[Piecake]

I've read that TK has an unreliable site (issues with high traffic). Any truth to that?

I havent experienced any problems with the site, but that is just anecdotal evidence, so for all i know it could be a issue. I think they won some customer satisfaction award or something like that last year though, so I really cant imagine them winning that if they had problems with high traffic bogging down their site

[FlashFlooder]

I use OptionsHouse, they're the cheapest I could find @ $3.95/trade. Their site is pretty good, and if you're into trading options it's by far the cheapest way to do it (something like $3.95 + $0.10 per extra leg, up to 10).

[24FrameDaVinci]

So how many of you are going to be buying tech stocks (closely linked to FB) in anticipation of Facebook's launch later this week? Seems that as Facebook goes, so to will the rest of them.

I'm predicting short term gains over the next week for Groupon, LinkedIn and Zynga, then it will simmer back down next week.

[Zyzyxxz]

I'm predicting short term gains over the next week for Groupon, LinkedIn and Zynga, then it will simmer back down next week.

Why would Groupon and LinkedIn both go up? Their relationship to Facebook seems small and their profitability seems crappy.

[CottonBaller]

I purchased a nice stack of Znga last week. I agree with you and suggest you move quickly.

[Zyzyxxz]

I purchased a nice stack of Znga last week. I agree with you and suggest you move quickly.

Jeez Zynga's already moving.

[FlashFlooder]

Why would Groupon and LinkedIn both go up? Their relationship to Facebook seems small and their profitability seems crappy.

Doesn't matter. They are inexplicably lumped together in the eyes of the Street. The whole online start-up sector will get a boost. It's the dot.com bubble 2.0, baby.
I wouldn't suggest going long in any of those stock, btw. Take your profits and get out, because it's all going to come back down.

[Scarecrow]

I have a few quick questions. I have around 3K worth of stock I'm trying to off load, partly to finally invest in health insurance. What should I know about selling my stock? How much is the broker (Schwab) probably going to suck out of me? What do I need to know about being taxed on my sales? And, what's the difference between the order types Market, Limit, Stop and Stop Limit?

[FlashFlooder]

I have a few quick questions. I have around 3K worth of stock I'm trying to off load, partly to finally invest in health insurance. What should I know about selling my stock? How much is the broker (Schwab) probably going to suck out of me? What do I need to know about being taxed on my sales? And, what's the difference between the order types Market, Limit, Stop and Stop Limit?

If you've held the stock less than a year, you will pay your regular tax rate on earnings (whatever income bracket you fall into). If held longer than a year, you will pay capital gains tax:

-0% rate if your total income (including capital gain income) places you in the ten or fifteen percent tax brackets.
-15% rate if your total income (including capital gain income) places you in the twenty-five percent tax bracket or higher.

Schwab will take their ~$7 commission on every trade. So if you've got 3 different stocks to sell (no matter how many shares of each), you will pay $21.

You should never really use market limit. You're handing your shares to your broker and saying "get whatever you can for them". While most of the time this will be ok, you can end up getting screwed big time under certain circumstances.

What you want is a limit order, set at a price you're comfortable selling your stock for. It will sell at that price or better.

A stop order will execute at a given price. If you set a stop at $2.00, you automatically issue a market order to sell that stock when it reaches this prices. That's why I prefer stop limit orders, so I can set a stop ($2.00) and a limit (say, $1.98). This way, if the stock hits a low of $2.00, my stock will sell but not for less than $1.98.

Hope this makes sense.

[Scarecrow]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure I fall near the %15 tax bracket, as I don't make that much. And I've definitely had these stocks more than a year. So I guess I should be going for limit order.

[FlashFlooder]

Limit order all the way, baby. I'd save a little bit of your gains from the sale to make sure you have taxes covered, should any arise next April.

[Host Samurai]

I really don't know jack shit about stocks and how they work, but I am will to buy $1000 worth of Facebook shares than pulling out in a few weeks.

[Anno]

I really don't know jack shit about stocks and how they work, but I am will to buy $1000 worth of Facebook shares than pulling out in a few weeks.

I wouldn't do that. It's very likely that the only people able to make a profit in the short term on FB will be people who are given shares in the mid-$30s pricing area. When those actually begin trading Friday I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them open north of $50-$55. I'd give it awhile before you put any money into the company. See the 1 year charts from Groupon and Pandora to see what I mean. I think it's a better company that those two by far, but I think it will take some time before it's a good stock.

[Zyzyxxz]

If anything I'm long on Facebook but will probably avoid the mad rush during the first opening day. Too many common folk trying to buy the stock leads to pricing that will probably drop off after a week or two.

[FlashFlooder]

IMO, Facebook is not worth anywhere near where they're valued. Investors will find that out the hard way.

I might pick some up on Friday if I can get in cheap, but I will be dumping those shares before the end of the day.

[Relix]

Hmm... what to do with FB. I could invest a lot of money and pull at the end of the day to see how much it rose. Or... wait it out.

[diddles]

Hmm... what to do with FB. I could invest a lot of money and pull at the end of the day to see how much it rose. Or... wait it out.

welcome to the roulette table of the modern stock market. roll those dice!!

[Piecake]

Hmm... what to do with FB. I could invest a lot of money and pull at the end of the day to see how much it rose. Or... wait it out.

Id wait.

Asia is getting crushed right now due to greece and USA econ data. Going to be a bad day tomorrow

[Sanky Panky]

If logic tells you to wait and not buy Facebook because it is the most overvalued piece of shit stock in modern times, do the opposite.

It's the stock market.

[Zyzyxxz]

Id wait. Asia is getting crushed right now due to greece and USA econ data. Going to be a bad day tomorrow

It's been a bad week man. Anybody trade currencies? Kinda curious about the Euro, hopefully I can spot a bottom.

[Sanky Panky]

It's been a bad week man. Anybody trade currencies? Kinda curious about the Euro, hopefully I can spot a bottom.

Life and the markets have a funny way to slap you around. Don't try to predict tops and bottoms with currencies, you might get burned. If you go by intrinsic value, the Euro should be closer to 1.20, but who knows what may happen with a Greek exit. If Spain follows, you might see closer to parity with the dollar relatively quickly, but the ECB, China, and the Fed might crush and short positions you have.

The best bet is to follow trends, until indicators turn. 1.26 is holding, so you might see a retrace. I've been waiting for this move for a loooooong time, and it caught me while I'm switching brokers. It would have represented a 50% gain on my account based on my system. I keep telling myself that there will always be trends to trade :/

[tarius1210]

If logic tells you to wait and not buy Facebook because it is the most overvalued piece of shit stock in modern times, do the opposite. It's the stock market.

I don't like playing the valuation guessing game but I do agree with everything I've heard regarding buying in on FB by retail investors.

Wait a few months until the volatility of the stock dies down. Also, their first quarterly report will also give better insight into company profitability and where the company is headed.

[FlashFlooder]

I actually think today is going to be a good day for the market, as a whole. Greece trouble has to be priced in already, it's not like no one saw it coming.

I'm staying away from Facebook, but I see it having a quick run up followed by a freefall later in the day. I'm playing ZNGA for the inevitable FB pop.

[Lace]

I actually think today is going to be a good day for the market, as a whole. Greece trouble has to be priced in already, it's not like no one saw it coming. I'm staying away from Facebook, but I see it having a quick run up followed by a freefall later in the day. I'm playing ZNGA for the inevitable FB pop.

That's the game I'm going to play. It's tempting to hit up Facebook, but there's just too much uncertainty to go balls deep. Might pick a few shares just in case though.

[CrankyJay]

PANL is currently sinking to what I consider a great entry...look to buy it at 22-27. I'm expecting this to shoot back up once OLED TVs start rolling out and long term deals are signed with LG and AUO.

Sadly I jumped the gun an bought in at around $30. I suppose if it drops to 22 I will buy more.

[Anastacio]

Dumb question but is it realistic for a 23 year old to start investing in stocks? I have wanted to start doing it for some years and is planning on doing it early next year. I just don't want a bank advisor to look weird at me lol.

I also plan on controlling some of my investing myself.

[CrankyJay]

Dumb question but is it realistic for a 23 year old to start investing in stocks? I have wanted to start doing it for some years and is planning on doing it early next year. I just don't want a bank advisor to look weird at me lol. I also plan on controlling some of my investing myself.

You could always start small. I don't think it's ever too early to invest.

[Lace]

Dumb question but is it realistic for a 23 year old to start investing in stocks? I have wanted to start doing it for some years and is planning on doing it early next year. I just don't want a bank advisor to look weird at me lol. I also plan on controlling some of my investing myself.

It's never too early, especially for investing your money. Much better then sitting in a bank account with zero opportunity for growth. Learning for your future is a plus as well.

[FlashFlooder]

Wow, so I think I was wrong on every single count in my last point. Lost quite a few diners on ZNGA. I hate the cOmpany anyway, so I guess it's fitting.

[Rubenov]

Wow, so I think I was wrong on every single count in my last point. Lost quite a few diners on ZNGA. I hate the cOmpany anyway, so I guess it's fitting.

Humbling experience when one is wrong, isn't it?

My portfolio has been clobbered, hopefully next week brings some good news.

[Piecake]

Dumb question but is it realistic for a 23 year old to start investing in stocks? I have wanted to start doing it for some years and is planning on doing it early next year. I just don't want a bank advisor to look weird at me lol. I also plan on controlling some of my investing myself.

if you dont know anything about investing and are a bit wary, just invest in ETFs. Hell, there is nothing wrong with dumping all of your investment money in broad ETFs

My favorites are VTI and VXUS (insanely cheap expense ratios as well). You wont hit it big, but you wont bust either since you are investing in EVERYTHING. No need to hire some 'advisor' to take all your money as well

Id also recommend opening a Roth IRA. Never to early to start saving for your retirement

[CottonBaller]

Yeah I lost a good $1,800 on ZNGA, my avg share price is $8.26 so I'm sure it'll eventually get up there. All it really takes is one news rumor of a possible buyout of the company or legalized online gambling for it to pop.

[daw840]

Yeah I lost a good $1,800 on ZNGA, my avg share price is $8.26 so I'm sure it'll eventually get up there. All it really takes is one news rumor of a possible buyout of the company or legalized online gambling for it to pop.

Very glad I cut my losses on that one.

Surprisingly, Ford has hit me very hard recently...

[Omzz]

Surprisingly, Ford has hit me very hard recently...

Brother has invested in some stocks at around 12 I believe. Probably going to hold on to that one. I'm not sure why it's been dipping lately since from what I looked up, Ford has actually improved quite a lot with their new cars.

I'm guessing a lot of people just bailed after the Q1 report.

[RevoDS]

Brother has invested in some stocks at around 12 I believe. Probably going to hold on to that one. I'm not sure why it's been dipping lately since from what I looked up, Ford has actually improved quite a lot with their new cars. I'm guessing a lot of people just bailed after the Q1 report.

It's probably a great place to go long; $10 has been the stock's long-term support since early 2010, and improving fundamentals don't seem to point to a lasting breakdown (unless the market itself has a major breakdown)

I'm capitulating on JPM seeing the rumours of expanding losses (currently estimated at $6-7 billion, enough to put the bank in the red), and I'll probably use the proceeds from that to add to my long F position and lower my cost-basis (currently at a pretty damn high $13.44)

[Anno]

Dat FB! Killing off the retail buyer for another 5 years.

[ezrarh]

Very glad I cut my losses on that one. Surprisingly, Ford has hit me very hard recently...

Ford is killing me as well but they're a solid company for the longterm. The trouble in Europe is one of the factors depressing the share price.

[NYR]

Dat FB! Killing off the retail buyer for another 5 years.

Friday - everyone sold some of their AAPL to get FB

Monday - everyone sold their FB to get back into AAPL

[Zyzyxxz]

Friday - everyone sold some of their AAPL to get FB Monday - everyone sold their FB to get back into AAPL

LOL probably. I had bad feelings about FB, I'll wait for it to bottom out before considering it to pick up, I have a feeling the first earnings report may be surprising.

Good thing I kept holding my Apple.

[NYR]

LOL probably. I had bad feelings about FB, I'll wait for it to bottom out before considering it to pick up, I have a feeling the first earnings report may be surprising. Good thing I kept holding my Apple.

I was hoping AAPL was going to slide to 520 this week and I would had bought 100 shares.

Nice call by me.

:(

But I agree, I'm getting into FB about a month in when it hits around 21-24, that seems more reasonable based on the P/E.

[Nevasleep]

My mum actually wanted to buy shares in facebook :lol, thankfully so far, I said no.

Also...as soon as the number of new facebook users starts to fizzle out, surely the stock will start to drop like a stone??
Although I guess they are more resilient than other social networking sites, now that most people have their photos and contacts on there.

[FlashFlooder]

man, I was in meetings all day today and missed today's action. Looks like it was a nice day. Hopefully the rally continues into tomorrow.

I'm going all-cash soon because I expect the summer to be mostly flat.

[Zyzyxxz]

My mum actually wanted to buy shares in facebook :lol, thankfully so far, I said no. Also...as soon as the number of new facebook users starts to fizzle out, surely the stock will start to drop like a stone?? Although I guess they are more resilient than other social networking sites, now that most people have their photos and contacts on there.

People always like to say, oh there will be something new. Um no I don't think so. Facebook has become the standard for social networking. The reason why it replaced Myspace as the new "thing" was because at the time social networking at in it's infancy. Anybody could have become the top if they made the right moves. Also once you become a juggernaut in an industry there has to be some great innovation to topple you and that can take years as well. Facebook has already acquired a large amount of user information even if the number of new users slows down, considering how many already use it they are sitting on a goldmine of data.

FB just has to find a way to organize that data so it will be useful to companies and advertisers or find new ways of analyzing it to prove it's usefulness toward social marketing. I'm optimistic on FB longterm, just not at this price, very overvalued if we take away the hope and optimism and look at the numbers.

[TheOMan]

Not sure if this warranted a new thread, but it highlights one of the many reasons retail investors are at a disadvantage in the market:

Goldman accidentally releases documents showing how they engaged in naked short selling

I've put some snippets here, but go read the post, it's interesting to say the least.

Last week, in response to an Overstock.com motion to unseal certain documents, the banks’ lawyers, apparently accidentally, filed an unredacted version of Overstock’s motion as an exhibit in their declaration of opposition to that motion. In doing so, they inadvertently entered into the public record a sort of greatest-hits selection of the very material they’ve been fighting for years to keep sealed.

We also find out here how Wall Street professionals manipulated public opinion by buying off and/or intimidating experts in their respective fields. In one email made public in this document, a lobbyist for SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, tells a Goldman executive how to engage an expert who otherwise would go work for “our more powerful enemies,” i.e. would work with Overstock on the company’s lawsuit. "He should be someone we can work with, especially if he sees that cooperation results in resources, both data and funding," the lobbyist writes, "while resistance results in isolation."

A quick primer on what naked short selling is. First of all, short selling, which is a completely legal and often beneficial activity, is when an investor bets that the value of a stock will decline. You do this by first borrowing and then selling the stock at its current price; then, after the price drops, you go out, buy the same number of shares at the reduced price, and return the shares to your original lender. You then earn a profit on the difference between the original price and the new, lower price. What matters here is the technical issue of how you borrow the stock. Typically, if you’re a hedge fund and you want to short a company, you go to some big-shot investment bank like Goldman or Morgan Stanley and place the order. They then go out into the world, find the shares of the stock you want to short, borrow them for you, then physically settle the trade later. But sometimes it’s not easy to find those shares to borrow. Sometimes the shares are controlled by investors who might have no interest in lending them out. Sometimes there’s such scarcity of borrowable shares that banks/brokers like Goldman have to pay a fee just to borrow the stock. These hard-to-borrow stocks, stocks that cost money to borrow, are called negative rebate stocks. In some cases, these negative rebate stocks cost so much just to borrow that a short-seller would need to see a real price drop of 35 percent in the stock just to break even. So how do you short a stock when you can’t find shares to borrow? Well, one solution is, you don’t even bother to borrow them. And then, when the trade is done, you don’t bother to deliver them. You just do the trade anyway without physically locating the stock. Thus in this document we have another former Merrill Pro president, Thomas Tranfaglia, saying in a 2005 email: “We are NOT borrowing negatives… I have made that clear from the beginning. Why would we want to borrow them? We want to fail them.” Trafaglia, in other words, didn’t want to bother paying the high cost of borrowing “negative rebate” stocks. Instead, he preferred to just sell stock he didn’t actually possess. That is what is meant by, “We want to fail them.” Trafaglia was talking about creating “fails” or “failed trades,” which is what happens when you don’t actually locate and borrow the stock within the time the law allows for trades to be settled. If this sounds complicated, just focus on this: naked short selling, in essence, is selling stock you do not have. If you don’t have to actually locate and borrow stock before you short it, you’re creating an artificial supply of stock shares.

[FlashFlooder]

People always like to say, oh there will be something new. Um no I don't think so. Facebook has become the standard for social networking. The reason why it replaced Myspace as the new "thing" was because at the time social networking at in it's infancy. Anybody could have become the top if they made the right moves. Also once you become a juggernaut in an industry there has to be some great innovation to topple you and that can take years as well. Facebook has already acquired a large amount of user information even if the number of new users slows down, considering how many already use it they are sitting on a goldmine of data. FB just has to find a way to organize that data so it will be useful to companies and advertisers or find new ways of analyzing it to prove it's usefulness toward social marketing. I'm optimistic on FB longterm, just not at this price, very overvalued if we take away the hope and optimism and look at the numbers.

I disagree. The barrier to entry on something like FB is just insanely low. FB will get lazy (one could argue they already have... Case in point being their mobile apps) and sonme competitor will catch them slipping.

The threat to them is constant, and their position (and your $$) could be gone overnight, relatively speaking. Not worth the risk for the limited upside, IMO. It really is the dot com bubble all over again with these stocks.

[Zyzyxxz]

I disagree. The barrier to entry on something like FB is just insanely low. FB will get lazy (one could argue they already have... Case in point being their mobile apps) and sonme competitor will catch them slipping. The threat to them is constant, and their position (and your $$) could be gone overnight, relatively speaking. Not worth the risk for the limited upside, IMO. It really is the dot com bubble all over again with these stocks.

I suppose I do see more potential downside but I'm not so quick to call it a bubble just that there's dumb money floating around. Even with the apparent worthlessness of a single twitter user themselves, if you comb the aggregate users for data you can come up with interesting consumer information which was never possible on this scale before. It's up to the marketing side of business to know how to use this data. For the first time in history we have the ability to basically read the minds of consumers now so I'm still optimist on the long term of what these social networking tools can add to the value of companies.

[CottonBaller]

Well Sunday I put a stop loss for my ZNGA at $6.90 and a buy order at $6.50 for the same amount of shares. Woke up Monday both were filled, ZNGA was at $7+ Monday Morning so I sold all my shares netting me $1000 first thing in morning. I saw what Apple was about to go through and jumped all in with them at $545, sold all my AAPL yesterday at $566. Now I'm all in with GooG at $600, will wee how that goes in the coming days/weeks

[The_Inquisitor]

Got out of the market at 13.1k. Already have an 11% return on my 401k for the year. I may be able to get 20+% if I get in just right.

[Mr. B Natural]

What are your guys thoughts on buying up bank shares for the long term? About the time or wait it out?

[FlashFlooder]

IMO, now is not the time to be going long on anything. Wait it out over the summer, buy back in late fall/early winter. The market is due for a serious pullback.

Financial stocks scare the crap out of me. You look at some of the news that comes out (JPM losing $2b for example), just seems very unstable to me. Then again, most banks are considered too big to fail at this point so who knows.