Whether you are looking to invest to increase your capital or simply to be able to save it against an inflationary process, buying shares in the Merval (Buenos Aires Stock Market) is a great way to do it. This method is based on speculation and the risks you want to take. Other ways to achieve this are, for example, the purchase of bonds or a fixed-term deposit.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Make the legal framework
Step 1. Get an intermediary
In order to buy or sell shares, you require that a Stock Exchange company or a Stock (or trading) agent registered with the National Securities Commission act as a mediator between you and the capital market. In turn, these agents offer you professional advice for your investment decisions.
In the downtown area of Buenos Aires you can find the highest concentration of Stock Exchange companies in Argentina. Among the best known you can find some such as Rava Bursatil, Intervalores, InvertirOnline, among others
Step 2. Tell your agent to create a client account for you
This is a Stock Exchange account that is opened in the Caja de Valores in your name and that will serve to keep track of how many shares you have and which company they correspond to.
Step 3. Agree with your agent the money you will invest in stocks
Your agent will indicate your account where you will deposit and receive the money from the purchase and sale of the shares, bonds or other securities that you wish to buy.
Step 4. Invest
Once you have decided which shares to buy, you ask your broker to buy the shares. Stay informed about the share price.
- When you buy shares, they will be credited to your account within 72 hours.
- When you sell shares, the term to collect varies according to the type of transaction. Some are charged immediately. Others in a time of 24 or 72 business hours, and others in a predetermined period. In all cases, your shares will be withdrawn from your account and the funds corresponding to that operation will be credited.
Method 2 of 3: Consider Various Factors
Step 1. Gather information about the business sector
It is important that you have as much data as possible from the areas where the company is located. You need to foresee and evaluate the development possibilities of the sector, whether due to the current context it will benefit or not in the next time.
You can also consult the legal framework updated by Merval in order to stay informed
Step 2. Research the shareholders
Their decisions will affect the price of your shares, that is why you should know their strategies, if they have more conservative or more aggressive tendencies, if they focus on the sector or if they diversify.
Step 3. Analyze the financial situation of the company
This allows you to project the economic situation of the company based on its quarterly balance sheets, in other words, it will allow you to estimate the results of the company.
Step 4. Pay attention to mergers between companies
Today it is common to hear that one company buys another. These business decisions can have great influence on the value of your shares, as well as an exorbitant rise, a crash, or no nominal changes.
Step 5. Check what is the volume of shares in the market
This will mark the fluctuation of your shares in relation to sales of various amounts of shares.
Step 6. Consider extraordinary factors that may happen
Those things that cannot be foreseen because their causes are unknown or because they occur only once. When they happen, you need to be prepared to make the relevant decision about whether to sell, buy more, or do nothing and see what happens over time.
Method 3 of 3: Make the Best Decision
Step 1. Know the different variables and decide
The market offers you different alternatives to invest according to the amount you have to invest, the time you can do without the funds, the profit you want to obtain and how much risk you are willing to take.
On the official website of the Merval you can find the list of authorized agents from which you can buy shares
Step 2. Calculate the expected level of risk
The risk is directly related to the return you expect. It is very important to know in advance what you are risking with certain decisions in order to calculate how possible events will affect your investment. Knowing all the data allows you to define your risk profile.
- The more risk you want to take, the greater economic return you could have if everything is favorable. But at the same time, the chances that things will not turn out the way you want increase.
- While if you choose a more conservative stance, taking less risks, the chances of unforeseen events are less, as is the profit you will obtain.
Step 3. Make the decision
After having analyzed your options, you will select the ones that you consider that you will obtain the best return at a risk with which you feel comfortable. This part consists of analyzing the information of a public nature and understanding the framework of your possible investment.
- If you don't want to do that difficult task many times, you can opt for long-term investments.
- If instead you prefer to be constantly aware of your actions, you must constantly analyze the market situation.
- There is a theory, called technical analysis, that considers that all the necessary information is in prices. He believes that these obey trends and that what happened in the past will be repeated in the future. What it does is buy the value of the company in the market with its value in the past and with the value of other similar securities. It seeks to find patterns of behavior based on price and market monitoring.
Step 4. Listen to the agents
The opinions of stock traders can be useful to give you another perspective to the ideas you already had. Although the decision to buy and sell shares is entirely yours, there are certain people who prefer to delegate the task of analysis to their specialist and rely on his opinion only.
Advice
- Where can you look to see the quotes? You will find them on the Merval website, or on brokerage houses' portals, such as InvertirOnline. Also on sites like Yahoo! or Google you can find them. Results are listed minute by minute during business days.
- You will probably be able to make a good investment if you have previously done a deep search for information.
- You should know that there is a wide spectrum of information available to help you make the best decision, according to your expectations, which includes regional and international macroeconomics, various sectors, market developments and company conditions.
- It is very important that you stay well informed by consulting reliable sources of information. Any type of analysis that you carry out or that you can count on will be very useful when making decisions.
Warnings
- The agent who fulfills the role of intermediary will charge you two fees. The first corresponds to the market law, and the second is the commission. The market right price is already set and applies to the negotiated amount. For its part, the commission of the mediator is not fixed, but varies according to the agent you choose.
- Some intermediaries may also charge you a fixed monthly fee as an expense for maintaining your account or keeping your securities. That is why it is important that you find out in advance the different agents available and their respective costs.
- To buy shares you must be at least 18 years old, present yourself with your national identity document (DNI), and in the event that you do not have the money in a bank account, your Stockbroker will ask you to declare its origin, following the standards of the Financial Information Unit (FIU).