quote:Originally posted by coaster It's just the sense I get from your words that you haven't traded and aren't aware of what it's like psychologically-speaking to put real money at risk. You can have the greatest "knack"; you can have the greatest "system"; but until you put your own real money at risk; at risk of losing it; then you don't know how you're going to react. If you don't understand your own psychology and how you react to loss, then you're predisposed to fail. Having a plan, and having the discipline to follow a plan, and knowing how you're going to deal with your emotional attachment to your money, will predispose you to success.
Yea thats true, it took a bit to set up the account but now thats done and funded. I have to set up the plan before i actually buy something. I have lost money in my 401k and was not to happy about it but I did not react all that out of the ordinary about it (of course I moved money in the beginning of 08 or even before that to stable value so I lost very little money, never the less seeing negitive rates of return is never fun). I am going to stick to items that I know about and am interested in (oil trusts, metals, etc) and buy only when they take a dip. My comfort level is not on the level of futures, puts or calls, I am more looking for the intermediate (3-5 years) or so unless some fluke event occures where I have shares and the price spikes. I am trying to set up a watch list now of things I know about and am interested in, for some reason TDA was not allowing me to do it, I will try it again today. It would suck to loose money as the whole point of all this is to reach my goals faster not slower, I guess if I did something really bone headed or got majorly unlucky I would just go back to saving in a savings account and hope I dont have a heart attack before I can afford to buy a pitts (I figure I will fly it regardless if I can get a medical or not).
If I just save my disposible income it only comes out to about 2k a month which sounds like alot but really is not, its only about 24k a year so it would take like 3-4 years just to save for the pitts and then have to work on the hangar, which I guess is not bad. Right now I have 2k in the TDA account and will stick with that and see how I do. I hear people talk about putting money in at time X and having all this money later on with such and such ror so I am going to see what happens and see how much of that is smoke an mirrors, i know my 401k did not experience that, the only reason it was even sort of a good deal was because my employer matched for the first 4 years, when they stopped matching I stopped contributing and paid off student loans, the finance fees on my loans were more than my negitive ROR lol and I make to much to write them off on my taxes.
Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:13 pm
coaster Senior Advisor
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It's hard to go too far wrong when you (1) trade what you know and (2) buy when others are selling.
Good luck and good fortune.....
~Tim~
Tue Sep 28, 2010 3:23 am
rppearso Contributing Member
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What are the consequences to trading ETN's? Can I buy and sell ETN's like I would a normal stock or do I have maturity date issues and associated fees? I would like to get into some natural gas ETN's as they are dirt low right now but want to know what the potential pit falls are.
Wed Sep 29, 2010 9:42 pm
coaster Senior Advisor
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Well, I suppose like any other debt instrument, if interest rates go up, the price will fall. And interest rates can only go one way from here.
I'm not familiar with ETNs since I don't do bonds, but I would suppose that since they're the debt security likeness of a ETF that you wouldn't have anything to do with maturity dates since you're not dealing with an individual security but rather shares of a basket of securities.
Why would you want to play natural gas with an ETN? Why not a natural gas producer?
~Tim~
Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:16 am
rppearso Contributing Member
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I was reading online that ETN's follow commodities prices the closest without actually having to do futures trading. You can also do ETF's but I was reading that they dont follow the actual commodities prices as well. I need to learn more about futures becuase even though I may be able to feel out when a commodity will tank or spike if im locked into some kind of contract that ties my hand from buying it and selling it when I please that could be a real issue but I dont know that much. What I do know is that natural gas is at its all time low, so low that exon is taking a major hit in their 3rd quarter becuase gas rates are so low.
Thu Sep 30, 2010 5:23 pm
coaster Senior Advisor
Cash: $ 1626.30
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Sounds like a good time to buy some more XOM for the long term.
~Tim~
Thu Sep 30, 2010 6:13 pm
rppearso Contributing Member
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I just bought 6 shares of ZARFF.
Fri Oct 01, 2010 4:36 pm
teena.robert Preferred Member
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Location: UK
Commodity trading can be very beneficial for smart traders. Commodity market provides high leverage. Commodity futures operate on margin, meaning that to take a position only a fraction of the total value needs to be available in cash in the trading account.
Many forex trading platforms allow to trade commodities such gold, silver, platinum, rice, sugar, oil, etc.
Wed Jun 01, 2011 2:14 pm
teena.robert Preferred Member
Cash: $ 26.20
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Location: UK
One good thing about online commodity trading is that most online commodity brokers offer demo trading accounts that will let you try out their trading platforms without risking real money. While trading a demo account is not the same as trading your own funds, believe me, the emotional factors are different, you can still get a good feel for what is required in order to be successful and if online commodity trading is for you.
