I personally trade Forex only as I prefer the volatility and flexibility to currencies but I can give some advice on a couple of your questions :
1 : Never put money into a trade (share or currency) unless you have an edge...for shares you usually have to know a fair bit about the company you want to buy into. You have to do a decent amount of study about the company's possible future prospects...
An edge is a good reason to take a specific trade...what makes you think a particular trade is the trade to take? its the info that creates an edge and put the probabilities of success in your favor.
Never just take a chance, you MUST have a valid reason/edge to make you enter a trade.
For shares things to look at are :
Primarily, investors buy shares either to see growth in the value of the shares, or to receive an income in the form of dividends. For income, choose a company that pays a high yield and compare it with others in the sector. You can work out the yield by dividing the dividend paid by the price of the share e.g. price R300, dividend R12 per share gives a yield of 4%
Know the company
Do you actually know what the company does? This may sound simple but many investors do not actually know what business the company is in. Companies quoted on the stock market should be sorted into sectors (e.g. utilities, transport, retailers) to give a broad idea of the company's main activity.
Newspapers can list their share information by sector, so it may be easier for the public to see which sector a company is in.
Before deciding on the company specifically, take a look at the prospects for the sector. Is the oil industry performing well as a whole?
What challenges do financial companies face in general?
Whilst an individual company may be doing well, if it is operating in a highly competitive or fast-moving sector its fortunes can change quickly.
Then, look in more detail at the company to get a good understanding of what their core activities are, and therefore where their earnings come from. Look at what they do, who their competitors are, and how they compare - you're looking for what's going to give the company an edge over their rivals.
there is much more to consider as well....
The point is you have to know a fair bit about the company you want to invest it , its not a thumb suck decision.
But I am not a share trader so I am sure others here will be able to give you more/better insight into the matter.
Hey man thanks for the advice
i do have one or two companies in mind that i have done quite a bit of research into but my problem comes in researching that company on the actual stock exchange like how do i check its current price of shares or its recent growth according to the exchange any links
