Can anyone explain the NYSE?

Question

I am in school and we are doing an exercise on the NYSE. Can someone explain to me when to buy and when to sell and how to know??? Just a simple easy to understand explanation?

Answer 1

Go straight to the horse. You can even do a practice portfolio.

Commonly there are three general directions: (1) technical, (2) fundamental, and (3) intuitive (or irrational). Technical trading looks at a graph or changes in the numbers--does the stock look like it is going up or down? Fundamental trading looks at things like earnings and market share and innovation--does the company make a really good profit and, further, does it look like it will continue to make as much or more? Intuitive or irrational trading include the range of things like the greed that wells up when you get one of those spam pieces with lines like "we have a runner!" and you say "I want that" without checking out the company very much, on the one hand, to saying "I read or see what they do and I like it, I want to be part of that company", on the other hand.

It isn't always easy to know when to buy and when stocks are going up or down. Some folks see a great deal of luck in it--almost every year some paper prints a story about some monkey with a pen or college students throwing darts at a stock listing do better than some brokerage's advice. But it isn't just luck. It is all three of those categories lumped together. The market is meticulous at times and a piece of news can change what people are willing to buy or sell a stock at. On the other hand, a stock can fall simply because people have moved their attention elsewhere. Sometimes the graphs are spot-on, and sometimes clueless. Still, if people are buying (or selling, look up short selling, where you make money when the price falls) and the stock is still rising, well, what are you waiting for? If people are buying in great volumes and the price seems edging downward, you MIGHT have just caught it in a turn around and now is not a good time to buy. It is both easy and complicated. Still, if you buy into a very profitable company with very good prospects, you could buy it at the absolute worst of times and still make money--if you are willing to wait for it to grow. I like to compare the choices between trading and investing as the difference between catching a pig and growing a tree--there is money to be made in both.

Answer 2

The NYSE is rather simple to use and get to know the basics but very difficult 'market' to master. If it was easy to master, everybody would be getting rich off it. Well basically you need to find a company you are interested in investing in or invest in the S&P 500 or bonds or whatever you like. The S&P 500 is the safest market to invest in. You are not garanteed to make money off it but it has gone up an average of 10% a year including the Great Depression.On the NYSE find a company you like, and check out the 52wk high and low and look at what the current price is. Then look at the high and lows from 2 and 5 yrs to get an idea of how the price of the stock can move. You want to buy the stock at a low price and sell at a high price. (Buy low, sell high.) Be aware of one hit wonder companies. (Those are the stocks that can go from $10 a share one day to $50 the next day and back down to $5 the following.) You can get rich off these real fast but at the same time lose your money in no time. Diversify your account so that you invest in lots of safe long term investments along with a few companies you can afford to have some fun with and hopefully come up with some extra cash in a hurry.
Hope this helps you out. Let me know if you need more help.

Answer 3

1) There are many, many sources of information about the NYSE. For instance, go to Yahoo Search and enter NYSE
2) As a simple, easy to understand explanation ?? Never.
3) When to buy/sell? That's easy: buy low, sell high.
4) A good answer to your question (depending on your age) would make your eyes glaze over, because it is not simple.

Answer 4

When to buy: After lots of research on a company buy if you find out in your opinion they have good management, good prospects for increased sales and earnings (make sure their product/service or marketing system is a better value than the competition and will continue to be needed), the economy will continue to expand and won't hurt the company. Sell if any of the above changes so that, in your opinion, the competition has better value, new management is bad and will "Enron" it, if the fundmental reason you bought the company is no longer valid (an example: Montana Power. Several years ago they decided to get out of the power business and become a telephone company {TouchAmerica}. If you bought them because you wanted to invest in a regulated power business, then when they announced the change, it was time to sell.)