How to Trade Stocks (For Beginners)

It takes time for a new beginner to learn how to trade stocks and make money in the stock market. To be a successful stock trader, you need to find out how the stock market works and learn about the stock trading process.

Stocks are listed and traded on the stock exchanges. Primarily there are two types of stock markets, namely the primary market and the secondary market. In the primary market, securities are offered to public for subscription in order to raise capital for the issuing companies. Secondary market (also referred to as resale markets) deals with those securities that are already offered to the public in the primary market and/or listed on the Stock Exchange.

Stock trading is always a risky investment. It is important to do some research and investigate the reliability of the brokerage companies before investing your hard earned money. Because of the Internet, you can easily get valuable investment information and advice through stock market forums online.

Public companies trade their stocks on different exchanges. Company stocks are assigned a 'ticker' or trading symbol by the listing exchange. Some of the major stock exchanges in the United States are New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), NASDAQ, The American Stock Exchange, Chicago Stock Exchange, Boston Stock Exchange, to name a few. To protect investors, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was established to regulate the securities industry, stock and options exchanges, as well as other electronic securities markets in the United States.

* Next: How to Analyze Stocks (For Beginners)

Author

Kelvin Wong Loke Yuen is a highly experienced education writer. He has obtained many certifications from the UK, USA, Australia and Canada, including an MBA and a Postgraduate Diploma from Heriot-Watt (UK's World-Class University) and a BCom degree from Adelaide (Australia’s Group of Eight University). Follow him on: LinkedIn