Learn 10 Great Ways to Learn Stock Trading in 2023
1. Decide whether to buy or sell.
The first step is always to decide whether we want to buy shares long or sell them short.
As a new investor, keep it simple — buy shares long!
2. Enter the quantity
Then we input the total number of shares we want to buy or sell. Simply divide the total amount of cash in the account by the stock’s final price to see how many shares we can afford.
So, if stock XYZ is trading at $10 and we have $1,000 in our account, we can buy 100 shares ($1000 / $10).
3. Add a symbol
The ticker symbol signifies the corporation we are going to trade – sort of a nickname. Disney, for example, has the ticker sign “DIS,” Apple has “AAPL,” and Facebook has “FB.” If you are unsure about a firm’s symbol, you can search for it by clicking on the Symbol field on your favorite stock charting site or just do a Google search for the company name + “ticker.”
Tickers must also be able to read a stock chart.
4. Select an order type
Market, limit, and stop orders are the most frequent types of orders (see my guide, Best Order Types for Stock Trading). Market orders buy or sell immediately at the best market price available. Limit orders only buy or sell these shares at “$X price or better.”
Finally, stop-loss orders are linked with a market or limit order to trigger when the price of $X is reached. I always recommend sticking with market orders for new investors.
5. Review the order and place the trade
Following the completion of the basic inputs, the “Place Trade” button will appear to complete the transaction. When this button is pressed, a summary screen opens by default to summarize the order and validate that there are sufficient funds in the account. This confirmation page can be deactivated if investors have gained expertise and are comfortable with the trade ticket.
Other areas (expiration, special instructions, routing) New investors should disregard these fields and leave them in their default settings. These options provide investors more discretion over how long orders remain life and how they are filled. For example, “GTC” stands for “good-till-canceled.”
In terms of routing, 99.9% of orders are routed through the automated system of the online broker. Day traders, on the other hand, will occasionally hand-select (direct route) their orders to a specific market center in order to gain market rebates. For additional information on order routing, see our sister site, StockBrokers.com.
Tips for success
It’s always a good idea to learn from the greats. Here are some stock trading advice from some of the most successful investors. You can improve your trading skills by using any of the following lessons. Success takes time, and following these rules can help you get there.
