Are You An Investor Or A Trader?

photo by rednuht
.
Often times people say that they invest in the stock market. Many times I’ve heard people say that they’re a trader of stocks. What’s the difference? It easy to know the answer if you break down the meaning of both of them.
.
An Investor is someone who looks toward the future. A person who is looking at the positive outcome of something (ie, stocks, companies, properties). Investors don’t go into anything that they don’t have the full picture of. You will never hear an investor say “I’m hoping for a 10 point jump tomorrow in XYZ”. They don’t look at their portfolio on a daily basis and think of what stock they’ll buy today or sell tomorrow. When an investor gets into an investment, they’re in it for the long haul. The decision wasn’t made hastily and on a whim. He or she has looked over all the necessary paperwork to see if this is a sound and profitable venture. An investor will also look into what the worse case scenario could be and prepares his investment accordingly.
.
A trader on the other hand is someone who will ride a trend for a short period of time. He or she is not in it for any long length of time. they see an instant opportunity and make a quick a rapid decision. Yes, they may know the overview of the stock and have an idea on the short term direction of it, but that’s their goal, short term and now. A trader is also known as a day trader for a reason, they will get in and out of a stock with in the same trading day. A trader is looking out for themselves, unlike an investor that may be looking into their future generations as well as their own. A trader doesn’t really care about the future of the company, they won’t be there that long to care.
.
It may sound like I’m not too keen on day traders, but I do respect what they do and I’ve been known to day trade myself. I’ve made some good money that way, but I noticed that the more I got into doing it, the less I enjoyed my weekdays. I found myself getting lost in the markets trying to find the next “big hit”. I realized that I wasn’t happy during the trading hours for whatever reason.
.
.
P.S. Want to learn more about the stock market? take a free two week trail with Jim Cramer from TheStreet.com

.
I love the stock market and look forward to it everyday, I don’t let myself get lost in it, for if I do, I’d lose myself as well.

Tags: Getting Started In The Stock Market, Help, How to make fast money, Stock market for beginners, Stock trading

Related posts

• The Stimulus Plan Doesn’t Stimulate Anything (0)
• Take Advantage Of The Stock Market (0)
• Stock Market Technicals (0)
• Stock Market Research Could Pay Off In The Coming Weeks (0)
• Sell-Off’s And Rallies (0)

This Morning’s Discount Sale On Wall Street

photo by Walter Rodriguez
.

After yesterday’s sell off, the best thing that one can do is to go out and buy the stocks of companies that you know are good. I watched the market all day looking for stocks that I know have value and were sold off too much from yesterday’s debacle.
.
Days like Monday don’t come along too often (that’s a good thing), but when it does you need to be ready to buy the stocks that you know are at a lower price than it should be from people selling on fear.
777 point drop in the DOW hasn’t been seen since 1987 and many smart and prepared people made a bunch of money by having a good supply of cash on hand.
.
I hope that you guys were able to score some great discount prices on the stocks you watch. Typically when the markets take a dive like it did Monday, they will bounce back quickly because of the prepared people jumping back in on a great deal.
.
Just to name a few of the stocks that I got into to give you an idea how well you can do when ready to take advantage of an opportunity.

Mosaic Co. (MOS) – A stock that I’ve been in before, but got out earlier this year when I thought the stock had grown too much. When I saw that the stock was down to $61 last night, I said that I would jump in if it doesn’t pass $65 in pre-market. It worked out well, I was able to pick the shares up at $65.
.
Converted Organic CL B WRTS (COINZ) – I’ve talked about this stock many times on this site and have nothing but good thing to say about it. The stock closed yesterday at $4.70. When the markets open this morning, the stock was down to $3.17. I was able to grab it at $3.25.
.
Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ENER) – Here’s another company that I expect great things from in the near and long term future. The stock closed at $53 Monday and I thought that I wouldn’t be able to grab it at that price (which is where I wanted to get it) since I knew it would get a great bounce even before the opening, but I was wrong (it happens). When the markets continued to drop after the opening, I was able to get it at that price.
.
Like I said , I hope you guys were able to o the same and get in on some great deals. If you didn’t don’t panic, I do expect to see the markets drop again this week while we wait for Congress to remove their head from their ass. I don’t plan to be in these stocks by the end of the week. I’m going to hold off until I get the gains I estimated and then jump off for a while again.

Tags: How to make fast money, Investments

Related posts

• What A Way To Start The Year (1)
• The Stock Market Is Getting Ready For Another Run Up (0)
• The Stimulus Plan Doesn’t Stimulate Anything (0)
• The Bull In The China Shop (0)
• Sell-Off’s And Rallies (0)

Agricultural Stocks – Converted Organics Inc...

Agricultural stocks have been a big winner over the last year or so. The leaders of the sector are Potash, Monsanto and Mosaic which have had great returns for their shareholders except for the ones that bought and held on to the stocks during that period. These stocks as well as the sector have come back down to their levels of last December.
.
With the way the markets have been performing, it has caused the entire sector to pull back to levels that can’t be ignored. On September 8th these three Stocks have hit their lows of the year and what should be a great entry point back into them. Their fundamentals are still strong and should be a great buy. About two months ago Jim Cramer of Mad Money said that these stock are out of favor with the street, but I beg to differ.
.
What really caught my eye last month was Converted Organics Inc, a stock that I’ve been in before and made some money. When the stock fell below $4 per share I decided to jump back in, but instead of buying ticker symbol: COIN, I looked at their other symbol: COINZ Converted Organic CL B WRTS which has basically mirrored the parent stock. I bought into the stock at $2 a share and in the first two days it did drop $.25 where it hasn’t looked back since. In the last three weeks it has gone up over 250%, I don’t know about you, but those are the types of quick returns I love to see. The company has continued to make deals and grow. They reported that their revenue grew in the second quarter. In their press release dated August 13, 2008 the president Edward J. Gildea said “We are very pleased to report that Converted Organics’ revenue almost doubled from first quarter to second quarter of 2008, and we look forward to updating Converted Organics shareholders on the status of their business, We are very pleased with the Company’s progress thus far in 2008, and we are optimistic about future potential.”
.
As for myself, I too am very pleased with the reports that have been released and enjoy the gains that I’m having so far.
At the present time the only stock of this group that I own is COINZ, but I am waiting for another pull back from the other three and do plan to get in at that time.
Before buying any stocks that I’ve spoken about in this post, please do your homework to see if this invest is right for you.

Tags: Commodities, How to make fast money, Investments, NASDAQ

Related posts

• The Stock Market Is Getting Ready For Another Run Up (0)
• Sell-Off’s And Rallies (0)
• Great Rally After The Selloff (0)
• Are The Bulls Charging? (0)
• Another Day In The Stock Market (1)

Hedge Fund Mayhem

It was reported yesterday that the drop in the commodity sectors was because of rumors of hedge funds liquidating assets in those areas. It basically tells me that this sell off was un-called for like I stated the other day.
.
Again the market took another hit in the morning hours with commodities leading the way. All day on CNBC, they stated that it was possibly because of hedge fund managers. I myself don’t know too much about the hedge funds nor do I follow them. Hedge funds managers typically do short-selling to hedge against losses in the market. The members of hedge funds are the very wealthy and people like us would never qualify to be involved in a fund like this and to me it sounds too risky.
.
I would like to explain hedge funds with my readers, but I don’t know where to start, so I went on Wikipedia to get a better idea of how to explain it to you, but after reading different sites I’m more confused than I was before I reading them.
.
Investopedia is a site that I follow on my feed and enjoy reading it daily. Their description of a hedge fund is a little easier to understand. If you feel like having your head spin please feel free to read the explanation (good luck).
.
What ever the reason for the sell off, I’m taking advantage of the share price of a few different stocks. Stocks like Freeport McMoran (FCX) have great fundamentals and are way down after dropping over 15% in the last two days. When I sold off my shares of FCX about two weeks ago when it was in the low $90 range. A week and a half ago it was near $94. Today it hit a low of $78.40 before it gained a little strength and closed at $80.36.
I don’t know if there will be more of a sell off in this company , but I took a bite at $79 and expect to see this stock back in the $90′s again real soon.
.
Whatever you decide to do, do your homework and due diligence before you take action
Happy trading.

Tags: Commodities, Hedge Funds, How to make fast money

Related posts

• The Stock Market Is Getting Ready For Another Run Up (0)
• Oil Takes A Bath In The Market (0)
• Agricultural Stocks – Converted Organics Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) (0)
• You Can Make Fast Money With Dividends (0)
• Wind Power And Penny Stocks (6)

Are You Ready For The Stock Market Tomorrow?

The day started out on a tear, the DOW opening up 88+ points and peaked at 11,783. At that point it started to taper downward for the rest of the day. What I don’t understand is why there was a sell off on a day that showed promise.
.
Because oil was down the markets had some strength and should have held on to the gains, but for some reason it didn’t and I don’t believe what I see. I’m looking at this at a great buying opportunity. I’ve already took a bite late this afternoon when the financials hit the day’s bottom.
Like I said the sell off shouldn’t have happened today, so when Freddie Mac was down in the low $4 range I bought shares at $4.50 as well as Fannie Mae at $6.40. This is purely a trade play, if things go the way I expect it to be I should catch a little more of a gain tomorrow and sell out of it by the close.
.
I’ve said before that I’m not a fan of the financials, but this sector is too volatile and gives great opportunity to play the bounces. Freddie Mac has been in the $4 range several times in the last month and jumps up double digit percentage points within days. As for Fannie Mae, their resistance line seems to be around $6. I don’t recommend this type of trading for everyone and if you’re new to the markets I suggest that you don’t even think of doing it.
Solar stocks seem to have taken a hit today that goes against to what should have happened when oil drops as much as it did, but like I said… It’s a great buying opportunity. Do your research tonight and get ready to jump in. I’ve sat on the sidelines for the last two weeks with my daily trading account, but that’s about to change. I love my job (if you want to call this a job) and can’t wait for tomorrow.

Tags: Financials, How to make fast money, Investments, Stock market news

Related posts

• The Stock Market Is Getting Ready For Another Run Up (0)
• The Stimulus Plan Doesn’t Stimulate Anything (0)
• What Happen Today in the Stock Market (0)
• What A Way To Start The Year (1)
• The Sign Of Things To Come (0)

Oil Takes A Bath In The Market

Hurricane Gustav came in this weekend and did nothing compared to what Katrina did three years ago. The region prepared for the worst, which is better than they did back then. With all the rain that came in, oil took a bath. At the start of the day oil was down as much as $8 and as I type this post oil is sitting at $108.50.

It’s being said that with everyone looking at what the storms could do to the price of oil that they’re not looking at the fact that OPEC will be meeting on September 9th as well as that there are no sanction being put on Russia in regards to the Georgia conflict. One trader that was interviewed on CNBC stated that this is a good buying opportunity (I beg to differ).

last week I built a position in stocks that leaned toward having oil go up in price. My thinking was that if Gustav came in and hit the region harder that what it did, the price of oil would have gone up. Unfortunately it didn’t go that way and I’m getting hammered today with those stocks. One of those stocks was Cabot Oil & Gas Inc. which is presently down 8% and the other is XTO Energy Inc. down almost 9%.

.

Watching the markets you can see that the airlines are doing great today because of the drop in oil prices. United airlines (UAL) and Delta are up over 16% as of 12:00. The rest of the sector is just about up 10% as well. If you were one of the traders that bet against the storm doing damage and invested in the airline sector you’re doing great so far today. I do believe that price of oil will come down more by the end of the month (maybe somewhere near $100) and I will be looking for dips in certain stocks that would gain strength on those numbers.

.

As for the financial sector, it’s up again today with news coming out on many different levels. I said last week that I would be building a postion in one or more stocks from this sector. Lehman Brothers was one of those stocks that I jumped into and the other was Goldman Sachs. In the last three trading days I’m up 14% and 8% respectfully.

Day like this are the days that I like to see. If you look at the Retail sector you can see that this economy is stronger than what the bears want us to believe.

Tags: Commodities, Financials, How to make fast money, Stock market news

Related posts

• The Stock Market Is Getting Ready For Another Run Up (0)
• The Stimulus Plan Doesn’t Stimulate Anything (0)
• Not Another Manic Monday (0)
• Injection For The Financial Sector (0)
• Financials, Oil And Commodities, Oh My. (0)

Wind Power And Penny Stocks

Two great things that go great together. That seems to be the way it’s going right now and will for some time. Wind power is the talk of the town and with oil bouncing up and down, Wind power play is going to pick up more head-winds.

T. Boone Pickins has made wind power a more serious play in the energy sectors with his purchase of 667 turbines from General Electric (GE) back in May. Since then more and more companies are coming out to join the crusade. I was trading solar stocks last year and did quite well for the most part, but that was mainly because of First Solar (FSLR). Early this year I started looking into wind power companies and some of these companies I still invest in. Some of the ones I started with were foreign companies, but have pulled back from them since May.

I don’t know if any of my readers watch Jim Cramer on his show Mad Money, but he did a show a few months ago where he built a windmill from scratch. he spoke about the different companies that are involved in supplying the components to build these wind turbines.
Many of the companies that he profiled on that show I was already looking into and investing and trading stocks in some of them.

The reason I mention penny stocks in the title of this post is because there are some of these wind power companies that can be considered penny stocks. When trading penny stocks I mentioned that there is more risk involved because the company is new and/or doesn’t report earning on a regular basis. With that said I will let you in on some stocks that I think you might like for your portfolio. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Do your research and due diligence first before investing if you want to be one of the stock market success stories.

Mass Megawatts Wind Power Inc. (OTC BB: MMGW.OB) This company has been around for 10 years and have now started to make progress with their patent design windmills.

Composite Technologies Corp. (OTC BB: CPTC.OB) Here’s a company that provides the cables to connect the turbines to the grid.

Mas Tec Inc. (NYSE: MTZ) This stock is no longer considered a penny stock since it trades above $10, but I mention it because it’s probably the best in transferring the power from the turbines to the grid. When I jumped in on this play back in April, it was trading at around $7.50 it now sits at $14.60 at the close Friday.

Broadwind Energy Inc. (OTC BB: BWEN.OB) This company still trades on the OTCBB, but the price is now at $17.66 as of the close Friday. Only four months ago this company was trading at $9 and it went as high as $29 (I jumped out at $27.50). This company operates on many levels and their wind power division will just take them higher in the future.

As with these companies that I spoke about, I do plan to get in them again. Make sure the investment is right for you before you make a trade.
Happy Trading.

P.S. Want to learn more about the stock market? take a free two week trail with Jim Cramer from TheStreet.com

Tags: Alternative energy, Buying penny stocks, How to make fast money

Related posts

• Sell-Off’s And Rallies (0)
• The Winds Of Change (0)
• T Boone Pickins Is Behind Natural Gas And Wind Power Stocks (8)
• T Boone Pickens Update (0)
• Stock Market Research Could Pay Off In The Coming Weeks (0)

An Apple A Day

Last month I spoke about Apple Inc. The company had just released it’s earnings report which was according to the analyst was “OK”. In after hours trading on July 21st, the stock plummeted to $148 because of the dim guidance from Apple.
I said that the company’s future looked a lot brighter than they lead on to and that it might be a good time to take a hard look at Apple.
.
For the next two weeks after the report Apple floated from $155-$166, but in the last week it has gone up about 10% where it now sits at $179. That’s a total gain of almost 20%. I don’t know about you but to me that’s a beautiful gain and the best is yet to come. Recently the analysts are saying that this stock will go above $200 in due time. If They’re right (I believe they are) and you do the math, you can still get at least another 10%.
.
The Apple stores can’t even keep the iphones on the shelves and besides that there’s a waiting period if you want one. Their sales from the iphone 3G are on a tear and won’t be slowing down anytime soon. In the news today, China Unicom has announced that they are getting ready to spend $14.5 million to build out it’s high-speed 3G network. On top of that Best Buy said that they will begin offering the iphone in their stores by September 7th.
.
Which ever way you try to slice it, I only see that Apple has nothing but good thing in their future. They’ve been doing what they said they would do. I’m glad to see the rise in the stock and look forward to where they’ll be by the end of the year.
Happy trading.

Tags: How to make fast money, Stock trading

Related posts

• The Stock Market Is Getting Ready For Another Run Up (0)
• The Stimulus Plan Doesn’t Stimulate Anything (0)
• Take Advantage Of The Stock Market (0)
• Stock Market Technicals (0)
• Stock Market Research Could Pay Off In The Coming Weeks (0)

Apple, A Possible Buying Opportunity.

.
photo be hotblack
.

Apple(NASDAQ: AAPL) beat Wall Street’s third-quarter expectations which was expected but the company’s guidance for the this quarter seems to be below what the street was hoping to see from the tech giant.
.
The company said today that it earned $1.07 billion, or $1.19 a share, in the third quarter, compared with a profit of $818 million, or 92 cents a share, a year earlier.
.
Revenue climbed to $7.46 billion from $5.41 billion a year ago.

The average expectation from analysts was $1.08 eps which beats the street by about 9%
.
For the fourth quarter, Apple stated that they expect revenue of $7.8 billion and earnings of $1 a share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $8.32 billion and earnings of $1.24 a share.
.
That’s enough of the technical mumbo-jumbo. What I see is a great buying opportunity. The shares are down in after market trading to $148.50(@6:00pm) which is an 11% drop from where it closed today and may continue to drop a little more. As you may know that this is the company that has just released it’s new iphone on July 11th and Apple has said that they sold over 1 million of them in the first three days. The ipods are still selling at the same rate for some time now and with the younger generation having more than one each, I can’t see this stock staying anywhere near this level when they report again. It also looks like the MAC is making a comeback.

Tags: Earnings report, How to make fast money, NASDAQ

Related posts

• Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) (0)
• Another Day In The Stock Market (1)
• The Stock Market Is Getting Ready For Another Run Up (0)
• The ADP Report Better Than Expected (0)
• Sell-Off’s And Rallies (0)

The Idea Of Shorting Stocks

You own 100 shares of company XYZ at the current value of $100 per share. My research has lead me to believe that the stock price of XYZ is overvalued and a pull back is in the near future. I come to you, and ask to borrow your shares. You agree, as long as I pay you back the shares in the future. I take the share & sell them for $10,000 ($100 X 100 = $10,000).
.
The next month the price of the shares have dropped to $60 per share. I purchase 100 shares @ $60 each (100 X $60 = $6000). I then take those shares to you as I said I would. You still have your 100 shares & I get to pocket $4000.
.
In my opinion, this type of investing is like going to Las Vagas. It’s completely gambling with more than you most likely can afford. You have potential to lose more money then you would have if you bought the stock to go up in value. When you buy a stock for $10 a share, the most you can lose is $10. In shorting a stock, if the price goes up to say $40 you will have actually lost $30 in the process.
.
I buy stocks for one reason and one reason only. To go up in value. When I invest in a company it’s because my research has shown me that the fundamentals are strong and the company is growing (as it should). Shorting stocks to me is a negative outlook on a lot more than just the stock market. When the bottom was dropping out of the financial’, I just didn’t invest them. Part of the reason that the financial sector tanked the way it did was because of the shorts that were being laid out.
.
In order for an individual to short a stock, you must open what is called a margin account with a broker like Scot trade or TD Ameritrade & are subject to the regulations that govern shorting stock. If your thinking of shorting a penny stock. Forget it, there are guidelines to that which are too much to get into. Besides, you should be staying away from this type of practice anyway.

Tags: How to make fast money, Stock market news

Related posts

• What A Way To Start The Year (1)
• Today In The Stock Market (0)
• The Stock Market Is Getting Ready For Another Run Up (0)
• The Stimulus Plan Doesn’t Stimulate Anything (0)
• The ADP Report Better Than Expected (0)