For any newbies out there reading this board.When trading always and I mean always take some of your stock off the table if ya are riding a winner.As a example,if ya have a .10 cent stock and it goes to .20 take some profit.Or sell 50% of your position and recoup your initial investment and now you will be riding free shares and ya have lived to trade another day.Or sell all and double your money..there is not a broker,bank,fund,etc..that can give you that kind of return on your money.If ya have sold before the top dont worry about it,Greed can be a killer too and instead be thankful that it was a profitable trade.There is always lots of runners somewhere everyday.
When it comes to trading it is all about makin profit..Always try and maximize profit and minimize losses....when it comes to taking a loss...no matter how good of a trader you are...you will inevitably lose on some trades and when ya see that happening minimize that loss...Stay cool and don't try and convince yourself that it will go back up....For the most part,as a rule for myself I will not lose more than 8-10% max on any stock..If i see it headed for that 10% I dont get upset or let it go to 20%,30%..etc I sell because I know that each and everyday there is hundreds/thousands of stocks out there running or getting ready to run that are calling me to buy them.It took me some serious cash to learn this,cause when I first started trading I was the king of bagholders.It dont take to many bags for some people and your outta of this game for good...but by minimizing your losses and taking your profits and chipping away at it..in time you will be surprised at what your account looks like...If I hit 5 trades outta 10 I consider myself fortunate...Now that don't sound like a very good average does it...but when ya are trying to maximize profits and minimizing losses ya will be surprise how your account grows.I also suggest that ya learn how to read a chart and what all those indicators mean and diffinately educate yourself on how to read a companies filings and what all the different filings mean.....I know a lot of folks just want to make money and dont want to do nuttin but buy stock and watch it go to the moon.I wish it was that easy,but the reality is ya have to do your homework in order to make money playing this game.There are alot of free sites on the web that will teach all of this and investopedia.com is a good place to start....I cannot emphasize enough to new folks how important it is to know as much as ya can about this racket,cause we are at such a disadvantage to what is going on with everything that takes place in the market...but it is 100 times better than what it was just 8-10 years ago as far as having access too and knowing what is going on...it is just up to us to educate ourselves as much as possible to the filings,charts..etc of trading stock....Ok time for a cheap analogy...In the movie "Patton" He had beat Rommel in a tank battle and he said "You German Son of a Bitch,I read your book"...cause see before the war Rommel had wrote a book on tank battle strategy and ol' Patton had read it before there battle and whooped him....I know the Market is not as serious as war ...But to me it is my Battlefield and I don't want to give the Son of a bitchin powers that be anymore advantage over me than I have to.
I believe researching,reading and learning is key to success in the market.I by no means am saying I know it all,cause my wife would be the first to tell ya I don't...lol But by Minimizing losses,maximizing profits and lots of boring reading I have been able to make a pretty nice living at this and after using my back the first 18 years in the work force...I am loving every minute of it.I am now to the point that i don't have to trade anymore if I don't want to.I tell ya this...not to brag(I hate braggards)I tell ya this to let ya know that if ya work at it,this racket can be rewarding if ya put in some time to learn to use the tools that are freely available to ya.Ok newbies if ya have managed to read this far, then a 10-q will be like reading a interesting short story...lol Ok I am done rambling.Go make a bundle and I wish y'all the best.
Austin
"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid." - Col. David H. Hackworth
