stocks

i invested about $1000 in the stock market (using robinhood) about a month ago. first i put in $500 and was soon up $20. then I put in another $500 and was up a total of $25, lol. but pretty soon tho I was up $80!!! and now, about 5 weeks in, I'm up $16. hahahhaha. what a ride. tho I didn't really invest to make money; I really just wanted to learn how to do it. and so far, I've learned a few things:

- buy a reasonable amount of shares in each company.

     I'm naturally cautious so I was buying like 3-5 stocks in each company regardless of their worth. well. 3 stocks at $3 doesn't do anything at all. now I invest about $50 or $100 in each company.

- decide how much you want to buy before you start clicking on stuff.

     prices can change in seconds, so know what you want before you click BUY since it'll take a few more clicks before your order actually goes thru. those seconds can matter. sucks when you realize you bought a stock for 15 cents more just because you wasted time on the buying page. 

- don't trade after market (at least on robinhood anyway)

     robinhood automates your aftermarket trades so it'll actually buy or sell when IT decides prices are right, not when you want.

- know that the biggest fluctuations are early in the day, so use that to your advantage.

     I don't know anything about market advantages, I mean personality advantages. if you like risk, trade within the first couple hours of the market opening. if you don't like risk, wait to later in the day.

- if you're not planning to day-trade (buying and selling the same stock in the same day, or within a very short time), there's no need to keep checking back on your investments. it'll just drive you crazy.

this rolls into the most important tip:

- know yourself

     1. know how much you can monetarily lose. go in thinking of your investment as a total loss. don't expect to make money, and don't invest more than you can throw away.

     2. know how much you can actually "mentally" lose. are you a person who always overthink things? probably best to not get into stocks. to the average person, there is no clear time to buy or sell and you'll end up making a bunch of "wrong" decisions. if you're going to be mad about all those decisions then do yourself a favor and don't bother investing cause you'll just be mad all the time.

something I haven't figured out yet. when to sell! obviously you should sell then prices are up, but.. how up? and way more importantly, if a stock is crashing, when should you sell then? since I've invested $50-$100 in each company, I'm willing to lose up to 20% in each. BUT I'm also in this for at least the end of the year so I'll probably wait until November and start selling slowly.