Tony,
Yep, I started as an investor too. For me investing is betting on the efforts and integrity of a company and economy.
As for trading, "think like a crook", seems to be a valuable tool!<g> It remends me of the jusrasic period when the dinasuars got their eggs eaten by the newer more nimble little mamals.
I don't know if I will pass trading 101, but its been one of the few ways to profit in this market. I am here to pick up some of the crumbs that Zeev and others drop. There was time when buy and hold worked for a lot of people. I just held too long. "Good things will come to those that wait, Ah, but not to those that wait too late" author unknown.
When day trading I keep about four windows open: Broker, TICK (courtesy of Lycos), this thread and maybe some research sources specific to the stock traded incase news breaks.
If I loose its not much. Although I trade market orders to save on fees, I always have a mental stop or stop loss order if away or offline. I don't even have a margin account and a trade or two and I am done for the day. I'm a light weight and don't trade all the time. My tools are primitive, plan is weak but stops are decided on at the purchase, to the point that the sell order is filled out as soon as the purchase is confirmed; just one click to execute the sell.
Its been important to have the stops. It feels ok to take a small loss, at first I wonder "will it go up now" but even if it does I accept that my timing is off today. Hope this doesn't sound condescending. I am no one who should be giving advise.<grin>
russ
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
