Start Here

New to my blog? This is the place to start. Here is my advice on what to read and in what order.

1. About – Read about who I am.
2. FAQ – My frequently asked questions, answered.
3. Terms of Use – If you want to spend significant time on my blog you should read this; it is not just irrelevant legalese. It details my relevant business relationships.
4. Q&A Index – These are video posts I have done to respond to questions readers have emailed me. These are less common questions than those in my FAQ but most have been asked several times.
5. Reading List – Some books I recommend.
6. Trading profits –  A record of almost all my trades at Profit.ly. I do not guarantee the accuracy of the data here but I have tried to be as accurate and comprehensive as I could. When I could import trades directly from a brokerage I have done so.
7. The search box – There is a search box at the top right of my blog. Curious about a particular subject? Search for it.

I will post links to my favorite blog posts and which order to read them in later! Check back in a month or so.

177 thoughts on “Start Here”

  1. Hi Michael, what broker would you suggest with a 2k bankroll and only going for long swing trades? I’m right now down to lightspeed, Tradeking, optionshouse.

      1. For a 10k account, going only for Long and want to have no day pattern limit( I guess only 3 trades in a week). Do you suggest any broker. Somewhere I saw you said suretrader have high fees. is it only high for short. Please suggest

      2. I recommend against Suretrader. I would recommend getting accounts at two different US discount brokers (like Etrade and TDA) so you would have 6 day-trades per week.

      3. Thanks for the reply. I just saw an Ad from “Fidelity Broker”. They claim to have low commission fees and higher order execution quality than Etrade & TDA.(Not sure if there are other brokers with more less fees).

        Am I missing some mystery hidden fees here with Fidelity?
        Do you recommend going with them for the half portion ($5000), if Yes, which one you prefer among Etrade & TDA (for the other half $5000)?

        Thanks in Advance.

    1. Ah yeah you are right. I thought most would work. But I found a whitelabel broker of IB with a reasonable min. deposit of 4k.

      I think it’s possible on IB to deposit the minimum amount for an account opening and then withdraw directly a portion or?

  2. Hi Michael,

    I am trying very hard to make the right decision with which direction to go in trading. I’ve read a lot about TS and his Challenge. In doing so, I understand you work with him (or did so) and I have since read your bio and blog as well.

    There is such a grey shade in between the hype and reality of who is truly a valuable resource for learning. I’ve read just as many articles slamming guys like TS as I have those who hail him as King. My question is, how does someone who doesn’t have a lot of $$$ to lose on BS know the truth from fiction? I’ll be honest, hearing some kid turned $1500 into over $1M is inspiring, but the reality is – did he really use just $1500 to begin with, or did he spend $5K to learn, then traded with a $1500 acct and is TS really the guy to learn from if you are in fact, a small guy without a lot of capital to burn?

    I have a burning desire to improve the lives of my family, and trading has to be it for me. I’m trying my hardest to make the right choice, but I’m not a guy whose parents gave him $10K in my acct in college to do what I wanted for no fear of losing it. I need help making the right decision on who to work with, and can’t afford to fail. Any help you can provide regarding how best to get started would be much appreciated. I’m a smart enough guy to succeed at this and have a work ethic unmatched by many, just need some help from someone who knows a hell of a lot more than me on the subject to do it right.

    Best Regards,

    Doug Nelson

    1. Doug,

      Tim G. started trading with $11,500 (although $10k was borrowed from his parents; he only had $1500). But how he started trading really doesn’t matter — he is the best case scenario. Even other successful students haven’t and likely won’t reach his level of success. But essentially anyone who is promoted as having achieved success after learning from some service is going to be an outlier.

      Most people who become successful traders end up lose a good chunk of money before they become profitable — so if you can’t afford to lose money then you shouldn’t be trading.

  3. Hi Michael,

    Which website that I can follow your comment? I’m newbie trading penny stocks. Thank you

    Regards

    Sujanto Liau

  4. hi michael

    which broker u recommend for short selling low float stocks ? amount 30k $
    BROKER MUST HAVE ENOUGH BORROW OF STOCKS.

    u prefer ib or etrade or suretrader ?

    am from jordan.

  5. Hi Mike

    I signed up for the Challange this week and becoming familiar with the materials. I have been following the market for years and decided to finally open an account two years ago because I had been following a penny stock for about 6 months. I had asked my brother about the particular stock because he has been investing for about 20 years or so. His opinion of it, of course was negative of the stock. I got lucky, because I didn’t loose my money but at one point it was up 348%. But I didn’t know to get out. In fact I held long and it went from the OTC listing to the Nasdaq. I am going to use this to fund my account either at E-Trade or Interactive brokers. I was watching one of your webinars and you mentioned the psyche of investors and was right on when you said that when a stock has been low and investors are just itching to get out when it crosses a certain price point after going nowhere or sideways. Well earnings for this stock is being announced by conference call on Monday morning conference call. The stock has been moving up all week in anticipation of this. Still positive by about 65%. Stock is SUNW.

  6. Michael ; which broker u prefer at the moment for shorting stocks in 1$-30$ for an account of $30k?
    i.e: have enough borrows / low fees (all kind of fees).

    which best broker offer scanner / level 2 / charting : how much it will cost normally these days ?

    p.s. : i read your old posts .. but i’ll be thankful for an update..

    1. Interactivebrokers.com is good. CenterpointSecurities.com is the best for shorting now although their fees and commissions are higher than IB. IB I think has better scanning tools.

  7. I”ve watched sooo many on Tim Sykes video lessons through my TimAlerts subscription and it never really shows the process he goes through to find the stocks he puts on his watchlist. Do you have a video or anything to show me your or TS process to find the stocks you put on your watchlists for the next day?

    1. I don’t know which video lesson Tim would show that in. I know he goes through that in his Timfundamentals Part Deux DVD. Although really nightly scanning for interesting stocks isn’t complicated — look for the biggest % gainers during the day, read their news and evaluate if the gain was justified, and then look at how much they are up and at the resistance/support on the chart to guide where to buy or short.

  8. Michael,
    I am trying to participate in Tim’s Millionaire Challenge. I’ve completed the 7 lessons and completed his How To Make Millions DVD. Can you offer any guidance on what I need to do next? I’m very pumped and ready to get started with detail training.

    Thanks and congrats on all of your success.

    Joe

  9. Lee
    June 14, 2016 at 2:53 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
    For a 10k account, going only for Long and want to have no day pattern limit( I guess only 3 trades in a week). Do you suggest any broker. Somewhere I saw you said suretrader have high fees. is it only high for short. Please suggest

    Michael Goode
    June 14, 2016 at 6:27 pm (UTC 0)
    I recommend against Suretrader. I would recommend getting accounts at two different US discount brokers (like Etrade and TDA) so you would have 6 day-trades per week.

    —————————————————–

    Thanks for the reply. I just saw an Ad from “Fidelity Broker”. They claim to have low commission fees and higher order execution quality than Etrade & TDA.(Not sure if there are other brokers with more less fees).

    Am I missing some mystery hidden fees here with Fidelity?
    Do you recommend going with them for the half portion ($5000), if Yes, which one you prefer among Etrade & TDA (for the other half $5000)?

    Thanks in Advance.

  10. Hello, i am new to trading. If i would to start trading penny stocks starting out with a low budget; would TradeKing platform be the best option?

      1. Lee
        June 14, 2016 at 2:53 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
        For a 10k account, going only for Long and want to have no day pattern limit( I guess only 3 trades in a week). Do you suggest any broker. Somewhere I saw you said suretrader have high fees. is it only high for short. Please suggest

        Michael Goode
        June 14, 2016 at 6:27 pm (UTC 0)
        I recommend against Suretrader. I would recommend getting accounts at two different US discount brokers (like Etrade and TDA) so you would have 6 day-trades per week.

        —————————————————–

        Thanks for the reply. I just saw an Ad from “Fidelity Broker”. They claim to have low commission fees and higher order execution quality than Etrade & TDA.(Not sure if there are other brokers with more less fees).

        Am I missing some mystery hidden fees here with Fidelity?
        Do you recommend going with them for the half portion ($5000), if Yes, which one you prefer among Etrade & TDA (for the other half $5000)?

        Thanks in Advance.

      2. I just saw an Ad from “Fidelity Broker”. They claim to have low commission fees and higher order execution quality than Etrade & TDA.(Not sure if there are other brokers with more less fees).

        Am I missing some mystery hidden fees here with Fidelity?
        Do you recommend going with them for the half portion ($5000), if Yes, which one you prefer among Etrade & TDA (for the other half $5000)?

        Please Reply.

  11. Hi, this is Samantha. Can anybody please recommend a long buy broker for an account up to 9k. I researched few like TDA & Fidelity Investments. They seem to have reputable reviews and low fees. I appreciate if anyone can suggest me if these are good brokers and if I should go with both of them or not. trying to avoid few trade rule.

  12. Hello, Does anyone recommend Fidelity for long buy or no? Do anybody have an account with them. Please help..

  13. Do you by any chance know of a broker that can be used to trade AIM shares (it’s Alternative Investment Market, part of the London Stock Exchange, in the UK). I’ve literally looked for days, but it seems that you have to do it by phoning a broker in London (I’m in the UK by the way). It seems like an interesting market with a lot of potentially interesting companies to invest in, but I don’t want the hassle of phoning these brokers and dealing with their huge charges.

  14. Hi Mr Goode!
    I recently purchased Tim Sykes’ ‘how to make millions’ dvd! He says that you watched all his dvds several times! I admire your dedication. I was wondering if you could tell me which dvd you’d recommend to purchase after this? Are all dvds necessary?

    1. You definitely don’t need all the DVDs. I haven’t watched HTMM so I can’t really say what it is missing and what other than that you need to watch. In the past I recommended Pennystocking Part Deux but that is very old now (8 years).

  15. Hi Michael

    I’m trying to decide whether to go for Tim’s Challenge that cost $6525 or just the Pennystocking Silver will be sufficient to learn for a start.
    Thanks

    1. If unsure, sign up for PS Silver and then just try to watch as many videos as you can quickly. They aren’t as good / well organized as the Challenge but are a lot cheaper. Frankly if I were just getting started I likely wouldn’t have signed up for the Challenge because I’m too cheap.

  16. Good Morning Michael
    Just a quick question, does the PS Silver includes the following
    Pennystocking Part Deux and Tim Fundalmental Part Deux ?

    1. It is your money — I have seen people lose large multiples of that amount in one trade because they weren’t willing to learn first. That being said, if you have little money or are just cheap there are ways to acquire lots of trading knowledge without buying anyone’s DVDs.

  17. Hi Mr Goode!
    I got one important question. How to properly set up VWAP indicator in the IB TWS. In the original setting I have: Standard Deviation Period 9 and Standard Deviation 1.0 Do you have the same setting?

    1. You cannot set up a true vwap line on IB TWS charts — the vwap I use is whole day vwap which is not something you can do — but you can set it up in the TWS to show you the current vwap.

  18. HI Micheal, I wouldn’t if you want talk on your website but I don’t found your email yet. I would like ask you if you are to recommended some site to read news about the penny. Usually I use various confused sources…. Take so profits from your note I’m grateful with you.. thanks Micheal

    best regards.

  19. Hi Michael
    Wondering What is the best and most direct way to learn your way of trading and be a loyal student of yours
    And since knowledge = money
    How much would you charge for such a service

    1. Besides reading my old blog posts (particularly from a five years ago or so when I would do daily trading recaps) I don’t offer anything directly. I do moderate and answer questions in Tim Sykes’ TimAlerts chat and give monthly webinars to students of his Challenge program.

  20. Hi, this is Eivory. Can anyone recommend which broker should I use which I plan to long and short shares. As also I’m a Malaysian, Singapore’s TDA chart is delayed by 20 mins which I personally feel a bit scary for this thing.
    Can I have a good recommendation of broker wise in Asian country with an account opening with USD5K.

    Thank you

  21. Hi Michael,
    I was wondering if you could tell me if the TS challenge course is necessary? It’s quite expensive and if there were a less costly plan to use that I might look into. Or maybe just the highlights of what I would get for that much money. Thanks for you time.
    ME…

    1. I would say that it is definitely not necessary. No paid trading course or DVD is necessary. Where to get the information otherwise? I would suggest reading my blog and the blog of Tim Grittanni http://tradetheticker.blogspot.com/ are great places to start. Keep in mind that most of the posts are still relevant even if years old — I have many 7 year old video trade reviews that are probably still helpful.

  22. + what about a person who has never traded before. Would Sykes courses be good for that type of person?

    1. Nope. I was one of his first TimAlerts subscribers and bought his first two DVDs (Pennystocking & Pennystocking Part Deux) but by the time the Challenge came around I was an experienced trader. Instead, I was the co-instructor of the Challenge from the beginning through last summer (I still give webinars monthly but now Mark Croock does weekly webinars in my place).

  23. So I watched one Tim G’s videos and he was talking about routing trades through market makers. Is that something a beginner learns? Or something you learn down the road?
    Thanks

    1. Not PennyStocking. Part Deux was a good video but is dated. I want to recommend How to Make Millions because of relatively low cost but I haven’t bought it and seen it yet.

  24. Sir, I have tremendous respect for you. Thank you for all the information. You have changed my whole aspect on learning.

    1. With that little money I’d suggest an account at Etrade and before you start trading read all of Tim Grittani’s blog posts and all of mine (both free!). When you do have some clue what to do and start trading, trade with tiny positions until you become consistently profitable (excluding commissions). Only then start slowly increasing position size. tradetheticker.blogspot.com

    1. I don’t think the odds favor those trying to buy stock promotions early — the few successful promotions nowadays are low volume and when they do turn they fall apart quickly and it is almost impossible to get out. There is plenty of time to find pumps if you are looking to short them.

  25. Hi Michael, my question is about position sizing. How can I actually calculate it?
    Lets say I have $3,000 trading capital and I want to only risk 5%. but then I have to consider the price at which I want to enter right? So taking a this into consideration how can I calculate it to where I know how many shares to include? Im in Pennystocking silver and love it but I need help with this. Thanks a lot

    1. The chart / trade plan will determine where exactly your stop loss is. Then you take the difference between your entry price and stop loss and divide your maximum risk by that. So if your maximum risk is 5% of $3,000 that is $150. If your entry is 4.20 and stop loss is at 4.10 (and always figure you get slippage of a couple cents past your stop loss, then your risk per share would be $0.10 (plus $0.02 for slippage) which makes $0.12. Divide 150 by 0.12 to get a position size of 1250 shares.

  26. Hello Michael.

    Thank you for your insightful blog.

    Do you use the Stockstotrade service? Do I really need it as a penny stocks trader (beginner).

    1. No you don’t need it. I use it only occasionally. What it is best at is real-time scanning for interesting price action. So if you want to buy a stock that starts to spike on volume or have a notification of a perk up after consolidation following a spike then it would be really useful. I am mostly short-biased (except when I buy based on news or SEC filings, for which I use Acquire Media NewsEdge V8), so I don’t need to quickly identify stocks to trade — I just look at the stocks up big over a couple days and then keep watching them.

  27. how is tradestation as broker for shorting stocks in 1$-30$ for an account of $30k?
    have enough borrows?
    Thanks

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