How does one become a stockbroker?
98206
CHECK OUT BELOW TO BECOME STOCK BROKER :\n\n- A stockbroker invests in the stock market for individuals or corporations. Only members of the stock exchange can conduct transactions, so whenever individuals or corporations want to buy or sell stocks they must go through a brokerage house. Stockbrokers often advise and counsel their clients on appropriate investments. Brokers explain the workings of the stock exchange to their clients and gather information from them about their needs and financial ability, and then determine the best investments for them. The broker then sends the order out to the floor of the securities exchange by computer or by phone. When the transaction has been made, the broker supplies the client with the price. The buyer pays for the stock and the broker transfers the title of the stock to the client and performs clearing and settlement procedures. The beginning stockbroker’s first priority is learning the market. One broker said, “First you have to decide whether you have an interest in the stock market. This will determine how well you’ll do. If you’re just interested in making money you won’t get very far.” Stockbrokers spend their time in a fast-paced office, usually working from nine to five, unless they are just starting out or have to meet with clients. The new broker spends many hours on the phone building up a client base. Sometimes brokers teach financial education classes to expose themselves to potential investors who may then become their clients.\n\n- A college degree is not required, but most brokers have one. Brokers have to be licensed. A license is obtained by passing the General Securities Registered Representative Examination and, in many cases, posting a bond. Individuals may take this test after they have been employed by a brokerage firm for four months. Firms use these four months as an on-the-job training period to prepare their workers for the test. Many states also require the candidate to take the Uniform Securities Agents State Law Examination. These tests are designed to ensure the candidate’s knowledge of all aspects of the stock market. After passing these tests, an individual is considered a trainee. While working full time, he takes classes and trains for up to two years. Employees are expected to take training courses throughout their careers to keep abreast of developments in the field. Those with prior work experience have the greatest opportunities for becoming a stock broker. Few people become brokers straight out of college. Most employers seek applicants who have already succeeded in other fields, such as insurance sales. If you know your interests lie in the market, study economics, finances, computers, and business management in college. Many employers view ambition as the most important quality a candidate can possess.\n\n- The sales aspects and the need to build up a client base are similar for stock brokers and insurance and real estate agents. Financial planners create and execute financial plans for people or businesses. They ascertain their clients’ needs, resources and goals and use this information to draw up a financial plan that suits the individual or the company. Traders are the people you see in the movies yelling on the chaotic floor of the stock exchange. They perform the actual exchanges. \n\n- All the best.\n--------------
791161
Basic advice: if you're new to stocktrading start with longer term horizons first, to get a feeling for what you are getting into.\n \nThen:\n1. Read everything about daytrading you can get your hands on\n2. Invest in some software\n3. Develop a system \n4. Paper trade the system for a few months\n5. If you didn't make profit at point 4. go back to point 3.\n6. Open an account with at least $20000\n7. Start trading your system\n\n70% of all new daytraders give up within a year, mostly because they skipped points 1,3,4 and 5.
1098775
You can't. The minimum age to sign a legally binding contract is 18 minimum, and in many cases 21. You would have to have a parent do it for you. Decide on a short list of options on exactly what you want to do with the money, maybe look at a few of the ads for discount brokers after entering a stock symbol on Yahoo Finance so you can tell the parent what you think it will cost on top of the actual cost of the shares, and ask them to help you acheive your goal of investing in --SHARES of corporate stock.
715858
You don't say how old you are, what kind of resourses you have or your knowledge of finance in general, I.E. do you know how the market works, listed vs over the counter, options, etc.?  Before you invest a dime remember the cardinal rule of investing: the public finds out after the money's been made.  In other words, if a stock is at a high it's not the time to get in.  Also, the corolary: if it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true.  Finaly, don't invest money that you can't afford to lose, especially if you're speculating (which it sounds like you are).  Go to Morningstar.com and sign up.  It will be the best money you spend for ideas, research and analysis.  Read the Wall Street Journal and look for companies with a future.  You might want to put money in an index such as the S&P 500 especially if you think the market will keep going up (and it won't - it will correct).  Bottom line is that there is no easy answer to your question.  \n\nAvoid the following:\n\nemails with stock tips\nfax messages with stock tips\nany stock selling for under $5.00 a share (unless you're willing to lose all you invest in it\npenny stock\noptions\ncommodities\nfriends who say they "know a guy who knows a guy who said..."\n\nDo the following:\n\nUse a reputable broker either bricks and mortar (Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros, etc, or a reputable on line broker like E*Trade, Scwabb, etc.\nPut half your money in a good mutual funds of either high or mid-cap companies - you'll have gains while you experiment\nPick a point at which you want to get out on the up side (on Wall Street the pigs get slaughtered) and stick to it\nIf a stock is falling, pick a point at which you want to cut your loss.  If it;s a good company you can always buy in at what you think the low is.\n\nGood luck.  If you find the secret let me know.  I stick to known companies with solid balance sheets and a track record.  Even so I've lost (Worldcom, GM and a few others).
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
942698
If you don't know how to invest, then that's a completely different question.  Start there first if you are new to trading.  (VERY IMPORTANT)\n\nSo, we'll assume you know how to trade and that you're looking to figure how to trade online.\n\nBecause, if you know what you want to invest in, then it's really easy.  Just open a brokerage account, deposit some money, and trade!  \n\nThere are a lot of good brokererages depending on what you like and how you trade.\n\nBarron's Online has a great article on brokerages that they publish each year. (I'll try to find you the link for the March 6,2006 article)\n\nFor basic stuff, E*Trade, Ameritrade, and Scottrade are sufficient. For more complex trades, I'd recommend Optionsxpress, ThinkorSwim, or interactivebrokers. \n\nBased on what you put in your question, I'd recommend one of the first three, but all are very good. Cheapest probably is scottrade (of the larger online firms). Yes there are cheaper like interactivebrokers, but you'll have to get used to their software based platform (which is doable). They're only about $1/contract on options!\n\nBrokerages like Fidelity are horrible for anyone with any decent experience. \n\nSo, decide what's important to you as a trader and compare the brokers! You can use the article, or go to each website as they all seem to have comparison charts! \n\nAnd if there are particular things that you want to mention as being most important to you (such as executions, cust svc, cheapest trade - which you mentioned, flexibility on allowing you to do certain types of trades, stop and stop limit orders, contingent orders, great graphing, what if scenarios, training, etc), I'll be glad to help discuss this with you too!\n\nIf you have any questions, let me know.\n\nHope that helps!
175229
Go to Amazon.com and find beginner's stock market books that have the highest customer ratings that based on their description, will teach you what you want to learn.\n\nThen find the book or books at your local library.  If they don't have the books you want, many libraries can borrow them for you from other libraries that do have them.  They will get them for you and loan them to you.\n\nWhen you return the books, they'll return the books to the libraries they got them from.\n\nGood luck!
142457
Investors buy shares of stock in a company and are therefore owners of the company.  Many companies are private where perhaps a dozen people own all the shares but a large number of companies are publically traded.  Although direct trades of stock are legal, most investors place their trades (buy or sell) through a stock broker who charges a commission for each transaction.  You can trade on line through electronic discount brokers for as little as $7 per trade (buy or sell).  See Scottrade for example.  You can make money if you buy the stock cheap and sell it after the price appreciates.  If you choose the wrong stock and the price goes down you can lose money and if the company goes broke you can lose all your money.\n\nMany investors prefer to buy shares in a Mutual Fund that invests in perhaps 50 or more different companies.  Many (but not all) Mutual Funds are operated by experts who know how to invest wisely in stocks.  Also, if one of their companies performs poorly or goes broke the remaining good stocks can make up for the loss.  It is possible to invest in "no-load" Mutual Funds by contacting them directly or through a stock broker who will charge commissions for your transactions.  As an example T. Rowe Price has no-load\nfunds specializing in many different types of companies and risk categories.\n\nYou can invest IRA funds in a Mutual Fund and have the earnings compound tax free.  If you invest say $4000, multiply that by 1.1 as many times as there are years before you retire and you can see how it will grow and grow at a 10% annual rate (not guaranteed).  And that is only one deposit.\n\nI'd recommend investopedia.com, especially their dictionary, to better understand any investing terms you encounter.  Good luck.
646357
Open a brokerage account with at least $350.00 and invest in the stock market with the help of a Financial Advisor like myself and when your stocks are up by 5% (Which could take as long as a week) you sell them and make $3.50 (Asuming you are a Scottrade Customer paying $14.00 in comissions) \nKeep doing it over and over for at least 300 times and you will get $1,000.00\n\nNote: \nIf you invest $700.00 you only need to wait until the stock is up 3% to sell and that could happen in two days.\n\nIf you invest $1,400 you only need to wait until the stock is up 2% to sell and that could happen in one day.\n\nYou get the idea.\n\nTop 3 Answerer in Business & Finance. (Vote for me)
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.
484698
Don't just jump into the markets without knowledge and experiences. Just observe the market for 6 to 12 months and understand the functions of the market. \nRead in the news paper the stock market review daily and try to understand the language and terms used by them. \nLog on to http://www.capitalmarket.com\nand\nhttp://www.moneycontrol.com\nhere you can see lot of chat rooms regarding share market. \nWatch CNBC TV 18 daily.\n\nNow follow couple of shares in the market and track the movements. \n\nContact me from my profile  for specific inquiries.
505134
Good question.  I wish that more people would LEARN about how the stock market exists and participates in its usage.\n\nThe best way, first of all, is to understand the fundamentals of business.  Not just how it works, but what constitutes profit, earnings, etc. Once you have a fair understanding of how business works, then you are ready to understand the stock market.\n\nDON"T get into it, though, if you are just looking to make money WITHOUT doing any work, either in researching the companies, or in researching the people who research the companies (broker consultants)!  That is probably my only caveat. \n\nNow...start here for your stock market tutorial... Good luck!\n\nhttp://www.investopedia.com/university/stocks/\n\nRemember me in a few years when you are filthy rich so I can do research for you at 8 bucks an hour...
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
706736
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\nInvesting or trading the stock markets never start from asking how to buy a certain stock (lets not even get into why you want to buy SIRI in the first place because you won't be able to answer why either.)... 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 markets is not easy at all the the less knowledge you have, the more risk you undertake.  I lost hundreds of thousands in the stock markets before I become successful.\n\nTake heed and good luck.\n\n\n\n
405416
Congradulations, you have decided to enter the markets at an ideal point in the equities cycle. The only drawback being it may lead you to believe trading is easier than it actually is.\n\nThe best place to start is by opening an account with an online broker. This requires a minium deposit/balance of $500 to trade. Scottrade is one of the few that offer low commissions, no inactivity fees, and pays interest on your account balance. With around $2000 in your account you can even write checks from it.\n\nAs far as learning, go to your library and borrow books and videos (a cheap resource many books/videos on this subject are around $100 each). Also watch TV business news (NBR on PBS or CNBC). Current stock market guru Jim Cramer(CNBC's Mad Money host) has an insitefull book "Real Money" not that this is all you'll need to know but its a very good start for a beginner.\n\nWishing you the best of good buys!\n\np.s. if you choose Scottrade tell'em account number 81739872 sent you, I'll get some free trades, you'll get the continued benefit of my experience, just email me.
688518
You can can buy shares in a listed company thru a online stockbroker. If the company makes a profit it will pay you a dividend ( like interest ). If the shares increase or decrease in value you will make a profit or loss.Buying shares can be a gamble unless you conduct research into the company, this is where a stockbroker can advise you.
589778
I would strongly recommend that you educate yourself first and foremost (http://www.google.com.au/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2006-01,GGLG:en&q=courses%2BUS%2Bmarket%2Btrading).\n\nNext you should develop some sort of trading system that you can test on historical data.\n\nOnce you feel your system will work, you should test it with disposable amounts of cash.\n\nThe most critical skills you will need to be a success, by the way, relate to controlling your actions and curbing the natural human instinct to self-sabotage.\n\nAll the best with it!\n\nCheers\nAlister\nhttp://www.marketscience.com.au