How I Made 2 Million in the Stock Market (Nicholas Darvas, 1960)

[madali]

How I Made 2 Million in the Stock Market (Nicholas Darvas, 1960)

For all my arrogance, I've never really been good at investments. I failed at the Dubai Financial Market. I still hold the stocks, worth 1/4th of what I paid for them. Years passed, and I decided it's time to try again. This time I entered the Tehran Stock Market, and so far, things are not looking well. My losses are still over my profits.

But reading "How I Made 2 Million in the Stock Market" made me at least not lose hope. The book showed the ups and downs of a starter retail trader. It is not easy, there are no specific rules to follow, and it all comes down to experience. It is nice to read about the way Darvas made his money, but this does not mean that Darvas has found the magic formula. He used some smart tactics and attitude, but it also boils down to certain stocks just working. Given the number of trades per day, and the movements of the trade, even if everyone randomly both and sold, there would be a few who would be lucky.

This doesn't mean it all comes down  to luck. Someone else in Darvas' place might not have made the money, but at the same time, Darvas entering the market at a different point in time, might not have made similar money.

Anyway, currently, I'm a day trader, and have highs and lows for my shares to sell and buy. That is, I won't repeat the Dubai mistake of holding a share while it goes down. Sometimes I buy a share, it goes down, I sell, and then buy it again as it goes down. Even though I lost, I figure I have still not lost that much. Today has not been a good day, my shares hold as:

Femli: Bought 4727, currently 4685
Zamia: Bought 1690, currently 1660
Sadra: Bought 2479, currently 2400 (I'm scared of this one, it went up first, but today went from 2500 to 2400 with lots selling (but I guess that also means lots of buying)…)
Alborz: Bought 3400, currently 3558 (it went up to 3705…!)

4/5

[X.]

When you hit your first million, you let me know, alright? I could use you!

[kaytee]

The first rule of day trading that i learnt was flipping stocks when you making even as little as 3% on it. If Alborz went up to 3705 or even 3500 why didn't you sell?

Day Trading is what you do on that day, unless you read about a particular company who you are certain will do well in the short or long run then you hold them for longer. So first be clear on what u want to do, u want to invest in the stock market on a long term basis or you want to day trade. If its long term then Mutual Funds are a better option as they are well diversified and offer decent returns. If its the short run then you really have to be active enough to keeping making 10-15 trades a day, some days you will lose and some you will win.

 DFM is not the right place to be day trading as the volumes are really low and the market blindly follows international trends. I don't know the case with Iran but make sure there is sufficient volume being traded in the market or else even diversifying your portfolio wont help.

[madali]

The volumes on trades in Iran is high, and the ups and downs are very interesting. In Dubai, since the crash 5-6 years back, shares have been more or less the same price.

Selling it 3% is no use, because given that you have tax+commission for buying and the same for selling, 3% probably leaves you less than 1% profit.

The ones I mentioned above have more than a million shares being bought and sold per day. Sadra has been active lately and there have been volumes or up to 14 million per day.

DFM is stale and lifeless, but Iranian stock market really is exciting.