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Originally posted by architect:

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Originally posted by kx90:
I have been thinking about dabbling a little but I'm a bit confused, and by dabbling I mean maybe like a couple hundred dollars to get the experience and maybe make some extra walking around money. If I were to open an account with TD Ameritrade, would I just add cash to my account and buy stock and trade stock with that? Are there fees? Other than potentially losing money, what are the downsides?

I have a couple of TD Ameritrade accounts. You have the right idea about the mechanics of it, not necessarily the wisdom of getting involved at this time. I cannot speak to the latter, I am a "buy and hold/lose over the long term" investor, and not in a position to give advice to anyone. AMTD, as with most brokerages, have suspended trading fees for "regular" stock purchases for a couple of years now, you will be charged fees (interest) on the use of margin, and futures/options trades.

AMTD (now owned by Schwab) has a trading platform known as "thinkorswim" available for download (I don't know if you have to have an account with money in it to download, but I think so), check their website. This gives a ton of information on on-going trades, price movements, etc. in real time.

I would be thinking more long term at least in the beginning until I get a good understanding of what is going on. I've been thinking about doing this for a while now, I'm not looking to get involved with what is going on at the moment.

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A family member has a Robinhood account, would you recommend they close their account with them and move to another service?

If you go to your usual grocery store and want to buy bread, and they tell you "yes, we do have bread, but we are not selling loaves to you today" are you going to skip lunch, or try another grocery store?

Gotcha.

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Originally posted by cne32507:
TD Ameritrade charges a small fee for a trade, be it $200 or $200,000: same fee. Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, charges a percentage of the trade value.

Do they? I haven't paid any fees with them when I've made trades.

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Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

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Originally posted by cne32507:
TD Ameritrade charges a small fee for a trade, be it $200 or $200,000: same fee. Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, charges a percentage of the trade value.

Do they? I haven't paid any fees with them when I've made trades.

Nope. TDAmeritrade is fee free for stocks and ETF.

Maybe there's a few for mutual funds? Dunno, I don't use it for that.

There's a few for trades on the OTC market (which Robinhood doesn't even have access to.)

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Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

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Originally posted by cne32507:
TD Ameritrade charges a small fee for a trade, be it $200 or $200,000: same fee. Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, charges a percentage of the trade value.

Do they? I haven't paid any fees with them when I've made trades.

I think this was the case at one time, ISTR the fee being $6.95, but I am pretty sure they no longer charge this. They certainly claim to be "commission free" on their pricing page. From the site:

$0.00 commissions. No platform fees. No data fees. No trade minimums.

Introducing $0 commissions on online stock, ETF, and option trades.* When you add this to our best-in-class platforms, award-winning education and service, and a network of over 175 branches, you'll see why TD Ameritrade is the smarter way to trade.

*Applies to U.S. exchange-listed stocks, ETFs, and options. A $0.65 per contract fee applies for options trades.

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Originally posted by Aeteocles:

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Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

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Originally posted by cne32507:
TD Ameritrade charges a small fee for a trade, be it $200 or $200,000: same fee. Morgan Stanley, on the other hand, charges a percentage of the trade value.

Do they? I haven't paid any fees with them when I've made trades.

Nope. TDAmeritrade is fee free for stocks and ETF.

Maybe there's a few for mutual funds? Dunno, I don't use it for that.

There's a few for trades on the OTC market (which Robinhood doesn't even have access to.)

Sorry about that; my experience is VERY dated. Can I change my screen name to "random boomer"?

The squeezers who don't get out early (and it may already be too late), are going to get stuck with shares not worth what they paid, especially if they weren't early buyers. And, in the long run, it seems likely that GameStop goes broke and if they hold the shares they'll be worthless.

It it sort of fun to see the big players get outplayed, but it won't end well for a lot of the little guys who get in on the "fun."

I would think some GameStop executives who were sitting on stock options with a previously underwater strike price may have used this episode to cash out.

According to Reddit, the squeeze isn't starting until tomorrow. GME is holding up OK for the time being. The share price swings pretty rapidly though, having halted trading several times this morning. It's definitely not for the faint of heart.

The interesting thing is that "getting in early" really just means having gotten in before Monday. Even if the share price retreats by 50-75%, if you got in before Monday, you should still be walking away with profit.

I think most of the holders at this point have already taken out their initial capital and just trading now with their profits (in Reddit parlance, "House Money").

The real losers are the people who buy shares for the first time yesterday and today simply because of news. If you don't have experience trading on momentum, you are really likely to buy at a peak and get screwed.

when the order flow finally swings back under institutional control this is going to get crushed.

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Originally posted by TXJIM:
I would think some GameStop executives who were sitting on stock options with a previously underwater strike price may have used this episode to cash out.

Many publicly traded companies have rules regarding when their executives and other option holders can trade to prevent the appearance of illegal insider trading. Typically, this consists of a trading window of a few weeks after each quarterly shareholder meeting, plus disclosure requirements. Essentially, you've got to plan your trades way in advance.

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It it sort of fun to see the big players get outplayed, but it won't end well for a lot of the little guys who get in on the "fun."

^^^^^^^^^^^
Yeah. I have been lucky in the market by not betting on momentum and looking at fundamentals. The big guys will figure this out and crush the kids trading from the bus stop. This sort of stuff happens every once in a while, kind of like when the whiz kids from MIT learned card counting and hit the casinos.

https://twitter.com/jgrantaddi.../1354836013512863747

This is referring to Robinhood and other trading platforms that manipulated the market in their attempt to keep Redditor's from manipulating the market, who were trying to outmanipulate the hedge fund guys who have an exclusive and free license to manipulate the market.

I can’t confirm also I’m in over my head. But is it true Robinhood is automatically closing positions for clients?

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Originally posted by sigalert:
I can’t confirm also I’m in over my head. But is it true Robinhood is automatically closing positions for clients?

That's what I'm hearing. If true, that is fucked up.

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Originally posted by sigalert:
I can’t confirm also I’m in over my head. But is it true Robinhood is automatically closing positions for clients?

Yes, all of the reddit stocks mentioned have been taken down by Robinhood.

Just saw that report on zerohedge

https://www.zerohedge.com/mark...ed-shuts-down-buying

"Update 1445 EST: Users are starting to report that Robinhood is selling their GME shares without warning. Screenshots like the one below are starting to make their rounds on social media. Meanwhile, platforms like Webull and Merrill Edge have also joined in the restrictions. "

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Originally posted by SIG4EVA:

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Originally posted by sigalert:
I can’t confirm also I’m in over my head. But is it true Robinhood is automatically closing positions for clients?

Yes, all of the reddit stocks mentioned have been taken down by Robinhood.

Is that the same as what sigalert is asking? Im hearing people complaining that RobinHood is selling their clients GME stocks without permission.

NO Legal Justification for that action...So F**king Wrong! Free Markets??? This is Major Bullshit! I predict class action lawsuit(s)!

Fuck Robinhood. I don't even understand how they can do that.

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Originally posted by nhracecraft:
NO Legal Justification for that action...So F**king Wrong! Free Markets? This is Major Bullshit! I predict class action lawsuit(s)!

Never piss off Reddit. Especially a legion of now millionaire Redditors.

Lawsuit already filed in the Southern District of New York.