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Paper trading for beginners

Hello All,

I have begun paper trading, training myself to win the stock market game before I invest real cash, with a goal of earning my primary income from daily trading.

I am wondering how many other paper traders we have here?

Also, I have some questions about trading, for example:

How do I know the stock price has changed without waiting for finance.yahoo.com? Can I know right away so I can sell right away if need be?

How do I pay the least amount possible for brokerage?

I understand the "open" and "close" prices, but what do I do with the "bid" and "ask" prices?

I admit that these may by super noob questions, but I am going to ask them anyway.

Cheers- Mrs. Jarvie

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Comment by Paul Scott on November 19, 2009 at 9:59am: Look out for online trading games. The asx.com.au run them on a regular basis, you have $50K to trade the top 100 ASX stocks in real time. The only other tip I have is DO NOT GET Emotional about your trading when you play live with real money. ie. I said I would sell on a 5% loss, failed to follow my own rules and the 5% loss suddenly became a 70% loss. Use trading sites that offer Stop-Loss features such as Etrade, it takes the emotion out of it for you.

Comment by Miffy on December 11, 2008 at 12:13pm: Hi Mrs Cake Jarvie, I agree wholeheartedly with JeffK - it's essential that you do A LOT of research before you start even paper trading. Investing is a long-term thing, so you have lots of time to learn the craft. And it is a craft, which is why it is not something you can just launch into (people's first attempt at pottery proves this!), but also like a craft once you get skilled it can be very rewarding.

Jacquesk's suggestion of Compareshares is a good one - they have loads of great stuff and if you're stuck there's a panel of experts you can ask questions.

Books are great too. Try a Dummies book - they provide a good entry point.

Miffy

Comment by Mrs. C. Jarvie on December 9, 2008 at 5:34pm: Thank you jacquesk.

Comment by jacquesk on December 9, 2008 at 4:01pm: http://www.compareshares.com.au
http://www.new2shares.com.au/
These two sites are well worth a look.

Comment by JeffK on December 6, 2008 at 10:09am: I agree 100% with Bandwidth - you need to do A LOT of reading. Not expensive courses, but reading books, websites and chatting to others.

Trading without knowledge is nothing more than gambling, and you will get the same results. You will lose all your money, and get addicted to trying to "win it back".

I'd suggest that you do the reading before you even start paper trading, because you may get some false confidence if you start to do OK with your paper trades. Do not fall into this trap. Real trading is very different and you face very different pressures and will make different decisions when you are trading with your real money. Fear and greed tend to take hold, both of them dangerous emotions when it comes to doing anything well, but particularly trading.

Please learn as much as you can over the course of at least a year before you even think about trading. It takes a long time to build wealth and can take only a moment to lose it.

Comment by Bandwidth on December 5, 2008 at 9:15pm: Yoe need to find a good book as to answer these questions will only raise more

I will have a look around as well

The ASX has some good training pages

When you have an online broker you will be able to see live prices

Penny pincing on a broker should not be the focus, more sensible trading

Bid is what people are willing to pay and ask is what people want

Reading your qusetions I would kindly suggest some reading is in order

Mybe find someone who is an experinced trader