Are you looking to make some extra money? Have you ever thought about trading stocks? It is a good way to supplement your income. You can also make a ton of money. Want to know how?
Let’s get started!
How to Get Started
It really doesn’t take much to get started. The very first thing you need is a brokerage account. You need to make sure that you are allowed to trade is the most important part. Tradestation is a great one to use.
The trading part is pretty simple. In case you don’t understand, the object here is to buy stocks at a lower price and then you sell at a higher price. An example of this is buying a stock at $75 and selling it for $150. There may be some negotiations between the buyer and seller involved as well.
How Much Money Do I Need to Start?
You don’t need a ton of money to get started. It also depends on the brokerage program you are using. They all vary.
Ameritrade’s minimum balance is $2000 with the margin. Tradestation you can start at $500. The genuine recommended amount to get started by investors is $2,000. The cool thing about Tradestation is it has a simulator. Once you invest your money you have instant access to it. They will hold your money like a bank until you are comfortable enough to start trading.
Once you start trading the goal is to make 1% of your money back daily. If you start with $2,000, your goal would be to make $20 a day. The more money you have, the more that 1% will be.
Active Investing VS. Long-Term Investing
Active investing is making money in real-time with stocks. You will be reading charts and learning to buy and sell. You will see a stock rise in price and you will sell it to make money. That money immediately comes back to you. You can take that money out like an atm as soon as you get it.
Long-term investing is more for retirement. It’s a long game. Instead of viewing it as a checking account, think of it more as a savings account. You will not be touching this money until you retire.
How Many Hours a Day Does it Take to Trade?
This depends on the experience. When you first start out it definitely will take more time. It’s because of the learning curve. You are learning what and when to buy. You are also learning when to sell. You could be spending 4 hours a day.
The way this is broken down is spending 2 hours when the market opens. This will give you an idea of what are the good buys of the day. You will spend 1 hour a day when the market is closing. You will spend one more hour at the end of the day checking your stocks, profit, and getting things set up for the next day.
Once you gain experience, your time will be cut down like crazy. You may only need to spend 30 minutes a day. You will understand the trends and how the market works.
How Long Does it Take to Start Making Money?
This is all dependent on you. There are plenty of courses and videos out there. It also depends on how comfortable you feel doing it. Time on a simulator can be crucial here. You wouldn’t go and play a game in a casino without trying it out for free first correct?
You could start in a day if you’d like. If you really understand it, start as soon as possible. Make sure you are comfortable enough and understand the risk. As long as you are fine with these two things, get started.
It’s not hard to learn. It really is just about time and patience. The more money you invest, the higher the gains you will earn. This isn’t something that will make you a millionaire overnight. It’s all about the small gains. Remember, your daily goal is 1%.
That’s all it takes. Remember, only start when you are ready. The object of the game is to make money, not to lose it. I hope this helps give you direction on how to get started. Now go learn and start making money. ‘Till next time!