Picking stocks at opening bell?

Question

I have been practicing trading stocks on a virtual trading site,,I have very little experience with the market. My stratedgy has been to research stocks with news before the opening bell, I pick one buy it, watch it rise and sell. sounds easy right?. In 2 weeks I have averaged a 14% profit. I'd like to try this for real, but what's the catch? If I can do this anyone can right? any specidifc sites that help predict stocks that are going to spike at opening bell?

Answer 1

So you wait for the news to come out, and when it is good, you buy it at yesterday's close?  Not going to happen.  No one will sell it to you at that price.  The problem with these virtual sites, is that they sell your things at the exact time you want to sell it.  In real life it is not possible.  You will end up paying the price that you are selling it at on your virtual site.  It is great benefit to these sites to make you think you will make money, because then you will invest with them

Answer 2

You might try,Marketwatch.com alot of action goes on pre-market.

Get up real early,I used to subscibe to Briefing.com they give the reason for the pre-market move.

Best of luck...

Answer 3

Once you have developed a trading plan that you are comfortable with, you will need to move onto developing your trading routines.  This is done in segments, first beginning with how you’ll start your day (pre-market) and how you’ll end your day (after-market).  Both routines will help you gain an edge in your investment and trading goals, and developing these routines early on will allow you to be constantly in control of your portfolio.



Your routine should help you accomplish the following tasks:

    * Getting yourself up to date on the market;

    * Assessing your portfolio;

    * Getting ideas as to what stocks might be ‘hot’ that day;

    * Knowing if your positions have any new news that could cause volatility;

    * Being ready to trade when the market opens at 9:30 AM EST.

Initially you’ll want to start your pre-market routine by reviewing your portfolio positions and determining if there are positions you wish to change.  There are many tools available to you to assess the strengths (or weaknesses) of your positions.  You’ll want to do a ‘sector search’ to see if there is news that has broken in the overnight hours that may affect your positions, you’ll want to search for a current quote on the securities and you’ll perhaps want to check the Edgar database to see if there were any late filings which may affect the price of your positions.  Once you’ve done your research you can determine if you will need to adjust any stop loss orders you may have placed.