watch EatSleepProfit's videos on youtube. he's really good at explaining stocks to a beginner.
important things i've learned:
1. get a scanner. i use Thinkorswim on tdameritrade. it gives live updates on which stocks have the highest volume/biggest price increases each day. it takes some skill, but you can jump in on the momentum. you can also find gems while they're cheap w/ a scanner.
2. learn about what makes a stock move: high volume, low float (number of shares), upcoming catalysts (FDA approval for drug companies, buyouts), any kind of positive news w/ numbers involved. (i've seen stocks tank on positive news cause it was 'fluff')
3. you don't have to be an expert w/ charts, but you should know about support & resistance levels. Claytrader on youtube is good at explaining it. its pretty basic & you can pinpoint where the stock is headed.
4. picking stocks is pretty easy. but the skill is in getting a good entry & taking profits. if you bought too high, you can buy more shares whenever the stock dips to lower your average.
almost everything i said earlier in this thread is wrong, sorry about that.
its a rough game. i've lost money in every way possible....
NLST- they were in the middle of a lawsuit w/ Hynix & Google. got pumped from .20 to a dollar, everyone was screaming to hold out for 5-10 dollars (beware of pumpers) and people like me kept buying as it went up. but that was also greed on my part. better to take profits when you can.
MNGA- a very popular penny stock. people were bragging about having a million shares. the CEO went on livestream, announced the company was changing its name, with a dumb logo, and a huge reverse split which made the stock useless.
NBEV- had a huge day. everyone was saying to hold out for a multiday run. the next morning, it went up just like they said. out of nowhere, i saw my first short attack. people were panic selling like crazy. the stock was literally going down a dollar every minute & got halted for suspicious behavior...the smart thing would've been to sell half after the first day & let the other half run, or just take profits after the first day. taking profits is so hard when you're a beginner.
i've also taken out cash advances on credit cards to buy more stocks. never do that.
last week BPTH went from 4 dollars to 70 in a couple days. there were a Bunch of stocks hyped as the next BPTH this week, and i went all in on one of them. once again didn't take profits (4 to 6 wasn't good enough for me) so i'm holding onto it & buying the dips.
edit: ^ this is mostly for trading purposes. if you have a large cash flow, you can invest long term with stocks you think are safe like AMD or whatever. but if you're on a budget you have to do a bit of trading.
