The Secret Behind Stock Market Picks
Before you decide to open an account with a stock broker it would be better to have some concept of investment in stock trading. Several stock trading sites have education sections where they provide detailed information about important issues in stock trading. The topics may be discussed under several heads and sub heads.
In 'what is a stock' category, you may find the definition of a stock, why you should buy a stock, risks in stock investments, kinds of investments and then finally what is a ticker symbol.
In 'How stocks trade' category, you might find topics such as what is stock market, primary and secondary markets, similar site NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX and so on. You may also learn about OTCBB and penny stocks.
You may get an idea about stock charts, news flashes, price quotes and just how they help in stock research. In trading mechanics section you may find out about order types, order expiration and trading cycles.
After you get some idea of stock trading basics, you are taught about how you can open an account. You learn about the kinds of account, the best way to fund your account, just how to design your investment plan, what are real time trades, the way you track your investments and so on.
The account opening process will likely be very simple and short. It hardly takes five minutes to open an account. When you open an account, you could have several doubts and questions. The account opening page contains help sections which provides answers to all your possible questions.
Several stock brokers put up demonstration videos which explain the stock account opening process step-by-step in simple and easy-to-understand language.
Opening an account by itself can't work unless you put some money in it for trading or investing in stocks. The account funding process will be very simple also. Funds can be transferred electronically. For that you need to open a banking account and know your account number and routing number. Just look at your check through your check book. It contains your bank and routing account number for your banking account. Electronic funding isn't going to cost you anything.
As soon as you have setup a bank-account, you can start a scheduled electronic funding from that account. For that you'll have to determine the way you would like to schedule your funding. Would it be one time, daily, weekly or monthly funding? Should you have multiple bank accounts, you might have to choose which account to fund your stock trade from. You may in addition have to select a starting date for your fund transfer.
You might also fund your account with a wire transfer or simply by mailing your check. Wire-transfers are immediate. The cash is credited into your account on the next business day.
Wire transfer, on the flip side, is a bit costly. It may take you around $25 to wire a fund transfer. Mailing a check requires only fixing postal stamps. It takes nearly 10 business days for processing the check after it is received by your broker.
Your stock broker may ask you to mail or fax a photocopy of your photo ID and signature in addition to a valid driver's license before funds are transferred. This kind of documentation is just not essential for only opening the account but it's also necessary to ensure the safety of funds transfer from your account.
Scheduled investment plans are a great way of building wealth in stock trading. The first step is to fund your account with your stock broker before your investment plan starts.
Choosing a scheduled investment plan is easy. You can find several scheduled investment plans. You will need to choose one in line with your budget and personal needs. You may select what amount you want to invest and break it up between different investments. Investments are broken up either by the dollar amount or perhaps the portion of the total investment amount.
Scheduled investment plan can be setup to start on any day of the week. You may modify your plan, remove or add any scheduled investment plan any time. It must be noted that the funds for scheduled investment plan must reach your account by 1.00 pm on the trading day prior to the scheduled investment day.
