Wickmans 
In the Net

 

Australian Financial Links
for the share market beginner

 


ASX Closing Prices Ticker
ASX Closing prices supplied by Sanford Securities, the yuck yellow color - my idea, sorry.
More examples of free financial content for your website can be found at FreeSticky.com
I started to have a yearning to trade shares about a year and a half before I actually placed my first order. I had no idea about how the Australian stock market worked, so I spent that time trying to find out how to trade via the internet and develop a style of trading that I was happiest with. To help others find their way through the myriad of information on the internet, I have created this page and have listed the links that I found useful during my search and that I still use today. The links I have grouped here are mainly intended for beginners and are by no means exhaustive, in fact all the other links I have come across in my travels that I have only had a brief time to peruse I have placed in the sump. I have tried to keep the number of links on this page to a minimum, I often find that pages full of links are a chore and believe more in quality rather than quantity. I will, however, be updating these links from time to time and adding any new ones that I start to use on a more regular basis.

I have tried to note the advantages or disadvantages of a site as I have personally found them. The old adage about spending money to make money certainly applies to buying and selling shares, however, there is still a lot of free and economical information available on the internet and the sites listed below should help you dig up that information without having to pay a fortune. The more you dig into a company, the more it costs you. Hopefully that will change over the next few years and we will start to see sites in Australia supplying research information for free like they do in the USA.

Before you use the links below or read the descriptions here, you MUST read the disclaimer at the bottom of this page.

Click on the dots below (next to the hyperlink) for a full description of the site.

Contract Programmer for Hire

 

Programmer experienced in windows and web programming available for your custom development needs.

Specializing in travel, insurance and advertising software.
Access On-line Resume

 

Brokers

You can't trade shares unless you have a broker. One of the main factors that kept me off of the share market for over a year was that the majority of brokers wanted me to deposit my hard earned cash with them in some bank account that cost me more in fees and interest than my existing building society account. I didn't like the idea of creating another account with all the associated bank fees and costs that go with it. Then I found the following brokers.

  • Commonwealth Securities
      • Advantages
        A great site. They direct debit any existing account, so there is no need to open a new one. To sweeten the deal, it only costs $29 per trade. They provide live & historical data, market depth and research.
      • Disadvantages
        You can only trade the top companies. If you want to trade small caps or new floats - you can't !
  • Macquarie DirectTrade
      • Advantages
        A lot of the discount internet brokers I came across ask you to put your money in their sponsored Macquarie account before you can begin trading. Personally, I found it best to deal with Macquarie directly, better rates, charges etc. DirectTrade run the entire range of shares and warrants, and as of February 2000, they have lowered the costs to $29 per trade. A few dollars more than Commonwealth Securities, but you get all Australian shares to trade (They also seem to execute your orders faster). They also provide live & historical data plus market depth. You can also pay an extra $50 per quarter and get access to past and present Macquarie analysis (called the inner circle). The analysis is considered to be excellent and is very detailed and timely. Personally I prefer to do my own analysis (although finding free or cheap raw data is a challenge). 
      • Disadvantages
        The main disadvantage is that you have to have a Macquarie Cash Management Trust account and you need a minimum of $5000 to open the account. However, considering the interest rate paid and ease of access to your money, it really isn't too much of a disadvantage.  

 

Research

So now have the potential to buy some shares, now we have to find a company to buy. The following links should help you track down some raw data to use or at least provide some background to help you choose a share to buy. There are many places on the internet to get research data and a lot of the brokers carry free and detailed research, but you can bet that the company you are interested in will not be covered by the first 20 sites you look at. If nothing below does the trick, try browsing through the sump for an interesting site.

  • Aspect Equity Review
      • Advantages
        An excellent place to start your research and a superb site full of information. If you are in doubt about what share to buy then use their stock screener here to enter financial criteria and get it to return a list of shares that match. Now start looking at the stocks individually for that next level of research.
      • Disadvantages
        There are subscription costs. However they do have a 14 day trial membership.
  • Financial Analysis Publications
      • Advantages
        An excellent source of comprehensive historical and current information. You can request summary reports on companies of the analysis performed by various brokers. Corporate profiles, containing background, major stock exchange announcements, financial data etc.. Although you pay for data, it is the pay as you go system, you deposit a wad with them (A nice manageable minimum of $20) and then they deduct the cost of reports etc. from your account as you request them.
      • Disadvantages
        It costs money and the timeliness of the data can be a bit of a worry sometimes. Also it is an ugly looking web site. The design, format etc. needs loads of work. However, when you are in the market for the raw information then how the data gets dressed up for the party doesn't really matter I suppose.  
  • Egoli
      • Advantages
        A superb site AND it is FREE !!! WhooHoo. Contains research, information, discussion forums and loads more. Sign up for their e-mail alerts for new research as it becomes available.
      • Disadvantages
        It may not contain timely (or any) research on the company you are targeting at the moment.  
  • The Trading Room
      • Advantages
        Although this site charges for full information, there is still a load of free data to extract from this site that is useful. You can search all past ASX company announcements, headings, keywords etc. and you only pay when you want to see the body of the announcement. From here you can go to the Fairfax search page which will scan the archive of Fairfax owned newspapers, magazines etc. Returning the titles of the articles it has found. You pay to see the body of the article.
      • Disadvantages
        It costs to get more detailed information, however, this site can give you a superb overview of a company for initial research. The company research data is expensive and sparse compared to others mentioned above.

 

Live ASX share prices

Now that we know what to buy, our timing needs to be right and there is nothing more annoying than not knowing how much your shares are worth at the present moment. Yesterdays closing prices are ok, but there is no substitute for live prices when you want to squeeze that little bit of extra profit from a trade. Remember, the brokers mentioned above provide live prices as well, but I tend to use the following, usually because I find the sites more user friendly and faster than the brokers. It is also good to have some backups in case the server feeding you your primary source of data goes down.

  • OzEmail StockWatch
      • Advantages
        An excellent site. This is one of the first sites I open in the morning and keep open during the day. As well as live data, it has market depth, historical charts, email price alerts and the latest ASX announcements.
      • Disadvantages
        You either have to pay to join or you get it for free if you connect to the internet through OzEmail. If you are looking to change ISP's for whatever reason and you trade shares, this is a very good incentive to change to OzEmail. The heavy use of frames in this site means saving information such as ASX announcements to disk is a pain.
  • Quicken
      • Advantages
        Free ! Simply sign up for the service. You get a limited form of market depth and charts. I use this as my backup source of data if OzEmail goes down.
      • Disadvantages
        None really. I would prefer to see better market depth and a load of company research like the American Quicken site, but other than that, this is an excellent source for live data.

 

Financial News

So, perhaps we have found the stock we want. Maybe we want to keep an eye on breaking news, perhaps for further buying opportunities or perhaps to alert us to sell shares. These days, speedy access to Information is the key to success. There are many opportunities that are lost or gained through having a good information feed. Remember, it is not just the delivery of information that is important, it is how it is analysed and in what context it is read that can make an difference.

  • The Australian Financial Review
      • Advantages
        Excellent. Brilliant. This is the first site I go to when I log on for the day. Check out the Updates through the day.
      • Disadvantages
        It costs to search the archives. 
  • The Australian
      • Advantages
        Excellent national paper. I use this as my secondary information source for the day. Their IT section is superb.
      • Disadvantages
        The search engine leaves a lot to be desired. Frames are used and it can be messy to save articles to disk.
  • CBS Marketwatch
      • Advantages
        This US orientated site is an excellent source of information on international trends. The articles are superb and the latest news wire information is a good source of staying ahead, especially since a lot of news relevant to Australia comes this way. I use this site to see how the Dow and Nasdaq did overnight and what, if any, influences from the states are likely to affect share prices for the day.
      • Disadvantages
        None really, although this site may not be relevant to you if you feel that you don't need to know what the American market is doing.
  • Magazines (Click the red arrow)
    The following financial magazines are an excellent source of analytical information and reviews of Australian listed companies. They can also be read for free online. The search engines can also retrieve past articles for no cost in some instances.

 

Discussion Forums

I can't say I use these sites much. I tend to prefer solid fact to rumor, I find that there tends to be a lot of personal opinions bandied around these sites. Saying that though, there are some rumors and opinions that turn out to be true and accurate and can lead to huge profits if utilised correctly. So it is the users job to separate fact from fiction and confirm any of the information you extract from these sites.

  • Hotcopper
      • Summary
        A nicely laid out site. Seems to be very popular
  • Stockcentral
      • Summary
        Technical and fundamental analysis forums. (They may be offline at the moment, I believe they are upgrading ??)
  • The Chimes
      • Summary
        Seems a bit disorganized in the way the discussions are displayed, but, again, if it is information, conjecture and rumor you are after, then there is a lot of it here.

 

Miscellaneous Links

A variety of links that I personally find useful from time to time.

  • Investor Words - Investing Glossary
      • Summary
        An excellent point of reference when stumped by all the technical gobblygook.
  • The Investment FAQ
      • Summary
        Although this is American based, it is still a good reference source for the beginner and the intermediate investor. 
  • The Sump
      • Summary
        My own personal sump of links that I have only briefly checked out and use from time to time. You may find something useful here that I tend to overlook (Let me know if you do ..OK !).
  • Upcoming Floats
      • Summary
        The list of upcoming floats issued by the Australian Stock Exchange.

 
The number of visitors to this page since 16th December 1999 is  Hit Counter

Disclaimer
I am NOT a professional investor, in fact I am an amateur investor and have had mixed success at investing my own money. The opinions contained on this page are the express personal opinions of the author and in no way constitute an invitation to utilise them. Opinions expressed on this page may change without notice. No part of this page is to be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any security. In preparing the information on this page, I did not take into account the investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs of the investor. Before making an investment decision on the basis of any advice, the investor or prospective investor needs to consider, with or without the assistance of a securities adviser, whether the advice is appropriate in light of their particular investment needs, objectives and financial circumstances. International investors are reminded of the risks inherent in international investments, such as currency fluctuations and international stock market or economic conditions, which may adversely affect the value of the investment. The sites listed on this page are for reference only and are by no means meant as an endorsement by the author. 

Copyright ©1999,2000 Mark Wickman. All rights reserved.
This site best viewed with Internet Explorer 4 or greater.

About the Wickman Logo
The Wickman logo was originally developed as the logo for a scuba diving business owned by Mark Wickman. The logo represents travel and the sea and is the ideal representation for the current generation of Wickmans in the Net.