What Year Did You Start Investing/Trading In The Stockmarket?

[benjamind2010]

100 x ProShares Short S&P500 (NYSE:SH)
I know it isn't much, but it's a start.
Taking notice of an opportunity to profit at least partially from what is likely to be a moderately strong downward trend in the market. Did this in early November, initially I saw a small gain over a couple of weeks, but since then it's been struggling below break even. I'm sure that is temporary though, as I'll discuss below.

Compared to the overproof rum that is put options on SPY this SH ETF looks more like a dessert wine, not nearly as potent in terms of what you may profit out of it, but likewise not nearly as brutal as options if the market does turn against you, as it has done to me in the past 2 months.

Fortunately, it looks as though this so-called "bull" market is about to change, with China advertising the fact that she's increased her interest rates another 0.25% within a short 3 months for a total increase of 0.5% over that period. This should put a bit of pain on the longs. In spite of China's previous 0.25% hike, commodity prices still kept soaring, so that should be kept in mind. An interest rate hike is a sure sign of inflationary pressure, so perhaps going long on commodities would be a gamble worth taking, provided you have iron clad stop losses.

That, along with more revelations by Wikileaks about some large US banks, I'd say this is just about as good as the "bull" market is going to get before we get another downturn. At least in stocks. Commodities, except for oil, have been cooling off somewhat, but may resume an uptrend if investors are not too spooked by China's latest movements.

Overall, going by what the contrarians say (my favorites are Prechter, Shepherd, and Kaplan), I expect that 2011 will be like 2008. It may seem rosy during the 1st half, with huge currency FX volatility, ESPECIALLY with the AUD and EUR, but once the 2nd half comes along, watch out!

 

[explod]

Oh god I think I am up there with all the old blokes 1966 working in Mount Isa as the 15 level nipper, later flat-backing on Micaf 12 up to 9, I put money into MIM, Theise Brothers and a couple of other contractors around the Isa
Got burnt in 72? at the end of the nickle boom (commodities boom) it all collapsed, I was in Darwin by then just in time for Tracy didn't trust the markets again til early 87 and you guessed it got cleaned out again,

April 2007 I decided to once again try my luck and this time I had electronic trading and stop losses and CFD's to go short with so on this one I am winning and getting back the money I gave away on the last two tries

It comes around and it goes around

Happyjack

Interesting,

my first shares were in Exoil and at the time was in Queensland shearing at Longreach. We would sometimes do a weekend at Mt Isa to do the pubs. Went down the mines on a guided tour, was impressed by the shiny ingots being loaded onto trucks that were railed through Longreach. I think it was about 1968. Went to Longreach from 1962 till 70. Drought hit late 60's and they trucked most of the sheep south.

My Father's nickname was Happyjack and in full was referred to as happy jack the hearse driver.

as you aver, "what goes around"

 

[Liar's Poker]

2006.

After working at the local food market whilst studying at Uni, I managed to save then invest $1000 into Oxiana (OXR), sold out a 15 months later for a 18.5% profit.

A huge $185.

-Liar-

 

[chiasm]

2008, bought some NAB shares around the $32 mark and now wondering if they will ever get back to those levels again At least they are paying a dividend

 

[nukz]

Got some BHP around $8 in 05 or whatever it was also got quite a large amount of ADY(Admirally limited).

Also had another small cap copper stock back around 04.

First got into stock trading because a teacher at my school was into it so much so that he would not teach very much rather trade lol but myself and a few others learnt something much more valuable than Australian history.

 

[tryin hard]

Good thread

I played the asx game for a few times in 06 07 and 08 and then got real.

In the middle of 2008.

Anz $19 then they fell again bought again $15 and then the same in Jan of 09 $12.50. There was a problem with them something called opus prime i think.

At least the div covers the bank fees every year and some. This what keeps me holding them atm.

Tryin hard.

 

[AussieBoy]

My first exposure to the ASX was back in 2002. I was in year 9 at high school and in my Commerce elective, we had to do the ASX sharemarket game in that class. Had a lot of fun over that three month period. My parents had been in the sharemarket for about a couple of years around that time, so I learnt a bit from them on this aspect during 2002.

However, it was MANY years before I gained an active interest in the share market. It was after I completed my Bachelors in Commerce (Finance/Business Economics) in December 2010 that I had a lot of time to knuckle down and start putting knowledge into practise. My first shares that I bought was HOG (Hawkley Oil and Gas) in January 2011 (during my summer holidays between after I completed my Bachelor's Degree and when I commenced my Masters the following month). I got in when they hit their peak of $0.56/share and thank God that I got out a month later because its been a downward spiral for that stock since then. The lesson I learnt from that is to not believe everything you read and hear in the media (regarding promotion). Also, another lesson is that you can read all the books you want and all the advise given to you but at that end of the day, it is nothing compared to actually buying shares with your own money. When you buy yourself, you learn to take responsibility for your actions and go through the psychology and all the ups and downs that go with owning shares. Now that I completed my Masters degree at the beginning of this month and am on holidays until my ceremony at the end of next month, I've got a fair bit more time on my hands to spend.

Question I want to ask though: I assume online trading in Australia began in the late '90s due to the popularity/expansion of the internet during the dot.com boom. However, all you folk who bought shares pre-late '90s: how did you buy shares back in those days before the internet/online trading? Did you have to make a phone call? Also, how did you actively monitor the share price of whatever companies you bought? I assume because of no internet, it would've been a lot harder to buy/sell the stocks with smaller prices (e.g. $0.05/share) and also, there were greating price fluctuations as well

 

[matty77]

Good question, I think maybe around 2007, first purchase was ANZ.

 

[McLovin]

1996. I was in year 9. First company I bought, Oil Search. Logically, people need oil, and that was about all the reasoning involved. Didn't start doing it with any sort of plan until about 2000, when I went to uni. Then I had a few years of not really paying much attention because I was too focussed on work.