Stock traders on TGO

[TripleGGG]

4 hours ago, jpx2rk said:

Just out of curiosity, how much time do you DIY day traders devote to this on a daily basis??  

What system /company/platform do you guys use or prefer??

I'm too conservative, possibly lazy , and not willing to keep up with the market.  It changes or reacts to the slightest news (good or bad) too much for me.  I'm in the "buy & hold" quality stocks for the long term camp, so I"m curious.

 

1 hour ago, btq96r said:

So, for anyone who does the day trading thing for fun or for keeps, are you doing it after maxing out tax advantaged & retirement accounts, or doing it within a brokerage account for your 401k/IRA/Roth IRA?  How about from your financial advisors for those who use one; are you knowing what they're doing with different types of accounts you have, and are you comfortable with that risk?

My day trading account is COMPLETELY separate from any retirement, 401k/IRA/Roth accounts.  Those are invested with a completely different strategy.  I know many who day trade with these accounts and the risk is too great IMHO.

My day trading account is with TD Ameritrade and I mainly use their Think or Swim software but I use many resources for research etc. If I have any trades in play then I make sure I have the time to watch them constantly.  I ALWAYS have stop loss orders in place in case I am somehow distracted.  I also have sell orders in place for the same reason if a run happens and I am distracted.  Options Trading has also been good for me. The money I use for this is disposable and has nothing to do with my retirement.  I enjoy day trading and do very well overall, but it can bite you very quickly. The thrill of the hunt then the buy/sell feeds that part of my soul.

[analog_kidd]

2 hours ago, DaveTN said:

Nvidia stock was around $250 when you bought it in March 2018. It's $535 now. You didn't make a bad choice buying it. You just didn't stick around for the ride. 

Well, actually I did let it ride. I figured it would come back. But to be honest, I had not been tracking it that closely. And you are right, it's more than doubled now. I track my total portfolio balance nearly every week, and as long as it is still going up, I just smile and close the page. But I don't pay a whole of of attention to the individual stocks (other than Amazon, cuz I like to keep reminding my guy about that one)

[gregintenn]

16 hours ago, BlessTheUSA said:

Edit.  Please delete.   No point in debating those who are convinced otherwise.

To those willing to reason - consider that if it was easy to "outperform" the market, everyone would do it.  Be wise - it's your retirement.

Investment advisors would also be investing their own money instead of yours.

[gregintenn]

15 hours ago, Erik88 said:

I really need to fire my Edward Jones girl and invest on my own. She's been nearly useless.

It has sure saved/made me a lot more money!

[peejman]

I read this story a while back.  Its all about risk vs. reward. I could never do this....

https://thehustle.co/how-i-made-13-million-cryptocurrency-ethereum/

[tacops]

Years ago I was with Morgan Stanley / Dean Witter.  I was not pleased and moved to a broker with Edward Jones.  In both cases it seemed they made more off of my money than I did.  When "things were slow" they still got paid and things always seemed to be slow.  I left the "professionals and have done far better on my own since.

[ReeferMac]

2 hours ago, TripleGGG said:

 

My day trading account is COMPLETELY separate from any retirement, 401k/IRA/Roth accounts.  Those are invested with a completely different strategy....

My day trading account is with TD Ameritrade and I mainly use their Think or Swim software but I use many resources for research etc. If I have any trades in play then I make sure I have the time to watch them constantly.  I ALWAYS have stop loss orders in place in case I am somehow distracted.  I also have sell orders in place for the same reason if a run happens and I am distracted.  Options Trading has also been good for me. The money I use for this is disposable and has nothing to do with my retirement.  I enjoy day trading and do very well overall, but it can bite you very quickly. The thrill of the hunt then the buy/sell feeds that part of my soul.

Good Gawd thats scary.. ditto. Everything .  Exactly what he said.

Retirement money and mad money are separate. Options gives a little cash some leverage, and if you're right, the bet pays handsomely.

[Alleycat72]

My retirement is locked in. If I can arrange a couple of hundred a week extra, I'll be happy. We always want more. LOL

[Magiccarpetrides]

If you want to get better at the market then you need to read, learn, and practice.  If you just want a retirement then I'd recommend buy some index funds (zzzzz) and ARKK, ARKW, ARKG, ARKQ ETFS....yes all 4 spread it out however you want...but no one here except TripleGGG is gonna beat Cathie Woods consistently.  Follow Mark Minervini, David Ryan, and Dan Fitzpatrick if you would like to actually learn how to properly trade on your own.  Also I recommend TDAmeritrade over Robinhood if your not going to be active.

Here's one of the best videos I have ever watched that has helped me to gain roughly 30% in the past month (im no longer throwing darts).  The audio quality isnt the greatest and its from 2015 but out of the hundreds of hours of videos i've watched and books i've read...this has helped me more than any of them.

(193) Mar 25, 2015 Super Trader Tactics Webinar with Mark Minervini & David Ryan - YouTube

 

[jgradyc]

I mostly use Schwab, but I also have a TDAmeritrade account and I'm learning how to use their Sinkorswim platform. In fact, I'm ordering two monitors to let me see more on the screen. I don't day trade... way too stressful. Instead, I buy with the intent of holding for a few weeks or months.

As a retired financial planner, I held a stockbroker's license for many years. It used to be much harder to beat the market because information was so hard to come by, but now it's at your fingertips.

Still, my best call of the year was low tech. When it became apparent that Biden might win, I sold some tech stocks and invested heavily in cannabis stocks. Immediately after the election, I added to the position. I'm up a lot in those 8 stocks, but in retrospect, I could have thrown darts at a list of cannabis stocks and made money in November. Whenever I start thinking I'm good at this, I remember what John Kenneth Galbraith said... "Genius is a rising stock market."

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by jgradyc

[jgradyc]

A friend's 80-year-old mom wants to start trading in the stock market! She asked me (retired CFP) for advice. I'm going to help her set up two accounts. One will be a "don't touch" account which will mirror her daughter's managed account in a portfolio of Vanguard ETFs. (I plan to make two minor tweaks... adding TMFC and MFMS ETFs to the mix.)

The other account will be a small "play" account that she can research and trade stocks... maybe 5% of her investable funds. She can win or lose to her heart's content. Her objective will be to "beat" the professional account! Her adult children are rich and so is she. If she finds joy in trading stocks, more power to her!

 

[QuackerSmacker]

40 minutes ago, jgradyc said:

I mostly use Schwab, but I also have a TDAmeritrade account and I'm learning how to use their Sinkorswim platform. In fact, I'm ordering two monitors to let me see more on the screen. I don't day trade... way too stressful. Instead, I buy with the intent of holding for a few weeks or months.

As a retired financial planner, I held a stockbroker's license for many years. It used to be much harder to beat the market because information was so hard to come by, but now it's at your fingertips.

Still, my best call of the year was low tech. When it became apparent that Biden might win, I sold some tech stocks and invested heavily in cannabis stocks. Immediately after the election, I added to the position. I'm up a lot in those 8 stocks, but in retrospect, I could have thrown darts at a list of cannabis stocks and made money in November. Whenever I start thinking I'm good at this, I remember what John Kenneth Galbraith said... "Genius is a rising stock market."

 

I found your comment that "It used to be much harder to beat the market because information was so hard to come by, but now it's at your fingertips"  to be very interesting.  

I have a totally different take on it.  In the old days (70s, 80s, early 90s) when humans made trading decisions, I thought it was much easier to read the ebb and flow of fear and greed around individual stocks as well as the market as a whole.  Today most of the trading is computer driven, and everyone can get the same information you're talking about.  So not understanding algorithms, and not wanting to bash my brain with information,  I sure miss the old days!

That said, for investing (not day trading) I've always said that the big success formula requires anticipating the perception of reality.  

The ultimate reality doesn't matter unless it's perceived the way you needed it to be, and you needed to get in ahead of the money that raised the value of your investment.  So it's a 3 step process, and relatively few folks can actually do that, and the ones that can  really do it are rich and famous.  Hi Warren!

I have accts at TD Ameritrade and eTrade.  I like almost everything about TD better, so will consolidate there soon.  I hope the merger with Schwab does not mess them up.

 

 

[Guest]

12 hours ago, DaveTN said:

Like everyone I took a big hit with the economy shut down. I’m back at 10% for the year; I think that’s pretty good.

With my account advisor changing I was concerned that I would not get the performance I had been getting. I asked if he picks the stocks or they do, and he said their investors handle that. I had been thinking about changing, but I’m afraid to; they are doing well. And with what’s going on now; I think they did an excellent job at recovery.

The S&P500 (standard diversified index fund) is up 15.6% TYD.   So if post-fees return at EJ is 8-9%, you've lost about half the return.  Assuming you didn't instruct EJ to invest super conservatively, in which case this may not be an apples to apples comparison.

It's your money, so I have no stake in how you invest.  But hope more folks can see that "good" returns from their broker isn't good when the market did twice that.   I hear it from a lot of folks, which is unfortunate.

Edited December 4, 2020 by Guest

[Erik88]

I was comparing my YTD returns with Edward Jones to my returns in my Fidelity account that I manage. The funds I picked with Fidelity(mostly index funds) are outperforming the funds that my Edward Jones person picked. So I'm paying them more to earn less....

I'll be firing her in the coming days. 

[Garufa]

Fun fact:  one of Trump’s first executive orders was to roll back a regulation requiring financial advisors to work in their client’s best interest.

[gregintenn]

53 minutes ago, Erik88 said:

I was comparing my YTD returns with Edward Jones to my returns in my Fidelity account that I manage. The funds I picked with Fidelity(mostly index funds) are outperforming the funds that my Edward Jones person picked. So I'm paying them more to earn less....

I'll be firing her in the coming days. 

You’ll also find index funds to be more tax friendly than many other mutual funds.

[jgradyc]

2 hours ago, QuackerSmacker said:

I found your comment that "It used to be much harder to beat the market because information was so hard to come by, but now it's at your fingertips"  to be very interesting.  

I have a totally different take on it.  In the old days (70s, 80s, early 90s) when humans made trading decisions, I thought it was much easier to read the ebb and flow of fear and greed around individual stocks as well as the market as a whole.  Today most of the trading is computer driven, and everyone can get the same information you're talking about.  So not understanding algorithms, and not wanting to bash my brain with information,  I sure miss the old days!

That said, for investing (not day trading) I've always said that the big success formula requires anticipating the perception of reality.  

The ultimate reality doesn't matter unless it's perceived the way you needed it to be, and you needed to get in ahead of the money that raised the value of your investment.  So it's a 3 step process, and relatively few folks can actually do that, and the ones that can  really do it are rich and famous.  Hi Warren!

I have accts at TD Ameritrade and eTrade.  I like almost everything about TD better, so will consolidate there soon.  I hope the merger with Schwab does not mess them up.

 

 

Once I determine likely market direction and likely sector direction, I depend on charting to pick individual stocks, specifically Bollinger Bands, Fibonacci ratios, moving averages. These were difficult to do until about 20-25 years ago. Today, I just select them and poof! they appear. 

[QuackerSmacker]

4 minutes ago, jgradyc said:

Once I determine likely market direction and likely sector direction, I depend on charting to pick individual stocks, specifically Bollinger Bands, Fibonacci ratios, moving averages. These were difficult to do until about 20-25 years ago. Today, I just select them and poof! they appear. 

Ah, yes!  For technical analysis (charting stuff)  the tools, ease of use,  and speed that we have now are fantastic compared to the days of old.

[DaveTN]

12 hours ago, BlessTheUSA said:

The S&P500 (standard diversified index fund) is up 15.6% TYD.   So if post-fees return at EJ is 8-9%, you've lost about half the return.  Assuming you didn't instruct EJ to invest super conservatively, in which case this may not be an apples to apples comparison.

It's your money, so I have no stake in how you invest.  But hope more folks can see that "good" returns from their broker isn't good when the market did twice that.   I hear it from a lot of folks, which is unfortunate.

So you are saying an increase of 10% in 11 months after fees for 2020 is not a good return? I didn’t instruct them to invest conservatively, my risk tolerance is medium to high. My return was in the low 20's for the last three years. 

[DaveTN]

I do have a question for investments. I have a lot of cash setting in the bank doing nothing. I also had some CD’s that were 3.5%, but now CD rates are less than 1%. I let them mature and didn’t take the new rate.

I told the wife I should take that money and buy guns that would not be the target of restrictions or bans. But of course she isn’t going for that. Also used gun prices are high right now.

I thought about buying collector cars, but then I have taxes, insurance etc.

I’d like to do something with that money, but be able to have access to it in a reasonable amount of time if needed??

[Alleycat72]

9 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

I do have a question for investments. I have a lot of cash setting in the bank doing nothing. I also had some CD’s that were 3.5%, but now CD rates are less than 1%. I let them mature and didn’t take the new rate.

I told the wife I should take that money and buy guns that would not be the target of restrictions or bans. But of course she isn’t going for that. Also used gun prices are high right now.

I thought about buying collector cars, but then I have taxes, insurance etc.

I’d like to do something with that money, but be able to have access to it in a reasonable amount of time if needed??

Hagerty insurance is durt cheap. You can also get an antique tag. One time expense that never needs renewed. I have a tag from 1952 on my truck. 

[jpx2rk]

I use CapitalOne for savings, or holding $$ I may/may not need for a while, or for the annual tax & insurance bills that come around .   You can transfer $$ back and forth with some limits, but I set up accts for RE taxes, house & car insurance, FIT taxes, etc., so I never run into the transfer limitations.  Their website indicates they are paying 0.40% for savings accts, which is better than most CD's at this time.  

[DaveTN]

22 minutes ago, alleycat72 said:

Hagerty insurance is durt cheap. You can also get an antique tag. One time expense that never needs renewed. I have a tag from 1952 on my truck. 

Yeah, I haven’t given up on that idea yet. I’ve owned and showed Vettes most of my life, until about 10 years ago. I haven’t looked to see what Covid/Economy has done to the collector car market recently.

[ReeferMac]

35 minutes ago, DaveTN said:

 I have a lot of cash setting in the bank doing nothing. I also had some CD’s that were 3.5%, but now CD rates are less than 1%......

I’d like to do something with that money, but be able to have access to it in a reasonable amount of time if needed??

Tangibles investing can be incredibly lucrative, or the opposite. I see Steve Cohen and Co. are taking a bet on baseball cards? You could buy art, knives, guns, gold, silver, etc.

I'm a fan of non-US denominated assets at times like this? You could pickup metals in various forms in quantity or traceless cash transactions relatively easily. Maples, Eagles, Kruggerands can be had at any reputable coin shop. I prefer numismatic coins over bullion blanks. Jewelry for the missus ain't a bad place to park some either! Jewels and worked metal has long been a store of value. Some folks are buying pallets of 30 rd. mags for future resale.

Maybe you need a new tractor or outbuilding, invest in yourself as well. Something to make your life easier.

If you have some risk tolerance you might want to checkout Bitcoin or other crypto. The Tulip mania was great if you got out in time!

I'd be hesitant to invest in something like a car because it may be hard to liquidate in certain conditions, but since you have experience you would know better than me.

[DaveTN]

3 minutes ago, ReeferMac said:

Something to make your life easier funner.

That's what I would like, but my wife thinks if I'm having fun; its a no go. As you probably know....wives can be like that. 

[Checks to see if wife is looking]