Just hit my one year anniversary of trading stocks and I have finally begun to figure how this thing actually works and am now enjoying myself after 52 weeks of riding a rollercoaster of every mistake that can be made. I am trying to put all of that experience together as I plunge into FTER. Here is what I have learned--I won't give the names of the stocks which taught me each lesson for fear of being called a basher but I can assure you, after many, many trades in the last year, I know of what I speak.
I have learned:
Don't trust a stock that puts out regular PRs promising earnings and contracts that have not actually happened because chances are they will not actually happen--thank you FTER
Don't buy into a stock with a billion share float-I now understand dillution-thank you FTER
Don't buy a stock that only promises profits instead of delivering profits--thank you FTER.
Don't buy a stock that has a CEO who will not communicate with shareholders and shows no sign of transparency with shareholders--thank you FTER.
Don't buy a stock which gives a telephone number that only goes to an answering machine when you call--thank you FTER.
Don't buy a stock in which you cannot explain to your wife what the company actually does--thank you FTER.(Probably should have been at the top of the list!!)
I could go on but I have already embarassed myself with enough of these mistakes. All that to say thank you to some very kind people on this board who live by the precept that there are no dumb questions(believe me, I have asked some). I have now accumulated more shares in this company than I ever dreamed I could with my limited resources. I took the big jump over a month ago when we were in the single digits and have bought on dips and pullbacks. I have learned much about the MMs that influence the price of stocks and now know the importance of keeping some dry powder for opportune times. I truly want to thank the folks on this board who have educated me in an area in which even after a year's worth of experience, I was still clueless. As a teacher now in my 26th year, I have a special place in my heart for educators and although many of you may not have the actual degree, you can teach!! I just want to say thank you as your student. I still have a lot to learn and I can assure you, I am going nowhere. As you all would say, this is a long term play as far as I am concerned and I have no intentions of selling a single share that I own to anyone. Because I have learned the importance of keeping some "dry" powder on hand, I will be adding shares any chance I get-- I sort of sounded like an old veteran trader there didn't I? This leads to my last lesson learned:
Never buy shares in a company where bashers control the board--but rather where people are sincerely interested in civil dialogue and a desire to teach--thank you FTER
