Do any of you seasoned traders have any advice?
Yes, I do, with all due respect to everyone here, this is my opinion only, and a legitimate answer to your question:
Skycat, you need to understand a few things about this kind of investing. I am a professional trader.
1. You bought a stock on the OTC Bulletin Board market, which is, for all intents and purposes, unregulated. You did not buy a NASD listed stock, or a NYSE listed stock. (I never buy bulletin board stocks...others can, that's fine. I don't.)
2. You bought a stock for no other reason (it appears) than someone "kinda suggested" you to buy it. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, however if a registered stock broker bought shares in a company for his personal account, and then called his clients to tell them to buy that stock, and one did, and the broker got caught, he just might go to jail. It's called "front-running" and it's against the law.
Now I am not implying that someone did something illegal, because they didn't. Tokyo Mex, for example, makes no bones about announcing that he has a position in a stock before he "puts it out" to his loyal followers. Tokyo Mex makes a lot of money. I don't know how much money his followers make, but personally, I never buy on a "tip". Never, never, never. By the time I hear about it, the stock is already moving, and I get the feeling that the guy that gave me the tip is selling his stock to me. That's what I'd be doing if I were him.
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3. You said you are a "newbie". I assume you mean that you are new to investing in the stock market. If so, you have no business buying a bulletin board stock. They are among the riskiest investments on the planet. The companies that sell stock on the BB are not required to report financial status and other relevant facts to their shareholders. Such facts are quite important to making any investment decision.
4. You were trying to do what is called a "position trade"; a day or two, in and out. Position trading is hard. It is one of the hardest things in the world to do successfully. Trust me, I do it for a living. You need some experience in the market before you try anything as risky as a position trade on Microsoft, let alone a one dollar bulletin board deal.
5. My final words of advice: go to the library and check out any book by Peter Lynch. Look around and see if there are any other books that look interesting to you. Read them. Then get a simple book on technical analysis, and read that. Read any book you can get your hands on. Understand the basics. Once you have done that, look at some stocks that are listed on an exchange. Look at the "fundamentals", the balance sheet, all that. Decide if you would like to be an owner of that company, and if you would, buy it when everyone else is selling, and you'll get a good price. Then hold that stock for 6 months and watch what happens. Do that 4 or five times, and if you make money, post me in 2 years, and I'll give you some tips on position trading.
Best of luck to you,
TLC |
