Online Stock Brokers - My 5 Best Tips On Choosing An Online Stock Broker

Online Stock Brokers

Online stock trading can be an exciting and profitable hobby. Sitting in front of your screen, watching all the action in real-time, buying and selling stocks with the push of a button. With the right broker this dream becomes reality for little monthly costs.

We are all dreaming of making a fortune quickly with no work at all. The stock market always had this fascination to many of us. Today it is possible to buy and sell stocks within seconds. Stock trading has become fully electronic and the stock exchange is just an Internet connection away.

Twenty years ago you had to have a big pocket and a phone broker to place a trade. You did call your broker and you were lucky to get the shares the same day. Today you can sit on your computer and for less than a few bucks a month you have real-time access to all relevant information and order routing options.

There are so many online brokers today that choosing one has become a true challenge. Here are a few tips:

1. Choose an online broker who is in the game since three years or more already. You do not want to beta test a buggy new trading platform.

2. Go with an discount broker if you want to trade from home and make your own investment decisions. Going with a full service broker is a waste of money if you do not need advice.

3. If you want to place more than five trades a day then pick a day trading broker who offers direct access trading platforms at reasonable costs (less than $100 a month)

4. Check if the broker offers a good phone backup service. If the platform goes down you need to easily reach the broker by phone. Test the phone service first when the market is very active.

5. If you plan to go short (and you should), choose a broker who has a big shorting list. There is nothing more annoying when you want to short a stock but your broker does not have it available.

Online Stock Brokers

Online Stock Brokers Explained - A Guide to Using Online Stock Brokers

Online Stock Brokers

Stock market brokers are the people who buy and sell stocks for investors. As an investor it is very difficult for you to TRADE a share or any amount of stock on your own. To trade stocks, you must go through a broker. Brokers have actual licenses that allow them to buy and sell shares of stock. They also have much quicker access to the stock market exchanges than you or I do.

How it works is this, let us say you want to buy five hundred shares of IBM's stock. However you personally cannot buy IBM shares of stock, we just cannot purchase stock, the same way we buy groceries at store.

To purchase our shares of IBM stock, We sign up with a discount online broker. The discount online broker would then purchase or buy stocks of on our behalf. When we're ready, we would then call the broker or go online on a computer and sell the stocks. The process of buying and selling stocks is called trading.

For the brokers service, they take a small percentage of every transaction that you do in the stock market. So when you buy a stock, the broker earns a commission. When you sell a stock, the broker also takes a commission on the sale.

There are different types of brokers, but the best broker especially for the beginner or intermediate or even advanced investor, is the online discount broker. Many online discount brokers allow you to trade stocks very cheaply in the stock market. This reduces the overall cost of trading and increases your net profits when you actually sell the stock.

Online Stock Brokers

Online Stock Brokers Have Their Benefits

Online Stock Brokers

Not everyone can afford to pay a stock broker hundreds of dollars per transaction to be able to try and make money on stock market investments. Fortunately, there are now some great options available for those who want to invest, but don't have a lot of money to play with. One of the best ways for anyone to get into the market is to use online stock brokers.

Online stock brokers are different than using people in face-to-face situations to invest and manage money. Going this route has its ups and downs, just like the market, but the fact is in many cases an online stock broker can be a great choice. Let's consider some of the pros and cons of going online to buy and sell stocks:

Pros
* The fees involved with using online stock brokers or online programs to handle buying and selling tend to be a whole lot less than having an assigned human being to do the work. The cost savings per transaction can actually open a lot of doors for people who might not otherwise be able to invest.

* The ease of using online stock sites in the place of assigned brokers can be incredible. Buyers generally only need to have an account and an ability to log online to get their business done.

* The speed associated with using online stock brokers can be incredible. It typically only takes a few clicks of a mouse to make a buy or complete a sale. Most sites are set up so well that the entire process of buying and selling only takes a few short minutes.

* Freedom is also a perk of going the online route. Since the buyer is fully in control of what's done, there generally is no concern about buy or sell orders not getting through to the right person at the right time.

* The access to multiple markets by going the online route can be a real perk. It might be the case that several stock sites might have to be used to achieve this, but the option is available.

Cons
* Although online stock brokers can offer some great cost savings, the fact is they are not human begins. While people might be behind the scenes and still available to glean advice from, those who buy online won't have the ability to create a one-on-one relationship with their broker. For some investors, this loss is not worth the price savings in brokerage fees.

* Computer downtime can cause problems for clients who want to buy now or sell now. If an Internet connection isn't available, there might not be someone to call in the order to.

Although using online stock brokers comes with both ups and downs, the reality is this is a great way for almost anyone to get involved in investing. If sites are chosen carefully, it's possible to overcome and work around the potential pitfalls, making this a solid choice for investing that many pursue.

Online Stock Brokers

Stock Trading - The Role of Online Stock Brokers

Online Stock Brokers

In recent years, online stock brokers have become more and more commonplace. You have probably seen dozens of commercials promoting these companies and advertising the kind of convenience as well as low commissions and fees that they can offer. If you want to really understand the role of online stock brokers, it is important to understand how the market works, why there is a demand for these types of stock brokers, and what they can do for you.

The first thing to understand about what online stock brokers do is to know that they are decidedly less "hands on" than their traditional counterparts. This is a big part of the reason that they can dramatically reduce the fees and commissions that are associated with other brokers or brokerages. Of course, to many traders these days, the kind of service that stock brokers were traditionally depended on for is not quite as important.

The reason why many modern investors are willing to handle more of their own investments is that many of them have adopted trading strategies that require them to be much more active with their investing. For instance, many traders favor day trading or swing stock trading, both of which require a lot of attention from investors, but can also be very profitable. For these investors (who often make many trades in a week or even in one day), paying high fees for every trade just is not possible.

While internet stock brokers may not provide the type of guidance that traditional brokers do, they still provide a valuable service. Most of the websites that offer brokerage services also provide a wealth of information and data that is available to investors at any time of the day or night. This allows investors to stay on top of their investments and really take control of their own decisions.

Online stock brokers have helped empower a whole new generation of investors. Today's online investors are smart, educated, and confident in their knowledge and instincts. They take responsibility for their own investment decisions and take the time to make sure they make the right ones.

Online Stock Brokers