Online trading has grown in popularity among investors and traders thanks to the advent of advanced technology. Offering many benefits, online trading enables traders to make transactions at the very comforts of their home. Here are some of the essential benefits you can get from online trading.
Lower costs
This is one of its most obvious benefits. Transaction costs and fees linked to traditional brick and mortar trading brokerage firms are lower.
Usually, you’ll only have to pay between $5 and $9 to start buying and selling stocks and exchange-traded funds at online discount brokerages.
Control and Flexibility
Time is a huge factor when trading stocks. The speed and flexibility that online trading platforms and brokerages offer are of great value to serious traders. With online trading, you can execute a trade almost at the drop of the hat.
Conventional brick-and-mortar brokers might require appointments, meetings, and conferences, either online, over the phone, or in person, just to start a trade. The time used in such transactions is a big inconvenience at best and can cause you to lose money at worst.
Sidestepping Broker Bias
With online trading, you are taking the trade into yours own hands. And when you do that, you can get rid of broker bias, which sometimes occurs when the broker provides financial advice that benefits him or her more than the advice benefits you.
These can be in the form of a commission for selling certain kinds of mutual funds and other products.
This kind of biased advice can be troublesome for any investor and might even lead to investment decisions that are good for the broker not for you. With online trading, you’re saving yourself from the hassle of a questionable, biased broker advice.
Online Tools
In the online trading industry, lower costs doesn’t automatically equate to subpar products. Most of today’s online trading companies provide customers an arsenal tools for them keep their trades optimized.
Through these tools, you can access valuable information regarding the asset and market you are trading. As such, you can come up with viable and efficient trading strategies that’ll suit the market conditions and help you achieve trading targets.
Real-time Investment Monitoring
As we all know, real-time information is a valuable resource in the competitive world of financial trading. Online trading enables you to monitor real-time updates about the market to help you strategize better and thus earn greater returns.
Many online trading sites allow real-time monitoring by exchanging stock quotes and information, making it easier for people to see how their trades and investments are doing at the moment.
You get real-time quotes, stock market news, educational articles, and many more. For traders, this convenient at-the-tip-of-your-finger online trading system beats calling over the phone to a live broker, switching the television on, or even going to a bunch of website just to access and analyze different market information.
However, there are also disadvantages:
- Risk of overtrading
- Addictive
- Internet-dependent
- Susceptible to computer errors and system glitch
