When trading stocks online, you need to do so with the conviction that your decisions have been based on sound reasoning born out of extensive monitoring of the markets. But to do that, you need to understand some of the factors that can cause fluctuations in prices. These include:

• Performance: If a company is enjoying a productive sales year, its share price will increase. Conversely, if they are struggling financially, this will be reflected by a drop in value.
• Industry updates: Any major news or developments in a sector – for example, new legislation that could impact the companies in that space – are likely to cause a shift in the market.
• Commodity prices: Physical assets such as oil and gas are among the most popular commodities. Any major changes in these prices are likely to have a knock-on effect on the share values of the corporations in that sector.
• Company updates: Major announcements – such as an acquisition of a competitor – are likely to impact a corporation's value and influence your decision to trade stocks in it.

Find out more in our comprehensive guide to the factors  that impact share prices.

Stock trading online has to be done your way, with a method that suits your situation and objectives. There are a few different strategies you can adopt, the most common of which we've outlined below:

• Day trading: Opening and closing positions within the same day.
• Trend trading: Studying historic price movements to identify potential opportunities.
• Swing trading: Maintaining a position as prices move in one direction towards a predicted peak or trough, at which point you close before performance reverses.

You can find more in-depth information in our guide to stock trading strategies.

In order to prevent Alpaca Brokerage Account customers from unintentionally being designated, the Alpaca Trading platform checks the PDT rule condition every time an order is submitted from a customer. If the order could potentially result in the account being flagged as a PDT, the order is rejected.

When you invest in Apple and other US shares through us, you pay just $0.01 per share with a $1 minimum commission per trade.

Alpaca Securities LLC is a US-based broker-dealer that provides stock trading and other financial services. It is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and executes all trades transmitted by Tradu. All Stock clients are required to consent to the Terms of Business for Alpaca who are responsible for the execution and custody of your stock trading.

Clients will be charged $0.01 per share with a minimum commission of $1. Please check our Rate card for more information on the latest rates. A commission fee is charged at the time of executing an order. For traders with USD denominated accounts, the SEC and FINRA charge a Trading Activity Fee at the time of sale. The SEC charges $8.00 for every $1,000,000 (or $0.000008 per dollar), and FINRA charges $145 for every 1,000,000 shares (or $0.000145 per share) sold up to a maximum of $7.27 per trade. The relevant regulatory fees imposed by the SEC or FINRA will be debited directly from your account.

We will supports trading symbols which have recently begun trading publicly on major exchanges such as the NYSE and NASDAQ.

• We will only be able to accept limit orders prior to the security’s first trade on the exchange
• Once an IPO begins trading on an exchange, market orders are accepted

Pattern Day Trader (PDT) protection is a feature that help traders avoid violating the PDT rule. The PDT rule is a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation that requires traders to maintain a minimum equity balance of $25,000 in their account if they execute four or more day trades within a five-business-day period. PDT protection will automatically prevent traders from placing day trades if they are at risk of violating the rule. The current number of day trades that have been made in the last 5 trading days (inclusive of today) is visible in the Summary section of your Portfolio.

Yes, shares can be transferred outwards, if going to an ACAT eligible institution. Please speak to our customer support representative if you require the forms to proceed with a Share Transfer. Please speak first to your existing broker if you want to transfer stocks into your Tradu stock account and our customer support team can then assist you with the relevant information they require.

The Withdrawal Amount is the amount of money that you can transfer or withdraw from your stock account at any given time. You can’t withdraw funds from the Stocks account prior to settlement. For most stock trades, settlement takes two business days after the sell date, and the Withdrawal Amount will update automatically once the trade has settled. Cash balance refers to the amount of money that an investor has available to purchase securities. Funds not yet settled are not available for transfer or withdrawal, but may be included in your current cash balance.

Extended Hours trading is available from: Pre-market: 4:00am – 9:30am ET, Monday to Friday After-hours: 4:00pm – 8:00pm ET, Monday to Friday Only limit day orders will be accepted as extended hours eligible. All other order types and TIFs will be rejected. Fractional shares and orders with notional sizes are not available during extended hours trading.

Day – A DAY order is eligible for execution only on the day it is live. By default, the order is only valid during Regular Trading Hours (9:30am – 4:00pm ET). If unfilled after the closing auction, it is automatically canceled. If submitted after the close, it is queued and submitted the following trading day. However, if marked as eligible for extended hours, the order can also execute during supported extended hours. Good until Canceled (GTC) – A GTC order remains eligible for execution until canceled. Fill or Kill (FOK) – A FOK order is only executed if the entire order quantity can be filled, otherwise the order is canceled. Immediate Or Cancel (IOC) – An IOC order requires all or part of the order to be executed immediately. Any unfilled portion of the order is canceled.

A stop (market) order is an order to buy or sell a security when its price moves past a particular point, ensuring a higher probability of achieving a predetermined entry or exit price. Once the order is triggered, the stop order becomes a market order. A stop order does not guarantee the order will be filled at a certain price after it is converted to a market order. In order to submit a stop order, you will need to specify the stop price.

A limit order is an order to buy or sell at a specified price or better. A buy limit order (a limit order to buy) is executed at the specified limit price or lower (i.e., better). Conversely, a sell limit order (a limit order to sell) is executed at the specified limit price or higher (better). Unlike a market order, you have to specify the limit price when submitting your order. While a limit order can prevent slippage, it may not be filled for quite a bit of time, if at all. For a buy limit order, if the market price is within your specified limit price, you can expect the order to be filled. If the market price is equivalent to your limit price, your order may or may not be filled; if the order cannot immediately execute against resting liquidity, then it is deemed non-marketable and will only be filled once a marketable order interacts with it. You could miss a trading opportunity if price moves away from the limit price before your order can be filled.