Stock Trading and Other Things

What is a good Stock Trading website for beginning traders?

I'm a 15 year old high school student that started to become intrested in trading stock. I have been familiarized with it and I have some money set aside for it. What is a good stock trading website for beginners? I have looked at Etrade but it seems technical. Thanks.

Public Comments

1. You have to be 18 to buy stocks. However your parents could open an account in their name and let you use it. I recommend Charles Schwaab.

2. I applaud your newly found entrepreneur spirit. Understanding finances at such a young age is an excellent skill to have. However, you want to make sure you dont put the cart before the horse.

Before looking for a broker, you first have to gain an understanding of what investing style matches up best for who you want to be as an investor. There as many investing vehicles as there are investing strategies. Are you going to invest long term vs. short term. What is your risk tolerance? How much capital will you be playing with? I would take some time and match the right vehicle with your investing style.

Then, you can find the right broker for your chosen investing vehicle. You can check out Barron's top ten list here:

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB126844973242861545.html#articleTabs_panel_article%3D1

3. It is technical. You can try Ameritrade (http://www.tdameritrade.com) or Scott Trade (http://www.scottrade.com/). I've used Ameritrade for a long time and it has also been pretty good. Scott Trade will offer cheaper trades, but if you trade a lot with Ameritrade, they'll reduce your commissions if you ask them.

Another site you'll be interested in is www.stocktwits.com. You can go on there and read/share information about the market / industries / specific stocks.

Also become acquainted with www.marketwatch.com and http://www.bloomberg.com/. Bloomberg has a good economic calendar that spells out the major market moving events: http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/economic-calendar/

Good luck,

Will

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Web Development & Online Marketing - http://altumdesign.com

4. So you say you want to learn how to invest in the stock market.

Education is the key ingredient. Read all you can get your hands on about investing and the stock market. Knowledge is power, so become an educated invest before making your first buy.

You could start here: www.investopedia.com

I recommend a starter book called “The only investment guide you’ll ever need” by Andrew Tobias http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Only_Investment_Guide_You%27ll_Ever_Need

If you want to become a member, this is another good Organization to learn from: www.betterinvesting.org

Your next task is to figure out 4 things.

The amount of risk you’re willing to take?
No risk, Low risk, Medium risk
You get the picture.

What kind of investor do you want to be?
Saver, Speculator or Specialist

How long to want to invest?
Day trader, Short term, Long term or Life long

What do you want to invest in?
Stocks, Bonds, Coins, Precious metals, Money Market, Real Estate,Etc.

There are different styles of investing so learn them all and then pick the one that suits your risk tolerance and tastes.

I chose to be a Dividend Investor. I do reinvest my dividends and that buys me more stock. Since I’m in it for a life time I do not let the roller coaster ride of the stock market influence my decision to sell. I have set up an excel spread sheet of stocks that I have considered to buy and loaded them on to a portfolio on yahoo finance. When I copy and paste the current prices into spread sheet my excel spread sheet tell me when to buy, hold, or sell. It does this by the criteria that I set up in the formulas I created in my spread sheet. I research all the companies before they go my spread sheet.

5. I'm 16, and I trade on tradeking.com
Just get a "custodial account" which is an account that you share with your parents. In reality, your parents probably won't ever use the account, it just has their name on it.
Since you are a high school student, and we teens are poor, it's best to have a low fee for each trade, since the amount of money you are investing, I assume, is not particularly huge, and tradeking's fee is only about $5 a trade. It's one of the lowest I've seen.
Tradeking is an online discount broker, so it's very simple and basic. I like it a lot.
I'm sure you already know, you will make mistakes. Everybody does, especially new trader. Remember, it's better to make those mistakes with a few hundred or thousand dollars than a few hundred-thousand dollars!
And I have a high respect for you, for starting investing at a young age.

6. Check out http://www.scottrade.com.