There are many things traders and investors should be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Let’s stop for a second and count our blessings, because surely stock market operators of the past would be envious of our access to trading tools and market environments.
- Everyone has access to low discount broker commissions. You can trade for less than $5 per trade, and sometimes lower, with many per share brokers.
- We have access to a liquid option contract market that didn’t exist in its current form before 1970. It provides simple leverage with good liquidity in the most popular option chains.
- Having access to social media means that you can learn from knowledgeable traders for free.
- Almost all type of Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) on your wishlist are available. This makes building a portfolio with a mix of exposure simple; something that only large funds could do in the past.
- There are thousands of great trading and investing blogs you can read online for free.
- The Fed is actively supporting the stock market by their actions. This makes it easier to trade the stock market from the long side.
- There are thousands of high quality trading books on the market. This was a niche market with few books in the past, but now we can learn inexpensively, or even for free in some cases.
- There are affordable investing and trading eCourses online that can drastically reduce your learning curve.
- Financial news is available online for free across multiple platforms.
- Trades can be executed instantly from you phone in 2018.
This is not your father’s stock market, it’s yours. Let’s count the many blessings we have that make trading easy and accessible today. It levels the playing field, and makes it easier to become a profitable trader.
Happy Thanksgiving!