I first started to learn how to trade stocks back when I was in high school. Unlike today, there were not very many all-in-one stock learning kits back then. I scoured various sites, newsletters, and sometimes books to become the trader I am today.
Nowadays, there are miles upon miles of quality investment tools and resources of free stock education for those looking to avoid any marginal costs.
Below is a list of some quality investment tools and resources that I recommend and/or have come across, but feel free to voice your opinions in the comment section below…
Free Investment Tools And Resources For Stock Education
Most people are familiar with the MarketWatch and Bloombergs of the world, but take a second to add the following to your list of resources.
1. Online Stock Brokerage
With the vast amount of online discount stock brokers around, it is funny how many people actually forget the information that can be found within their account to begin with. Brokerages like Zecco, TradeKing, and E*Trade not only offer real-time quotes, but you can also find company news and stock trading education, tips, and webinars. You even have services like OptionsHouse and thinkorswim for more active traders.
Although you need an account to access these features, you need a stock brokerage account to trade and most of these brokerages are free to join anyways.
2. INO
I’ve been a member for a year now, and can safely say it is my most used resource. Through INO, you have access to a myriad of online stock research tools. If you are conducting research on a stock, then why not give their free trend analysis tool a go? If stock trading education is more your thing, then try out their free investment video channel. You get access to it all for free, so you might as well use what you can.
3. Morningstar
Most people usually think of Morningstar as an advanced, premium, and high priced investment tool, but those same people also tend to overlook the free services that Morningstar provides. Their X-Ray tool will tell you if your portfolio is diverse enough and if its best constructed for this market. There is also the recent release of Morningstar’s Mobile iPhone application, which allows you to grab stock data on the go. Before you discard the service, make sure to check out Morningstar for all it has to offer.
4. Paper Trading
I’d be interested to know if anybody has actually started trading real stocks without playing around with paper trading first. Over the last couple of years, paper trading has drastically improved from the bland application it once was. Now many of the services like UMOO and Wall Street Survivor provide news feeds along side other educational tools.