Trading has evolved a lot the last several decades. One of the biggest changes since the turn of the millennia was the accessibility of the stock market for retail traders.
Today almost anyone can open a trading account. We have also seen tools that used to be just available for institutional traders become accessible by everyone. And most importantly, now everyone can access the vast wealth of information about the stock market on the internet. You don’t need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to learn about the stock market. There has never been a better time to learn how to trade.
Accessibility of the Market
Before the internet, trading the stock market was not very accessible to the average American. Brokerage fees were very expensive, stocks traded in fractions instead of decimals, and there was a lot less liquidity in general. The chart below shows you how much lower commissions have dropped in recent years:
Now trading commissions are as low as $5 a trade. ECN and routing fees are much lower as well, especially if you add liquidity with your buy and sell orders. You don’t need to have $100,000 account to overcome all the fees anymore.
Tools For Retail Traders
Scanners, charting software, and live news feeds used to only be available to institutional and professional traders. Now you can access all of these tools from your computer or smartphone anywhere in the world. Here’s a recent speech where I explain which trading tools I use and how I incorporate them into my trading strategy:
The tools we recommend are Trade Ideas for scanning, and TC2000 for charting. Benzinga is a great resource for real-time news alerts as well. If you are serious about trading full or part-time, you have to invest in the right tools.
Online Resources
Before the internet, learning about the stock market was relatively difficult. Information was not consolidated in one place, and you usually had to enroll in a University to learn about the inner workings about the stock market.
The internet has changed everything in trading. All of the foundational knowledge about the stock market is completely free. There is so many trading resources out there now online there is no excuse to not get started. Investopedia and YouTube alone can teach you all the basic terminology from the stock market.
You also don’t need to go into debt to learn about the stock market from real traders. These days there are real traders all over social media willing to share their knowledge and experience about the markets. But be sure to do thorough background checks on all trading services you are looking to give your hard earned money to. There a lot of scammers out there who run trading services who don’t actually trade with real money and post fake trading results.
Free Trader Assessment
Are you a current or aspiring trader looking for some feedback? Need a roadmap for what you need to do to get to where you want to be? Schedule a free trader assessment with one of our educational specialists today!
