Learn More About the Stock Market

Have you ever wanted to know more about trading stocks but were intimidated by the idea? Perhaps you had some ideas about investing but were afraid to commit the finances, or just didn't have the finances to commit. There are a number of sites online that make learning about the stock market easy, and some can actually allow you to try out your ideas without committing real money. And the best part is, a lot of them are completely free!

The idea is very similar to the popular phenomenon of fantasy sports. Most of the sites are set up in a contest environment and some even offer cash prizes for the most successful participants. You are usually given a certain budget - often a large, round number like $100,000 or even $1 million - and are allowed to buy and sell stocks just like a broker on Wall Street! The sites are very realistic, charging you "fees" for each transaction and allowing advanced transactions such as selling short and limit buying and selling.

One small drawback to the sites is that most of the quotes are on a 15 minute delay, which can be quite burdensome if you're buying and selling stocks short term. That's where the limit options on the sites come in handy, allowing you to set prices at which you are willing to buy or sell a particular stock. These purchases and sales are made in real time.

Starting a "fantasy" portfolio is a fantastic way of learning about the market because you are able to see exactly how your decisions affect the bottom line of a group of stocks. By watching your portfolio on screen for any length of time, it becomes evident that the market is so volatile that most people would be wise to adopt a long term philosophy, as prescribed by most experts.

These sites are also great because they serve as social networking sites as well, allowing you to befriend other "fantasy" investors of varying skill levels. It's a pleasant environment in which to ask questions and exchange ideas with others that are also interested in learning about the stock market.

It is strongly suggested that if you are going to attempt to play the market short term, or "day trade" as it is often called, you should try to find a site that has real time quotes. If you can't, you may have to use a third party financial site that does offer real time quotes in conjunction with the site where you have your portfolio. If not, you will be almost completely reliant on the "limit" functions mentioned earlier, which removes the fun of "pulling the trigger" in the moment.

Of course, there are other ways of learning about the stock market, such as books, online research, or even taking a class, but you aren't going to have any more fun than spending a million dollars on whatever stocks you want and learning from that!

Lucy Bushman is an accomplished niche website developer and author.
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