Inversting online, any sugestions to get me started?

Hi

I am working from home and i would like to learn a bit more about online share trading, because working from home gives me plenty of free time on the web :). I know that day trading is dangerous but i want to start very low to learn the rope, surely i can do some day trading with small, (tiny), values?

Although i do not really wish to gamble my life savings, (GBP 47.50), i would like to play around a little, rather that putting money away for the next 30 years. So here are my questions,

What would be a good site to get me started? What pitfall should i look-out for? How much would be a good amount to start with? And any tips to help me not loose too much too fast?

Also, are those sites 'real time'?, i mean could i buy and sell at a click of a mouse? How would they pay me and how would i pay them?

i am in the UK if that makes any difs.

Sorry about all the questions and thanks for the replies.

Sim.

Reply to
Sims
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There are quite a few sites that will give you share prices delayed by 15 minutes. Real time prices usually cost a fee. It is possible to buy and sell at the click of a mouse. Payments are often done by eftpos, but cheques can be used to put money into a dealing account and receive money.

Before you even part with a penny, you should find a site giving 15 minute delayed prices and pretend to make lots of trades (you must be honest with yourself of course), then see whether you make more profits than losses. Allow for dealing costs (maybe 10 per trade, plus 0.5% stamp duty, plus between 1% and 20% for the dealing spread - less on well-traded shares). A good site to start on would be

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as they give the dealing spread on their quotes.

If you are successful, then consider parting with real money. Personally I don't think it's worth while investing amounts as small as 500 each trade because of the dealing costs. You should invest some money in safe investments (like a building society) as well as some in risky investmants.

Some will critisise me for saying this, but avoid penny shares. The argument "they cost less so they are worth more" is rubbish. How much shares are worth can be judged by measures such as assets per share, earnings per share, yield, etc..

I've not read it for a while, but the Investors Chronicle used to be an excellent read. Published by the FT and available weekly from your newsagent. Your first investment should be in the latest issue of this.

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Reply to
DP

investmants.

real time free at ADVFN.com or moneyam.com

Reply to
Karl

Thanks for the info, 15 minutes is more than enough. I am more worried about the cash flow itself, i mean if i only have GBP500.00 and i buy and sell a few times a day will the cash, (profit or no profit), be available straight away or will i have to wait 3 weeks before i can use the cash that i just made? I have looked at ETrade.co.uk and it looks quite nice, maybe i should try for a few weeks.

What i want to do is 'play' around a bit and give myself a target for the day, say 1, 5, 10, 15% a day would that be realistic?

investmants.

That was the kind of dealing i was looking to do. But even GBP 500.00 is quite a risky amount for a small possible profit? I mean what could i realistically hope to make every day on that?

I will look into it.

Talking about investment, would it be wise to buys share on medium term, ( a couple of months), as well as day trading? And i was also told to sell my shares if they fall bellow 20% of my original costs what do you think?

Many thanks for all you help. Sims

Reply to
Sims

No, it wouldn't be remotely realistic. 1% a day on average would amount to multiplying your money by a factor 13 or so in a year, in 5 years at that rate you could turn £1000 into about a third of a billion! Anything more than

1% a month is doing well ...

The problem is that it will rapidly be eaten by charges, even a £10 dealing charge is 2%, so 50 neutral trades and you have nothing left.

That would be much more sensible for such small amounts, you have more time to get a reasonable amount of growth compared with the charge, although you're still likely to lose money.

I think you mean if they fall 20%, if they fall *to* 20% it's a bit late! Such limits stop you losing too much on an individual trade, but you can still lose on the next trade just as well.

Reply to
Stephen Burke

As far as I know, the cheapest trade commission available is about 10 per order. Buy and sell order will come up to 20. That is 4% of 500 (not inc. 0.5% stamp duty) Your stock will have to increase well over 4% before you can realise your gain. Unless you are confident that a particular stock will take off, I do not know if it's worth it.

I haven't heard of this 20% rule. Please enlightenment me. If you intend to do day trading, I suggest you study the daily trade volume.

Reg, Layman

Reply to
Coffee

Sims,

I'm not sure what you're really expecting from the stock market, but it's not gonna happen. Like the other poster said, it's really not worth it for £500 because of the transaction costs. That and the fact that you're going to lose money in the beginning (we all do).

That doesn't mean that you can't make in the stock market, but in my humble opinion, your best investment right now would be to spend those £500 in trading books and stick to paper trades for the time being.

I hope I didn't sound to harsh or anything. It's just that you reminded me when I got started, I lost a fortune before I started making any money.

Reply to
Pollux

I'm wondering whether you might be better off trying to set up or join a share club.

Thom

Reply to
Thom Baguley

There are risky investments (traded options, warrants and I don't want to mention futures) that can move by these sort of figures in a day. You must avoid these until you have got to grips with FTSE 100 shares.

Initially, don't consider buying and selling in a day. Consider, for example, buying before the annual report is published and selling afterwards if the interim results suggest a rise in profits that hasn't been matched by a rise in the share. If you do this with anything other than FTSE 100 shares, the dealing spread will take your profit.

As I suggested before, practice your strategies with imaginary investments to see what happens. If you are worried about missing a good opportunity, don't be. If there is a attractive investment today, there is sure to be one tomorrow too.

It's called a stop-loss limit. It's a good idea to set this when you buy shares (20% loss will do, but you can of course change this as a share rises), as there is an inclination when a share falls, not to admit a mistake, but to wait another couple of days. Fixing a limit in advance is a good discipline.

Good luck.

Reply to
DP

Reply to
Chris Preece

Sim.

If you have an >Hi

Reply to
Chris Preece

I appreciate your desire to learn. It's very nice of you to want to paper trade. You need to buy beginner's books from

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get yourself MetaStock End-of-Day
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for top quality charts and professional quality data. After a few months of paper trading, find a good trader in your neighborhood to train you further and ask the MetaStock people for the free user group in your area. You may want to subscribe to a magazine like TASC
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and perhaps check the courses that are offered on-line
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Most important, you will also have to discover and change many destructive habits that you unknowingly have because newcomers usually bring them in when switching interests, hobbies, occupations or jobs. (This is something not many people talk about). After all this, start with small capital and low priced instruments (US$10 - $20/share).

Some people flirting with trading start with three mistakes:

- they borrow books,

- spend time at the local public library and

- steal software. That's the jolly joker approach and I like to believe you won't be one of them .......... Trading is the greatest and best show on Earth! DO NOT allow anybody to talk you out of it! ...........

Aha! How to support yourself during the study months? Find evening jobs, week-end jobs, odd jobs (courier, driver, mailman, running errands), no headache jobs. You don't want to get troubled when studying! If you are a doctor or similar, forget about your (hard) earned title. The market doesn't bother about your (hard-earned) title. The investing world is littered with corpses of the likes of engineers, lawyers and doctors who thought the markets owe them respect and the computer owes them money! To trade well, above all: take your time!

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Reply to
Nice guy

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