STEP 5:
Finalize / Execute Your 1st Stock Purchase
You are now just a few clicks away from hitting the "Place Order" button. Its just like finalizing buying something online, but its way more exciting because you can make money from this purchase!
The next screen, is where you will type in how many share you want to buy, and if you want to place a "market" or "limit" order which I will explain. There are other options, but lets stick with market and limit to get started!
1st - type in how many shares you want to buy. You can use the calculator to help you do the math, its simple. In this case the stock we are showing is trading at $0.93 a share. If I want to buy 1000 shares it will cost $930.00. You can buy as much or as little as you want. We will work on the math later, for now lets just try buying our first stock. TYPE IN THE AMOUNT YOU WANT TO BUY!
2nd - You can select "Market Order" or "Limit Order" from the drop down. If you select market order, eTrade will buy the stock at whatever price it is trading at, as soon as you click "Place Order" on the next screen.
If you select "limit order", this allows you to control the maximum your willing to buy the stock at, or the minimum your willing to sell at if your selling.
In this case I can set the limit price at $1.00. If the stock is trading, the second I click "Place Order", at $0.94 it will buy it at $0.94. It simply sets a limit on your maximum price your willing to pay for the stock. So go ahead and type in your limit price, I will use $1.00 for this buy.
After typing in your limit amount, select the green "Preview" button, this will allow you to see the order prior to placing it, just one more step!