Beginner
Q: I'm a raw beginner, and I was wondering if someone could direct me to an on-line group where others of my ilk ask lots of questions and get good answers? In particular, I'm looking for a web site where I can search for stocks that have made a given net gain over the preceeding week. I'm low tech and don't want to spend any money.
A:
I'm a grizzled grouchy oppinionated active veteran of more
than 39 years trading stocks and other things in every market then or
now extant.
This Usenet news group misc.invest.stocks had lots of beginners asking
lots of questions until far too many of that batch of newbies got so
unmercifully burned and churned trading four letter word
lost both interest AND principal. I can't speak for any other on-line
group(s) since this is the only one where I hang out (when I feel like
it), but the kinds of answers you're likely to get range from good to
tolerable to downright rapacious based both on my observation of what
happens here and what has been written up in the Wall Street Journal
about other places.
Standard newbie approach. "Where's the ACTION !!??!!" Never mind
asking whether that's an appropriate or workable approach to getting any
benefit out of stocks. Only "where's the action?"
I suspect somebody (else) will answer your direct question about web
sites. I'm strictly and aggressively non-GUI because of the security
risks demonstrated by Melissa, The Love Bug, the deadlier Love Bug, and
innumerable hackings of private account information on those Article IV
(illegal searches and seizures) violating "web sites", so I wouldn't be
able to see what's on any of them anyway.
If you're interested in asking questions, why not just fire away
here in this forum? Depending on the question, one or another of the
hangers-out or perhaps a lurker or other newbie is quite likely to
provide "something" in the way of response.
You've hit "the" spot anywhere on the web or otherwise right here. This ng
is the best thing I've ever found for great ideas, discussion and opinions.
If you can tune into this group often, daily if possible, and balance it
with other information you get from newspapers and TV you'll be very
informed indeed. You can also contact any firms' PR or investor relations
departments to get even more information.
In terms of identifying stocks of interest, it's hard slogging all the way.
I follow earnings announcements and see if earnings were met or not and why.
I use Yahoo a lot, get earnings dates here
http://biz.yahoo.com/research/earncal/today.html just type in the stock
symbol and away you go.
As earnings dates come and go, you'll read the stories and you'll begin to
get familiar with a variety of firms and what they do. Follow the links to
stories that interest you. For example SDLI
http://quote.yahoo.com/q?s=sdli&d=5d (you can replace sdli in the URL with
DELL or MSFT, for example, or any stock you like, to get a quote and links
to current news about a firm.)
Before long, you'll have tons of info and ideas. You can follow the charts
to determine which stocks are going up or down over various time periods.
Remember that you can't predict the future so attempting to purchase a stock
today with the hope of selling it next week at a profit is gambling. Pure
chance. Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won't. Never buy any stock
you wouldn't be thrilled to hold for a long time if the need be. And also
bear in mind that long term holding is also no guarantee of profit either.
I would use XRX, a former nifty-fifty stock, as an extreme example. So
diversify, diversify, diversify. If some of your long term holdings
disappoint, the more eggs in your basket, the better chance of success.
And, although I recommended this next link for entertainment purposes only,
if you are really stumped about a stock purchase, this site is more fun than
flipping a coin: http://www.springfield-il.com/kids/8ball/8_ball.html :-))