Online Investing Tips #3



*1.  RAGING BULL

One of the great benefits of the online investing revolution 
is the ease with which the investing community can 
internetwork. A few investor watering holes have become 
prominent in the last few years, but no site has created a 
bigger stir in a shorter time than Raging Bull. The truth is, 
Raging Bull is more than just a collection of message boards on 
which online investors can trade their hopes, fears, and 
research. With each stock-centric message board connected to 
its own real-time quote server, Raging Bull stakes its claim to 
the highest-tech, most info-intensive shmoozefest on the 
wired planet. 

The boards themselves provide slick features for following 
discussions, bookmarking other members, and (perhaps more 
important) blocking other members from your screen. RB's home 
page features a range of editorial material from daily market 
updates to regular columns. All of this content is spiced with 
the excitement of living through a new investing paradigm; the 
journalism is cutting-edge and the members are knowledgeable 
participants in the historical moment. And--did I forget to 
mention this?--membership is entirely free.


*2. COMPANY SLEUTH

Company Sleuth is a free newsletter-based resource that allows 
you to track certain types of information associated with up to 
ten companies. Using a specialized search engine that scours 
message boards, SEC filings, analyst ratings, job postings, 
insider trades filed with the government, and federal 
litigation news, Company Sleuth ferrets out company-specific 
news before it reaches mass-market publication. 

With this type of service, you have to take the bad with the 
good. Company Sleuth makes an effort to provide only valuable 
information and doesn't flood your mailbox with reams of 
tedious links or suggestions. You receive a specialized report 
on your collection of companies, and no stock tips are ever 
included. For active traders, momentum players, or anyone 
interested in the delicate transformation of rumor into fact, 
Company Sleuth is worth a try. 

http://www.companysleuth.com/


*3. ACCUTRADE

"A new financial tool for the smart investor." That's the 
tagline of Accutrade, this week's Online Brokerage Tip. Here's 
another catch phrase: "Learn, Trade, Prosper." Oh, and 
another--"Making Investors Smarter One by One." Obviously, this 
is one sharply marketed online broker. Nobody gets rich by 
swallowing ad slogans, though. How's the service? 

Accutrade starts guests off with an Asset Allocation Worksheet, 
educational and comprehensive. The company attitude is 
thoughtful and benign. Other research tools include a company 
screener, portfolio tracker, and mutual-fund screening. 
Accutrade prides itself on personal service, and that probably 
explains the relatively high $30 flat-rate commission 
structure. This is one broker that pitches service values above 
technology values. Unfortunately, one result of this tactic is 
the utter lack of a site demo, with which guests normally 
evaluate an online broker's order screens, confirmation 
procedures, and the general trading environment. 

http://www.accutrade.com


*4. PROPHET CHARTS

Sometimes you find an interactive online tool that is so much 
fun, and so useful, that you have to sit up in your chair and 
say "Hallelujah." Prophet Charts is a Java charting program 
that causes such symptoms of delight in even the most jaded 
online investing warrior. A 96K Java program that downloads 
automatically when you arrive at the home page, Prophet Charts 
displays graphic price histories for stocks and options for 
customizable time periods (nothing shorter than year-to-date) 
and invites you to overlay various technical indicators on the 
chart. The charts draw quickly, and the entire program can be 
unclipped from the browser window to float freely on 
your desktop. 

Perhaps best of all, you can draw trend lines on the charts--a 
feature you just don't see anywhere else. This thing is fun to 
show off to your friends and a great gadget to have on your 
screen as you go about researching stocks on the Web. 

http://www.prophetcharts.com


*5. LEGG MASON ECONOMIC CALENDAR

If you follow the stock market fairly closely, you know how 
economic indicators released by the U.S. government are 
intensely anticipated--and how they often jerk the market 
around if their numbers are higher or lower than expected. The 
financial house Legg Mason provides a truly useful service in 
its monthly calendars of economic indicator release dates. 
Presented in a graphic calendar format, these pages make it 
easy to see at a glance what's happening when. 

At the bottom of each month's page are explanatory notes about 
the significance of that month's indicators and their likely 
effects on the markets. So if you're not sure what the Consumer 
Price Index really is, not to mention when it's released, the 
Legg Mason calendars are for you.

http://www.leggmason.com/


*6. HOLLYWOOD STOCK EXCHANGE

In the rare spirit of capriciousness, today's Online Investing 
Tip ventures to a purely entertaining back street of the stock 
market. The Hollywood Stock Exchange is a free trading game in 
which actors and movies are bought and sold like securities. 
It's a blend of entertainment criticism and the human urge to 
bet, cast as a market exchange system. A site portfolio keeps 
track of how you're doing, with the underlying comforting 
knowledge that you're playing with imaginary money. 

The HSX site pushes the notion that by play-trading 
entertainment commodities you are sending a message to 
Hollywood moguls about the quality of their products, but 
forget the dubious political ramifications. This game is just 
plain fun. Upon joining you receive $2 million in fantasy 
money, which is a nice feeling. You can immediately place your 
wagers on whether new film releases will be hits or flops, and 
whether the latest heartthrob will be a star or a flash in the 
pan. Portfolio winnings can be traded in for selected 
merchandise, which is something of an incentive. 

http://www.hsx.com


*7. WALL STREET ACCESS

Wall Street Access is an online broker that hits potential 
trading customers hard with the values of reliability and 
favorable pricing. The firm is targeted toward active traders 
who appreciate WSA's commitment to "beating the 
spread"--delivering stock prices between the Bid and Ask for 
traders who leverage large capital and small price movements. 
Positioned as a highly skilled, professional trading desk, 
Wall Street Access guarantees satisfaction on a trade-by-trade 
basis, refunding commissions on demand if something goes wrong. 

The order pages for stocks and options are clear and quick to 
load--exactly what frequent traders want. Stock commissions are 
slightly pricey at $25 for up to 5,000 shares, but if Wall 
Street Access makes good on its promise to consistently beat 
the spread, that extra commission could be money well spent. 
Option prices are competitive. 

http://www.wsaccess.com


*8. INVESTMENT CHALLENGE

There are dozens of online investment games, and they all share 
basic similarities. Each provides entrants with a pile of 
imaginary cash (usually between $100,000 and $1 million) and a 
system for paper-trading stocks. In most cases, the games place 
significant, unrealistic restrictions on the types of 
transactions available--so much so that a game can veer 
drastically away from reality. 

The Investment Challenge is a very different story. Starting 
you off with 500,000 fantasy dollars, the game allows 
short-selling, limit orders, options, margin buying, real-time 
quotes, human-broker access, and realistic commission 
schedules. Furthermore, the games last longer than the typical 
one month of other market contests. This is a true marketplace 
simulation, where investors can audition trading strategies at 
no risk. The sophistication of this game doesn't come free, 
though--there is a $30 entrance fee to set up your 
imaginary portfolio. 

http://www.ichallenge.net


*9. THE INVESTMENT FAQ

FAQs are Frequently Asked Questions, usually cast in 
question-and-answer format. FAQs have proliferated online for 
years and are, in fact, the primary educational format for all 
things computer related. The Investment FAQ is a fleshed-out 
Web site, much more richly informed than a traditional, 
stark FAQ. 

Sort of a cross between a glossary and a book with tiny 
chapters, the Investment FAQ is divided into sections for 
beginning, intermediate, and advanced investors. Some 
editorial content about stocks, markets, and investment 
strategy is helpful, but the site's real meat is the central 
FAQ. Oddly, it is not in Q&A format at all, which rather 
negates the site's title--but not its mission, which is to 
educate investors. 

http://www.invest-faq.com


*10. NEXT WAVE STOCKS

When it comes to adopting an investing philosophy, it's best to 
learn it well, and your first investment should be in time to 
do so. Nowhere is this truer than at Next Wave Stocks, a 
small-cap strategy site that employs so-called Wave Factors in 
researching momentum plays. Interested only in stocks with a 
market capitalization of $1 billion or less, Next Wave is 
challenged by the fact that many such companies lack the 
public-company track record that makes larger firms easy to 
track technically. 

Next Wave makes the interesting observation that small-caps and 
micro-caps have performed spectacularly well over the past 20 
years, and even over the longer period since 1925. The site's 
focus is on finding companies that might appreciate tenfold 
over three to five years. Opportunities presumably abound in 
the universe of 7,000 stocks that exist with very low 
market caps. 

Next Wave is a free research site and offers a mailing list. 

http://www.nextwavestocks.com
