Online Trading - It's Easy to Get Started!

by steve loughlin

Online Trading - It's Easy to Get Started ! By: Steve Loughlin

You've read the ads :

+ Work in your underwear and make thousands a week ! + Fire your boss and start trading stocks online... + You don't have to be a brain surgeon to trade online and make a fantastic living! Hype or Truth?

Believe it or not - it's true!

Learn the skill of trading online and you can work from your computer in your underwear. Personally, I like sweats and my old blue bathrobe ...

Get good enough and you will be able to fire your boss! And, no - you don't have to be a brain surgeon to trade online and make a very good living. Some of the most successful traders have come from all walks of life: farmers ,teachers, truck drivers, stay-at- home moms, doctors ,nurses, executives,waitresses, pilots - you name the job, and someone doing it has been able to learn the skill of trading and make a fine living doing it.

So how do you get started trading online? What do you need to learn to make money trading? How much money do you need to trade forex or stocks or the eminis?

All good questions...

The first piece of advice I would give a new trader is: Read, Read, Read. Read anything and everything related to trading ,trading systems, technical indicators - whatever! Read trading books, read the ads for new trading systems or trading software, read about brokerage services and real time quote services. If you really want to learn the skill of trading, you will have to immerse yourself in everything concerned with trading...

With so much information available to help a person learn to trade - you can literally teach yourself to trade online with a lot of help from the internet. Some of the best trading information and trading books are only available online - you won't find them at the bookstore. And, just about everything online is immediately down-loadable in e-book format. No waiting for the mail or UPS to deliver your book.

O.K. So you begin your trading education by reading.

As you start to learn and feel confident about trading the first thing you'll need to decide is just what you want to trade. And, what you decide to trade will determine how much money you will need to get started.

Product to trade can be broken down as follows:

Stocks.

If you want to actively day trade stocks, SEC rules say you must maintain a minimum of $25,000 in your trading account. This can be a somewhat expensive way to start trading and without the benefit of leverage.

Stock Indexes.

These are the e-minis. You can trade the DOW, S&P, RUSSELL, NASDAQ. You'll be able to open most accounts to trade the eminis with as little as $2,000. Trading the eminis gives you fantastic leverage. Example: trading just one contract with your $2,000 account will enable you to control anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000 worth of index.

Commodities.

Open an account with as little as $500 with some brokerage firms and you'll be able to trade commodities like: corn, pork bellies, wheat, sugar, coffee - just about anything that is used to produce our food supply. Like the stock indices, you again have tremendous leverage. A little amount of money, controlling a much larger amount of product.

Forex.

Forex is the trading of world currency pairs like the Euro vs. U.S. Dollar in a 24 hour market. Like commodities, you can open an account with many brokerage firms with as little as $500 - and like commodities, you again have excellent leverage.

Once you know what you want to trade, the rest is easy.

To trade actively, you'll need a quote service to supply real - time quotes and charts. Choose from a handful of very good services and get started online in minutes.

The final step is to open and fund your trading account with a brokerage firm. What you are trading will determine what company you choose to open your account . Some handle only stock trading - others commodities and e-minis.

You now know what you will trade, you have a real time quote service supplying you with quotes and charts to track what you are trading and you are signed up with a broker that will act as your banker and handle the transactions in your account. The broker will also supply a order entry system to place your orders electronically.

The only costs you'll have are trading commissions, a cable or DSL monthly connection charge for your computer ( a must for day trading) and your monthly charge for your quote service.

It's fast. It's easy. It's inexpensive. And, if you learn the skills - a lot of FUN!


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About the author:
Steve Loughlin is a trader and publisher of the Trading Website: www.BanzaiDaddy.com Let BanzaiDaddy.com be your online source for all your trading needs and education. Learn to trade well -
the money will follow!

Published at Jan, 21 '06 ; read 698 times;

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