By Suyeba Aslam
Your commercial awareness dose.
Stock trading, also known as an equity or shares market, has evolved from buying and
selling shares within publicly traded companies. Shares, are collectively built up, becoming stock to which are sold onto a marketplace called the ‘stock market’. Ownerships of any sort of shares means the trader or specific individual now has partial ownership of this corporation.
Evolving in the 18th century, the concept of stock exchange had arisen when goods where being imported and exported between Europe and Asia. The first-ever noted publicly-traded company listed on the stock exchange was the Dutch East India Company. However, due to there being a high-risk tolerance, it was not possible for the ship to be owned by a single individual as the goods on the ship were at risk of potentially being seized by pirates or damaged.
Thus, the evolution of the stock exchange- shares of the company would be bought and sold by others to prevent liability. As the stock exchange market had become much popular across Europe, traders were meeting in “Johnathan’s Coffee Shop” in London which had become the notable exchanging hub. By 1773, the coffee shop traders of London took over and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) was born. However, by 1825, the British government had decided to ban all stock trading due to the lack of official regulations.
Meanwhile, as business was booming in the UK, the United States had also decided to jump on the bandwagon. By 1970 in Philadelphia, the first American stock exchange had arisen alongside the development of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was built two years later, located on the infamous Wall Street till this day.
As technology is evolving with the times, the world of trading has simultaneously grown.
National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Exchange commonly
recognised as NASDAQ was the first-ever online trading platform to be created in 1971.
This new opportunity has allowed traders to buy-and-sell stocks from anywhere at any
time, at a much faster pace with the simple touch of a button.
Do you want to join the world of online trading? Read on to find out our top 5 favourite
online trading platforms…
Trading 212: Originating in London since 2004, Trading 212 is a free platform which allows
people to trade equities, Forex, commodities and so much more. It is allowing its
customers to invest from as little as £1 and according to their website they are “the first zero-commission stock trading service in the UK and Europe, unlocking the stock market for millions of people”.
Robin Hood: Set up almost a decade ago by two friends who met at Stanford University
(USA), Baiju and Vlad have created another existing commission-free online trading
platform. Robin Hood offers its customers to trade stock and funds, ETFs, commodities and cryptocurrency. Although the application does encounter a lot of steady competition, it is the only platform that offers commission-free cryptocurrency trading.
EToro: Established since 2007, EToro has created an online trading platform which is self-
proclaimed to be accessible to anyone from all over the globe, reducing their dependency on financial institutions. The corporation offers several different trading instruments ranging from commodities, currencies including cryptocurrencies, stocks and ETFs; and CFD trading. Traders are also able to use the platform using a long-term investment instrument called CopyPortfolio. To which allows users to have a readymade investment portfolio dependent on their financial assets and arranged marketing strategy.
TradeStation: A more exclusive platform- TradeStation aims for the higher market and for those who wish to execute trades in much higher figures. Their target audience has notably been traders who are affluent, with experience and are active. It is a platform great for those who wish to pay zero commission on trading securities such as stocks, Forex, futures and micro futures.
TD Ameritrade: Established since 1975, TD Ameritrade is one of the top leading online
trading platforms as it offers traders free tools, training and multiple trading instruments.
Perfect for traders who are first-timers as well as experienced and active. Operating on a zero commissions basis, traders can buy and sell stock, options, ETFs and a large variety of indices.
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