The 5 Best Online Resources to Learn About Stock Trading

The internet has all the information you can imagine.

Any topic, especially those that people care about, will have infinite amounts of information online. The main issue is knowing how to get the best quality information.

When you want to learn about stock trading, there is a lot of information available. From guides to eBooks to full-fledged trading platforms, you can find it all.

In this article, we will focus on resources that are good for beginners looking to become more confident investors.

How Do I Learn the Stock Market Basics?

There are a few categories of online platforms that can help you learn about stock trading and stock market education. We’ll start with the top five, and go over a few alternatives as well.

One: Institutional Resources

These are the resources that are offered by banks and other financial institutions. They’re available online and are free to read whether you’re a customer or not.

This option is convenient and free, with no strings attached.

For example, Bank of America offers their Better Money Habits platform, where you can learn about everything from:

• Investing
• Saving & Budgeting
• Credit
• Home Ownership
• Debt
• and more!

Naturally, the only limitation is the scope of what they can cover. If you need more comprehensive explanations to reach the point where you’re comfortable with self-directed investment strategies, you should consider online classes and courses.

Two: Online Classes

Online education can go a long way for many topics.

World-renowned platforms like Udemy and Coursera can teach you the basics for a wide range of topics. They also include finance courses, with specific lessons and courses about investing.

The good thing about online classes is their cost structure. For the most part, online courses from reputable companies are free to participate in. For many others, they are just very cheap. The only thing they normally charge users for, apart from the possibility of premium courses, is exams and certifications.

Many of these online training companies make money from professionals and institutions.

However, it’s unlikely that you’re trying to get a full-time job in stock investing if you’re reading this. So, you don’t need to worry about final exams and certifications.

You can take advantage of free training courses to learn the basics of investing! 

If you want to delve deeper, you can purchase more comprehensive courses. Be sure to carefully research and vet your options. In general, sticking with established and reputable companies is the safer choice.

Three: Websites

There are some great websites that provide a lot of useful information for investing.

One of the best examples is Investopedia. Other examples include NerdWallet and Yahoo! Finance.

These websites offer users free materials for a surprisingly large range of financial topics, providing thorough explanations of the basics of all investment assets.

Websites like these generally make their money from ads and affiliate marketing, where they suggest certain product and service providers relevant to the topic of the article or guide you are reading.

That means that they don’t sell their educational articles and guides; they are free for you to read and refer to.

Because of their short-form and browsable nature, reputable finance sites are limited in the scope of the education they can provide you.

They tend to simplify concepts to make them understandable to the broadest possible audience. This makes them free and highly convenient, but less comprehensive than full online courses.

Four: Investment Videos

Courses, and some finance websites, will include some instructional and educational videos. However, we’re looking at more comprehensive videos provided separately from businesses and institutions.

Platforms like TED-Ed are great for introductory video explanations on educational topics.

TED-Ed has this video titled TED-Ed: How Does The Stock Market Work? It’s a quick video that functions as a lightning course about stock investments.

There is a wide range of videos available if you want to learn about stock trading.

Warren Buffet’s “How to Invest For Beginners” is just 11 minutes long, but covers even more, with the added value of the Oracle of Omaha’s perspectives.

As is the case with the other resources covered here, it’s best to stick with the videos offered by prominent and trustworthy financial professionals and institutions.

You can find further videos offered by Buffett, Munger, and others that go into the specifics of stock investing.

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Five: Brokers

Brokers are intermediaries who enable you to purchase stocks and other assets through them. When it comes to educational resources, they vary widely.

However, companies like TD Ameritrade (Now incorporated into Chares Schwab) are known to provide a rich array of educational resources to their customers.

Once you have a brokerage account, you can typically access all of your broker’s extra features.

Many brokers understand that they have a vested interest in helping their customers achieve long-term investment success.

That’s why the most trusted brokers offer explanatory articles, guides, videos, and news. They can teach you and offer you technical analysis and often include one-on-one sessions with financial advisors.

Stock Market Courses Online Free

The following offer stock market courses available online for free:

• Udemy
• Coursera
• Skillshare
• Wealthsimple

Anyone Can Learn About Stock Trading! 

If you really want to learn about stock trading, the resources and information are available to you!

Businesses depend on lots of views in order to make money on ads, which benefits us as consumers, because they offer free education to us. You just have to put in the work. 

Editor’s note: This article was originally published Jan 4, 2022 and has been updated to enhance reader experience.

Photo by Armin Rimoldi