And today his dream has become a reality. e trading has become a way of investing in the developed world and is soon catching on in developing countries too. Imagine a scenario where you log on to your account, get the live quotes of scrips you are interested in, get advise from experts and research reports on your investment choice and then just click the mouse to place your order, pay the amount due (which automatically gets debited into your account with the on line brokerage firm), get your account statement, and the delivery of your shares into your DeMat account. All this through just the click of a mouse. Seems like a dream? But with online trading this has become a reality.

Sitting in ones own home or office or even from your car , as long as you can access the net, you can trade on the market. There are three basic things needed for e-trading, a bank account, a D-Mat account and a brokerage account. The steps in e-trading replicate the real life situation and are fairly simple to follow. Once these three accounts are opened, the money and shares are transferred to your bank and demat account automatically, electronically and without any paper work.

The first step is of course to open an account. One can open multiple accounts with himself or herself as the first name in the account. Then it is necessary to determine the type of account that you want and how you want to pay for the trades you make. Joint accounts are allowed but for that you will need to have certain information about those people. Accounts can be Individual, Joint, Sole Proprietorship, Corporate, or Partnership etc. The form filling requires simple personal details like Full legal name, Citizenship status, Residency status, employer's name and address, your passport\PAN number, Date of birth etc.

One can download the forms or request for them by post or even request for a representative of the firm to come over to help you with the form. Post-submitting, you are allotted a USER ID and PASSWORD while giving details for registration. Then an Account Reference Number is generated and displayed to you. These three things are unique to an individual and ensure security of transactions. The acceptance of the application is communicated by email.

Once you have got your USER ID and PASSWORD and your account has been set up, you can access the website and login using the same. The second step is then to Fund Your Account. In order to start trading online it is important that you deposit money in your bank account before placing a buy order. In order to place a sell order you must have shares in your DEMAT Account. You can sell your shares anytime as long as shares are there in your DEMAT Account. In order to place a buy order you need to fund your account. You can do this by depositing money in your bank account or else you can sell some shares existing in your demat account and use the proceeds of sale to fund your purchase transaction. The amount of money required before placing a buy order would depend on the value of order and the type of e-invest account you have enrolled for - whether cash or margin. In a Margin account one can use a line of credit to buy marginable securities or for overdraft protection. Such an account is opened after taking into consideration Annual income, Net worth, description of your investment objectives, as it involves lending a line of credit. In a cash account, the amount of securities bought has to be backed by the cash in the account.

Then comes placing the order. For this you enter your Trading password and go to trade. From the Trading tab, select Enter Order under the Stocks heading. Select a transaction type: Buy, Sell. At 'Number of Shares', type the number of shares that you want to buy. At 'Stock Symbol or Name(s)', type the stock symbol. If you don't know the symbol click 'Find Symbol', type the company name, click 'Search' and click the symbol that you want from the list. For a market order, select 'Market'. Otherwise, select 'Limit', 'Stop' or 'Stop Limit' and enter the price. 'Market Order': you just ask the broker to buy or sell your stocks at the best price available. 'Limit Order': you tell the broker to trade only when the stock hits a certain price or better. 'Stop Order': you tell the broker to sell your shares if the stock drops below a certain price. Select either 'Good for Day' or 'Good Until Canceled'. If you want to place an 'All-or-None' order, click 'All or None'. Type your trading password and click 'Preview Order'. If you want to change your order, click 'Cancel' and make your changes.

To see if your order has been executed and filled as you expect, check your account balance. The 'Account Balances' page shows your account equity (the value of your account) and your buying power. To check your account balance, click the 'Accounts Services' tab, make sure the correct account number displays at 'Select Account' and click 'Go'. At 'Total Account Value', see your account balance.

If an order to buy or sell stock hasn't been executed yet, you might be able to change or cancel the order. Orders that you have placed but for which you haven't yet received execution reports appear when you click 'View Open Orders' under the 'Stocks' heading of the 'Trading' tab. To change a stock order from the 'Trading' tab, select 'View Open Orders', make sure you're currently in the correct account, the click 'Change' beside the order you want to change. Enter your change or changes - you can change the quantity, price, and term. For a new price, select the appropriate option button and then enter the price (unless you're changing it to a market order). You cannot change the stock symbol or the transaction type (Buy, Sell, Sell Short, or Buy to Cover). Enter your trading password and click 'Preview Change Order'. Or, if you want to cancel your changes, click 'Do Not Change'.

In order to cancel a stock order, from the 'Trading' tab, select 'View Open Orders' under the 'Stocks' heading. Make sure you're currently in the correct account. Click 'Cancel' beside the order you want to cancel. Review the information presented to make sure this is the order you want to cancel. Click 'Cancel Order'. Enter the symbol or the name of the scrip, press "GO" or the relevant button.

The account opening charge, commission rates and the minimum limit of transaction vary from site to site. Other charges can include Annual Services Charges, Custody charges, D-Mat account charges etc. Also most online traders offer a host of other tools to aid the investment decision. A full research back up in terms of reports, articles, opinions, etc., live time quotes, latest news on the scrip, technical charts to see how the stock's price has changed over time.

So sitting at home one can take an investment decision at ease after having researched and read up fully about the stock. With the advent of online trading, it would seem that the markets are just a click away. Please however, do remember that currently in India the handful of online trading offers are mere order routing systems. But it will not be long enough before the entire system goes online. That then will be change for the better.

Aru Srivastava