Once you know your chosen market – and which way you’re going to trade – it’s time to open your position.

There are a few basics you’ll need to know at this point: buy and sell prices, commission, leverage and managing risk.

Share trading basics

Buy and sell prices

You’ll always see two prices listed for a shares market.

The buy price (or ask) tells you how much you’ll pay to open a long position

The sell price (or bid) tells you how much you’ll pay to open a short position

You don’t have to trade at the market’s current level, though. Using an order to open tells your trading provider to open a position when the market hits a price you specify. This can be useful if, say, you only want to buy a stock if its price drops down to a certain level