New Arrivals To Online Trading Should Start With Sound Strategy The first rule is preserving capital, then picking a broker that suits your needs for speed and accuracy.(B)(Mutual Weekly Special)

By Peter McKenna

Investor's Business Daily

Imagine finding yourself in the following situation: After working for several years, you have to quit your job and stay home to care for your ailing mother.

For five years you have been reading newspapers and watching TV, learning as much as you can about the stock market.

You need extra income and the idea of trading online from home is becoming an obsession. You've read the stories about people mak

ing fortunes online, and you've seen the brokerage ads that made it all look soeasy - at least until the market cratered earlier this year.

The problem is that you know absolutely nothing about how to get started. In fact, you don't even own a computer. You have $45,000 in savings, and you are anxious to buy a computer and start trading. But where do you start?

Primer For Going Online

This is the situation faced by an IBD reader in Dodge City, Kan., who wrote to us asking for help. For him, and for other readers who also want to trade online, the following is a primer on online trading.

"The first problem this gentleman faces," said Eric Alexander, …