Hello ShareTrader ... any ideas on how to get the most out of this forum??

[ob1kinobi]

Hi There,

Thought I'd introduce myself.

I've been in the market since March 09 and had a good year. Wasn't too hard eh.

This year has been a lot more challenging.

I happened to lose most of what I'd made this FY in the late April correction. I had got lucky with an ASX resource stock and was up over 40%. I lost the lot, by re-investing the profits and failing to sell.

I convinced myself that the market would bounce back like it did in Jan and refused to sell.

I bought at the top, ( it hurts when the three shares you have just bought into start sinking 5- 12% within a few days of purchasing )

Lesson learned - What I think may happen doesn't really matter compared to the markets price action.

I s'pose I'm a short to medium term trader. Not that experienced though.

I'm hoping to build some trading friendships via this forum. Hence my introduction.

I find that I can get easily overwhelmed by information, but recognise that I need to develop a network in order to improve my trading performance. ( No man is an island ... )

I'd appreciate any old heads, giving me a few ideas as to how to approach and use this forum.

I've used it from time to time to get more info on stocks I'm interested in.

So hello once again.

I'm open to ideas and committed to developng my skills as a trader.

I do hope that this forum can become a valuable resource to my trading development.

What do you lot think of its usefulness?

Happy Trading

ob1kinobi

[ENP]

I'd say to figure out what strategy you want to do, whether it be day trading, cycle trading, value investing, dividend investing, etc. And then learn all you can about it.

Personally I like value investing.

I really just come on this website because I'm bored at work and I stumbled acrossed it. I just read peoples posts and take their opinions with a grain of salt. There are some smart cookies here who know how to make money and then just some dreamers and lurkers like myself!

[ob1kinobi]

Cheers ENP,

Im just chuffed some1 replied!! I suppose Im a bit of a dreamer. My first post was an attempt to come out of anonimity.

I just saw a page on this site where you can create your own profile. I haven't spent that much searching around, as Im not really much of a techo ... and too much info does my head in.

Seems like a few people on this site met up from time to time too.

I've been along too to a TASNZ meeting but mostly its just me and my computer.

Nice to meet ya.

[ENP]

Yea no problem.

The best way to learn on here is just look at peoples opinions. I don't post very often.

Also read anything business related, books, newpapers, blogs etc. Youtube is also good. All to learn more about investing, economy, etc.

[STRAT]

Hi OB1
Down load a charting program and Learn who is clever.
Its all here in historical print.
who has insight and/or skills.

[airedale]

OB1, Strat is right, download a charting program and learn how to distinguish a downtrend from an uptrend. You may be a fundamental trader with great knowledge and ready to buy or sell, but read posts by Phaedrus and you will learn when to get in or out. That is the easy part......having the mental discipline to do the right thing when the market noise is clamouring in your ears, that is the hard part.

[STRAT]

Actually Airedale that isnt quite what I was getting at.
OB1s question was " how to get the most out of this forum?"

I was hinting at or suggesting in a rather ambiguous way I guess to read the threads while noting the dates comments are made and using the charts to see how sharp those comments were. I used to do this a lot.
Doesnt take long to see who posts useful information and who, um.... doesnt.

[ob1kinobi]

Hi Strat,

You seem to post quite regularly eh.

Yeah I've got AMI Broker, which is versatile, but I'm no programmer so I just use the charting software. It was the cheapest option at the time.

I don't know what you guys do for a living. I was/am a part-time teacher.

Do you reckon for those in the industry, the market becomes a bit of a gravy train?

It would seem so to me.

I was reading a chpt from Marcus Padleys book, talking about 'The Packer Dynasty' and how you need mates to become wealthy. Of course you can do it on your own but having smart influential friends would certainly help eh.

Cheers OB1

[ob1kinobi]

Phaedrus eh ...

Yeah I hope not to have to learn the stop-loss lesson again ( see earlier post )

I was up 20-30% at the end of Q1. Lost over half of it, next quarter. Doh!

[Lizard]

I was hinting at or suggesting in a rather ambiguous way I guess to read the threads while noting the dates comments are made and using the charts to see how sharp those comments were. I used to do this a lot.
Doesnt take long to see who posts useful information and who, um.... doesnt.

... and I thought it was only Phaedrus we needed to worry about marking our work!

My two cents, just bear in mind that people post for their own reasons - and many posts are not there just to give away a good tip. A forum serves a different purpose to a broker. I don't think many posts are malevolent in nature (as forums are sometimes portrayed), but I think that posts are easily misread as representing a recommendation when often they are simply one opinion, seeking to elicit the opinions of others.