Finance David A. Sorenger on 31 Dec 2007 06:20 am
Stock Market Online Trading
Trading stocks online can be very stimulating. It is both, either a great hobby or a full time job. In both cases you can earn much money. The stock market has made millionaires since the very beginnings of share trading. In the past you could trade stocks only for long term profits, today you can make profits within minutes.
The Internet and the computer revolution made it possible that even your grandmother can place an order to buy stocks online today. Online stock trading has become very easy. Everybody with an Internet connection and a cheap PC can go online today and order shares. Not only in the US market but globally at almost any stock market in the world.
Everything is at your fingertips, the latest stock quotes, financial news, real time charts with indicators, market commentary and analysis. Whatever you need is right on you desktop. You only need to make a decision what to buy and press a button. Within seconds you are the owner of the stocks you wanted.
Today there is almost no difference between a trader behind a trading desk at the bank and a private investor sitting behind his home computer. Both have cheap access to real time data of all the stocks they like to follow. The only difference might be the money an institutional investor has compared to a private trader.
There are many online stock broker nowadays. Every broker is different. The main decision you must make is whether you want to trade yourself or if you need advice from the broker. The last one is called full service broker and helps you to find the best stocks and also executes the trades for you. The other ones are discount brokers and they only execute the trade for you but don’t tell you which stock to buy or when to sell.
If you are more a speculator than an investor, you usually go with a discount stock broker because the commissions per trade are much cheaper. And since you are trading more often than an investor this can quickly add up. The average commissions for buying stocks is about $5 to $10 per order. The execution time of your order shouldn’t be longer than 1 minute.
The trading platforms you get from your broker vary in performance, reliability and costs. If you are just starting with online stock trading then choose a known broker like Schwab for example. They have simple and easy to use trading platforms. Once you get more experienced and an active trader you might consider getting one of these direct access trading platforms. They cost something but offer a lot. Daytraders are using them to get filled in a split second.
No matter if you are an investor or daytrader, the stock markets offer thousands of possibilities every day to make money. The US stock market alone is the home of thousands of different companies which have their shares listed with various stock exchanges. The shares are traded in real time every day for more than 6 hours, pre- and post market trading not included.
