Advice for trading

I'll suggest what I tried when I was just out of school.

You don't have very much money yet, which is a good thing. Bet enough money that you lose sleep at night thinking about it. You will learn quickly what your risk tolerance is.

Eventually you will learn that people bet on stocks and such as simply another form of entertainment. That isn't a terrible thing necessarily but although you can get lucky (or not) you can't expect to consistently do better than billion dollar funds any more than you can successfully do brain surgery in your spare time.

I repeat - you will not beat the pros in your spare time. You can have fun trying and you may get lucky sometimes but that's it, and remember that you pay more to trade than they do on top of that.

It is boring to just buy a set of index funds but that will consistently do better for you financially in the end. But if you're like me at that age you don't really believe it and I suggest learning the hard way while the lesson is still cheap.

ETA: The "hard way" may not be all that hard or noticeable. More likely you will find that your porfolio has more volatility and a slightly lower return than a broad index. Still making money but not as much as you could have.

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technical analysis

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You realize that trying to decode charts is the equivalent to practicing Voodoo right?

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Thanks for the advice foshizzle. I've also heard that a lot of stock traders do it more for the sport than anything else. I will definitely look more into index funds now

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I freely admit that I invest in individual stocks right now (at the age of 22 with money that is not even mine) because I enjoy the rush of it, and it is more exciting to own an actual company rather than "The S&P spider index." What I will probably do is open a Roth and then invest more in individual stocks, maybe even do some swing trading. With my 401k, however, I will invest up to the company match and put that money in some boring ETF. I think this is a good balance of the two. (Plus, if I do happen to get lucky in a Roth, all the earnings are tax free in 37 years).

I'm in the same boat as you. For starters on technical analysis, stockcharts.com has an online chart "school" that seems to cover some of the basics pretty well.

What about trading options? Forex? Penny stocks?

What about them?

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Seeing as I'm a broke college student,

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Take some classes?

I did a lot of reading, sites like Kiplinger and the Motley Fool. I'd also strongly recommend, once you do start earning, that you invest at least half in mutual funds (I'm in Vanguard), and play/learn about investing in individual stocks and other products with the rest. That way, while you're learning the hard way, you're also putting something away for the future.....

I'm in the same boat as you... here's what I did

this is a spare time thing for me, but I've lost as much as $1000 in one day and made as much as $800 playing penny stocks

If you wanna play penny stocks, my advice is to go on a penny stock tracking website (thehotpennystocks.com is what i use) set up a google portfolio, and watch all the stocks that are moving in your google portfolio. Don't buy anything. Eventually you'll notice every penny stock has a normal level that it trades at, and it'll dip below or above that. This is where you make your money, just buy low and sell high.

also penny stocks can x10 in one day... but only insiders make money on that

There are many scams out there, and playing penny stocks is almost like gambling, but after you lose some money you'll start to get an instinct for it

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because I enjoy the rush of it,

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You want a real rush kid? trade futures. either you will feel the rush or you will wet your pants.

Trender so you claim you can beat the casinos? I will bankroll you 100k if that is the case. Just because you study and are determined doesn't mean you will succeed. That is the California everyone gets a trophy if you try hard enough attitude that is killing this country. There is a reason this was built on people who "tried hard" and were "determined"...