Here are some share trading tips to help you stay focused and moving in the right direction.

The first thing to do is determine what you want to achieve from your trading schedule. What level of return do you expect? Are you willing to follow a system in the pursuit of success? How much money are you willing to risk? Always be clear about your goals and objectives, otherwise you will not be able to measure your success or failure.

Secondly, think about how much time you can commit to your daily trading activities. It is good to have a regimented block of time to commit on a daily basis, because this is your best way to learn quickly and also to keep a close watch over the performance of your portfolio.

Remember that their may be tax implications for holding shares. You will need to have a chat with your accountant to find out what, if any, implications there are for you and your portfolio. Do this sooner rather than later.

Make sure you have a separate account for trading, distinct from your personal savings or other accounts. This may seem obvious, but you definitely do not want to be confusing and mixing your trading money with your regular daily money.

Finally, remember to be patient. Share trading is a lifelong skill that takes time to learn.

Here are some instructions and tips to give you a basic idea about how to trade shares and get your investment strategy rolling.

First of all, you need to have an account with either a stock broking company or another intermediary licensed with the stock exchange you plan to trade in. Common types of stock broking intermediaries include financial planners and accountants. Many new investors find it very helpful to have a broker on their side as they begin their journey into share trading, but the use of online brokers (normally setup through banks) is becoming more widespread too.

When it comes to providing funds for trading, your broker will most likely require you to have money in a cash management account, to make sure you have enough money available to process new orders.

If you are using an online broker, you will definitely need to start an account with the broker’s associated financial institution before you can start trading.

In terms of the actual buying and selling of shares, there are two commands you can issue to your broker. Shares traded at “market price” will be bought or sold for whatever the prevailing price is at the time the trade goes through. Shares sold at “limit price” are where you instruct the broker as to your minimum sale price or maximum buy price.

One of the best options available to you is to sign up for fantasy share trading, a risk-free and enjoyable program where you get to live as a real day trader using fake money.

There are several advantages to participating in a fantasy share trading program, some of them obvious.

You will gain an insight into the daily routine of share trading, learn the key terms that get thrown about on the job, familiarise yourself with trading patterns and gain confidence in your ability to trade.

But there are several lesser-known advantages as well. One, for example, is that you will begin to learn about the brokerage costs and the costs of share transactions. This is a big edge to gain over beginners who start off with real money, many of whom trade too frequently and don’t calculate brokerage costs properly, and end up with big losses as a result.

Another great feature of fantasy share trading games is that you can compare yourself to other traders. If you sign up at the same time as your friends, you will be able to monitor your progress alongside one another and exchange tips and tricks.

There are several share trading games available online, so research the one that suits you best and start trading!

There are always share trading courses being run by various institutions ranging for single seminars to five day courses. These courses range in difficulty and can teach everything from understanding trend lines to professional skills.

A share trading course can truly develop your knowledge of the stock market even if you are only a beginner. Lessons will involve explaining share trading concepts such as entries, stops and profit targets, as well as the necessary skills to start trading at the completion of the course.

As a share trading course attendee, you should keep in mind that the trade examples used in charts and other examples are “cherry-picked” to make the demonstration easier to follow. Charts in particular are usually always chosen so that the entries, profit targets and stops are spot on. The problem here is that when novice traders try to a

pply their new knowledge outside of the course they are nearly always disappointed that it isn’t as straightforward as they expected.

You can still be a successful trader based on what you have learnt by applying time and patience to your initial trading. It is rare that a beginning trader would become instantly successful overnight.