8/6/09 Update: If you want to learn how to buy stocks and have fun doing it then I recommend the FREE online fantasy stock trading game called Wall Street Survivor. This is a great free simulator where you can even win weekly and monthly prizes. This is a wonderful website where you are given $100,000 in virtual money and can learn how to buy and sell stock and manage your own portfolio just like you would in real life. Please see my review of Wall Street Survivor.
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There is no "best" online discount stock broker or right or wrong way of choosing one. Stock market beginners should probably start with one of the better known ones who fall on this list:
TD Ameritrade
E*Trade
Scottrade
Charles Schwab
Zecco
First Trade
T. Rowe Price
ShareBuilder
Options Xpress
The stock market is way down and you don't know a thing about the stock market. You know that it is better to buy stocks when they are low because you have heard the saying "buy low and sell high". You think this might be a good time to learn how to invest in the stock market and how to buy stocks. Does this sound like it might be you?
If you want to learn to invest in the stock market for beginners now might be a good time. But then again, if you only want to make a quick buck, you might think again. I know many stock market beginners are thinking to themselves that this might be a great time to make some extra cash even though they don't know anything about the stock market. New investors want to take advantage of a bad situation, learn how to buy stocks, and make a quick buck.
Unfortunately they don't know how to do it. Beginners don't know how to open a stock market account and then have money transfered to it. Stock market beginners don't know how to buy and sell stocks or what the symbols mean or any of the stock market terms. They have no idea of the tax consequences of buying and selling stocks and have no idea what any of it all means. Beginners just know that the stock market is way down and they want to try to profit from it.
If this sounds like you then you must tread carefully. The stock market is there for investing and not to make a quick buck so if you don't know what you are doing, you probably won't make any money. In fact, you might lose a lot of money instead! If you do really want to know how to buy stocks online for beginners you need to open an account with one of the online brokers and then buy some stock. You can find some good deals for online brokerages but you have to know where to look. Good sign up bonuses and new account brokerage deals are there but you also have to understand what they are offering and what the rules are. The stock market for beginners is a tough place so if you are just trying to make a quick buck you had better beware or you might end up losing money instead!
