Trading Platform and Research

Recommended Products…

You need the right tools to be the best trader you can be.  It’s not all about the technology but just like anything the better products/technology you have the greater the advantage you have to be successful.  The stock trading sector has gone high tech as many of you might know already.  Phase one to trading is the technologies that are now a must in trading include computer and internet.  Phase two goes beyond a computer and internet you need the products that make a trader such as a trading platform, capital, and research tools.  Phase three takes the other two phases and ads wisdom, knowledge, and experience.  Phase three takes a lot of effort to achieve but with time determination I believe that even the least financially experienced individual can obtain their goals.

I would like to focus on a few of the products I use to better my trading.  The trading platforms that I have experience in and the research tools I use also.  Please look around and see what one is the best fit for you.

First I am going to start with the trading platforms.

ShareBuilder:

 ShareBuilder was the first one that I used it had easy ways to fund my accounts by linking to my checking account.  I also like the low flat commission fee that they offer.  The transaction fee to make a trade was $6.99.  I can buy and sell stock with just a few clicks of the mouse without any hassle.

I also enjoy and use the mobile application that ShareBuilder offers I can check my balances, transfer money, and even make trades on my phone.  ShareBuilder has good research tools that I use to find a stock that will fit my portfolio and make me a profit.  I can break down the research from sector, price, valuation, and many other ways if I would like.

I use ShareBuilder because of its user friendliness.  I never had any doubts on how to use it as it is broken down to just as simple as any trading site gets.

TD Ameritrade:

TD Ameritrade seems to be one of the best trading sites out there.  The customer service if you are having any issues it top of the line and they will be quick to help.  TD Ameritrade has a $9.99 trade fee.  Whenever I make a trade with TD Ameritrade it fills my orders quickly at the best prices available.

TD Ameritrade has a platform that you can download to your computer this is called Think or Swim.  Think or Swim is awesome and you can track stocks, get news, watch MSNBC, buy/sell, and options trading all on the same screen.  Think or Swim is the traders dream but it will take some time for you to figure your way around it.

Think or Swim as a play money part that you can do this will give you practice trading and practice with the platform.  Definitely check TD Ameritrade and its Think or Swim platform.

I would suggest ShareBuilder and TD Ameritrade to be your trading platforms.  TD Ameritrade more tools but if you are just starting ShareBuilder will give you a good simple to use site until you are ready to make the jump to a more complex system such as TD Ameritrade.   Check out my blog post titled TD Ameritrade and Share Builder Reviews for more information.

Now that I have given you insight on the trading sites that you can use I want to touch on a few of the research sites and tools that I use.  I do use to research tools on TD Ameritrade and ShareBuilder I can often find a lot of good stock that might be poised to give me a return but to get better insight and knowledge on those stocks I go to other sites to find that.

Seeking Alpha:

Seeking Alpha is a blog website that offers trading tips, ideas, and insight.  The articles are posted by some of the contributors that they have.  The contributors to the web site have years of financial experience. 

Whenever I find a stock that I think might have potential I will often go to seeking alpha to see what the buzz is about the stock.  I generally find some very good written articles about the stocks comments are also by educated individuals so I can see what the author and the persons who commented replied back to them.

Seeking Alpha has a tool for when you open an account you can put in some stock symbols that you want to watch and they will e-mail you articles and news that is going on about those stocks.

I don’t get all my info from seeking alpha as any good trader will get as many sources of information as he can.  Checkout the post I have that is called Seeking Alpha a very useful source to get some more insight that I have posted about Seeking Alpha.

Market Watch:

 The Market Watch is part of The Wall St Journal and is a very hand source for the research process.  The Market Watch offer news, upcoming events, balance sheets, cash flow reports, and other stock information that a trader will need.  As an affiliate company of The Wall Street Journal the information is trust worthy.

The Market Watch is easy to navigate and you could be looking through companies’ financials for hours if you wanted to.  I would suggest checking out The Market Watch before making any financial trades.

These are some of the products I use to gain information about stock and completing the trade.  I hope that you can use this to make a better informed decision about your stock picks.  There are many trading sites and many research tools find out what one is best for you and use it.  I hope that everyone enjoys my blog.  Thanks!

Please feel free to email or comment on a post if you want to share your product or tools of research that you do.