If you are new to trading, the best advice I can give you is:
don't trade. Only buy stocks that you would be comfortable holding for a long period of time (years, not days). If you have a winner (say 40 shares of Wells Fargo, as the stock goes from $20 a share to $30 share, start selling off , say 20% of your holdings, and invest the money in a new stock, in another sector besides banking, like GE, Nokia, Intel, or Microsoft; that will help diversify your portfolio). NEVER have too much money in one stock, fund or sector.
Decide how comfortable you are with losses; you sound like you want to take some risks, but do you know how it feels to lose half of your money in one day? (I was a broker in 1987, during the big crash, and it was sad to see clients who had lost most, or all, of their life's savings in one day).
If you want to take traders risks, with less heartache, buy what nobody wants, and hold on for years. Right now, nobody wants the banks. Buy the ETF ticker symbol KBE. It holds banks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc. These banks are going to be volatile, but in the long run, they are going to do well. I always buy banks when they are cheap, because as we all know, the banks are going to make money and they have a nice steady cash flow.
NEVER buy a retail stock, a restaurant stock or an airline stock.
Never buy a stock that doesn't pay a dividend. If your stock goes down, and it will, it is nice to get paid while you wait for it to come back (if it's a good stock, it will come back).
Never buy what everyone else is buying. Energy and commodoties have had a great ride for the past few years. Financials and techs have been getting killed. Buy KBE for the American banks, an Irish bank AIB (great business, but Europe is just starting their real estate melt-down, so be patient with this one) and the tech stocks Nokia (NOK), Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT)--if you have to pick one of these stocks, pick Nokia.
Buy as much GE as you can. This stock pays a nice dividend and is like owning a mutual fund (if GE goes under, then buy a shotgun and a case of canned goods, because the end is near).
Buy China, because China has fallen out of favor after a huge run. The China Fund (GCH) is a well run fund with a huge dividend. Just buy a few shares as a hedge; right now, 90% of your money should be in the American stock market.
If you have money left over, buy some safe, defensive stocks such as, Proctor and Gamble and Exxon.
DO NOT buy gold. You can not eat it or get a dividend from it. It is dead money.
If you want to sleep at night, put the majority of your money in Index Funds from Vanguard. They have low maintenance fees, and they will beat the majority of managed mutual funds by a lot.
Always keep at the minimum 10% of your money in cash; you never know when a bargain is going to show-up (Bank of America and Wells Fargo were trading under $20 a share this summer).
That's about all I know. Good luck and remember, invest for the long run. Trading will only lose you money, and as Warren Buffet says, not losing money is the key to investing.