Stock Trading and Other Things

Is it possible to make money in stocks in the short term without day trading?

Can you make like 5k a month trading stocks with like ameritrade or something? (without day trading) Just regular trading.

Public Comments

1. Sure, but you'd have to start out with a considerable amount of capital.

2. Absolutely.
First, study the market. Select a target company, find out who runs it - their history, management philosophy. Evaluate the company's strengths and competition. Look at their cash to debt ratio, market capitalization, earnings, dividend history. Compare with other companies in the same business segment. Look at market trends and potential future earnings. Don't invest in buggy whips. When you are comfortable with the company, purchase their stock. Then repeat. Diversify. If you are diligent and lucky (and don't make any mistake about it, luck plays a large part in this; the market unfortunately is not rational), you could average upwards of 20% on your money. So to earn $5k a month, all you have to do is invest about $300k in the stock market and get really lucky.

3. It depends. If you know what you are doing, then yes. If you gamble, no. Day trading isn't as bad as people say it is. Smart day traders actually make big bucks.
In order to make money the way you are talking about, you will have to study the market quite a bit, and especially the stock that you are buying. Since you do not want to day trade, you will have to make sure that the stock you are buying isn't just something that shot up for the day and sinks like the titanic the next day because you will be holding on to it for some time (days, weeks, whatever you want).

Buy good stock on high volume that do not fluctuate as much as small-caps if you are planning to hold for over a day.