Play "Poker" on Stock Market

If you have a nominal amount of liquidity (some cash to spend), try picking up some great stocks "on the cheap." Last week, for the price of a poker game's entry fee, I picked up some really good buys on quality companies which were drawn down with all the others in freefall. Plan to hold them for a while, as there is too much volatility; but, experimenting, I actually have even picked up some change on their way back up on Monday (I always include the fee for making the trade in the sell limit). ...and now they're coming down again. I recommend using "limit" buys/sells though to control profit/loss levels, especially if you've never dabbled in stocks before. And you don't need to purchase large quantities of shares doing this online ... pick/choose from different sectors vice just one. Yep, just like playing poker ... invest only in what you know or use yourself, and only spend limited funds in this world of turmoil (just like poker, I keep my stock "kitty" small enough that if I lose, it doesn't hurt .... and it is just as entertaining as playing cards).

entering the stock market at the moment could seriously cause you a heart attack unless you really plan on holding on to the stock for the long term. haha the action junkies may like it though...

Would now not be the perfect time to buy? I've always heard buy low sell high and last I checked they were pretty low.

Low is relative. If they keep dropping then even this 'low' could be high.

Man if you got the stomach for the market right now, best of luck to you. If your in for the long hall bottom feeding right now could be very profitable.

I can remember though saying if the DOW ever reaches 1000, man were flying. And that was not that long ago. The sad thing is it might be next week to.

One word...Precisely. BUYBUYBUY!!! Just my 2cents....

Agree, im a finance student ... BUY BUY BUY...do not try to time the market.

right now is the perfect time to invest in the market. there are a lot of HUGE companies that dropped significantly. the likelyhood of an upswing in the not too distant future for these companies is high, once the market begins to stabalize.

i am a finance student as well but again i would be cautious of buying in this sort of environment. jamesdadeliverer (http://www.cardschat.com/members/jamesdadeliverer/) is right, stocks are low now, but they could get even lower we just don't know. ive also read many analysts are saying that this downswing in stocks in partly panic but also partly market correction because certain stocks were overpriced due to their uniquely high earnings as a result of subprime lending. basically that means, expect stocks to rebound in the long run, but its probably unrealistic to expect them to get back to the level they were at before all this happened.

You make your money when you buy a stock. It could go lower, but if you've researched the company, and determine that it's a strong investment likely to generate a ROI, then buying isn't wrong. You're making a +EV decision.

If the stock does continue to decline for a time after you buy it, this doesn't change your decision, it was still good. It's just that had you waited you could have had a higher +EV decision.

Both purchase points were +EV, simply one is more so than the other.

I like this quote, "When prices in a store are slashed, people celebrate and call it a sale. When stocks go on sale, people panic and call it a crash." Of course this wasn't quite the same market we're in now when this was said, lol.

Couple of nice points there Mase. I saw this quote from Warren Buffett today and I think it correlates to what you are talking saying:

The reason, he (Warren Buffett) said, is a key maxim in his outlook: "A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.

If you are in the position to be able to wait on the long term, there are some extremely good values out there in some very good companies.

Here is a link to the full article:

Buffet says 'Buy American' - Yahoo! News

Market is still very volatile. TSX at least can be up 10% one day and down 10% the next. So if you have balls then yea you can make money on the stockmarket atm, but i've lost a fair bit on it as of late (and i don't even have much in there) and personally atm security>>>chance to make money on something i am not particularily familiar with. The guys who make money now are guys who know what they are doing, not ppl who just want to invest when stocks are low and hope they rebound.

I view my stock investments much like I view poker, as long term enterprises. And the long term for the stock market isn't 1 year, or even 5 years. And while Warren Buffet advises to buy when others are fearful, his main investment advice for the Joe the Plumber (lol) has been to buy over the long term, for the long term, and be well diversified.