Down goes the Dow

Cool, thanks.

Hopefully you caught the spike down this morning.

Looking at how low a few stocks went this morning is a good reminder that I'd like to place some outstanding limit orders for my favorite stocks at dream prices, and just leave them sitting out there like a fishing line. Never know when I'll get lucky & get a hit. Some of these spikes down can come & go so quickly that I'll otherwise never catch the crazy-low entry point b/c I don't watch the intra-day action much.

PM is now yielding over 5%

WMT over 3%

MSFT nearly 3%

BRK.A down to 1.35 book value.

Several other things getting interesting.

Well, this morning has been interesting. Too bad I don't have extra cash these days or I might have dumped more in.

I have a friend who says differently.

They are spending the day positioning for what they think will be another good drop toward close today.

Not that I put any faith in that, but it just goes to show that everybody has an opinion...but probably unlike you, he made a killing this morning, so I will be interested to see what happens later today.

Anybody want to recommend a good online stock buying site? I'm relatively new to investing on my own and don't know of any of the better online investing sites.

Samue wrote:

Anybody want to recommend a good online stock buying site? I'm relatively new to investing on my own and don't know of any of the better online investing sites.

Depends a lot on your situation & what you're trying to accomplish. Tell us more & you'll probably get some decent recommendations.

Are you going to be buying mutual funds, or individual stocks?

How frequently do you think you'll be buying & selling, and what kind of order size?

Just getting started with a small portfolio, or substantial amount saved up already?

Kind of quiet around here, considering the events today.

Did anybody else notice the crazy crashes on some rather large ETFs?

RSP ($10B ETF) - S&P Equal Weight - down 42% at one point

FDN ($3.3B) - DJ Internet Index Fund - down 46% at one point

SLY ($300M) - SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap ETF - down 39% at one point

All back to -0.5% to -1.5% now.

I'm sure there are others...

Some some crazy low limit orders on these would have been sweet.

Thanks for responding!

I'm in my late 30's and in a relatively comfortable financial position ($180k plus wife's $60k per year), though we live in an area with high cost of living (east coast). 15% of income goes into long term savings automatic. Rest of what I save per month (varies) goes into cash (money market).

While I have a financial planner advise me on my long term savings investments (mostly mutual funds) I'm interested in putting together a "play fund" for myself to buy and sell stocks on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, ie. a hobby. Not looking for income, but maybe a small avenue for saving a little $ for things like Christmas and vacations. Initial investment of $5-$7k then small contributions as I find new interesting stocks. Small portfolio for sure. Above all would be a learning experience. I'm not big on high risk gambles but I've passed on things like Netflix, JetBlue, and Tesla over the past 5 years and kick myself now for not at least getting in the game.

I have about 15-20 stocks picked out of various sizes and want to be able to buy and sell with minimal cost and with an online tool that is easy to navigate and understand.

Go back further wrote:

Kind of quiet around here, considering the events today.

Did anybody else notice the crazy crashes on some rather large ETFs?

RSP ($10B ETF) - S&P Equal Weight - down 42% at one point

FDN ($3.3B) - DJ Internet Index Fund - down 46% at one point

SLY ($300M) - SPDR S&P 600 Small Cap ETF - down 39% at one point

All back to -0.5% to -1.5% now.

I'm sure there are others...

Some some crazy low limit orders on these would have been sweet.

I did see that - big money is using ETFs like mad - the market makers can't keep them on their peg at moments of insanity like this morning.

It's only happened a couple times.

Next time, a savvy trader should put in bids way under the current ask and just hope they sink off their pegs. I think they have to let the trades stand.

tough to do because you never know which ones will break down.

I think it is worrisome, the billions in ETFs - that money can move very very fast and can make crashes.

Huuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee

well market historians - this has been an amazing day.

TWO 1000 point moves in 3 hours.

first down 1,089 points,

then up 948 points

jiminy cricket!

we could end UP today.

Ok, cool, that helps.

I have used (personally, or for family members) TD Ameritrade, E-trade, and Scottrade, and Fidelity, and all would be decent for what you're describing. Commissions are around $7-10 per trade. Though, if you're trading weekly that could definitely add up.

I know some people like Interactive Brokers for more frequent trading, better platform, etc.. Might be worth researching (I'm not familiar enough with them to help you there) if you think your trading frequency.

I personally don't trade frequently in my "play fund", so the brokers I mentioned are affordable. And, I don't day trade, so I don't really pay attention to which ones have the quickest order fills, etc...

This might help you see what's out there:

Hope that helps some.

Kevin52 wrote:

This is just the opening salvo, you haven't seen fear yet.

ryan foreman wrote:

Is that a line from Die Hard 2?

No that is a line from my post on the LetsRun thread 'Down goes the Dow'.

Speaking of fear...

I just found out I had a great day today. It was luck, but I partly made my own luck. Months back I opened up a Fidelity account. My general strategy has been to see limit orders on select stocks at lower market prices. And if they don't hit those prices, just sit on the cash. Its not earning anything in a bank account anyway. by no means am I a day trader. Recently I set an order to Buy F at $13.90, GE at $25.00, and Intel at 25.90. Today I checked my account and amazingly I found I had bought F at $11.20, GE at 22.50, and Intel at 25.00. It was kind of dumb luck because I still don't actually know the technicalities of trading. I thought if I ordered Ford at $13.90 they would sell me it at that price (give or take some pennies) no matter how low it was. But apparently they will sell at whatever price it is at the time once the order locks in.

Flagpole wrote:

Well, this morning has been interesting. Too bad I don't have extra cash these days or I might have dumped more in.

By now you guys know I believe that interventions happen regularly.

lol at how they fvcked with the VIX today, since it has become a MAJOR indicator to which people pay attention.

Well, it looks like thing will wrap up 3.5-4% down depending on the index.

DJIA closes around 15.9k

I don't really have any comment, except to observe that there is no buying frenzy at these levels.

My other comment is that there is now *almost* no way I can fail to have beaten the markets during this "out" period. I am so far ahead it is insane. I forget, I figured it out, the DJIA would need to be up to around 20k or something, to match.

It makes me really, really wary of getting back in this time. I will probably need to see serious momentum, or have put together what I think is a good dividend portfolio, to get back in in any real way.

Speaking of dividends, utilities bother me due to the high level of regulation.

agip wrote:

...

jiminy cricket!

we could end UP today.

Bzzzzz.

Today was a GREAT day for some of us day traders. Best ever on my end. I've been averaging ~$3700/wk for the last 4-5 months. Today alone I made $34,121.34 (I'm done for the day). A buddy of mine made over $50K

(another guy I know lost money). He has a lot more capital to work with though. I just hope the volatility keeps up tomorrow. I know it won't be as good as today, but it should be very good again.

Drinks are on me tonight!!

lol your post is so fake it's funny.

But seriously, some friends of mine nailed the open, and the close.

They made A LOT of money, but they are only satisfied, because all it did was make up for a HUGE loss they booked earlier this year, on oil.

And, they bet pretty much everything to make this gain. I couldn't live like that.

Ultimately their group is around even for the year, down a bit actually, but beating the markets. One guy in particular would have been devastated had today not panned out, in all directions.

Maserati wrote:

lol your post is so fake it's funny.

But seriously, some friends of mine nailed the open, and the close.

They made A LOT of money, but they are only satisfied, because all it did was make up for a HUGE loss they booked earlier this year, on oil.

And, they bet pretty much everything to make this gain. I couldn't live like that.

Ultimately their group is around even for the year, down a bit actually, but beating the markets. One guy in particular would have been devastated had today not panned out, in all directions.

Not fake at all, my friend. I'm the first to admit that I was more lucky than good today. If I had hot it exactly right, I could have added about 30% more. So, I wasn't even right on it. I'm sure some made out much better than me, but I'm on that high right now. Yeah oil has been a bust for many. I lost some, but wasn't ever too heavy in it the past two years.

agip wrote:

Huuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee

well market historians - this has been an amazing day.

TWO 1000 point moves in 3 hours.

first down 1,089 points,

then up 948 points

jiminy cricket!

we could end UP today.

Well we didn't. An even bigger loss than Friday.

Dow now at 15,871. About 1,000 points higher than when I bailed two years ago. When I take into account all the stocks I also did not buy when the Dow was at 16k, 17k, and 18k, I am somewhere around break even. A little more of this correction and I will be ahead of the game.