China auto volumes surpass US. just bought a little bit of CAAS [/speculative]

1/13/2010 10:42:38 AM

i want to reiterate getting AGQ since my rec on page 1. you can get some now, and if there's a pullback, average in lower.

1/13/2010 3:16:18 PM

^ I might do that tomorrow. The Feb 70 calls look pretty good.

1/13/2010 4:01:07 PM

AMED is up 10% since I picked it up on 1/6.

1/14/2010 4:10:23 PM

what do you use to buy/sell stocks? etrade/ameritrade/scottrade/others?

1/15/2010 10:24:55 AM

scottrade

1/15/2010 10:48:37 AM

this morning has been a "flight to cash" type of day. i would buy some stuff here. just not sure what. will likely cost average into existing positions.

1/15/2010 11:27:34 AM

Which site do most of you guys use?

I'm looking for something easy to use, easy deposting/withdrawing of money, and real time quotes.

I'm planning on throwing my tax return online and get into the trading game.

[Edited on January 15, 2010 at 4:19 PM. Reason : .]

1/15/2010 4:19:00 PM

I'll second Scottrade for a basic portfolio, but its not the greatest for rapid fire day trading, if thats more your thing

1/15/2010 4:20:32 PM

I'm looking to do both.

On days I'm not busy, I wanna be able to sit here all morning and afternoon and play around with some day trading.

1/15/2010 4:23:08 PM

i use scottrade as well

..picked up some TNA right before close

[Edited on January 15, 2010 at 4:36 PM. Reason : ]

1/15/2010 4:30:44 PM

Picked up a bit more AA today.

1/15/2010 4:32:53 PM

What makes ST better over the other sites?

Also, how do most of you fund your account?

Can I just link it to my checking account and to a wire transfer?

Also, I am really liking PEIX,



[Edited on January 15, 2010 at 4:42 PM. Reason : .]

1/15/2010 4:41:49 PM

It has a low per-trade cost, but this only really matters if you're trading often and in relatively small amounts...$7 vs $20 isn't a big deal on a $15,000 trade, and it isn't a big deal if you're only making a few trades a month

It also doesn't have any monthly or annual maittenance charges, so you can leave it alone for a while and not get docked continually with fees

They have a million offices, which is nice if you ever have to settle a beef in person, which I did once when they accused me of naked shorting

The bad thing is that they don't have a good option for your cash that isn't tied up in stocks, bonds, cds, etc...it just kinda sits there in a very low interest account. So its a good idea to keep no more than 10 percent of your assets in cash at any given time, unless the market is just getting absolutely assfucked at the time

Overall, great for most people, but if I was a full time trader who did this for a living, I would probably find it a little limited

1/15/2010 4:53:18 PM

How do you fund your account on there? I have looked at the site and can't seem to find the options.

1/15/2010 4:56:13 PM

You can do it straight from savings or checking

If you have an offshore account, I found a way where you can circumvent the penalty from transfering Euros or Pounds into USD....its a lengthy process, so pm me if its relevant to you

1/15/2010 4:59:23 PM

Not right now, I basically just want to get money on there as easy as possible.

If I can transfer it from my existing checking account thats awesome.

1/15/2010 5:00:40 PM

If its under 25000 you might have to wait three business days, I'm not sure

1/15/2010 5:01:24 PM

Quote :

"They have a million offices, which is nice if you ever have to settle a beef in person, which I did once when they accused me of naked shorting"

Most of their software won't even let you do something that isn't valid, so how did this happen?

You could look into TradeKing as well. The last time I used it the commissions were lower than ST but they didn't have a desktop client (when I left early last year they told me they were working on it).

IMHO, and this is what I read in multiple places and some folks here probably advised the same, you 1) simply can't just start day trading and be any good at it and #2) If your roll is somewhat small (the size of a tax return small) then you're already at a disadvantage because of the commission.

Quote :

"Not right now, I basically just want to get money on there as easy as possible. If I can transfer it from my existing checking account thats awesome."

You're going to have to wait until the funds clear regardless of how much it is.

1/15/2010 6:42:23 PM

I, too, use Scottrade. I have 2 accounts with them, with a 3rd account that belongs to my dad that I trade for him (and a 4th likely on the way...dad's probably going to open a 2nd account for me to run for him).

1/15/2010 6:54:04 PM

Speaking of day trading

http://garyscommonsense.blogspot.com/2010/01/throw-those-daily-charts-in-trash.html

Sums up how I've been treating the market over the past few weeks. I did put on a single contract risk reversal play on GLD more as a way to do something in this lame market. Otherwise, I'm just sitting and waiting for something to happen.

1/15/2010 7:08:39 PM

yeah, i'm pretty much sitting and waiting for a pullback, or some development that creates a stir.

i did buy $10k worth of BNI in one of my accounts, and $10k more in my dad's account. Should make a few bucks on the BRK merger, then hopefully some more on what I think will be a BRK pop on the 50:1 split.

I haven't been rolling the bones on stuff like SSO lately, though.

1/15/2010 7:22:09 PM

I usually just trade on margin so I don't have to wait for the funds to clear.

1/17/2010 3:57:10 PM

Can someone explain "Minority Interest" to me as listed in a company's balance sheet within the Liabilities part. Is this the amount a company has invested in a subsidiary or is it an amount another company has invested within the target company.

For example in Verizon's balance sheet there is a "Minority Interst" of 41.3 Million Dollars.

1/19/2010 11:36:01 AM

Quote :

"this morning has been a "flight to cash" type of day. i would buy some stuff here. just not sure what. will likely cost average into existing positions."

today was the opposite. last week a couple of days they sold off a bunch of equities as well as metals and other commodities. today they're doing the opposite. i will likely be setting some trailing stops today and tomorrow.

1/19/2010 3:28:51 PM

Quote :

"Minority interest in business is an accounting concept that refers to the portion of a subsidiary corporation's stock that is not owned by the parent corporation. The magnitude of the minority interest in the subsidiary company is always less than 50% of outstanding shares, else the corporation would cease to be a subsidiary of the parent.[1] Minority interest belongs to other investors and is reported on the consolidated balance sheet of the owning company to reflect the claim on assets belonging to other, non-controlling shareholders. Also, minority interest is reported on the consolidated income statement as a share of profit belonging to minority shareholders. Minority interest is an integral part of the enterprise value of a company. The converse concept is an associate company. Under IFRS and US GAAP, the minority interest is reported in the equity section of the consolidated balance sheet."

1/19/2010 3:32:32 PM

bought some more agq

1/20/2010 10:30:59 AM

Anybody else watch Buffett kill Kraft this morning before the opening bell. It was actually pretty funny. My man was not happy about Kraft selling off their pizza company.

1/20/2010 12:59:40 PM

^^ interested in following you in this silver play ... do you think the china related commodity selloff has legs to keep silver down for the near term?

1/20/2010 1:03:57 PM

yes, as does short term dollar strength

...its hard to time it though. i'm still an amateur


also just picked up som HUM




[Edited on January 20, 2010 at 3:58 PM. Reason : ]

1/20/2010 3:30:12 PM

I dodged a bullet and sold $2k of C at 3.46 (trading @ 3.34 now). I just picked up more shares of AXP in exchange, expecting good things in their earnings report from some feedback out in the retail field.

1/21/2010 10:44:19 AM

just picked up some EDC

1/21/2010 1:17:36 PM

Wow, C closed at 3.27 today. AXP reported and nearly trippled quarterly profit, beat expectations .59 over .57, loan-loss provisions down 47%, cardmember spending up 8%. After hours action has the stock at a pitiful $41.17, down $0.99 (-2.35%).

Could someone clue Obama on the huge loss that political stunt has now dealt to American investments and stock market sentiment.

Obama-pwnt on America's Citigroup investment.

1/21/2010 8:46:54 PM

For the record:

C 3.27 -5.49%
BAC 15.47 -6.19%
JPM 40.54 -6.59%
WFC 28.00 0.65%
GS 160.87 -4.12%
MS 29.34 -4.21%

1/21/2010 8:47:53 PM

Oh the humanity of a 2 day 4% correction after a fraudulent accounting, 0% Fed rate, stimulus, and probably altogether illegal or question activity induced 50% rally off of the March abyss.

1/21/2010 9:56:19 PM

I guess its time to start buying puts and selling calls.

1/22/2010 1:03:07 AM

Only if you want to lose your money.

1/22/2010 6:56:03 AM

not sure if its all that dramatic quite yet..

sell into rallies i guess

1/22/2010 11:53:24 AM

I'm going to go ahead and liquidate all of my positions and move my portfolio entirely into lottery tickets.

1/22/2010 12:07:09 PM

Time to pick up a bit more F?

1/22/2010 2:29:45 PM

Obama Bear market baby! Sold everything today. Realized a terrible loss in AXP.

I'm seeing the reality of the double dip now. DOW 8800

Bought 30 FEB $2 PUT Option contracts on ETFC which reports earnings after market on Jan. 27th. Feeling goooood about this.

1/22/2010 3:26:12 PM

just picked up some TYH a minute before close

1/22/2010 4:02:11 PM

i'm waiting on the crop report before putting any money into FCOJ

1/22/2010 4:03:38 PM

For the record:

C 3.25 -0.61%
BAC 14.90 -3.68%
JPM 39.16 -3.40%
WFC 27.26 -0.74%
GS 154.12 -4.20%
MS 29.80 -5.25%


ETFC was trading at $1.70 when I bought those options and hour and half ago, closed at $1.64. That was a quick 6% return.

Obama SMASH!

1/22/2010 4:11:29 PM

you gonna mention Obama in every one of your posts?

1/22/2010 8:32:56 PM

^ It's only 3/6 posts. Have you seen CNBC lately? I'm very much containing myself.

1/22/2010 11:57:04 PM

why would I watch CNBC

1/23/2010 10:22:11 AM

thinking about adding a little to my positions in Phillip Morris and Schlumberger

and maybe rolling the dice on the SSO game again

1/23/2010 9:32:34 PM

i got some AAPL while it's on the low. earnings announcement on monday and rumored tablet unveiling this week, should be some easy money.

unloaded everything else though. gonna look for some shorting opportunities for monday though, assuming the market doesn't go up big monday morning

1/23/2010 11:36:24 PM

yeah i've been looking at apple again.. wish i had bought a lot more back when it was in the 80's

..as does everyone i'm sure

1/24/2010 12:27:05 PM