Beginners - Introduce yourselves!

[Cosmo]

Hi everyone

Im 18, at uni and been looking at getting into the market for a while now. Starting off nice and small with $1000 and going to go from there.

Just bought my first shares today!

Looking forward to reading everything on the website!

 

[springhill]

Hi everyone,
Just started to take up trading, have been reading posts on the site for quite a while now, thought it time to get involved properly.

Hi,

Here to get reality based education on the stock market.

Heavy into the academic theory of investing (Finance undergrad contemplating honours).

Been in Junior Miners for about 2 years, had some amazing highs and some spectacular lows.

Can't wait to discuss in this forum - oh and don't worry I know how to use the "Search Button".

Speak sooN!

ToeKnee.....

Hey guys, I am new to the game. Just wanted to drop in and say hi and learn a few things here and there

Hi everyone

Im 18, at uni and been looking at getting into the market for a while now. Starting off nice and small with $1000 and going to go from there.

Just bought my first shares today!

Looking forward to reading everything on the website!

Welcome guys, good to have you all aboard!

Best of luck and don't be shy in asking questions or posting opinions.

 

[bonny4]

welcome me

hey guys me new here , me bonny from Canada today i have join this forum

 

[darrellgm]

Hi everyone. I am a newbie to all this. I am sure you guys will be helpful. So basically I am tired of working 9-5 for someone else. I am ready to start my own business and hopefully start investing. Any good books or suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Russtafaerian]

Frustrated

Hi Everyone,

I'm wondering if anyone else has been where I am now:

- A small portfolio of stocks (about 10, worth AUD25K)
- Searching for info on how to invest better and being overwhelmed with information (value investing, fundamentals, growth stocks, etc.)
- Looking for a better way to find strong information - I read a host of newsletters, such as Motley Fool, The Bull and a few from Port Philip Publishing.
- Have a friend with subscription to Stock Doctor who will send me some analysis on companies I am interested in.

I'm feeling pretty frustrated about how to shortcut the research process a bit and wondered if anyone has any ideas. I'm more keen on fundamental, long term holding style than charts (simply because I have not much understanding on the latter - perhaps later down the track).

Thanks!

 

[Reasons]

Hi Russtafaerian

I own Stock Doctor and use it for easy access to fundamentals (I am a technical trader/investor) and seeing where the fundamentalists are heading and having a look at some well organised historical tables makes something I am not greatly interested in readily accessible.

It has taken me years to work out what kind of trading suited my risk profile/psychology. You will not learn much from tip sheets generally, but we have all mostly started that way I am sure. However, if they provide a trading or investment rationale/strategy that you like and can learn from apart from just tips, then they can be useful for awhile.

To keep this simple, there ain't no easy way if you want to be a successful investor or trader. It takes about 10,000 hours if you are lucky to become reasonably competent at any profession, and investing/trading is definitely no different.

I spent considerable time last year extracting data from their program to see if Lincoln's Stock Doctor actually makes money like they say it does and if I personally could use the strategy and it seems that it does from the stats below (pity they can't trade their own strategy as the Lincoln managed fund is hopeless from their own stats)

The stats below are are based on if you buy when they tell you a stock is one of their star stocks and sell when they take it off the star stock list - which is what you are meant to do according to their strategy.

However, you would have to be the type of investor that can take the psychological scarring of the swings I have shown in red. So it is fine to say you want to be a long term investor and minimise your efforts, but how do you think you would go psychologically with 31 (yep - THIRTY ONE) consecutive losses before you got a winner as per the stats below.

So, it is fine to say you want to be a long term investor, you just need to spend considerable time and money to learn over many thousands of hours what suits you, or do like the majority and give up and hand it over to someone who knows about as much as you do, but can make money easily from your commissions.

Some additional hints:

• The best investing/trading strategies are VERY SIMPLE
• If you want to learn something about technical analysis, you can't go past Dr Alexander Elder's publications.
• Nicholson's 'Building wealth in the stock market' is a good mix of fundamentals and technical and he has a web site.
• Keep off forums generally - you can learn enough bad habits on your own.

Anyway, have a look at the stats if interested (and remember that past performance of any strategy like using Stock Dr does NOT predict the future), if only to try and get your head around what it means psychologically to be a longterm investor if you used Stock Doctor as prescribed as an example or someone else's tip sheet.

Finally, you are doing what everyone does; you are in the embrionic stages of finding what you like and hate about different investing/trading strategies on your journey to either success, or abdication to others as the majority have done.

If you want success, don't give up on the hard-yards.

Cheers


HISTORICAL STATISTICS ON STAR STOCKS (~90% OF ALL COMPLETED TRANSACTIONS as of 2011)

16 YEARS SAMPLE DATA PERIOD - 1995 TO 2011
343 STAR STOCKS SAMPLED (ESTIMATE ~35 NOT CAPTURED)
568 STAR STOCK TRADES DERIVED FROM THE ABOVE
351 WINS
217 LOSSES
1.62 : 1 WIN/LOSS RATIO

35.5 AV. NO. SHARES HELD / YEAR
438 AV. DAYS HELD / TRADE (AV. TIME AS A STAR STOCK)

35 AV. BUY TRADES / YEAR
34 AV. SELL TRADES / YEAR
6 AV. TRADES / MONTH
86.54% % OF STOCKS PAYING A DIVIDEND (BASED ON PRESENT LIVE STAR STOCKS)

60.35% AV. WIN PER WINNING TRADE
-24.93% AV. LOSS PER LOSING TRADE
27.77% AV. % PROFIT / TRADE

31.54% AV. % PROFIT / TRADE
26.30% AV. % ANNUAL PROFIT

26.96% MEDIAN AV. WIN / WINNING TRADE
-18.60% MEDIAN AV. LOSS / LOSING TRADE

3.77% AV. DIVIDEND P.A. (USING PRESENT STAR STOCKS DATA)

822.00% BEST WIN (FLT)
-90.10% WORST LOSS (ABY)

31 MAX NO. CONSECUTIVE LOSSES - SEP '08 TO AUG '09
-45.00% AV. LOSS PER LOSING TRADE IN THIS PERIOD

20 MAX NO. CONSECUTIVE WINS - FEB '05 TO AUG '05
63.43% AV. WIN PER WINNING TRADE IN THIS PERIOD

1 LEAST NO. DAYS AS A STAR STOCK (FWD)
2379 LONGEST NUMBER OF DAYS AS A STAR STOCK (WOW)

48 NUMBER OF SHARES DELISTED SINCE BEING A STAR STOCK
13.99% PERCENTAGE OF SHARES NOW DELISTED

31.08% % AV. PROFIT BEFORE 12/8/2004 PRIOR TO EPS GROWTH & PE/PEG BEING ADDED
41 NUMBER OF SHARES THAT STOPPED BEING A STAR STOCK ON 11/8/2004
29 OUT OF 41 (~71%) WENT ON TO MAKE SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER GAINS - SEVERAL OTHERS INCREASED MARGINALLY
293 NUMBER OF SAMPLE TRADES IN THE PERIOD PRIOR TO 12/8/2004

23.94% % AV. PROFIT AFTER 11/8/2004 WHEN EPS GROWTH & PE/PEG WAS ADDED
275 NUMBER OF SAMPLE TRADES IN THE PERIOD AFTER 12/8/2004
5.50% AV. PROFIT / SHARE ON SELL DOWN WHEN THEY CHANGED THE GOLDEN RULES



STATISTICS ON STAR STOCKS PRESENTLY STILL IN PLAY (as of 2011)

16/07/2011 DATE WHERE RELEVANT TO DATA
52 NUMBER OF STAR STOCKS
27 WINNING AT PRESENT
25 LOSING AT PRESENT
1.08 : 1 WIN/LOSS RATIO
51.92% % OF SHARES UP FROM BUY PRICE
96.15% % OF SHARES THAT HAVE BEEN HIGHER IN PRICE
393 AV. DAYS HELD / TRADE TO DATE
45 NUMBER OF STAR STOCKS PAYING A DIVIDEND
86.54% % OF STOCKS PAYING A DIVIDEND

237.00% MAX % RUNNING GAIN ON A SHARE TO DATE (REA)
-42.00% MAX % RUNNING LOSS ON A SHARE TO DATE (IRE)

49.98% AV. MAX. GAIN / SHARE (BASED ON HIGHEST PRICE REACHED TO DATE)
-15.21% AV. MAX. LOSS / SHARE (BASED ON THE LOWEST PRICE REACHED TO DATE)

3.77% AV. DIVIDEND P.A. (IGNORING FRANKING CREDITS)

-42.00% LARGEST SWING DOWN FROM BUY POINT (IRE)
(IRE HAS BEEN 60% UP - PRESENTLY 46% UP)
228.00% LARGEST GAIN FROM BUY POINT (REA)
(REA HAS BEEN DOWN 20% AND UP 237%)

65.00% AV. RUNNING GAIN / SHARE OF THOSE PRESENTLY UP
612 AV. DAYS HELD / TRADE TO DATE OF THOSE PRESENTLY UP

-11.00% AV. RUNNING LOSS / SHARE OF THOSE PRESENTLY DOWN
156 AV. DAYS HELD / TRADE TO DATE OF THOSE PRESENTLY DOWN

14/02/2007 EARLIEST DATED SHARE ENTRY (JBH)
24/05/2011 MOST RECENT DATED SHARE ENTRY (TNE)

28.28% PERCENTAGE UP ACROSS ALL 52 SHARES AS AT ABOVE DATE

All mean averages unless otherwise stated

 

[Accumulator]

Hi to everyone,

I have always been interested in the Share Market and have previously owned a few shares in Coles and Telstra.

Recently retired and cautious with my cash, however, given the lower interest rates available I am going to look at some trading opportunities.

Been thinking about using some cash to buy and sell the big 4 banks throughout the daily trading period, buying low and selling higher. I realise it is not easy but was thinking about trying to make 0.5% gross and selling. So if my stake was $100k I could make around $300 a transaction. I realise that there will be periods when the low price won't improve for a few days and I will have to just hold on the the stock.

I would be interested in any comments about my proposed strategy and of course any helpful tips you may have.

Thank you.

 

[Julia]

Hello Accumulator: I'd suggest that - before you do this with real money - you do it on paper.
eg buy x no of CBA at $x at x time on x day.
ditto with the sell.

How will you choose the 'buy low' point?

What is the strategy if there's a major downturn and that 'sell high' point doesn't occur?
How are you going to feel if your investment continues to track down?

 

[Trembling Hand]

I would be interested in any comments about my proposed strategy and of course any helpful tips you may have.

Madness. You are competing with the big boys on their time frame using a losers strategy. With no experience, super high retail brokerage and probably money you cannot afford to lose. Not to mention the complete lack of risk management and position sizing AND ........


Oh, by the way..... Welcome to ASF.

 

[CanOz]

Hi to everyone,

I have always been interested in the Share Market and have previously owned a few shares in Coles and Telstra.

Recently retired and cautious with my cash, however, given the lower interest rates available I am going to look at some trading opportunities.

Been thinking about using some cash to buy and sell the big 4 banks throughout the daily trading period, buying low and selling higher. I realise it is not easy but was thinking about trying to make 0.5% gross and selling. So if my stake was $100k I could make around $300 a transaction. I realise that there will be periods when the low price won't improve for a few days and I will have to just hold on the the stock.

I would be interested in any comments about my proposed strategy and of course any helpful tips you may have.

Thank you.

First of all, Welcome to ASF mate.

Secondly, of all ask yourself "if this strategy was so easy, wouldn't everybody be doing it?".

Thirdly, hook yourself up with a live data feed and try to paper trade as Julia says.

Lastly, as TH says don't ever risk funds you cannot afford to lose. To test if you can afford to lose the money or not, pretend you are opening up the window and dumping it out on a dark and windy night. Consider how that would make you feel as you watch it blow away....

Cheers,


CanOz

 

[Reasons]

Recently retired and cautious with my cash, however, given the lower interest rates available I am going to look at some trading opportunities.

Been thinking about using some cash to buy and sell the big 4 banks throughout the daily trading period, buying low and selling higher. I realise it is not easy but was thinking about trying to make 0.5% gross and selling. So if my stake was $100k I could make around $300 a transaction.

I would be interested in any comments about my proposed strategy and of course any helpful tips you may have.

Thank you.

Hi Accumulator

As you are doing this trading to make up money that you are not getting elsewhere, and appear to have no trading experience, when you lose at day trading (and you most definitely will) you will be under more pressure to recoup losses and your ensuing revenge strategies will ensure the folks on the other side of your trades get rich on your Super even faster.

As others have pointed out in various ways, you will be rapidly renaming yourself the De-Accumulator - so DON'T do this lightly.

Paper trading has been suggested, but at the end of the day you will never learn about trading (and mostly about yourself) until you have skin in the game in the form of cash and facing your psychological and trade management demons.

For what it is worth, do something like this to try and survive and learn for as long as possible for the least outlay of capital:

1. Go and sign up with IG Markets (CFD provider). They also have a demo account mode that I have never used, but logically it should let you trade limited or otherwise markets so you can get the feel of the platform before committing real cash. The reason I say IG is because I use it every day for indices and forex - it has good, reliable technical charting software, the spreads are tight (1-2 points) on most well traded markets - and you can trade $1 per point if you wish so you can learn more 'safely' (and still easily lose $100+ in a heartbeat if you fail to manage your trade). Their at-market fills are pretty good compared to CMC. CFD providers leverage 'x' times and place a margin on your capital if you pick most trading vehicles apart for the $1 ones (that still has a margin), so it pays to take your time to learn. And CFD's can take all of your money if you make a mistake and you can own them more - not an issue once you know the rules, but just letting you know.

2. Don't put more than $2000 in your account - you can limit that amount down further, but less than $500 will put you under pressure as the margin for error is bad if you make a tactical error and pick a non-$1 or single share trade (your CFD margin could quickly wipe you out as your capital is too low). You can setup favorites to ensure you don't have the wrong entities available, but errors do happen).

3. Do NOT trade more than $1 per point if you trade indices or forex OR 1 (one) share. Unless by some miracle you are winning more than losing after 100 trades, the ONLY reason to up the amount by ONE share or idices contract to TWO (only) is to learn more about yourself under the next level of pressure (more money at stake). There just ain't no point on this green earth putting yourself under that sort of pressure before attaining a consistent equity curve.

4. Use (say) a 2% rule (or less) for your trade exits - if you have $1000 in your account, the first trade you do you can lose $20 maximum and then you MUST exit. If you lose more than 3 times in a day, cease trading. You will most definitely fall into the trap of revenge trading, but if you don't stop yourself you will lose your capital far too quickly and learn little - the aim is to learn as much as poossible whist paying (losing) for your education. Even though the ~2% rule will force you to set lower loss amounts as your capital decreases, you will still likely lose most of your capital within a month. Much better $1000 to learn than $100,000 eh?

5. Keep documenting what does and does not work and once you have lost over half of your initial capital, you should be starting to feel fairly uneasy, which is good. If not, keep going and once you have lost all your capital if you don't feel ill at ease and more confused than when you started this trading routine (because it all looked so easy) and are raring to go again and lose the lot, you may need to repeat the pain a couple more times - most of us have. Just remember that insanity, according to Albert Einstein, is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

6. Around this time or preferably during the above pain, read someone like Dr Alexander Elder (he has a number of books) - I like his triple screen timeframes and divergence strategies - and try and get a strategy worked out that suits your head's comfort zone.

7. Keep practising - and above all - documenting your trades and protecting the bulk of your ($100K?) capital until you are making money consistently using much smaller amounts as above. And until you cease feeling euphoric or down about a trade, you ain't even close to ready.

There is heaps more or different ways of course, but that is your challenge.


Cheers

 

[Accumulator]

Hello Accumulator: I'd suggest that - before you do this with real money - you do it on paper.
eg buy x no of CBA at $x at x time on x day.
ditto with the sell.

How will you choose the 'buy low' point?

What is the strategy if there's a major downturn and that 'sell high' point doesn't occur?
How are you going to feel if your investment continues to track down?

Thanks for your advice Julia, I appreciate the need to get a lot more experience and knowledge before I get into risking my hard earned!

 

[Accumulator]

Madness. You are competing with the big boys on their time frame using a losers strategy. With no experience, super high retail brokerage and probably money you cannot afford to lose. Not to mention the complete lack of risk management and position sizing AND ........


Oh, by the way..... Welcome to ASF.

Thanks for the welcome and more importantly the frank advice...

 

[Accumulator]

First of all, Welcome to ASF mate.

Secondly, of all ask yourself "if this strategy was so easy, wouldn't everybody be doing it?".

Thirdly, hook yourself up with a live data feed and try to paper trade as Julia says.

Lastly, as TH says don't ever risk funds you cannot afford to lose. To test if you can afford to lose the money or not, pretend you are opening up the window and dumping it out on a dark and windy night. Consider how that would make you feel as you watch it blow away....

Cheers,


CanOz

Thank you for the welcome and advice mate...a lot more homework required here!

 

[Accumulator]

Thank you for the time taken for your detailed reply Reasons, I will use your advice and gain a lot more knowledge and experience before I risk my cash.

Accumulator

 

[scottw33]

Hello everyone!

Introducing myself in my first post to the forum.

I am 26 years old from Melbourne, Australia and currently working as a web developer with ecommerce speciality.
Previous to my current position, was involved in a pair-shaped business partnership in a retail store, which consequently left me with 100% of the business debt, and a lesson learnt the hard way (don't trust anyone in business, even friends).

I've never been taught to save or budget, and have had to teach myself self discipline and budgetting over the past couple of years. This has sparked a keen interest in finance, investing, and the stock market. I'm currently reading Stan Weistein's Secret For Profiting In Bull And Bear Markets, and have just ordered Adaptive Analysis for Australian Stocks by Nick Radge. Currently working on building my nest egg to $5,000, and getting a lot more reading and learning in before taking my first steps in to the market!

I don't particularly have any questions yet, just trying to take in as much as I can, and any beginner advice and guidance is always appreciated - thank you!

 

[CanOz]

Hello everyone!

Introducing myself in my first post to the forum.

I am 26 years old from Melbourne, Australia and currently working as a web developer with ecommerce speciality.
Previous to my current position, was involved in a pair-shaped business partnership in a retail store, which consequently left me with 100% of the business debt, and a lesson learnt the hard way (don't trust anyone in business, even friends).

I've never been taught to save or budget, and have had to teach myself self discipline and budgetting over the past couple of years. This has sparked a keen interest in finance, investing, and the stock market. I'm currently reading Stan Weistein's Secret For Profiting In Bull And Bear Markets, and have just ordered Adaptive Analysis for Australian Stocks by Nick Radge. Currently working on building my nest egg to $5,000, and getting a lot more reading and learning in before taking my first steps in to the market!

I don't particularly have any questions yet, just trying to take in as much as I can, and any beginner advice and guidance is always appreciated - thank you!

Welcome aboard Scott, good luck!

CanOz

 

[humblelearner]

Hi everyone,

I've only recently found this forum - it's been great reading everyone's posts but I thought it was time to write a note to say hi.

Reading this forum has made me realise (more than previously) how much I don't know that I don't know! Looking forward to learning from all of you.

I'm currently reading "Value Investing" by James Montier (a book that appeals to the finance nerd in me...), and finally sitting down to read through all of Warren Buffett's shareholder letters one by one... (awesome reading by the way) lots to learn!

I know this is an aussie stocks forum but I was wondering if anyone had started looking into european shares from a value investing perspective. I couldn't find very much material on this on the forum (or perhaps I'm not searching in the right areas). The australian markets seem to be getting a bit pricey so I'm just wondering about offshore value opportunities (especially with a high AUD!)...

Thanks and happy investing to all of you
humblelearner

 

[StevieY]

Hi Everyone!

Have been reading up quite a bit on the forums (a lot of info to digest) and just thought I register and say Hi...so G'day!

Am on Etrade and have been watching a few stocks for the past month (trying to be diverse) - FLT, CWN, BHP, RED, LNC and ANZ.

Looking for trading opportunities when it arise and learning heaps from everyone here.

Thanks
Steve

 

[Knobby22]

Hi, be interested in your view of Etrade.

Hope to see you round.