How to Find the Right Stocks for Your Budget

Stocks can be fun, interesting, exciting, and SOMEONE makes money off of them. But what's the right stock? And where do we FIND the right stock? This How To focuses mostly on a microscopic budget, and where to go to screen stocks in E*TRADE for free.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Computer
• Internet Access
• ETRADE Brokerage Account

1. So you've got an E*TRADE brokerage account and you're ready to invest in some stocks.
   
   But how much do you need to invest to make it worth it?
   
   And what stocks do you buy? Where do you even search for what stocks do you buy?
   
   The first stocks I bought were $3.16 a share, and I bought like 15 shares. Not the best move in the world, but I had fun.
2. How much is enough?
   
   Every stock purchase should have a purpose in mind. Whether it's learning about investing, or hoping to make some money to pay down a credit card, know the reason you're taking this risk with your money.
3. But still, how much makes it worth it?
   
   This is where knowing your budget, knowing where to look for stocks, and research come in handy. There are stocks out there for about $0.0002 a share. And they CAN make money.
   
   Take $100 and invest it into about 500,000 shares of a stock that's $0.0002 a share. Let's say that stock goes up to about $0.01 a share in a few months or a year. That $100 just went a bit further than you thought it might.
   
   Something at about $5.00 a share? Well, you're not going to even be able to get 100 shares out of this, and it's going to take a lot more growth for this investment to make you the same kind of money as the other stock.
   
   I look at things this way, when tiny things grow, the percentage of growth is much more dramatic than when the big things grow. That leaves room for small investments to give big results.
   
   Of course, small things could just never grow at all and completely cave in. There's always risk.
4. Quotes_Ideas So where do we find these stocks?
   
   Here.
   
   Click on the "Quotes & Research" tab.
   
   Now Click on the "Trading Ideas" tab.
5. Screener Scroll down the screen a bit and Click on the "GO TO SCREENER" button.
6. Now this little guy is something that I stumbled upon once in E*TRADE and had a heck of a time finding again. But I would now and then. And I never remembered how I got there.
   
   It's the FREE Stock Screener in E*TRADE! I've seen Screeners all over the internet, and plenty were free. But for what I'm looking for (Stocks in the $0.0001 - $0.0008 range) many of the screeners just wouldn't take those number ranges.
   
   But this one does! YAY E*TRADE!
7. Criteria Once in the screener, you'll be able to set all of your filters. There's a ton of criteria in here to set, and along the way the screener will show you on the right side of the page how many stocks are left that fit all of the criteria you've set so far.
   
   I mostly just set the "Share Price" section. I don't mind sifting around.
8. View Results Once you have everything set, scroll down the page and Click on the "View Results" button.
9. Matching Stocks And here it is! The "Matching Stocks" page!
   
   It's like a Flea Market of letters and numbers and all you need to do is sift out the junk to find a few gems and antiques.
   
   You've got everything from known companies, chapter 11 companies, to broken stocks, or companies on the rise. But who is who?
10. Snapshot It's time to start clicking and poking around in here.
    
    Select a stock that seems to interest you, through name, activity, the Presence, whatever.
    
    Now we're at the Snapshot page for this stock. You can get everything from how the stock's been doing for the year, it's highs, it's lows, how many shares are out there, all of those goodies.
    
    But what's really nice is up where I've circled "Click Here".
    
    This brings you to the NEW Snapshot page!
11. New Snapshot E*TRADE's new Snapshot page shows all the information the old one did, with some aesthetic upgrades and all of that, BUT it ALSO shows you where the company's headquarters is, the website of the company (I don't even bother any further if the company doesn't have a website or the website doesn't work. There are enough stocks out there that at the first little whatever, I bail and move on to the next one.), and E*TRADE also gives you a few paragraphs about the company itself, including if it's filed for Chapter 11, what the new name or old name of the company may be, and whatever else they can fit in there.
12. Now you've got a few more tools to help you make the right investment decisions. And you know that there's something out there for every budget.
    
    The next step is to rate and comment on this article! ;)

Tips & Warnings

• Invest within your budget. Don't invest what you're not willing to do without.
• Realize it doesn't have to be a big stock to make you money. In some cases it may be the smallest stocks that can make the most for you.
• Do your research!
• NEVER CHASE STOCKS! If you're chasing, you're LOSING!
• Diversify your investments! If one area is doing poorly, another area is likely doing well and will offset the loss.
• Invest at your own risk. There is no sure thing.
• Watch out for people giving stock tips. The next stock you buy, might be theirs... (If you knew tomorrow's winning lottery numbers, how many people would you tell?)