Stock trading in Lebanon

Hi rtp;

With all my respect, you look that you have no exprience in trading, so my advice to you don't get in to that field, because you will get burned, even experienced traders loose money.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards.

rtp wrote

rami12 wroteHi rtp;

With all my respect, you look that you have no exprience in trading, so my advice to you don't get in to that field, because you will get burned, even experienced traders loose money.

Just my 2 cents.

Regards.

I did some minor research and it stated what you just stated.
Thanks for your advise.

Hi rtp;

You are right. If it is something profitable you would find all the people doing it. Anyhow you are better of keeping the money for yourself.

Regards.

Hey rtp. Check my reply in your other post.

@rtp: I would recommend trading in the Forex market instead of the stock market because the former has much more action and opportunities than the latter. With that out of the way let me tell you the complete story...

Trading is not a "get rich quick scheme". It is not easy. It requires a whole lot of discipline if you want to be consistently* profitable in the market. And by the way, those who manage to be consistently profitable are only 10% of the traders around the world. You can be one of those, but it's not an easy task to do. On the other hand, if you set your mind to it and take it slow, then you can certainly be one of those.

If you decide to take that road, I would suggest you train yourself to be VERY patient. You need to read several books that cover all aspects of trading. Those include:
1. Technical Analysis
2. Money Management
3. Trading Psychology
Once you're done reading, I would recommend you spend AT LEAST one year trading using a demo account. Then, and in order to test whether you are psychologically ready to trade, if you can spare $500 - $1000 then open a small live account and trade with your own money. My advice is to apply the rules you've learned reading about money management religiously - assuming you do not want to lose your money in no time. If you do lose this money, it's okay (you will most likely lose it anyway) - it is part of the learning process. But, don't give up just yet, you can go back to demo trading or start another small account until you finally manage to be CONSISTENTLY profitable. When that happens, and only then, trading will make you rich... filthy rich. But as you can see, it's not easy and it requires a lot of time, nervous breakdowns and patience.

* consistently profitable does not mean making money on every lot you trade. It simply means that you have a better success rate than a losing one. A reasonable expectation would be nothing more than 65% successful trades on average (say monthly or yearly).

I like what kassem said

Ok, let me begin ( but i wont make this long, ive been playing torchlight 2 for hours and im super tired )

I am head of research at one of the best financial institutions in the country and the middle east.
Ive been trading in the markets since i was 16 (Im 26 now and i learned from a veteran trader who use to trade on the floor of the Chicago mercantile exchange www.cmegroup.com)
I also ran part of a major fund for the company. Fast paced day trading futures. Dow Jones, 30 year bonds, European indices such as the Dax etc... A lot of trading and a lot of stress.
I create strategies and i have helped plenty of people go from beginners to people who actually manage to make money.
The focus is to be consistent and profitable not how much money you make
This is a vast world. Trading is like playing an rpg with nearly unlimited tasks and quests and so many weapons and items that you will get bored of it. The only way to actually make it exciting is to master one aspect and make it yours then making money becomes boring but easy.
Some people buy and sell within seconds. Others hold traders for days or weeks.
Some people trade based on technical analysis such as patterns and indicators. Others use fundamental analysis such as state of economies and interest rates.
The major market players are vicious. They love to take people's money by tricking them into believing the market will do one thing. For example they will push the market higher, tempt you to buy and while you not realizing it, they are using the liquidity you are providing to initiate short positions.

I trade using baskets. I go in certain currencies, metals, indices and i trade using volume and sentiment. I like to see good news so that i can do the opposite. Good economic news trick people into buying and then the large investment banks and hedge funds take the opposite side.

I think you get the idea. I also use a lot of other stuff but i just gave an example.

Anyways if you are serious, ill help you and one way to start is go to www.babypips.com
go through the tutorials
and let me know if you are still serious :)

Open Up a test account with Forex , you'll receive 10000 $ virtual money to trade if you got the hang of it open up a real account, good luck

Shalashtein wroteOpen Up a test account with Forex , you'll receive 10000 $ virtual money to trade if you got the hang of it open up a real account, good luck

No don't do that. That's what every beginner does, and they all end up losing their money. Oh and I say that because I've been there. I read the tutorial on babypips.com, opened a demo account and trade for like 2 months in which I doubled my account. Then I got tempted into opening a live account and I had no idea about money management or any serious knowledge about market behavior. So with some ignorance and luck, a few weeks after I started trading, I won $800 in 4 or 5 days. Then got stuck in a losing position for a few weeks until I had to close it and incur a $1800 loss (which taught me never to trade without a stop-loss ever again). It did not take too long until I lost everything in my account, obviously. Does that mean the forex market is evil? No it simply means I was a stupid dumbass who did not know what he was doing. Today, I know a lot about trading, but unfortunately I have no time for trading, but it's definitely what I will be doing in a couple of years from now (in addition to my career as a software engineer).

I wouldn't go into stock stuff without deeply knowing how things work just as Kassem mentioned, it takes real knowledge in finance, markets, business and some luck to succeed in them. If you believe(like I do) that learning about this stuff is boring to death don't do it just for the money, because you'd definitely lose.

What usually looks like "easy money" is not really that easy, after all there aren't any shortcuts to becoming rich, because if there were everyone would already be. Companies behind those trading services make it seem to you easy and nice to suck you inside their system, in which the bigger fish(who really know how things work and have experience in all that stuff) feed on your losses.

I'm currently looking into trading stocks with Lebanese online traders, some of which are registered at the BSE

http://www.bse.com.lb/Brokers/ListandAddresses/tabid/93/Default.aspx

is anyone currently trading with any of these companies? Any feedback?

Thanks

theres hardly any stocks that move on the exchange except for Solidere. Before rushing into an account and trading think about how/why/when you are gonna trade. Is it long term? is it large volume for quick profit? are you building a position for the long run?
Other markets provide much better opportunities.
If anyone is serious feel free to ask me questions. Its not an easy world for people who are not familiar with it.

@ reppinhighz can you list some steps we should follow to start with this? where should we start? and how are we supposed to go along.

thanks

well ill give you some ideas.
investing is all about goals. you need to plan for yourself why you are investing.
For example lets say you would like to build a portfolio and leave it for your kids later on. you would invest in value companies that pay steady dividends and you would allocate money every month towards the purchase of new shares. in a few years your portfolio would be worth good money.
This is a very basic example.
I trade short term and long term. i have retirement goals as well as short term goals. This is not for everyone, remember im an expert in this.
short term trading is rewarding but very risky especially if you are using leverage. I use alot of leverage because i know how to benefit from it. Others use it and lose everything.
I also invest in exchanged traded funds which are products that trade like stocks but are in fact semi-companies that invest in stocks for you. A lot like a hedge fund. you can invest in those from as little as a few hundred dollars. they are relatively stable and provide decent returns ranging from 4-5% a year to 20% obviously with higher risk for the bigger returns.
Some people speculate with commodities such as agriculture, grains etc... others do energies like crude oil and natural gas. So many products to trade/invest its an endless world.
i also invest in bonds in Lebanon and the places like the US and Europe.
Most of you should stick to two categories. Bonds and stocks. I trade literally everything ranging from credit derivatives to currencies to options on treasury bonds etc...
For someone who wants to be extremely passive, look for bonds issued by the government as well as Euro bonds. they pay good interest and are very safe and rated relatively high. Ask your local friendly bank.
For the more active investor, consider buying shares in well researched companies. Stocks can provide serious returns if you are looking for big profits or you could slowly build a long term portfolio.
A good company that is undervalued and in a healthy global stock market could provide serious returns that range from 20% up to 80% and of course the more ridiculously undervalued stocks that hit 1xx-1xxx%.
you have to read alot. you have to know why this company is good and what kind of potential it has. Theres alot to it.
so either start with bonds and for more active go with building a portfolio ( i can provide you guys with some stocks that are relatively stable and provide good dividends). And for the most active go for analyzing companies and investing in them with potential big returns.

Again i would advise against venturing into forex (currencies trading) or futures or options as those are very advanced and the leverage provided could destroy big amounts of money if used improperly.
If anyone is seriously interested in learning the more advanced aspects and would like to make a living from investing (provided you are financially healthy and have time to stay up to date) then feel free to contact me further. Otherwise, i would be glad to help you all with certain stocks that would be good for a portfolio and i could also provide you with stocks that have strong potentials. Might not be all the time since my time is extremely limited but ill do my best.
To recap,
goals goals goals.
how much you are willing to risk (never risk money you cant afford to lose)
wanna be active or passive?
are you gonna spend hours reading and understanding how the financial world works?
Those are some of the steps needed to get you to a decent level before you start making decisions.

@ reppinhighz, thanks for the feedback,

my goal at this moment is to start trading stocks as a secondary income and so that possibly in the long term i could make a living from it

i would like to exchange on the NYSE for a start

I also would like to invest myself on a online trading platform such as https://www.afc.com.lb for example,

i've had virtual accounts for years, i feel now is the time for me to get started at least

Hi All,

I just have few questions and I hope that someone will help.

since more than one year I am using one investment bank in Lebanon to trade US stocks, but the commissions are high (0.5% and minimum of 75$) any how I want to ask if there is any decent online broker that has US stocks and with decent commissions.

almost all of the US brokers they do not accept to open accounts for Lebanese living in Lebanon for unclear reasons.

thanks