I've been messing around with stocks (no options) for about 5 years now. Off and on though. What reading could I do to learn more? If you don't have time don't worry about. You seem to be a good person to ask though.
The most important part of trading is finding a method that fits your individual personality. I take positions and swing trade based on patterns, analogs, price action. That may or may not work for you. "Reminiscence of a Stock Operator" won't teach you how to trade, but can get you an idea of the mindset of a speculator. That's the first trading book I've ever read and most useful. Most other books I've read that actually aim to "teach" you how to trade turn out to be useless. If the author really knew how, he'd be doing it instead of writing about it. Most of what I've learned is through experience, and mostly through loss. Trading is like a game, you have to figure out how to win at it, and most of that has to do with figuring out your own personality and fitting a trading method around that.
Thanks guys. I think it is time to get a little more serious about this if I going to continue doing it.
It's very interesting reading these from when the market was at its' lowest, almost ten years ago now. GE at 29.51 today
Was it at $5 that day? How low did it go? I don't recall. EDIT: it was down around $7/share in March 2009...apparently went down below $6/share in February of that year.
It's market cap is larger than Ford, a company that currently delivers millions of vehicles a year to put it in perspective.
Yup. For further perspective, harkens back to the time when Amazon surpassed Barnes and Nobles while selling a fraction of the books. Or Apple surpassing Nokia while selling a fraction of the phones. Or Netflix surpassing Blockbuster while renting a fraction of the DVDs.
Just saying. All those companies that lost were on the downside, while Ford is still profitable and is manufafuring millions of vehicles a year. Auto manufacturing is also cyclical. Not exactly apples to apples comparing Ford to Barnes and Nobles, blockbuster, or Nokia. For more perspective. I don't own Tesla and I wouldn't short it. Too much of a risk for my tastes.
All those companies were still doing fine, and profitable, when their market cap got surpassed by the disruptors. This is because the stock market is forward looking and anticipated the secular shifts. Sure, Ford is fine today(even if we ignore the unfunded pension liabilities and declining profitability that affects all legacy automakers), since Tesla doesn't affect Ford(or GM) at all yet. But when the Model 3 arrives it is going to be an avalanche that only a few(probably the Germans) will be able to climb out of. The market is anticipating this, and that is why Tesla is valued higher than Ford, and after today, GM as well, making it the most valuable American automaker by market cap.
