Thursday, March 22, 2012

4 Great Ways to Learn Stock Trading

Aspiring stock traders should have access to multiple source of learning. Just like learning to ride a motorcycle or swimming in a river is about making calculated moves, accepting mistakes and improvising errors - learning to trade stocks is not very different!

Read on to learn about the 4 great ways to learn stock trading!

1. Research online and find a good stock broker

First of all, you need to open an account with a trusted and reliable stock broker. Start playing with the layout of the interface provided by the stock broker. A large number of useful tools are provided to registered clients only. If possible, you should choose a broker who can provide you with a free simulator account. With these accounts, you can learn to trade stocks without risking real money. It is advisable to spend sufficient time practicing on these simulator accounts before you start investing your hard earned money.

2. Read good books on trading and investment

Online tutorials and video lessons on the internet are helpful. However, none of these resources can match the wealth of information that books provide. A good book can focus on one topic and make you really good at it. You can order two or three good books on stock trading in the beginning. Only when you are finished reading them, you should think of buying few more. As you continue to read books on market investments, fundamental analysis, technical analysis and other important topics, you'll also be in a better position to understand expert articles published on the internet.

3. Read online articles

You need to develop a habit of reading online articles on a regular basis. Instead of relying on one or two weekly financial magazines, you can go through multiple articles on famous publications online. Many online blogs and stock market journals provide complex information in a simple manner. You can even find articles that illustrate complex concepts in an easy way. It is one of the best ways to gather deeper knowledge on specific topics. For example, if you want to learn about day trading and its pros and cons, you can find all the information on the internet with great ease. Online articles may not provide comprehensive information like books but they do serve as easy and quick sources of information that you need immediately.

4. Find an expert who can guide you

If possible, you should try to find a mentor who can guide you. A mentor or teacher can be a friend, family member, office colleague or anyone else. Anyone who knows about fundamental trading concepts and has direct trading experience in the market can be a mentor. A good mentor is a person who can keep you in high spirits and teach you to make informed decisions under all circumstances. Nearly all successful investors have received some mentoring during their early days. A good mentor can really push you beyond limits that you've subconsciously created in your mind.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Learn Stock Trading Step by Step

Learning stock trading is not difficult if you are determined to work hard and learn every day. Below you will find a step by step guide to learn stock trading:

Step 1: Open a free simulator account

You can start learning stock trading by practicing on a simulator account in the beginning. A large number of brokers offer such accounts for free to their prospective customers. Without risking a single penny, you can test your trading fundamentals on these simulator accounts. The trading experience is not completely real until 'real money' is involved but it's still a good way to practice.

Step 2: Read books and articles

You need to learn trading fundamentals in order to become a successful investor. It is important that you learn to do fundamental as well as technical analysis on your own. Books and online articles can provide you with wealth of information on various topics related to stock market trading.

Step 3: Join forums where you can ask questions

A new investor should naturally feel an urge to ask dozens of fresh and new questions every day. Online forums are the best places where you can ask questions and get quick replies from both new and experienced investors. A large number of members on popular forums are willing to help novice investors.

Step 4: Find a guide

You need to find an experienced investor who can stand by your side. More than anything else, you need expert guidance from someone who has experienced stock trading. A guide can be a friend, professor, co-worker or even your family member.

Step 5: Keep up with the latest financial news

You need to start browsing popular financial news websites on a daily basis. It is important that you stay updated with all the latest news from around the globe. Google Finance and Yahoo Finance are two most popular portals that provide financial news. As you read financial news stories on these portals, you'll automatically begin to learn a large number of new terms and concepts.

Step 6: Get paid subscriptions

It is not bad idea to spend some money on important subscriptions. Paying few dollars every month for the much needed research and analysis is quite a good idea in fact. Many popular market-related publications can provide you with extremely useful information on current and past market trends. You'll not only learn from this expert information but also get useful tips on making fresh investments in the stock market. As you have to learn stock trading, you can always compare your trading decisions with expert opinions published in some esteemed publications.

Step 7: Watch Television

You need to develop a habit of watching financial news and related shows on the TV. This may sound like a crazy idea especially if you've been watching Discovery and Star Movies all the time. Since you want to be a successful investor, it is now time to watch CNBC for financial news every day. You do not have to start picking ideas from the day one. Just watch the TV and let commentators, interviews, journalists, experts etc. have their say on the television screen. Your mind will slowly begin to process the information on its own.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Everything You Need to Know About Stock Trading

Stock trading is an extremely lucrative field of investment. A lot of stock traders have earned substantial money with it. But what is it? This article will tell you all about the basics of stocks and share market.

It is actually the process of trading in stocks. If you are interested in it, hiring a stock broker to place and finish trades on your behalf is your best bet. A stock broker is someone who is going to trade for you, using your money.

Stock trading strategies

The stock market is a highly lucrative market with thousands of trades going on everyday. Different traders indulge in different types of strategies while trading stocks. Some of them are more effective than others. Some traders buy them at a cheap price and then wait for the prices to soar before selling them off, thereby gaining a profit. Other traders buy and sell them immediately without really bothering whether they are making any profits. Both strategies work at some level. For traders who wait for prices to soar after buying, face the risk of encountering losses as the prices may not rise but drop and stay that way for a long time. Traders who buy and sell within a short time period face the risk of not really profiting too much. It is up to you to choose a strategy you are comfortable with.

Basically there are two types of ways in which you can trade stock. One is floor trading and the other is electronic trading. Floor trading is the kind of trading in which there is a direct connection between the buyer and the seller. The later is the kind of trading in which everything is done electronically over the internet usually. The trading platform is responsible for linking the buyer and the seller.

Trading software

Stock trading software is an important part of the market. As the world goes increasingly digital, it is no doubt that the internet has made trading in this lucrative market easy. When you decide to trade in stocks and get a broker, you will be given trading software to trade with. There are many different types of trading software available in the market. Some of them are good and some of them are not so good. The great thing about the trading software available today is that they allow people to open a demo account where one can trade without using his own money. Such a demo account allows you to learn to trade effectively and understand the nuances of the stock market.

Tips to follow in the stock market

1. Choose the broker you will be working with after a good amount of consideration.

2. There is no point in not asking your broker about something you cannot understand. Feel free to ask questions.

3. In this kind of trading, it makes sense to start small. So don't put in too much of your money at the start.

4. Always ensure that you have a calm mind when you are trading.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Great Stock Tips for Everyone

Every day, thousands of new investors join various markets across the world. Some of these investors are trying to get rid of their boring jobs and few others are just trying to make some extra money. Only few people start investing in the stock market with a permanent goal of becoming a successful investor. Below you'll find a compilation of great stock trading and investment tips that come handy as you move forward -one step at a time:

1. A new investor should be mentally prepared to take some financial losses. When you begin to trade stocks in the market, there are no guarantees that you'll continue to make the right moves. Mental preparedness can help you to stay focused on the market and its indicators.

2. You need to learn about stop loss orders before you start investing your hard earned money in the stock market. You should be able to cut all your losses by not more than 8 percent below the price at which you purchased the shares under consideration.

3. Since you intend to become a successful stock market investor, you need to learn the art of persistence! Small failures on the way should come as lessons and not discouragements. In any case, you should continuously remind yourself of the fact that all successful big names in the stock market did not reach the zenith overnight. They've worked hard for years to reach that stage and you can do the same!

4. Do not let yourself assume that a single book or a month long stock trading training program will make you a great investor. You need have a humble opinion of yourself in the beginning. Aggression of any kind is not a great trait for an aspiring investor.

5. When take the first step, make sure you choose the right discount brokerage available or full service. A broker, if any, should be chosen with great care. Always choose a broker who has a proven track record. You can even speak with his or her past clients to be one hundred percent sure.

6. A novice stock market investor shouldn't open a margin account right in the beginning. Initially, you can get started with a cash account.

7. Don't assume that you need a big sum of money to learn stock trading. According to expert investors, you just need 500 or 1000 bucks to get started. Always remember the fact that experience is the biggest teacher and nothing else can beat that! What a novice investor needs is experience and not a big fat investment to start trading in the market.

8. A beginner in the market should stay clear of volatile investments of all kinds. Repeat failures in such volatile areas can lead to discouragement.

9. Getting emotionally involved with your stocks it the biggest blunder that you can make as an investor! It is important that you follow pre-determined buying and selling rules to avoid getting caught in your own waves of emotions.

Friday, March 2, 2012

A Quick Guide To Binary Options For Beginners

Most people have a general idea of what the word "investing" means, but it can often be confusing for beginners who are trying to learn more about different types of investing. It's not like you can just go to your local bank and say "hi, I want to invest." Well, you probably could, but that's probably not the best way to go about doing it, especially if your bank makes money on commissions.

When it comes to investing in the financial markets there are a few different options. The most common include:

Stocks - Stocks represent shares of ownership in a company. If the stock goes up after you buy it, you make money. If it goes down, you lose money.

Options - an option is a contract for the right and/or obligation, depending on the type of option, to buy or sell a certain amount of shares of a stock at a certain price at some point in the future.

Futures - a contract between two parties to buy or sell a specific asset in the future at a price agreed upon today.

Forex - trading one currency against another (for example, US dollars vs. British pounds, or Euros vs Japanese yen)

This article will take a look at a specific type of option: binary options.

Unlike standard options, binaries are much, much simpler.

Regular options involve complex formulas and values that change continually from the time you buy or sell the contract until the moment it expires. While it is possible to make a lot of money with options, it requires a lot of knowledge, strategy, and perhaps even a bit of luck.

Binaries, on the other hand, are much easier. A binary option is basically a bet that as of a specific time on a specific day, the price of the underlying stock will be either higher or lower than a certain price (called the "strike price"). If you bet correctly, you get paid. If not, you don't. The payout amount is determined beforehand.

With regular options, the value of the option will vary based on how high or low the price is above or below the strike price.

With binaries, you get paid the agreed upon amount whether price is $0.01 or $100 above the strike price.

So here's an example:

Say stock XYZ is trading at $49 per share and you think that by Friday it will be trading at over $50 per share, so you buy a binary option with a strike price of $50.
When Friday rolls around, stock XYZ is trading at $50.21 per share. You get paid whatever the agreed upon payment price was.

If, on the other hand, XYZ is trading at $49.99 or below on Friday, you do not get paid.