I was thinking of staying in AKAM a bit longer, and I might do it.
Then again, I was thinking the same thing when TIE went from $56 to $90 and I was saying "just a bit more, just a bit more... and then it tanked.
I might sell my AKAM sometime soon; I don't want what happened to TIE to happen to my AKAM.

With that being said I only have 30 shares of AKAM, so it's not like I'm getting rich by selling now, nor woud I get rich by selling at $70 or even $80, assuming it hit that at some point.

[Edited on December 14, 2006 at 4:02 PM. Reason : ]

12/14/2006 4:02:26 PM

Well, typically when I sell a position, it goes up (e.g. STX), so you're probably good.

Both AKAM and TRID are up a bit so far this morning.

I don't know how long I'll stay in TRID...

Fundamentally, there is nothing but great news for TRID from the business side. For the last 12 months, sales are ~$210M vs $100M for the previous 12 months. Forward projections are for $350M in sales and $1.35 eps. That would be a 25% growth against company expectations of much higher growth.

On the downside there's still the issue of the options backlash. The CEO and Chief Accounting Officer are out. There are lawsuits. Also, and more dire, there has been no earnings statement since March. To keep things in perspective, their situation is mild compared to others. Even Apple is under the same options cloud. But TRID is a relatively small company, so I don't know why it's taking so long to get this sorted out.

12/15/2006 9:52:14 AM

Unless something drastic happens I think I'll just wait until January to do any more buying/selling. That way I don't have to worry about them until next year's taxes.

12/15/2006 11:20:29 AM

Free access to gorillatrades for a week

username: openhouse
password: special

12/15/2006 11:28:18 AM

I am going to start investing in some stocks and am putting together my small diversified portfolio. So far I have Dell, Hormel Foods, Allscripts (Formerly A4 Health Systems).

Also, does anyone know anything about using the State Employees Credit Union Stock trading Service called SHAREBUILDER.

Let me know if you have an opinion about the above information.

BTW: I recently went back to my notes from Huggards BUS 225 and am trying to apply them to my own finances.

12/16/2006 11:07:45 AM

^I was looking at SECU's share builder stuff...

Sharebuilder:
No minimum account balance
Automatic investments are only $4, but these can only be done on tuesdays
real time market orders are $15.95
real time limit orders are $19.95

I had already signed up with scottrade, which appears to be better:
$500 minimum account balance
$7 market orders
$12 limit orders (i think, the site is down right now)
I think scottrade has more tools as well to track your stuff, but I guess these can be found anywhere

I'm in the same situation as you...just getting start.

And to the rest of you who seem to provide good advice...I am trying to put some money into 1 or 2 ETFs that are well balanced and track popular indexes. My ideas were S&P500 and maybe a bit in an ishares emerging market ETF (tracking a variety of emerging markets). Now, I'm not too sure on the emerging market ETF yet, seems a lot more risky, but I am hesitant to get into anything right now since things seem to be going quite well. My question is, at what times / events / economic situations does the market seem to consistently drop? Do they usually drop at the beginning of the new year, interest rates go up, etc? Looking for the best time to jump in.

12/16/2006 2:42:11 PM

I haven't placed a scottrade limit lately, but I'm pretty sure they've changed them to 7 also.

12/16/2006 3:05:39 PM

^^ the emerging market ETFs have been en fuego recently - if you want one, you might want to wait for a small pullback.

i've owned a bunch since May (mentioned in earlier pages of this thread): EEM, ADRA, ADRE, ILF, EWZ, EWW, EWY, EWO (technically not an "emergin market country, but its proximity to the ex-Soviet block makes it an emerging mkt play), IFN (closed end fund - not exactly an ETF

12/16/2006 9:07:20 PM

I wonder how this might affect GOOG tomorrow..
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1179

12/18/2006 1:32:23 AM

may be worth noting or may be noise, but AKAM downgraded... down nearly 2%
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ud?s=AKAM

12/18/2006 10:52:31 AM

Well I would go to my Scottrade account but their webpage refuses to load.
edit: Can't even ping their website...

[Edited on December 18, 2006 at 11:39 AM. Reason : ]

12/18/2006 11:37:53 AM

^ ok so its not just me

12/18/2006 11:42:32 AM

works for me... make sure it's not just a DNS problem. the domain resolves to 12.144.145.161.. try pinging that. if it works, then it's a DNS problem.

12/18/2006 11:43:53 AM

Oh it definitely resolved the DNS but refused to answer pings. However, within the past minute or two it's back up.
Yuck I'm down a good bit for today.

12/18/2006 11:49:50 AM

I know I said I wouldn't do it, but I got out of AKAM today. Didn't want it to drop any lower after being downgraded...

12/18/2006 12:12:08 PM

Scottrade is working for me

12/18/2006 12:20:10 PM

ditto

12/18/2006 12:25:58 PM

Dear TRID: Please go up. I'd like to make some money. Thanks!
edit: The same applies for you too, TIE!!

[Edited on December 18, 2006 at 1:06 PM. Reason : ]

12/18/2006 1:06:35 PM

Signed.

Both are not being good to me today either.

12/18/2006 1:35:31 PM

GRMN has treated me damn well since I bought it last Friday.

12/18/2006 2:04:22 PM

GOOG plummets $17/share.
*dies*
I'm down a lot today...TIE wasn't too nice either.

GO BACK UP DAMNIT!!

12/18/2006 4:49:24 PM

i was way down too.

all of my winners were called away on friday, so i was let with all of my losers

12/18/2006 7:44:41 PM

today thus far:

12/19/2006 9:59:19 AM

Quote :

" "

You're not kidding.

12/19/2006 10:10:00 AM

Welcome to the land of Trader's Hell.

12/19/2006 10:10:26 AM

here is me speculating on what all is going on:

right now is end of year selloff - many are taking profits

there will also be a selloff in January from those who had gains and do not want to sell in '06 for tax reasons (including a selloff in emerging markets).

then there should be a run up through 4th Quarter earnings, and an ensuing selloff with sector rotation (i.e. money moving into healthcare)

followed by volatility starting in the spring, going into the summer - with the summer doldrums feeling a lot like last year's (less momentum driven, and more of a stock picker's market)

followed by a relatively strong second half (led by emerging markets)

if we see an unseasonably strong September, it may hint at a bull market in '08


...again, this is just me speculating

12/19/2006 2:01:41 PM

ssjamind--quote ^ as your first post for the 2007 stock thread, and we'll see how right (or wrong) you are in the coming year.
Not sure if anyone else noticed but GE has been having a nice few days. All my losses with my other stock have been made up by my gains in GE.

12/19/2006 2:11:57 PM

<---this genius sold calls on all of his GE stock at 35

of course, i'd been selling calls at 35 all year and made a decent amount of cash on it, but it still makes veins pop out of my forehead when I'm selling a $38 stock for $35

12/19/2006 2:18:40 PM

Kinda hard to blame you, since it's been hovering around 35 for the past...oh....5 years.

12/19/2006 2:21:44 PM

yeah, i did the same thing with priceline.

it hovered at 25 for about 18 months and then jumped to 40

12/19/2006 2:27:09 PM

Any opinions on Wendy's (WEN)? Its approaching a 52-week low.

12/19/2006 2:43:41 PM

I you are right ssjamind, I'm waiting to put some in around the new year.

12/19/2006 3:10:04 PM

Question about delta airlines stock. I read this today: "Delta shares dropped 4 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $1.43 in over-the-counter trading. Delta said its reorganization plan would wipe out its existing stock."

I own quite a bit of this stock, and when they say "wipe out existing stock", what exactly do they mean. I've done some research and can't find anything. What will happen with my shares when they come out of bankruptcy and it gets wiped out?

12/19/2006 3:32:08 PM

Are you selling naked calls, or do you have GE in the portfolio?

12/19/2006 3:34:21 PM

i picked up around 35 last spring and had been selling covered calls about 2 months out for ~$0.30/share as i went while i collected the dividend

thats why i love blue chips. if you combine a good option premium with a decent dividend you can net ~20% return annually with very little risk.

if it gets called away just sell puts on it.

repeat as necessary.

12/19/2006 3:44:38 PM

I'm new to the whole investing thing, but am very interested in learning more about it (only took one economics class in college, thanks engineering!). do you guys have any recommendations for good books to pick up to learn some quick tricks of the trade and basic guidelines?

I picked up "The Warren Buffett Way" today as a little starter reading.

thanks in advance

12/19/2006 10:07:17 PM

^what you read depends on your investing strategy. Are you investing for retirement, or to try and make money short-term? for some basic, real info as to how market forces work and some basic strategies, read Jim Cramer's book. However, he is more of a short-term investment guy.

12/19/2006 10:45:31 PM

The only basic guideline I can think of without more info is always be diversified.

12/19/2006 11:15:25 PM

http://www.amazon.com/Technical-Analysis-Financial-Markets-Comprehensive/dp/0735200661/sr=8-1/qid=1166650260/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-3830291-2042839?ie=UTF8&s=books

12/20/2006 4:31:54 PM

yeah, that's probably a book I should read. I know very very little about technical analysis.

12/20/2006 4:44:43 PM

If you know little about technical analysis, then you're better off. Technical analysis is the dumbest shit on the planet. I was absolutely offended that they taught it to me on the Series 7 while at the same time lamenting it throughout the study,

12/20/2006 4:56:03 PM

^do you know anyhting about First Command?I was called by their recruiter today.

12/20/2006 5:34:45 PM

^^

1) technical analysis is great, but it relies on strict adherence to rules, which most traders won't set for themselves or follow given their natural proclivity (e.g. being a trader) to risk taking and poor decision making

2) that book is as valuable for it's information on the psychology of trading as the technical analysis part, although it's a great fundamental discussion of alot of good metrics no matter how you trade

12/20/2006 7:17:01 PM

Read anything by Nick Murray if you are working on your retirement

12/20/2006 11:11:51 PM

Such as?

12/20/2006 11:12:47 PM

hockey, I don't know anything at all about First Command. There must be a recruitment drive going on in most places, because I got calls from about 8 places looking for brokers in the last month, including Merrill and Ed Jones.

12/21/2006 9:02:33 AM

Bobby go sell your TRID so that it'll go up for the rest of us.

12/21/2006 9:56:05 AM

^ Its up $0.02!

12/21/2006 12:04:20 PM

haha, i didn't touch it.

I'm forcing myself to leave it and TIE (which is REALLY killing me) alone for a while.

12/21/2006 12:13:39 PM

the way i trade, technical analysis is somewhat useful. once i've picked the asset i want to own, and the time frame i think it will appreciate in, i use the charts to try an find when is the best time in any given time period that i should buy it.

for example, i've believed in the science of RNAI for a few years now, and knew would do something soon. i just didn't know what exactly, and in what time frame. i didn't get it at rock bottom, but did use the charts to make a little bit in late '05, and then again make a lot this year.

that's just one example. there's been plenty of times where i've taken a beating trying to time things.

12/21/2006 1:29:10 PM