Anyone use ETrade?

[Blue_Diable]

Im thinkin about startin up an account with ETrade and investing a small amount of money while things are down...can anyone give me some advice or tips on where to start? I dont know much about the trading world...except buy low, sell high...but yea...any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[grapejuice1998]

I prefer Scottrade. If you were to set up an account with them, any trade is $7. If you used me as a reference, both of us would get 3 free trades.

There is a book out there about how to trade in the stock market, which will explain a lot if you can get a grip on any of it. I gave it to someone else to read and never got it back, so I can't tell you the exact name of it, but I got it at a Borders and found it by browsing the investment area.

Options trading is a pretty good way to play the market. I've done some "covered calls" and made a couple bucks, but I kinda lost interest in the market lately.

[Blue_Diable]

Cool, thanks for the info. Im prolly gonna go look at some books this week...I def. gotta read up a bit before I start wasting money. Ill look into Scottrade too...if I decide to go that way Ill let ya know and use you as a reference.

[grapejuice1998]

That'll work. Good luck with it! I actually made a small bundle of cash in the market last year, which is why I decided to buy a house.

[PHILLYRT]

I LOVE MY ETRADE ACCOUNT VERY EASY TO USE AND NO PROBLEMS AFTER 8 YEARS....

HERE ARE SOME TIPS FOR YOU IF YOU ONLY HAVE A SMALL AMOUNT TO INVEST.....
-NEVER EVER EVER BUY LESS THAN $500 IN STOCKS AT A TIME.... IF YOU DONT HAVE $500 TO INVEST IT MEANS YOU CANT AFFORD TO LOOSE THAT MONEY.... ITS ALL A RISK

-CHECK OUT IN DETAIL ANY COMPANY YOU THINK MIGHT BE A GOOD INVESTMENT....

- LOOK INTO THESE STOCKS
F- FORD... ITS DOWN AROUND $5.50 A SHARE ... YOU KNOW THEY WONT GO UNDER... GOVERMENT MAKES TOO MUCH MONEY ON THE TAXES THEY CREATE TO LET THEM GO UNDER... ALSO THEIR EXPORT NUMBERS WILL BE GOING UP ALONG WITH ALL AMERICAN AUTO MAKERS DUE TO THE WEAK DOLLAR.... ALSO LOOK AT WHAT HAPPEN TO CHRYSLER 5 YEARS AGO WHEN THEY SOLD... SHARES WERE $13 AND OVER 4 YEARS WENT TO $105.... WHO KNOWS...

-SIRI- SIRIUS RADIO.... AROUND $3.00 A SHARE AND THE GOVERMENT JUST SAID YES TO THEM BUYING XM RADIO.... I'D SAY THIS WILL PROB GO UP TO AROUND $14 IN 2 YEARS AND MAYBE EVEN END UP AROUND $25 IF THEY DO WELL BY THE CUSTOMER WITH THEIR NEW A LA CARTE OPTION TO BE RELEASED AFTER THE MERGER....

-ETFC- ETRADE... SHARES ARE AROUND $3.50.. ETRADE TOOK A BIG HIT WHEN THE HOUSING MARKET STARTED TO DEFLAT... UNLIKE THE REST OF THE OTHER MORTGAGE COMPANYS THAT TOOK A HIT ETRADE REALLY SHOULDNT HAVE BUT THEY GOT GROUPED WITH THE OTHERS. IF YOU LOOK AT WHAT THEY HAVE LOANED OUT MOST OF THE CUSTOMERS BORROWED LESS THEN HALF OF WHAT THEIR HOUSE WERE WORTH OR THEY HAD A CREDIT SCORE ABOVE 700.... THEY ONLY HAD A SMALL RATE OF HIGH RISK LOANS... WE'LL SEE

-LOW- LOWES.... I CANT REALLY GO INTO THIS BUT ITS A GOOD BUY AT THE LOW $20'S MARK.... LOOK INTO THIS ONE.... STEADY PERFORMER WITH A DECENT DIVIDEND SOMETHING LIKE 1.5% NOT ALOT BUT ITS SOMETHING...


HERES SOMETHING ELSE TO LOOK AT ..... WHAT BRANDS DO YOU BUY ? WHAT STORES DO YOU SHOP AT ? ETC... IF YOU BELIEVE IN THEM TO SHOP THERE OR USE THEIR PRODUCT MAYBE LOOK INTO THEIR STOCK SOMETIMES IT WORKS OUT .... SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE BAD TASTE!

GOOD LUCK
NICK:woot:

[grapejuice1998]

The guy on Mad Money was crowing about this one: "ATN". They own a shitload of gas rights in Pennsylvania and throughout the Appalacians. They are getting ready to start drilling. I'm going to cash in some of my crappy investments and put it all into that one.
I used to own Sirius and got burned when Howard sold his stock. Even with the XM merger, I'm not going back into that one.

An other thing to consider; I only buy in 100 share increments, because that is what's called a "contract", which can be optioned out as a covered call.

[Blue_Diable]

Thanks for the advice guys!

Alan, can you by chance explain "contract" that can be optioned out as a covered call?

[grapejuice1998]

Thanks for the advice guys!

Alan, can you by chance explain "contract" that can be optioned out as a covered call?

I think so:

Lets say you have 100 shares of Widgets and you bought them at $3 per share. Widgets, being the hot item that they are, will most likely go up in price and hopefully, by quite a bit.
Speculators are always looking for a good deal, so maybe word has spread about the Widgets, so you can offer a "contract" (100 share block) up for sale, at say, $6 per share. Looking at an option chart, you would see (for example) that Widgets are fetching .50 per share for a strike price of $6 in April. So, you offer your contract (100 shares) up for sale @ $6 per share, ending the 3rd Friday of April(all options expire the 3rd Friday of the month). If someone thinks Widgets will go way past $6, they will buy the option @ .50 per share. That money($50) is yours to keep, whether they exercise the option to buy, or not. If the price doesn't go up and the option expires without purchase, you have made a small profit and you still have your stock. If the price does go up (even if it goes way past $6), you get the $6 per share and you still keep the original .50 per share "option" money. Greed may make you feel like you lost money (if it went way past $6), but you're still double + $50 on your initial investment.

This is the one I bought 100 shares of today:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ATN

This is the options chain for that stock:
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/op?s=ATN

The "bid" price is what each share is worth right now, as an option to buy, at a specific strike price. You can see what the speculators are doing by looking at the "open interest" column. You can also see what they are worth in future months, but if you decide to take that option, your shares will be tied up until they are bought, or the option expires.

This information applies to "calls", I am not as familiar with "puts".

Get a book and read it, or, usually the broker websites have tutorials. I don't know about other trading companies, but Scottrade also has stock brokers on hand, that can buy/sell/ help you in any way you need it.

Hopefully that's understandable. :goodluck:

P.S. This is why I bought this particular stock today:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?play=1&video=699631239&__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cquote%7Cvideo%7C&par=yahoo

[Blue_Diable]

Awesome! Thanks a ton for writing all of that out. Im pretty sure I understand what youre talking about. That guy makes sense about why to buy into that energy company...if I had the money to invest at this moment Id probably look a lot harder at that. But yea...thanks again for the info, if I go with scottrade Ill def. let ya know.

[grapejuice1998]

No problem.
That stock has already made me money! :biggthumpup: