Online stock trading for the young professional

MANILA, Philippines – Due to the increasing prices of commodities, we need to find ways to keep up without having to work longer hours. We all want to have another source of income to be able to own a car, a house, and have enough for future travels, or plan ahead for early retirement.

If you want your money to grow at a much faster rate than leaving it in the bank, you should think of investing in the stock market.

Putting your money in a savings account will only yield returns of 0.25% and putting in time deposit will only yield 0.46%. However, if you had invested in index stocks in 2008, the value of your investment portfolio would have increased by more than 200% by the end of 2013.

Some are intimidated to invest in the stock market because of the common misconception that you need a large sum of money to start, or are wary because of the risks involved. However, with the right tools and proper knowledge, you can be on your way to financial freedom, right at the comfort of your own home.

Several online trading platforms are already in place to help regular folks like us set up our own investments portfolios. But how do we choose the proper partner?

Work with a partner that offers not just the platform, but top-notch service as well.

Unicapital Securities now has an online stock trading platform called UTrade, which gives you direct market access, live stock information from the PSE and a lot more!

UTrade offers a personalized service based on your stock industry preference or chosen companies. UTraders can mark and track events and reminders through the UTrade Calendar and are provided fresh and relevant information on a daily basis through various social media channels and subscriptions. Part of the personalized service also includes a live chat function that allows UTraders to easily communicate with their financial advisors during market sessions.

Apart from the personalized service, UTrade also gives you the option to trade in small amounts, meaning you can start trading with just Php 5,000.00 until you are confident to trade with bigger values.

Thinking of starting to invest through online stock trading? Here are a few tips from UTrade:

1. Buy low, sell high

When the market is bearish or on periods of downtrend, you can take the chance to buy more stocks and when the market is bullish, or when stocks are on an upswing, you sell your stocks to make a profit.

But just because the stock is cheap, it doesn’t mean you should buy it. Get to know the industry, study their business models and compare to other companies in the same industry.

Most investors usually value companies’ stock prices based on their present assets or earnings and future growth. Remember that the best strategy in investing in stocks is to go for companies that are undervalued and have the potential to grow.

2. Invest as low as P5,000 per month

This strategy is called the peso-cost averaging and is recommended for long-term investors. This involves buying shares at a fixed amount of money at regular intervals for a period of time regardless of the price or situation of the market.

This requires little or no monitoring of the price action of the market  – perfect for those with busy schedules.

3. Diversify your portfolio

The key to having a good investment portfolio is to invest in different companies in different industries. Having a diversified portfolio will minimize the risk and yield higher returns For example, an additional tariff imposed by the government on mining revenues may not necessarily affect the companies engaged in banking; therefore, investing in banking stocks will allow you as an investor to have a buffer or small protection against losses due to additional tariffs to mining companies’ revenues.

4. Learn fundamental and technical analysis

To know if a stock has potential, investors use two types of analysis.

Fundamental analysis bases its future price assumptions from financial statements while technical analysis deals with charts and uses patterns to determine the direction of the stock’s movement.

Both of these tools are available via UTrade.

Investing in the stock market has its risks. These strategies may help you to start out but remember that there are always pros and cons so don’t set your expectations too high. It may take time before you earn from buying and selling stocks.

If you want to let your money work for you at the convenience of doing it anywhere and anytime, online stock trading may be your pot of gold. – Rappler.com