Does anyone trade online? What is the best company to go with for a guy who is just trying to get a few stocks on maybe a thousand dollars and just watch them for a year to get a higher yet riskier return? From what I have seen sharebuilder.com looks good, any comments…
I subscribe to investools.com thru Success Magazine.
You have to take their seminar to get access to their site…but it is worth it. They have search engines that look for a combination of traits for strong stocks including:
1- Strong Fundamentals (graded on 13 categories like P/E ratio, growth & volume ratio’s, EPS 5yr growth, etc)
2- Custom scores for volatility, price pattern, Market Guide and Zacks
3- Which sectors/industries are currently taking in the most $$ from large investment firms
4- Which stocks in those industries are outperforming the others
The searches do ALL of the homework and allow you to monitor the best stock targets in the hottest industries…it also gives you 3 signals to look for as to when is the best time to buy the stock (and the best time to sell it).
Stocks are no sure thing but this site does all of the homework for you on searches, allows you to monitor and track the best performing stocks in the currently hot sectors…so you have a better chance to make the right decisions.
I’m up 30% this my first year using the site. $5000 to start is now valued at just under $6400. I basically rode DR Horton (homebuilder sector was smokin hot all year until interest rates began to rise…which is when I sold) for 5-6 months then recently jumped on XTO Energy (erengy/oil producing sector is currently strong), which I still hold.
I use the investools site for the tracking and the homework but use Ameritrade for my actual transactions…simply because I have had an Ameritrade acct for years.
It’s a bit pricy for the investools seminar…the yearly access to the site is reasonable though. But I have already re-couped my investment and then some in nearly 9 months of using the site.
I use Ameritrade, because it’s the cheapest reputable site and I generally know what I’m doing. My only advice to you is this: never EVER buy at market price. Always, always, always make limit orders. It’s so easy to do online and makes a big difference over time.
Ameritrade is good…if only going to use 1k though go for something else to start because they have 2k/min… there are some highly volatile penny stocks though if you want to roll the dice and daytrade, otherwise you have the right idea. The economy has been booming but then there is gas prices threatening inflation and this hurricane doesn’t help(except there are some companies that will make alot of money, Warren Buffet just bought a mobile and modular home company to cash in on it for example…
alot of trading message boards, but be careful though because many poster play a deception game, i.e. bash the stock to drive price down and help their position or hype it up…depending on what they are doing…they get accused of doing that anyway.
I work at an Online firm and deal with other online firm and would say that Ameritrade is probably your best bet. Scottrade is the cheapest I believe though.
Ameritrade is probably not a bad long term investment either, as far as individual stocks are concerned. Not sure what their numbers are but they appear to be a key player here for long term, making all the right moves.