Trade Stock, Mutual Fund, or ETF?

[retardude48]

I am a college student and I have $1000 to start off with. Stocks, Mutual Funds, or ETFs? Done plenty of research on all 3 of these, but before I do anything, I want to hear what you guys think I should concentrate my efforts toward.

I am fairly new at trading, picked it up last April. Made some money with stocks here and there, but not much (~$60). When I first started, I thought I would make a couple hundred every month and so far thats not the case. I've been hearing that new investors with low capital should look towards index funds for quite some time now. Now that my desired outcome is not working, I'm looking into index funds and weighing the risk to how much time it will take for my money to grow x amount of dollars every month. Should I stick with trading stocks or go towards mutual funds and/or ETFs.

Thanks in advance.

[LongArm]

When I first started, I thought I would make a couple hundred every month and so far thats not the case.
Let's see, $200 per month off of $1000 = 20% per month, or 240% per year. I'd say your expectations were just a tad bit high. Even if you only made 20% per year, you'd be doing better than the average trader (not that some don't do much better than that.)

I've been hearing that new investors with low capital should look towards index funds for quite some time now. Now that my desired outcome is not working, I'm looking into index funds and weighing the risk to how much time it will take for my money to grow x amount of dollars every month. Should I stick with trading stocks or go towards mutual funds and/or ETFs.
Are you talking about TRADING funds/ETFs or INVESTING in them? It's difficult to trade mutual funds because of short-term redemption penalties, but you can certainly trade ETFs.

As for how much your money will grow each month...if you're investing, returns will be very erratic from month to month and will often be negative even. If you're trading, it all depends on you.

If you're looking for consistent gains each month, the best option might be to stick your money into a CD or money market account for a while and let it grow (albeit slowly) while you learn more about trading, work on strategies, etc.

[wallstreetsedge]

i made an otf member 200% on his entire portfolio in 3 weeks :P