Addicted to the stock market/online trading????

I'm afraid a great friend of mine is addicted to the stock market and online stock trading. My friend sometimes risks his whole portfolio at times!! What can I do to help?? Books, programs, etc., besides gamblers annoymous...i'm already checking that out!!

Public Comments

1. Nothing will help. Speculators can't learn to invest instead. Build a diversified portfolio and then leave it alone. Good luck
2. tell him to invest only what he is willing to loose. it should only be at most 15% of his total assets. that is a lot. if your friend is doing okay then your friend may know what their doing. but it still should be only 15%. good luck!
3. The market is brutally efficient at culling out day traders. If he's genuinely talented. let him be, he'll be very wealthy. If he's reckless leave him be--sophisticated traders will pick his pockets and he'll be relieved of day trading.
4. nothing you can to help just try to comfort your friend if/when he/she loses his/her shirt.
5. First, let me point out that there's a big difference between investing and trading. Traders make their profits by speculating on directional movement of price, whereas investors make money by holding a valuable position for the long term. Neither one is a "wrong" strategy, but being a successful trader is much harder than being a successful investor. I'm a series 55 licensed trader. I can tell you from personal experience that traders are usually a very obsessive breed. While I don't trade professionally, I do trade in my own portfolio. My actual career is writing software that is used for settlement of futures contracts. I honestly spend a good 10-12 hours a day researching, learning, and listening to the opinions of other people. For me, it's not about greed and it's not about making money. It's about winning. Let's face it: most successful self made people are more than a little obsessive regardless of how they made their fortune. If he's trading listed stocks, rest assured that he's not taking on a huge amount of risk. He'll most likely go broke on commissions if he doesn't know what he's doing. However, if he's trading OTC (pink sheets), options, or futures, he'd probably be broke already if didn't have a moderately successful strategy. If you want a true measure of whether or not he's in trouble, ask him to break down the probability of success and likely return on investment for his trades. Any professional could do this without hesitation. For what it's worth: Webster's defines "gamble" as "to bet on an uncertain outcome."
6. IF HE DOESNT STOP AS LONG AS HE IS NOT RISKING YOUR MONEY LET HIM BE THERES ONLY 2 WAYS HE CAN LEARN. FROM YOU BEFORE HE LOSES HIS MONEY ( THE EASY WAY ) OR FROM A MASSIVE LOSS ON THE MARKET ( THE HARD WAY ) MAYBE THEN HE WILL WAKE UP AND KNOW WHO WAS WARNING HIM AND WHO HE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN SERIOUSLY THE COMPANYS DIRECTORS, OR HIS FRIEND WHO CARES ABOUT HIM MORE ABOUT HIM.