Learning Time...

So apparently there are a few things I needed to know about trading. First, the trading day starts at 6 AM (PST) and ends 1 PM. I would wager that this is a hold over from the old days, because you can still trade during "after hours". Why they need the distinction is beyond me... maybe keeping data on 24 hours of trading was just too much.

Personally I think it skews information, because after hour trading does not seem to be recorded (Please correct me if I am wrong). So as of this post my after hour Citigroup shares are at 3.54 a share (up $0.01 from my buy price), oh life is good!'

Another note, apparently when you buy/sell shares, there is a 3 day delay. So if you buy stock on Monday, you don't technically have it until Thursday. You still buy it for the price you agreed upon, but don't have immediate possession of it. Same for sales, if you sell a stock, the sale is actually made 3 days later (ie you don't get money for 3 days).



Now some of you might wonder, as I did, what if you buy something and then decide to sell it that day? Well no problem, you buy it for an agreed price, and then sell it for another agreed price. You come into possession 3 days after purchase, and then it leaves you 3 days after sales. This too I am told is a hold over from when stocks were pieces of paper needing to be physically moved. This also facilitates "selling short", but this is over my head, so I won't discuss it yet.

So anyway as I previously mentioned, I have been doing research into E*Trade. It seems to have a good history and after reading up about their recent troubles, I am glad to see they are getting away from the mortgage industry that brought them down. We will see if I still feel that way come buying day.

I apologize for the wordiness, but no one said learning was easy... I hope to integrate graphs and other things into my posts soon.