First-time Investors

Starting in the sharemarket seems daunting to many people but in reality once you have learnt some basic information it is straight forward.  Below is a step-by-step guide put together by our education experts to help you start investing.  If you have any questions please feel free to contact ASX.

Sign up with MyASX

MyASX is a collection of free sharemarket services. With MyASX you can play Sharemarket Games, create Watchlists, subscribe to monthly email newsletters, learn how to start and run an investment club and access free online classes.

To access these services, you must be registered. 

> Log in or Sign up now.

Online education

Learning how to invest is an important skill. By working through these ASX classes you wil develop a base of knowledge that will help you understand how to invest and determine what might be a suitable investment for you.

ASX Sharemarket Games - take a hypothetical $50,000, create your own share portfolio and experience what it is like to invest in the sharemarket.

Audio visual presentations - covers sharemarket fundamentals.  Presentations run for a few minutes.

Research

Simple research involves things such as reading financial newspapers, considering world events and watching how markets and the price of individual companies react.

Detailed prices, announcements and charts on ASX Listed Companies including links to their websites or view the complete list of Listed Companies. Read the latest long term investing report.

Announcements

You can also keep up with developments affecting companies via their company announcements which give details about a particular company's activities.

ASX Investor Hour

Share trading and financial education seminars help new investors keep up to date with a variety of sharemarket topics.

Investment clubs

ASX provides a range of resources for Australian investors seeking information on investment clubs.

To access the Investment clubs section, you must be registered for MyASX. 

> Log in or Sign up now.

Find a stockbroker

Once you have a basic understanding of how the market operates and an awareness of some companies you will need a stockbroker. 

A stockbroker can execute trades for you and also make sure the transaction is settled properly. 

There are many different types of stockbrokers.  Find a broker now.

Monitor your investments

Once you have invested you will need to monitor the portfolio performance.

Depending on your objectives you may monitor once a year or several times a day.  Watchlists will help you keep track of the value of a number of shares and other securities quickly and easily.

Dividends

Your companies may also pay dividends from time to time.  You may need details about the payments for tax purposes.  Detailed dividend information is available from the Dividends pages.

Keep learning!

Smart investors never stop learning.  ASX classes, newspapers, television programmes, stockbroker research publications, company announcements are all good sources of information for investors.

Education booklets

ASX publishes a number of educational booklets including Getting started in shares (PDF 724KB).

ASX Way investment books

Build your expertise and confidence as you work through the concepts in the new, updated books in the ASX Way series:

Investment options

ASX offers a range of other investment opportunities besides shares.  Investments such as Interest Rate Securities, CFDs, Options, and Warrants are all examples of other opportunities open to investors.

 Sharemarket Software