Every day on the news, we see how stock markets all around the globe performed. Even if you know nothing about investing, you can tell that it is a good thing when the market goes up and a bad thing if the market goes down, but how can you get in on helping to make the market what it is? How can you, an average person who is thinking about investing for the very first time, buy stock in companies and, hopefully, build real wealth from it? Buying stock is easy as you have three main options: you can buy stock directly from a company, you can use a stock broker and buy stock through them or you can open up an online stock trading account and buy stock that way. Each choice has its own benefits and drawbacks, so let’s take a look at how it is all done.

The most direct and straightforward way to buy stock is through a company. Many popular companies offer the option of buying stock directly through them, although some companies limit stock buying to employee members and their families. An advantage of buying stock directly through a company is that you don’t have to pay any commissions or broker fees, which can keep the initial cost of your investment down. You might also get a better stock price than if you bought it in a more traditional manner. Drawbacks include the fact that you will need an account with each company to buy stock through them, which can be tedious if you own ten different kinds of stock. If you had an online broker account or a regular stock broker account, you would only need one.

The easiest way for someone to buy stock is with a stock broker. This is especially true if you are new to investing, and you are not sure what stocks you want to buy or how much of your savings you want to invest. With a stock broker you can also get expert advice on how a particular stock investment looks and if it is a good idea to buy it or not. If you buy stock directly from a company, you won’t get any investment advice at all, just like if you were to use an online broker since you are essentially flying blind.

Finally, the most popular option for experienced traders is to use an online broker site like E*Trade. With online brokers, you decide what stocks to buy, how much stock to buy and you execute the trade yourself. There is some very basic advice available through the website you use but the stock analysis is very poor when you compare it to the advice you would get from having a real broker. Using an online trading site is never recommended for new investors since you are essentially playing around with your life savings, and you likely don’t have the experience you need to make the right choices. Think of a stock broker as a safety net that can stop you from making a big mistake. When you choose to invest directly in a company, you don’t have that safety net either.

Buying stock is a great way to build personal wealth and a great way to introduce yourself to the world of investing, but it should never be done haphazardly. If you do choose to invest on your own, make sure you do as much research as you can into the company you are looking to invest in, and remember, even people who invest for a living sometimes get things wrong. There is no such thing as a risk free investment.

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When you make a trade, there are two types. The first type is the market trade; you buy or sell the stocks for the going rate, whatever it is at the moment. The second is a limit trade and one of the most important types in the stock market trading tutorial. Here you set the price to you’ll buy or sell the shares. When you trade penny stock, you ALWAYS use a limit order. If you remember nothing else from this share market education, remember that. If you want to buy shares for .001 per share and have $1000 to do that, plus the cost of the trade, and order 1,000,000 shares but use the market price you find out very quickly that you don’t always get what you think you’ll get. Market makers, the men that control the shares of specific companies, can decide that they really want .01 a share and suddenly you owe $10,000. Even if there is no foul play, the market moves swiftly and a tenth of a penny can make the difference between a profit and a loss. So, lesson one of the stock trading tutorial is use the limit order and decide ahead of time how much you want to pay and what price you want from the stock. Lesson two of the stock market tutorial goes with the limit order. You don’t need to be a slave to the market. Look for stocks with trends. Some prices go up and down in regular intervals. They volley between two prices. If you find one that does, pick a number close to its bottom price and put in a limit order. You can then go about your business and when it hits that price, you automatically bought it. If the price is lower, you got it for the lower price. The share trading education doesn’t end there. As soon as you find you bought the stock, put in a sell limit order for the upper end of the cycle, and go watch television or eat lunch. The transaction takes place when it hits that price. Do you always make as much as you can? Absolutely not, but you didn’t have expend all the effort either. This stock market trading tutorial gives some share trading education that doesn’t require a lot of effort. Lesson three of the stock market trading tutorial involves knowing how much you want to make on the trade. “What a silly lesson for a stock market trading tutorial.” You say. “I want to make as much as possible.” Sorry, wrong answer. You need to find a comfortable profit and not get greedy. Remember, much of the money you make is in just a few days if you’re a short-term investor. If you made $50 the first day and then added it to you investment and made $60 on that the second day and kept adding and increasing your return, the numbers grow geometrically and just like the penny doubled every day for one year, you soon make a huge sum. If you try to guess at exactly when to trade, you often end up losing all profit. Investing shares for beginners quote, “A profit, like cash, makes no enemies.” Keep that in mind from this stock market trading tutorial.

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Investors who wish to save on commission fees can use a ‘discount broker’. These brokers charge much lower commissions but don’t offer advice or analysis. Investors who like to make their own trading decisions and those who make many trades often use discount brokers for their transactions. Some traders may use both types – there is no reason why you can’t have two brokers.

No matter what type of broker you choose, you must first open an account. Each broker sets their own requirements for maintaining an account balance but it is usually between $500 and $1000. When choosing a broker look at the fine print and find out about the fees involved. Some brokers charge an annual maintenance fee while other charge fees whenever your account balance falls below the minimum. There are two basic types of brokerage accounts. A ‘cash account’ offers no credit – when you buy you pay the full amount of the stock price. A ‘margin’ account, on the other hand, allows you to buy stock ‘on margin’ – the brokerage will carry some of the cost of the stock. The amount of margin varies from broker to broker but the margin must be protected by the value of the client’s portfolio. If the portfolio falls below a specified amount the investor will have to add more funds or sell some stock. Margin accounts allow investors to buy more stock with less cash thereby realizing greater gains (and losses). Because they involve more risk than cash accounts, margin accounts are not recommended for inexperienced traders. Before choosing a particular broker the investor should carefully consider his needs. Does he wish to receive advice about which stocks to buy? Is he uncomfortable making trades on the Internet? If so, he should go with a full-service broker. Technology savvy investors who have the knowledge and confidence to make their own trading decisions are better off with a discount broker.

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