I had promised that I was going to start my own thread regarding stock investments and the markets. So many things have happened since last time I was here and I really do not feel like sharing my knowledge. But a promise is a promise and there have been few people that have emailed me and supported me.

This thread will deal with investing in the stock markets. I will not discuss individual stocks but discuss ETFs like SPY, DIA, IWM and QQQQ. The one good thing about trading ETFs compared to individual stocks is the the ETFs provide instant diversification among similar companies within the same sector.

I will post more as we go along, regarding entry-price, profit-target and stop-losses. I do not think that any ETF is good or bad. It is good only if I'm making money and bad if I'm losig money.

If you have not been in the market so far, please read this as an information piece only rather than my recommendations. There is risk involved and you should know how much risk to take on any position.

Any suggestations, comments and criticisms are welcome as long as it is market related. If this thread gets out of hand and we start discussing off-topics, I'll stop posting.

Have a happy new year!!!! May 2007 bring you and your family lots of joys and riches.

The market is really volatile... I do not see much confidence here in investing in anything Choppy waters, hence it is advisable to play safe bets. I got into WM at mid 3s today. I think it will payoff on the long run. I also think FNE and FRM to be a good bet after the Saturday's signing of the bill. Again these are long-term investment. CHCG has very much of an upside potential. It is like "best buy", "circuit city" version in China in consumer electronics. The best in that industry line stands to be DGLY. Good luck to all the investors. Best! Bri

today all my stocks went underwater with the overall market.. lol...

what a strange day...

just before market closed i bought more SSO.. which is 2x ETF for S&P500.

my guess is tomorow we will see a up day.. looks like we are stuck between some kind of trading range.

could not hold myself here. so i am writing. so please pardon me for my blabber.

latoboy,

i believe there is not going to be any up-tick tomorrow.  i would not get into LONG positions in any of the equities. CASH is the king.

i see that you have some calls[3 listed up SPY@130 ; SPY@126 and QQQQ@47].... i am pretty confident to predict that all of them would expire worthless. the one SPY @126 also is going to go underwater within next 3 weeks.

i am not an investor neither a trader (O: but generally speaking in this market you cannot take a single position either way [ long or short ]. if you have to invest then better start playing with straddle.

my prediction next two weeks going to be downhill and we will see an upside on the week of Aug 10th and i am sure you know why (O:

 

emini, hope your hiatus from here is temporary as it would be a total loss for all traders and the other wannabes we have here in sajha.  Hoping to see you soon bro.

Thapap, finally someone who understands the importance of hedging!  Its been too long that people here have been playing with naked calls and puts and that is not the way to go...I'd rather go to Vegas with all that cash to burn if I was to take a 50-50 chance.  Time to make idiots like latoboy understand that trading is all about making youself have the better advantage using all the information available and more importantly, making sure your bets are hedged if the market turns against you.  Can't believe that the dude talks about trading outrights and complains he is losing his shirt.  I've been in this biz for 4 yrs now and I've noticed that for the best traders out there, trading is 10% market analysis and gut feeling, while its 90% money management.  Latoboy, If you cannot do this, then stick to your day job as an IT professional (or were you laid off recently). 

Good job there, thapap!

 

mr thapap.. i appreaciate ur commends..

there is a big chance of a bounce up tomorow.

i am 90% sure of that.

hey samsara,

thank you thank you for your kind words.

how is your market manipulation going (O;

i remember some one saying when average Joe starts taking like a wall street trader then its time to "run away" from the market (O;. did i quote him correctly?

i think this market been like that no? too many day traders and too much manipulation by the power holders and the market makers.

and you are correct that one would have better odds in vegas than playing that 50:50 in wall street. i have the same feeling. (O: which has been just solidified especially after witnessing stocks of some institutions soaring 30% on multi billion $ losses (O: ...

one cannot be a speculator and protect their investment in the long run. might get lucky sometimes but not always.


latoboy,
sure.. .i have heard a dead cat bounce .. so it might happen who knows (O: but the probability is very low. i would give you a benefit of doubt of 90:10 i.e. 90% chance that the market would be up.

but with my 10% i will tell you why it would be down? here is my reasoning:
1. financials and airliners have had more than 70% upside on multi-billion losses in last week.
2. earnings outlook from most of the S&P 500 has been negative. [ either for this quarter or for outlook or both ]

so, you bought SSO @ lets say @59 (O: [ i am pretty right on the money there no ]. now don't tell me that you did not put a limit order but just bought SSO because you saw it going down 3% in an intra-day chart. (O: if you did that then you are definitely gonna suffer the consequence as samsara outlined.

have you looked @ any earning in the last 2 weeks?[if you have had then you would stay away from equities all together] or you are speculating based on "oil prices coming down $12/barrel in last week?"
 
but again we will see tomorrow... please write what happens @1600 to your position.

thapap-
no i didnt look at earnings...but thats because i dont need to. takes too much time also.

i am a techno fundamentalist investor...

market will get used to oil prices it wont go up to $130 anytime soon.. i think it will trade between this trading range.. max of $130 for near term.

same with Gold.. its dead... just a bounce from the 50dma. it will go back down where it belongs soon.

look at charts.. we got good bounce on S&P few days back at these levels... we will see a bounce tomorow...
if no bounce, not good.. ur prediction will come correct.

how do u know about straddles if u are not trader or investor ?

samsara - go eat my crow feet... hope u didnt lose ur shirt with all that hugely leveraged trades u made today...
i dont have anything to worry about lay offs... u are so ironic.. tech is still hot sector..easy to find 6 fig jobs in my field... u should be the one worried... fianncials laying off ppl like crazy.. and if u lose money like u did today.. u will be on the list too.

ok latoboy,
 
chart can define or give you the resistance levels et al. but if they could ever predict which direction it would actually go then every person reading those books/accounts of john boik and nicholos dravas would be trillion ares. (O:

good luck being " techno fundamentalist investor " . and i hope that you do not follow cramer as well (O:

do you even realize why you got that bounce? (O: its not because of that chart guy.. !!!! wow.. if you are really playing real money then i certainly have to side with samsara. !!!

hey samsara,

how is the Asian market looking?

i think latoboy is gonna mortgage his house pretty soon and get it foreclosed!!! whatchya think????




 

what u mean IF im playing with real money... lol.. ofcourse i am playing with real money..

 the banks are paying max 3% on savings accounts... theres not much incentives to put money in bank... official inflation data is5%.. ..ofcourse most smart ppl know that real inflation is much higher than that...
by putting money in the bank, u are actually losing money.. its kind of bad deal....

mortage my house ?? its kind of tempting to get a HELOC.. im not doing it yet.. waiting for right moment... after i get the loan, i will put most it in stock market.

alright, i am enjoying todays action so far.. nice bounce in first 45 mins of trading...

 

Thapap, yeah, alls been good so far.  Today, so far have just been playing the crude butterfly spread on Nov-Dec-Jan and making some easy money on that...Its been in a range of 10-6 since Monday and am scalping it at every opportunity.  Whenever markets are too volatile to understand (like the surprise Michigan report today), its better to stick to something that is a lot predictable...And so far, the crude fly spread of Nov-Dec-Jan have been doing just that.  Atleast am making lunch money doing just that   Look into that and always trade the flys on those (Do not and I repeat do not touch the near months, eg: Aug and Sept as they are extremely volatile and you could lose it all).

HAHAHA  And about latoboy getting a second mortgage, first he needs to have enough money to buy a house ain't it?  Just the other day he was crying here in sajha that he didn't have $25K to put up for a margin call he got...That just sums up to me that the dude is just a small fish and has yet to get his own place (Even the houses in the suburbs of NYC: Queens average 700k+...so defn, latoboy is still renting a studio and sharing it with 4 roommates.

BTW, how do you know that I sometimes watch the Asian Indexes and currencies too?  HHAHAHA  Another reason to keep me awake and lounge myself here in sajha. 

And about your line, "when average Joe starts taking like a wall street trader then its time to "run away" from the market "

It is  true, but I prefer calling it a Soccer-Mom Syndrome.  Soccer moms are the least bothered with any economic activity going on.  All their lives revolve around are the kids and their activites and buying groceries, etc.  They're the epitome of being housewives.  And Once these Soccer Moms start taking about a particular sector (for instance dot com stocks like they did in in the dot com boom), you know it is time to short the industry as a whole.    Same applies here, when latoboy, who obviously gets his research off web-boards and Cramer start going LONG a stock, we ALL should get the hint that its obviously time to SHORT it.

 

Any hot buyout for today, especially after light stock crash yesterday, in lieu with terrible housing crisis in two decades or so.

Any suggestion on good investement? Let's keep this thread alive....

BTW, Happy and stress free Friday, ya'll....

i suggest wait till monday.. things are still a little unclear today.

there is no clear good investment at this moment.. just a day traders market.. buy and quick selll.

What are your views for CROX ?

If somebody made me buy CROX for five bucks at gunpoint, I would happily do it.

Jokes aside, the P/E is at 3. A broad market rally should buoy it up sharply after the negative raps have subsided.

Dude, definitely do due diligence....

crox is a dump..

i think this is the stock that fell 50% after hours yesterday.

if u are looking to buy.. .stay away.

i dont recommend u buy because trying to catch a bottom in stock price is dangerous game..

2nd this busines it is in sucks big time.. other retailers are making same shoes like crox and selling much cheaper..

if it didnt fall so much i would have been tempted to short it infact.

yeah! take a look at their product line. Crocs is not gonna make money unless they come up with new product.

Crocs is rated as Junk in moodys. So, invest at ur own risk. Also, really Wall street is drunk. It's stunningly volatile. Seems like we are heading towards 4 digit DowJones by the end of Bush's term. HSBC saving account seems like good investment for the time being.

Thanks a lot for the suggestions, i am looking to invest a little and i am new to the market what be my best bet, would appreciate your views

latoboy,
looks like you win. SSO did popped up
 
Day's Range:    58.56 - 59.66
SSO    58.90    +0.22    +0.37%

Samsara,
it does not take long to figure out kya .. about you being in the asian and currency market. he he he thanks for the "oil-fly" tip. i am not into commodities. its a little out of my reach. currencies does pop my eyes. been doing some long/short straddles to protect myself.

I have a hard time understanding " techno fundamentalist investor" investing in indexed funds

anyway have a nice weekend ya'll