| I started investing in the early 1990s. Even if I had wanted to, it wouldn't have been easy to be an active trader. To place a trade, I had to call the broker, sometimes wait on hold, give my instructions, and wait for a confirmation. There was also the commission of $49 per trade, which put a big dent in your returns. Less than 10 years later, I could trade online, and I had access to all the charts and information that I needed. Today it's even faster, easier, and cheaper, as commissions are at or near zero. It's not just a matter of trading stocks and traditional options. Traders now have the ability to trade fast-moving vehicles like crypto, options that expire at the end of the day, and "prediction markets," where they can bet on sports, political outcomes, weather, and pretty much anything else you can think of. ("Prediction markets"... I'm sure Billy the Bookie taking bets in the back of the corner bar wishes he had come up with that genius branding.) Speaking of taking bets, 38 states allow you to gamble on sports, and there are a handful of states that have legal online poker and online casinos. You can also walk into a physical casino in 44 states. Basically, if you're looking for action, you can find it - especially now that some brokerages, such as Interactive Brokers and Robinhood, will allow you to place a bet on whether Timothée Chalamet or Michael B. Jordan will win the Oscar for Best Actor right alongside your purchase of Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) shares. It's only a matter of time before the big banks start taking bets too, not wanting to miss out on that revenue. While that kind of action can be fun, with so many ways to speculate (and potentially lose), it's more important than ever to make sure your long-term investments are secured before betting on the Oklahoma City Thunder to repeat as NBA champions or on which recording artist will have the most Spotify listeners at the end of February. (For anyone curious, Bad Bunny is favored over Bruno Mars, Drake, and Taylor Swift.) |
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