Where To Start?

As I have mentioned in my previous article,  research isinvesting101-product one of the most important steps in making the right decision when selecting an investment. Doing research could be very time consuming. It not only takes time, but also it is of vital importance to know how to analyze the data being presented. After that, you will be able to select the most relevant information to make an informed decision. One of my favorite online courses is “Investing 101”. This course gave me all the basics to become a knowledgeable investor. One of the chapters called “Fundamental Analysis” was very useful in helping me understand how to analyze all the data being presented in several reports. To be honest, at the beginning I was completely lost with all the numbers and financial information available online. Investing 101 is a beginners investing course for those who want to learn how to trade. I have tried a several online investing courses and by far this is my favorite one! Back on track, I have also mentioned that one of the best sites to do this kind of research is “HowTheMarketWorks”. This site has everything and the best part is that it is completely free.

There is a section on the website called Quotes, where you just have to insert the symbol of a desired company and within seconds you will have a vast amount of information available about that specific company.

1. Company

This is the first place I visit to learn more about the company I’m interested in. In this page you can see general information, such as a brief description of the company, their address, phone, website, email, CEO, number of employees, Sector, industry, NAICS, just to name a few.

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2. News and Media

Also, I like to see the most recent news about the company to know what is going on. It is very important to be aware of all the important changes happening in the company. What’s more, it is important to see what the media is saying and how is the company perceived by others.

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3. Charts

Charts are a good and easy-to-read source of information. In HTMW you are able to see intraday (very helpful to devise short-term trading strategies), 5days, 2 weeks,1 month and a variety of other charts. Also, you can see them in different formats like line, OHLC, candle and area.  

4. Financials

In this section you will be able to see balance sheets, income statements and cash flow (annually or quarterly). It is very important to know how to analyze this kind of data. Financial information will help you to evaluate a company’s performance and value. It will give you an idea of the company’s success and competence. In other words, it provides information about the overall health of the company.

5. SEC fillings

SEC Filings are formal documents that are submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In this section you can select your filing type: annual reports, quarterly reports, proxies and info statements, insider transactions, registration statements and comment letters. What I really like about this site is that all this information is available for free and you can download them into a word, excel or pdf document. With all this information you will be able to have a clear view of the company's history, progress and a glimpse of it's future.

6. Analyst

These are specialists that have done the analysis work for you. I always like to take a look at this page and see others opinions. You shouldn’t make your final decision based solely on their opinion; you should just take them into consideration.

7. Historical

How the company has done in the past can give you an idea of how it will perform in the future. In this section you can select the start and end date and see various types of information such as: Open, High,Low,Close,Volume,Change,% Change, among other valuable data.

After using the tools on HTMW, I’m sure you will be able to make the right choices. Using a trading simulation  is very close to reality and what its really great about them  is if you are not sure of your investment strategy, you can practice trading with virtual money so you will be not risking anything. HTMW is available for free and using it will give you the confidence you need to start investing!

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