Share trading is the process of purchasing and acquiring ownership of a company's shares and then selling them at a profit. Normally, you would establish a 'nominee' account in this situation. Frequently, for a nominal charge, a stockbroker will execute deals on your behalf. The majority of stock trading occurs on exchanges that list publicly traded corporations. This strategy involves the direct purchase and sale of shares through spot or forward contracts. Investment does not have to be restricted to stock market indexes and individual stocks.

Additionally, you may invest in exchange-traded funds and mutual funds, or further, diversify your portfolio by purchasing stocks and bonds. Alternatively, you may trade stocks via the use of derivatives such as spread bets and contracts for difference (CFDs). In this manner, you may profit from increasing and declining share prices by taking a long or short position. You do not acquire ownership of the underlying shares when you trade spread betting or CFDs. You just predict whether prices will increase or decrease and take a position accordingly.