[JumpCrisscross]

> Investing under $1000, especially with commission-free trades, is a good way to learn the basics mechanics of stock trading

Individual investors are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to intraday trading.

For everything other than a child's hobby account, intended to teach emotional stability through gains and losses, a <$1,000 stock-trading account is value destroying.

[lsiunsuex]

so again

you want me to risk > $1000 when I don't know what I'm doing with a real brokerage that I don't know what their benefit is over something like Robinhood because.... ?

I'm willing to loose a couple hundred to learn and understand something vs giving someone I don't know thousands and "trusting" their opinion.

More so - testing the waters myself may not make me as good as someone who does this for a living - but maybe after a few hundred and a few months, at least I have a better understanding of what a real brokerage tells me to buy than to just blindly say take my money and quadruple it.

[JumpCrisscross]

> what a real brokerage tells me to buy

Brokers should never be telling individual investors what individual stocks to buy, at least not anyone with less than ~$500,000 in assets. If a brokerage is giving you buy/sell lines for individual securities, that's a red flag.

A good investment platform (or adviser) guides you in portfolio management. In encourages long-term strategic thinking over short-term trading highs. The former builds wealth. The latter lines professional traders' pockets.

[atombender]

Why would you play with real money to learn instead of doing simulated trades? You can set up a paper trading account with Interactive Brokers for free. If simulated trading doesn't feel "real enough" because there are no stakes, then I don't think it's about learning.

You can learn the ropes without wasting money.

[ISL]

That education, for a child or an adult, is primarily what one gains from a <$1k trading account. That, alone, is worth more than $1k.

Also, one need not trade a small account intraday. I make small trades, but they are always with a multi-year perspective. Give me limit orders and small commissions, and I am happy.

(N.B. I use a different broker/don't have a first-hand perspective on Robinhood.)

[crystaldev]

Unrelated but usually you should place a market order usually, not limit. Limit orders take longer to fill, your idea of limits is probably wrong and will lose money compared to a fair market match, it's not worth taking the risk that your order won't be filled, etc.

[ISL]

If an order isn't filled at a price at which I find reasonable, that is okay with me. A market order will fill at any price. I learned that lesson the day that a market order of mine filled at a price I deemed unreasonable.

The key to avoiding faffing around with limit orders not filling when you want immediate execution is to place a reasonable limit that accounts for the day's volatility. At other times, I'll place a limit order and let it stand for weeks. When it fills, the counterparty and I are both happy.

[crystaldev]

Different strokes I guess. Getting into/out of the position is my top priority and I see more downside in failing to fill the order than in failing to shave a penny or two.

[ISL]

Totally agreed on different strokes. If speed matters most, there's nothing like a market order.

I'm rarely using limit orders to shave pennies if I want quick execution. I use them to prevent the unexpected. Under normal market conditions, if the limit is set 10% beyond the expected clearing price, it provides me with free protection against a completely unexpected surprise. Something will have to have gone very wrong with my investment strategies if I'm desperate to buy/sell at any price.

In the long-game case, if I purchase a stock at $0.95 that I think can sell for $0.99, I'll immediately place the limit-order for sale as soon as I've made the purchase. No need to hide my hand -- I'll be happy if you want to buy it at that price (and I might get faster execution by being earlier in the order queue).

[jwagenet]

Many people are not actively investing on a daily basis. Trading long and adjusting positions occasionally is not value destroying.