How does one start playing the stock market?

I'm pretty much a beginner in this, but I've always been interested in the stock market. Is it possible to start out with say $100 and just experiment and learn how everything works? How can I do this? What are some good sites where you can purchase shares? Any info would be great.

Public Comments

1. Practice first.
Go to market watch.com and look for their virtual stock market game
http://vse.marketwatch.com/Game/Homepage.aspx
Practice for 6 months.
$100 is not enough to invest since you will be eaten up alive by commissions for buying and selling stock.
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2. You don't "play" the markets. You invest in your future, and are using real money, so you need to be professional about this, unless you have unlimited financial resources, and a loss will mean nothing.
Take some time and learn about the economy, wall street, companies that interest you, stocks vs. bonds vs. funds. Read weekly/monthly business magazines, watch CNBC regularly. You need to understand how life works before stepping into something blindly.
Also, if all you have is $100, save it, as you need to begin investing with at least a few thousand.

3. $100 is not enough, and many brokerages demand a minimum of $500.
Don't "play" the stock market, as this is a sure way to loose money for the inexperienced. Instead, invest for the long term (2-5 years) in sound companies with a competitive advantage.
To learn how everything works, visit Investopedia, a very good place for beginners to learn. Once ready, join the share market game in asx.com.au. Registration opens jan-feb next year.

Read a lot and Good Luck!

4. James, the best thing to do is join one of the financial forums on the internet in post your questions there. many experienced people will then answer your questions. Try the link below.

http://www.newstockslive.com/forum/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

5. I was a newbie before. Check out at my blog how I get started.
http://mystocksinvesting.blogspot.com/search/label/Where%20and%20how%20did%20I%20learn%20my%20investing%20knowledge%20from%3F