To tell the truth, with only $500, you can really only afford stocks below $20-30 a share (more like below $10-15, but maybe you could get off with some margin). If you target any stocks above that, the share count would be too little to make a difference, and factoring in commissions, you might be bleeding your own capital from trying to trade quickly.
Nike (NKE) costs $77.68/share, and Adidas (ADDYY) costs $50.27/share, as of current.
There is no average cost of a stock. Every company costs differently. Some big name companies are cheap, while some small name companies are expensive. It all varies.
Not very fast with $500. With beginner experience, and taking the easy route of just buying blue chips (big name companies that basically can't go bankrupt) and holding them for a long time, you might be able to make a couple hundred (maybe) after a month or two. Depends on the stock, really.
How does Trading Work? I can say you that take a look at this site ( http://forexsignal.kyma.info ) may be it can help you. It 's one of the best course about trading. It seems like Trading is almost totally based on Macro-economics. It also strikes me that since there are not nearly as many currencies as there are stocks/bonds/derivatives etc etc, there must be a large number of market players in each currency bracket. So logically, currencies must be very liquid true? Also, what is the risk of Currency trading, high or low? When I read the business section every day I notice that the Canadian loonie moves hardly a tenth of a cent on a regular basis (in comparison to the US dollar). So it seems like theres very little room for growth in currencies unless you leverage. On that note, whats the maximum leverage permitted for forex trading. I know in stocks its x2, and in derivatives its x10. Anyway the only way to know how to start a profitable buisness is by following some methods like the one that I suggested.
Thats a really good question! $500.00 is a good place to start. However, in the greater scheme of investing, $500.00 isn't that much. Sorry:(. But no need to be discouraged. Look for stocks that you can "buy and hold". When I say "buy and hold" I mean stocks that will benefit you in the long run. Thats what Warren Buffet does, and he is one of the richest men in the world. I'm not sure about etrade, but Scottrade doesn't classify you as a day-trader until your account is worth $ 40,000 or $50,000. A day-trader is where you buy and sell large amounts of stock and sell it in a single day. REMEMBER, this is important. DON'T put all your eggs in one basket. For example if you buy $500, and all your shares are in the technology industry and all of a sudden the technology industry crashes you will looses all your money. No Bueno! (The technology industry isn't going to crash, technology is integrated into our society and is the future, so don't worry, it was just an example). The point being...diversify your portfolio. Buy some stocks in the technology industry, buy some in the medical industry, buy some in the automotive industry...etc. All examples. A great way to do this is to buy mutual funds. Mutual funds are fund you can buy like a stock, but it has a bunch of stock in it from various industries. They are usually a safe, and good investment for the longterm. And be sure not to buy out of emotion. Just because GoPro (GPRO) is your favorite camera company, does not make it a good investment. Use your resources. Yahoo finance is great, you can make your own simulation portfolio, it doesn't cost you anything. Watch the news, and keep up with what is going on with society. Mad Money with Jim Kramer on MSNBC is a great show. He knows his stuff, he is energetic, and the show is fun to watch. He makes a sometimes boring topic fun. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. So when you do your research, and you have the opportunity you can make a lot of money. And reading books is a great idea, and I am sure etrade has some type of knowledge center or platform to help you make a wise decision when buying stocks.
The average cost of stock is hard to determine. It varies buy industry, time of the year and so many factors. So I can't give you a solid answer there, sorry. Stocks have ticker symbols As you have seen me write above (GoPr=GPRO or Apple=AAPL) I think Adidas is traded in a foreign market, so you might want to hold off an that for a while. Nike's tikker symbol is NKE, and there tock price is just under $80 per share. It is not a bad stock, pretty stable. They are in pretty much every sport worldwide, and there is always some sport being played during every month of the year. You see where I am headed. If you have anymore question feel free to ask. You are on a great start.
P.S. DON'T listen to "penny stocks". To do well with those you need to buy 1000 shares and sell them before the day is out. It is a waste of time.
P.P.S. Apple (AAPL) just had a 7:1 (seven to one) stock split. So for every share you had, you got 7 more. They decreased the price of the stock to entice more buyers. So the stock price is now around $90 when it was about 7 times that so $630 a share.
What you can do is consult any financial adviser who can guide you in making financial strategy. Last year my financial adviser gave me wrong advice and i lost about 800$ that month. After that I choose a reliable source for my financial strategy. http://buildtruewealth.net/ helped me to make a profitable investment strategy for me.
Good luck and be careful in investing. .
It depends on your knowledge & intelligence and luck. Only sky is the limit.
I was wondering how much money I could make by investing in stocks. I saw that I would need $500 to open an account on etrade. So if I opened an account on etrade, and started out with $500, what kind of stocks would I be able to buy? How much do nike and Adidas stocks cost? And what is the average cost of a stock? How fast could I make money? And how much would I make? I know a little but about stocks, but not much. Any help would be appreciated. I'm going to read a few books about investing and stocks from the library.
