Hi all,

I am just starting out. I bought a few shares at ShareBuilder. I really don't know anything about investing but I am slowly learning.

My first question for community is, is $100 trades too small? Eventhough TradeKing charges only $5 commission, it seems like that $100 investments are not worth it?

I am trying to figure out if I should save money for a few months and then make a bigger trade of around $300.

Anyways have a good Easter!

Great Easter to you too!

I also am just starting out investing but I have spent a great deal of time researching and reading books about the subject.

I find from most of the literature that I have read that anything under $1000 position can yield considerably lower returns due to commissions. That makes a lot of sense right? On your $100 trades you lose 5% in commissions even with TK's really low comms. So you better be really sure about a stock's upside to know you will make a worthwhile return above the 5% you lost up front in comm.

Based on your age you need to decide what the purpose of this money is: if you are 50 and you will need money for retirement you can't be very aggressive in your strategy but if you are 20 you can be very aggressive. If you are young and can afford to be very aggressive you can make back that 5% commission easily when you are right. And if you lose everything in an aggressive trade you have your whole life to earn it back.

Check my stock pick for last week Transmeta Corp. (TMTA) a great speculative has-been company with tremendous upside. They were down considerably Monday as people backed out because of the delisting notice that the NASDAQ sent them. But on Tuesday news broke that TMTA would move forward with firing and reiterated their strategy to turn the company around. Even with Thursday's profit taking you would be up ~17% from Tuesday morning (12% less comm.) which I would say is worthwhile. Although that is only $12 in the bank you hopefully learned something from the research and trading which will pay huge dividends in the future.

Good luck saving and trading! Have a great weekend!

If you want to actually make some money, I advise you to wait until you have at least $500. However, if you are anxious to dip your toes in the water, then go for it! last year I started with one ETF share (ADRE), then I bought a bit more and another ETF: PJP. I think these were both mildly loosing positions for me, but I gained something more important: I learned a great deal about myself. This is something that you may not realize until you start investing, but I found out that psychology is a huge part of the game. You have no idea to what extent you can handle daily fluctuations or risk tolerance until you're in.

I disagree with the last comment. I would not start with a speculative stock as my first and only holding! I would recommend Apple. At this moment I do not hold AAPL only because I'm trying out index options these days. However, this is a solid company (far from speculative) and still it tends to be volatile enough to keep you excited – not a boring stock. I think such (relatively safe) volatility is good for you as a beginner. The second reason I recommend AAPL for you is because it is a company that is very easy to understand and do your homework on, solid fundamentals, and there are tons of rumor web sites, news coverage and content to keep you busy. Right now it is bullish because of the upcoming Mac OS X and most products are due for a refresh and the iPhone -- all coming up within next 2 months! so I think this is an excellent stock for a beginner.

It IS possible to start off investing, even with $100. One of the best ''how to'' articles is from Richard Jenkins of MSN Money, who explains how to invest a hypothetical $100. He is a big fan of the liquidity and diversification benefits of ETFs (exchange-traded funds), but please be aware that this is not a recommendation to buy or sell ETFs, just an illustration of how one might put $100 to work.

Here's the link:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/StartInvesting/StartInvestingWithJust100.aspx?page=all\\

Thanks for your great ideas.

There is another great article at Fools.com: http://www.fool.com/dbc/qa/qa03.htm

I am still trying to figure out the right strategy for me. Currently, I am reading Intelligent Investor. Hopefuly, by next month I will be able to make my first intelligent investment.

Oh yeah, I am debt free this month. Paid off all my credit cards, and student loans.