short term trading week starting - 12th may, page-16

Hello all.

I was wondering if I could grab some advice from some of the hotcoppians.

My situation:
- full time job
- minimal expenses
- have enough money to invest, risk free
- hoping to one day being a full time investor / retire early

My questions are:
- Are stop losses necessary for short / medium term traders?
- Is buying a bunch of promising spec stocks and just sitting on them until they 'boom' or bust a viable investment strategy?
- Are there any alternatives to Commsec? It seems expensive.

Thanks in advance guys.

DS