It isn't nearly as easy as you think it is. Basically you need the time to acquire the experience of making a bunch of mistakes, then trying not to make them again.
You might want to start reading about moving averages, and channel lines.Read about earnings reports, and option strategies. Read "Seeking Alpha" a website, and play with Stockcharts.com and finviz.com
and read the book "Reminiscences of a Stock operator" by Lefevre, about Jesse Livermore.
Best to test your beliefs about stocks by picking some of a certain PE or other indicator to see how they perform compared to others over time. That will reveal which indicators don't matter usually.
I buy when I see a stock go upwards for a long time.
Very important that you paper trade for about 6 months before putting up your own money.
google finance is my only tool, they have an excellent portfolio tester, so does yahoo.
You are basically asking the age old question of when to buy and when to sell a stock. I work at credit suisse as a" credit and bond default swap", and I could go into mind numbing detail about derivatives and predicting when to buy a stock, but for you it would be best to use a trusted program like e trade or watch a show like Jim Kramer's mad money to give you an idea of what to buy and when. I remember when i bought my first stock...:)
I had a lot of questions like you have. I started practicing by using virtual stock market simulators and games. I used several but the one that helped me learn a lot was boiler room trader. You can start with free $100K to start trading stocks in game mode.. for practice.
Ok I am 14 years old and very interested in business/finance and the stock market. I've learned a lot about it from a couple of books, and i've learned things such as P/E ration, support and ressistance, different patterns like cup with a handle, double bottom, flat line, volume, etc.. I also know you must do a lot of research before buying a stock. However, when I look at a stock chart, I just cant quite tell when I should buy it and it frustrates me.. I want to know the right times to buy a stock and how long to hold on.. Lately on the simulator I use i've been losing money. I just want to know what methods I can use the evaluate a stock and see the right time to buy it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
