next 24 hours or so. And remember that you can make lots of gains from prices going down - not just when they go up.
You may feel the need to diversify your port, but when you have only $2 million to spend, there are plenty of opportunities that are both highly profitable and risk-free to invest in. It's better to specialise in one or two of these big gainers than spread yourself too thinly across too many investments.
Learn how the adjusts for moviestocks and starbonds work - this info is in the glossary linked at the bottom of the page, under "Adjust Price" and "Trailing Average Gross"
Follow news on the Movies board - the moviestocks that move the most are generally the ones there is some news about. In particular, check in on Friday evenings/Saturday morning after the first box office results are posted, and before they are halted on Saturday evening.
The starbond investments you have chosen aren't the right ones for a beginner port. It's no big deal - everyone picks fun things to invest in when they start playing. You should look at the starbonds adjusting next week to make some easy money. The ones I would recommend you look at are MAMAL, KMARA, OWILD and CZETA. All you have to do is figure out how to play them. You can also check out the starbond fansites like kaigee.com and howprofitable.com
If you want to know when things happen, the calendar - under the News & Events menu - is your friend.
Sorry Panda - but funds are not the best idea for a very small portfolio. I'd probably start putting money into the highest performing funds when my port is at the $10-$20 million level.
Check out the Players & Strategy Board which is there to provide advice. Life Board is for more general discussion, and you'll get better advice on the Players Board.
Play the Earn H$ games every day.
Join some of the Leagues to get tips. Razorhawk's HSX School, the Trading House of Ill-Repute and the relevant Port Value Leagues are probably the best ones for you.
Also, I run a site that is dedicated to helping players who are new to HSX. It may help with some questions you have - and if the questions you ask aren't already answered, I can always write more columns.
http://hsxsanity.blogspot.ca/
In particular, there's a column on how to calculate starbond adjusts quickly. This should help you figure out how to play those starbond tips I wrote about a few paragraphs up.
http://hsxsanity.blogspot.ca/2013/02/how-can-i-calculate-starbond-adjusts.html