This demo shows you how to use the BrokerLine online Share Dealing service.

To play the whole demo

If you are new to share dealing, you might want to see all of the demo. If so, start with 'How to place a trade', and play each section in order. That will give you a complete step-by-step guide on how to use the service.

To play a section of the demo

If there are just a few points that you want to understand better, then go straight to the section that interests you.

Find out more about share dealing

To find out more about investing and the stock market, please visit the Learn about Investing section.

There you can read about share dealing terms, different types of investments, and the factors you might want to consider when choosing what to invest in.

Meanwhile, enjoy the demo!

There you can read about share dealing terms, different types of investments, and the factors you might want to consider when choosing what to invest in.

How to place a trade
Account summary
Orders
Price alerts
Virtual portfolio
News and research
Maintenance

How to place a trade

First, decide which market you want to trade on.

Now enter the stock market symbol of the shares you want to trade.

Now click the Quote button to see the realtime share price.

If you don't know the stock market symbol, look it up using the Lookup button.

If you like, you can enter just the first few letters of a company's name.

Stock market symbol: a short code - usually three or four letters - that stands for the name of the company whose shares are being traded.

This is a realtime quote for the shares.

It shows you the bid price and offer price.

You can also find links to other information such as:

The latest news about the company.

Graphs of the share price.

Detailed company information.

Now choose whether you want to buy or sell the shares.

And choose a settlement period from these options.

The settlement period is when your trade is completed. It is the day you receive your money from sales or pay for shares you have bought. Depending on your account type and the shares you are buying, you may be able to choose from a number of settlement periodsT+3 means your trade will 'settle' three working days after your have bought or sold your shares; T+5 = five days, and T+10 = ten days.

Now select whether you want to trade a number of share or an amount of money.

And enter the amount you want to trade.

Now select the type of trade you want.

A market trade is a request to buy or sell a stock immediately at the best available price.

A fill or kill order is a request to trade immediately at a specified price. If the specified price is not available your trade will be cancelled - or 'killed'.

A limit order is a request to buy or sell shares at a level that you specify.

Now enter your dealing password.

And click on Get a quote to preview your order and check the details of your trade.

Verify your order

This is a summary of your order, and shows all the details you have entered.

If you decide that you want to cancel the trade, just click the Cancel button.

The quote for your trade is based on real-time prices. These prices are only valid for 15 seconds, after which they will expire.

If the price expires, click the Refresh Price button to get a new quote based on the most currently available price

If you are satisfied with the quote and want to place the trade, click the Place Order button. Your trade will now be executed.

You will then see a confirmation screen that shows details of your trade.

The orders page

This page shows the trades you have placed and that are two or more days from settlement.

It shows any market or limit orders that have not been settled.

It also shows and market or limit orders that have expired after the market has closed.

You can choose how the page displays your trades.

Use the tick boxes to select the orders you want to see.

You can also use the 'Sort by' menus to organise the list.

The screen now displays the trades you have ordered.

The Alerts page

Use the alerts service to monitor the movement of share prices.

Just tell us which shares you want us to monitor and we'll send you alerts by email or SMS text message.

First enter the stock market symbol of the company whose shares you want to monitor.

Now enter the price that you want the shares to reach when we send you an alert.

You also need to enter whether that is the price you want the share to rise to or fall to.

Now choose how you want to receive your alerts - by email, SMS text message or both.

To start receiving alerts, click the Save button.

To stop receiving a particular alert, select it with the Remove Alert button.

Now click the Remove button.

Account information

This page gives you a summary of your BrokerLine account.

On this screen you can choose a different currency in which to see your account summary.

Open the 'Select Currency for Totals' menu and choose a currency.

Now click the Go button.

Your account totals are now displayed in Euros.

Account summary

This page gives you a summary of your BrokerLine account.

On this screen you can choose a different currency in which to see your account summary.

Open the 'Select Currency for Totals' menu and choose a currency.

Now click the Go button.

Your account totals are now displayed in Euros.

Virtual portfolio

On this page you can set up Virtual Portfolios to test your investment strategies without investing any real money.

With a virtual portfolio, you can track the performance of shares and see what your profits and losses would have been in the real world.

Please note that the share prices quoted for virtual portfolios are delayed by 20 minutes. This might lead to a difference between actual stock-market prices and the prices quoted for your virtual portfolios.

You can have up to 10 Virtual Portfolios.

In order to tell them apart easily, you can give each Virtual Portfolio a memorable name.

To rename a Virtual Portfolio, select it using the dropdown menu on the left.

Now enter the new name in the box on the right.

To add shares to one of your Virtual Pportfolio, first select it from the dropdown menu.

Now enter the stock market symbol of the company whose shares you want to add.

If you don't know a company's stock market symbol, you can also use the 'Symbol Look up' link.

In this case, we have added Vodafone shares to this virtual portfolio.

Now enter the number of shares you want to add.

Next, enter the price you would have been prepared to pay for them into the 'Cost per share' box. As a guide to the share price, you can get a delayed price quote by using the Quote button.

Now click the Go button

The shares are now included in your Virtual Portfolio.

Remember that your Virtual Portfolios are not real. They simply enable you to experiment and see what gains or losses you would have made had you invested real money.

News and research

The News & Research section gives you access to a huge range of information about markets and companies.

At the top of the page you will see snapshots of trading activity.

These three charts show the overall performance of the three major FTSE indexes.

The next section gives you links to information about some of the companies currently making headlines on the Stock Exchange.

The bottom section gives you links to more general stock market and company news and research.

Maintenance page

Use this page to change your personal information, including your address and phone number.

You can also change your log in page and change your log in and dealing password.