Are you looking to get into stock trading. Here are a few different options on how you can start investing or trading stocks – even if you've never invested before, there is an option for you.
While stock trading can seem impossible to get into, there are options that make it super simple and you can even start with as little as $5.
Investing using MicroInvesting
The easiest way to start making money in stocks is with Microinvesting. Micro-investing is where you invest small amounts of capital in a diverse portfolio of stocks and bonds. I've been using Acorns to micro-invest for the last two years. Even with the massive market correction we've just had, i've still seen a return of over 16% which is pretty amazing.
With micro-investing, you don't pick stocks on your own. Instead you invest in a portfolio. This portfolio contains a diverse range of ETFs. Each ETF could contain thousands of stocks. So in practice you're actually investing in thousands of different stocks. These funds are designed to gain value when the stock market gains value. And yes, historically stock markets do gain value over time.
This option is great for those looking to get into stocks but don't want to worry about having to make the call on what to buy and when to buy. You're still investing in stocks, but all the hard work is being done for you. Even if you build your own portfolio of stocks, or day trade, I still recommend using an App like Acorns. This will help diversify your investments and it's a great way to save money.
Acorns
Acorns is the best app for micro-investing in my opinion. You can choose to setup a regular recurring investment, invest one off lump sums or even have the app automatically invest as you spend money. Acorns has a built up a large user base and has an excellent reputation. What I love most about Acorns is that you can get started with as little as $5.
Building Your Own Portfolio
If you want more control than automated or micro-investing, then you could choose to build your own portfolio of stocks. This involves choosing and buying stocks on your own. I can't tell you which stocks you should buy and when you should time your purchases. This is going to require you to do research on your own.
Robinhood
Robinhood is an excellent option for building a portfolio of stocks. Why? Because they don't charge any commissions. This makes investing in stocks so much cheaper. Traditional stock brokers can charge up to $20 per buy/sell trade. This means that investing with a small amount of money is just not feasible as any gains will be wiped out with fees.
Because Robinhood doesn't charge any commissions, you can start buying stocks with less money. This means you can add to your portfolio gradually over time instead of needing to save up capital to make large stock purchases.
Day Trading Stocks
Day trading is where you make lots of trades with each trade only being open for a shorter period of time. Traditional day trading meant buying and selling stocks during the day and not holding onto positions overnight. This definition has sort of evolved and now includes traders who still make lots of trades each day, but may hold onto trades for days/weeks.
Day traders aren't looking to buy and hold a stock for many months. Instead they are looking to make short term gains. An example might be buying a stock before a company releases their earnings report, waiting for the report to be released and then closing after the market has moved. Another example might be trading on the volatility using Price Action during the day.
There are many different strategies and going into any of them is beyond the scope of this article.
