If you have

never traded stocks and shares before

, then you need to learn how the markets work before you start investing real money in your new project. Because the stock markets are constantly moving and changing, for a beginner to start working with large sums immediately is inadvisable. Anyone can trade on the stock market and if you have some money in savings that is otherwise of no use (e.g. it isn’t currently in a high-interest account or being used to invest),  then the stock market is a good way to make that money work for you. However, trading can be a lot like gambling so do be aware of what the consequences are.

Follow Stock Prices

The first thing you should do is start following a few of the

best stocks

on the market. Write down a few companies you would like to follow and then track them over a few days to see how the market fluctuates and what might have happened had you invested money. You can do this on

an online broker platform

, where you will also have other tools to allow you to track each company. The benefit of doing this is that you will learn how the market moves and how quickly you will need to make a decision about when to buy and when to sell. As you aren’t using any money, you are practising without any risk to your finances and you can continue to work like this until you feel confident that you know what you are doing.

Learn Through Play

The next thing to do is to start playing. Learning through play is always a good way to put together everything you have learned and a site like Kapitall is ideal. The aim of the site is to allow you to trade stocks and shares as though you are on a video game. This aids you by providing a familiar platform, and yet it still provides you with all the information you will need to make an informed decision. You can read a

Kapitall review

to find out more about how it works. When you are confident that you have played well, you can also use Kapitall to start making real investments with your money.

Start Small

Given

the number of Americans who can’t find $400 in an emergency

, it seems that a word of caution is a good idea at this stage. Trading is much like gambling and comes with a rush of adrenaline, whatever the outcome. This can make it quite addictive so be wary of becoming more and more rash in your pursuit of the big bucks. When you are finally ready to move on to real trading, the first rule is simple: start small. However tempted you are to go big in the hopes of winning big, you need to remember that at any moment you could stand to lose your entire investment. This is why you need to start small and only invest the money you can afford to lose.