ok, this makes me want to put trailing stops on all or most of my AGQ position

http://seekingalpha.com/article/263416-obama-may-burst-the-gold-bubble-implications-for-gld?source=email_watchlist

4/14/2011 10:53:17 AM

Hmmm...I'd sell calls on my gold ETFs, but the only one I have is PHYS which has no option chain.

4/14/2011 2:25:33 PM

this is neat:

Quote :

"Scottrade recently introduced a new way for customers to trade online for free: $0 commission exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Now, you can trade 15 ETFs online as often as you'd like without paying our low $7 commission. Scottrade's commission-free ETFs include four broad-market funds and 11 sector funds: FocusTM Morningstar US Market Index ETF (FMU) FocusTM Morningstar Large Cap Index ETF (FLG) FocusTM Morningstar Mid Cap Index ETF (FMM) FocusTM Morningstar Small Cap Index ETF (FOS) FocusTM Morningstar Basic Materials Index ETF (FBM) FocusTM Morningstar Communication Services Index ETF (FCQ) FocusTM Morningstar Consumer Cyclical Index ETF (FCL) FocusTM Morningstar Consumer Defensive Index ETF (FCD) FocusTM Morningstar Energy Index ETF (FEG) FocusTM Morningstar Financial Services Index ETF (FFL) FocusTM Morningstar Health Care Index ETF (FHC) FocusTM Morningstar Industrials Index ETF (FIL) FocusTM Morningstar Real Estate Index ETF (FRL) FocusTM Morningstar Technology Index ETF (FTQ) FocusTM Morningstar Utilities Index ETF (FUI)"

too bad i can't trade my 2x and 3x ETFs commission-free

4/20/2011 12:33:25 PM

...and if the republicans refuse the debt ceiling? What will happen to your investments?

4/20/2011 12:46:36 PM

Quote :

"Ok looking to get in on some small time trades and penny stocks."

I trade pennies frequently using charles schwab. 8.95 per trade, been with them over a year and very happy with them. You can get a really good free trading interface from them if you commit to doing i think 36 trades per year.

I think most of the people that have voiced their broker names on the ihub boards use scottrade or ameritrade, some etrade also.

4/20/2011 5:14:28 PM

I have etrade and started using tradeking about 3 months ago... really good platform and $5/trade and $4.95/option aren't bad.

My stocks have been looking pretty lately. At least they're only going sideways and I'll just hold onto dividends.

I just bought into AGNC. Something like 18-19% dividend with slow yearly growth.

4/20/2011 7:41:15 PM

You're going to get a double whammy the moment they lower their dividend.

4/20/2011 8:31:34 PM

You're probably right, but here's the history of dividends paid

Dec 29, 2010 $1.400000
Sep 24, 2010 $1.400000
Jun 28, 2010 $1.400000
Mar 29, 2010 $1.400000
Dec 29, 2009 $1.400000
Sep 30, 2009 $1.400000
Jun 30, 2009 $1.500000
Mar 31, 2009 $0.850000
Dec 29, 2008 $1.200000
Sep 25, 2008 $1.000000
Jun 30, 2008 $0.310000

4/20/2011 9:00:20 PM

Yeah I looked because a 20% dividend is fucking nuts. Eventually, they'll scale that back and your capital will take a hit. Depending on how much they cut it will determine how big of a hit.

4/20/2011 9:49:32 PM

I agree... hopefully it doesn't happen before I make some more $$

It does take a dip when dividends pay, but then bounces right back.

4/20/2011 11:03:58 PM

anyone know of good sources to learn about trading/investing/etc. I don't care to read websites/books for hours, so short video lessons would be nice.

I just looked around a bit today and saw how down some big companies were (like banks)... and just wondered why not short-term/day trade those? I know I'm not the only one to ask this, but wondered if there is something I'm missing here.

[Edited on April 28, 2011 at 9:57 AM. Reason : n]

4/28/2011 9:36:47 AM

Quote :

"I do't care to read websites/books for hours, so short video lessons would be nice."

Honestly, if you want to direct your own investments, it takes a lot of time, research, reading, and experience. There's really no shortcut.

Some would argue that the monkey throwing darts at newspapers are just as good, so you can try that as well.

4/28/2011 9:42:31 AM

let me clarify. I'd rather have some lighter material to get started. Once I've got a good base and know what I'm looking for/want to do/know terminology, procedures, etc., I don't mind heavier reading. So I guess, are there good sources for basics/beginners that aren't [words]

4/28/2011 9:59:11 AM

It's been a really really long time since I got started, but I read a couple of books by The Motley Fool when I was just learning and I remember the language being pretty light. fool.com has a lot of good resources

13 Steps to Investing Foolishly
http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/thirteen-steps/index.aspx?source=ifltnvsnv0000001

Others who are newer to the game may have more specific recos.

4/28/2011 10:07:46 AM

I really liked the Idiot's Guides and Dummies books as well for Investing, Home Buying, Mortgages, etc.

4/28/2011 11:15:39 AM

TDSC down 17% on earnings today. Picked up a bit.

4/28/2011 3:54:35 PM

Invested in copper mining companies as supposedly supply is down and expected huge growth in 2011.

Bought SCCO at $36.65 last week, went down every single day until today when 8k was released and up $1.17. Merril Lynch has a price target of $50 for years end

4/28/2011 4:06:14 PM

i wouldnt touch agnc.

Their assets are a joke at the level they are reporting them.

You're getting a dividend that's taxable at ordinary income rates and then when your share price plunges ($0 isnt out of the question) you'll be stuck.

4/30/2011 12:12:17 AM

^^ You could also play with EWZ, the Brazil ETF. They're a major copper exporter and some of the biggest holdings in the ETF are mining companies.

4/30/2011 12:49:21 PM

good news for the dollar today, bad news for my silver ETF... eff... giving back my gains from last week

5/2/2011 4:44:36 AM

CNBC anchor Erin Burnett jumping to CNN
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42828042

5/2/2011 10:42:28 AM

The PM sector had HIGH volumes today. Any given reason why?

5/3/2011 5:18:39 PM

Bueller?

What happened to FIVE O?

5/5/2011 5:20:31 PM

^ Correction is here for the commodity market.

5/5/2011 7:27:18 PM

Yeah, I'm salivating because of it. Deflation talk is going to be renewed again and that will set the stage for the next round of easing. It's likely not going to happen for months though, all markets are going to grind sideways through the summer. As that is happening the macro numbers (unemployment, ISM, etc) are going to start creeping up and that is going to give cover for the next round which should launch the PMs back into orbit again.

5/5/2011 8:06:48 PM

What a lovely time to buy some more bullion.

[Edited on May 6, 2011 at 11:53 AM. Reason : especially at these phony spot prices! what a steal!]

5/6/2011 11:51:39 AM

One year since the flash crash.

I meant to post that on Friday.

5/10/2011 4:26:12 PM

so do y'all believe in the "sell in may and go away" theory?

http://www.greenfaucet.com/?q=node/19247

Quote :

"As the old saying goes, we want to sell in May, go away, and come back sometime near the end of October...the so called Halloween Indicator. Why? Historically, the worst six month period for the markets is the May-October period. Over the last 60 years, the "Dow Jones Industrial Average rose an average of 0.1% in the May-October time period, versus an average of 7.3% from November through April (Bloomberg http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/2010/04/stocks_sell_in.html"

5/10/2011 4:43:14 PM

I generally do. I've sold calls on just about everything. Hopefully a good bit will be called away, I'm a bit overexposed at the moment.

5/10/2011 4:55:05 PM

If you watch CNBC you've seen this commercial

i want to punch it in the face

5/11/2011 1:36:13 PM

Looking to get into ETFs. Can anyone point me in the direction of some that I would plan to hold on to for the mid to long term.

5/11/2011 1:58:47 PM

I'm sitting on DGS, EPI, EOD, VWO, and VOT. EEM is solid as well.

I've played with EWY and EWZ in the past but don't currently have either. EWY is a Korea fund that's been pumped up too high lately by people trying to cash in on rebuilding in Japan and EWZ is a Brazil ETF that is largely a play on copper prices due to it's holdings.

Oh yeah, and EWJ, though I expect that one to be flat for a while.

[Edited on May 11, 2011 at 3:51 PM. Reason : .]

5/11/2011 3:50:16 PM

Quote :

"just picked up 46 shares of HIT at 49.78"

closed the position out today. sold at 58.05 (16.6% gain)

Also closed out my ETFC position from 11/09 (500 @ 16.42) 17% gain

5/12/2011 1:12:01 PM

I'm going to have all of my TRAD called away next week with a 22% gain.

Of course, had I not sold calls I'd be up 48%.

5/12/2011 3:22:17 PM

Are you guys playing sectors during the typically flat summer months by doing things such as shifting to consumer discretionaries or biotech and out of industrials for the next few months or even taking on more international exposure short-term?

5/13/2011 12:01:07 PM

commodities crashed because they raised the margin requirements. Not to mention they had probably gotten a little ahead of themselves. They are still in a long term uptrend though.

Grantham says equities are overvalued by 40% and I saw a report today expecting interest rates to rise by 50-80 bps by year end. A huge spike in rates could definitely prick this market bubble.

5/13/2011 9:02:21 PM

but...but..buttt....what about that hyperinflation you're calling for? If they raise rates, it's going to tamp down all bubbles.

5/14/2011 9:07:57 AM

We're getting a ton of inflation already in goods. It's hitting input costs and thats starting to be passed on to the consumer.

There's two reasons we haven't had massive inflation yet.

#1 We're outsourcing the inflation to other countries by sending them paper for goods. Once they stop accepting our paper, the inflation will more localized.

#2 A larger percentage of our economy is service based than typical and services can't raise prices right now because demand has fallen off a cliff. This is part of the reason domestic businesses are struggling so badly and why there is absolutely no wage growth for people who work in these industries.

5/14/2011 3:05:16 PM

FYI, just got an email about the Monex Group making a tender purchase offer on TradeStation (TRAD). They're offering 9.75/share, though the stock is at 9.74/share as of typing this. Might be a good time to figure out a play on it.

http://www.cboe.com/framed/PDFframed.aspx?content=/publish/TTStockSM/11-308.pdf

5/18/2011 2:46:18 PM

So who is actually falling for the LinkedIn IPO trap today?

5/19/2011 7:00:45 AM

Not I, said the Bobby.

5/19/2011 9:15:19 AM

How long did you all wait to start investing after getting out of school? How much $ did you start out with?

5/19/2011 10:14:00 AM

Started 401k investing as soon as I had a job. Didn't do a Roth IRA my first year but definitely regret it and would recommend it to anyone just out of school. Outside of that I took a little time to build some savings/emergency fund (Since I only had $2k in my bank account when moving to take my first job) and was also saving for a down payment on a house. I honestly didn't start doing real non-retirement equity investing until 3 years out of school.

[Edited on May 19, 2011 at 11:17 AM. Reason : .]

5/19/2011 11:15:48 AM

Wow. LNKD is up over $100/share. $10B for a company with $15M in profits and no significant growth expectations. 1999 called and it wants its stupidity back.

5/19/2011 12:57:07 PM

how does linkedin exactly have no expected growth exactly?? talk of this bubble stuff is just an nostalgic fad. do more research into their revenue lines and scope before taking the shortcut and yelling bubble like a sheeple

5/19/2011 1:01:06 PM

You bought some didn't you? hahaha.

This ain't facebook. LNKD has a large base of non-paying members who are typically active only when job seeking. IOW, LNKD activity is well correlated to white collar unemployment rates. These aren't people who click on ads. These aren't people who will pay for a LNKD account. Nobody logs into linkedin several times a day as people tend to do with facebook (which has the ubiquity of anytime, any place, any device). There's very little potential for the type of growth that justifies a $10B valuation, but I'd love to hear why you think otherwise.

5/19/2011 1:11:53 PM

Because you don't know their product lines. Their revenue isn't just ads and impressions, or only subscription models for the end user. They have a hiring solutions lines for research and recruiting to companies that are a huge revenue platform. Unlike a lot of social networks with nothing to do except share pictures and talk about your baby, linkedin has a unique situation dominating the concept of the professional network - supplanting the resume and bringing the workplace connected digitally.

we will see but i think the site is great with lots of upside and fundamentals to continue to do well. not just for those looking for a job, but those wanting to stay in a network and empower their career. I guess i think the idea of a resume and business card both may be supplanted by something better.

5/19/2011 1:16:57 PM

Quote :

"They have a hiring solutions lines for research and recruiting to companies that are a huge revenue platform."

How reliable of a revenue stream is this this really? I could see it being quite profitable in boom times and a money losing endeavor when more businesses are laying off than hiring. Sounds like a revenue stream that correlates to the job demand on the employer side.

Quote :

"linkedin has a unique situation dominating the concept of the professional network - supplanting the resume and bringing the workplace connected digitally."

That sounds great, but how does this get monetized?

----
EDIT:

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/05/19/goldman-leaves-linkedin-party-early/?iid=HP_LN


[Edited on May 19, 2011 at 1:25 PM. Reason : GS: "I'm out bitches"]

5/19/2011 1:22:55 PM

Well Im a recruiter so I can attest that is both a stable and fundamental part of recruiting nowadays, regardless of unemployment. In fact, as people get more jobs it's even more important to have back end access to such a prolific business network like LinkedIn to beat the competition. And that's just on the back end.

For the front end users, ads/marketing is driving good revenue from them considering the user base being a very influential base upon which to market to. Not retail or any brands like that, but more business related advertising.

Concerning the monetization of the front end user, that will be very interesting to see to say the least, but the fundamentals and scale I think of their technology has too much promise to be a dismissal and bubble comment. We all will see but that site actually has functionally helped everyone I know in their career and that isn't some vapor

5/19/2011 1:32:02 PM

Quote :

"How long did you all wait to start investing after getting out of school? How much $ did you start out with?"

Maxed out my IRA and 401K first full year out of school.

5/19/2011 3:05:36 PM