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Also. an investment doesn't have to be long term. some stocks you aquire and sell when there's no more potential for growth. That's how you make money
While this isn't always the case, lately at least, the 'opening' stock shares of IPO's are more or less reserved for 'major' clients of the wall st bank backed investment house who sponsored the IPO. Those 'major' clients might have been 'apportioned' 10,000 shares each at market open at the $24 opening price ( i.e. a $240,000 'hurdle' to get in on the opening action ), followed by sell orders by 11am on the first day of trading - at about $40 ... i.e. a huge short term profit. Once the 'major' clients' shares had been sold, small clients and clients of non-affiliated ( discount ) brokerage firms were then able to actually buy those shares ( at ~$40 price ) ... and enough of them did to continue to drive up the share price to a $48 peak.
However, the 'hot money' investors ... some of whom undoubtedly were 'apportioned' some IPO shares and thus already made huge profits in the early hours ... are now looking to profit again by 'short selling' against the small investors. See
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The underlying point about most IPO's these days is that the price action is NOT driven by the economic fundamentals of the company !!! Getting to that point typically requires a month or so ... by which time the 'speculative' investor interest has made their money on price volatility, and has moved on to a new target.
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If it's not a good long-term investment, then it's not a good short-term investment either
This is the essential difference between 'speculating' and 'investing'. In terms of 'investing' in Gopro, the 'gurus' have this to say ...
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The finance guys at big firms are making bank. They can definitely afford vip treatment. It's hard to get good advice in the duration a handful of dances or even 30 minute intervals. Even if they are privy to actionable advice, i.e. an upcoming merger or buyout, they cannot legally tell you without breaking insider trading laws.
ummm ... lots of laws wind up being broken in the VIP room these days !!! Also, technically speaking, a dancer overhearing a banker and a broker discuss a particular opportunity while in the same VIP room isn't the same as a dancer coming right out and asking for investment advice ( which would guarantee that the banker and broker will totally clam up ) !!!
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ETFs are preferred over "old school" mutual funds because ETFs have lower fees. An ETF like SPY only charges .09% annual fee versus a mutual fund could be charging you 1.00%. After 10 years, that's a 10% difference. 20 years, at least a 20% difference. Vanguard index funds are good because they are well-known for their low fees.
Yup I'm a big fan of ETF's ... and became a Vanguard client because of Vanguard's ETF's. However, my major interest in ETF's isn't in the area of US stock index based funds, but instead ETF's based on currencies, on commodities, on particular foreign country companies or particular US market 'segment' companies, etc. And another type of ETF I trade rather often are 'inverse' ETF's, which are based on short sales / counterparty contracts etc. and thus move up in price as the stock index / currency / commodity they are based on moves down !!! Right now SDS ( which inversely tracks the S&P with 2x 'leverage' ) is on my 'watch' list.
Also, another major advantage of ETF's versus mutual funds is that mutual fund shares can only be bought or sold at the end of the trading day ... where ETF shares can be traded at any given moment while the markets are open. In cases of major 'news', this difference can lead to greater gains and/or smaller losses.