Different brokers might have slightly different online interfaces, but they all share common features. This includes a search bar where you can look for the companies you’ve already decided to invest in, a stock ticker that will scroll from one side to another to show you live market prices, and also a section where you can place an order to buy or sell stocks. 

Here are a few key things to understand about buying and selling stocks: 

First, shares or stocks are sold in ‘lots’ of 100 shares at a time, so while the price may be RM1 per share (for example), you will actually be buying or selling them in multiples of 100. 

Second, stocks are traded only during trading hours. In the case of Bursa Malaysia, trading sessions take place on weekdays (except public holidays and other ‘market holidays’) and are divided into two sessions: the morning session from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm, and the afternoon session from 2.30 pm to 4.50 pm.

Lastly, on your trading platform, you may see the words “Market Order” and “Limit Order”; Market Order means that you are asking to buy or sell immediately, whereas Limit Order is a more advanced option that tells the system to buy or sell only when the stock price hits a target that you set.

If you’d like to learn more about the basics of investing, click here or to get more information on how to buy and sell stocks, click here.