Online stock trading

Most online trading sites have a minimum dollar amount per trade, so it would have to be an expensive share you were buying.

Hmm, maybe I'll settle for "virtual" investing.

Pick em and follow them without buying them or something.

http://www.scottrade.com is only $7 per trade. Pretty good research tools too. I'd also open an Ameritrade account, just for their tools... they usually have a commission-free first timers promotion for 10 free trades or something to that effect... and free trials of their tools. Check in out.

Try this.

You can organise your own group and have a competition.

Scottrade Comparison

You can buy stock online at TD Waterhouse for about $15- for a limit order. They have a lot of info there.

CBS MarketWatch is a great financial site with a lot of information:

http://cbs.marketwatch.com

One of the things that you might do, for fun, is to make yourself a portfolio of "virtual stocks", which you track, but don't buy. A good place to do this is at Yahoo finance. It is free, and you can get a lot of info on a company with which you have an interest.

Before you buy, it is a good idea to get some insight on a stock's performance, its history, and evaluations by people in the know. Read and learn about a company, and get some insight about how the stock behaves before you buy.

My son picked some stocks a couple of years ago, and I put it into a "virtual portfolio". (He did not have money to invest then). His stocks have gone up 85%- much better than mine!

Thanks, I think I have what I need. If I go for it I may have more questions.

I'll probably play with the VSE as soon as my life settles down a bit.

I just read they only have a $500 overall balance requirement. I don't think there is a minimum order, so you could treat it like a savings account. But remember; If you don't move a decent # or shares, it will be nearly impossible to pay for your trades, even at $7 per. Example: Make $.14 per share on 100 shares, and you break even.

Great links, I've always wanted to try my hand at this as well.

I like:
http://clearstation.etrade.com/cgi-bin/recommend
been in this game since 1998 was in the top 5 but they decided to take away my birkshirehathway and alcoa alum.
Those two companies made great gains on the long run. they changed the game to encourage trading vs. investing so I went to like 3,000th place now I'm back to like ranked 340 something depending on the market and rules changes for the game.

If you just want to get your feet wet without investing a lot of money, you may wish to consider Dividend Reinvestment Plans. Most major companies have these, and in many cases you can buy your initial shares directly from the company (or the financial institution handling the Plan).

To get started, or for more information, go to the website of the company you are pondering investing in. They should have a link "investor services" (or something similar) that will tell you if they have a Plan, the particulars, and if you can purchase your initial stock that way.

Years ago, I opened Plans for each of our kids in General Electric and Proctor and Gamble, hoping to get them interested in such things. No such luck.

Online stock trading
Take a look at Moderator (Edit) Link Removed. you can bet on stock, currency and index movements. You can play with a virtual account or trade for real with as little as $5. It's great fun and you can make a good profit if you practise good money management.

Yeah those fees can really kill you. You have to take them into account before making any trade.
If you choose a virtual trading game, try to start off with a small initial balance to learn how to trade efficiently.
And like poker, the most important lesson anyone can learn is to know how to accept a loss, cut it loose, and move on. Before making any trade set a minimum sell point either mentally or by actually placing a stop order and never ever deviant from that point. The most dangerous thought in all of trading is "It'll go up, again." In fact some many people place stop orders not because they're convenient but because they know they might not have the will power to sell and accept the loss on their own. If the stock moves up, you will have to adjust the sell point accordingly.

I've heard it put this way once... Over a lifetime, half the stocks you pick may be winner and half of them losers. But as long as you cut your loses quickly, the winners will more than make up for the losers.

The Australian stock exchange has a minimum $500 rule to trade at all. I'd imagine in the US it's probably similar. I've got an online trading account. It costs $15 to make a trade over the internet, or $50 to do it by phone. If you're only making small trades, this is way to go, as with a normal stockbroker you're going to lose a chunk in fees and stamp duty (here at least). I was lucky enough to buy 8000 shares once at about 8 cents that subsequently went to a dollar. Doesn't happen often though.