I really want to get into the stock market but I'm a total novice.?

Question

I want to do as much research as possible before getting started. I don't plan on using "real money" for a few months to a year, depending on how comfortable I am with what I've learned. I'm a beginner going in with no experience and need some books (I prefer books to websites, though websites are welcome too).

What are the requirements for trading long term vs short term (day trading)?

How does the average person fare?

Are there any classes I can take to make this easier or more lucrative?

Thanks in advance!

~Sarah

Answer 1

Read the annual SEC filing (10-K or 20-F) for any company you are interested in investing in.

These are very lengthy reports, but they are extremely valuable.  Once you have read one, you will be very knowledgeable about the company.

Summaries of these filings (for some companies) can be found at http://secnotes.talkspot.com

Answer 2

I´ve been investing for more than 20 years and trading for almost 14, and I can tell you that if you want to make BIG and FAST profits, I recommend you trading rather than investing, trading can help you to go from rags to rich.

If you are investing, you must have already achieved some degree of financial success, long term stock investing and FOREX can help you become much richer than you are today.

My experiences as a Nasdaq Market Maker, Head trader of several brokerage firms, and currently as a professional trader and private hedge fund manager, I can suggest you that:

We trade because we want quick, short term profits on a consistent basis. We want to cash flow the market. Milk it like a cow.

Make consistent, small, short term gains rather than trying to hit a home run on every trade. Don't ever forget that.

Don't marry a stock, marry the idea of making money trading stocks. That's the only way to do it.

For me "All stocks are equally worthless”

I don't hold on to any illusion that the stock market will continue to go up and provide a nice retirement for me.

I could care less which way the market goes. It's irrelevant to me if the market goes higher, crashes or moves sideways for the next 50 years. I really could care less. Stocks are just four letters with two prices next to them that I use to make a living trading.

Trade ONLY when you have a clear, easy and identifiable advantage, because without a CLEAR EDGE your odds of success are NO better than a flip of a coin… That´s why so many new traders (and investors) lose money.

Take a look at any daily chart of any index or stock and you'll probably see the most volatility and the biggest opportunity for profit during the first Hour of the stock market's opening.

The popular thinking and conventional wisdom is that you should wait about an hour before you start trading.

But if you do, you'll miss the big, fast moves that stocks make as all the amateurs let their emotions out through their

online accounts, usually right after they read some news headline or hear Maria Bartiromo go off about a stock on CNBC.

It's easy to see why trading the open is the market's prime time for profiting from other online traders.

The market's open is very volatile - that is the perfect environment for LARGE, FAST profits.

Learn to trade as a professional Market Maker ,not as an emotionally driven amateur trader or investor with few thousand dollars in an account at Etrade.

There isn't any other time during the day or any stock you can invest in, that can make you 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 or more points

in minutes OTHER than during the first hour the stock market is open. That's why I love trading the open so much.

I trade only when I have an edge and that means "only the first hour the market is open".

If you are a beginning trader, you can give yourself an unfair advantage in the market trading this way.

I can carry on with the advises about how to make money trading, but if you ask me:

"What is the best thing you can do for me?

I will say:

Give yourself a BIG favor and go to this "Top Secret" site and learn how to get the BEST stocks that will make the largest and fastest day trading profits you´ve ever seen, all by yourself...

www.onehourtrading.com

After you review this site you won´t need system, strategy, book, software or mentor to tell you what to do,

you will be able to profit HUGE every day.

Good luck and good trading,

John Fontaine

Answer 3

Best book to read: Financial Planning for Dummies

Buy index mutual funds rather than individual stocks (it spreads the risk).

Pay off any credit cards first.