i got the securities trading account, how to buy and sell shares online?

Answer 1

Congratulations on getting started. It’ll help you more than you know!

Your first dollars should be spent on getting educated on investing. You don't have to train to trade them professionally, but we are talking about your future here. So the more you learn, the more it'll help you! So let's start there.

You ask a very broad question, so be prepared for a pretty long answer. Just take it in chunks!


How to invest depends on what you already know. We'll assume that you're beginning since you say you've got no clue!

A good primer is How to Make Money in Stocks by William O'Neil. You can get it cheap just about anywhere. It’s widely available new or used.

Another good one is one of Jim Cramer's books like Real Money (he’s got a few).

But books will only get you so far. At some point, you'll also want to get at least a little training. There are some great education companies if you want to make the investment. Investools.com or optionetics.com are both very good companies as is tmitchell.com

For free, you can start by visiting thestreet.com and investopedia.com. That'll get you a pretty good primer so at least you'll understand what the markets are and what a stock is, etc.

If you get a chance, watch Mad Money on CNBC. Don't trade any of his picks until you track many of them over time. Just use the show to get you to understand some basics and get a feel for the market itself.

Next, subscribe to something like Investorsbusiness daily or something like that that can help you identify good stocks.

Once you understand stocks, go to 888options.com. It's a website that'll help you understand options (what they do, how they work, etc). You don't need to trade them, but the more you know, the more you'll see how options can really be the safest way to invest (once you're educated).

For discipline (which is crucial to successful trading), probably Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas or Mastering the Trade by John Carter

I know that’s a LOT to absorb. Just take it one step at a time for now. Start with a book or two to give you an idea of where to begin. Take your time, and let it seep in.

As you get up to speed, you should papertrade to practice (highly recommended). This should help reduce your losses in the beginning as you get used to buying/selling.

You can practice for free on almost any reputable broker site (optionsxpress, scottrade, thinkorswim, etc). And yes, you can definitely deal easily online.

Start slow, then as you figure things out, you can buy more shares.

Congrats again on getting started. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Hope this helps!


TOP Mutual funds

Just so you know, Mutual funds aren´t for everyone. Personally, I wouldn´t invest in them unless I had to. For more detail on that, just do a search for where I´ve addressed this question in other answers.

However to answer your question, there are several rankings of mutual funds, keeping in mind that past performance does not guarantee future results. I'd also stick to no load funds so you don't get "as" soaked on fees, etc.

Here are some of the sources with appropriate link.

Lots of sources for Mutual fund reports that you´re looking for. Here are some.

Money Magazine
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestfunds/indexfunds.html

Morningstar
http://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Funds.html?pgid=hetabfunds

Kiplingers
http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/investing/funds/?

MutualFundRankings
http://mutualfundrankings.org/

And you may want to take a look at this article on mutual funds too just so you have a little more info if you´ve got tax concerns.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/pr/93/930429Arc3288.html

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Hope that helps!



Info on mutual funds
http://beginnersinvest.about.com/cs/mutualfunds1/a/aa031501.htm

Investing for Beginners
http://beginnersinvest.about.com/popular.htm

Answer 2

Do you research and find out which stock to buy.
How much are you investing and for how long?
If you want something safe, go with large cap stocks like: GE, AXP, HBC, etc...
If you want to take a bigger risk and hopefully double your investment, buy smaller stocks like: TRK, MPEL, etc...
If you want international stock: FXI, EWT, EWH, EWM, etc...
Buying exchange traded funds (ETFs) is like trading mutual funds. It's less stressful because it does not go up and down like crazy. You don't have to worry about one company's news. From my experience, buying a stock is stressful if you look at it everyday.
If you goal is long term, just buy and look at it once a month or longer.
I am currently holding mostly Asia related stocks. I don't like US or other mature countries. They won't move as much.
We are in the era of emerging growth.
I prefer to hold gold and oil too. You can invest in it by buying: GLD for gold, USO for oil
GLD and USO are great for short term trades.
GLD tends to go up to 70 and then down to 64.
USO tends to go up to 55 and then down to 46.
They are both in high demand because emerging countries are getting richer.
Think about GLD, over 3 billion people in China and India. Last year oil went to the 70s. I am going to put more money in USO. The only way for it not to go to 70 is if China's demand is stablized. I don't see that. I was in China last year and my in-law had to purchase premium gasoline for his scooter because regular gasoline was out for a few day.
GOOD LUCK!