In the past, only the rich and powerful bought and sold stocks on the stock market. Today, with online trading, anyone with some money, a computer and a decent financial history can open a stock trading account. Having a share of stock means you own a piece of a corporation. The value of the share rises if the company does well. A dividend is when companies make a profit and give stockholders some of the money. Those are called income stocks. Some other companies re-invest the profits into the business. These are called growth stocks.

Stocks are bought and sold through an exchange by brokers for a fee. Trades can take place on the market floor, electronically or on the telephone. Three major stock exchanges are The NASDAQ, The New York Stock Exchange and The Tokyo Stock Exchange. Buying stock online eliminates the human broker. The trader decides which stock to buy or sell and the online broker executes the trade and stores the money in a trading account. Some firms offer advice and other services to online traders. When picking an online broker f1pro.market consider how much you will invest, how often you will trade, if there’s a low per-trade fee or an inactivity fee and how much trading help you need.

It’s important to ensure your online broker is legitimate, reputable and trustworthy and protects your sensitive personal and financial information. You should also gather information from an investor protection organization like the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers, the North American Securities Administration Association and the Investing Online Resource Center about making investments online.

Opening and funding your investment account is the next step. You can open cash accounts or margin accounts. You will have to answer questions related to your financial and investment history to determine what type of account you[re qualified to open. This requires giving your address, social security number along with other personal information. You must also decide if you want individual or joint accounts, custodial accounts or tax-deferred retirement accounts. Margin accounts are very complex and present great financial risks. A cash account is better for beginners. You must then fund the account using cash, checks or a wire transfer.

Before buying and selling stock, you need real-time stock quotes that provide a stock’s current price as traders are about to buy or sell it. Traders can place limit orders or market orders. Market orders executes the trade at the stock’s current price. Limit orders execute the trade at or better than the price you wanted. If the stock never reaches that price, the trade isn’t executed. Some brokerages also offer Stop Orders, Stop Limit Orders, Trailing Stop Orders and All or None Orders.

Online trades aren’t instantaneous. They take time to process. Trades can be placed 24 hours a day, but are only executed when the markets are open. Some firms offer after-hours trading, but it’s riskier. Stocks can be traded in round lots or blocks of 100 shares or odd lots which are groups containing random numbers of shares. Day traders buy and sell stocks all day long trying to make a profit. But fees, commissions and capital gains taxes significantly reduce those profits.

It’s important for online traders to watch out for investment fraud and other scams. They include Pump-and-dump schemes, Fraudulent IPOs, Fraudulent OTC stocks and fraudulent company information. The key is to do your own research based on information from trusted sources like Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis & Retrieval system offered y the SEC.

Other Online Investments

Options, Mutual funds, Bonds and Futures.