Review of various online trading platforms

Here is a review of the various online trading platforms. Basically, stocks are the corporation's equity or the value of the assets and profits and include votes in the corporation's business meetings.

In business makeup, you have a sole proprietorship, a partnership, corporation, and not for profit organization used by charities.

Stocks are a feature of corporations mainly. Law, as an entity, like a person, views a corporation as such. A corporation is registered with the local and state and national government. Also a corporation has its' own social security number called a tax ID number.

A corporation can own property, also can go to court and have a lawsuit against individuals or companies or other corporations. A corporation can execute a contract and has stocks or shares of the business' assets and profits.

Stock can be bought and sold. The corporation has a lifetime, and goes on indefinitely, even if all the original board of directors leaves, etc. The board of directors is the brain of this entity and the stockholders are the body.

Because stocks are sold to the public in a public company, there are strong guidelines and laws to protect those stockholders.Each corporation files with the state written articles of incorporation. These include the beginning board of directors with names. There are guidelines from law, to define how the corporation operates.

The shareholders meet every year. There is a report on the profits, as well as explaining future plans, electing new officers, and so forth.

The shareholders, then, are the ones who vote and elect the board of directors. Usually the people who begin the corporation also own the majority of the shares. A publicly held corporation may be owned by thousands of people who by and sell stock on a stock exchange.

When a corporation begins, the first stock sold is called Initial Public Offering (IPO). This money is used to get the corporation started. This would be for equipment, buildings, supplies, and printing, hiring employees, funding to launch the new business. At the end of each year, the corporation pays the profits to the stockholders. If the entire amount of money is paid out, the corporation is called an income stock. If some of the money goes back to build the corporation, or for expansion, then it is called a growth stock.

If a corporation functions as a growth stock and increases the number of business buildings or opens new stores or a larger facility, the stockholders still stand to benefit because the company's assets go up, so its value goes up.Stock sells for a higher price.

A publicly traded company includes the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gathers data and makes it available to all public including buyers and sellers.

Stock averages are the statistics reported on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and others like S&P 500 and the Russell 2000. The averages tell the public how that particular corporation is doing on a long-term basis. The Dow Jones average is a recap of how thirty large companies are performing overall. These include but are not limited to General Motors, and Goodyear, as well as IBM and Exxon. The S&P 500 gives an average of 500 companies. The Russell 2000 gives the same data on many smaller ones.

Wall Street averages reflect an economy doing well, and are called a "bull market". If prices are falling and the economy is in a slump or recession, then it is referred to as a "bear market".These show general trends, not 1 corporation or a handful of them.

There are 3 main stock exchanges in the USA.The NASDAQ - National Association of Securities Dealers. Also NYSE or New York Stock Exchange, with the third being AMEX - American Stock Exchange.

Each corporation lists its stock on one of the exchanges. NYSE lists about 300 companies. A buyer needs to go to NYSE to buy stocks listed there.

Many brokerage houses employ people to go to the stock exchange and buy or sell for the public. Some of these major names are Merrill Lynch, and Charles Schwab, and Morgan Stanley.

Stocks that are not listed with one of the three above, are sold OTC or over the counter. They can be riskier companies that usually are smaller.

A `bearish market' can cause stockholders with "options" to run scared. In a "bullish market" investors can become confident, leaving all the stocks in portfolio `as is', and can miss the chance to invest in some good upcoming stocks.

There are several types of stocks or trading platforms an investor might consider. Online purchasing or stock trading should be made in an area that fits the investor's needs most.

These include futures, commodities, options, CFDs (contracts for difference), forex (currencies) and stocks.

When beginning a business relationship with a stock brokerage, it is typical to open account and deposit cash with that broker. $500.00 appears to be an average amount. You can open an account on the Internet filling in the forms, and use a credit card to transfer funds to that brokerage.

The account could cover Forex trading, currency trading, foreign exchange trading online and currency trading with GFFOREX and you mouse click on the program of your choice.

Some brokerages offer Straight Through Processing (SFT) with live trading from the laptop or desktop computer at your location. Some investors open the web sites, and do trades in a coffee shop, at work or home, on an airplane etc. These web sites are set up that way.

Some brokerages offer Flash based trading that you log into from anywhere you would have Internet access.Also there is Java based trading which includes WAP. WEB based trading is a popular feature.

Using this review of various online trading platforms is a great way to make your steps in investing more beneficial in the long run.

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