The Philadelphia stock exchange ran until the early 1800s until it was replaced by the New York Stock Exchange. Initially The New York Stock Exchange was just a group of business men and women meeting in the open air in Wall Street to trade in stocks and bonds.

This whole process was moved indoors by the early 1900s and today the whole process is beginning to move online with trades being done on the internet. Trading on the stock market is moving away from the traditional bricks and mortar set up as there is no longer any need to be in Wall Street to be at the cutting edge of the stock market.

How To Buy And Sell Stocks Online

Today there are a great many online brokers with whom you an set up an account and begin trading in minutes. A great many of the online brokers have courses and information on how to buy and sell stocks in the real world and online.

There is a wealth of information on how to buy and sell stocks available to the would-be investor. This information can be found in books, courses or even online so there is no need to go into the world of the stock exchange without being armed with the knowledge of how to buy and sell stocks.

Buy Stocks: Learn The Basics

Before you learn how to buy and sell stocks it pays to have a basic knowledge on how the stock market actually works or more specifically, how the New York Stock Exchange works, as this is the biggest.

The way the stock exchange works is if a company happens to be listed on the stock exchange they will also have a post in Wall Street where trades are listed.

The stock exchange is often likened to an auction with a specialist auctioneer who is employed to oversee the bidding on each and every trade. This way of trading is there to keep an accurate balance between supply and demand on the stock market thus keeping the actual share price in check.

While you are learning how to buy and sell stocks I strongly suggest you try out a few paper trades first. This is just a theoretical trade that can prove your profitability or not in the market without risking any real money, this of course is highly recommended.

Buy And Sell Stocks Quickly And Inexpensively

Getting your hands on stock has been made much simpler with the current trend to do business online, and this is good news for the new investor who is learning how to to buy and sell stocks. Many online brokerages have a great wealth of tools available to the investor that are not available in the off-line world, tools such as the ability to call up the companies history with a single click of the mouse and tickers that are updated in real time are a must to help ensure profitability.

There is no need to have a lag between telling your broker to buy the stock you are interested in and the actual trade taking place. This can be virtually instantaneous, just a few clicks of the mouse and trades can be performed from the comfort of your own home.

Today there are a great number of companies with whom you can set up an account and begin trading stocks online almost immediately, but you do need to do your research before you decide which company to put your faith in. If you already know how to buy and sell stocks and have been doing so in the off-line world then chances are your favourite broker may have a website where you can perform your trades and usually for much lower fees.

As I have mentioned previously, on-line brokerages often have a way to delve into the companies history or look at the structure of directors and will usually show how the stock has performed in the past, which often makes the choice of which stock to buy much much easier.

Probably the main reason that online brokers have become so popular of late is due to the fact that far lower fees are due on any trades you perform. This is because all the leg work is performed on a computer rather than by an actual person, thereby cutting out the middle man and wiping out most of the labour costs that would ordinarily be payable.

Also as previously stated, another attractive reason to go for an online broker when you are learning how to buy and sell stocks, is that they often have courses and training materials available to teach the would be investor how to buy and sell stocks.

Disadvantages To Traditional Brokerages

The main problem with a traditional brokerage is that they will often try to influence your decision on which stocks to buy but if you do all your business with an online account then you can be sure all the decisions are entirely yours and yours alone.

In todays modern interconnected society and economy, the economy continues to grow as a direct result of its uncanny ability to stay up to date with current technology. The investors ability to buy and sell stocks online is a direct reflection of the economy changing to meet the needs of our modern world.

The avid investor can now log in to their online brokerage account to do business, at any time they like and anywhere where there is an internet connection, safe in the knowledge that they have the opportunity to secure their financial future.