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So you want to play the Stock Market..

Thinking about playing the stock market? Just thought I would give you some examples of what to expect if you really want to make money at it. First of all, in the beginning it is going to cost you a lot of money. If you buy 1000 shares a day at 15-17 a share, at the end of the month you will have spent 450000 to 510000 on stock. Thats right, a half a million neopoints. The sad thing is at the end of the month you might not even have a stock that is ready to sell.

OK. I assume that if you are still reading this you still want to give the market a try. The first thing you need to do is decide what you want to buy. I use other people's work to pick my stocks. I go to neodaq.com and print a copy of their Stock Report card. There is no need to print one every day. I use my copy for 2-3 weeks. Next I go to the stocks homepage and see what is selling for 15-17 a share. I buy 1000 of a stock that rates from A to A+ on the reportcard. Now this rating is based on a stock's history, so there is no gaurantee that it will rise as high as it has in the past again, but I have made a lot of money picking A stocks. Since you are starting from scratch I suggest the next day you choose a different stock than you bought the day before. Keep doing this for 7-10 days until you get a variety in your portfolio. Or if you want to speed up the companies in your port, split your 1000 shares into lots of 500 in two different companies for the first 7-10 days. That will give you several companies alot quicker. Having shares in different companies will increase your chances of having a stock rise to your sellpoint. After you get a variety in your portfolio, look to see which of your stocks is selling for 15-17 and buy 1000 of whatever you have the least of. If none of your stocks is at 15-17, pick another A rated stock that is and buy 1000 of it.

Now you have some stock. The first thing you need to do is quit checking it every thirty minutes. It isn't going to increase enough to sell the same day you bought it. Now you have to wait. Checking it once daily should give you an idea what it is doing. You can also go to the Stock Tips board. If a stock is rising their will be plenty of people asking "should I sell?" Also don't panic when the price of your stock drops. This is all part of the game. It may even go to 5 or 6 a share before it rises. Hang in there. It will go up.

So your stock has finally started to rise. Now it is time to decide whether to sell or not. Most people sell at 30 a share when they first start out. Doing this allows you to buy 2000 shares of stock for every 1000 you sell. If you can keep from spending your money on other stuff and put it in the bank to use on stock later you will be able to afford to wait for your stock to get higher before you sell it. Most move their sellpoint to 45-60 a share, then to 60-100 a share. I cannot tell you when to sell your stock because I don't know how bad you need the money. I can tell you the only way you lose money is to sell your stock for less than you paid for it. I reccomend asking yourself these two questions after it hits 30 a share. Do I need the money to buy more stock? Am I happy with the profit. If the answers are yes then sell. If not wait for it to rise some more. Also you do not have to sell all your shares at the same time. You can always sell some and save some to see if it rises any higher.

There is another method of playing the stockmarket called Daytrading. to Daytrade, you pick out an expensive stock and buy 1000 shares of it hoping it will increase enough on the day you bought it to sell it for a profit. Daytrading is not for beginners because it takes alot of money to start. I don't daytrade because I can buy at 15-17 and sell at 60 and make more money without having so much of my money tied up in the market. Here are some examples. If I buy a thousand shares of stock going for 100 a share I am out 100000. If I wait for it to go up to 130 and sell it I clear 30000. If I spend the same amount on shares going for 15 a share I can buy 6667 shares. If I sell it when it hits 30 a share I clear 100000. Plus what happens if the high priced stock you bought drops. You have your money tied up and you can't get it back unless it goes back up. To me it is just not worth more money invested for smaller profits.

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