STOCKS

You can invest in stocks as a hedging strategy to protect your money from the effects of rising inflation. You can also invest in stocks to take advantage of economic growth – if an economy is improving, you might find that companies from that economy also grow.

Yes, you can speculate on real shares in the short term. Alternatively, you can consider stock trading, a more speculative form of investing often used with derivative products like CFDs. 

If you are ready to invest in stocks, here are three steps to follow:
Open a live investing account with CAPEX.com. Fill in a simple application form and create an investing account to start buying stocks in minutes.
Make a deposit. To trade with a live account, it is necessary to deposit funds. You can do this from the platform by clicking on the "Add funds" button.
Decide which stocks to invest in - you can choose from over 5000 international stocks from 10 major world exchanges with a click of a button.

Earnings Reports
Companies release their financial statements once every quarter. Depending on the outcome of these reports (positive or negative), stock prices can go up or down.

Big economic indicators
Gross domestic product (GDP) and retail sales reports can impact share prices – strong data can cause them to rise, while weak data can cause them to fall.

Public opinion
The view that the public and market participants have on a particular stock can drastically influence demand.

Interest rates
If interest rates are low, people might turn their attention to the stock market aiming to achieve greater returns than they might otherwise be able to if they saved their money in a bank account.

Value investing
This is how you can invest like Warren Buffett. He's been using this strategy since he first stepped into investing in the 1950s. Value stocks trade at low prices for several reasons. Some companies might be recovering from a difficult period. Others may have just faced legal or regulatory problems in the past. But once these companies recover, they have historically been solid investments. Investors like Buffett have made a fortune investing in the stocks of these companies, as they tend to outperform the general market over the long term.

Income investing
Income investing means selecting those investments that can deliver a steady stream of income over a certain period. These stocks pay dividend yields higher than the average yield of S&P stocks or other big US index. Historically, half the return on stocks has come from dividends. For that reason, stocks with high dividends tend to be the better performers over the long term. The high dividend yield is indicative of a company with strong fundamentals.
Many investors are looking for the combination of growth and income that high dividend stocks provide. High dividend stocks typically offer at least some downside protection during market declines. That is when investors realize the virtues of stocks that also produce income. Though they aren't always top performers in the short run, they tend to be some of the best stocks to own long-term.

Growth investing
These are stocks of companies that are growing faster than companies in the general stock market and even faster than their competitors. Most don't pay dividends, preferring to reinvest earnings to generate more growth. The return on growth stocks is in their rising stock price over the long term.
While they have strong potential for price growth, they can also be highly volatile. Though they usually lead the market during bull market runs, they often take the biggest hits in market declines. Still, growth stocks are among the best type to hold for a long-term return.

People invest in the stock market because it's exciting to take part in a company's success and have the chance to make profits. As always, investors should be cautious and conduct proper research to understand the risks involved.

Dollar-cost averaging is the practice of regularly investing a fixed dollar amount, regardless of the stock price. It is an effective way to develop a disciplined investing habit, be more efficient in how you invest and potentially lower your stress level and your costs.

Investing in stocks works differently than trading shares CFDs. Through investing, you can buy & own over 5000 unleveraged, real shares from 10 major world exchanges and then sell them when prices go up. You can pick your favorites from numerous industries and build a balanced portfolio while benefiting from better liquidity at lower costs.
If you choose to trade shares CFDs, you don’t own the real shares – you trade on their price movements (either up or down) and make profits when your predictions are correct. Additionally, you trade with leverage, potentially enlarging your gains but at increased risk.