Stephen L.Littauer – How to Buy Stocks the Smart Way

These two aids for inexperienced investors share the premise that common stocks provide the best opportunity for individuals to create wealth. Littauer (How To Buy Mutual Funds the Smart Way, Dearborn, 1992) provides a basic explanation of stock market terms, surveys industry groups, and highlights stocks he considers the best opportunity for the average investor. Though all those stocks are worthwhile, the information on them is somewhat dated, eg, some of the stocks are from companies that have been taken over. Littauer favors making systematic purchases and reinvesting dividends, and he provides a list of companies offering dividend reinvestment plans. Slatter, a stock broker for 30 years, gives a less complete introduction to the investment vocabulary. He describes several systematic ways of investing that culminate in his own formula for picking stocks-one that, he claims, routinely beats the market. This book is likely to appeal to beginners who are comfortable with a calculator. Both titles are recommended for business collections.
Joseph Barth, US Military Acad. Lib., West Point, NY
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Stock trading course: Learn about Stock trading

A stock trader or equity trader or share trader is a person or company involved in trading equity securities.
Stock traders may be an agent, hedger, arbitrageur, speculator, stockbroker.
Such equity trading in large publicly traded companies may be through a stock exchange.
Stock shares in smaller public companies may be bought and sold in over-the-counter (OTC) markets.

Stock traders can trade on their own account, called proprietary trading, or through an agent authorized to buy and sell on the owner’s behalf.
Trading through an agent is usually through a stockbroker. Agents are paid a commission for performing the trade.

Major stock exchanges have market makers who help limit price variation (volatility) by buying and selling a particular company’s shares on their own behalf and also on behalf of other clients.