I am new -- need educated advice

[GreyGuy]

Hello,

I have been in contributing to TSP for a bit over a year and have about $5k so far. I am intrigued by the thought of 'trading' but am unsure how to maximize the benefits. I have just been holding my current allocations for most of the time. I would love some good advice on how to 'trade' wisely, what to look for, and how to get started. I would like to educate myself. thank you.

 

[FUTURESTRADER]

Hi Grey,
Welcome to the board. Trading wisely will require, aside from luck, charts for technical anaysis. Stockcharts.com, Prophet.net, bigcharts.com, all free. As well as yahoo finance charts as you can see at the bottom of these pages. Technical analysis (charts with 'indicators' i.e. MACD, Stochastics, RSI, Volume) and Fundamental analysis, usually for longer term traders.
Read this board, paying attention to those who have good track records, (yearly returns), not one or two months. And those whose rational for their moves are well explained an make sense to you. Beware of crystal ball anaylsis

 

[Show-me]

Hi Grey,
Welcome to the board. Trading wisely will require, aside from luck, charts for technical anaysis. Stockcharts.com, Prophet.net, bigcharts.com, all free. As well as yahoo finance charts as you can see at the bottom of these pages. Technical analysis (charts with 'indicators' i.e. MACD, Stochastics, RSI, Volume) and Fundamental analysis, usually for longer term traders.

Welcome! There is the key FREE, FREE, FREE! I have been all over two of those sites and there is a wealth of FREE information. And lets not forget here. Welcome to the MB, pull up a chair and read. A little every day cuz you can not take it all in at once. I lurked for a long time before playing the game and I still have a lot to learn. My goal is to do more with less moves.

As far as advice, no one will point blank tell you how to invest, unless they are getting paid. That has to be your choice. Trading is for risk takers like me, it's not for everyone. Find a comfortable blend, like a L fund, and start there. Practice on paper making some move using charts and trends untill you get a feel. It may not be for you. It take a lot of time and effort.

Capital preservation is important also. Good luck and ask questions.

 

[BigJohn]

GreyGuy,

Here is what I did...after just watching for a few months. I went to the home page and found the Members Monthly Returns group and looked around there for a while and got a feel for those members who had CONSISTENT returns month after month, returns that were verified on the tracker. I would then keep an eye out for a handful of members who had consistent returns, whose analysis I respected and I watched for their posts; I used their opinions as a sort of sounding board for what I thought the market was shaping up to do.

I have no background in business or in the market, so I start with very little to add to the discussion. I listen to Bloomberg and read the WSJ and hope to contribute more in the future...

 

[Oldcoin]

http://www.investopedia.com/

Here is a good site with contributed articles on terms and techs.

Welcome to the board.