Why does Jim Cramer of Mad Money have so much influence on after hours trading?  When he mentions a stock.?
445902
Here's a little something I've learned about Cramer. When he pushes a stock, the next day in the first 1/2 hr, the stock goes up. To make money off of his hype, get ready to short it.
500413
Investors selling short a stock cannot drive down stock prices. The Stock Market cannot be manipulated at will (Like so many Hollywood Movies tell us)\n\nHere are the basics:\nThe Stock is $10.00 and there are 100 stocks.\nThe founder of the Acme Company has 51 stocks and he is not selling.\nTherefore the float is only 49 stocks.\nIf there are 49 investors buying 1 stock each at $10.00 then the price would be exactly $10.00 because the supply and the demand is exactly the same. In real life this scenario is impossible.\n\nIf the number of investors buying is 149 and the number of shares is only 49 there are not enough shares for everybody and that drives prices up.\nAt this moment 100 investors will be without shares and there is nothing we can do about it.\nSo 50 investors decide to PAY MORE for their shares let's say $11.00 and that takes care of half the demand but there is still another 51 investors without shares.\nSo 25 investors decides to sell at $12.00 and and they sell and takes care of the demand one more time but there are still 24 investors willing to buy.\nFor as long as the number of investors buying is bigger than the number of shares the price will go up.\nEventually the demand dries at $20.00\nSo of the current 49 investors (Some paid $10.00 some $11.00 some $12.00 and so on)\nEverybody says well, i have doubled my money already so let's sell at $20.00\nSo now we have 49 investors selling.\nAlas! nobody wants to pay $20.00\nSupply 49\nDemand 0\nSo they lower the price to $15.00 and 9 take the bait.\nSupply 40\nDemand 0\nSo they lower the price to $12.00 and 10 more\nSupply 30\nDemand 0\n\nSee?\nIf Supply is high and demand is low the price goes down\nIf Supply is low and demand is high the price goes up\n\nI hope you understand.\n\nWhen the stock is going down is only because the number of sellers is bigger than the number of buyers.\n\nThe Short Seller already sold their shares so there is nothing more he can do. (Except sell more)
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There are strong buys and strong sells,\nalso some banks have underperfom, neuteral and  overperformer. S&P stock analysts use stars, 5 the best, 1 the worst. Don't take the analyst reccomendations seriously though. They are out to try to maniupulate the price of a stock more than giving out good advice. Go to yahoo and pick several random stocks, check analyst opinions and look at the stocks history, you would notice that their reccomendations were either random, or they were dead wrong.
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Your first question should be "is 'any' stock good to buy?" And what does my opinion of this particular stock matter? Nobody has a crystal ball and nobody makes predictions. This is because the future cannot be known, and is always uncertain, unless you want to consult your Ouija board or favorite Astrologist. All we can do as traders is increase our odds a little, like they do at Vegas.\n\nYour first lesson of the day "Do not trade on stock tips." If you can't do the work yourself, you have no business taking responsibility over something you know nothing about. Go to Vegas and at least enjoy losing your money.\n\nThe best way to do anything yourself is to learn something about it first. You'd be surprised at the thousands of books available on this one subject at your local library.\n\nBut most people spend more time deciding the color of their new car, than they do on a mutual fund advisor, for example. \n\nAre you really wanting to do this yourself, or are you asking about someone who is an expert who can do it for you?\n\nIf you invest in the stock market right now, or just buy into all the ETF's you can afford, it's a crap shoot, like rolling the dice, and the odds are probably not in your favor, whether you have an expert fund manager or not, because mutual funds are always "in" the market.\n\nThey say "Buy and Hold" for the long term is better, but that depends on when you get in, and what your definiton of "long term" is. The phrase "Buy low and sell high" infers that you buy after a decline; decidedly not the case here.\n\nThe Dow has approached all-time highs last seen in Jan 2000 and failed, so if your long-term definition is more than seven years, then you won't mind waiting another seven years for a profit.\n\nIn my opinion, the name of the game is capital preservation. When the risks are high, like right now, you get out of the stock and bond markets and park your cash in a interest bearing money market fund or CD or Treasury Bill.\n\nThis is simply not a good entry point for investors. Be patient, wait a few months, and you'll be able to buy much more stock a lot cheaper, the risks will be lower (even though they will seem higher), and your chance of success greater.\n\nIf you wish to research the “Buy and Hold Strategy” further, or perhaps trade yourself, I recommend two book titles. One is called "Which Is Better, Buy-and-Hold or Market Timing?" The other is "Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Market Timer?" They will give you plenty to think about.
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First, the real or imaginary "click fraud" is not manipulating the stock price.  The stock price is another stupid bubble that will burst upon headlines any day now--the irrational exhuberance cannot be sustained.  See the CNN/Money/Fortune article.\n\nSecond, there is a lot of fire and fuss over the definitions of clicks and it isn't just Google that is in the dispute.  Notice the businessweek articles.\n\nStock prices are not Google's manipulation, from what I read the people at Google are just perplexed at why their stock is flying so incredibly high--but they are pleased as can be that it is.
311012
I like Scottrade.  $7 market orders, fast executions, good customer service when I need it, which hasnt been often.  Their website provides a lot of good research information.
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that is the ONLY thing that is important. If you buy at the current price, and sell at a higher price you make money. No other statistic is important. A company can be losing a billion day, and the price can go up(GM), or they can be making a billion dollars a day and the price can go down(MSFT). PE, ROE, etc, means  nothing. The price will never correlate with the value of the company, because if it did, there would not be a market.
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Wow, if someone knows the real effect, it would start profiting from the idea. Later, it would be useless.\n Still, inter-market behavior is very productive and can give you some edge in trading. Commodities prices influence companies related to the commodity in question. Ex. oil.\nOption and future markets easily affect stock market trading. It is believed that future and option players are smarter, wealthier, and better informed that securities traders so a big trade in any of those market will influence stock trading rapidly. For example, if a big player wants to raid the market (make it go lower), they sell S&P futures, leading to program selling to start. If there is weakness in the market, a pretty good sell-off is guaranteed.
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I think that Cramer is wrong more times than he is right.  People seem to like his exhuberance, though.  Not me.
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True day traders do not own any stocks overnight because of the extreme risk that prices will change radically from one day to the next, leading to large losses.\n\nDay traders also have high expenses, paying their firms large amounts in commissions, for training, and for computers.
155325
Well because its yahoo.  Next time just play with friends for money.  Their stocks falling.
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I'm not here to encourage or dissuade you from Motley Fool,I'll just give you my opinion.\n\n Motley Fool is 1 of the most "forward" investment advisor forums on the net.Mind you,this isn't good or bad.That depends upon your investment/trading style.For the day-trader, the Fool is useless;except for the "buzz" it generates.For Investing; you'd do better by following the advice of an FA, and work on what they recommend.\n GOOD LUCK
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What, nobody else gets stock spam?\n\nWell, it all goes back to the age old expression, "there's a sucker born every minute".  So some people have to learn the hard way that there are people out to get you.  Also, when it comes to investing, people let their greed, emotions, hopes, etc. take over and stop thinking, so this also makes it easier for them to fall for these scams.
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Once I wrote in a forum, that they sponsored, and got a reply from Tom asking me if I would be interested in being a regular writer on their team, but I declined.  I used to be a stockbroker with a large firm and I wrote about why I thought the average large stock brokerage firms overcharged for the dismal advice that their stockbrokers, who actually are nothing but overpaid salesmen, gave.  I didn't want to get in the middle of a lawsuit with my employer.  After-all, they have more money for lawyers than I have.  But the threat of lawsuits is how they keep the truth sequestered.\nThe Motley Fools boys seem to do their homework, but in the end, I haven't seen anyone say that their stock picks are better than anywhere else. Learn why someone recommends something.  Don't just place a bet.  In investing there is an old saying, "ride your winners and sell your losers".  Like many other advice columns, they tend to brag about their winners and keep quiet about their losers.
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Google stock has formed a top. It needs to rise above the $470 level to start a new uptrend. The whole group is weak. Yahoo, eBay, Amazon.\n\nI made quite a few bucks trading Google. It is the epitome of CANSLIM stocks. CANSLIM was invented by William O'Neil from Investors Business Daily. He also wrote How to Make Money in Stocks. \n\nThere will be more Googles in the future. You can learn to be ready for them.
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I see several things wrong with your blog explanation of MACD. \n\nFirst, you gave the textbook description of how MACD is computed and used, as a fast MA crossing over a slow MA. \n\nThen you say signals are generated by divergence. Not true. The signals are generated from the crossover, as you first stated, with or without divergence. Divergence is just another aspect of momentum indicators. RSI and other momentum indicators also show divergence, but you will go broke trading just divergence. It happens all the time if you just look, and divergence is little better than 50% correct. \n\nThe problem with Momentum Indicators is in a trending market, like right now in the stock market. These indicators can stay Overbought, or in this case, Oversold for days and weeks, signaling a reversal, while the market just keeps going down. The divergence will not help you here, and instead, gives a false signal. This is worse than a "wrong" signal. \n\nDidn't Gerald Appel develop this indicator? If you want to know how to apply an indicator, read the origins of it first by its creator, then test your "theories" thoroughly before using them, or worse, telling others to use them. Publishing ignorance just gives the whole business a bad name.\n\nAppel said the "signal" comes after the crossover when passing through the 50% zone, I think, as a confirmation.\n\nI gave up on this one a long time ago as a short-term indicator.
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What he is saying is that Joe Shmo at home trading stocks worries big investors because it creates volatility in the market. \n\nMost of wallstreet is comprised of huge investment groups, that buy thousands of shares at a time. They have so much money, they look down on the little guys. However, there is enough little guys out there, that combined they have some effect on the market. That worries the big guys, because they have more invested, and more at stake then you or I would as individual investors.