Hello, My name is Ethan and I am very interested in trading and investments. However, I do not know where to start so this is my first step. Anyone has any advice?
Welcome aboard Ethan. Before you trade learn how to to evaluate the fundamentals of stocks, and by all means learn Technical Analysis to know when to buy and when to sell. Right now the market has been on a strong rally and it harder to find a value play and you might want to wait for a market pull back to get a good entry price's. Patience is the key and enter slowly into the market. While you are learning you might want to paper trade and see how you make out before testing the water...Good luck...TTT Technical Analysis (you might have to read from the bottom up) http://stockaholics.net/threads/teach-me-technical-analysis.125/
Welcome @EthanDec06 This is a great place to start. I agree with Tiptopptrader. Use patience right now with real money. Not saying there is nothing to buy, but you really have to dig for good plays in a high market like this. But this is a great time to get in and get your feet wet and learn. This site is a great one to ask questions and bounce ideas off of folks. Also, I recommend Investopedia for online learning check out http://www.investopedia.com/university/stocks/ There are 9 sections in that article to read for a pretty good base on stock investing. Also, if you sign in to the site (free) you will see a "Simulator" as one of the menu options across the top of the page. That is a paper trading system that allows you to test what you are learning with practice trades. Paper trading helps and I highly recommend it but also keep in mind that when you move to real money and your personal wealth is at risk, emotion can totally change your perspective if you don't learn to control that.