Do you have to use a computer to sell/buy stocks?

Question

I go to school during the day so I can't really buy/sell/check stock prices whenever I want to. Is there any phone/PDA/ or device out there that allows you to buy or sell stocks? Can you add details like prices, size, etc...

I use Charles Schwab by the way.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Get a blackberry or something similar. You can set up your account to alert you when a certain event happens. It's what I use when I travel.

Answer 2

I used a Treo to trade stocks at e*Trade, but the service and the device are pretty expensive. A better choice might be a laptop with wifi if it's available at your school. I wouldn't trust the security enough to do business on a wifi, but maybe I'm just paranoid. Also, I use stop and limit orders a lot--setting them the night before.

If you trade so much that you want to follow stocks all day you need to get rid of Schwab's high commissions. If you're serious about trading, check out interactivebrokers.com (I use it, FWIW). If that's too radical for you, I think Scottrade is the cheapest of the "traditional" electronic brokers.

Answer 3

Don't Charles Schwab have a phonelink (telephone number) to fund information and customer service to excute your orders to buy and sell stocks? I know that OppenheimerFunds does. Yeah, a phone will be the next best thing to the internet. Either that, or the old mail method, which we all know is really slow.