Is it possible to buy stock online?

[ZokesPro]

I'm thinking of purchasing a few stocks from AMD stock before the new Athlon 64 is released. As GT98 pointed out it has potential.

but first, is it possible to purchase some online and do you guys think it would be a wise investement?

[GT98]

damn we must be thinking the same thing...I took at look at Etrade earlier to day but lack of fundage right now is a problem. Anyone have experance with any places like Etrade and what not?

[GNEP]

It depends what theory of market behaviour you believe Zokes.

Most view the US equities market as at least semi-strong form efficient with regards to information, which in english more or less means that all publicly available information about future income is reflected in the share price now.

Seeing as the Athlon 64 is hardly a secret, you can assume that the current market price already incorporates the neutral aggregrate view of the future of AMD's fortunes. Some would go so far as to argue that this aggregate view of the future is far better than you could come up with individually, or if you had lots of money to spend on research into that stock, any gains you made by outperforming the rest of the market would exactly equal the costs of research.

On the supply and demand side of things, a quick check on Bloomberg confirms my suspicions that it is a pretty liquid stock (i.e. there are always lots of people buying and selling at any one time and so the price is not skewed by individual trades going through).

The net result of this - no one here can really tell you if it is a good buy or not, and if they could, they would possibly be breaking the law by telling you (and also this "insider" knowledge would no longer be private information).

If you do buy, and do well, it is more luck than anything else.

My recommendation? Drip money into an index-tracker fund - thus diversifying yourself (a) over a large number of stocks and (b) over time.



Gnep

[ZokesPro]

I see, I'll take that into account and I'll do some shopping too. Thanks dude!

[Brian R.]

GNEP - Good advice

[KvHagedorn]

I've been trading AMD for awhile.. it's very volatile and very liquid, and you can double your money in a few months if you know how to time it, but even the best can't predict it all the time. Right now, at under $6 it is probably a good buy. Just remember, though.. cool technology is not as important as profitability. If AMD can ask and get a good price for their offerings, then it's a steal right now.. book value is around $11 per share.