Before you open an account with a stock broker it would be better to have some idea of investment in stock trading. Several stock trading sites have education sections where they provide detailed information about important issues in stock trading. The topics may be discussed under several heads and sub heads.

In 'what is a stock' category, you may find the definition of a stock, why you should buy a stock, risks in stock investments, types of investments and finally what is a ticker symbol.

In 'How stocks trade' category, you may find topics such as what is stock market, primary and secondary markets, NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX and so on. You may also learn about OTCBB and penny stocks.

You may get an idea about stock charts, news flashes, price quotes and how they help in stock research. In trading mechanics section you can learn about order types, order expiration and trading cycles.

After you get some idea of stock trading basics, you are taught about how to open an account. You learn about the types of account, how to fund your account, how to design your investment plan, what are real time trades, how you track your investments and so on.

Open your account

The account opening process is usually very simple and short. It hardly takes five minutes to open an account. As you open an account, you may have several doubts and questions. The account opening page contains help sections which provides answers to all your possible questions.

Several stock brokers put up demonstration videos which explain the stock account opening process step by step in simple and easy-to-understand language.

Fund your account

Opening an account by itself cannot work unless you put some money in it for trading or investing in stocks. The account funding process is quite simple as well. Funds can be transferred electronically. For that you must open a bank account and know your account number and routing number. Just look at your check from your check book. It contains your bank and routing account number for your bank account. Electronic funding does not cost you anything.

Once you have set up a bank account, you can start a scheduled electronic funding from that account. For that you will have to decide how you would like to schedule your funding. Would it be one time, daily, weekly or monthly funding? If you have multiple bank accounts, you may have to choose which account to fund your stock trade from. You may also have to select a starting date for your fund transfer.

You may also fund your account with a wire transfer or by simply mailing your check. Wire transfers are immediate. The money is credited into your account on the next business day.

Wire transfer, however, is a bit costly. It may take you around $25 to wire a fund transfer. Mailing a check requires only fixing postal stamps. It takes nearly 10 business days for processing the check after it is received by your broker.

Your stock broker may ask you to mail or fax a photocopy of your photo ID and signature along with a valid driver's license before funds are transferred. This kind of documentation is not necessary for only opening the account but it is also required to ensure the safety of funds transfer from your account.

Scheduled Investment Plan

Scheduled investment plans are a great way of building wealth in stock trading. The first step is to fund your account with your stock broker before your investment plan starts.

Selecting a scheduled investment plan is easy. There are several scheduled investment plans. You have to choose one according to your budget and personal needs. You can select what amount you want to invest and break it up between different investments. Investments are broken up either by the dollar amount or the percentage of the total investment amount.

Scheduled investment plan can be set up to start on any day of the week. You can modify your plan, remove or add any scheduled investment plan any time. It must be noted that your funds for scheduled investment plan must reach your account by 1.00 pm on the trading day prior to the scheduled investment day.

Your scheduled investment plan will not be executed if your funds are not made available by this time. Contact your stock broker for the convenient funding options to meet the cut off time. You may use one-time and recurring ACH electronic transfers, check deposits or wire transfers.