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i use scottrade, but that's more because my dad taught me, it's what he uses, and their headquarters is local, so if they screw something up, you can go to a local store and bitch.
finance.yahoo.com is where i track all my stocks, check stocks, and talk to fucking idiots who don't know what they're doing. avoid the message boards. they are ridiculous.
advice... here's some serious advice. every single person who trades has their own opinion on what works best, what you should do, and so on. most of it is pie in the sky bullshit. the only advice that most people can give you is going to be obvious anyway. basically, if advice overlaps from more than one person, it's probably a good suggestion. but, here's a few suggestions.
-make small goals. SMALL GOALS. my goal is 2% net gain every week. sometimes i make it, sometimes i exceed it, sometimes i fuck up. but 2% is very doable.
-check your stocks. check them every day. check new stocks, follow stocks others tell you about, check out companies you like or read about, whatever, just make sure you're staying active and looking at your portfolio and other opportunities every single day.
-if your stock has risen enough to reach your goal, sell it immediately, no questions asked. when i buy stock, i set my desired selling point and let scottrade take care of it automatically. i don't set it to alert me, i set it to sell. if it goes higher, oh well. i still reached my goal, i still came out ahead.
-don't buy into sure things or anyone's bullshit. everybody who daytrades is a shifty, greased hair, suspenders wearing, larry king looking motherfucker who wants to rape everybody else and cash in. when somebody tells you about this awesome new company or whatever, they're somehow trying to cash in on you buying it. this is 100% always true.
-and finally. major companies are safe bets. but the return sucks. when i feel like fucking around, i love penny stock. if you reach your goals, there's no harm in taking a chunk and throwing it at some really, really cheap stock. it keeps things interesting. this is where i use alerts and actually watch the pricing.
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