<p>Yes.. I'm interested. I'm in High School, and I want to trade stocks, bonds, securities. Thing is, I have no idea about much regarding economics. I want to open an eTrade account, but my dad won't let me until I know exactly what I'm investing in.</p>
<p>Investopedia taught me a lot, but obviously volatile markets are risky. I wouldn't be a day trader- not even a weekly trader probably. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any ideas on what an oblivious teen should invest in? I would be willing to learn, and start with like $250, but I want to understand the world of economics, not just read it from a textbook. There are so many possible investments- what is a good starting point? Something less risky?</p>
<p>And please don't say CDs. Thanks.</p>
<p>Just open a paper trading account. $250 isn’t nearly enough to really do anything.
It won’t be quite the same, but it’ll give you an idea.</p>
<p>thinkorswim.com used to have a decent platform</p>
<p>Marketwatch has a decent practice trading platform. Try it out for at least a few months before you commit any money to the market. You can’t open an E-Trade account with anything less than $500 and with the $10 commission they charge for buying and selling you would just end up losing your money as a day trader.
I suggest becoming familiar with investing before anything else. Some good reads are The Intelligent Investor and the books by Peter Lynch.</p>
<p>Wall Street Survivor is another good practice trading site.
Also with 250 you would only be able to get a couple of shares and then you would have to pay fees and its just not worth it investing that little where you can have a 100k online paper trading account and get much more experience.</p>
<p>^yeah but you don’t get the rush</p>
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<p>As if you get a rush investing $250.</p>
<p>Nin10dude317 - do you want to understand finance or economics? There’s a difference.</p>
<p>Just play with a little bit of money on etrade until you get to college. then join your college’s investment club.</p>
<p>I am a senior in high school and made a stock account with Scottrade when I was 16. I’ve put in christmas and bday money along with money I’ve saved with my job. My accounts at about 5k and I started with 500. I have only made a little but my advice is to start a real account as early as you can. $250 is a little small but I am against paper trading.</p>
<p>Paper trading doesn’t do you any good because you check your account daily and see it went up $200 or down $200 in a day and you really don’t care. In a real account, you are wondering where resistance and support are, news about the company, when to take profits or average down. </p>
<p>Overall there is so much to learn and I love the stock market. Nobody can ever learn enough and experience is crucial for success. Everyone makes mistakes early on in trading so might as well make them when you are younger and can afford to lose money than when you are 40.</p>
<p>Any other teens that trade or thinking about it, feel free to PM me as I love talking about stocks and learning from others or helping you get an account. Hope this helps but my advice is to get $500 and start with scottrade, etrade you need a 1000 minimum with $10 trades and Scottrade trades are only $7 which isn’t bad. Best of luck and feel free to ask any more questions.</p>