I have an account on Ameritrade and buy stock there. There is usually a fee per each transaction (say $20). So it isn't worth buying 1 share of something that is say $2 lol.
I used to have Etrade but they would charge me $40 per quarter if I didn't conduct any transactions.
The process is very simple regardless of the service that you use. You open an account. Wire money there from your bank account. I don't recall if there was a minimum, but I probably put in $3000 my first time. From there you money is just sitting at your brokerage account until you choose to buy.
When you sell your money goes back to the brokerage account ready for you to buy more stocks. If you want you can wire your money to your bank account to do with as you please.
The simplest way to buy and sell is at market value. That is you pay whatever the stock is worth when your transaction gets processed. There are also "limit" orders where you put a price limit and your transaction won't go through unless it meets that limit. Minimum price to sell or maximum price to buy.
The GUI's are all the same. You type in a stock name (AAPL for Apple, MSFT for Microsoft, etc) and you see the current data on it. Usually there will be a "buy" button and the rest is simple
My only advice is don't be a day trader and KNOW what you buy. By that I mean be in it for the long haul. If you know about the computer industry and Apple then it is safe to make a decision on whether to buy Apple stock. If you don't know jack about the biochemistry industry...then it probably isn't a good idea to buy stock in a biochem company. Investing based on hot tips is not a sound investment strategy.
Oh yeah, buy low sell high
I used to have Etrade but they would charge me $40 per quarter if I didn't conduct any transactions.
The process is very simple regardless of the service that you use. You open an account. Wire money there from your bank account. I don't recall if there was a minimum, but I probably put in $3000 my first time. From there you money is just sitting at your brokerage account until you choose to buy.
When you sell your money goes back to the brokerage account ready for you to buy more stocks. If you want you can wire your money to your bank account to do with as you please.
The simplest way to buy and sell is at market value. That is you pay whatever the stock is worth when your transaction gets processed. There are also "limit" orders where you put a price limit and your transaction won't go through unless it meets that limit. Minimum price to sell or maximum price to buy.
The GUI's are all the same. You type in a stock name (AAPL for Apple, MSFT for Microsoft, etc) and you see the current data on it. Usually there will be a "buy" button and the rest is simple
My only advice is don't be a day trader and KNOW what you buy. By that I mean be in it for the long haul. If you know about the computer industry and Apple then it is safe to make a decision on whether to buy Apple stock. If you don't know jack about the biochemistry industry...then it probably isn't a good idea to buy stock in a biochem company. Investing based on hot tips is not a sound investment strategy.
Oh yeah, buy low sell high
