I'm getting started in trading stocks...need advice.?

As usual "Common Sense" provided you with some sound usable advice that comes from experience..

So here's my advice, also based on extensive industry experience

To be a trader you must first learn how to invest. You must know the products and the markets traded in those markets and more importantly you must know the rules that govern those products and markets. You need to address four major policies and have very strong discipline to follow them

1 - You need a written sound trading/investment plan with rules that will not only help you but more importantly protect you, mostly from yourself. Always use stops either to protect you on the down side or to lock in profits on the up side. Never trade on emotions, when emotions get involved walk away. Don’t try to out-smart the market, you’ll loose but if you always take what the market is willing to give you, you’ll be successful. Other words, you don’t trade against the trend since the market is always right.

2 - A written money management program is essential. Remember never invest 100% of your capital into any one security and never have 100% of your capital invested. Never let a loss on a trade get greater than 8%-10%, always take you loss and walk away - don't loose more than you need to and don't be afraid to take the loss. Remember you never can get hurt taking a profit. Never average down, but you can average up.

3 - You must have sufficient trading/investment capital. Use your own money, there’s no need to go into debt so that you can trade and/or invest. Margin can be used but only with restraints, never let the account fall below 45% equity. Unless you fully understand margins you should not use it.

4 – A full and complete understanding of the rules & regulations of the industry. If your going to play in the game be sure you know the rules of the game and always follow them.

Get into the habit of making daily visits to some websites like MSN Money and Yahoo Finance. (http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp , http://finance.yahoo.com/

Visit some of the more professional websites like Zacks Research - http://www.zacks.com/ Smart Money - http://www.smartmoney.com/ Schaeffer’s http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/

Investors Business Daily - http://www.investors.com/default.htm?fromad=1 and Naveller - http://navelliergrowth.investorplace.com/portfolio...

Some of these web sites will have advertisers who are worth looking into also. And remember, if they offer free information, get it.

And when you think you want to invest/trade, try some paper trading to test your skills without spending you money http://simulatorinvestopedia.com/ and/or http://www.tradingsimulation.com/

Opening accounts with brokerage firms is very easy, just visit their website and follow the directions. If you get stuck, or need help, just call their customer service area and they will be glad to walk you through the process (no there's no fee for this).

No you don't have to sit in front of the Computer and watch the ticker, just make your decision to buy and know when you are going to get out. Remember, you never buy a stock unless you know when you're going to get out of it.

All brokerage firms trading platforms provide you with current investment/trading news.

Good luck on your journey, study hard and you’ll invest/trade well.

I would recommend taking the $800 and depositing into your brokerage account monthly as you say, but not buying just because you have it. You can keep cash in the account and buy selectively on down days, it doesn't have to be all $800. My recommendation is to sign up for actions alerts plus, its worth the money, as that will take away your guessing on when (or what) to buy or sell. Then stick with a subset of the stocks (you won't be able to trade every stock like they do, as they have around 26 and are always adding to or selling some).

By the way I love good dividend stocks, those have really paid off for me over the years. You still have to pick the right company though as cutting the dividend or having the stock go down 20% isn't a good option. Try to buy most dividend stocks in an IRA or retirement account so you don't pay the taxes, thats what I do anyways....

96% of "buy and sell" traders lose money. You will be one of those if you pursue this approach. However, I realize nobody believes it will happen to them, so I suggest this: Do nothing until you have accumulated $4,000. (That's 5 months of $800 a month savings). Then start your stock trading.

When you have lost 10% of your money ($400), realize your approach isn't working, and then invest in index mutual funds from either Vanguard or Fidelity over the long term.

Just from your questions, I can see you don't even know how much you don't know. That's not meant as an insult, it is just a red flag to me that you are a long way from being ready to be a stock trader.

I say this assuming you are wanting to build wealth through investing. But if you are doing this for the thrill of gambling and don't care how much you lose, then ignore my comment.

If you mean "buy and sell"... you mean "trade" or "hold" for short periods of time, that's called swing trading. Keep in mind that the shorter your time frame the longer it will take you to learn so you can be profitable year over year profitable. Most people that swing trade use Technical Analysis.

Swing & Day Trading can take 3-5 years to master. The vast majority of people that attempt this fail. The skills needed, in order of importance are;

A. Trading Psychology (yours and the markets)

B. Risk Management

C. Technical Analysis (use to decide when to buy and sell, as well as stop order placements).

Read 6-12 of these books before you start swing trading;

http://joefahmy.com/2010/03/17/recommended-reading...

http://www.chrisperruna.com/2010/01/10/2010-stock-...

70% or more of my trades are news based. I use:http://pro.benzinga.com/ But this is me. Everyone trades differently. Most trading of the news takes tons (years) of experience in Risk Management. I would have been out of trading in less than a month if I had started it (news trading) as a novice.

Many new traders go after stocks trading below $5. That's a major mistake.

Many new traders try to hit a home runs. That's a major mistake.

Never force a trade (don't make a trade just because you can)

Never go against the trend of the market (at least for the first 5 years).

With Swing Trading you should generally keep 30%-50% of your account balance in cash. This way you'll still have money to trade if things go very bad. Putting all your eggs in "one basket" in anything is never a good idea.

Remember this fairly famous line;

Amateurs getting into trades want to know how much they'll make. Professionals always want to know how much can they lose.

REMEMBER: Risk Management is job #1.

AGU: You've got a great pick for a swing trade. It's just starting to breakout. This is a high beta stock (volatile). Your first level of resistance will be around $88.00. That's where I'd most likely exit the position (or at least 50% of the position). I'm not looking at my platform right now so... I can't give you a stop price. I wouldn't have more than a 2 point stop.... otherwise your risk/reward ratio becomes too small. If you make a profit on 50% of your swing trades (in a year), you're doing well.

You haven't told us how much risk you are willing to take. You also have not told us how you will know when to sell a stock. What are your guidelines for selling?

There really are no shortcuts for making money in the stock market.

It's a good idea to diversify . That spreads the risk. Look into some No-Load mutual funds that invest in blue-chip stocks, and put your $800 per month in a couple of those. And $800 per month is plenty.

At some point you will get burned. If it's adventure you're looking for, go on a safari in Africa, Or take up hang-gliding.

I disagree with your plan to "buy and sell" (that is actually called "trading") and then buy dividend stocks. In today's market environment you will get killed trading - you are competing in that arena against very smart people who do have all day to look at tickers. You will lose doing that. I would invest, which is different from trading because: (a) you are looking at the longer term, and (b) you are focusing on the fundamentals of the company rather than looking for a catalyst that will boost a stock overnight.

However, if you do want to trade, I would watch FAST MONEY on CNBC. And listen carefully. The people on that show are traders. Don't get wrapped up in the options stuff, at least until you know what you are doing. I've been investing for years and don't touch options. I saw a question a few months ago on YA from some idiot who woke up one morning and found his $27,000 account with Scottrade was zero. He had let his options expire, at which point they are worthless. But he didn't know that.

On this site you find all the details about my favourite binary trading software http://tradingsignal.toptips.org/

I like it because it's very easy to use: NO complex charts… NO baffling analysis... NO complicated methods... in fact nothing to learn at all! Check the site... (the proof videos are interesting)

since you are too busy to look at a ticker, I suggest you buy dividend stocks eg Apple and sit tight. Sell only if you need liquidity otherwise enjoy the dividend quarterly :)

the best trading software http://tradingsolution.info/

i have attended a lot of seminars, read counless books on forex trading and it all cost me thousands of dollars. the worst thing was i blew up my first account. after that i opened another account and the same thing happened again. i started to wonder why i couldn,t make any money in forex trading. at first i thought i knew everything about trading. finally i found that the main problem i have was i did not have the right mental in trading. as we know that psychology has great impact on our trading result. apart from psychology issue, there is another problem that we have to address. they are money management, market analysis, and entry/exit rules. to me money management is important in trading. i opened another account and start to trade profitably after i learnt from my past mistake. i don't trade emotionally anymore.

if you are serious about trading you need to address your weakness and try to fix it. no forex guru can make you Professional trader unless you want to learn from your mistake.

Blue chip shares are much risk free, so the price may be a little bit higher for you. But if you choose ETF, you may have most blue-chips in your account.