Dear Dominic,
Long back, when i had no idea of stocks, i played on a principal of 15000/-...learned the basics and jumped...there are lots of books.....some very good threads by saint and amitbe are worth reading........
amitbe is out of action as of now...but saint has a very good thread "teach a man to fish"......
first i'll tell you, never follow CNBC...and sharekhan and indiabulls, not at all... they just give you tips when they have to dump stocks......if you are planning to buy a particular stock, have a good look at its technical charts.. Even if you do not know anything, still charts talk a lot themselves, u'll make a lot of things clear yourself....
when I plan to buy a stock, I have a look whether it is in action or not.... i have a look at the charts, volumes and various other factors.....and i pick up strong stocks...above all, i maintain a strict stop loss and if the stop loss is hit, i exit, whatever the circumstances may be........
and i do not give more than 3 months for a stock to perform...if i buy a stock at 100 and it is in the range of 100-105 for 3 months, i exit.....
Also my friend, I make a price in my mind and enter at it...i seldom change it.....e.g. if balrampur is trading at 105 and i think to buy it when it touches 101, i'll buy it there, i'll not increase my bid from 101 to 102...my strict stop losses are also maintained.....
but market has its own ways of teachings...I've burnt my hands drastically once, the mistake was that i trusted my friend..The one big mistake we do many times in life...we look at cnbc, sharekhan,indiabulls...even from our neighbours, we even listen to rikshawall and bet our money........
i hope you make money in this world of stocks..
all the best
ganeshhity