Choosing a Broker
By Noshee
Welcome to our first Tips email! I'm sure you signed up to our service not just because you're curious about online trading, but because you're ready to get started making money.
Maybe a friend, a co-worker, or a family member referred you to us, or maybe you found our site through Google or some other means. What matters is that you want to get started.
So, what should you do first?
The most fundamental aspect of trading is selecting the right brokerage account. Well, there is a more fundamental aspect, which is having some money to trade with, but that's assumed! :)
What's a brokerage account? Think of it as similar to your online bank account website. While you could walk into your bank to pay bills, deposit money, make withdrawals and transfers, and do other banking transactions, I'm sure that many of you reading this probably do most of your banking online. A brokerage account is no different. While there are many good bricks and mortar brokerages, where you can call your broker to make trades, you're probably more interested in working with an online brokerage. There are many advantages to doing this, which include (most importantly) lower costs, access to a wealth of educational materials, and access to your account and money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
So, assuming you're interested in an online broker, what's the most important thing to look for? Here are a list of key elements to consider:
1. Where you live - while there are some brokers that are truly international, varying taxation jurisdictions and varying financial governance rules will dictate which brokers you can sign up for an account with. InteractiveBrokers is one of the few brokers that offers accounts all across the world, in most jurisdictions.
2. How much money you're starting with - Some brokers will have different "minimum" account sizes, with some allowing accounts with essentially zero funds, and some requiring a significant minimum balance to be maintained. InteractiveBrokers, unfortunately, requires a minimum account balance of $25K US, while OptionsXpress allows you to open an account with no money and no minimum balance requirements.
3. Your level of knowledge and expertise - some brokers offer an amazing wealth of educational tools, including online articles, webinars (both live and recorded), videos, and even specialized trading tools for various levels of traders. OptionsXpress and MBTrading are both great for beginners, with an amazing array of both educational materials and trading tools, which you can access for free.
4. Trading platforms - almost all brokers offer at least one or more trading platforms. A trading platform is a set of tools to actually conduct a trade. It could be as simple as a web form allowing you to "buy" or "sell" certain securities. More complex broker trading platforms offer a plethora of quoting, trading, charting, and money management tools built right in. More on trading platforms in our next article
5. Paper / Virtual trading - some brokers offer free Paper or Virtual trading accounts, where you can fund a "fake" account with "fake" money, then practice trading this account, just as if you were doing live trading in the market. The more sophisticated brokers even let you use the same set of tools or trading platforms to paper trade as if you were really trading, and let you simulate trading strategies, without risking your savings and trading capital.
6. Costs - they say there's no such thing as a free lunch, and they're right. After all, we're giving you this free information as an incentive to join our amazing subscription services! However, its even more true when it comes to online brokers. They're not in the business to save you money, but to make money themselves. While not always true, there are many ways that the online brokers will make money from you, including (but not limited to) fees for: trading transactions, withdrawals, transfers, platform fees, data fees, telephone orders, NSF fees, interest charges, account inactivity fees, and more! Carefully read the fees schedule before you signup for an account. You'll find that the brokers with the most services, often charge the highest fees. The brokers with the lowest fees, usually have high minimum account balances, and so on.
If you're American or reside in an American tax jurisdiction, you can find more information on brokers here - http://online-stock-trading-review.toptenreviews.com/
If you're Canadian or reside in a Canadian tax jurisdiction, try here for a good comparison -http://www.milliondollarjourney.com/review-canadian-discount-brokerages.htm
Note - while you probably have a bank account, and most banks have online discount brokerages, they usually do not offer the best value in terms of features vs. fees, so it pays to shop around.
Our members know that luck is not really a factor in their success - learning the system, understanding money management, and planning properly, are all key skills they need to master to become a Master Trader.
When you click HERE and enroll as a member to our Swing Options Trades Service, you will take the most important step to becoming a very successful trader. Immediately, you will profit from my many years of trading when you start to receive my Trade Alerts. In addition, you will have access to my vast educational material; including my "war chest" of tools and techniques that I have used and have caused my subscribers to give me the name "Financial Markets Wizard".
And don't forget that we offer a unique "50/50" guarantee. Simply put - if we ever drop below a 50% trading success rate (updated monthly and posted on our website), we'll credit you 50% of your monthly fee towards your next month of service with us. I'm proud to say, that we've never had to fulfill that pledge, and our success rate usually averages in the 80% range or even better!.
When you click HERE and enroll as a member to our Swing Options Trades Service, you will discover that a subscription to our Trade Alerts service is all that you need to profit from the markets!!
Noshee - Your Trading Buddy
www.financialmarketswizard.com
Get social!