Stock Brokers
Check out our comprehensive reviews to pick the best online stock brokers.
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A brokerage account is a financial account similar in function to the accounts you have with a bank. With a brokerage account, you deposit funds with an investment firm (the brokerage). This is usually done by a transfer from your existing bank account. Once funds are added to your brokerage account, you can put the money to work using the brokerage's trading platform to invest those funds in the market. The assets you buy with your cash can be anything offered by that brokerage, including stocks, bonds, ETFs, and even cryptocurrency.
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You can start investing with any amount. Many brokers offer accounts with no required minimums and access to fractional shares.
If you don't have a lot of money to invest, it will influence how you approach the market. Although you could invest $1 in fractional shares of a specific stock, the better approach with limited capital is to invest in exchange traded funds (ETFs). Index-tracking ETFs, for example, offer greater diversification for your dollar than a single company's stock because every share (and fractional share) of the ETF replicates an index made up of many companies in many different industries.
Options are another way to leverage your dollars with a directional bet on the market or a specific stock, but this is a strategy best reserved for risk capital—not the whole of your limited investment capital.
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Yes, you can. It is a reality of the market that no reward comes without risk. You can lose money buying a bad investment, but you can also lose by buying a good investment at the wrong time. When it comes to the financial markets, there are endless possibilities for making and losing money. Unless all the funds in your brokerage account are sitting in uninvested cash, there is a risk you will lose money. Another way of looking at that, however, is that a brokerage account sitting full of uninvested cash isn't at risk of making any money either. You can use strategies like asset allocation and diversification to reduce the risk of you losing money, but you will never fully eliminate it without also eliminating your chances of making a decent return.
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Investing and trading are two very different methods of attempting to profit in the financial markets.
Both investors and traders seek profits through market participation. In general, investors seek larger returns over an extended period through buying and holding. Traders, by contrast, take advantage of both rising and falling markets to enter and exit positions over a shorter time frame, taking smaller, more frequent profits.
Learn More: Investing vs. Trading: What's the Difference? -
First, you'll want to make sure your online broker offers the types of securities you want to invest in. Do your homework. A reputable online broker will be registered to sell securities.
You'll also want to make sure your investments are safe. Platform security should be paramount, and you'll need a broker that offers multiple layers of security for your investments. Two-factor authentication is something to look for, as are SMS/email login notifications. You'll want to know if anyone is trying to gain access to your brokerage account.
Check out the fees and commissions your broker charges. Commissions add up fast, so this is important. Many online brokers make money through a wider spread between the bid and ask price.
And you'll want to know if your broker has a minimum investment requirement. If you don't meet a broker's minimum investment requirements, you'll need to find one that will work for you.
Once you've found an online broker that works for you, set up an account and fund it from your connected bank account. Then you can start choosing from your new broker's available securities.
Learn More: How to Invest Online
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Broker
A broker is an individual or firm that acts as an intermediary between an investor and a securities exchange. Because securities exchanges only accept orders from individuals or firms who are members of that exchange, individual traders and investors need the services of exchange members.
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Stocks
A stock, also known as equity, is a security that represents the ownership of a fraction of the issuing corporation. Units of stock are called shares which entitles the owner to a proportion of the corporation's assets and profits equal to how much stock they own.
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Shares
Shares are units of equity ownership in a corporation. For some companies, shares exist as a financial asset providing for an equal distribution of any residual
profits, if any are declared, in the form of dividends. Shareholders of a stock that pays no dividends do not participate in a distribution of profits. Instead, they anticipate participating in the growth of the stock price as company profits increase. -
Shareholder
A shareholder is a person, company, or institution that owns at least one share of a company's stock or in a mutual fund. Shareholders essentially own the company, which comes with certain rights and responsibilities. This type of ownership allows them to reap the benefits of a business's success. These rewards come in the form of increased stock valuations or financial profits distributed as dividends. Conversely, when a company loses money, the share price invariably drops, which can cause shareholders to lose money or suffer declines in their portfolios.
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Equity
Equity, typically referred to as shareholders' equity (or owners' equity for privately held companies), represents the amount of money that would be returned to a company's shareholders if all of the assets were liquidated and all of the company's debt was paid off in the case of liquidation. In the case of acquisition, it is the value of company sales minus any liabilities owed by the company not transferred with the sale.
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Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of pooled investment security that operates much like a mutual fund. Typically, ETFs will track a particular index, sector, commodity, or other asset, but unlike mutual funds, ETFs can be purchased or sold on a stock exchange the same way that a regular stock can.
An ETF can be structured to track anything from the price of an individual commodity to a large and diverse collection of securities. ETFs can even be structured to track specific investment strategies.
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Fractional Shares
As the name suggests, fractional shares are less than one full share of equity. Such shares may be the result of stock splits, dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPs), or similar corporate actions. In the past, fractional shares were not widely available or sought-after, but many online brokerages allow investors to purchase less than a full share of a company's stock.
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Common Stock
Common stock is a security that represents ownership in a corporation. Holders of common stock elect the board of directors and vote on corporate policies. This form of equity ownership typically yields higher rates of return long term.
However, in the event of liquidation, common shareholders have rights to a company's assets only after bondholders, preferred shareholders, and other debtholders are paid in full.
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Preferred Stock
Preferred shareholders, which is to say holders of preferred stock, have priority over common stockholders when it comes to dividends, which generally yield more than common stock and can be paid monthly or quarterly. These dividends can be fixed or set in terms of a benchmark interest rate like the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR), and are often quoted as a percentage in the issuing description.
Unlike common stockholders, preferred stockholders have limited rights which usually does not include voting. Preferred stock combines features of debt, in that it pays fixed dividends, and equity, in that it has the potential to appreciate in price. This appeals to investors seeking stability in potential future cash flows.
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