What to Look for in an Investment Website
In order to get the full advantages that go along with online investing, look for websites that provide all the education and tracking tools you need to manage your portfolio successfully. Different site features and styles will appeal to different people, but a truly useful website will have these elements:
An easy-to-access website with simple onscreen navigation
A trading screen that's easy to get around and includes built-in safeguards against typing mistakes
Current stock prices posted on the screen at all times
The ability to trade a variety of securities, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds
Immediate transaction confirmations
Real-time account balances and portfolio updates
Instant customer service access, both online and over the phone, available all day, every day
A low minimum-balance requirement to open and maintain an account
The ability to enter special buy and sell orders, like limit orders and stops, so you can automatically trade a security when it hits a specific price without tracking it all day yourself
An automatic daily sweep of any uninvested cash into a money market fund
Internet chat rooms can be informative places to meet with other investors and get the benefit of disparate advice. Use caution, though, when you're sifting through this information. You don't know the sources, and a lot of information exchanged on message boards is bogus.
