Learning to Trade Online

Having decided to learn how to trade online, you should first find yourself an online trading platform. This requires analysing pricing structures, digging into research tools and looking at every platform. There is no one best online broker. Each has its own strengths and suits different types of traders and different investment strategies. Your next step should be to learn how to trade. 

Table of Contents

Having decided to learn how to trade online, you should first find yourself an online trading platform. This requires analysing pricing structures, digging into research tools and looking at every platform. There is no one best online broker. Each has its own strengths and suits different types of traders and different investment strategies. Your next step should be to learn how to trade. 

Best Award Winning Brokers

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  • The firm's main research and development office is based in Tel Aviv Israel. It originally specialized in Forex and indices spreadbetting and CFDs but has recently expanded in stock trading also.

    At the time of writing, eToro has 2.2 out of 5 star on Trust pilot. The comments suggest that the platform offers some impressive features but withdrawing money can be difficult. Having said that, some of the negative reviews appear to be rants rather than constructive criticism. This can be examples of traders losing money through their own recklessness rather than eToro's fault. You should therefore take this reviews with a pinch of salt.

    “the platform offers some impressive features but withdrawing money can be difficult.”

    Robert Firmin
    76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.
  • OANDA is a global financial services company providing advanced currency solutions to both retail and corporate clients all over the world. In this article, we are going to review this broker’s trading options, tools, platforms, spreads, commissions, security measures, and educational resources to help traders make the right choice.

    76.6% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing
  • AvaTrade offers a wide variety of trading solutions (spread trading, CFDs, and social trading), and peace of mind with its comprehensive regulation, covering the EU, Australia, Canada and South Africa. Clients can use a variety of platforms for discretionary and automated trading.

    76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider.

Find a good and accessible online platform

Along with competitive pricing, look for an accessible platform, clean design and user-friendly tools which will help make the heaps of information easier to digest when you trade online. As a beginner trader, you may wish to start with a company that can provide personal advice for your investments. As your skills grow, you may wish to ensure that the brokerage offers tools to engage in advanced trading, including short selling and margin trading.

Different traders will have different priorities

Different traders are going to prioritize different things when looking to trade online. A day trader will often require speed and flexibility. A first-time trader may value educational resources and reliable customer support. But one thing every trader should care about is cost. Not paying attention to investment expenses is like revving your car engine while filling it with gas. That's why you should spend time balancing price with what each site offers.

Learn and practice to trade online

New investors need two things from their trading platform when they trade online: an easy learning curve and lots of room to grow as learning to trade begins with education. Listening to podcasts and watching investing courses are all excellent ways to gather information. Joining a local investment club will give you the opportunity to discuss your education with more experienced traders. Once you've mastered the fundamentals, read up on market news, reports and commentary.

Give yourself a few thousand in fake money and play investor for a bit while you get the hang of it. Start and then commit to building over time. Don't expect anything major to happen in a short time — build your money muscles by taking risks in a virtual portfolio.

Different types of trades

There are many types of trades available when you begin to trade online. They include the market trade, limit trade, stop loss, day orders, good-till-cancelled trades, trailing stops and bracket trades. Knowing each of these trades will allow you to gain a better understanding of which trade to use in which circumstances.

Do not invest money you cannot afford to lose

Making intelligent decisions about what you can afford to invest and what to lose will stand you in good stead over the long course. Once you have realized gains from one or two trades, you can begin to reinvest those gains, which will soon see your account grow!

Diversify your investments

Do not place your entire capital into one position when you trade online. Keep your position sizes to 1% or 2% of your account so as to insure you do not lose too much of your capital if you back a losing trade. Trading in different asset classes will ensure that if one is subject to a sector-wide piece of bad news, your other positions will not be affected or may react positively to disappointing news!

Have a plan and stick with it

Irrationality is the enemy of trading. Before opening a position, consider what circumstances would lead you to sell it. For example, you can decide that you cannot risk more than 20 percent of your investment. An advantage when you trade online is that many brokerages have the ability to schedule buy and sell orders based on predefined criteria, such as a percentage drop (or increase) in your original investment. Scheduling limit orders takes the emotion out of your finances.

Do not let your emotions get the better of you

Trade onlineSomething many beginner traders deal with on a daily basis is the fear of losing money invested. While you may see a position head south, do not despair or close your position in a panic. Trading requires patience and perseverance, especially with the inherent volatility of markets. Indeed learning not to check your account too often might stop you from reacting to the fluctuations in the market too quickly.

Conclusion

Learning to trade online has two sides to it. Finding out what the best online platforms can offer and learning about trading. Working out how best to use the online platforms, which ones offer you the best podcasts and the best pricing can only be achieved by actually going through them. Learning about trading will require your input but also time, patience and learning how to cope with an unsuccessful trade. If you can do that, those early mistakes will soon be forgotten as you develop your own successful trading style!

 

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