Super Sites for Online Investors

Is the roller-coaster stock market making you feel a little queasy? No wonder: The daily gyrations of key market indexes is enough to make anyone reach for the Dramamine. Another remedy--when taken in appropriate doses--is staying abreast of the market using the Internet. Investment Web sites can help you quickly research stocks for free, a task that once took days and hundreds of dollars to do.

But using the Internet for research does not guarantee good results. The Internet is "rife with disinformation that has cost hapless investors dearly," says John Emshwiller, author of Ameritrade, a colorful account of Net-based investment gurus and scalawags. "For example, many people bought into the hype on some of the more speculative tech stocks this March and April, and many got badly burned."

In this article, we'll introduce you to some first-rate online resources (and a few personal favorites) for investors, and we'll provide tips for using them safely and profitably. We've grouped sites according to the type of investor they cater to. First up is a look at sites for new investors. Then we'll explore offerings for each of the three basic types of stock market players: long-term investors, swing traders (more-active traders who can stand more risk), and day traders.

We'll focus on the most frequently traded securities, common stocks. But sites offer information on many other types of investments, including bonds, mutual funds, and more esoteric moneymakers such as real estate investment trusts, or REITs. If you already use an online broker, that service probably offers resources you should become familiar with. The pickings are slim at some sites, such as Charles Schwab but The Motley Fool. impressed us with its wealth of resources, especially for new investors. For more on what we think of the various online investing services, see "Trading Up" from the May 2000 issue of PC World magazine.