Online Stock Market

A nobody:

Before you spend $0.01 on any security, you must know what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and how to do it. Before you invest in any security, the first investment you should make is in yourself, and the best investment you can make is by educating yourself.

Start your education by learning why you should invest and the importance of being able to make your own decisions or how the pro’s make theirs.
Here is some reading material that can get you started in the right direction,
Beating the Street by Peter Lynch
Bulls Make Money, Bears Make Money, Pigs Get Slaughtered, by Gallea
From Riches to Rags, by I.C. Freeley
Millionaire Traders, Lein & Schlosberg
How to Make Money in Stocks” by William O’Neil
24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success by William O’Neil
The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham
Common Stocks, Uncommon Profits, by Philip A. Fisher
One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
Stocks for the Long Run, by Jeremy Siegel
The Interpretation of Financial Statements by Benjamin Graham
The Lazy Person’s Guide to Investing by Paul B. Farrell
The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom
Trading for a Living, by Alexander Elder
Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits by Joel Greenblatt.
What Works on Wall Street by James O’Shaunessey
You Can Be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblatt
Your Money and Your Brain by Jason Zweig

Get into the habit of making daily visits to some websites like MSN Money and Yahoo Finance. (http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp , http://finance.yahoo.com/

Other website that can provide instructions and help with procedures and terminology are Investopedia – http://www.investopedia.com/ http://www.investorshub.com/
Visit some of the more professional websites like Zacks Research – http://www.zacks.com/ Smart Money – http://www.smartmoney.com/ Schaeffer’s http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/ Some of these web sites will have advertisers who are worth looking into also. And remember, if they offer free information, get it. Or you can meet others who are trading at http://www.moneyshow.com/main.asp

Attend all the free seminars you can, just be careful and don’t get pressured into anything you really don’t want or need. Most schools offer courses in finance and economics, but very few will have courses on the mechanics of the investment markets, if they do try taking the course. You may want to consider on-line courses, the New York Institute of Finance use to have such courses. Try to get some fee information from the stocks exchanges they all have (had) free booklets, SIAC and some of the regulators (FINRA SEC MSRB CBOE) may provide some free literature.

And when you think you want to invest/trade, try some paper trading to test your skills without spending you money http://simulatorinvestopedia.com/ and/or http://www.tradingsimulation.com/

You at least have made the right decision to start investing, this is the first big step and it won’t be your last. Keep taking those steps forward and along the way never take the advice from people that are not in the market or try to tell you not to invest.

Good luck on your journey, study hard and you’ll invest well.

Abrahim Ghaddar:

check out investopedia.com or read investing for dummis