jasonius

iTrader: (1)

Given the current market, there could be some serious money to be made if you choose wisely..

There will be people coming out of this current economic climate having made millions (more than likely people with serious money to start with..!).

I can't help but keep thinking there's a golden opportunity to have a dabble..

For instance, General Motors are currently trading at $6.21 a share when there 12mth high was $40. When you put this together with the fact that GM and the US economy have always been considered conjoined twins, there is no way the US government are going to let them go under..!

£500's worth would return ~£1600 even if the share price only made the $20 mark, which is where they were only 6 mths ago..!

Anyone else having the same thoughts..?

zs_phil

iTrader: (1)

yes been thinking about it especially bank shares dropped loads these are not always going to be dirt cheap, hbos for instance i thought the same £500

john banks

Over all the investments I have made in the last 7 or 8 years I've lost £7000 overall before you consider lost interest.

I thought I saw value last week and invested £35k in a variety of equities. On Friday they were worth about £30k. I sold them all yesterday for £38k.

I don't think anyone knows the bottom, I'm now 85% in cash. I may dip my toes back in, but I feel if investing now I could see large further losses. Last week was nasty. However, some say buy at the point of maximum fear.

I suspect that more money can be made in these markets by relishing the volatility, buying when everyone else is selling and then selling when everyone is buying. This is what has produced my most spectacular gains so far, but it can be very risky if the market gets some good momentum against you. You need to know when to cut your losses, which is something I've not learnt yet.

PaulC72

& only play with money you are prepared to lose

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Can anyone suggest any good trading sites?

john banks

I use selftrade for shares/ETFs, cityindex for spread betting, fidelity for funds.

Suresh

If recession turns to depression then GM will go to the wall. Opel have already stopped production in Germany and not a single new car has reportedly been sold in Berlin so far this month.

Opel pausing production at two German plants - International Herald Tribune

We haven't hit bottom yet - not by a long way IMHO.

GlesgaKiss

I'm considering doing this. Have a bit of money that I suppose I could class as disposable.

Surely it would be something that is doing really badly right now, but that there's no chance of going bust.

john banks

Something that is already doing really badly could have a high chance of going bust - were NRK or BB good value before they were nationalised? If you buy a variety of shares or buy the index then your diversification should hopefully protect you from total loss.

HankScorpio

GM are talking about buying Chrysler so not sure where it would go after that.
Have been as low as 4 though so as has been said, you have to figure what bottom is.

vindaloo

My 2p...

Looks likely to be a recession but trying to figure which economies get hit is difficult. I think China may generally emerge unscathed. Though any Western facing larger company stocks over there may get a pasting before the sun starts to shine again.

India - meh!

UK stocks, I would look at....
Barclays - but maybe wait to see the terms of their mooted rights issue.
Santander
BP
Shell

I dunno about retailers in the current market. Head says wait until we are in a recession and they have a couple of dodgy quarters under their belts. There's nothing like a bad pre/post Christmas sales to shake up the retailers though.

Other than that, people drink and smoke more and fight more in bad times...
BAT
Scotco
Kalashnikov

Question: What is going to be the engine room of the major economies in the near future? Particularly in the UK, we like to own rather than rent. On that basis, we're likely to be fecked for longer than say... most other European economies.

J.

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Just registered with selftrade.

Very straight foward. Just trying to set up a portfolio now and see what happens.

swampster

iTrader: (1)

Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac were a good investment about a month back.. down to $0.33/share... went upto almost $3 in a little over a week. Some big money to be had in the volatile markets, but also plenty of opportunity to lose it all too

They're possibly a risk, but if they stay afloat (and the US Govt doesn't exercise it's 80% warrants) then they're a pretty decent bet for a longer term profit.

I opened a share dealing account with Lloyds TSB, seems a half decent service and you don't have to already bank with them. They do Nominee & Share Dealing ISA accounts, they allow trading in most markets (subject to US tax declarations). Edit: Without checking, I think they also do (or allow access to) Spreads & Funds

*Usual Disclamer crap... I'm not a financial adviser etc, dont make ANY decisions based on anything I've said here, do your own research, Share's can go down as well as up (they can also stay still).

Deep Singh

Yes, buy shares NOW! I'd also recommend putting ALL your money on one single share to maximise profits, perhaps a bank or an insurance company that has been involved in credit swap defaults (these represent great value at the moment)

seriously though, now is not the time for amateurs(me included). You would have to be VERY lucky to make money, JB did very well.
The recession is only just beginning. Also amateurs are better off buying trackers of a whole index. I will buy when the ftse hits approx 3200

TelBoy

Bottom pickers have smelly fingers, as we say. We might be close to a base, yes, but would i risk my own money on that right now? Nope.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

There was a lot of money to be made over the past few weeks as the market was either rising or falling rapidly from day to day. Especially the US. Call the market on the day and make good money (on Monday I made one trade, made 20% and traded out).

The market is now very bearish and much harder to call. There are no more good news stories around bail outs and rescues - these are all done now.

Over the past fifteen months I have made around ten or twelve trades and made around 130%. The year before which was supposed to be an easier market I lost 20%!. Not bad over the long term though.

BTW I only use one strategy, channeling and all the gains have been made in trading two channeling stocks in the US.