Do I open an account with ameritrade? How does that work? Is there a monthly fee? (Whats the general fees) Am I charged by trade? What if I only buy two stocks?
211307
Open an Account on www.ameritrade.com\nNext you wire some money into that new account. This will usually take a couple of days. \nYou are charged per trade. A trade is approx. $12. You can buy as many shares as you like. Usually people buy in lots off 100.
480931
Try tradestation. They charge $7 a trade...and thats it. Firms charge you for everything from trades to withdrawals of your own money.
242896
I'd like to know what the heck "long" and "short" is too...I hear it alot.\n\n\nAs far as a good trading site:    SHAREBUILDER.COM  I use it.   There are NO minimums (you don't have to  start with some huge amount of money...like some of the other sites).\n\nLots of info on there.   Look around.\n\n\nGood luck.
532429
Fool.com is indeed a good site as one of your responders mentioned.  I second that.  I have two on line brokerage accounts. One at TD Ameritrade and one at Fidelity.  Fidelity is more expensive but their research offerings run circles around TD Ameritrade.  There are even less expensive on line brokers.  Scottrade is one.  There are also other on line brokers that I am sure are very good.  Etrade comes to mind.  Go to your book store or library and get the book, "Investing for Dummies" It is a good introductory book on investing.   You really need to learn a little more about investing before you begin.
168219
Yes, Scottrade and Ameritrade are probably the best brokers online for you to open an account with.  Be sure to verify that there aren't extra fees for accounts under a certain dollar amount, because if they charge you $25 per month like some brokers do, it won't take long for you to lose all your money in fees.  I think Ameritrade recently eliminated the account minimums, but I'm not entirely sure about that.\n\nI'd also suggest Sharebuilder as a good tool if you're looking to buy in to a few good companies and just hold the shares. \n\nBest of luck to you, and kudos for starting so soon.
22812
You can go to the company's home page and find out if they have direct investing options.  You see some companies allow you to buy stock directly through them McDonalds is one such company.  Buying common stock this way allows you to save money on brokerage fees.  Some companies sell for a small fee for 1 or two dollars and others for free. \n\nYou can also talk to a financial advisor.  Your local bank is a good place to start.  You can also find a financial advisor the American Express.  You can also open an account with one of the online trading companies.  However, research these carefully/.  I also suggest setting up a special bank account if you are going to do this.  This will prevent someone from using you online account to completely wipe out your savings.  \n\nOne last thing remember the market is an extremely volatile and you need to research any company prior to investing in it.  And any investment you make may bring larger rewards are extremely large disapointments.\n\nGood Luck!
180876
I would suggest not getting a trading account until you learn what these terms mean.  Also never open a trading account in a foreign country.  You may never get your money back.
469169
Well, if you already have an account set-up with a brokerage house you should have access to research functions.  If not, then the first thing to do would be to set-up an account (I would suggest sharebuilder.com myself).  You might need to define short term.  It would also help if the dollar amount available is known.  I'm a big fan of treasurydirect.gov.  That site allows you to purchase government backed securities (t-bills) that are short term (4 weeks, 13 weeks, 26 weeks).  The interest rate is 5% and the money is state tax free so that's the equivalent of earning 7-8% in a taxable account.  As far as specific stocks go, I would be very wary of taking anyone's word on "hot" stocks.  So please be careful.  This is just a broad brush stroke answer.  I work in the industry (though not at sharebuilder) so if you'd like more details or have additional questions feel free to drop me a line.  Good luck!
535026
I just wanted to share my experience using the FreedomRocks \nFOREX Trading System. I’ve been using the system for several months now and have averaged around 20-30% ROI on a monthly basis.\n\nI LOVE earning interest daily, especially when I can earn interest on 400 Times my money! Its great watching my balance grow each and every day\n\nBenefits of the FREEDOMROCKS SYSTEM:\n• Requires no prior trading experience \n• Requires no research \n• No charts or graphs to read \n• Analyzes your positions and provides you BUY & SELL points\n• Not having to really understand and just let the software do 95% of the work for you\n• Practice with live trades in the market, without risking a penny \n• No cost to utilize a trading platform for execution of trades.\n• Includes step-by-step instructions and screenshots showing exactly what your trades will look like \n• Takes just a few minutes per week to manage a portfolio of any size \n• Provides structure to your trading approach, helping you set up a balanced portfolio & suggesting BUY & SELL points for your positions. \n• The Simplicity of a "set it and forget it" type of approach to trading without having to watch multiple charts on my monitor on an ongoing basis\n• Alerts you by text message or email when your trades execute, so there is no need to monitor your progress throughout the day and there is no risk of you missing a trading opportunity. \n• Allows you to balance your portfolio to earn varying rates of interest on your account. \n• BEST OF ALL YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR A FREE DEMO ACCOUNT TO TEST THE SYSTEM OUT FOR YOURSELF!!\n\nCheck out www.simple4xinvesting.com\n\nTo Get Your Free Demo Account, CLICK ON: Get Started (Customer-Free Trial)\n\nTo Your Success!\n\n-Chris Thomas\nPh: (541)554-8140\nwww.simple4xinvesting.com
672497
I have scottrade. 7 dollars are for real time trades. the sucky thing about scottrade is now when you want to deposit more money into your account, you cant do it electronically over the internet from your bank account directly to scottrade, you have to either mail them a check or go to a scottrade office
323031
1) No (They just charge a very small comission. Typically less than $9.99)\n2) Yes (It takes a few seconds)\n3) Market Price\n\nIf you want, you can open a brokerage account with at least $500.00 in 15 minutes or less at Scottrade and then you can buy a Mutual Fund for $5.00 and then sell it one minute later so you can see for yourself how this really works. (It will cost you 2 comissions of $7.00 but education is priceless)\n\nIf you need more detailed information you can drop me a line.\n\nTop 3 Answerer in Business & Finance. (Vote for me)
592718
First of all, $3 is a complete and utter waste of your money and any brokerage firm's time (there is a cost to the firm to process your transaction.\n\nIt doesn't work as an investment because, you can't buy anything but a single share of a penny stock that way, and penny stocks are well..virtually worthless and usually trade infrequently and with a wide margin between the buy and sell price (if you don't know what that means, you are not ready to buy stocks).\n\nIn other words, you won't make a dime.  I do know of a firm that will let small investors buy fractional shares of stocks, but not at the level you are talking about so I'll spare THEM the hassle.\n\nSmall investors should start with mutual funds.  Mutual funds come with instant diversification (which is important for both risk sake AND potential returns sake) and professional management.  There are a few fund companies that will let you start as small as a few hundred dollars and with regular monthly investments of $25-50.\n\nBut if you are just trying to learn the market and don't have money to invest, do two things:\n\n1. Buy a beginner's book on investing - Investing for dummies is a good one, or..more specifically Stock Market for Dummies.\n\n2. Go to Yahoo.com or one of the other websites that has virtual trading games and join one.   That's where you play with "virtual" money (ie..no real cash).  It lets you get the feel for how to invest, before you risk any real cash.\n\nREAL traders, both professional and good amateurs, always start out paper trading (virtual trading) to learn how to read the charts and understand technical analysis BEFORE they ever touch real cash.
313525
If you want to save some real money, contact the Investors page of every company you are interested in investing.  Many companies today have what is called a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP or DRiP).  Moreover, many ALSO have a a "Direct Purchase Plan" through which you can purchase your very first share of stock, completely circumventing the need for a brokerage account.  The fees are much lower e.g. $1 per DRP trade instead of $19.99 a trade at Etrade. \n\nSimply buy stocks of companies you do business with.  I've involved myself in the employee stock purchase plan of every company I've worked for and invested in many others that have DRPs.\n\nExamples: Bank America, McDonald's, Merck, Pepsico, Proctor & Gamble, Regions Financial, Scana Corp, Outback steakhouse, etc.
321718
In a LOT of ways, it is easier to open an account with an online broker.\n\nI've had Scottrade (scottrade.com) for several years.  They are quick, cheap, honest and the trading is fast.  I think you need a minimum account balance of $500 or so, though.
74618
I'm not sure what you are asking for, but I'll tell you the meaning of the options.\nLet's use as an option example Yahoo Strike 30 March and say trading at $.65 an option and you are going to buy/sell one contract\n\nBuy to open- Buy to open is to buy this option and for 1 contract you would pay $65 and $8 transaction fee. \n\nSell To Close- You can not do this first, you need to own and option first. So, if you bought the yahoo option and it is now worth $.9 You would sell it and make $90 $-8 transaction fee.\n\nNow what I think you are interested in is the opposite\n\nSell to open- means that you sell this option and you will recieve $65 in your account - transaction fee and you could do whatever you want with your money.\n\nBuy to close is simply to buy back your option. If you think the option will expire worthless and do not want to buyback, then you may not need to do this action. \n\nHope I was some help.\n\nALSO VERY IMPORTANT. If you have sold more than one option contract and it is likely to be exercised, buy back the option. Because buy back is only $7 +1.25(per contract) per transaction, but getting exercised is $8 per contract.
520509
There may be some extra items that are not obvious.  I use Scottrade, which is still $7 a trade, buying or selling, not round-trip.  They used to have a block policy, 5,000 shares as I recall, so if yours does (Scottrade dropped it), then large trades may cost you more.  Also, there may be an extra charge for things like non-major exchange or foreign trades.  So if I'm buying on the Moscow exchange or Bagdad or Warsaw exchanges, there will be extra charges.  Scottrade still charges extra for penny stocks, if my shares are less than a $1 each, they charge more.  Read the fine print.  Still, for most things you've got a good deal.  But if you want the stock certificate for your files or to hang on the wall or want to send it to another brokerage company or want to be a registered owner, there will be an additional charge.
230746
E Trade is good, but you will have to pay every time you buy/sell a stock. Why not get a no load mutual fund invested in a Roth IRA (minimal openeing balance) at Vanguard or Fidelity. You are a great age to start an IRA.