There are a few different ways to invest in the stock market. Each way has its own advantages and disadvantages. The ways you can invest in the stock market are.
1. Buying common or preferred stock
Buying stock and holding onto it for the long term is the simplest way to invest.
Your money grows as the company grows or shrinks as the company shrinks. You do not have to consistently watch your position and make split second decisions because you are in it for the long term.
2. Stock Options
The next way you can invest in the market is through stock options. An option gives you the right to either buy or sell a given security on or before a given date. Option contracts tend to have short lives and can make huge moves either up or down within a relatively short period of time.
Options have to be actively managed because they do eventually expire, so they have a higher risk associated with it.
3. Leaps
Leaps are like options only they do not expire for a much longer time. Where as an options might expire in a few months, a leap might not expire for 1 or 2 years. It is a way of compromising between options and stocks.
4. Option Spreads
Option spreads are basically a combination of options, leaps, and stocks. For instance if you buy a stock and sell a call option on the stock that is considered a covered call, an option spread strategy.
For more on different ways of investing money or other stock market information visit http://www.stocks-simplified.com
When I was young I wanted to learn how to trade the stock market. So I traveled around the country listening to professional traders talk about how they are making money in the market. Now I understand how easy it is to make money in the stock market and started a site http://www.stocks-simplified.com to help others learn.