I'm jumping back in the stock market

[CTA_Busa_LE]

I quit trading back in March of last year after taking a couple big hits and decided I needed a break to reevaluate things a bit. I've taken a long hard look at the strategies I was using, changed a few things, and feel it is time to get back in as my paper trades have been going well. I'll admit I'm a bit nervous to get back into it but at the same time feel pretty confident about it. Anyone else out there in the same position with any thoughts on this?

 

[semi]

i never got completely out (and paid for it a couple times ) but i'm not sure if i want to go all in yet...i still think we have a little while before things level out but there are some opportunities if you can weather the ups and downs...just because a stock is down doesn't mean it is cheap, keep in mind that sales and profits are also collapsing in many sectors and add that into your evaluations and you should be ok...i would just take it slow, just my 2 cents worth...best of luck to you

 

[DaCol.]

I never got out ! NOW is the Time to BUY SMART ! Big money is there to be made in the near future

 

[CTA_Busa_LE]

i never got completely out (and paid for it a couple times ) but i'm not sure if i want to go all in yet...i still think we have a little while before things level out but there are some opportunities if you can weather the ups and downs...just because a stock is down doesn't mean it is cheap, keep in mind that sales and profits are also collapsing in many sectors and add that into your evaluations and you should be ok...i would just take it slow, just my 2 cents worth...best of luck to you

I'm not going all in right now and much of what I will be doing is short selling and option puts. Wall streets response to the stimulus package was a big factor in my decision making. I'm betting on the markets going much further down before they level. Biggest problems last year was all of the rumors and actions the feds were doing. One group would say recession and markets went down, another group talked bailout and they would rise, there was just nothing to base anything off of. Seems that right now most plans have been tried and the market doesn't put much stock in anything said right now, everyone seems in agreement it's going to get worse before better so I'm thinking I might as well capitalize on it.

 

[F=MA]

What's that saying...don't gamble with scared money.

I did well last year on three out of four trades I made. Would have hit a home run on the Ford stock if I'd had the guts to hold it for a couple of weeks. Chickened out on that one and took a $2700 loss...exited too early what could have been a $45,000 profit if I'd stuck with my original belief.

I haven't really nailed down any mechanical trading strategies myself...just look for short term oportunities with potential for 3%-5% gains in a day or two...then pull the trigger with a big (for me) order. I'd love to read about what anyone has found to be successful - PM me.

The best trade I had last year was gold, played through the streetracks gold fund (gld). Bought for $50k in mid January, held until mid March. Netted $5k on that one.

We're doing a lot of remodeling/addition work on our home now, so the capital isn't available to work with at present. It's killing me because I'm seeing an opportunity to travel back in time ten years or more to when I was a starving college student and didn't have the money to invest. Six months or so down the road we should be in a better position to start accumulating stock again.

Until then, I'm just writing off our projects as local economic stimulus.

 

[CTA_Busa_LE]

I don't play with that much, my average plays are 1-5k and I look for plays where I can turn 20-30% in a couple days.

I used to trade just on charts but when the markets started going haywire the charts became useless in my opinion. I also used to pay attention to many stocks, now I'm down to just watching one or two solid key stocks in a couple sectors as well as a couple ETFs that I really like. Once you learn how a certain stock will react to the rest of the market it's just a matter of reading the momentum and making an entry and exit at the right times.

 

[Hayabusa2005]

Great time to buy now...markets could drop slightly more, but regardless...a great time to buy in stocks and hold on to them - Buy, buy, buy for your 401K

 

[CTA_Busa_LE]

Great time to buy now...markets could drop slightly more, but regardless...a great time to buy in stocks and hold on to them - Buy, buy, buy for your 401K

This is just my play money, I have a 457B deferred comp plan and supplemental pension plan as well as my pension for the serious stuff.

 

[rc51ny]

I never got out of the market. I'm a totally sure things will come back--so I'm in for the long haul. In additioin, now is the time to buy. What's the old saying--"Buy low...". Over the past 20 years, I've done VERY well in the market, so I'm staying all in.

 

[RYC1966]

If you like buying things on sale some good stocks are beat down now. It almost seems if you don't take advantage of it your loosing money...even if it is a $500 total on some $1-5 shares...there is money to be made

 

[xc700]

take a look at atk stocks,they make bombs and bullets.i think stocks will go up very soon

 

[Wag]

Probably a little early if you're looking for a bottom right now. I think it has yet to come down as far as it's going to.

Credit card losses haven't hit yet. Only about half of the bad residential real estate mortgages have hit and none of the commercial real estate bad loans have hit.

For the most part, though, it can't hurt to get into some good companies which have been battered without justification. I would just make my buys in about 5 or 10 equal monthly or every other month buys.

Short sells are more than my fragile senses can handle! I might be tempted to learn how to option trade, though.

--Wag--

 

[CTA_Busa_LE]

ATK looks to be holding together better than many just by looking at the chart. It is trading right along side the Dow. I'll add it to my watchlist as I don't watch anything in that sector at current time.

Big thing I'm watching right now is the March calls on SPY, especially right around the $85 strike price. The march 85s closed yesterday with a .45 premium (that's $45 per contract + fees). The market has now had six straight days of losses, time for a little correction is what I'm thinking. I'm looking for two or three up days which could easily produce gains well over 100% in the very short term on the march calls. Just a $5 gain on stock price would give me 200% or better gains on the options. Once that hits the puts will decrease in price and I'll take profits and grab some contracts on the down side, most likely April 70 or 75 puts, as I look for the overall decrease to continue after a small correction.

 

[CTA_Busa_LE]

Probably a little early if you're looking for a bottom right now. I think it has yet to come down as far as it's going to.

Credit card losses haven't hit yet. Only about half of the bad residential real estate mortgages have hit and none of the commercial real estate bad loans have hit.

For the most part, though, it can't hurt to get into some good companies which have been battered without justification. I would just make my buys in about 5 or 10 equal monthly or every other month buys.

Short sells are more than my fragile senses can handle! I might be tempted to learn how to option trade, though.

--Wag--

Options are where it's at, once you wrap your mind around them you will wonder why you ever did anything else. The flip side is they can eat your lunch real quick if you let them. The positive side is you don't have to front a lot of capital to make a lot of money.

 

[Wag]

Options are where it's at, once you wrap your mind around them you will wonder why you ever did anything else. The flip side is they can eat your lunch real quick if you let them. The positive side is you don't have to front a lot of capital to make a lot of money.

I understand them functionally but learning to value them is where it's at. The guys who know how make a lot of money and the people who don't, lose their butts.

What really gets my juices flowing is futures but I'm too chicken to do that right now! If ever! Still, I like to paper trade on the commodities markets, just to see. . . .



--Wag--

 

[skydivr]

Still looking for capitulation and we have more bad news to digest.