Monday, October 22, 2007

The Danger of Online Stock Market Trading

Reading the title above, maybe you become curious why an online stock market trading can become such a dangerous transaction?

Almost everybody, from novice investors to expert day traders, can participate in online stock market trading, as online stock market trading has made it possible for millions of individuals, especially those who are not keen or experienced on investing in stocks the traditional way, to play in the risky stock market game.

Online stock market trading has many dangers for those inexperienced and if you are not so careful you could find yourself end up losing money instead of earning large sum of it.

Online stock markets trading allow individuals to participate in the stock markets at greater speed. But this flexibility also make it easier to make investment mistakes. Therefore, the fundamentals of smart investing should still be applied in online stock market trading to avoid falling into traps.

One of the most common problems with first-timers in online stock market trading is they think they can make a lot of money online even without any investment skills and knowledge. This is probably brought by stories of overnight successes. They must keep in mind that for every ten investors that makes lots of money from online stock market trading there are at least ten who lose money.

The reason why new online stock market traders think that they could survive in online stock market trading without any investment skills and knowledge, is because markets have been bullish recently. For the past six or seven years, common investors made significant profits from any buy and hold strategy. Investors only start to realize the importance of being financially savvy when markets show bearish signals. That’s the only time they employ smart financial planning through diversification.

What potential online stock market investors need to realize is that online stock market trading is really no different from traditional stock market trading. The web hasn't changed the fundamentals of smart investing, The flexibility of online stock market trading only has made it easier to invest for investors. Individuals – like most professional day traders - should still have a set of rules and guidelines to help them avoid the dangers of online stock market trading.

Like in traditional stock market trading, the first thing you have to do is to prepare yourself with basic information about the company you’re investing into, so you could avoid “gambling.”

Investors should do some research in performing some fundamental analysis to determine if the stock they want to buy is worth the price. There are good source of information such as websites of major brokerage houses, finance publications and mutual fund companies.

As online stock market trading is easier, it becomes more tempting for individuals to trade often. But investors must realize that it's tough to beat the market on a consistent basis. For the long term investment, a buy-and-hold strategy is the best way to invest even in online stock markets trading.