| By :
Cedric Welsch
The world of online trading is upon us. The novice or part time trader now has access to tools that are far more sophisticated than those used by professional traders just a few years ago. The internet has simplified many tasks in our lives and trading is no exception. The statistical analysis, technical charts, historic comparisons, news, and forecasts are all available upon your computer screen at the touch of a button. These basic features are available with nearly every online trading account. Low cost upgrades to features further enhance the availability of trading tools and trading efficiency. Some of these enhanced features will be provided free by the broker for any account that exceeds a minimum balance. Here are a couple of examples of tools and features available to the online trader that were non existent 3, 5, or 10 years ago. Prices are available instantly. Previously a trader would need to contact their broker to find out the current bid and ask prices for stocks throughout the trading day. More recently, the internet has been used to show a trader the price of a security without the aid of the broker. However, these quotes are still delayed by at least 20 minutes. Remember that trading is not investing and the instantaneous price movement is what makes or breaks the trader's portfolio. Many a fortune has been lost in the stock market in less than 20 minutes. Current online traders have access to real time quotes down to the second. With the enhanced features, traders can even access level II screens which show all of the unfilled quotes in the queue across all market makers. This knowledge is indispensable and helps you know how best to price your offers to buy and sell a stock for maximum profit. Traders can track statistical trends with graphic overlays. Previously, traders could only get stock prices on a daily basis. Basic historic trading information like moving averages, volume trends and more complex measures like bolinger bands and MACD analysis could only be found at the end of the week or the month, and only in print form. By the time a trader received this information, it was no longer relevant to the trades which were already placed. Online trading is revolutionizing the way stocks are traded. The abundance of online trading companies and the ease of establishing accounts with these firms are bringing more traders into the market. The resources available to these traders are far beyond what was available to traders a generation ago. Today's trader can even trade from their phone or PDA. Now a trader can make (or lose) money instantly based upon the most real time data available.
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