hey guys whats up?

well i finally was able to save up a decent amount of money at least for me its a decent amount anyways

i was wondering if you guys could help me with online trading

where to start

where to get some tips

and how to look out for bad deals

anything else i should know please feel free to input

i am young and this $$ is strickly for making $$ i want to invest prob in some stocks

looking at preferable short term deals


let me know what i should do

thanks

 

Define "decent amount," as that will determine a lot about what you are able to do.

"Short term deals," aka trading, is not the same thing as investing. It takes a fair amount of knowledge and experience, and there's a steep learning curve during which you can expect to lose some money.

If that's the direction you want to go, doing a lot of "paper trading" for a while, basically practicing with play money, is what you should do. And be prepared to read a lot up front and even more on an ongoing basis. Personally I don't recommend it to most people.

If you're looking to invest, most of the online brokerages have decent information to start with and there is more available all over. At the very least you should be reading some financial publications on a regular basis. You might also try this one, which was written by a friend of mine: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...711624-2494548, as well as the book cited in another recent thread here.

My own #1 rule for investing and trading is pretty simple: Avoid losses. Make sure you know enough about whatever you're putting your money into so as to reduce or eliminate the chance of a significant loss. If you don't know enough about the investments you're considering to do that reasonably well, then you're likely to be in trouble.

 

by decent amount i mean $4000

and i am trying to learn how to get into this field

where can i go to learn and do this paper trading you are talking abou t

any info would help

thanks

 

I'd start by reading a book on the subject. I recommended one above.

With $4000, you really don't have enough to do more than buy a mutual fund or two. Generally speaking, the minimum required for a real trading account of any sort is $25K, and even if you manage to open an account regardless, commissions will eat you alive if you try to do any short term trading.