Buying stocks online is a fairly straightforward process. Gone are the days of calling up your broker, unless you want to. This financial article will guide you through the process of buying stocks online.
Finding an Online Broker
The first step is to start an account with an online broker. Since you’re just starting out, focus your selection process on the larger names out there.
I recommend looking at Scottrade.com at some point in your search. They offer many nice features and $7 trades—unless the stock is under $1 per share.
As part of my continuing educational series on investing in the stock market, I will talk about the float today. The float is the number of shares held by the general public (shares outstanding). For instance, as of this writing, Google (Symbol: GOOG) had 311.5 million shares outstanding.
It’s important to know the float when buying stocks. Here are a couple things to keep in mind with higher and lower floats.
As part of my educational series on FinancialRebel.com, I felt it was important to define microcap stocks.
Microcap stocks aren’t defined well at all. Even the SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) does a poor job at telling investors what a microcap stock actually is.
According to the SEC’s Web site, a microcap stock is for a company with “micro or low capitalization.” And if that’s not vague enough, they add that a microcap stock is usually for a company with “limited” assets.
Still confused on what constitutes a microcap stock? You’re not alone.
Add RSS feed to your RSS reader
Subscribe to Financial Rebel by Email
Follow Jason A. Martin on Twitter: Jason A. Martin
Email: jmartin@jasonamartin.com
My name is Jason A. Martin and this is my investment blog. Back in Jr. High School I fell in love with an electrical wiring company's stock on Wall Street. After following the stock daily in the papers—the Internet wasn't around back then—I sent them a letter and they sent me back all sorts of wonderful information about their company.
In High School, we had a stock market contest. All the kids were picking companies that made stuff they consumed. When I announced my beloved company, I was laughed at. Little did they know that my company was going to be the subject of a takeover soon.
Long story short, I won the contest and have made money in the stock market, through real estate investing, currency trading and so forth.
I hope you enjoy Financial Rebel. If you do, please leave your comments and share this site with those you know.
Jason