How to become an investor / trader?

Investments and trading are very different things, but this aspect is beyond the scope of this article. In this article, I will try to describe the path from interest to the acquisition of the first share (or other financial instrument).

1. Where will we trade?
On the Moscow stock exchange and / or on the SPB exchange!
The Moscow Stock Exchange is the largest Russian exchange holding established in 2011 as a result of the merger of the MICEX (Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange) and the RTS (Russian Trading System) exchange. The Moscow Stock Exchange is the organizer of trading in stocks, bonds, derivatives, currency.

Public Joint Stock Company "St. Petersburg Stock Exchange" is one of the first trading platforms for the organization of trading in securities and futures contracts in the Russian Federation. In April 2016, futures contracts on the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange were closed. Organized commodity auctions and trades in foreign securities are currently taking place at the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. Transactions on foreign securities are concluded within the Russian legal framework and are calculated in US dollars. The shares are held in the Russian depository (ACC) with the possibility of transferring to any of the world's depositories.

It follows that if you want to buy shares of Sberbank or trade in currency - you are on the Moscow Stock Exchange, if you want to buy Apple shares - you are on the SPB exchange. You can trade here and there, but it's worth understanding that 300 foreign issuers are available for trading on the SPB exchange, others need an account with an international brokerage company (for example, InteractiveBrokers) or a certain tariff plan in the domestic one.

** 2. What do you need to start trading?**
Brokerage account;
Money;
Computer / smartphone / tablet;
Understanding economic processes, basic knowledge of economics theory.

3. What documents are required to open a brokerage account?
Passport, TIN or SNILS number;
If you have an account on the portal GOSUSLUGI - this will be enough. Now, most large brokers support the opening of a brokerage account through this portal. In order to open a brokerage account, in most cases it is not necessary to visit the office of the company.

** 4. Which company to choose?**
The main thing at this time to learn only one rule - we pass by companies that advertise forex and offer to trade in the forex market. Having mastered this rule, you have increased the probability of saving capital by 50%.

In Russia there are 2 large brokers that have a very wide network of branches, various tariffs and quality support: Opening or BCS (Tinkoff investments are tied to BCS - everything is very cool, convenient and blessed, but unreasonably high tariff for exclusively mobile solution and Only trade in shares is available). I would choose one of these companies. But almost any large bank provides brokerage services directly or through a subsidiary. So, if you have, for example, an account with Uralsib Bank opened, and it would be convenient for you to cooperate with them in the matter of investments - cooperate.

5. Margin trading (or trade with a leverage) is a suicide for a beginner.
Let's see what kind of monster this is. Marginal trading - the conduct of speculative trading operations using money and / or assets (goods) that are provided to the trader on credit against a pledge of the agreed amount - margin.
Example: Ivan has 10 000 rubles on his account, he buys futures for a barrel of oil for 3000 rubles (traded in dollars, but we'll simplify for understanding) in the amount of 10 pieces. How so, you will say, he does not have 30 000 rubles! The magic of the margin - the broker gave him money in debt. Now with an increase in oil by 1 ruble, Ivan earns 10 rubles! "Magic, a golden vein," thought Ivan! But no, because when the oil falls by 1 ruble, Ivan will lose 10 rubles + Ivan has already paid the commission + Ivan will pay the broker interest for the amount borrowed. And that, it is worth the oil to go less than a thousand rubles below the level of purchase - Ivan bankrupt! If Ivan did not trade with his shoulder, and only traded on his own money, he would have taken 3 contracts, instead of 10. What would happen then, if the oil falls by 1000 rubles? Ivan would have lost only 3 thousand, he would have left 7, he would be able to read smart books, train, and start to earn consistently 15-30% per annum.

We make a conclusion - we are looking for tariffs without margin trading, and we trade only for our own!

6. Next, we set up a trading terminal - all these actions are described at the broker, we will not dwell on this in detail.

7. We make a bank transfer to a brokerage account.
Translations can not be done by third parties! This means that if the account is in your name, then the transfer must be on your behalf, the same with the withdrawal. Yes, it's impossible to throw the internet directly from the brokerage account, first you have to transfer money to your bank account / card.

8. Choose the stock of the company of interest to us and press the button to buy!

Hooray! Now you are a happy owner of shares, you have every right to call yourself an investor or stock speculator!

The risk of losses in the trading of shares, options, futures, currency, foreign capital or bonds can be significant. None of the above is an offer to buy or sell assets, a recommendation or an incentive to act. I am not responsible for the use of this information and its relevance.