I have never traded stocks online but I would like to start. What site is best for trading? How do I pick stocks? Where can I find good fundamental and technical analysis? Are there any sites out there that seem to pick consistent winners?
Does anyone have some good advice for trading stocks online?
Posted by admin on April 3rd, 2010
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I can tell that you are a value investor. You want to ask 3 questions for the price of 1… well, here you go.
What site is best for trading?
Every one has different needs. If you’re new and don’t keep much money in your brokerage account, then Scottrade is probably good for you. They’re real time charts are pretty good, but no CD’s are available, the cash account only pays about 0.5%, and they charge pretty heavily for mutual funds. If you want to leave money sitting in a MM that pays 5% while you’re out of the market, like a choice of no load, no fee mutual funds, has an excellent site for research, want to buy competitive CDs on line, all in one place, then you might like fidelity. It’s what makes you happy. If you don’t like the sevice, then you can always change.
How do I pick stocks?
An answer would take volumes to provide, so let me suggest some literature:
I would recommend William O’Neil’s "The Successful Investor" as a good starting point. Follow that up with Peter Lynch’s "Beating the Street". That should provide you with two strategies that you can learn from in building your own investment strategy.
Other good books include "The Motley Fool Investment Guide" by Tom and Dave Gardner or "Real Money" by James Cramer.
I have read all these books and many others and devised a strategy that adopts a bit from each one.
Another thing you can do is invest using a fictional portfolio. Let that run for a few months to see if you are ready to start trading with real money. In the meantime, invest in mutual funds. Once you are ready, sell the fund and invest on your own.
Remember, the time spend learning about investing is far less then the money lost by not being prepared.
Where can I find good fundamental and technical analysis?
You’re on your own for this. There’s a multitude of excellent sites out there, where you can get fundamental ratios. Try Zack’s, Yahoo Finance, MSN finance, and a multitude of others are out there for free. As far as technical analysis, you need to research and find what works for you. As far as charting goes, Bigcharts is a good free site. Personally, I like Telecharts, which has a fee, but well worth the 50-75cents per day for the sorting capability, fast way to cycle thru many charts, and the ability to write your own personal critera.
Are there any sites out there that seem to pick consistent winners?
No. And anybody that says they can is a liar.
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