Getting started with online trading may be one of the most difficult steps for people who think they aren’t good enough for that world. The truth is that to get started in online stock trading is a journey, but finding the right broker and the right tools to start investing is a small journey by itself.
That’s why you should start as soon as possible if you are really interested in this activity by educating yourself through using a variety of educational tools. This site trading24online.com for instance is a good example of a reliable source of knowledge for your investment purposes, which will turn useful once started.
By using this kind of information, and from the outcome of other research, we’re going to check out all the brokers available to get started with online trading in 2021.
Criteria To Keep In Mind Before Choosing A Broker
While consulting a site for a list of broker firms, you should be aware of what to look for and what to compare it with once you find one or more brokers of your interest.
To help you in your choice we set some basic criteria to keep in mind when choosing your first (or next) brokerage service.
Brokers & Demo Accounts
A demo account is an essential tool for many reasons, especially for those trader wannabes. By using such a tool, they will see with their own eyes how a trading platform works, learn how to use it and even test out some trading strategies.
There’s so much to learn by using a demo account correctly, and that this is a crucial factor which shouldn’t be ignored by experienced traders either. With it, even old school traders have the possibility of understanding what a new broker has to offer instead of the one they’re using at that moment, without committing to depositing money or opening a new trading account.
In fact, this demo works by using a virtual balanceand the virtual money invested, and it will react to the market exactly as if it were real money. By doing so, even advanced traders such as Day traders or scalpers may see the differences in terms of fees, pips and spreads, for example when trading in the Forex market. And that’s not all: even long-period focused investors may try, out of curiosity or just for fun, to make a long term investment.
Licenses & Regulations
This is the first criteria to respect and to be aware of for all traders: a broker must be regulated by a regulatory body.
This is a very important rule to follow and you should never choose any non-regulated broker. Choosing a non-regulated brokerage service means going towards certain fraud or, worse, legal issues. Every country operates under a distinct set of financial regulations overseen by regulatory entities. Certain financial markets, such as the Forex market, and specific trading strategies like scalping, are prohibited in various regions. Now some people may ask, what are the different types of investment fraud? Well, a non-regulated broker poses significant risks for investors, as it opens the door to various types of cheating. Some common forms of deception associated with non-regulated brokers include unauthorized trading, account churning, Ponzi schemes, etc.
Understanding the different types of investment fraud, including unauthorized trading, is essential for investors. In the unfortunate event of encountering investment fraud, seeking the assistance of Securities Attorneys becomes crucial. These legal professionals specialize in navigating the complexities of investment fraud cases and can provide guidance on how to recover losses resulting from fraudulent activities.
Therefore, to choose a regulated broker in possession of a license with a regulatory body present in your specific region means to shield both your money and your personal safety.
Commissions & Fees
When you’ll get started trading, you’ll realize that every broker has a different set of fees and commissions to cover when starting this activity.
Depending on your needs and your trading style, you should be very careful with commissions and fees asked by your future broker. Usually, when starting for the first time with this activity, your prime focus should be on checking every commission asked from a broker and be sure they are in your range. In other cases, if you are a seasoned trader with a consolidated trading strategy such as Day trading, you may check spread cost and fixed rate commissions for high volumes of trades.
Moreover, remember that once you’ve finished playing around with a demo account, brokers ask for a minimum deposit to open a standard account. This deposit can change greatly from broker to broker but stays usually in a range that goes from a minimum of $20 to a maximum of $200.
The Platform
Last but not least is one of the most crucial aspects for starting online trading: the platform.
There are many trading platforms available on the net provided by brokers. The golden rule in this case should be to avoid losing yourself in technical details and go directly on o a user-friendly platform if you are new in this industry.
As we already mentioned before, the best way to try out the offered platforms and the tools mentioned here is through the use of a demo account. By doing so, you’ll avoid bad surprises and have the possibility of learning every feature included in the platform, and get familiar with it without the fear of losing money because of a wrong click.