Where is the best place to go to learn how to invest in the stock market?
100368
I'm a trader - I earn a living trading the markets. But for investors its a whole different world. Investors have totally different goals to traders.\n\nI would recommend you start your learning by looking up best sellers in the investment genre and then go to a bookshop and buy the book or borrow the book from your library.\n\nOne good investment book I picked up (and bought) was Beating the Street: Books: by Peter Lynch\n\nGood Luck!
372074
An answer would take volumes to provide, so let me suggest some literature: \n\nI would recommend William O'Neil's "The Successful Investor" as a good starting point. Follow that up with Peter Lynch's "Beating the Street". That should provide you with two strategies that you can learn from in building your own investment strategy.\n\nOther good books include "The Motley Fool Investment Guide" by Tom and Dave Gardner or "Real Money" by James Cramer.\n\nI have read all the books above and devised a strategy that adopts a bit from each one. \n\nAnother thing you can do is invest using a fictional portfolio. Let that run for a few months to see if you are ready to take on wall street. In the meantime, let a professional look after your money (ie, mutual funds). Once you are ready, sell the fund and invest on your own.\n\nRemember, the time spend learning about investing is far less then the money lost by not being prepared.\n\nGood luck.
621631
I use investopedia.com or www.virtualstockexchange.com
897124
If you want to invest in the stock market I would suggest first seeing what the best traders are buying and selling.  Check out http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money.  Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors.  You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.\n\nHere are this month's best traders:\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx \n\nMy stock recommendation would be PWI, a stock I own personally.  This is a Canadian Royalty Trust that pays a great dividend.  The stock has sold off recently, so I think the price is good.\n\nGood luck!
902393
Congratulations on getting started. It’ll help you more than you know! \n\nYour first dollars should be spent on getting educated on investing. You don't have to train to trade them professionally, but we are talking about your future here. So the more you learn, the more it'll help you! So let's start there.\n\nYou ask a very broad question, so be prepared for a pretty long answer. Just take it in chunks!\n\n\nHow to invest depends on what you already know. We'll assume that you're beginning since you say you're new to this!\n\nA good primer is How to Make Money in Stocks by William O'Neil. You can get it cheap just about anywhere. It’s widely available new or used.\n\nAnother good one is one of Jim Cramer's books like Real Money (he’s got a few). \n\nBut books will only get you so far. At some point, you'll also want to get at least a little training. There are some great education companies if you want to make the investment. Investools.com or optionetics.com are both very good companies as is tmitchell.com\n\nFor free, you can start by visiting thestreet.com and investopedia.com. That'll get you a pretty good primer so at least you'll understand what the markets are and what a stock is, etc. \n\nIf you get a chance, watch Mad Money on CNBC. Don't trade any of his picks until you track many of them over time. Just use the show to get you to understand some basics and get a feel for the market itself.\n\nNext, subscribe to something like Investorsbusiness daily or something like that that can help you identify good stocks.\n\nOnce you understand stocks, go to 888options.com. It's a website that'll help you understand options (what they do, how they work, etc). You don't need to trade them, but the more you know, the more you'll see how options can really be the safest way to invest (once you're educated).\n\nFor discipline (which is crucial to successful trading), probably Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas or Mastering the Trade by John Carter\n\nI know that’s a LOT to absorb. Just take it one step at a time for now. Start with a book or two to give you an idea of where to begin. Take your time, and let it seep in. \n\nAs you get up to speed, you should papertrade to practice (highly recommended). This should help reduce your losses in the beginning as you get used to buying/selling.\n\nYou can practice for free on almost any reputable broker site (optionsxpress, scottrade, thinkorswim, etc). And yes, you can definitely deal easily online.\n\nStart slow, then as you figure things out, you can buy more shares.\n\nCongrats again on getting started. If you have any questions, please let me know. \n\nHope this helps!
985987
I think the best way to invest is to first see what the best traders are buying and selling.  Then use that knowledge to hopefully improve your portfolio's return.  This is the idea behind the site http://www.top10traders.com - this is a free site that lets you create a portfolio of stocks with $100,000 in "play" money.  Each day the site ranks the best performing portfolios, so you can see how your picks perform compared to other investors.  You can also read posts on investing from the best traders, as well as share your own investing ideas.\n\nHere are this month's best traders:\n\nhttp://www.top10traders.com/Top10Standings.aspx\n\nGood luck.
755989
Your question reveals the fact that you are a complete newbie with very weak basic, fundamental knowledge in the stock markets and is about to do something you might regret for a very long time.\n\nListening to free, off the street advice is an expressway to disaster. Read more good books and articles on investments to expand your vision and horizon before you decide to go deeper into the subject. For some of the best investment books that I have ever read, please visit http://www.bestoptiontradingbooks.com\n\nInvesting or trading the stock markets never start from asking how to buy a certain stock ... it starts from adequate investment and trading knowledge. There are quite a number of things you need to learn before you can even start thinking of the stock markets ...\n\n1. You need to understand how the stock market works and what it is exactly about.\n\n2. You need to know what are the different styles of trading in stocks and shares. \n\n3. You need to read about why so many people lose their shirts in the stock markets so that you can avoid their mistakes and also decide if this is a risk you want to take.\n\nFor all these issues and more, you can read about them from some of the articles that I wrote at http://www.mastersoequity.com/articles.htm\n\nAfter you are adequately armed with the basic concepts and ideas, you need to know how to find profitable stocks to trade or invest in. You can do that the easy way by subscribing to stock pick services (example http://www.stockpickmaster.com ) or you can learn to use charting tools and softwares to find stocks with parameters that you can pre-define. (example http://www.worden.com ) \n\nAll in all, investment and trading is a lifelong education and non stop learning. No one is ever done learning and catching up with changes in the markets. \n\nIf you care to read about how I went from completely broke to retired millionaire trading stocks and options by 28 years old, you can go to http://www.mastersoequity.com/\n\nRemember, the slogan "Just Do It", Just won't do for the stock markets. If profiting in the stock markets is as simple as buying a single stock , then why are so many people still poor?\n\nAfter you have all the above mentioned knowledge, you need to ask the following golden questions before you can decide whether a stock is worth buying or not :\n\n1. Why are you of the opinion that this stock will rise?\n\n2. Is your opinion valid in the first place?\n\n3. When are you expecting it to rise? Can you hold on for that period of time or longer?\n\n4. What is your expected entry price? After what price would your expected profit margin be too thin to enter upon?\n\n5. Where is your expected stop loss point? What is your stop loss point based on? Where will you tell yourself that it is time to take a loss and get out?\n\n6. Where is your expected profit taking point? What is your profit taking point based on? \n\n7. Does the way you are buying the stock allow you to hold on until your expected profit taking point?\n\n8. How much of your money should you dedicate to this one trade?\n\n9. What is the level of primary, secondary and idiosyncratic risk you are undertaking when deciding how much of your fund to use?\n\n10. What is your cashflow need? Does your cashflow needs allow you to hold the full lifetime of the stock?\n\nAfter you are able to answer all these questions confidently, THEN you are ready to... PAPER TRADE your stock strategy. Yes, even at this point, you are NOT READY to trade for real. You should trade on PAPER for at least 6 months and become consistently successful BEFORE you take your stock strategy into real life.\n\nThen.. you are ready to start... but there is still no guarantee of success as paper trading is very different from real trading. You will need another maybe 1 year or 2 trading very little money and be consistently successful BEFORE you are ready to increase your stakes.\n\n\nSo, as you can see, success in the stock market
207767
There are many excellent websites providing investment advice. Investors.com, TradingMarkets.com, and Fool.com are all excellent. They are all different though. \n\nIf you were able to master the material in all three of these sites you would have an extremely thorough knowledge of the market. Applying different investment strategies to different parts of a portfolio provides excellent diversification.\n\nIt is best if you can develop you own skills so you don't need other people's advice. No advice is perfect.
358597
None.  IMHO, you should start by learning how to invest, determining WHAT to buy through Fundamental Analysis and determining WHEN to buy with Technical Analysis. \n\nIMO, newsletters only make narrow recomendations based on their system of analysis and investment strategies, and often they are compensated heavily for their recomendations and therefore dangerously biased.   I firmly believe that to get a clear picture about any stock, and to determine whether you're actually going to invest in it, it's best to do your own research and adapt a system that meets your investment needs, style and risk level.  There are many stocks ripe for the picking just about at any time if you know how and where to look.\n\nStart with Investors.com, it's William O'Neil's online version of Investors Business Daily.  The How To Invest section is the best place to start learning the importance of Fundamentals and the basics of Technical Analysis.   The site has the IBD 100, a cross index list of the market leaders, the Stock Checkup, a great tool for checking fundamentals on any stock, and articles and analysis of stocks and general market conditions.  They also run various screens every day which in addition to the other lists, (IBD100, New America, stocks under $10, CANSLIM select, ect) are very helpful for finding investment ideas with solid Fundementals that are ready to move.  The CANSLIM method alone is a very successful and popular trading system, but I prefer to use a combination of Fund & Tech Analysis, rather that just the rating system alone.\n\nFrom there you can move on to more detailed study of Technical Analysis.  \n\nStart with StockCharts.com, they have an excellent free Chart School which helpfully explains various chart patterns and Technical Indicators and overlays.  Pay particular attention to the Chart Patterns section, and make sure you learn about Zig Zag patterns, Bollinger Bands, Moving Average, Volume, RSI, the MACD (Mac-D), The Williams %er, Stochastics, and the Chaikin Money Flow.  Sounds complicated, but when you start chart reading you'll want about a half a dozen or so of these overlays and indicators.  I personally rely heavily on the ZIG-ZAG, MACD, Chaikin Money Flow, Volume, Moving Average and RSI.\n\nStockTA.com is also an excellent Technical Analysis site, with charted Fibonacci resistance and support lines and will tell you if the stock is bullish or bearish in the short, medium and long run.  The site also has an extensive Candle Pattern Glossary and a fantastic technical screener.\n\nThe above sites do have premium services, but all the services I mentioned are free.  After you've absorbed some of the Technical information, do some reading on Fibonacci numbers and Elliot Wave theory, there are good links in the "School" section of StockTA.com.  I've been using Elliot Wave and Fibonacci's to help refine my in and out points.  StockCharts.com's "ZigZag" overlay helps me plot and count the waves and that helps determine where I am in the overall pattern.  \n\nSo basically I'll find interesting stocks through the screens on Investors.com or StockTA.com, run them through the Stock Checkup at Investors.com, if they measure up I'll run them through the Analyisis & Fib Analysis at StockTA.com and do an extensive chart study, examining the 2 yr, 1 yr, 6 mth, 3 mth, 1 mth & 5 day.  I'll also do my due dilligence, studying the profile, key statistics, headlines, etc. through Yahoo Finance and web searches.  If it all measures up and the stock is in a base or in a pull back and it's starting a wave 1 or wave 3, it's time to buy.\n\nRemember, always protect your downside with a stop loss or a trailing stop loss.  Once you have absorbed a few of the things I've mentioned, the fog will begin to lift and you'll start seeing which stocks should be bought or sold and you'll be able to do your own analysis on any stock, no matter where
120722
It depends on whose money it is. Some people would say the best place is call options on the NASDAQ, other would say mutual funds, others would say bonds, others would say real estate, others would say GICs.\n\nIt depends on your goals and your understanding of investments. Don't blindly trust other people for advice like this. Learn to judge for yourself.
58820
http://www.investors.com/\nhttp://www.barchart.com/\nhttp://finance.yahoo.com/\nhttp://www.elitetrader.com/ (just for the jokes)
364326
Start by learning How to invest, determining WHAT to buy through Fundamental Analysis and determining WHEN to buy through Technical Analysis. \n\nStart with Investors.com, it's William O'Neil's online version of Investors Business Daily.  The How To Invest section is the best place to start learning the importance of Fundamentals and the basics of Technical Analysis.   The site has the IBD 100, a cross index list of the market leaders, the Stock Checkup, a great tool for checking fundamentals on any stock, and articles and analysis of stocks and general market conditions.  They also run various screens every day which in addition to the other lists, (IBD100, New America, stocks under $10, CANSLIM select, ect) are very helpful for finding investment ideas with solid Fundamentals that are ready to move.  The CANSLIM method alone is a very successful and popular trading system, but I prefer to use a combination of Fund & Tech Analysis, rather that just the rating system alone. \n\nFrom there you can move on to more detailed study of Technical Analysis. \n\nStart with StockCharts.com, they have an excellent free Chart School which helpfully explains various chart patterns and Technical Indicators and overlays.  Pay particular attention to the Chart Patterns section, and make sure you learn about Zig Zag patterns, Bollinger Bands, Moving Average, Volume, RSI, the MACD (Mac-D), The Williams %er, Stochastics, and the Chaikin Money Flow.  Sounds complicated, but when you start chart reading you'll want about a half a dozen or so of these overlays and indicators.  I personally rely heavily on the ZIG-ZAG, MACD, Chaikin Money Flow, Volume, Moving Average and RSI. \n\nStockTA.com is also an excellent Technical Analysis site, with charted Fibonacci resistance and support lines and will tell you if the stock is bullish or bearish in the short, medium and long run.  The site also has an extensive Candle Pattern Glossary and a fantastic technical screener. \n\nThe above sites do have premium services, but all the services I mentioned are free.  After you've absorbed some of the Technical information, do some reading on Fibonacci numbers and Elliot Wave theory, there are good links in the "School" section of StockTA.com.  I've been using Elliot Wave and Fibonacci's to help refine my in and out points.  StockCharts.com's "ZigZag" overlay helps me plot and count the waves and that helps determine where I am in the overall pattern. \n\nThe way I personally work is, I'll find interesting stocks through the screens on Investors.com or StockTA.com, run them through the Stock Checkup at Investors.com, if they measure up I'll run them through the Analyisis & Fib Analysis at StockTA.com and do an extensive chart study, examining the 2 yr, 1 yr, 6 mth, 3 mth, 1 mth & 5 day.  I'll also do my due dilligence, studying the profile, key statistics, headlines, etc. through Yahoo Finance and web searches.  If it all measures up and the stock is in a base or in a pull back and it's starting a wave 1 or wave 3, it's time to buy. \n\nRemember, always protect your downside with a stop loss or a trailing stop loss.  Once you have absorbed a few of the things I've mentioned, the fog will begin to lift and you'll start seeing which stocks should be bought or sold and you'll be able to do your own analysis on any stock. \n\nIf it's all too daunting or confusing, stick with it, it takes time to absorb.  Start by paper trading.  Yahoo Finance lets you track portfolios for free, try picking a couple stocks and see how they do.  Be realistic with your buy and sell prices if you paper trade, seeing for example if you can actually get in at the price you want during intraday trading.  If Mutual Funds are more to your liking, the same principles mentioned above can be applied to those as well.\n\nGood luck, hope it helps.
23258
1) Read everything you can get your hands on about investing.  I would start with "How To Make Money In Stocks" by William O'Neil.  Yahoo Finance has a very good "education" section also. \n\n2) Never ever purchase a stock based on what you read here on or a message board.  Everybody on a message board has an agenda.
407887
I would recommend checking out the website www.investopedia.com  You can learn some things about the stock merket and also use play money with it's stock market simulator.\n\nHave fun
544410
I came across a perosnal website by R. Kannan on the subject of investmnet. The site is http://www.geocities.com/kstability/student/kgl/invest1.html\n\nWhile investment basics are the same everywhere, there are intricacies related to market regulations in different countries. If your goal is investment, then a logical place to start after reading investment basics article ( link above) would be to subscribe to a financial publication ( Financial Times etc ) and stay abreast of market developments. Market knowledge is something you acquire over time and if you devote a little time every day, you may notice the difference in your understanding of the market in as little as 1 month. But that would be just a start. Stay informed and the best way of doing that is keeping pace with the market
488939
Generally speaking, there is no such thing as cheapest way to invest in stocks.\n\nYou need to have plenty of fluff and lot  of knowledge to really make it in the stock market
1000859
You did not specify the type of help you require.  Your first step should be to reads a couple of books on investing. You first need to understand some of the concepts.  \n\nFor those who wish to participate in the stock market but do not wish to spend a great deal of time doing the necessary research to investigate which stocks to buy, there are mutual funds.  They are a good method if you first determine which mutual funds have a good track record in both bull and bear markets.  The internet will provide you with all the information you need.