Just about all the online stock trading tools you need are now available over the internet or via online stock trading software.
Everything from research reports, stock charts, prices and executing trades is available online. Online Brokers provide a vast amount of information to their clients including sophisticated charting software, real time quotes and order entry.
In terms of information the ‘stay at home’ trader has never had it so good.
From your own PC (or Mac) you can now:-
- Get price quotes (in real time usually for a fee)
- Display and interpret charts.
- Research stocks
- Read company reports and news items
- Excecute trades
- Track orders
- Monitor your portfolio
- Track profits (and losses)
- Log your trade history
Stock prices and charts are available free from a huge range of websites but usually have a 10-20 minute delay in the information supplied. You can expect to pay a fee for real time pricing. Your online stock broker may provide pricing and charting packages so be sure to check what they offer first.
A good place to start is ADVFN.com who offer a free service for real time pricing and charts from Decisionpoint.com
It is also important to understand the distinction between online charting packages and stand-alone charting software packages. Whilst the online ones are good they are not as configurable or flexible as the stand-alone ones. Also, remember, if you are not planning to be an active day trader a delayed pricing charting software package will be more than adequate.
As well as finding pricing and charting information online you can also find fundamental information about a company’s revenue, earnings and cash flow as well as analytical information from places such as Standard & Poors and Morningstar.