Been Pretty Weird

Written by Jacob Ibrag

So, it’s been pretty weird these past few months. The government is trying to help, I guess? I don’t know, the media is hard to gauge. One thing is for sure, people are losing jobs. A lot of my friends and family have been affected financially as I’m sure this case parallels to yours. I have however noticed a trend recently. Although most of us have been adversely altered in our pockets, people are still making gains in the stocks.

I’ve never been into market trading. After the 2008 financial meltdown and the movie The Big Short, I almost completely lost my faith in people. Like how are you able to go to sleep at night knowing you’re screwing families just to make a quick profit? It bothered me, so I stayed away from that world.

With all that said, a couple of weeks back I decided to study up a bit on trading stocks. The virus completely destroyed the market, it’s actually insane. But, most things don’t last forever, and hopefully neither will this virus. Airplanes will fly again, cruises will eventually thrive, and people will go out to eat at their favorite restaurants.

The way I see it, this down market is an opportunity to buy into companies that we wouldn’t have been able to afford in the past. So for example, as it currently stands American Airlines (AAL) is worth $13.20 per share. Three months ago, they were consistently above $30.00 per share. I’m no finance professional, but there seems to be an upside in investing for the long term.

There are obviously tons of free resources available on YouTube and Google. Here are some that have been helpful for me thus far: How To Trade Triangle Patterns and How To Read Candlestick Patterns. If you find anything helpful, please post it as a comment, I would greatly appreciate it!

Now in terms of trading platforms, I’ve used WeBull and Robinhood. Robinhood seems to be way more user friendly. The app has more explanations on how to trade and honestly, the user experience has been pretty clean.

I’ve only played around with a couple of hundred dollars so far, and it’s been a fun learning experience. I can see the appeal people might find in trading. Spectating is fun, but playing in the game is something else. There’s obviously risk involved and you could lose a lot of money. I mean it’s basically gambling if you blindly place your cash in a company you know nothing about news wise.

If you do decide to check it out, I think Robinhood is a good beginner trading platform. Most trading apps offer referral incentives in the form of a free share of stock. You get a free share of stock just for creating an account, so I think that’s kinda nice. You can use my free stock referral link and try it out for yourself.

If you do decide to check it out, please don’t invest your life savings. Like I said, there’s always risk. I think $50.00 is a good starting point. Make it a challenge to double that. Research also goes a really long way. Don’t just put your hard earned money into stocks because you have a “good feeling.”

So yea, I hope this post was a little educational and at the very least an interesting read. Good luck my friends and have a wonderful day!