yeah i dont understand how getting dividends from your stocks work.
also, i think i may have had something to do with the creation of this thread

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5d5aa24e-2...nclick_check=1

Deece read.

I just bought my first stock. Wish me luck!

Is there a non leveraged equivalent of SRS? Something that would be suitable for holding for a long period of time that plays the short side of commercial real estate?

Personally I like VGPMX and have a big portion of my money in that fund, but I don't need it for 5+ years and I'm going to keep it there for a long period of time. Recommend you do your due diligence and read the prospectus before deciding if that's appropriate for you, but I think it makes a lot of sense.

Edit: If you're strictly interested in tracking the S&P Index, then I think VFINX is the fund for you.

You might want to search the the forums at elitetrader and trade2win.

From what I hear the interviews for trading slots are have alot of math/brain teaser type questions. I've also hear that sometimes they actually use card games in interviews. Be careful though, I think I remember Nassim Taleb (Black Swan) saying that when people said they played chess, he'd have some Russian math/chess whiz come into the interview and play them (so if you tell them I'm a winner at 400NL HU have 400 in your pocket because you never know ).

Quick answer is: no. A good, high interest online savings account like ING direct is going to be your best bet.

Complex answer is: sort of. You can buy bonds that get nearly 3% with a low level of risk, and these can be sold after buying. The problem is that if interest rates go way up, the value of the bond diminishes (although it will eventually be worth face value). There are also instruments like MUNI bonds that can fit your description.

Definitely. There are numerous sites: ETRADE, Scottrade, Charles Schwab, etc. It's quick and easy--setup is about as hard as you ING account was, and they can transfer money from your ING account directly into the brokerage account. I use Schwab--higher fees per trade but a lot less BS (like no maintenance fees, e-statement fees, inactivity fees, etc) that some of the low cost per trade palces hit you with.

Index funds are easy. Most people invest through ETFs (exchange traded funds)--there are tons, you buy them on the NYSE through your brokerage account just like stocks, and the fee structure is way more favorable than mutual funds. You can also invest in exotic things much more easily and cheaply than you would otherwise--buying other currencies, precious metals, emerging market telecom companies, etc, can be done very easily. I myself am invested pretty heavily in emerging market ETFs because the dollar is strong and those markets have been hit hard, making them a pretty good value.

Many young people are more than 80% invested in stocks (although many of us have cash, precious metals, real estate, etc as well). They tend to give superior returns over long time horizons.

You should probably read a bit about investing and stuff before jumping in headfirst. But I would definitely get an account going an put a few grand in it to get started.

This might be a ******ed question, but whatever, that's what this thread is for

For a Norwegian trading noob living in Australia, but moving to the US or Canada (and probably living in Canada for many years ) after Christmas: should I bother trying to learn the Aussie markets or should I just get started with the US straight away? The problem is obviously the time zone differences and the fact that I'm not planning on working or living in Australia after 2009. Seems kinda useless to spend months studying a market I probably won't be trading in anyway, but maybe I should see it as an opportunity to get a wider range of knowledge? I mean, I want to know as much as possible about everything, but I wouldn't want to learn at the cost of missing out on something that would be more applicable to what I hope to be working with later. On the other hand, with the time zone difference I might find it hard to be able to sit down and watch price action and follow the daily movements of the US market. I am very much in the learning phase, and probably won't be trading with real money any time soon, but am putting in a lot of time and am quite eager to get started. Opinions, anyone?

I don't know what your schedule is, but I trade the morning and usually set up a mechanical trade for the afternoon, so I trade from 11pm-2:30am usually. Get involved in the US markets if thats your long term goal for sure, if you're really itchy about the time zone, try the asian markets, but they're crazy and you might not learn all that much

Thanks, that makes sense. The US market seems like the way to go, and I guess I can usually catch a fair bit of the morning trading. Cheers.

Does anyone have any more input?

Hi BFI,

Fairly noob question bu could somebody explain what is Pairs Trading? And does one make money off it?

isn't this kind of stuff on wikipedia? pairs trading basically is taking two related stocks or securities for which you have a view with respect to their relative strengths, and shorting one and buying the other. so if you think ford is going to outperform GM, you'd buy ford, short GM, and be hedged against overall market movements that affect both.

Is there an advantage to trading stocks in lots of 100 ?

For example, in general which limit order is more likely to get filled, an order for 97 stocks, or 100?

Which market order will get a better price on average?

Limit orders can only have a % filled, so a limit order of 100 might only get 20 filled at a particular point in time.

Anybody know a site where I can find LME copper spot and future EOD prices for free (at least one year back). I could sign up for a trial at the LME website and then cancel, but I'm waiting for my new credit card at the moment, so if anybody knows an easier way of getting the data, I'd appreciate it.

I wrote:

ahnuld answered:
ArturiusX figured this is simple enough to belong here, so it's here now.

a) How close are the xetrade.com spreads? They don't let me see them unless I register. Some of the links on the Internet indicate it is 1% but cmyr said you have to call them and ask for a better deal, then they'd give you one. Is that true?
b) Any other options do I have?

When you short-sell a stock, I understand that your brokerage account is credited with cash from the short-sale (minus the commission fee). As long as the value of your account exceeds your broker's "short maintenance requirement," are you charged any finance charges or other fees for holding short positions? [I am using Scottrade.]

Is it common to be forced to cover short positions because the lenders want their stock back? Are short positions in certain types of stocks or ETF's much more likely to be forced to cover?

Are dividends ever issued outside of trading hours for any of the nyse and nasdaq stocks?

I occasionally use the market on close order on TradeKing

Should I be worried about getting taken advantage of somehow?

spent ages searching on google but can't find it - what is the ticker for GBP a.k.a the fund/etf that shows GBP purchasing power relative to a global mix of currencies?

figure if i buy a put option on this for as long as possible, i would be hedging my equity investments etc against gbp falls. having said that, given the volatility, im guessing a premium would be 10% to 15% for a year which would be gross!

ty if you can help

in my experience they charge me about half the spread that my bank charges. Think it worked out to the 1% you mentioned

issued? you mean paid out or declared?

Sorry, I mean paid out

normally they are declared at the end of the quarter and they are for anyone who is a shareholder at a certain date, say may 22nd. I dont know for sure but im almost positive it is always shareholders on record at the date after the market is closed. Would be too difficult to determine who is the holder at a specific point in time intraday with all the trading going on.

Then the next morning the stock should gap down the amount of the pv of the dividend