Trading Tools

Trading has begun and it turns out that CNBC doesn't give us much in terms of trading tools. I imagine that those of you playing without the services of a broker are at a pretty big disadvantage. I recommend you get one, at least so that you've got a decent watchlist to work with. Here are my suggestions:

(1) Sign up for an online share trading account with a broker such as Comsec, eTrade or BrokerOne. That should give you free access to price data (delayed by 20 mins), charts, financial data and analyst forecasts. Usually, this is all accessed through the brokers website once the account is setup.

Alternatively...

(2) There are some futures brokers that offer free trials of their trading platforms for a limited number of days (typically 20). Of course, you're only interested in the futures brokers that also deal with stocks/equities. Although it is called a "simulation", during the 20 days you get access to real stock price and volume data (with a 20 min delay of course) as well as charts, news, etc. It usually involves registering your name and email with them and installing the trading platform software on your PC. Due to the demanding nature of futures trading, these platforms are typically more powerful than a broker's website service and offer many more features. A few brokers that offer a free trial are Sonray, BrokerOne and GetFinancial.

With a broker you can at least get reliable price data, charts, fundamental data, analyst forecasts, news and a decent watchlist feature. Of course you'll still have to place all your trades through the CNBC website but at least you'll have a better idea on what are the right trades.