Learn The Stock Market And How to Trade

When I first started my investing learning curve, one of the best things that I found was the ability to paper trade on the internet with stock market investing simulators. These are really cool. What is really great about them is the fact that you can learn the mechanics of choosing stocks, making trades and deciding when to sell your stocks. While it can’t create the real emotion of investing with “real money” — because even if you lose, it’s fake money — you can learn how to set up your investing process while going through the motions of the decisions you’ll need to make.

If you search the internet, you can find a few good ones. A couple that I like are Investopedia and the Virtual Stock Exchange. I kind of like Investopedia a little better because you can private message the other “investors” in the game you choose. While that may not be a huge feature, I kind of prefer it in games I don’t know the other players.

The first thing I would do is start by picking an investment strategy. Decide whether you will be a growth investor or a value investor. Personally, I prefer growth investing over value. Whatever route you go, you can make money in stocks (as well as lose money). The point is that both strategies work. But, what you don’t want to do is flip flop back forth between strategies. Pick one and become an expert at it.

The next thing I would do is start developing a watch list of stocks you might potentially purchase. I found that creating a watch list and narrowing down the number of stocks you need to review down to a handful makes things easier. What stocks go on your watchlist? Well that depends on the strategy you choose.

After you’ve created a list of potential stocks to buy, take the plunge and buy it in your investment simulator. Make notes of the steps you take and create a checklist of the steps you took to arrive at your decisions. Note what works and what doesn’t. Spend as long as you want paper trading. Eventually, you’ve got to invest with real money. In the meantime, if you’d like to try your hand at a game I found on the internet, check out the Poor Man’s Stock Market Investing Challenge.

Related posts:

1. Streamline Your Investing With Checklists
2. Stock Market Investing
3. Stock Market Investing – Your Guide to Success
4. Stock Tips to Trade Online
5. Overcoming the Emotion of Investing