You and Your Stock Trading Account

By: Anne Durrell

Setting up a stock trading account is easy. Once you choose an online broker, you'll need 15 minutes or so to open an account. Required information in the U.S. includes Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, and the name, address, and phone number of your employer.

There are also several ways to fund youronline account. You can request a wire transfer, in some cases you can transfer an entire account from another online broker, you can mail them a check, or you can request an ACH transfer. An ACH transfer is not a wire transfer, but a type of online, automated check handling.

For most online stock trading accounts, you can set everything up online. There are a few, however that require you to download and print out an application and mail it in.

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When you open a real online stock trading account, you should already be well versed in the basics of online investing. Perhaps you have had a practice account set up so you could get an idea what it is like to do online trading. It's a good idea to have some experience in trading stocks - even if you only traded them with virtual money - before starting to trade for real.

Know up front whether your online brokerage account allows you free, real-time stock quotes. On some sites, quotes are delayed by 15 to 20 minutes, and this alone makes you a second-class investor. There are online brokers who give you the 15 minute delayed quotes free, but charge extra for real-time quotes. A lot can happen in 15 to 20 minutes, so make sure you have a source of real-time stock quotes. There are options other than your brokerage, however.

MSN Money offers up to 1,500 free real-time stock quotes per month. Google finance offers free real-time stock quotes for the Dow Jones, NASDAQ, New York Stock Exchange, and S&P Indexes, and for the NASDAQ, Shanghai, and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. Yahoo! Finance offers real-time stock quotes through the BATS Exchange, a global financial markets technology firm in Kansas, City, Missouri. BATS also has offices in New York and London.

You will handle your stock trading account over the Internet. That is one reason brokerages can charge very low fees per trade. However, if you do have to phone the brokerage and talk to a representative, you may have to pay extra. Be sure to find out before signing up if you think you might need one-on-one phone help.

Another fee you should consider is the inactivity fee that some brokers charge if a certain amount of time elapses between trades. If you're a fairly heavy trader, this won't be a concern, but if you're more of an old-school buy and hold trader it is worth finding out about.

Once you have your online stock trading account open and funded, you will be able to start making trades and taking more direct control over your financial future. I suggest you check out my other guide on forex historical data and forex platforms

Stock Trading Account

online stock trading account

You and Your Stock Trading Account

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