.

$50 transaction cost on $500 is 10%.... at least with 10% you'll have a better chance of making back your transaction cost. Even 10% is on the high side, I'd say. But I'd understand. I started off with $500 actually.

If you want to start, I say start with using real money. Say 50 or 100 bucks.

Using real money (even just a bit), you will see the emotional side of you in the market. Do you practice swimming by doing breast strokes on land? Or do the instructor take u right into the water (or someone just push you)? :)

[Shaf]

Great Thread! I was also thinking of getting into the Stock Market.

[Bzji]

I'm a newbie to stocks too. Might try to play some with $500.
This is great info.

[coldWater]

I'm a newbie to stocks too. Might try to play some with $500.
This is great info.

i wouldn't play stocks with $500 since the commission cost like 10% of your total value already..........unless you are hopping your stock goes up like 50% or more......i would buy mutual fund instead, since most mutual funds don't have to pay commissions

[Rehan]

Keep in mind that short-term trading on the stock market is much closer to gambling than it is investing. If you put any real money in it, use only money that you can afford to lose.

[robattoronto]

lol.... the other guy suggested $50 - $100..... I looked at that and I thought, I'd suggest $500 instead.... knowing fully that its 10%.... Ideally I would suggest more, but since $500 for a beginner seems just about right I suggested that.

i wouldn't play stocks with $500 since the commission cost like 10% of your total value already..........unless you are hopping your stock goes up like 50% or more......i would buy mutual fund instead, since most mutual funds don't have to pay commissions

[plucky duck]

At $1000, it's 6% of your return going to commision (depending on who you go with).

At $500, it's 12% of your return going to commission.

Starting at $100? lol, at $29.95 per trade I don't think you'll get far, even if you get 200-300% ROI. That's 60% of your return going to commission. Who's to say you won't actually lose money, right?

[robattoronto]

Heh whats funny is... I remember starting at $500... Even as an amateur at that time I knew I'd need to do 10-15% to get even..... but I did'nt have enough cohones to invest more than $500... man, thats a lot of DVDs!! ...lol... or at least thats the way I saw it that time.... But I'd say I started off with the right experience.... I watched nortel bottom out at 67 cents.... then watched it rise to $3.xx before I had the balls to make my first purchase.... and then see it rise to $12.xx .... Thats the good stuff.... these days I'd say my porfolio swings twice that amount and it seems so acceptable...

So newbies, start with something reasonable... and go through the whole emotions of buying and selling. It'll involve super happiness to days when you just want to crawl under a rock and wait till the day is over. You'll only get smarter after every trade.

At $1000, it's 6% of your return going to commision (depending on who you go with).

At $500, it's 12% of your return going to commission.

Starting at $100? lol, at $29.95 per trade I don't think you'll get far, even if you get 200-300% ROI. That's 60% of your return going to commission. Who's to say you won't actually lose money, right?

[Gold Monkey]

If your just starting, PAPER TRADE first. Read that again. Keep an eye on the news to see how stocks react. Practice doing your research on stocks (look into the amount of outstanding shares, authorized shares, whether they are currently issueing shares (U.S. funds call it an S8). When you make 4 out of 5 stock picks correctly then you should start trading with real money. Read the book I recommended and learn how to read charts. And remember if your reading stock/investing message boards don't buy into the pump and dump.

[plucky duck]

When you're dealing with real money, your own money, emotions can get in the way of things no doubt.

Knowing when to buy, sell, and ride it out is not always easy. Sometimes the way to learn is through mistakes you've made along the way.

To me, money inside of an RSP is money I won't use until retirement anyhow so I guess you can say I can afford to ride out the waves. So in that sense I'm highly tolerant to risk, bring it on!! heh :cheesygri

Sometimes keeping too close an eye, monitoring your investments day in day out or by the hour is not a good thing to do. Some times you just have to sit back and let it do its thing. Having said that, I do check my stocks on break time at work every day.

[batman321123]

in my opinion, 500 is way too little, but if it works for some, i guess it'd work for others. Secondly, the toni turner book someone mentioned, READ IT, especially if you're thinking of doing short-term trading. I dont do long-term, so I never look at outstanding shares, if someone is issuing, their p/e, etc. but you gotta keep an eye on the news, cause no amount of technical analysis will help you when a stock you own reports bad earnings or their CEO is caught sleeping with a female exec (see: Boeing). Also PAPER TRADE PAPER TRADE PAPER TRADE. especially if you're thinking of swing/day/short-term trading. and buying the pump and dump from boards is not always bad...you can get some sick returns from them. just make sure you dump when the dumpers dump. if you marry a penny being pumped, it will break your heart. never hold a pumped stock longer than 3 days...on the third day, if you're not out, you're screwed. usually.

g'luck

[solarv]

i know a guy who can trade forex on behalf of your account. His historical return is rougly 20% monthly i think...

[brownstein]

Right on, thanks for the responses guys. Keep em coming, try to keep everything noobish for everyone if you can though. Any tips that you can think of or stories of getting into it would be great.

Edit: What about this book (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?Item=978158062272&Catalog=Books&N=35&Lang=en&Section=books&zxac=1) ?
What is the diff between short term trading and day trading? which is the absolute best book for a beginner?
This is what I want to do for starters, my wife and I set ourselves up on an allowance system, I am going to build up 500-1000 bucks to start off with and will have a couple hundred a month to use from there on. I just want to see what I can do and maybe be able to buy the odd treat for myself now and then.

[brownstein]

Another question, for trading online, which is/are the best site(s) to use? what about place like e*trade.com and the like?

[kingsley]

The stock market is quite alluring. It has promise to be a quick means to an end, giving you a lot of money for little work. Basically it is another form of gambling. I'd say just paper trade for a bit, like what Gold Monkey and batman321123 suggested. I never heard of anyone that "casually" traded ever make a lot of money. You are up against companies with traders that have their own team of news researchers. And even then, they don't always win.

Basically, I wouldn't recommend it. You will lose more money than you will gain. Just earn your money the old fashion way.

[chiller]

I'm pondering where to open an account. Has anyone used Ameritrade Canada?

http://www.ameritradecanada.com/

They say they charge 10.99 US for US trades.

[coldWater]

I'm pondering where to open an account. Has anyone used Ameritrade Canada?

http://www.ameritradecanada.com/

They say they charge 10.99 US for US trades.

one of the best price i could found, saved me a ton on commission, also great tools i you are on elite.......i also used TD Waterhouse(expensive and no level2 ect...)

also, Ameritrade Canada can only trade US stocks/options

[batman321123]

Edit: What about this book (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?Item=978158062272&Catalog=Books&N=35&Lang=en&Section=books&zxac=1) ?


I havent read that book yet, but a good friend (and a real good daytrader) recommended that book to me. Its the same author as the beginniners guide to day trading, so i'm guessing its good. I also use TD Waterhouse, but will switch soon. why? high commisions (min. $29), no level 2, no backfill, no watchlist, and not direct access. If you're going to daytrade, having access to level 2 and a direct access broker are a MUST.

[blackhawk]

Do some paper trading to start out. That way you can watch a few things & get a feel for it.

You'll need a thousand to start with unless you're going to play with penny stocks.

[Gold Monkey]

Edit: What about this book (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/item.asp?Item=978158062272&Catalog=Books&N=35&Lang=en&Section=books&zxac=1) ?
What is the diff between short term trading and day trading? which is the absolute best book for a beginner?

I have both the short-term and daytrading books from toni turner, they follow the same concepts and overlap some. It just depends what you want to get into, both of the books hold a TON of info but for you I'd recommend the short-term trading book. (get both if you want, if you think about it 20 bucks to learn A LOT is well worth it, that's less than the price of a commission fee for a trade at a major bank).

[Gold Monkey]

I havent read that book yet, but a good friend (and a real good daytrader) recommended that book to me. Its the same author as the beginniners guide to day trading, so i'm guessing its good. I also use TD Waterhouse, but will switch soon. why? high commisions (min. $29), no level 2, no backfill, no watchlist, and not direct access. If you're going to daytrade, having access to level 2 and a direct access broker are a MUST.


Batman, I'm with TD too and their commissions do suck. The problem in Canada is to trade pinks you have to go through one of the major banks. Ameritrade doesn't offer pinksheet trading in Canada because it's too expensive.

What brokerage are you thinking of switching too? I'm going to open an ameritrade account soon....once I cash out of a few stocks.

For level 2 I use alphatrade www.alphatrade.com. You should check them out. They offer a 7 day free trial. You can also get level2 from TD, you just have to phone and ask them (they go through another company).

[tk416]

What are the differences betweent the "pinks" and the level 2 etc...?

[batman321123]

Batman, I'm with TD too and their commissions do suck. The problem in Canada is to trade pinks you have to go through one of the major banks. Ameritrade doesn't offer pinksheet trading in Canada because it's too expensive.

What brokerage are you thinking of switching too? I'm going to open an ameritrade account soon....once I cash out of a few stocks.

For level 2 I use alphatrade www.alphatrade.com. You should check them out. They offer a 7 day free trial. You can also get level2 from TD, you just have to phone and ask them (they go through another company).


I was thinking about switching to ameritrade as well. But now that i see they dont do pinks, no so sure...mainly because i want to do momentum plays, and OTCBB and pinks are the best ones for those plays.

How much does alpha charge for level 2? and how much does TD charge? also, do you know of any place that i can get some cheap backfill? I need it for quotetracker. Ior those of you who don't know, QuoteTracker is an amazing program for intraday charts, watchlists and stuff. I highly recommend it. They have an ad-supported free version. Their support is amazing too. The maker of the program himself, Jerry Medved, actually spends time on the forums helping out with people's problems.

[coldWater]

I was thinking about switching to ameritrade as well. But now that i see they dont do pinks, no so sure...mainly because i want to do momentum plays, and OTCBB and pinks are the best ones for those plays.

How much does alpha charge for level 2? and how much does TD charge? also, do you know of any place that i can get some cheap backfill? I need it for quotetracker. Ior those of you who don't know, QuoteTracker is an amazing program for intraday charts, watchlists and stuff. I highly recommend it. They have an ad-supported free version. Their support is amazing too. The maker of the program himself, Jerry Medved, actually spends time on the forums helping out with people's problems.

i used Ameritrade for the data feed in quotetracker, i'm not sure if that's what you mean by backfill??

as for Level2, i think alphatrade charge $10/month for US stock exchanges, and somewhere $20/month for TSE.........
Ameritrade is 9.99 for level2, and free if you are in elite status.....
never heard or tried TD waterhouse(canda)'s level2

[Gold Monkey]

What are the differences betweent the "pinks" and the level 2 etc...?

Pinksheets is just an exchange (these are the riskiest form of stocks...you don't invest in these, you play them, did i mention THEY ARE VERY RISKY)

level 2 is just software that lets you see the bid and ask's (and their depth's) and time and sales.

You will pick up all this info very quickly if you read one of those toni turner books. Seriously, order one or both asap and read them!! They will help you tremendously, she lays everything out so it's very easy to understand!

[Gold Monkey]

I was thinking about switching to ameritrade as well. But now that i see they dont do pinks, no so sure...mainly because i want to do momentum plays, and OTCBB and pinks are the best ones for those plays.

How much does alpha charge for level 2? and how much does TD charge? also, do you know of any place that i can get some cheap backfill? I need it for quotetracker. Ior those of you who don't know, QuoteTracker is an amazing program for intraday charts, watchlists and stuff. I highly recommend it. They have an ad-supported free version. Their support is amazing too. The maker of the program himself, Jerry Medved, actually spends time on the forums helping out with people's problems.


Here's what I get on alphatrade:
NASDAQ Level 2 (includes OTCBB)
Nasdaq Level 2 includes NASDAQ Level 1 fees $10.00 USD/month

Pink Sheets Level 2
Pink Sheets Level 2 includes Pink Sheets Level 1 fees $15.00 USD/month

Plus the base fee of 17
For a total of 42 per month (USD)

Try their 7 day free trial. I'm pretty sure you can use alphatrade with quotetracker. For charts I use stockcharts.com

For your broker, look at using td for pinks and ameritrade for anything else (including otcbb).

[Gold Monkey]

tk416, to get an idea of what level 2 is, pinksheets.com offers some companies l2 data for free (the company pays for it). Goto http://www.pinksheets.com/quote/level2_list.jsp to see what companies they offer and check it out (I strongly suggest you don't play those stocks unless you know what your doing). Just click on their symbol.

Here's an example of what l2 looks like with alphatrade (it can be made MUCH simplier):

http://www.alphatrade.com/images/ScreenShots/SS-level2.png


edit: that l2 screen will make sense quickly if you read one or both of those toni turner's books (get the hint yet, lol).

Good luck!

[batman321123]

Here's what I get on alphatrade:
NASDAQ Level 2 (includes OTCBB)
Nasdaq Level 2 includes NASDAQ Level 1 fees $10.00 USD/month

Pink Sheets Level 2
Pink Sheets Level 2 includes Pink Sheets Level 1 fees $15.00 USD/month

Plus the base fee of 17
For a total of 42 per month (USD)

Try their 7 day free trial. I'm pretty sure you can use alphatrade with quotetracker. For charts I use stockcharts.com

For your broker, look at using td for pinks and ameritrade for anything else (including otcbb).

i used Ameritrade for the data feed in quotetracker, i'm not sure if that's what you mean by backfill??

For historical charts, and for doing my research overnite, I use pcquote.com, stockcharts.com, and sometimes prophet.net. however, for intraday, qt is king since it gives live charts. However to get data for the whole day (or 2 or 3 days), you need backfill. TD doesnt give this. Scottrade does for free, but you have to be American or Chinese to sign up. if someone kind find a way around this, please let me know. The data feed would be the price i think. I use waterhouse for that.

www.stockfetcher.com is a very powerful scanning site, and for $9USD/month, you cant go wrong.

Also, i'm only paperish trading at the moment, so I cant justify paying 42USD for level 2 at the moment. There's also advfn (advfn.com?) that offers Lvl2, i think they got Canadian stocks, not entirely sure. I'm also not sure how much they charge.

[DirtyDave]

hmm stock market?? mine as well take your $500 to the casino. probably have better luck. not to mention your lost $$ will be going to the goverment and will be returned to you in services, were as loosing it in the stockmarket is just going to corporate giants who will take your money anyway possible

[Gold Monkey]

Also, i'm only paperish trading at the moment, so I cant justify paying 42USD for level 2 at the moment. There's also advfn (advfn.com?) that offers Lvl2, i think they got Canadian stocks, not entirely sure. I'm also not sure how much they charge.

For pink's and otcbb it's worth it, your basically trading blind without it on those exchanges because things move so quick.

[Gold Monkey]

Also, i'm only paperish trading at the moment, so I cant justify paying 42USD for level 2 at the moment. There's also advfn (advfn.com?) that offers Lvl2, i think they got Canadian stocks, not entirely sure. I'm also not sure how much they charge.

For pink's and otcbb it's worth it, your basically trading blind without it on those exchanges because things move so quick.

[Silentconqueror]

Have you guys heard of Tradefreedom.
(http://www.tradefreedom.com) I have a friend who trades with them and he pays 9.95 Per Trade for unlimited shares. That's the lowest price i've seen in Canada.

Also get's the following
-Free Level II Quotes

-Level 1 3/4 Quotes

-Direct Access Trading to US and Canadian Markets

-Options,Futures

-Pink's that are capped at a max of $24.95 US, so you don't have to go through a bank.

-A free demo that you can practice with,says you can place trades 24/7.

-They also offer a lot of free training seminars to help you trade.

I'm a newbie also and plan on starting with them, cause for the price/training this is probably gonna be the best deal I can find in Canada.
Paying all that money for Level II is crazy. My money saved from quotes i'll put towards buying NT when it hit's 1.00 :)

[crazyboie]

Ok guys so I'm new to Stock Investments and i was wondering if any of you could answer the following?

I plan to use TD Waterhouse WebBroker to do my trades. Apparently their commissions are the following:

Stock Prices $0 - $2 ==> 1.5% of principal trade, $29.00 minimum
Stock Prices $2.01+ ==> $29.00 flat fee up to 1,000 shares or $0.03/shares for orders greater than 1,000 shares

1) Is this in line with the other trade sites out there?


2a) As well, is it fine to to online trades on the weekend (or when the Market is closed for that matter)? 2b) Will you get the current stock price as of the weekend or not?

Thirdly,
3)Is it wise to borrow to invest? I realize there is some risk involved here and I'm not talking megabucks to borrow, but have any of you borrowed in the past?

4) You ever have a gut feeling about something? Would it be wise to go on a gut feeling for my first ever purchase?

I have already determined the amount of money I am willing to lose in case things go sour, I won't have any regrets, though I am hopeful that the stock I'm interested in has much potential :D

Thank you so much for all the great sites and information!!!!

[zeroace]

At $1000, it's 6% of your return going to commision (depending on who you go with).

At $500, it's 12% of your return going to commission.

Starting at $100? lol, at $29.95 per trade I don't think you'll get far, even if you get 200-300% ROI. That's 60% of your return going to commission. Who's to say you won't actually lose money, right?

Agreed.. Something you should consider if you're trading stocks is the commission fee that gets tacked on each transaction.

And with $100, you might as well go to www.oneshare.com and buy one stock you want. You'll get the 1 stock you'll want and you get a nice certificate with it too. :)

And don't even consider looking into pinksheets or OTC stocks as a beginner.

[zeroace]

Wow..

I just re-read the thread and realized there's a bunch of mixed up information being passed around.

brownstein, since you're new to the investing game, I thought I'd let you know that the majority of the posts are based upon short term investing. Although you can make a profit from short term investing, it's often harder and involves you keeping track of your stocks and news surrounding the market.

Another form of approaching the stock market deals with long-term investing. This is similar to what Warren Buffett does. He puts his money into stocks that he feels that'll grow in the future and just leaves it. This is better for people who don't have time to constantly look at stock listings. It invovles extensive research into a company (seeing the growth in the financials, observing the market, an idea of how management functions, etc) but many people say the rewards are worth it.

Perhaps you could tell us what form of investing you're more interested in (long or short term) and we can give you more specific information on which type of investing you want.

[crazyboie]

Hey brownstein, first, apologies for hi-jacking your thread, hope you don't mind ..

zeroace, I am interested in the long-term approach. Buying undervalued companies and then letting them grow (hopefully) and make some potential cash flow. Seems to make sense. The short-term method seems too risky and I don't have the time to keep checking stocks each day..... what type of pointers can you provide? Any thoughts on the questions I posted a few posts up? Thanks for your help.

Wow..

I just re-read the thread and realized there's a bunch of mixed up information being passed around.

brownstein, since you're new to the investing game, I thought I'd let you know that the majority of the posts are based upon short term investing. Although you can make a profit from short term investing, it's often harder and involves you keeping track of your stocks and news surrounding the market.

Another form of approaching the stock market deals with long-term investing. This is similar to what Warren Buffett does. He puts his money into stocks that he feels that'll grow in the future and just leaves it. This is better for people who don't have time to constantly look at stock listings. It invovles extensive research into a company (seeing the growth in the financials, observing the market, an idea of how management functions, etc) but many people say the rewards are worth it.

Perhaps you could tell us what form of investing you're more interested in (long or short term) and we can give you more specific information on which type of investing you want.

[plucky duck]

"4) You ever have a gut feeling about something? Would it be wise to go on a gut feeling for my first ever purchase?"

I've a gut feeling Plucky.T is going to spike on Tuesday, I'm buying
some on Monday. If you want in as well, send me an EMT and we'll split the commision, k? ;) :lol:

[zeroace]

"4) You ever have a gut feeling about something? Would it be wise to go on a gut feeling for my first ever purchase?"

I've a gut feeling Plucky.T is going to spike on Tuesday, I'm buying
some on Monday. If you want in as well, send me an EMT and we'll split the commision, k? ;) :lol:

Shouldn't that be Plucky.OB? :cheesygri

[crazyboie]

bump for this thread!

[zeroace]

Alright, some little pointers for people who are looking to invest in the long term.

1) Always try to buy stock in something that you understand. Back during the tech days, people were all over "technology" stocks but didn't know what the heck they were! I remember back in the dot.com days, my dad was telling me about "tom.com" that had people lining up for their IPO. I asked my dad what they offered and he didn't have a clue.. This gives you an idea of how clueless some people were about "technology" stocks. Although "tom.com" become a big hit buying out major news agencies, that's beside the point.

What I'm trying to say is, look into companies you actually know about, if youre into a specific topic, research into it. Don't follow bandwagons that people say will be the next hot thing... I've heard bio-med is a big craze but I have no idea what's good and what's not.. If you feel interested in it, do research into the market, what's the leader, what are the competition, etc.. Keep yourself informed!

2) Learn how it makes money. How are they receiving revenue, what is being spent? Another reason why dot.coms went bust... They all thought advertising would make them millionnaires.

3) Buy a stock you plan to own forever. Remember, this is your hard earned money we're talking about here. Would you give the money to a total stranger? Cause you're doing that if you don't. Look into the management. A good management can make or break a big company.

4) Last but not least, read read read!! I've actually only started looking into investments and the stock market and am trying to learn all that I can. And this means to do your own due diligence too for any information you receive. Just because Mr. X says it's a great buy, doesn't always mean it is.....

If you have anymore questions, send me a PM, I'll be glad to help and point you to some resources that can help!

[bacid1]

play the stockmarket using a "simulator"

http://simulator.investopedia.com

if after 12 months you are making money, THEN, put your own hard-earned money into the market.

it may look easy to make money as lots of ppl got rich off the market and i'm sure you know a few. but it is even easier to lose all your money, the market isn't like the dot-com days where 300%+ gains were realized in a matter of months. you really have to do your homework and look at the companys fundamentals.

also, investing with less than $5000 is foolish as you will not be able to diversity adequately and as the others have mentioned, the less you start off with the higher ROI you need to cover commission and make a decent profit.

good luck, there is lots of money to be made out there!!

[Spent]

I just remembered the other one is in Off Topic

[zeroace]

I just remembered the other one is in Off Topic

Actually, I remember this thread was moved from the Off-topic forum. It's a great thread that carries a lot of information