playin' the stocks game
Rod: As someone who once worked for a hedge fund, please allow me to give you some words of advice:- what advantage do you think you will have over others? Unless you have friends in high places and plan to do insider trading (which is very illegal), you will be one more amateur playing against the professionals in the banks and hedge funds. The pros work at least 12 hours a day and have years of experience. They are also better connected than you. So... what advantage do you think you have? If you can't answer this simple question, I advise you to choose a game where you have an advantage.- if you think I am being too pessimistic and defeatist, do read Prof. Larry Harris' paper The Winners and Losers of the Zero-Sum Game: The Origins of Trading Profits, Price Efficiency and Market Liquidity at http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~lharris/ABSTRACT/Zerosum.htm- be ready to lose your $2000 (like someone else mentioned before) and accept it as a "price" to pay to learn something about investing.- brokers are crooks. All of them. They will "rape" you whenever they have a chance.- don't invest in stocks, invest in yourself. If you are on HN, I assume you like to write code. Investing $2000 in an idea you might have will likely yield better dividends in the long term.I am not trying to be pedantic or anything. I am only trying to put things in perspective. Everybody would like to make money in the stock market, but few manage to do it... and the ones who do manage to make money consistently over the years (and within the law) most likely have years and years of experience and hard work under their belts.