Bankers Petroleum (BNK:TSX) - Update
Bankers Petroleum (quote) closed at $1.99 today. That means I’m up 16.4% since buying it last month. I’m still going to hang on as I’ve got a stop order set for $1.80.
Google Finance - No More Spinning Tops?
Today, I stumbled upon the new Google Finance. The funny thing is, I use the Google finance portfolio widget on iGoogle all the time. But, for whatever reason, I guess I’ve never clicked on my stocks, as retarded as that sounds. In any event, I had been looking for a while for a chart that combined news (earnings reports, upgrades/downgrades, whatever else) with chart data so you can more easily determine the effect of different types of news on a stock. I’m sure Google isn’t the only company that does this, but its just the only one I’ve come across so far in my young investing career. So, I was looking at the chart of my stock and trying to find a way to see a candlestick chart. I looked under chart “Settings” - Nope, that’s not it. I look around the page - Nope, still don’t see it. Why is there no option to view a candlestick chart? Aren’t candlesticks the most often used chart in technical analysis. I did a quick Google search on it, and that came up empty. Is it really true…are there no candlestick charts in Google Finance? Someone, please tell me I’m wrong. I would love to use Google Finance more often…
Bankers Petroleum (BNK:TSX) - New Stock Buy
The price of gas is killing me - it costs me $70 to fill up my tank. Americans think their gas is expensive, but in Canada my friends and family are paying around 40% more. There good ‘ol socialism at work. It’s really only the taxes that make the majority of the difference. Anyways, I’ve been thinking lately that I should start investing in oil, essentially hedging myself against future rises in the price of gas at the pump. If gas increases by 10% and my oil stocks increase by 10%, it should help offset any difference. Ideally, however, I’d like to make more than just offsetting the price of gas. Anyways, acting on a stock tip from a friend, I researched and decided to buy Bankers Petroleum (BNK) on the TSX. I bought it at 1.70, so we’ll see what happens.
E*Trade - No Soup For You!
Earlier in April I decided to open up a new US E*Trade account. I have an E*Trade Canada account, but trying 
to get money out of Bank of America into E*Trade Canada is a real pain. After they sent me an email saying that my account was setup, I logged in, and verified my bank account information. However, when I tried to move money into the account, there was no options to transfer funds into my brokerage account. I ended up leaving it that night and forgetting about it until today, when an E*Trade representative phoned me at work to find out if I had had any problems with my account. I explained what happened and he transferred me to some customer verification department. Since I only recently moved to Ponte Vedra, their 3rd party verification company couldn’t verify my address. So, get this, they want me to fax them a copy of my Social Security card to verify I am who I say I am. I haven’t done it, and I’m not sure if I will. With all the identity theft going on in North America, I have a problem faxing copies of my social security to anyone regardless of who it is. Certainly, E*Trade must have other means to verify that I am who I say I am. My banking information was verified by them (Name, Address, Bank, Bank #), isn’t that enough?
