Month: March 2026

Stocks today – everything you need to know!

Sophia Trades

In this article i’m going to take a look at what’s happening with the stocks today. I’m going to consider the major indices and give my thoughts on their recent activity. I will also try to identify whether the markets have started recovering. Let’s take a look!

Stocks today – the NASDAQ

A great way of establishing quite quickly, what’s happening with stocks today, is by considering the major indices. This will give a quick overview/average idea of the direction they are headed in. Let’s take a look at what’s happening on the NASDAQ, monthly timeframe. The monthly timeframe gives a great birds eye view of the position of the markets. It’s great for long term planning:

stocks today
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As you can see on this monthly timeframe chart, the position recently, from a long term perspective is still very much that the market is pulling back. The latest monthly timeframe candle is a big downwards one, (meaning the price closed lower than where it opened at the start of the month). To understand more about how to read Japanese candlestick patterns, please see the relevant section of this blog, here:

Japanese Candlesticks – Sophia Trades – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

You can also see on the above chart that the MACD has crossed over the signal line and the MACD histogram has made its first red bar. It’s not clear whether this new downwards move will continue. You can see at the previous occasion this happened, it only lasted for two red histogram bars, and then recovered.

It’s also worth noting the position of the RSI indicator. The RSI has pulled back to the ‘pull back’ level it usually reaches, while it’s still uptrending. Note the position of where it pulled back to, previously, marked with the red line, here:

The RSI is at a critical point. If the RSI dips below this sort of level and stays there, it can indicate the markets are downtreding long term, rather than them just pulling back.

Let’s zoom in, next, and take a look at the daily timeframe:

Stocks today – the NASDAQ daily timeframe chart

As you can see, the picture is quite gloomy for buyers on the daily timeframe. The price has broken below the firm support level at around 23.744. Once a price breaks through a major support or resistance level it can then act as the opposite so in this case it could end up being a level of resistance. However, the RSI indicator has pulled back significantly and the MACD indicator has dropped significantly to the downside. It is still making large red histogram bars so currently it appears as though the downward move has still got a lot of momentum.

S&P 500

I like to consider the S&P 500 chart for a wider, overall view, of what is happening with the markets, although it can often follow the same sort of shape or pattern, as the NASDAQ, so i’m not anticipating good news for buyers with this either. Let’s take a look:

As you can see on the daily timeframe for the S&P 500, it’s showing a similar sort of story as the NASDAQ.

Conclusion – stocks today

The markets are not yet recovering so I, personally, will be avoiding entering any more ‘buy’ positions, for the time being.

I hope you found this article helpful.

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://www.sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/sophiatrades

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.

Stocks today – Everything You Need to Know

Stocks today – Everything You Need to Know

Sophia Trades

In this article I want to talk to you about what’s happening to the price of Gold, currently. Whilst this is not a stock, I have prepared by usual style ‘stocks today’ blog article on it, because it is worth paying attention to, as Gold gives an indication of the overall position and health of the markets. As you will know from my recent blog posts, many of the markets are pulling back right now or simply moving sideways, following having reached record highs!. Gold is no exception to this. Let’s take a look at the chart movements to see what’s going on and whether we can identify any recent patterns…

Stocks today – the Gold Daily Time Frame chart

stocks today

As you can see the Gold market reached all time highs at around 29th January 2026. The price has descended quite steeply since then – by 26%, as you can see on the chart. This is quite a drop and highly significant for our consideration of stocks today! It could represent a big bargain for someone if the prices went back up to previous levels.

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Let’s take a look at the monthly timeframe, too, to get a better birds eye view:

Gold monthly timeframe chart:

stocks today

As you can see on the monthly timeframe chart, the price had literally gone to the moon recently. The dip down which we can see in detail on the daily timeframe, seems small compared to the amount it has risen in the recent past. The price is nearing a bit of a support level per the daily timeframe, marked below:

There are a number of scenarios which could play out and it is very difficult to determine which one is likely to happen. If Gold continues to drop, it could find some support, even temporarily, at some of these horizontal support levels. However, it has dropped already by 26% which is not insignificant. If it dropped even further this would amount to an enormous discount on the recent highs, prices.

Ultimately, it will be difficult to try and predict which way this market will go, but I will be keeping a close eye on the chart. Before getting into any gold positions, I would want to see the market making higher highs and higher lows once again. This may be a while off yet. We will see!

I hope you found this article helpful, on ‘stocks today’.

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://www.sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/sophiatrades

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.

Stocks today – Everything You Need to Know

Stocks today – Everything You Need to Know

Sophia Trades

In this article i’m going to talk about what’s happening with stocks today. I’m going to look at recent activity, the highs and lows and the current state of price movements. Let’s get straight into it!

Stocks today – Google Class C

To form a view about stocks today in respect of Google Class C (Alphabet) let’s take a look at the monthly and daily timeframes on the Trading View chart software, to get a birds eye view of what has been happening with this stock:

stocks today
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As you can see on the monthly timeframe, this stock reached all time highs recently. A lot of this push upwards is to do with the AI market and expectation that this will generate a lot of revenue for the Tech sector and companies. It reached highs of $350.04 on 2nd February 2026 and has been pulling back since then. The MACD indicator is still green but slowly losing its strength. The RSI, however, has pulled down quite significantly from having been in a very overbought position. It had extended up into the 83.21 position at the highest price reached. Now the RSI is showing 69.03. It’s worth nothing that the previous time this happened back between 2021 and 2022, as you can see on the chart, the prices did descent quite significantly from the highs reached. This dip coincided, however, with increased interest rates as dictated by the FEDS. On this occasion, the FEDS have reduced rates. It remains to be seen, whether the market has finished pulling back or whether it will descent further.

Let’s look at the daily timeframe next:

stocks today
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You can see a more zoomed in view of the long term picture, from the daily timeframe, above. The price is currently at a major level of support. It touched it last Friday and remains there currently. I cannot see any sign of recovery from this, yet. The price is still making lower highs and the lows are dotted along the support level. This could be seen as a descending triangle pattern but it is not clear whether the price will break down through the support level. It has touched it at least four or five times – note that the support level became one after a slight resistance previously, in around November time.

Tesla

Let’s take a look at stocks today (Tesla) to see what’s happening. I’ve copied the monthly timeframe chart, below:

stocks today

The pattern on Tesla is not very clear to me. It too reached all time highs recently. It’s touched a resistance area a couple of times, at around 495.33. It has pulled back quite significantly on the RSI indicator but note that the MACD and signal lines have not yet crossed over to the downside. A recovery or further downwards push is entirely possible. Let’s zoom in on the daily timeframe and see what else is happening:

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You can see much more clearly, what is happening on the daily timeframe, above. You can see the resistance at the all time highs more clearly and also the slight support level marked at around 328.51 on the chart. It looks to me like the price is still very much in a downward pattern – note that it is currently making lower highs and lower lows – as marked by the diagonal resistance line, here:

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The above analysis should give you an idea of what could happen next with this stock, although it is for you to decide upon this and make a critical judgement. There are lots of resources on this blog to help you understand charts, including information on candlestick patterns, here:

Japanese Candlesticks – Trader Pro Consultancy – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

and also, understanding Support and Resistance levels, here:

Support and Resistance – Trader Pro Consultancy – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

I hope you found this article on stocks today, helpful.

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/Traderpro8320

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.

What are stocks? Everything You Need to Know

What are stocks? Everything You Need to Know

Sophia Trades

You may have heard it’s a good thing to buy stocks, to invest in stocks, etc, but you may be new to the financial markets completely and you may be wondering what they are. Perhaps you are someone who has worked your whole life in a manual job and you have never had any dealings with the financial markets or business. Perhaps you have been a stay at home mum and you now want to understand how to look after your wealth and your finances for yourself? You have come to the right place. Let me help you understand, what are stocks…

What are stocks? The basics

In a nutshell, a stock is a share of a company. When answering the question, what are stocks, you should think of the answer like a literal slice of pie:

What are stocks

The pie – the whole pie, is a company/business and buy purchasing a ‘share’ you will literally own a fraction of the business. Stocks have particular ‘control’ rights when it comes to running the business. Since you would partly own the business by owning a share, you would have the right to control what goes on in the business. This is handled by shareholder meeting and votes. Note that some shares do not attract voting or control rights. You need to pay attention to the ‘class’ of shares which you are buying and what rights are attached to them. When answering the question what are stocks, therefore, we must note that different stocks have different benefits and rights attached to them.

What other benefits come from owing a stock?

Since you own a part of a business when you purchase a stock, you are also entitled to receive income from the business (insofar as its profitable). You may receive income as ‘dividends’, or you can wait for your stock to accumulate in capital value. Over time, the business will ‘hopefully’ grow, and this will mean that your share will be worth more, later. What do we mean by ‘grow’? The business will be striving to make profit and that profit can be reinvested into new technologies, so that the business can sell more product. Note that if a company distributes a lot of its profits by way of dividends, then you are likely to get less capital growth in that particular shareholding. You can buy stocks which are good for capital growth (i.e. the directors typically decide to reinvest the profits into making the business grow and become more profitable), or you can buy stocks where the directors are usually paying a good chunk of the profits earned, out to shareholders in the form of dividends. You can tailor your stock portfolio to hold some of each!

I would like to refer you to my other article on dividends and how these can affect the share price of a company, which you may find helpful:

How does a dividend affect a share price? Everything you need to know! – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

I hope this article helped you to understand the answer to the question, ‘what is a stock?’.

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/Traderpro8320

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.

Stocks today – everything you need to know

Stocks today – everything you need to know

Sophia Trades

In this article i’m going to talk about the stocks today, and recent activity on the NASDAQ and S&P 500. This is another follow up to some of my other recent articles on what’s been happening in the markets. The markets are being affected by the Iran war so we have to bear this in mind when considering whether or not to open more positions. Let’s take a look at the charts…

Stocks today – NASDAQ

Stocks today

I like to consider the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 before zooming in and trying to establish which stocks may be good for closer attention in terms of ‘stocks today’! As you can see, there is no sign of any recovery yet, from the above chart. The price descended to a major support level on Friday and rebounded away from it, as can be seen by the last purple candle on the above chart. You can see the price touched the support level and then was pushed higher buy buyers coming in! Note the longer wick on this candle, a bit like a hammer pattern. To understand more about candlestick patterns, please see the following link:

Japanese Candlesticks – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

Also, if you would like a discount to the above chart software, please click below:

Get discount to Trading View chart software

At the moment, the price is holding itself above the support level marked on the chart in white. It remains to be seen whether it will descend further or start to recover. I am still in the ‘waiting’ stage. I’m waiting to see prices start to make higher highs and higher lows before I enter any new positions. As far as stocks today are concerned, my conclusion for the NASDAQ is that I will wait to see what happens first…

S&P 500

The story on the S&P 500 stocks today, is very similar. With the turbulence from the Iran war and missiles being fired to Cyprus and other countries in the area, it is no wonder they are struggling to pull up. Let’s take a look at the S&P 500 chart:

stocks today

You can see the exact same pattern almost, on the 500 top stocks in America too. It’s at a major support level and on Friday it rebounded away from it.

If you are a regular visitor to this blog, you will know that I like to focus my attention on the US markets. They are normally very bullish and I find it easy to find great trading set ups on the US markets. However, there are times when I need to exercise patience and caution. This is one of those times. I will be waiting for the markets to show signs of recovery before I invest or trade with any more open positions.

I hope you found this article helpful!

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/Traderpro8320

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.

What is Scalping in Trading – Everything you need to Know!

What is Scalping in Trading – Everything you need to Know!

Sophia Trades

What is scalping in trading? This is a common question asked by beginner traders so I hope I can help you out with an understanding….Scalping is a very specific style of trading. In order to understand what it is, you need to know how it contrasts with the other styles… Let me explain!

What is Scalping in Trading? – Background

So just to give some background, there are many different types of traders, and what distinguishes you as a trader, from an investor to begin with, is that you hold positions for shorter periods of time and selling them on quickly. Within the sphere of trading, however, there are different styles again – and some of these styles can be categorised based on how long the position is held open as with trading versus investing. There are ‘swing’ traders who typically hold positions overnight or for a few days, and there are day traders who are in and out of trades within the same day. Then there are scalpers…

So what is Scalping in Trading?

A scalper trader jumps in and out of the markets many times over, within the space of just minutes. They execute many trades over the course of a day, accumulating profits slowly in small increments. I hope you are starting to understand the answer to the question, what is scalping in trading.

Positions are typically held for a few seconds to a few minutes. Traders who trade in this way, tend to focus on markets with high liquidity, so that they can enter and exit position easily. (If there are many buyers and sellers it helps them get in and out multiple times). They trade the smaller timeframe charts.

What scalping strategies are available?

There are many scalping strategies available to follow and many higher time frame strategies can be used on the smaller timeframes too. You can find a lot of traders on YouTube sharing their scalping strategies with you. My advice would be to test one with very small risks at first (risk only, say, £1 per trade) until you know it works, as there are many traders on YouTube who are misinforming people.

Is Scalping better than Swing trading?

This is a very difficult question to answer, because it depends on what you need and want from your trading. You may say, well, just money! However, the other details can be important for some traders. For example, I am a female trader, and the aim of this blog is especially to encourage other women to have the confidence and knowledge on how to trade the stock market. If a woman has small children, it may not be a suitable strategy for her to employ, as she will have many distractions and scalping may require high levels of concentration over a period of time. Unless of course she has childcare or periods where the kids are with Granny, hubby etc. This is in contrast to swing trading, where the trader can probably set a stop loss and target, and walk away for several hours or days.

Some traders are also more comfortable with deciding slowly and carefully, what the plan is, and executing it – and placing orders to safeguard it, whereas other traders may prefer to make decisions quickly in the moment! For some traders, the speed at which you need to make decisions as a scalper, will terrify them. It probably depends heavily on your preference for handling other things in life – do you like working under extreme pressure, or do you like to go carefully and slowly, and take your time? Only you can answer this.

What types of indicators are common in a scalping strategy?

Scalping traders commonly use indicators like the moving averages, the RSI, the MACD, and bolinger bands as indicators on where to get in and out of the markets. I personally use the MACD indicator a lot, and I know it can be used on the smaller timeframes, but it must be applied with discipline when the ‘direction’ of the market, is clear. I am not a scalper, however.

If you would like to understand more about the MACD indicator and some of the other ones I’ve mentioned, you can refer to the technical indicators section of this blog:

Technical indicators – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

I hope you found this article helpful in understanding the answer to the question, what is scalping in trading.

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/Traderpro8320

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.

Best stocks to buy now

Best stocks to buy now

Sophia Trades

In this article i’m going to look at what position the markets are in, with a view to helping you determine the best stocks to buy now. I’m going to examine the position of the overall index and recent highs and lows, and any recent patterns forming. Let’s get straight into it!

Best stocks to buy now – the NASDAQ – recent activity

It helps when considering which are the best stocks to buy now, to look at the overall index first – to see what’s happening there. Reason? Because the overall index has an influence on the prices of its constituents and vice versa. It helps you see clearly, in one big swoop, what’s happening to the markets in general currently. The NASDAQ is the average of the top 100 stocks in America and it is heavily weighted in the Technology sector, with constituents like Apple, Google and Microsoft sitting on it.

NASDAQ monthly timeframe:

Best stocks to buy now

Let’s take a look at the NASDAQ per the monthly timeframe. I’m using the Trading View chart software – click below for a discount:

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As you can see on the monthly timeframe, the markets had recently pushed up to new overall highs and they are now pulling back. This is paramount information and consideration before you decide on the best stocks to buy now. The MACD indicator has gone from strong upwards momentum, dark green histogram bars to smaller, reducing in size, light green bars. This pattern is typical before it turns red. You can see where the MACD indicator went red previously on this time frame and what happened to the price. A further downwards push is not guaranteed – nothing is! As traders we are trying to look at patterns on the chart to see what might be possible in the near future. The RSI has pulled back considerably on this time frame. If you would like to understand more about these indicators, please see my blog articles below:

How to use MACD – The Moving Average Convergence Divergence to make more money – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

The Relative Strength Index (RSI Indicator) – how to make money – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

Now let’s take a look at the daily timeframe:

Best stocks to buy now

Looking at the daily timeframe, is like zooming in, on the monthly. It shows you a close up of what’s going on. To understand how to use Multiple Timeframe Analysis in your trading, please see the following blog article:

Multiple Timeframe Analysis – mind blowing knowledge that will change everything! – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

As you can see on the daily timeframe chart, the price is holding firm above the white support line at around 23,945. It has touched this line quite a few times, tried to push down through it, and then popped back up again. The market is consolidating and going sideways. Often times when a market is bouncing along sideways, it is gaining momentum to either push up strongly or pull back significantly. It is unknown which way it will go. The FEDS dropped interest rates which can help the markets push up further – historically this is what happened after interest rates were reduced. However, the markets are very overbought in general – all the stocks and commodities have reached record highs and it is not clear how long this upwards drive will last! What goes up, must come down – at least slightly!

The last candle which formed, was a large downward candle, taking the price back down close to the support level. To understand more about support and resistance levels, please see this blog article:

Support and Resistance – how to make more money trading – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

Let’s just throw in the S&P 500 for good measure!

As you can see, we have a similar story on the S&P 500…

From examining these indices, my own decision is to wait before considering the best stocks to buy now. I want to see which direction the markets are headed in, in general, before jumping into anything. There may be markets/stocks sitting on these indices which are still pushing up right now and this is what’s holding it up but i’m conscious of what I stated earlier, that the index has an overall impact on the direction of the stocks, and vice versa. I want the odds to be in my favour when I open more positions. So I will wait to see what happens for a while.

What am I waiting for?

Before I can decide on the best stocks to buy now, I’m waiting for the markets to break out of the sideways channel they are in (i.e. the Index). If they break out upwards, I may consider that a new pattern is starting to form (with reference to new consistent support levels being in a diagonal push up or a new clear horizontal level being established which it is now clearly a new support), and look for good markets / stocks to get into. If they burst downwards I will be waiting even longer – until they start to push up again. For now, I just wait…

He that can have patience can have what he will.” —Benjamin Franklin

Let’s generate wealth, independently, together!

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/Traderpro8320

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.

How to invest in stocks – everything you need to know!

How to invest in stocks – everything you need to know!

Sophia Trades

In this article i’m going to talk about how to invest in stocks to build wealth. I will talk about the types of due diligence you can do before deciding which stocks to invest in, how long you might want to hold them for, how you can hedge your positions and keep a balanced portfolio, and the different avenues through which you can invest in stocks including as regular asset purchases or broker accounts using leverage. Let’s get straight into it!

How to invest in stocks – why invest in stocks in the first place??

Adding stocks to your asset portfolio is a great way to build wealth. They generally increase in value over time and can generate income for you via dividend distributions. Many of the wealthy people you know of, including Warren Buffett, built their wealth by investing in and and accumulating stocks. After a period of time, the stocks gain capital value and they can accumulate to an enormous amount. Most of the pensions are invested in stocks. It is generally how wealth is built. So if you have decided you want to understand how to invest in stocks, what’s the next step? Let’s take a look!

How to invest in stocks – due diligence

OK, so you have decided that you want to built wealth by investing in stocks. What sorts of due diligence should you use, to decide which stocks to invest in? There are different approaches to this. You could keep an extremely balanced portfolio by buying into an ‘index’, or a few indices!. An example of this is the S&P 500 – you can purchase a contract like a share, based on the movements of the S&P 500. If the top 500 stocks in America increase on average, you will see a gain in your trading account. You can also receive dividends from buying into these indices. If you want to remain hedged and balanced in purchasing into indices, you could buy into the indices which are present in different countries, such as the FTSE 100, in the UK, the S&P 500 in the USA, the Nikkei 225 in Japan etc.

If you want to invest in specific stocks based on careful research, you can carry out fundamental analysis based on the company’s key published information which is usually found in the company’s financial statements. If it’s a publicly traded company, you can find the financial statements online. The analysis you can do is to look at the company’s profit statement and balance sheet – to see how healthy they are. If you do not understand how to read a company’s set of financial statements, don’t worry! We have articles prepared by an ex chartered accountant (me) that will help you, below. Navigate with the link below to the Fundamental Analysis part of this blog and you will find lots of helpful articles on understanding a balance sheet, understanding a profit statement, how dividends affect a share price, and more!

Fundamental Analysis – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

I am also sharing my videos on understanding a profit statement and balance sheet, here:

Another aspect of understanding a company’s financial position, is to understand whether it is a going concern, and will be for the foreseeable future. Please see my video on things to watch out for in a set of financial statements, here:

Aside from fundamental analysis, you can also undertake technical analysis from looking at the stock charts. I offer lots of guidance on how you can carry out technical analysis on this blog, here:

Structured course – how to trade the stock market – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

and you can watch me doing this on my Youtube channel, here:

Trader-Pro – YouTube

Something that can really help you to understand stock charts, is by subscribing to the platform, Trading View. This platform is absolutely amazing for sorting your watchlists and organising your potential opportunities. I can offer a discount to the trading view software. Click the button below for the discount, while it lasts!

I’m showing you below a screen shot of my chart on the NASDAQ – it can be fully annotated with notes about significant events, just as one example of how versatile this chart software is!

How to invest in stocks
Get a discount to the chart software, Trading View

I hope this resolved any queries you have on the due diligence aspect of ‘how to invest in stocks’.

How long should you hold stocks for?

OK, so you have decided you want to invest in stocks to generate wealth and you have researched using our tools on fundamental analysis, which stocks or indices to buy. Now you are wondering how long to hold them for. There is no set rule for this, but if you want to generate significant wealth, it is helpful to hold them for ten years or more. Please see my video on the power of compounding, here:

Holding stocks for over ten years can generate significant levels of wealth as they compound in value like a snowball. The answer to how long you should hold them depends on the level of wealth you want to generate. If you want to retire early as a millionaire, which is completely doable, you should hold them for over ten years. The younger you start, the better – ATTENTION, YOUNG READERS!

So how do you actually invest in the stocks?

You can invest in stocks either outright where you own the underlying asset, or you can buy through a CFD or spread betting account. Note the latter two types of accounts will attract fees for holding the positions overnight. There are many brokers that do not charge you for holding positions overnight such as Trading 212 (I have no affiliation with them but I do use them myself for holding long term positions without leverage).

If you hold positions in a spread betting or CFD account you are able to buy more assets than you actually have the cash for! I explain this on my margin blogs and videos, linked below. You will not own the underlying assets in these scenarios, so the dividends will be lower too:

Leverage and Margin – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

I hope you found this article helpful on how to invest in stocks. Perhaps if you did, you can leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you, and answer any questions you might have.

How to buy stocks – everything you need to know!

How to buy stocks – everything you need to know!

Sophia Trades

In this article i’m going to talk about how to buy stocks to build wealth. I will talk about the types of due diligence you can do before deciding which stocks to purchase, how long you might want to hold them for, how you can hedge your positions and keep a balanced portfolio, and the different avenues through which you can buy stocks including as regular asset purchases or broker accounts using leverage. Let’s get straight into it!

How to buy stocks – why buy stocks in the first place??

Adding stocks to your asset portfolio is a great way to build wealth. They generally increase in value over time and can generate income for you via dividend distributions. Many of the wealthy people you know of, including Warren Buffett, built their wealth by buying and accumulating stocks. After a period of time, the stocks gain capital value and they can accumulate to an enormous amount. Most of the pensions are invested in stocks. It is generally how wealth is built. So if you have decided you want to understand how to buy stocks, what’s the next step? Let’s take a look!

How to buy stocks – due diligence

OK, so you have decided that you want to built wealth by purchasing stocks. What sorts of due diligence should you use, to decide which stocks to purchase? There are different approaches to this. You could keep an extremely balanced portfolio by buying into an ‘index’, or a few indices!. An example of this is the S&P 500 – you can purchase a contract like a share, based on the movements of the S&P 500. If the top 500 stocks in America increase on average, you will see a gain in your trading account. You can also receive dividends from buying into these indices. If you want to remain hedged and balanced in purchasing into indices, you could buy into the indices which are present in different countries, such as the FTSE 100, in the UK, the S&P 500 in the USA, the Nikkei 225 in Japan etc.

If you want to purchase specific stocks based on careful research, you can carry out fundamental analysis based on the company’s key published information which is usually found in the company’s financial statements. If it’s a publicly traded company, you can find the financial statements online. The analysis you can do is to look at the company’s profit statement and balance sheet – to see how healthy they are. If you do not understand how to read a company’s set of financial statements, don’t worry! We have articles prepared by an ex chartered accountant (me) that will help you, below. Navigate with the link below to the Fundamental Analysis part of this blog and you will find lots of helpful articles on understanding a balance sheet, understanding a profit statement, how dividends affect a share price, and more!

Fundamental Analysis – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

I am also sharing my videos on understanding a profit statement and balance sheet, here:

Another aspect of understanding a company’s financial position, is to understand whether it is a going concern, and will be for the foreseeable future. Please see my video on things to watch out for in a set of financial statements, here:

Aside from fundamental analysis, you can also undertake technical analysis from looking at the stock charts. I offer lots of guidance on how you can carry out technical analysis on this blog, here:

Structured course – how to trade the stock market – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

and you can watch me doing this on my Youtube channel, here:

Trader-Pro – YouTube

Something that can really help you to understand stock charts, is by subscribing to the platform, Trading View. This platform is absolutely amazing for sorting your watchlists and organising your potential opportunities. I can offer a discount to the trading view software. Click the button below for the discount, while it lasts!

I’m showing you below a screen shot of my chart on the NASDAQ – it can be fully annotated with notes about significant events, just as one example of how versatile this chart software is!

Get a discount to the chart software, Trading View

I hope this resolved any queries you have on the due diligence aspect of ‘how to buy stocks’.

How long should you hold stocks for?

OK, so you have decided you want to buy stocks to generate wealth and you have researched using our tools on fundamental analysis, which stocks or indices to buy. Now you are wondering how long to hold them for. There is no set rule for this, but if you want to generate significant wealth, it is helpful to hold them for ten years or more. Please see my video on the power of compounding, here:

Holding stocks for over ten years can generate significant levels of wealth as they compound in value like a snowball. The answer to how long you should hold them depends on the level of wealth you want to generate. If you want to retire early as a millionaire, which is completely doable, you should hold them for over ten years. The younger you start, the better – ATTENTION, YOUNG READERS!

So how do you actually buy the stocks?

You can buy stocks either outright where you own the underlying asset, or you can buy through a CFD or spread betting account. Note the latter two types of accounts will attract fees for holding the positions overnight. There are many brokers that do not charge you for holding positions overnight such as Trading 212 (I have no affiliation with them but I do use them myself for holding long term positions without leverage).

If you hold positions in a spread betting or CFD account you are able to buy more assets than you actually have the cash for! I explain this on my margin blogs and videos, linked below. You will not own the underlying assets in these scenarios, so the dividends will be lower too:

Leverage and Margin – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

I hope you found this article helpful on how to buy stocks. Perhaps if you did, you can leave a comment below. I would love to hear from you, and answer any questions you might have.

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/Traderpro8320

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.

How to start trading – everything you need to know!

How to start trading – everything you need to know!

Sophia Trades

In this article i’m going to explain everything you need to know about how to start trading. I will explain to you how to build a plan, understand the markets and this blog contains a lot of free information about the different tools you can use to help you in your trading. Let’s get started!

How to start trading – the best place to start!

The best place to start in understanding how to start trading, is to ensure you have a broad understanding of the financial markets, and how they work. To get you started with this, i’ve linked below a video I posted for beginner traders, explaining how the markets work and how to read a stock chart:

OK, so now that you understand how markets work and how to read the charts, the next step in understanding how to start trading, is that you must also put together a trading plan. The trading plan article i’ve linked below, is based on ‘technical analysis’ but you may wish to be a trader who focuses on fundamental analysis. I’ve linked below another article examining the difference between these methods of trading:

Fundamental or Technical Analysis – which one makes more money? – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

I’m now going to share with you, my key article on how to create a trading plan, but you can tailor this to include parameters based on ‘fundamental analysis’ instead of ‘technical analysis’ in order to suit your preferences. Here is the key article I published, on how to create a trading plan:

How to create a Trading Plan – make big wins trading – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

In the trading plan article, I outline they key steps to help you create and execute a trading plan, including risk management, a trading strategy (this is where you decide what method will determine how you will decide to enter each trade), and risk to reward ratio.

Risk management is an extremely important topic and you must understand this and how to use leverage and a margin account, before you commence trading so in light of this, I also recommend you read the articles on this section of the blog:

Risk Management – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

In particular, I recommend you read one which outlines how to manage risk, and also, explaining what leverage and margin is:

How to manage risk – make money trading – Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market

Edit Post “What is leverage in trading? Everything you need to know!” ‹ Trader Pro – Learn how to Trade the Stock Market — WordPress

Once you have understood the basics about how the markets work, and you now understand how to create a trading plan and manage it with proper risk management, and you understand how to avoid getting a margin call, you will be in a good place to start trading. You can also see the key technical indicators I recommend, on this blog, by reviewing my ‘chart analysis’ page. This shows you a real trader applying technical analysis to the charts and the idea of this section of the blog is to show you how you can apply this analysis in exercising your own due diligence before entering trades, and build this type of technical knowledge into your own trading plan, and journey.

I would like to wish you the best of luck on your trading journey!

I hope you found this article helpful.

Disclaimer!

Nothing on this blog should be taken as financial advice or encouragement for you to enter a trade.  You are expected to speak to a financial adviser or carry out your own due diligence before entering any positions.  Everything on this blog is made for educational purposes and to equip you with the knowledge you need to be able to make your own financial decisions.

For more great tips and advice on trading the stock market, please visit:

https://sophiatrades.co.uk

To watch me trade live please visit my patreon page here:

https://www.patreon.com/Traderpro8320

Finally, if you would like to receive a discount on the Trading View charting software I use, please click on the relevant link here:

https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=117138

Please note any subscriptions taken via my affiliate link with Trading View may result in me earning a small commission.  However, I provide complete transparency on me using Trading View personally – I publish my success on the financial markets via my broker reports and any profits earned were done so by using my own Trading View subscription,  so I genuinely do recommend them and have been using the Trading View charts for many years.