How Capital One Investing Can Be The Right Choice for Beginners

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Casual investors are the backbone of Capital One Investing. If you are interested in day trading or more intense investing experiences, you want to pick a different broker. Cap One is geared toward the 401K haver that wants to take some extra money and play the market in their spare time. The Sharebuilder options and interface are all set up with the causal investor in mind.

College students are looking to get involved with the financial markets for the first time can find a good starter environment with this broker. Other online brokers like Tradestation or Interactive Brokers are well-suited for day traders, but that can be a more complex interface that will throw off beginning investors.

Capital One Investing is simple to navigate, even for first time investors. Finding and buying stocks is very simple. You can fund an account quickly and easily from a checking account and you can feel comfortable that you are not being taken advantage of. Security is very important when it comes to being a first-time investor. You need a lot of hand holding. And you need the ability to automate your contributions, much like an employee in a company with a 401K.

Education is important as well. You want to have some tools on the platform that provide simple and easy to use information that breaks down complex transactions. The company stockpiles and filters educational articles for every level of investor. That can be a real bonus for novice investors. For casual investors, the portfolio analysis capabilities are quite extensive. It provides a quick and easy way to take a look at your portfolio without a lot of distracting bells and whistles.

Beginning and casual investors can even automate their regular investing with the Sharebuilder plan. It allows investors to schedule their investments by choosing stocks or funds and setting up a monthly or other regular schedule for buying into those products. The fees can be dramatically lower in these Sharebuilder plans then if you control your buying yourself. Regularly scheduled investors are great for people that need help with their disciplined investing.

The advantages of the Capital One Investing platform all come along with some tradeoffs. You are not going to be a profitable day trader on the platform. You need to allow the oversight and managers take your money for a ride. You are giving up control here. If you want to be a more hands-on, active trader, than you want to find a Capital One competitor.

Finding a broker more suited to high frequency trading is valuable because it provide a better and more expensive interface for quick execution. When you have a real need to hotkeys and watchlists and real-time monitoring of the market, other brokers will give you what you need. Capital One Investing is best for low-key and steady investors in the Warren Buffett mold. You need that as a casual investor. The bells and whistles of pro trader platforms are unnecessary.