If I was you I would put your 5k in a bank at 4.5% Their aint no get rick quick tips. like the rest of us you take your chances win great loose take it like a man on the nose. But you sound as if you would top yourself if you loose, and 5k aint enought to top yourself PUT IT IN THE BANK

Just read my own post .. sorry folks, it's all over the place. Let's see if I can get to the point. This to those with a few years trading experience:

1. Do U have networked PC's linked at home, or multiple screens to one "supa" puter?

2. Which technical analysis software do U use? Sharescope / Visual Trader / MoneyAM, ... etc?

3. Which trading platform do you use - ie. getting in and out of the market

4. Do U keep this on a seperate monitor, live and open at all times?

5. Is there a share price variance between the technical packages and the trading platform which also quotes it's own share prices?

6. Are all sell transactions transacted immidiately - especially penny shares? OR could they decline my sell request?

7. On MoneyAM's streaming data screen, TYPE of Tx is "O", "AT" and "L" ... what do these stand for?

8. Is it still possible to get an online T+10 account?

9. I'm happy (well, resigned) to meet Tx costs, varying from 7 to 15 a deal. But having looked at Hoodless Brennan & Prtners website (demo) ... cheap isn't necessarily best ... what is the concensus out there as to who are the most professional and helpful (online) broker - or should I get a "payphone" broker on the high street?

10. How do the X-purts KNOW there's been a pos+ move on a stock they own, given that we're not chameleons able to watch 2 monitors (shares/graphs/etc.) simultaneously?

Please feel free to comment, I promise not to sue!

OK before anyone accuses me - I don't get a commission from croc (posts the daily traders thread), but I would recommend attending one of his one day courses. I've been investing for more than 20 years, and trading on & off for the last couple of years. But struggled to get my head round some of what I was hearing & seeing. Finally 2 weeks ago I went on his one day course - it confirmed a lot of what I had heard, but most of all he actually showed me (& everyone else there)by putting into practice things - you got see to believe! Personally I wish I'd done it years ago - but of course I thought I didn't need it, as I'd been involved some way or annother in the market all my life.

I suggest you base everything on Need to Know i.e.discard 90 per cent of
information.
rgds aj

I agree with LW. I have been trading for years but have signed up for one of Croc's courses in August, i.e. www.snappytrader.co.uk to learn more. I don't think anybody would advise investing in the stockmarket if you can't afford to lose it - you could put the lot in and lose most of it overnight with one terrorist attack and that is the reality, even with blue chips. Meanwhile, with regard to broker, I changed mine a couple of years ago and now use comdirect who charge 12.50 flat rate - not cheapest, but have used for some time and found them extremely good. I am sure you can find similar but they also handle my SIPP (which is one of the reasons I chose them, as not everybody will do this). IMHO. DYOR.

T D Waterhouse also do 12.50 flat rate. 11.95 as a frequent trader, I find it suits my requirements, easily obtained trading details, instant trades at prequoted price and hardcopy backup usually the next day.
Hope this may help a little.
opto

If I were u, I would follow Sue Helen tips, she always picks good stock and they tend to go up, must be strict as they also fall very quickly so u need to keep an eye. Good examples: British Energy, Warthog, CWV Webview, African Gold. Soem people call her a ramper, maybe she is but so what!!! it works. PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE RESPONSABILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THEIR OWN ACTIONS. She is not putting a knife and asking anyone to buy, she just state some facts and it is up to you to decide. If I had follower her I would have made tons of money. I decided not to in few occasion but I did with Warthog and made some quid. Thanks Sue Helen!! Your fan number 1!

Straight away I'd forget trying to make a profit in 10 days. There is a spread on the shares 5a difference between buy and sell prices). I'm pretty sure the MMs don't like to move the price by more than the spread in a short period of time, unless they have a reason to do so. So in the absense of news for the companies you are unlikely to be in profit that quickly; and if you were, it might be eaten up by trading costs. Work out 12.50*10=125, 5 buys and 5 sells. Add on 1% stamp duty or whatever it is, 5000*1%=50, and we are talking about having to make 175 just to stand still. Forget that. Go for undervalued shares and hold for a long time if they are moving slowly.

To start off with however, you might want to move your money around let's say from year to year. There are a couple of reasons. 1. With such small amounts you can buy and sell without moving the price, or at least you spoil the price for somebody else and not the rest of your share holding. 2. You are likely to be within your capital gains limits, so you can move the profit into another share without first giving away 40%.

There are reasons however not to move money around. If you find a good well managed growing company, why move the money. It only takes one mistake to put it into a dog, and you are easily stuck.

Get a good understanding of how compound interest works. For example a bet of Schumacher to win a race is higher risk than a bet for him to be world champion. But a race bet can give a return in hours whereas a championship bet need months to mature. So which is better value, the risky race bet, where returns can be compounded several times over the months? That's a simple example, but trading costs, risk/reward (expected return), compounding, and tax are the key things to understand to maximize your return.


1. Do U have networked PC's linked at home, or multiple screens to one "supa" puter?

A1. I have a good computer with modem internet access. It did have two screens but lightening took out the one that wasn't protected by a uninterruptable power supply.


2. Which technical analysis software do U use? Sharescope / Visual Trader / MoneyAM, ... etc?

A2. None. I base myself on fundamentals. I do look at charts, but I don't use them much for actual trading.


3. Which trading platform do you use - ie. getting in and out of the market

A3. I don't know what is a good platform, and I'd like to find out. I have a large amount in a company that is just siting still, but when the time does come to sell, I will be an active trader and having the right platform might make a reasonable difference. At the moment it doesn't. With 5000 I'd think your effort is far better directed at picking shares than picking your platform.


4. Do U keep this on a seperate monitor, live and open at all times?

A4. I used to. It was fun to watch the market move, and sometimes I'd jump the moment a price varied. I had SMS alerts to my phone and would buy some things the moment they dipped, etc. But assuming what you are buying is an absolute bargain that you have recognised, something is wrong if you are out and waiting for the bargain to get a lot cheaper.

It is something I will consider doing again when I have a large cash pile in addition to my main investments.


5. Is there a share price variance between the technical packages and the trading platform which also quotes it's own share prices?

A5. Others will know that better than me. When I buy things, like the field next to my house, I'm not too concerned about the price as it is valuable to me. If a share is well undervalued you can try to get the best price you can on it, but surely not at the expense of missing it. If it is not well undervalued, don't buy it, wait for one that is. You will make mistakes, everybody does, so why add to that by going for things you are not certain about?


6. Are all sell transactions transacted immidiately - especially penny shares? OR could they decline my sell request?

A6. You can put in 'limit' orders or 'at best' orders. Limit orders will not go through until the share is at the price you specify or better. 'At best' should go through straight away. That's for trades like your 5,000. If you have a big stake in an illiquid company, it could be that nobody wants it, or it has to be leaked into the market over a long period. I don't think you'll have that problem for some time yet.


7. On MoneyAM's streaming data screen, TYPE of Tx is "O", "AT" and "L" ... what do these stand for?

A7. I use a rival site more frequently than this, and the mnemonics look different, but there is usually a help button to explain. If not, contact MoneyAM, or ask again.

8. Is it still possible to get an online T+10 account?

A8. I'm pretty sure it is, but I haven't got one. TDWaterhouse do T+20 I think, so that qualifies as T+10 in my book, just settle earlier if that is what you want.

That implies to me that you want to guess events. If that is something you are talented at fine.

I'd like T+20 too, but I'd use it just so that I can buy a bargain at a moments notice and than sort out the funds for it in my own time. I wouldn't try to be a day trader. (Leaking a huge holding into the market might be called day trading, I don't know. As I say, I'm sitting and holding at present.)


9. I'm happy (well, resigned) to meet Tx costs, varying from 7 to 15 a deal. But having looked at Hoodless Brennan & Prtners website (demo) ... cheap isn't necessarily best ... what is the concensus out there as to who are the most professional and helpful (online) broker - or should I get a "payphone" broker on the high street?

A9. I prefer online. I hate call centres etc. With just experience of two brokers, very different, one online and one very much a human touch, I'm not qualified to reply.



10. How do the X-purts KNOW there's been a pos+ move on a stock they own, given that we're not chameleons able to watch 2 monitors (shares/graphs/etc.) simultaneously?

A10. I had stock alerts sent by email to an SMS gateway and then to my phone. It has happened that I have been online with the thing staring me in the face, and the first I knew about it was the phone bleeping and reading it on the SMS. I bought the share and the buy pushed the price straight back to where it was. I saw it as a profit of sorts at the time. They company went through sort of bankruptcy since, but emerged alive but crippled.

Choice is far more important than price. I read once about Glaxo Smithklein Beecham - and I don't know if this is true, I haven't checked the prices - but the shares were say 30 and if you bought them 30 years before for 30p instead of 15p, people would have called you a nutter.

Maybe the story is not true, but it illustrates the point.


I'll not spend my time ramping my favorite share here, but something goes into production this year; something else the year after. They have a partner to help them progress, and contracts which only bear fruit after a period of time. I'm patiently (or more like impatiently to be honest) waiting for all that to filter through.

Some people buy on hope, others on the rumours, some on the contract news, some on production, some on break even, some on profit, when there is a reasonable dividend, etc.

The trouble with the stock market is if you have a shares in a good company that you have researched well it is a risk to put money into a lesser researched company, especially when 40% is going to go in tax.

I am happy to move the money around. But I need a darn good reason to do it.

crystalclear

NEVER save potatoes for next years crop......but on a similar note

make your own wine and beer, jam, picallili etc. saves a fortune that you can then flush down the stockmarket drain LOL

crystalclear
Stampduty currently 1/2% on the purchase only
Rgds
opto

As at - Friday 21st of May 2004
Position	EPIC	Company Name	% Change	Users
1	EEN	Emerald Energy	285.71	pistolpete2
2	CFP	CFA Capital Group	230.19	Soulretro, hilary
3	CYC	CYC Holdings	215.38	al100
4	DAG	DA Group	164.58	BLAND2, Rkencars
5	AFD	African Diamond	143.24	dlpm, Wendy D, axe79, Terra99
6	BGY	British Energy	142.70	DOMINGO
7	IBL	International Brand Licensing	119.40	ticker
8	ATV	Antonov	118.18	depeched101
9	IDN	IDN Telecom	105.56	keeplosingwoman, amana
10	PCI	Petroceltic International PLC	102.61	porky, sinead33, Testex, griffon

Superrod

The girlfriend does the gardening so I am no expert but where do potatoes come from if not from the year before? There is no such thing as potato seed that I am aware of, its the 'eyes' of the previous years potatoes that throw off shoots that grow the year after while the old potato withers, isn't that so?

Return on investment seems to be about 1000%, ie 10 spuds for every one planted, tax free.

So it seems to me the stock market is a better investment than planting potatoes if

1. you don't own a reasonable patch of land,

2. food costs are insignificant compared to the return on your shares.

For somebody with 5000 to invest a year's food bills could be say 50 weeks * 20 = 1000, ball park figure, and one good share like my pet Antonov in his 5*1000 would give a return say 100%, ie 1000.

So we are talking risky stuff in the stock market compared to a pretty safe return. I'm not saying don't do the stock market, I'm here myself. But take the easy riskless returns first. 100%-ish on Antonov and hopefully more to come is not going to happen as regularly as a potato crop.

Newby1066.

With your background, why not stand as an Independent candidate for Houses of P. or even THE EU. Pays good, rewards high and there is plenty of free time to concentrate on the Stock market.

Seriously though, with your background, initially concentrate on finding companies in electronics, education etc. which is related to your knowledge. (Stick with things you know about, rather than talk or hear talk about.) For you buying a company is similar to a farmer buying a field, it is generally worth to him, only what he can produce from it, or rent it for.

Sometimes he may plant a good crop, sometimes a bad crop, sometimes it rains when it shouldn't. At the end of the year he hopes to make more than what he could have made on it if he had invested in a bond or bank account.

The same goes for a company, it is a good company when it is either earning more that the current interest rate + inflation or has the potential many times over to do so. (That is the gamble or risk factors come into play.)

Read Jim Slaters books Basic books on the ZULU PRINCIPLE. I think these contain good basic knowledge of company fundamentals and written in a very clear, quite entertaining way.

Get Technical Analysis for Dummies by Barbara Rockefeller. This like the other Dummies books is well written and not overplaying the bases, concepts or results from TA.
(I dont know a lot about charting or its principles but since using Moneyman and reading this book for the Fourth Time (I am a very slow learner) I have become fascinated by some of its concepts and I think charting will become more and more useful for me, in finding trending shares and timing buys and sells.)

Also, if you buy shares, which have a good fundamental analysis, and a good trend you will be less likely to by a dud, if you are following the graphs, and also buy and sell at a more appropriate times.
Once in profit, which covers dealing costs ie. spread and contract charges and 0.5% (double this if you are going to buy another share) set a sensible automatic stop loss which, protects your profit for next time. (Sometimes you will curse the stop loss, but if you look at the end of the year, probably you will thank your self for doing so. Egs. BPRG, RTD, TFC ETC.)

Setting the correct stop loss is the problem.

Initially, if you wish to trade in and out, use the bigger companies with smaller spreads and larger Normal market sizes. Follow their trends. (Smaller but more reliable gains, which mount up over the year.) (If you made a mistake on the Fundamentals you are more likely to recover or at least get out with smaller losses.) (Cut your losses and let your profits run.)
Aim to make 50% or more a year, but be satisfied with 10 15%.
I personally use Comdirect and Barclays for dealing and though I was a little disgruntled by Barclays initially, after it took over C Schwab, but now I am more satisfied.

Dealing costs for both are about 12.50, with Barclays the fees drop to 7.50 after a certain number of deals.

Both companies have good research facilities and Comdirect allows automatic Stop Losses. Barclays is said to be introducing these within the next few months. (GOOOOOOD)

Another tip is plonk some of you kitty in ISAs. It simplifies your tax returns and if you are lucky save you some capital gains in the future. Unfortunately, this prevents you from trading AIM and OFFEX Gambles with this money. (A SIPP (Comdirect) will allow you to trade a greater variety of securities, and you have immediately gained 20+ % on your initial investment, the problem is you cant get at the money until you are ?55 and then only 25%. (There are, I believe, some fiddles around this.)

Bear in mind what ever you do in life should be fun, the stock market is a game and the more you read the more you think the greater will become yours skill and hopefully rewards. I have found and still find it fascinating.


THE OTHER THING IF YOU SEE A SHARE TIPPED, CHECK ITS FUNDAMENTALS, WAIT AND SEE, FOLLOW THE GRAPHS FOR A WEEK OR MONTH or LONGER. IF THE SHARE IS GOOD NOW, IT SHOULD GOOD THEN!!!!! You will have lost nothing and if it is good and you buy later you will only make a little less.

A good software package for analysis, I think along with others is Sharescope although COMDIRECT DOES have good online Graphics but I think Broad Band is necessary to make it useful.


DYOR




Now I would like some help.


I have of recent started flirting with Data Mining Feature of Sharescope, filtering on various criteria for shares which may be useful at some time in the future. (Watch and Wait.)

My problem is that I am beginning to use more and more PEs,ROCE, ROC, PEG, etc. as a method of evaluating companies, but the program at the moment does not provide "norms" or "averages" values for the different Sectors.

Does anybody know of an Internet Site from where I could extract this information? Or have other Ideas where it can be gained from without having to key it in from FT ETC.

Fred1New - company refs evaluate each company against the market in general and against their own specific sector. Contact me and I will mail you an example. They don't actually give the underlying numbers but an 'at a glance' comparison.

I too would be interested if anyone can give a source for the underlying data.

Newby1066 - If you drop me a line I'll talk you through the practicalities of running an account as best I know how. (I'm not punting for your business)

Regards

38

38, thankyou, Have E-mail you. But think I have a solution.

Buy/Sell antique silver cutlery.Capital virtually guaranteed i.e.low downside/
high upside.
rgds aj