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Message
New to Individual Stocks
Posted on 5/23/26 at 10:33 am
Posted on 5/23/26 at 10:33 am
I have recently become interested in learning how to read charts and follow themes. I follow the board and some folks on twitter. It seems like there’s a lot of geniuses out there finding companies that double or more in less than a year. All of these AI or data center companies are hitting. It’s almost like you can turn your brain off and just buy whatever a highly respected twitter account buys.
My question is for folks that have been doing this for at least a decade. Has there always been this many companies that go up, assuming you pick the right theme, or is the market just hot right now?
My question is for folks that have been doing this for at least a decade. Has there always been this many companies that go up, assuming you pick the right theme, or is the market just hot right now?
5
Posted on 5/23/26 at 10:52 am to Buddy the Tiger
Just don’t do it. I own four individual stocks right now. I’m down on three of them. I’m up on almost all of the various broadbased low cost funds I own (with the exception of one bond fund).
I mess around with it just for fun but picking individual winners is incredibly difficult. Only do it if you are willing to accept losses and not worry about it.
I mess around with it just for fun but picking individual winners is incredibly difficult. Only do it if you are willing to accept losses and not worry about it.
This post was edited on 5/23/26 at 10:54 am
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:04 am to Buddy the Tiger
Don’t. Index funds are the king and you won’t beat them.
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:08 am to Buddy the Tiger
quote:
It’s almost like you can turn your brain off and just buy whatever a highly respected twitter account buys.
If you want to lose your arse this is the way. This is why majority of retail are bag holders in the long run.
All the absolute crap AI company narratives flooding the board just shows how much it is just a FOMO trade
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:15 am to UltimaParadox
quote:
All the absolute crap AI company narratives flooding the board just shows how much it is just a FOMO trade
I agree with the above sentiment. If you are looking to make a steady return, you need to stick to buying ETFs (VOO, VT, etc.) or stout companies with incredible moats (AMZN, GOOGL, etc.) on a dollar cost average basis. You can set that up through any brokerage by doing an automatic transfer on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc. basis.
Most individual stocks require MUCH more attention to effectively make money. Depending on your risk tolerance, I would recommend to most people to avoid.
quote:
UltimaParadox
That being said, the “individual stock winners” on this board have made generational wealth for multiple users. A blanket discounting of posts here as “turn your brain off and buy an X post recommendation” is a disservice to those who put the time in to simply post for awareness and a second opinion.
Feel free to keep MO though, since you want to call it all a FOMO trade.
This post was edited on 5/23/26 at 11:43 am
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:18 am to iPad
quote:
Feel free to keep MO though, since you want to call it all a FOMO trade.
Have fun staying poor version 2026
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:23 am to UltimaParadox
quote:
Have fun staying poor version 2026
YTD is much higher but won’t show full year since I switched from Schwab to Fidelity in March. Here is the chart anyway: (AI spliced YTD chart combining Schwab and Fidelity below)
I invite you to share yours, since you seem to know it all.
Nothing poor about my 2026 
This post was edited on 5/23/26 at 12:08 pm
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:24 am to Buddy the Tiger
Learn technical analysis (look it up in AI, ask for YouTuber recommendations to learn it), pick a time frame you like. Follow the given rules. Research stocks on X. Start with Paper trade it on thinkorswim or another paper trading platform for a bit. If it works, start for real with small position sizes. Don’t break the rules. And if you lose 3 trades in a given time period, you take a break for the rest of the time period. If you break the rules, learn discipline, set stops, or go back to passive investing
If you aren’t learning clear rules and following clear rules, you will lose more often than not
If you aren’t learning clear rules and following clear rules, you will lose more often than not
This post was edited on 5/23/26 at 11:27 am
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:27 am to iPad
Showing one month returns just reinforces the narrative.
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:28 am to Upperdecker
quote:
Learn technical analysis (look it up in AI, ask for YouTuber recommendations to learn it), pick a time frame you like. Follow the given rules. Research stocks on X. Start with Paper trade it on thinkorswim or another paper trading platform for a bit.
Seconding the recommendation of using “paper trading” on Thinkorswim to get practice. Lets you practice your technical analysis skills with zero risk. Great recommendation by Upperdecker here.
This post was edited on 5/23/26 at 11:28 am
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:29 am to UltimaParadox
quote:
Showing one month returns just reinforces the narrative.
Do they teach you how to read in Alabama? Waiting to see yours
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:35 am to iPad
quote:
Seconding the recommendation of using “paper trading” on Thinkorswim to get practice. Lets you practice your technical analysis skills with zero risk. Great recommendation by Upperdecker here.
Key point is you have to follow the rules, paper trading or not. Paper trading doesn’t have the emotions behind it so if you don’t follow rules you’ll lose in real trading.
The market is designed to take your money by frequently testing limits of both sides of a trade. This is also the basis for why technical analysis is real, and chart patterns are simple, tangible examples of real economics
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:36 am to Buddy the Tiger
quote:
Has there always been this many companies that go up, assuming you pick the right theme, or is the market just hot right now?
From my 30,000 ft perspective, it’s a simple “No. It hasn’t always been this way.”
The AI revolution has caused a need for power, compute, and connectivity that has enabled some of the most heretofore boring companies imaginable to experience multiple expansions (based on real revenue and demand) that have blown minds.
POWL
VRT
AGX
BE
VIAV
PLPC
SEI
ENS
Maybe HLIT too…
This post was edited on 5/23/26 at 11:41 am
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:37 am to bayoubengals88
Robotics and suppliers are next.
Look at VPG, AMBA, OUST
Look at VPG, AMBA, OUST
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:40 am to bayoubengals88
This board is hyper focusing the relatively few stocks that are benefiting from a massive new industry forming. There are tons of stagnant stocks that far outnumber the ones being posted here
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:40 am to Tigerfan1999
quote:
Don’t. Index funds are the king and you won’t beat them
This is just silly.
No, you won’t beat them unless you do the research, make a buy, and then manage the position well.
Conviction in a few names and resisting the temptation to sell after 30% can produce generational wealth in this kind of cycle.
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:48 am to bayoubengals88
quote:
Conviction in a few names and resisting the temptation to sell after 30% can produce generational wealth in this kind of cycle.
Bingo - that’s why I research each of the names presented on this board diligently.
The users that congregate here do so because of the track record of great recommendations & knowledge presented on how to better manage your personal finance.
Nobody is here to lead anyone astray and no one is telling you to put your money anywhere. Simply updating the shelves of the shopping aisle to where you can look an another item and decide whether or not to buy it.
Not all of the recommendations will produce a positive return on investment - none of us can predict the future. Even still, a well-informed active investor can beat market returns more consistently than most would expect.
This isn’t the stock market of the past 20 years. There are VIOLENT growth stories littered across the market. You need a microscope to find them and other well-informed active investors as part of your own knowledge-gathering operation to succeed.
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:51 am to bayoubengals88
quote:
POWL
I got this one a few years ago.
It skyrocketed over the past year, did a 3 for 1 split, and kept going up. Came back to earth somewhat over the past week (it was definitely overbought) but still way up from where I got in.
Posted on 5/23/26 at 11:59 am to bayoubengals88
quote:
No, you won’t beat them unless you do the research, make a buy, and then manage the position well.
This is an absolutely horrible take. You realize even the best financial planners still won’t beat the market right? But yeah go ahead and keep buying individual stocks. I’ll just keep getting richer buying index funds.
Posted on 5/23/26 at 12:05 pm to Tigerfan1999
quote:
This is an absolutely horrible take. You realize even the best financial planners still won’t beat the market right?
This is the most tired take there is. How do you quantify “best financial planner”?
A CFP isn’t diligently researching individual growth stocks for high conviction plays for their clients. However, well informed active investors can be early to a lot of the growth plays during this cycle because of the absolute rocketship that the global AI buildout has been and will continue to be.
Your take may have been true 10 years ago, but times have changed in my eyes. You WILL keep getting richer in index funds. That’s what they are designed to do - I agree with you. It’s just the scale of the gains that is the discussion point.
This post was edited on 5/23/26 at 12:11 pm
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