Stock Market Education
Stock market traders The stock market often seems like an exciting and lucrative idea to anyone who has money to invest. But trading on the stock market is very complex and often confusing. Anybody who wants to delve into this field of high-rollers would be well advised to build up on their stock market education before outlaying any of their hard earned money. First time stock traders are strongly advised to spend time reading a few stock market tutorial articles if they want to succeed in their ventures.
However, in the United States, to become a professional commodity broker, one has to take the General Securities Representative Exam - often referred to as Series 7. Most states also require the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination - also known as Series 63. A person must be sponsored by "a member firm, a self-regulatory organization (SRO), or an exchange" if he wants to take the test. The administration of the test as well as the requirements for it comes under the jurisdiction of FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Commodity broker
In the past commodity brokers traded in grain and livestock futures contracts, but today they also trade a wide variety of financial products based on foods, currencies, equities, bonds, metals, energies, stock indexes and an ever growing list of other underlying assets.
The stock market
A stock market or equity market is where economic transaction are carried out for the trading of company stocks and byproducts at an agreed price. The largest stock exchange in the US, in terms of the amount of stock it trades, is the New York Stock Exchange. Other major stock exchanges in the world include the Tokyo Stock exchange, London Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Stock exchange and many more in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
The size of the world Stock market is currently estimated to be worth more than $50 trillion US and the total world derivatives market is estimated at something over $800 trillion at face value; eleven times the size of the entire world economy.
General Securities Representative Exam (Series 7)
The General Securities Representative Exam lasts six hours and has a total of 260 questions which cover various forms of investments. Candidates need to answer 70% of the questions correctly in order to be granted a Series 7/General Securities license. This license is a must for any agent who wants to deal with retail investors; many accounts managers, analysts and other executives of Brokers and Dealers hold Series 7 licenses.
Uniform Securities Agent State law Exam (Series 63)
Developed by North American Securities Administrators Association, the oldest organization created to protect consumers who purchase securities or investment advice and is administered by FINRA. This examination is required if candidates want to qualify as securities agents; almost all states need this as a condition of state registration. What are tested here are the candidates understanding of state law and regulations as well as rules that prohibit unethical and dishonest business practices.
Stock market education strategy
Whether you are interested in trying to make extra money by investing in the stock market, or you want to become a professional commodities broker, the main thing to understand is that you need to educate yourself. There are a number of ways to do this ranging from traditional classroom settings to mentor/apprenticeship relations. But that all depends on how seriously you want to delve into this business and whether you want to make a career out of it.