Trading in shares - where to start?

gregmcc

gregmcc

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Been thinking a while now about starting to trade in shares.

I've read up on a few articles and would like to know what route other beginners have taken to starting trading shares. I pretty much know nothing about the subject.

There's are a ton of sites with a wealth of info. Should you subscribe to these - most of them have a monthly free? There's also places like sharenet, samlamitrade, sharedirect, sharechat. (And i presume an equally amount of dodgy sites too)

Most of the banks also offer online trading - FNB, Standard, ABSA - should/why would you use these as opposed to something like Sharenet?

Also are any of these free courses worth attending. Standard bank offer a free beginners course - anyone been to it?
 
It is a known fact that only 5% of individual private traders make a profit over 1 year. If you have about 8 hrs free time per day in front of the computer and you know how charting works, the candlesticks, doji's etc. Plus the market sentimentals and fundamentals of co's , you might not loose much.
I tried this but it takes too much of my time and there is toooo much to learn.
Rather have a professional do it for you. Imara SP Reid does this and they only charge on the wins over a certain benchmark. www.imaraspreid.co.za The main man is Garth McKenzie who does "Share Trading" on Channel 412 early morning. Done over 100% in 7 months for his clients.
Very risky though at this time.
 
Like Marco said--it takes a lot of dedication and time. It's not a get rich quick scheme. Start out with a professional and learn as much as you can--at least then when you jump in--any company / shares research will have a lot more meaning (you can analyze the figures objectively).

Another thing--never ever loan money to do investments. You will jump out of the frying pan and into the fire, and the repo man will come take what is left of you :)
 
Also, you need to purchase live pricing and a charting programme. And newspapers. Powerstocks has a good programme but at a hefty price. FSP offers SMS's for buy/sell signals at about R2700.00 PY. Then you must buy, set stoploss etc yourself. If you don't do it correctly, you can loose MORE than your entire investment. Plus your house and wife.
Check Sharechat forum and you will see there are 2 guys doing futures.
The other guy asks 20% for all wins he predicts with SSF's. He is also doing very well.
I personally don't have time to do this as I have to work. R10 000 here as well.
Imara SP Reid R100 000 min.
Ask RoryK here. He is great with this.
 
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I'm quite sure the OP is not referring to day-trading as a job, but rather making his own investment decisions and holding onto certain shares for a period of time, far longer than a day-trader might. In which case ignore the previous advice - you'll learn to read the charts as you go along and there are courses in this respect for beginners. There is plenty of advice that could be shared in this respect. However that could be a few pages of typing to be honest.

Regarding charting, it's also a controversial business. However there are indicators which you will need to learn to look out for. If you want an easy-to-read book that will help you to get started, and is well worth it, get Robbie Burns' Naked Trader book - it relates to the UK markets but the principles are the same. And he explains things very well.

You need to do the research to identify what your charges will be, when making the decision to work with a specific broker. It's really a personal choice...
 
Standard bank's lessons for share investing and is very good. You need to spend some time tracking companies, even for long term trades, as decisions they make could impact your return on investment.

I would love to do it myself, but studies and work is taking up my time at the moment.
 
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Nefertiti said:
Standard bank's lessons for share investing and is very good. You need to spend some time tracking companies, even for long term trades, as decisions they make could impact your return on investment.

I would love to do it myself, but studies and work is taking up my time at the moment.
Click to expand...

No such thing as long term trading. This is called investing. If you want to make money, you must WORK it. This is trading. Buying for a few days or weeks and then selling. Perhaps not Futures, but buying shares on the JSE as you would buying Unit Trusts.
The best investment to buy if you are not savvy is STXRAF. This is shares from the top 40 best co's according to fundamentals like Good Management, Good cashflow etc. This investment outdoes most "Managed" funds after fees. I think they did 30% in the past difficult year. Will check up on it. Google STXRAF.
He did say "trading".
 
Just checked on Sharenet. Would have been 52% over the past year had it not been for the latest sell off. Now 34%. The 3rd best investment at the moment. Buy when market sentiment improves and on the bottom of the dip. Keep it then and don't worry about the occasional dips.
You can also buy Satrix 40, but the SatrixRaf will outperform it in the long run.
 
I am a startup. I started investing and trading September last year. Let me tell you what I know since it is still fresh in my mind.

I started buying Satrix Rafi via a debit order. Great growth, but I got concerned about the fees. The minute a company starts talking about this percentage and that percentage, you will end up paying through your neck. So I started shopping around to find the cheapest share broker. I ended up with Standard Bank. Low monthly fee in comparison to the rest I investigated. That was step 1 completed.
Then I looked at the share buying costs and the trading costs. Trading costs 50 bucks a trade ex vat and the stuff the government takes (not much you can do about the government component). Share buying fee, not bad. A min fixed fee of 70 bucks in comparison with other guys R120 bucks. That was stage 2 completed.
I had to learn - once again when you open a trading account with Standard Bank, it includes all the lectures. This is a bonus as some other companies charge a small fortune for training. Just the training that I attended was worth far more than the yearly fee I have to pay to have a trading account with Standard Bank. Stage 3 completed.
Now, I needed help from somebody. A guide, somebody with experience and a plan. I googled this one and read all the websites. I stumbled across www.powerstocks.co.za. A startup company with guys that put their own money into trades before they let you put your money in. They helped me with firstly investing and secondly trading. They don't do daytrading. They do swingtrading and investing and most of all, they are the timing and strategy guys.
I have never looked back. Up till this day, I still don't have all that fancy software that you need. I just do as they say. I do exactly what they say and when they say it.
The only extra piece of advice I can give you is this - Money management is the most important part of trading/investing and to be able to do this you need to know how stop-loss and trailing stop-loss works. It is crucial if you are going to do trading. I promise you, you do not have self discipline! Don't even think you have it and reading a thousand books will only help you create a base. Been there, done that.
 
yes no maybe

All the fancy expensive stuff and lots of time is not a requirement to be an investor.

And the 5% succeed rule is for traders, not investors. The stat is that 80% lose money, 15% make money but would make more working at the local spur and 5% make a decent profit.

And for more sites/info try;
www.tickertalk.co.za
www.moneyweb.co.za
www.fin24.co.za
 
Simon, Shut your trap.
As I said, investing in a Managed Fund costs you fees. Investing in SatrixRaf costs only initial low fee, then it is free for life. STXRAF has done 30%+ per year even in the past difficult times. This fund was the 3rd best performer out of ALL.
Anyone want prove me wrong? Check out Sharenet.co.za and go to "Fund Performance"
 
I use Sasfin, no hassles and not time consuming.
 
HoHum marco .. I said nothing about Satrix and certainly would never suggest a amanged fund, but seeing as you're jumping around here's facts ...

Satrix Rafi is 40 stocks selected from more then just the Top40 using 4 fundamental indicators to decide which 40 and how much per each.
Back testing it suggests it will do 2% over the Top40 every year (yes last year well out preformed the Top40)
All Satrix products have a annual management fee, so not a one off fee.. And note the ABSA eRafi charges an out preform fee as well.

They can be bought via a broker or direct via satrix.co.za or etfsa.co.za
 
Sorry Simon, got confused with another OP. You are quite correct. My apologies.
I am with Imara stock brokers and have 2 accounts with them. One for my own management and one for futures that they manage.
My own managed account is mostly with STXRAF. Never paid Management fees in 18 months. I have a 5% trailing stop loss that has triggered now and again. Then I reinvest near the bottom again.
If you don't have time to study graphs, then do STXRAF. STX40 will NEVER outdo STXRAF. When the market sentiment returns to normal, STXRAF will shoot up as the portfolio is made up of Fundamentals of the best top 40.
If you don't understand graphs like me and want to trade, then go to Imaraspreid.co.za. Garth Mackenzie from DSTV channel 412, will do it for you at minimal charge. He has done 97% in 8 months.
 
They charge the management fee as a deduction from dividends earned and paid. With the Rafi it is a TRT index, so divs reinvested automaticaly increasing unit value, that's were the fee sits.

Bottom line - everything has a fee.
 
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