How to Invest in the Stock Market Without a Broker

Many investors feel that they must work with stockbrokers to realize their investment plans. The rise of online stockbrokers, along with interactive educational tools, allows tech-savvy investors to bypass commissions for potential profit. You can invest in the stock market without a broker with careful planning and honed instincts.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Locate a responsive online-trading platform to begin your investing experience without a stockbroker. Dozens of trading websites allow you to make decisions on a minute-by-minute basis to keep your investments strong.

2. Create an ongoing research program using financial television, websites and your online-trading platform. Research the status of your stocks throughout the day if you are a long-term investor and by the half-hour if you are a day trader. Avoid the temptation to stare at one resource all day to maintain your sanity.

3. Buy and sell your stocks at limit to grab resurgent stocks during the trading day. Limit purchases and sales allow you to set a price or time when you want to make a transaction on a particular stock. You can pick up a tech stock on the rebound or purchase low-priced utility stocks that are steadily growing.

4. Build a diverse portfolio as you invest in the stock market on your own. It is important to invest in government bonds, contracts for difference (CFD) and other financial tools with varying levels of success. This is a necessary step to stave off excessive investment in a stock that can plummet with one bit of bad news.

5. Steer clear of the temptation to dump stocks when the market is in a slump. The best investors are patient with specific stocks over a period of weeks, especially when the stock is in a growth industry.

6. Write an investment plan for use throughout the investment process. Before you make your first trade on the stock market, it is important that you know your risk level and the amount of money you are willing to invest in upcoming months.

7. Research surging foreign markets as the next frontier in your investment experience. Markets in Europe and Asia have a number of lucrative stocks that can further diversify your portfolio once you gain experience in domestic markets.

Tips & Warnings

• Pursue online seminars and interactive courses on investing through an online brokerage. These brokers provide courses on how to buy and sell, as well as diversify, their stocks to avoid losses. Take these courses throughout the first few months as an investor to supplement real trading experiences.

[Hermitesse]

on 11/20/2008 This is all very nice, but not for someone just starting out. Where does one go to buy a stock? The bank? The pizza parlor? If one is doing this without a broker, how does one get started? I'm sitting here with a blob of money, I'd like to buy some stocks, but I don't know where to go to do it. In all the self help articles I've read so far on how to get started, they've told me all sorts of nice things that I'm sure would come in handy.

Except how to actually get started. Where to go, who to talk to, how to purchase the stock, etc.

I'm betting there are a lot of people who'd like to begin investing, sitting there with their blobs of money, too, but they don't know the very first steps to take or even where to go to take those first steps. Maybe the answer is too simple, but if you don't know the answer, it's impossible.

Other than that, nice article! I think...