I dont have my 7 or 63 ha but I'm an analyst at a financial company? Let me trade for you, ill guarantee you wont lose more than 25%...the upside is infinite, i only take 30% of all earning and a 10% flat fee.
But really you need to invest a lot of time reviews each company you get in to. Look at their financials see what you can get out of it, management structure to make sure there is nothing fishy going on, make sure they have no off balance sheets if its a struggling company you want to invest in, do searches of all publications to see if there is any new info coming out.
Overall stocks are a rigged game, by the time you get the information, all the firms and institutional investors have already raped it.
It depends on how much money you have. Look for long term investments if you have under a few thousand. Also look at bear/bull ETF's the multiple certain indices by 3x or 300% if you dont have a lot of money and want to make some quick cash. Very risky ETF"s but they can swing 10% everyday with the volatility in the current market. Its sorta like roulette if you dont know what youre doing. If you hit for a few days you could make 50% in a week if the market goes in an unfavorable direction to you you could lose 50% in a few days.
Should be a good time to buy pretty soon, the annual May sell off coupled with all our financial problems, If the market dips below 12 I'm going balls deep in blue chips.
What do you think is going to happen? For the pessimist at heart check out VXX, UVXY, DUST---some of my personal favorites.
remember there is money to be made whether the market goes up or down.