The first thing you need is a trading account with an online broker. Your online broker is your link to the trading floor and they will handle the actual purchase and sell orders for you. They charge a fee per trade and this fee varies from $5 to $20 per trade. To open an online trading account you need to be a US resident (if you want to trade the US markets) or file some additional paperwork if you are outside of the USA and want to trade the US markets.

Most online brokers require a minimum deposit of $1000 into your trading account. It acts very much like a bank account and you can connect it to your actual bank account to make transfers to and from your trading account easier. All online brokers are subject to the same legislation and are heavily regulated. This is good news for you because it means that your money is safe with them and that they can’t screw you over with hidden fees and charges. You need to make sure that you read the terms carefully though.

Once you have your trading account set up you can simply log in and start buying stocks on any of the major exchanges in the USA. The two main exchanges are the New York Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ. There are thousands of stocks being traded on these two exchanges and you can trade any of them.

Placing a trade is easy. All online brokers have good instruction videos that show you exactly what to do to place a trade. On a more general level, you simply need to pick a stock that you think will go up in value, check the price and then place your purchase order for the amount of shares you wish to purchase. The purchase order usually gets executed immediately and this means that you buy at the quoted prices in “real time”.

To sell a stock you simply go through the same process. Some people like using software to analyze stocks. There are a number of highly sophisticated programs that you can buy that will help you identify trends, patterns and other indicators. Some online brokers even give you their software for free.

Its easy to get caught up in learning software. It can be overly complicated and getting lost in the details of learning a software package is not the best way to start trading. The real skill of how to trade stocks online is in picking stocks and knowing when to buy, when to sell and when to hold. This requires an understanding of how stocks behave.

Stock prices are nothing more than the reflection of the perceived value of a particular commodity. Actual value has very little to do with it as traders are only concerned with what the perceived value is. This partly reveals why there are certain set patterns in stock behavior because its a reflection of human behavior. What this allows us to do is to look at a stock and analyze it in different ways and based on certain principles we can “predict” with relative certainty what a stock is likely to do in the near future.

When you treat trading as gambling then you are doomed to fail. When you treat it as a science then you may succeed although there are not guarantees. It does however give you an infinitely better opportunity and allows you to study what works and apply working systems to your trading efforts. Those who succeed on the stock market are those who are able to implement systems and methods in a scientific manner.

If you want to learn how to trade stocks online then I suggest you start with a good course or find a good book that can give you that fundamental understanding and teach you some basic systems to use in picking stocks. One book I can recommend is A Beginners Guide To Day Trading Online by Toni Turner. Its easy to read and will give you a good platform. I can also recommend The Market Guys – I love their approach to trading and AJ Monte is one of the most respected teachers of traders.
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Its important to mention that learning to trade is not that easy – especially if you have no experience with investing. More than anything, trading requires a certain mindset and this is perhaps the biggest determining factor in becoming a winning traders versus those people who fall by the way side and give up before they even have any winning trades.

So, what are the best ways to learn to trade? Here are some ideas to get you off to a flying start…

1. Attending Classes
This is the closest thing to a “traditional education” and it certainly works for a lot of people. In most cities you will find night classes that are usually offered by community colleges or even by private trading institutions. Being in a structured learning environment you can help you if you lack the self discipline of home study courses. Also, having an instructor or tutor can be a massive advantage to clear up any questions you may have. This is what I like most about attending classes and learning through completing a structured course.

What I don’t like about this is the fact that many of these classes are just not very good – and there is no real way of telling before hand. Private classes are by far the best way to go since you will often get tutored by ex-traders with real world experience and success. It can be quite expensive though. It can also be slow – especially if you only do 2 or 3 hours a week.

2. Self Study
You only need to walk into a bookshop these days and find dozens and dozens of great books about trading. Books are a great way to learn because you work at your own pace. It takes a certain kind of person to be able to follow self study of any kind. Books give you direct access to some of the best traders in the world and it can be one of the best ways to learn.

What I don’t like about this is that books can often leave you with a lot of questions – and no real way of getting them answered. There are also many self study courses that you can purchases and it often comes with audio or video to accompany the course. These can be quite expensive and have been replaced by online courses for the most part. Books are great regardless of your method of study simply because it can help you to continuously expand your trading expertise.

3. Online Courses
With the advent of online trading there’s been numerous online courses that teaching virtually every aspect of trading. Having it online is not just convenient but it makes learning via live streams and video possible. Some of these courses are fantastic while many are just not worth the money. Its hard to tell before hand because you never know if the person(s) offering the course are really as good as they claim to be. One of the most powerful aspects of online courses is the fact that many of them have active forums and communities where you can interact with other traders and find personal advice and answers to your questions.

What I don’t like about it is the fact that many wannabe traders create courses and present themselves as experts. Whom you learn from is very important because learning bad habits in your trading can have a lasting effect on your results. The convenience, the way its delivered and the nature of it being online makes it one of the best ways to learn stock trading.

4. Seminars
This is by far my highest recommendation. There are numerous trading seminars that usually last for anything from 1 to 5 days. Many of them are presented by top traders and being immersed in that environment for a few days can help you learn faster than anything.

What I don’t like about seminars is the fact that the good ones are really expensive and when you are first starting out, whipping out $5000 on a course may seem excessive. I also don’t like the fact that its usually just too short and you can have a lot crammed into a few days. Regardless, its still the fastest and most effective way to get started on the right track.

5. Mentors
If there ever was a holy grail to becoming a successful trader then this is it. If you can get mentored by a successful trader you can condense years of learning into a few short months. Having someone next to you and having someone on call to show you exactly how to do it is priceless. Its probably the only way to guarantee that you success as a trader.

The hard part is finding a mentor – and finding a mentor that is willing to give you his time and expertise. If you have a family member that can be that for you, grab it with both hands. If not, try and find a way that you can give something back to whomever will be mentoring you. Do whatever you can to find a mentor. Its really worth it.

These are just 5 basic ways to learn stock trading. Its not really about choosing one because the truth is that you will likely combine many of them. When you first start out, don’t overwhelm yourself. Pick one that appeals to you and get started!
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Most people just want to know “what stocks should I buy” and the problem with that is the fact that it strips you of the responsibility. No one will care for your money like you do and no one will have your best interests at heart like you. Get all the advice you can but in the end you have to make your own decision and take responsibility for where you invest your money.

When it comes to stocks, the risks are naturally higher. This does not mean that stocks are risky though. Its still one of the “best” investments you can make. Instead of giving you a list of good stocks to invest in, I’d rather spend some time sharing with you what I think you need to look at if you want to invest in stocks.

We’ll assume that you are not going to actively trade these stocks and that you are looking more at a long term investment. Stocks can be a great way to grow your nest egg really fast. Yes, there are more risk involved but if you compare it to the measly returns you get from most fixed term or fixed rate investments then its almost a must to start investing in stocks yourself. Investing for the long term is very different from trading and the criteria for picking stocks is very different. Here are some important things to consider.

1. Invest in companies, not stocks
For short term positions you really only care at the immediate health of a stock. Your intention is to only hold on to i6t for the short term and selling it again is your main priority. For long term investments your mindset needs to be very different. You are effectively investing in a company. As the company grows, so does your investment. From this point of view you need to think about it as investing in a company that will grow over time.

It also needs to be a company that is financially strong as this will help secure your investment in the long term. Instead of looking at a chart, start by looking at the company. All companies that are listed on public stock exchanges must publish their financial reports every year and they are obliged to be totally transparent in how they do business. This brings us to the second point…

2. Fundamental Analysis
Stock investors are broadly classified by being either technical traders or fundamental traders. Technical traders use graphs and technical indicators to help them make decisions. Fundamental investors look at the fundamentals of a company to make decisions. They look at the financial health of a business to see if its a good investment. This is what you want to do if you want to invest in stocks.

By looking at the company’s annual reports you can see their income statements and balance sheets and assess how healthy they really are. You can also see how the company stacks up against its competition and how its performing in its specific financial sector. There are a number of good indicators to look at as well. The PE ratio is a good one because it shows you what the price to earnings ratio is like. This will give you a good idea of how the company uses your investment. I highly suggest you read up on Warren Buffet who is widely regarded as the best fundamental investor. You will learn a lot from him about how to pick good investments with huge potential.

3. Dividends
One of the great advantages of long term investments in the stock market is the fact that you can earn dividends from your stocks. Certain stocks pay dividends which is really a “cash” payout to investors based on the company’s performance. Are these the best stocks to invest in? Probably. It should not be your only consideration but dividends can be a very healthy thing for your investment portfolio because apart from gaining on the capital growth you also get a cash growth.

So, how do you find the best stocks to invest in? With so many stocks being traded publicly your best starting place is to look at companies and then go to their stocks. Read financial newsletters and read financial papers that discuss companies. You will be amazed at what you can find. You can also follow stock market experts and see what they have to say. In the end, you need to make the decisions though. Its your money. Its your investment. You are responsible!
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The first and most important thing to look for in any stock trading course is the person (s) presenting the course. Are they REAL traders who are actively trading or are they just out to make money from teaching others to trade?

Obviously there are many different levels of training and you also need to look at that aspect. Is it a stock trading course for a beginner or is it advanced and only useful for experienced traders? I’ve been through a lot of trading courses and to be honest most of them were NOT worth the money. However, I did learn something from every one of them.

Stock trading courses vary greatly in price and quality. I thought it would probably most useful to you if I tell you about 3 different “levels” of courses. Pick whatever suits your budget but don’t restrict yourself to these either.

1. Books
The cheapest stock trading courses are probably books. The problem is that there are thousands of them and most often we can get lost in a book. There are some amazing books available and for $20 you can learn from some of the best traders in the world. With books however, you need to be very focused since most people never even read past the first chapter of a book. I would recommend Bonnie Turner’s books. They tend to move a bit fast, but are very thorough and is great for beginner and intermediate traders.

2. Online Courses
The next level of stock trading courses are online courses. There are many of them and the obvious problem these days is that every second “trader” is trying to sell a course. The fantastic benefit of online courses is that you can get a very thorough education and with interactive technology you can shorten the learning curve significantly. Without a doubt, the best course is Anthony Green’s online trading course. With manuals, videos and even email access to answer your most pressing questions its well worth the investment – especially being able to see a professional trader in action and to learn first hand from someone who is actively trading for a living. He lays out a very easy to follow step-by-step program, but you will need at least $1,000 to trade with.

3. Seminars
The top level stock trading courses are seminars. They are usually 2 or 3 day long courses that are held in groups of 50 to 300 and can cost as much as $10,000 per person. The real power of these seminars is that you immerse yourself in it for a couple of days and being there WITH other traders and being able to ask questions and learn first hand is priceless. The best trading seminar I ever attended was Wealth Mastery – which is Tony Robbins’ brainchild and presented by Chuck Mellon who is widely regarded as one of the top traders in the world.

Hopefully this quick overview of stock trading courses will get you started on the right path. This is one thing you don’t want to “figure out” yourself – you will lose a lot of money before you come to your senses. If you’re just dabbling with the idea, buy yourself a good book. If you want to actively start trading, enroll in an online course. If you already have some experience, go to a live seminar.
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Picking stocks can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. Some traders spend a week analyzing a stock before they will buy. Others pick stocks on the fly and don’t spend too much time over analyzing everything. The way you pick stocks will eventually become your own as you learn what works for you and what suits your particular “style” of trading.

There are a few basic and fundamental things we can talk about that will help you learn how to pick stocks effectively. Let’s quickly look at some important ideas.

1. Mindset:
This may seem like a trivial thing but it really is the most important part of picking stocks. You need to remove your emotions from this process and forget about what you think you already know. Our bias towards certain things can blind us. For this very reason its often much better to look at stocks of companies that you know nothing about. Its also important that you look at each stock with a clean slate and forget about past trades.

2. Stock Ideas:
Out of all the thousands of stocks we can trade, the challenge is where you should start looking. One thing that I like to do is to use a stock screener and look at all the stocks that are in a 52-week high. These will typically be stocks that are in an uptrend which can spell opportunity for us. Depending on the stock screener you use, you can filter stocks in a similar way to find other potential trends.

Another great way to find stock ideas is to simply keep an eye on financial publications. There are a number of great websites and blogs that discuss trending stocks in detail. This does not mean that you follow their advice blindly, but it can be a great starting point. Also, do not discard everyday news events. It can have a huge impact on stock prices and by keeping your eyes and ears out for trading opportunities you can make some great stock picks.

3. The First Signal:
Unless you are short selling or using some other more sophisticated trading strategy, the very first thing you want to look for is for stocks that are in an uptrend. Remember, we want to “ride the wave” and by jumping on to stocks that are on their way up we can greatly reduce the risk of losing on the trade. For a swing trader you want to look at the charts in a time-frame similar to what you are trading in. This will give you an idea of what that stock has been up to in the last 3 to 6 months. This makes it relatively easy to see the uptrend. I try and avoid stocks that show a lot of volatility and with no clear trend line.

4. Identify Trends:
One of the most over used and most clichéd sayings in trading is that “the tends is your friend”. Although its a cliché, its very true. Trends help us to make informed and scientific decisions. It does not guarantee success but it eliminates a lot of risk. A simple channeling pattern or a head and shoulders pattern are easy to identify and we can trade on these patterns with a lot of confidence since we know how these patterns tend to behave.

No matter how much analysis you do, in the end you can never trade with 100% certainty that you stock picks will be successful. In fact, most of the time you will be wrong. The secret is to cut your losers quickly. When you make a trade you will pick a stock based on certain assumptions – based on your research and analysis. When your assumptions are wrong after day 1, cut your (small) losses and move on.

Don’t hold on and hope that your assumptions will become true. There are no real magic formula for how to pick stocks. In the end we all develop our own system but the fundamentals are the same. Always remember that you will lose 100% of the trades you do not make!
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Its amazing how many people are looking for hot tips on which stock to buy. The old story of learning to fish instead of someone handing you a fish is really relevant here. You need to learn how to find those stocks that will  make you money instead of someone telling.  This will allow you to become a good trader who can make money at will on the stock market. So, here are

My 3 hot sauce tips for finding the best stock ideas.

1. Become a sniper.
You don’t need to trade 100′s of different stocks at once. You are looking for one, two or maybe three stocks that you will focus on. To find these you will have to look at hundreds of potential stocks though but the analogy is that you will go looking with a sniper rifle and not a shotgun. You need to pick out individual stocks one by one instead of just blindly looking at thousands of potential stocks – which in theory could work but rarely does.

The best way to do this is to use a stock screener. A good screener will allow you to filter out stocks based on specific criteria. Stockcharts.com has a pretty good (and free) screener with a lot of options. Use those that suit your particular trading strategy best.

2. Stay with the times.
The stock market is very intricately interwoven to the state of affairs both locally and globally. World markets get affected by world events and local markets get affected by local events. How can this help you? Start paying attention to the news and look at it through your trading glasses. It will help you spot opportunity and give you ideas on which stocks might be affected. A good example is with Apple. Every time Steve Jobs launches one of their new products Apple’s stock starts rallying.

The opportunities are virtually endless. When governments sign deals, when CEO’s retire or even when there is a major accident it can affect entire market sectors. Stay in touch with what’s going on in the world.

3. Hero’s and Idols.
As you grew up you probably had a hero or an idol that you wanted to be like. This could have been a sport star, a rock star or even a politician (yeah right!). If you are serious about being a great trader then you have to find yourself some hero’s and idols. Its very powerful because these people give you an ideal or something you can aspire to. With the internet we are very fortunate because we can now interact with and connect with people from all over the world.

I read a lot of blog from traders and even though some of them are rubbish, some of them are great. Its a great place to find the best stock ideas. Its great to see someone else analyze a stock because it helps to open your mind. We tend to get caught up in our own way of thinking and without knowing it we tend to choose the same kind of stocks over and over again. When you see an expert do it you can start to emulate their success.
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For most of us money is a very emotional subject. When we invest out hard earned money we don’t like to see it evaporate. The flip side is also true and having the financial freedom that you desire can bring you all those things you want most in life. With that in mind, here are my 5 best day trading tips.

1. Ride The Wave.
Day trading is not about making “big money”. This is probably where most novice traders go wrong. They are looking for that one trade that will make them rich. Day trading is all about riding the wave. If long term investing is about making a 50% ROI per year (as an example) then day trading is bout making 20% ROI per day. Its all about making smaller gains but making them consistently. The fact that you are working within much narrower time frames means that your money can work so much harder for you.

2. Strategy, strategy, strategy.
All traders use strategies. Without a good strategy you are walking into a war zone without a weapon. Strategy gives you a “recipe” and a methods to work with. Trading strategies is important because it helps you to make decisions. It also helps you to make decisions without your emotions getting in the way.

3. Get a mentor.
All highly successful people have mentors. Mentors are people that have more skill, knowledge and experience than you and learning from them is priceless. Try and find a mentor that you can talk to one-on-one if possible but you can also find a mentor in books. It needs to be someone who you really look up to and who you want to be like as a trader.

4. Learn.
As a day trader you need to fall in love with learning. There are so many aspects to being a good day trader and you need to learn, learn and learn all the time. I suggest you read at least one book a month that will improve your skills and attend at least 1 seminar or class every 6 months. Not only will it help you get better but it will help to motivate you.

5. Break free.
This is probably the most important step. You need to break free from your emotions. When you are trading you need to be 100% “mechanical” and not allow your emotions to make decisions for you. Its a tough step but a very necessary one.
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The stock market is an incredibly complex web where everything affects everything else. Often times one small action or piece of news can spark a massive ripple effect through the entire market. With the global economy so intertwined its getting even more complex and unless you understand stock trading basics y simply won’t succeed.

The Concept Of Value
When it comes to stock trading basics it does not get more basic than understanding the concept of value. This is the fundamental law of the markets and every day this drives every trade on every exchange. Any stock represents a value – something that we trade and in exchange for money we buy a commodity which is nothing more than a “virtual” share in a company or underlaying asset.

The weird thing about value is that its not the actual value we buy on the stock market. Instead it’s the PERCEIVED value of the particular stock. Perceived value is a very hard concept to grasp but once you do it can help you immensely. When something is perceived as valuable we are willing to pay more for it than when its perceived to be less valuable. If I wanted to sell a gold coin to you for $10 you’d probably be more inclined to buy it than if I were to sell you a coin made of nickel.

The entire stock market moves around this one fundamental principle. Stocks lose and gain value based solely on perceived value. One of the stock trading basics you have to get is to understand value and only trade based on value. When you start seeing the relationship between value and what affects it you can start making much more intelligent choices when you trade. Can you see how certain events can affect the perceived value of a company?

The reason why so many novice traders fail to make profitable trades is simply because they don’t have the stock trading basics. Its as simple (and as hard) as understanding what makes the markets move and to buy value. Making money on the stock market boils down to buying something with a low perceived value, and then selling it when the perceived value goes up and vice versa. Understand that and you will be ahead of 80% of the newbie traders who are locked into learning software and looking for the next hot tip that’s going to make them rich.
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Unless you are a professional level 1 trader there is no need to get into $10,000 software. Its simply not necessary. You can make a lot of money trading with NO tools – but then again stock trading tools can make your life a lot easier. Lets quickly look at 3 awesome tools that you need to start using immediately.

1. StockCharts.com
This is by far one of my favorite stock trading tools and its free. Here you can get great looking graphs of any stock on virtually every major exchange at the push of a button. It gives you a lot of control over the graphs and whether you like simple line diagrams or candlesticks you can do it. It also allows you to overlay moving averages and numerous other trend lines. There’s a wealth of information on this site and should be one of your top stock trading tools for technical trading.

2. Yahoo Finance
For me Yahoo Finance is to fundamental analysis as StockCharts is to technical analysis. Yahoo Finance has become the foremost source of news for anything financial and they now provide news feeds to most major websites all over the internet. Knowing what’s happening to which company is vital when trading online and if its happening you will find it here. You can also do extensive research on virtually any company you can think of with in-depth reports and countless experts writing for them.

3. Stock Screeners
If you are just staring out, then having a good stock screener can be the best investment you make. Although there are quite a few “free” ones you will find that somewhere down the line you end up paying for it anyway. I found that StockAssault 2.0 is the easiest and probably the cheapest. What it does is to show you pre-screened stocks that meet certain criteria. This save you from the minefield of sifting through thousands of stocks. Not only does these stock trading tools improve your chances of making winning trades but it will help you learn much faster.

Although stock trading tools are great, its important to always keep in mind that they are ONLY tools to HELP you. In the end you and only you can make the decisions. Get all the help you can and use all the tools you find useful, but never let anyone or any software out there make your decisions for you. After all, its YOUR money!
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Traditional stock brokers performed exactly the same service that online brokers now perform. The main difference is just that the online process is fully automated and there are no “real person” who actually fulfills the buy and sell orders – it’s all done via computers that are directly linked up the trading houses and stock exchanges.

Back in the day with traditional stock brokers it was a very different story. If you wanted to buy a stock you would have to phone up your stock broker and tell what you want to buy or sell. He or she would then phone the trading house (on the floor) who would actually buy or sell the stocks. This process was not only slow but very expensive – hence trading was reserved to those who had the money to trade stocks.

As computers and the internet advanced, brokers started implementing trading platforms that allowed them to execute your trades instantaneously and as this became more sophisticated eventually public online brokers started springing up. Not only can you now trade without a physical broker, but you can do it at a fraction of the cost.

An online stock broker is nothing but a piece of computer software that buys and sells your stocks for you in exchange for a fee. The fees varies from broker to broker and is anything between $5 and $15 per trade.
Some of the big name online stock brokers are eTrade.com (the best in my opinion), Ameritrade and Scottrade. Each one has something unique to offer and you need to do a bit of research to see which one will suit you best. Generally speaking, those with bigger accou8nts get more privileges although even the most basic accounts still give you all the benefits to be a successful online trader.

Some things you need to look into a bit more before you make your decision are the following:

- The minimum amount you need to open your trading account and what do you need to maintain your account.

- Price. How much do they charge per trade and what account level do you need to qualify for that rate.

- Trading software. Do they offer you any trading software and if they do what account level do you need to maintain to get the software for free.

- Margin accounts. Do they offer margin and how much. Also check the fine print on the requirements and conditions of trading on margin.

- Options trading. Do they allow you to trade options and what are their requirements.

- Insurance and security. This is not really a big concern with large companies but smaller online brokers can fold and along with it your trading account will disappear.

- Speed of execution. How fast do they execute trades and what guarantees do they offer in terms of quoted prices.

- If you are in a foreign country, do they allow you to open an account and what exchanges will you have access to. Also, carefully check the required paperwork as this can be a cumbersome process.
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