How to trade shares and ETFs on Investfora
A guide to buying and selling shares and ETFs through Investfora's trading account, and what to consider before you start.
What you can trade
Investfora gives you access to a trading account where you can buy and sell shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), currencies, indices and commodities. The account is funded from your Investfora cash balance—the money you have transferred in and not yet allocated to other investments.
Shares are pieces of ownership in listed companies. When you buy a share, you own a small part of that business. ETFs are funds that hold a basket of shares, bonds, commodities or other assets, and trade like shares do. Both move in price throughout the trading day based on what buyers and sellers agree to pay.
The key difference between shares and ETFs for most people is diversification. A single share depends on one company's fortunes. An ETF spreads your money across many holdings at once, which can reduce the impact if one of them falls.
How to start trading
Before you can trade, you need cash in your Investfora account. Transfer euros by bank transfer using the reference shown in your dashboard. The money usually arrives and is matched within one to three working days. Your first deposit must be at least EUR 250; after that, you can deposit any amount.
From your cash balance, you can move money into your trading account. You decide how much to allocate to trading and how much to keep elsewhere or leave uninvested. Nothing happens to your money unless you instruct it.
Your first trade takes a few minutes once you know what you want to buy. The platform shows you the live price, lets you choose how many shares or units you want, and executes the trade instantly. After that, you can watch your positions in real time, see what they are worth, and decide when to sell.
Understanding price and risk
Share and ETF prices move constantly while the markets are open. A share you buy for ten euros might be worth eleven euros the next day, or nine euros. The value of your investment goes up and down with the price. This is normal and it is the main risk you take when you trade. You may get back less than you put in, sometimes considerably less.
Different shares and ETFs carry different levels of risk. A large, established company's share typically moves less dramatically than a smaller or newer one. An ETF that tracks hundreds of companies in a whole market is usually less volatile than a share in one business. A commodity or currency can swing sharply in a day.
Before you trade, think about how much you can afford to lose. Invest only money you do not need soon and that losing would not hurt your life. Never borrow to trade. Never put your entire cash balance into one share or trade. Spread your money across different holdings and types of assets so that a single big fall does not wipe you out.
What to look at before you buy
When you search for a share or ETF on the platform, you see the current price and recent price history. You can look at charts showing how the price has moved over days, weeks, months or years. This history helps you understand how volatile the share or ETF is and what has happened to it. Remember that past price movements do not predict the future.
For shares, you can research the company itself: what it does, how profitable it is, who runs it, what risks it faces. This information is widely available online and in financial news sites. For ETFs, you can find out what it holds, how many companies or assets are in it, and what its costs are.
Think about why you are buying. Are you looking to hold for years, or to trade in and out over weeks or days? Share trading over short periods is harder and riskier than buying and holding. The costs add up—each trade has a fee—and you need to be right about the direction twice: when to buy and when to sell.
Costs and how they work
Each time you buy or sell, you pay a trading fee. The fee is charged by the broker and varies depending on what you are trading and how much. When you buy a share for one hundred euros, the fee might be one or two euros. When you sell, you pay a fee again. These costs add up, especially if you trade frequently.
Beyond the trading fee, you also deal with the spread. The spread is the difference between what a buyer will pay and what a seller will accept. When you buy, you pay the higher price. When you sell, you get the lower price. The spread is usually small—a few pence or cents—but it is a real cost.
Some traders and investors ignore costs because they are small. That is a mistake. A fee of two percent on every trade and an expense ratio of zero point five percent a year might sound harmless, but over time they compound and eat into your returns. If you are going to trade frequently, costs matter a lot.
Trading psychology and discipline
Share and ETF prices move every day. When a price you own falls sharply, it is normal to feel afraid and want to sell. When a price rises sharply, it is normal to feel greedy and want to buy more. These feelings are powerful and they lead most people to make bad decisions.
The best protection against emotional trading is a plan. Before you buy, decide why you are buying and what price you will sell at if things go wrong. Write it down. When emotion hits and the price moves against you, you can look at your plan and decide rationally whether to hold or sell.
Start small. Do not put all your money into trading as soon as you open the account. Trade a small amount first, get used to how the platform works, and learn how you respond when money is on the line. Watching a real trade happen is very different from reading about it.
Getting started on Investfora
To trade shares and ETFs on Investfora, you need to open an account and make your first deposit of at least EUR 250. Once your money arrives, allocate some to your trading account and you are ready to start. The platform is designed to be clear and straightforward. You can trade in minutes once you have decided what to buy.
Investfora does not give advice about which shares or ETFs to buy, and it does not recommend any particular trade. That decision is yours. What Investfora does is give you the tools and the access to execute your decisions quickly and clearly. You keep control of your money at all times. You see your cash balance, your open positions, and your trading history.
Before you start, remind yourself that the value of investments can go down as well as up and that you may get back less than you put in. This is true of shares, ETFs, and every other tradeable asset.
Open an account
Deposit euros when you are ready and choose what they do next. You can start with one thing and add others later.
Written for Investfora, part of LIFT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT SGEIC SA, CNMV register no. 244. This article is general information, not advice or a recommendation. The value of investments and crypto assets can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in.
