NetTrade

• Social Networking For Clueless Traders

  Social networking has become a popular activity among online users. In fact, it may have become the most popular online activity that people engage in when they get connected to the World Wide Web. And it seems that social networking may not only help people get in touch with people all over the world and build connections, beginner traders may also benefit from social networking as they try to learn the ins and outs of online trading.

  For beginner traders and do-it-yourself investors, it can be a pretty hard climb towards succeeding in stock trading. For one, inexperience may not do them good in a market that may also be considered as high risk. One way to combat inexperience is to learn more and more about stock trading and market basics in order to get the feel and the right tools to make better trading decisions. What could be better to learn about trading basics than from fellow traders? This is where online social networking may be able to help.

  Zecco and TradeKing, two brokerage firms with an online presence has started an online community for clients as well as for individual do-it-yourself investors and beginner traders who may discuss and offer trading and stock market advice to each other. The two brokerage firms are considered to be the first among various brokerages to offer online social networking on their websites. These online communities do more than just offer a means for online traders to discuss certain trading issues and offer advice. They now allow community members to reveal their portfolios to others as well as provide performance ratings among the top achieving users.

  As an online community, the relatively new social networking for traders can especially be very beneficial to small-time do-it-yourself investors at the stock market. Because of their stature, small-time individual investors usually have no access to certain trading information that may help them better evaluate certain stocks to make more informed decisions. Through social networking, online traders now have the means to interact with fellow trader members of the online community who might be owners of a certain stock to inquire how they might be performing. The advice as well as the knowledge learned through such online social networks may provide additional information that will help even beginner traders make more well informed decisions.

  Not only that, the online communities on Zecco and TradeKing also provides performance ratings to its community members to see who performs and makes the best deals. This adds a little competitiveness among members that can motivate them to become even better at stock trading and investing. It is one of the good reasons how social networking online may be able to help a greater number of people interacting and helping each other out.

  Posted in Online Trading

  August 20th, 2008 / No Comments

• Day Trading Dilemmas

  There will always be firsts; in online stock trading, you will probably encounter more than your fair share. You need to know how to go about your first few encounters with day trading because you cannot simply go about day trading haphazardly. There have been occurrences when day trading has had only moderate results instead of optimal ones. In order to start making some gains, you need to understand what you need to do. The key is patience and diligence-both of which need to take time, especially if you’re just starting out. One of the best ways to start day trading is to start small. Whenever you start out small in trading, you are able to minimize your risk while building your confidence. If you lose money, you’ll only lose a small amount. And whenever you experience gains, it only adds up to the confidence that you have as an online trader. You should also probably get into the habit of reducing your lot size whenever you experience a downward trend and lose a lot of money. If you are already losing money, why should you lose more money when you could essentially lose even less?

  One of the things that you have to know about trading is that you have to plan your entrance, the trade itself and how you’re going to go about it, your exit and finally, your emergency exit plan. For example, you will be trading at least 100 shares of your technology stock and your risk on the trade from the entrance to your stopping or vice versa is 1 point, and if you are only trading 10 shares, the most that you can lose on the trade is $10. Compare this to a trade where the potential loss on a 100 share trade with a 1 point stop loss would be $100. This will be very handy if you know that when you stop trading, your potential loss will be much less.

  The analogy for this is like playing blackjack. You would like to minimize your risks and keep them as low as possible during your play until you learn the different lessons that you need to learn in order to gain the experience that you need in order to succeed. Always be mindful of these risks during day trading because you might lose more money that you’ve expected to. Take every learning and apply them immediately. That way, you lose less and gain more experience which will someday pay off when you make the right decisions.

  Posted in Online Trading

  January 23rd, 2008 / No Comments