How Can You Tell the Good from the Bad?

[Stormy 10]

I have found many websites with regards to analysis and so forth.

Many give their view of stocks. Which to buy, which to steer clear.

How can I be sure the authors are "for real"?

 

For example: todaysfinancialnews.com

 

I know, I must do my own dd by reading a companies chart and making my own decisions. However, being new, I don't know what all I should be looking for, therefore, I am wanting to trust others to point me in the right direction.

[Soultrader 12]

I have found many websites with regards to analysis and so forth.

Many give their view of stocks. Which to buy, which to steer clear.

How can I be sure the authors are "for real"?

 

For example: todaysfinancialnews.com

 

I know, I must do my own dd by reading a companies chart and making my own decisions. However, being new, I don't know what all I should be looking for, therefore, I am wanting to trust others to point me in the right direction.

 

Hi Stormy, you are right about doing your own analysis and research. It appears that you are still getting your feet wet in this game and hungry for knowledge. No need to rush... learn this game at your own pace as it is your hard earned money you will be risking.

 

Learn the technicals and fundamentals of the companies you want to follow. Go visit their stores (if they have one), become familiar with the product and services they provide. Now, from your analysis and observation does the comments and recommendations provided by the analysts make any sense? Does it confirm your analysis? Study it and then track it. Its the only way to know for sure if you are on to something. Analysts analyze and do not trade. So there is no pressure for them to be right or wrong.. there still going to get a pay check every month.

 

When the time comes when you can make a trade without an analyst recommendation or a third party opinion, you are one step closer to becoming a profficient trader/investor.

 

There are some good educational websites out there that will help you on your journey as a trader. Just dont ever think you found the holy grail written somewhere in a website or a book. The odds are that everyone else has already seen it and is probably a losing strategy. The holy grail is YOU.

 

Hope this helps.

[sevensa 10]

I have found many websites with regards to analysis and so forth.

Many give their view of stocks. Which to buy, which to steer clear.

How can I be sure the authors are "for real"?

 

For example: todaysfinancialnews.com

 

I know, I must do my own dd by reading a companies chart and making my own decisions. However, being new, I don't know what all I should be looking for, therefore, I am wanting to trust others to point me in the right direction.

 

If you are not sure if you should trust someone on a website, why do you think you can trust this website to tell you which ones you can trust?

 

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. If you are looking for a website to tell you what to do, then you can just as well invest in mutual funds (or your country's equivalent if you are not in the US) and save yourself the trouble and effort.

 

No one here can tell you what you need to look out for. Everyone trades differently and what works for one person, wouldn't always work for another. What is important for me to look at, might be junk for someone else. You will just have to figure out for yourself what is going to work for you.

 

The only way to learn is to read as much as you can and try things out. After a while you will see that most books repeat the same information and none of them will give you the perfect system and make you rich, but here and there some things will make sense and you will start to figure out what you want to do. Once you have some vague ideas, try them out. Don't just keep on reading new books and never take the next step. When you try things out will help you see what works, what doesn't and what you need to change. This is like learning to drive a car. You can read all you want about how you should do it, but the only real way is to get in and start driving (slowly).

 

If this sounds like a lot of work, a lot of effort and like it will take a long time, this is because it is and it will. Investing or trading for a living is hard work and takes effort and committment to succeed, like any other profession. If you are not willing to put in the time and effort then you are better off leaving it to a professional. After all, this is what you do for anything else, whether it is to fix your plumbing, fix your roof, get a haircut, etc.

[JBWTrader 10]

Stormy,

 

I would dip my toe into everything. Dont bet on anything until something really rings true for you. Then if you think it does take the opposite view on why/where it doesnt work and why it should be kept,disgarded or refined.

 

Hunger + drive + imagination + pain = profit (eventually)

 

Good luck

 

Best

 

John

[Stormy 10]

Thanks to each of you for your thoughts!

[fantastic4 10]

I assume you mean good stocks from bad stocks? One great way is to look at relative strength. Look at a chart of the broad markets, and then look at the chart of the individual stock, has it been weaker or stronger than the markets. Stronger is a good sign if you're going long. Google finace makes it real easy to view this if your charting software doesn't.

[liu5115 10]

As a trader your job is to determine the marginal change in supply and demand. Price moves not because of the fundamentals of the company, price moves because millions like you buy into that fundamental story of the company. so as a trader your job is to determine how many more millions of people will continue to buy into that story or how many more millions of people are trying to get out of that story.

So I think the right direction for you if you want to be a profitable trader is to find out if there's some workable way to do that.

 

I have found many websites with regards to analysis and so forth.

Many give their view of stocks. Which to buy, which to steer clear.

How can I be sure the authors are "for real"?

 

For example: todaysfinancialnews.com

 

I know, I must do my own dd by reading a companies chart and making my own decisions. However, being new, I don't know what all I should be looking for, therefore, I am wanting to trust others to point me in the right direction.