I am graduating in a few weeks and was interested in learning about investing (in stocks primarily, not in 401k/retirement). Is there any site/YouTube playlist which is highly recommended? Im more interested in trading short term options. This is obviously a friend's account. Thanks much.
A way to get a cursory understanding is to go read the Investopedia articles about all the topics you can find in the CFA syllabus. Long story short, stocks are priced based on expected future cash flows, money now is worth more than money tomorrow, diversification reduces variance, and investors expect more return for higher risk. Unfortunately it takes time to get a good understanding of the whole ecosystem. For example central bank policy and bank regulation are critical to how the economy runs and the markets, but you could spend years reading and looking up all the weird acronyms. For options you can go read Hull and then look at the options chains for whatever stocks to get a feel for how pricing works. Pay attention to implied vol and Delta. Finally, ignore the people who are inevitably going to come here saying S&P index funds will return an expected 10%, or focus on Sharpe ratio as if you can lever up indefinitely.
Nothing beats experience. Open a Robinhood account with money you’re ***willing to lose*** and trade. Also start reading the news. WSJ, FT, etc. And read Morningstar. Your library may have access to it without you paying for a subscription.
I agree with the willing to lose part strongly. Too many people get overly confident and screw up badly. Check out /r/personalfinance. Also don’t read /r/wallstreetbets.
Stocks, especially individual equities are very much driven by market psychology and less by fundamentals on shorter terms over the very long haul (like years) fundamentals (company performance) wins.short term trading/day trading will eat you alive unless you make it your half to full time job, learn how to read read the psychology and also get a little lucky. Problem is with single stocks, even major ones, are subject to random unpredictable hiccups that impact fundamentals from time to time. Like Boeing . So it is always risky. My advice is find ETFs (yes and use investopedia every time you see terms you do not know . Great resource) investing in areas you think are hot, and maybe using technical indicators to pick the right entry point then put your money in and check back in ten years. Like, I would love to find a basket of stocks (ETF or mutual fund or small hedge fund) focused on companies whose business models center around CRISPR in some way. One company in such a collection will be the next Amazon.
r/wallstreetbets
r/personalfinance has a good wiki to get started
Trading short term stock options as an amateur is a sure way to lose money. Are you smarter and better at it than an experienced pro at Goldman who’s traded options with 10+ YOE?
Even they get destroyed by the SP500
Yeah. Selling covered options can make money. Making money on options takes luck. Odds are better than the lottery, but it is hard to beat out automated trading systems. Options are mostly good for hedging existing positions.. and you have to pay for that insurance
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