Switching to Stocks it's a good ideea?

#1

Hello guys. I’m trading the Forex market for 3 years and these weeks I was thinking to invest also in the stock market. “I want to move some eggs in another basket”. Is there someone that could answer me some questions?

  1. Which broker should I choose? Currently, I’m trading Forex with IC Markets and I’m thinking to invest in stocks also on this broker.
  2. I saw that some stocks “are paying” with dividends. So for example, if I buy 1 Apple stock (which is ~$130) I will receive every 3 months payment in my account (~1$)?
  3. What if I buy today AAPL at $130 and in one week the value of APPL will be $200. That extra of $70 will be instantly my profit? Or only I will get this extra $70 if I sold my AAPL stock?
  4. Is there a minimum/maximum period to hold these stocks? For example, can I buy today AAPL and sell it in 4 hours? Or 4 years?
  5. Instead of putting my money to the banks, I was thinking to invest in stocks. Which stocks should I buy? I was thinking about some tech companies like Apple, maybe Microsoft or Tesla.

Please correct me if I’m wrong. Thank you in advance.

#2
  1. TD Ameritrade- ToS is the best platform hands-down.
  2. Research more on dividends and how that works. Just b/c a company is paying a dividend, doesn’t mean it’s a good investment. High yielding stocks can be a sign of trouble.
  3. Until you close the trade, it’s just paper profits (or losses).
  4. If your account is < $25,000 you can’t trade the same security, in the same day, more than 3 times. If you do, you’ll be flagged as a pattern day trader (google it). Other than that, yes- you can buy a stock and hold it for 1 to x amount of days. Options do not work that way- options expire.
  5. Don’t invest in individual stocks while you’re learning- research low expense ETFs that are balanced. I’d recommend starting w/ ticker SPYC.

Other- even better, start researching options. The leverage is higher and if you stay on the long side, you’ll always have defined risk. FX and stocks carry undefined risks…

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#3

I use a small portion of my trading capital to ride uptrending momentum stocks which would obviously include Tesla and the like.

But these are long-side positions. Yes, most stocks rise most of the time but imagine a year or more going by with the major indices falling or ending the year flat, it happens on a regular basis. There is no way that could possibly happen in forex.

#4

Which is why I stick with derivatives! :slight_smile:

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#5

A bit off topic: but do you have a separate trading account for your IRA/retirement account? :open_mouth:

#6

In a sense - its a salary-based pension scheme run by the local authorities in the UK, which I used to work for. Its not an account I have any management input into though.

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#7

But can you pick like the “categories” at least?

#8

No, its all locked tight and fund managers are employed by the trustees. Perhaps a good thing I can’t mess with it…

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#9

In the US, we receive tax benefits for IRA accounts. In my personal opinion- to the average salary worker it is of little to no effect. It’s super simple to open a brokerage account and just start trading basic ETFs or no load mutual funds. It all depends on risk tolerance and investment goals.

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#10

Could you elaborate on this one?

#11

The average US salary is something like $50K and most people barely can make it paycheck to paycheck. 18-40yr olds barely have 10-30K in savings. How much money is actually tax-deferred and going into retirement= little to none. It really is a pipe dream to “retire w/ $1mil” unless you’re actively managing in my opinion.

Tons of sources on-line for all of the above- just google.

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#12

Retirement savings accounts, including traditional 401 (k) and IRAs, operate on a “save money, pay later” system. When you deposit into a tax-deferred account, you do not need to pay taxes on the money you deposited, but you will have to pay taxes when you withdraw the money later. With ETF trading, traders have the ability to expose their portfolios to a specific market or industry and hedge their investments. There are many different types of ETFs and they are very popular with traders around the world. And bills have nothing to do with taxes. I spent a long time figuring out more about retirement income stocks to understand how the system works from the inside. ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) are tradable instruments that track a commodity, index, bond or basket of assets.