Buying Shares Online – The Beginner’s How-to Guide

Getting involved with trading shares can be a lucrative pursuit, but it’s also something that can be mystifying for outsiders.

 

Luckily enough, this is one of the cases where things seem more difficult than they actually are. With just a few simple steps, anyone can get involved in buying and selling shares, and we’re here to explain everything you need to know to get started.

Selecting the Right Broker

Before jumping into buying shares, you first need to be sure that you can find the right broker. To do this, we’d recommend that users looking to buy shares online UK begin by checking out comparison websites to determine which is their best fit.

Important components here include mobile app integration, costs per trade, account fees, and accepted payment methods.

Payment methods are especially important because, without the right one, you’re going to have to jump through extra steps. Once you’ve made your choice, you can continue with the next steps for buying stocks online.

“Stocks” (CC BY 2.0) by EpicTop10.com

Creating an Account

As you’re going to be doing real trading, a greater level of personal information will be needed on broker websites than most others.

This means providing your address and full name, as well as having your National Insurance Number, and a photo ID like a driver’s license or passport handy to verify your identity. These are all run through encrypted systems, so there’s no risk of safety issues here if operating through a trusted service.

Deposit and Buying

Most major brokers have a minimum deposit before letting their users start buying. This is a safety feature to ensure that users are serious, to eliminate the threat of slowdown from dealing with bots operating smaller accounts. These minimum deposits tend to be around US $200, or around £160. Any supported payment method will work the same here, whether through credit cards, PayPal, Neteller, or anything else.

Once the deposits are accepted, it’s time to jump into the apps properly. These work well over mobiles or desktops, so either form of access is fine. From here you just need to search for the stocks you want, which can be indicated by a shorthand code called a ‘ticker’. Once you’ve selected the stock you want, you can buy as many shares as you want within your total deposit budget, and then purchase.

Understanding the Market

Of course, knowing how to buy is one thing, but knowing what to buy is another skill entirely. This is a much more complicated process and can involve research into the companies you’re interested in, their past trajectories, future plans, and government regulations that might help or hinder them. Users also need to understand that, depending on your country, you’re going to have to keep a track of your transactions for the sake of capital gains tax.

“stock market” (CC BY 2.0) by CreditDebitPro

Like anything potentially promising in life, trading stocks can be complicated to start with. If you start off slowly in order to get a feel for things, however, you should be able to ensure a much smoother process.

Just remember that anything that seems too good to be true probably is and that some of the best lessons are those learned the hard way by others. Good luck out there, and happy trading.

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