Etrade or stock broker?

Does anyone have any experience in buying stocks? I just want to know if I should consult a stock broker for my first time investing, or try my hand at figuring it out on my own with the help of e-trade?

 

May I ask how much your looking to spend?

If I wear you and I no that my uncle and aunt did this they risked 10% of what they were going to use experimenting with all kinds of stocks.

so depending on how much your looking to spend I would definitely consult a stock broker for large amounts.

 

$500 tops, which isn't much I know, but I either want a popular stock (apple or something) or a shitton of stocks from a smaller company like seagate or nvidia

 

for $500 there is no point at all in using a broker as you would lose money. Also your return would be next to nothing buying a popular stock as you would only be able to afford a very small ammount of shares. Your best bet would be buying ETF's

 

Might sound completely out of my depth here but have you considered Binary trading?

Someone posted a thread about it, it's potentially a good return if you invest correctly.

 

Fee free etfs

 

^whats that

 

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are composites of stocks that mimick indices or parts of the market. For example, SPY, is the ETF that follows (performs according to) the S&P 500. Some ETFs follow specific markets, i.e. financials, and some are also leveraged, meaning they will do double as well as their index when they go up but go down double when they go down.
Trading from home is pretty hard to do, especially without a broker. However, buying into an assortment of blue chip stocks or ETFs is probably your best bet; a broker's fees will simply kill you when you only have $500. If youre thinking longterm I'd go for SPY personally (altho i think it's overvalied short term now), as markets will move up overtime as long as you are confidant in the US remaining the leading financial power.

 

I use eTrade personally. Works great and has good customer support. Stock brokers are good depending on the one you have.

 

Get more starting money, consult a stock broker and then go from there. Short-term spend for long-term gain.

 

I am finally getting my act together to start some investing in J-stocks. Just wondering if anyone has suggestions about various online stock brokers.
I am tending towards Boom Securities at the moment - they offer multi market access and an all english site.E-trade seems popular here - and someone mentioned HSBC as another alternative. I'm sure there are others.....