by Noah Joyce

Created on: February 17, 2010   Last Updated: February 20, 2010

When I hear the words "online stock brokers" I immediately think of discount brokers.  However, almost all brokers now offer some form of online trading.  If you currently have an account with a traditional broker and want to take control of some or all of your investments, trading through your brokers online platform is a good way to start. If you find yourself doing all of your own research and making a large number of trades each week, a discount broker is the better way to go.  

If you are thinking of becoming a full time trader, online discount brokers are the way to go.  Their fees are low and you can get started with very little capital.  When picking a broker to invest with do some research.  They all seem to have different margin requirements and many will restrict certain types of trading depending on your previous investing experience.  The amount of research available is another thing to look at before you pick an online site to trade with.  Many of the online brokers allow you to set up a paper trading account so you can get a feel for the site before committing any of your own capital.  If you have a small amount of capital and want to trade options there are very few places that will allow it.  One broker that does cater to people with very small capital investments and allows options trading is Trademonster. We are in no way affiliated with Trademonster, after reviewing several sites they seemed the most helpful to people with low capital levels. Remember to make sure you understand the risks of trading before you get started.

Before you go out and quit your job, cash out your 401k and become a day trader PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.  Even though the fear level is taken out of the equation when the money isn't real, you can still get a feel for your style of trading.  Know that you are not going to get rich overnight, even if you do happen to catch an option that triples in one day.  Don't buy into the hype that you can make money in just a few minutes a day.  It is true that you may only make one trade a day and that only takes a minute, but you will need to spend the rest of your day doing research.  Most traders we talk to work 15 hours a day, although sitting in you PJs at home is easier than going to the office.  Plan to spend a lot of time doing research, look for as much information as you can get.  

If you are looking to trading ideas here is the link to a cheap Newsletter, they also offer free daily trading ideas.

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