How much are you going to make this week?

[Lateralus]

Stocks head for rally on word of gov't rescue plan: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080919/wall_street.html)

So far, this week has been awesome, two huge drops on Monday and Wednesday, followed by a recovery yesterday and another rally likely today. I'm sure there are people on this forum with better stories than mine. But I stand to make $1000-$1700 this week (depending on how Friday plays out), with only ~$10,000 invested. What I wouldn't do to have 100 times that amount invested right now...

[Jack Flak]

That's excellent news. I'm usually a bit late to the party on current events, so this is the first I'm hearing about it. My mom will likely be pleased, as she has some kind of stock portfolio and was previously a little frustrated with the market.

[Modern Nomad]

u a futures trader too? lol

im up approx 30% this week... best day was +18% on the day the fed didn't cut rates on tuesday... fed fund traders got smoked that day tho...

im playing light today tho... wonder if the dow will follow the dow futures today at the open quickly or delayed... ryder cup baby! woo hoo~

[Lateralus]

Nope, been trading some financials, though. I bought a bunch of BK before close yesterday, at ~$31. It opened at ~$38. Now the question is, do I sell now or hold on to it for a while. I'm tempted to take my money and run.

Edit: Just sold a bunch of CAT that I bought earlier this week for ~$61. It opened at $71, sold for $72.

[Modern Nomad]

^ Nice... today is gonna be your day if you are net long financials... depends if you want to wait on the risk of what paulson says in a little bit...

wanted to short the 30 year and long the S&P today, but i was too chicken. lol... would have gained 30% just today if i did... bleh.

Long the euro right now though. im up, gonna ride it out though see where it goes...

bk??? do they have ties to the new york fed more than other banks?? lol if they do then its hella funny u are complaining about the fed... lol

[Lateralus]

I have class in 5 minutes. I'm tempted to skip it.

I'm philosophically opposed to just about everything that's going on right now. But they make the rules, not me. I have to play their game. I knew the Fed was going to bail out the financials. They can't help themselves. I might as well get my piece. I'm paying for it on the other end, anyway.

[Modern Nomad]

^ what paulson says is gonna be huge, he's gonna come out in any second... u can skip what bush will say in 45 minutes tho... lol

[Jack Flak]

Edit: Just sold a bunch of CAT that I bought earlier this week for ~$61. It opened at $71, sold for $72.
Smart play. My mom, an ISTJ, does things...Completely differently, LOL.

[Lateralus]

I put in a limit order on BK for $37 for while I was in class. I'm glad I did that...it's down to ~$33 now.

Edit: I'm doing slightly better than I expected. Made about $600 on BK (oh how I wish I had more cash yesterday) and about $1200 on CAT.

[Lateralus]

I'm usually a pretty conservative investor, but I've been more ambitious this week than I ever have before. Now, if I really had some balls, I'd starting shorting oil futures right now. But I'm not playing with house money (yet) and I just don't have the guts to do it.

This was all quite an adrenaline rush. I think I might have found a new obsession.

[ptgatsby]

I have class in 5 minutes. I'm tempted to skip it.

I'm philosophically opposed to just about everything that's going on right now. But they make the rules, not me. I have to play their game. I knew the Fed was going to bail out the financials. They can't help themselves. I might as well get my piece. I'm paying for it on the other end, anyway.

Uhhh... just be careful. If you grab a stock that gets 'bailed out', you might find yourself down an awful lot.

(Week to date, down ~20% or so, but I'm broad market invested, not trading.)

[Lateralus]

Uhhh... just be careful. If you grab a stock that gets 'bailed out', you might find yourself down an awful lot.

(Week to date, down ~20% or so, but I'm broad market invested, not trading.)
I've already got all of my money out, well, at least all my money that wasn't invested long-term. All my speculative cash is back in my sweep account. I've just got to decide what to do next. I may hold off until next week before I make another move.

[Modern Nomad]

I'm usually a pretty conservative investor, but I've been more ambitious this week than I ever have before. Now, if I really had some balls, I'd starting shorting oil futures right now. But I'm not playing with house money (yet) and I just don't have the guts to do it.

This was all quite an adrenaline rush. I think I might have found a new obsession.


oil takes balls... for sure lol

man... the market is delayed digesting all these rising state unemployment numbers that just came out...

[Lateralus]

oil takes balls... for sure lol

man... the market is delayed digesting all these rising state unemployment numbers that just came out...
My instinct tells me that oil is going to fall under $90/barrel, relatively soon (next week or two). It jumped back over $100 today, but I think that's just temporary.

I don't know enough about futures contracts to feel comfortable jumping into this, though.

[Modern Nomad]

^ i used to have a feel for the oil markets... 3 years ago. when it was around 50... lol

but nowadays... man.

what broker do u use? they should have tutorials if ur broker has futures contracts. nymex mini oil has lower margin requirements than other contracts. anyways, oil... scary. lol

[Modern Nomad]

btw, 1 dollar tick in oil, translates to 500 dollars movement in a nymex mini oil futures contract. ummmmmm...... that is pretty huge...

[Lateralus]

I used Etrade. I'm kinda frustrated right now. I wanted to buy some Lehman Brothers stock earlier, when it was trading for $0.12, but Etrade has a restriction on my account. They won't let me purchase anything under a share price of $10. The most recent trade was at $0.23. :steam:

[Lateralus]

I don't want to put $10k+ into a futures contract. What do you think about shorting an oil EFT, like Goldman Sachs Crude Oil Total Return ETN (OIL) (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=OIL)?

[Modern Nomad]

^ i've never traded an etf before, but it seems like it has the same exposure...

btw, crude oil prices are 102 right now... and dollar is dropping against the euro...

btw, i use interactive brokers. they're great. fast execution, low trading costs too...

[ptgatsby]

btw, i use interactive brokers. they're great. fast execution, low trading costs too...

I highly recommend IB as well, just so long as you are a semi-active trader (ie: you actually churn enough to cover the min $10 feed fee.)

Don't trade futures unless you can absorb a fair bit of contract level variance. For oil, that's fairly substantial.

[LostInNerSpace]

Stocks head for rally on word of gov't rescue plan: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance (http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080919/wall_street.html)

So far, this week has been awesome, two huge drops on Monday and Wednesday, followed by a recovery yesterday and another rally likely today. I'm sure there are people on this forum with better stories than mine. But I stand to make $1000-$1700 this week (depending on how Friday plays out), with only ~$10,000 invested. What I wouldn't do to have 100 times that amount invested right now...

Overconfidence will spank you everytime. Have you given it back yet?

[Lateralus]

Overconfidence will spank you everytime. Have you given it back yet?
Heh, overconfidence?

[Modern Nomad]

holy..........

good thing i got out of all my positions before i went to sleep!

omg... im staying away from the market until all this political stuff clears up...

[Lateralus]

Same here.

[Udog]

I've followed this thread with some interest. I spent the early part of last week wishing I knew more about the market to take advantage of the upswing, as well as the one that will very possibly happen next week if this bill gets pushed through. However, I don't want to jump into anything.

I don't exactly see this bill pulling us out of everything, though, long term. I figure I have time to learn how to invest properly and still catch the major upswing.

So my question is: do you guys have any recommendations as to where and how to start learning about the market and investing?

[Modern Nomad]

^ to be honest, im only able to trade because i worked in two different hedge funds that had about 200-5000+ times more volume than i trade.

i personally stay out of stock markets because its not my area of specialty...

but if i were to get into stock markets, AS A CASUAL INVESTOR i would just buy the stock of companies and products i like. i.e. if i think samsung makes great tv's, i would buy samsung stock. etc... if i like callaway golf clubs, i would buy callaway stock. etc...

[ptgatsby]

So my question is: do you guys have any recommendations as to where and how to start learning about the market and investing?

Probably the best thing to learn is that 80% of traders lose money, and there is no indication that the other 20% can maintain performance over a long period of time.

It depends on what you want to accomplish, but the majority of people wanting to learn about investing should spend nearly all of their time on portofolio theory (which would include a lot about risk/time/diversification).

[Lateralus]

I'm soooo tempted to pick up some Wachovia stock right now. I know their balance sheet doesn't look good, but if this bailout goes through, that may not matter. I'm thinking they'll rebound, big time, once this bailout is passed.

[ygolo]

holy..........

good thing i got out of all my positions before i went to sleep!

omg... im staying away from the market until all this political stuff clears up...

When you say you got out of your positions, did you put them in money-market funds? or perhaps all in your borker's particular money market fund (as in just one)?

Probably the best thing to learn is that 80% of traders lose money, and there is no indication that the other 20% can maintain performance over a long period of time.

It depends on what you want to accomplish, but the majority of people wanting to learn about investing should spend nearly all of their time on portofolio theory (which would include a lot about risk/time/diversification).

I believe I am about to be taught a very expensive lesson in diversification. Like many people, as I watched fund after fund blow-up, I moved them out in to "cash" (the designated money market fund) while taking small losses as a way to avoid big ones.

This was meant only to be temporary. I figured once this crisis is over, I would move the investments back into a diversified portfolio.

I wanted to move a lot of it to bond funds that I had since identified, but when I went to do so, I found out the Reserve Primary Fund had frozen. I couldn't take my money out. Not only that, but all the institutional investors had gotten a warning was able to withdraw their money at a $1.

If at the end of all of this, I only loose 3% (the value was at 0.97 when frozen), I'll be jumping for joy. Their "seven day freeze" has turned into an "indefinite freeze."

Oh. well. It's a good thing I'm young, and I was only counting on this money for retirement, and not day to day living.

[Anja]

I've been watching my investments taking some tumbles for a while now and have been thinking about tucking it under my mattress! Mom and Dad's stories of the Depression are very fresh in my mind.

How much will I make this week?

I think the government will pay me about two-hundred for surviving this long. I'll probably hit my husband up for a couple of twenties over the weekend. So I'm all set! Livin' large!

[ptgatsby]

I believe I am about to be taught a very expensive lesson in diversification. Like many people, as I watched fund after fund blow-up, I moved them out in to "cash" (the designated money market fund) while taking small losses as a way to avoid big ones.


Indeed... this is a "generational" type lesson! Mind you, we are well diversified, and still taking a rather large hit - no one gets to escape in this environment.

If I wasn't an information whore, I would of turned off the news. That's generally what I recommend - turning off the news, staying diversified, and continue following the big plan.

Most people make worse decision if they keep themselves informed anyway, heh.


Oh. well. It's a good thing I'm young, and I was only counting on this money for retirement, and not day to day living.

Well, I wouldn't worry too much. It seems like things are being fairly well handled, but of course I don't completely know your situation. Hopefully you didn't have more than the 100k for FDIC, though :D

[Lateralus]

I decided to go ahead and gamble on Wachovia. I didn't put in too much money, only money I'd be comfortable losing. Now I'm rooting for the bailout, heh.

[Lateralus]

I wish I had been able to short oil futures. It's even lower than I expected, close to $75/barrel.

[Bella]

A LOT, because I'm working A LOT!

[Lateralus]

A LOT, because I'm working A LOT!
Could an ISTJ response be any more stereotypical? :alttongue:

[ptgatsby]

Could an ISTJ response be any more stereotypical? :alttongue:

heh, that's the only money I'm making right now :cheese:

(I prefer to think of it as... about 8%, with a SD of about 13%, rather than a large loss :huh: )

How has your trading gone, though? Did you pull out completely? I paper traded a bit in the duration, trading options, which seemed to be pretty optimal. I did very well actually, too bad it was just play money!

[Bella]

Could an ISTJ response be any more stereotypical? :alttongue:

:harhar: :cheese:

[Lateralus]

heh, that's the only money I'm making right now :cheese:

(I prefer to think of it as... about 8%, with a SD of about 13%, rather than a large loss :huh: )

How has your trading gone, though? Did you pull out completely? I paper traded a bit in the duration, trading options, which seemed to be pretty optimal. I did very well actually, too bad it was just play money!
Other than the small gamble I made on Wachovia (I'm down about 25% of a $500 bet, so no biggie), all of my money is out. The market is so volatile, I'm just watching closely and learning as much as possible, right now.

[ThePenIsMightier]

Other than the small gamble I made on Wachovia (I'm down about 25% of a $500 bet, so no biggie), all of my money is out. The market is so volatile, I'm just watching closely and learning as much as possible, right now.

That's all you can do. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what was going on, but I'm getting whiplash watching the markets swing. I was on top of the rally Monday but failed to expect this quick of a fall. Didn't lose money, but more thanks to not actually being the market because I've got 200 in my bank account. College...

The credit crisis is slowly unclogging, so I'm not scared of too much more on the downside. I'm sure it'll happen in our freaked out market, but overall I'm feeling a little better about things. Give me another week though and that may change.

[Risen]

The last time we had swings this large in the markets was during the depression. Scary stuff.

[Maabus1999]

Time to concentrate on dividend stocks (5%+ yield) in large caps for a LONG investment. Just don't put all your money in now or at once, due to volatility. Put a chunk in every time it falls if you are in for longer then 5 (10) years.

If you need the money soon, do bonds/muni bonds around 5% yield.

For me, I'm just pumping cash every paycheck into sectors I feel have long term growth and survival(mutual funds that are large cap or mid cap). In 2 years I recommend investing in small caps when a recovery does start...unless it gets really bad then just wait til the recovery to invest in small caps.

I'm avoiding individual stocks save my companies which I put a small share in but they match me 20%. That stock has to drop a lot to not make up that 20% over the long term. Plus we are doing a tad better then expected as we have been told we are still on track to get our end of year bonuses due to performance;) Sorry can't tell you who I work for.

Remember even after the depression which went on for a long ass time to recover equity value, if you kept buying when its was low and had 30 years to play with it, you would've made out like a bandit...

[Risen]

Remember even after the depression which went on for a long ass time to recover equity value, if you kept buying when its was low and had 30 years to play with it, you would've made out like a bandit...

Most Definitely.