Wednesday, March 19, 2008

IPO woes

So, I decided I will try to buy some Visa Stock since it is going through IPO this week. I have an etrade account from ESPP but I really have no experience actually buying and selling stocks, and really I know nothing about them. So really my decision is not made based on any sort of research haha. So it was quite an learning experience this morning buying Visa stock on Etrade. I made a lot of mistakes I think but it is all part of the learning curve I guess. Here are some lessons I learned

1. It takes a really really long time for money to transfer to your Etrade account, like more than a week! good thing I started early

2. Never believe them when they say the secondary market will open on the 20th, because they will so open on the 19th just to spite you. It was a good thing I checked before I went to bed last night otherwise I would have missed the opening.

3. Never believe them when they say you can buy as soon as stock market opens at 9:30 EST because it really depends on when the CEO finishes his interview and the traders actually finish pricing. I got up at 6:30 am for nothing since I couldn't actually buy til 7:30 am

4. It really helps if you are not looking at 20 minute delayed information since you won't know what is the current price for buying. Thank god for message boards

5. This "pullback" thing is for real! As soon as the secondary market openend, all the actually IPO buyers dumped their stock for a quick profit so the price actually dropped $5 in the first hour before rising again. if only I was more experienced and had real time quotes I could have gotten in at a lower price.

Anyway, I wasn't trying to get in for a quick profit so I guess I just have to sit on it and wait now :) It was kind of depressing though this morning to watch the price drop. and also since I got to work at 10 am just to find they cancelled our meeing :(

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, sounds like you're ready to become a full-time day-trader! Thanks for sharing your experiences; I will be sure to learn from your mistakes.

Kungfucius said...

Woot! V is up today, so you should be feeling better about it :)

Anonymous said...

I'm on a cheap plan too, and you get NO INSTANT GRATIFICATION at all! It is like you are a third class citizen in the world of investing.

Still, if you're in it for the long haul (good choice since the fees and taxes kill short term gains), it will probably still work out for you in the end.