A couple of newbie questions

Gene said: "As the title states, I have some basic questions for you guys. 1- How do you make/lose money on a stock as it goes up/down? Say for examle I bought 10 shares of stock for $10 a share ($100 worth of stock) and at some point the stock goes up 5%, does that mean that I make $100 plus 5% of $100, or $105? 2- Do I make that $105 only if I sell the stock right then and there before it goes down again? Doesnt that imply that to be successful to your full potential, you should monitor the stock 24/7, glued to you comp? How do you guys monitor your stocks? 3- How many shares of stock does one usually buy? Obviously not just 1, but not 1 million either, unless youre Donald Trump. Is it just a matter of how much you're willing to put out? 3- I was on the nasdaq site typing in random symbols and checking out the stock and noticed a few suggestions they have on thier site like "strong buy" or "risk". What exaclty does that mean? If a stock is a "strong buy", should I buy it?? 4- This isnt a question but Google stock is f'en EXPENSIVE, it ended at $ 278.35 a share today! GODDAMN, those guys must be rolling in dough! Sorry for the dimwitted questions that I probably already know the answers to but I just wanna make sure I got it right. :) Thanks for the help!"

alhamid said: "1) Yes. total purchase price times number of shares minus transaction costs. 2) you can enter a "stop-loss" trade which executes automatically to conserve your profit. 3) those are broker recommendations. they usually mean squat 4) yes, they are a big deal right now"

sp0om said: "4. ) You think Google's expensive: [url=http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=BRK-A&d=t]Click Me![/url] Enjoy learning more about investing in the stock market :)"

Gene said: "[QUOTE=sp0om]4. ) You think Google's expensive: [url=http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=BRK-A&d=t]Click Me![/url] Enjoy learning more about investing in the stock market :)[/QUOTE] All I can say is :eek:"

alhamid said: "yes, that warren buffett dont do splits"