When you open an online share dealing account you will have access to an area of the stock broker's website that will allow you buy and sell shares as well as tools that will hopefully help you to make profitable decisions.

Below is a list of the functionality that most decent online share dealing accounts will offer, although the way in which the functionality has been implemented will vary from one website to the next. Before opening a new online share dealing account you might want to check that the account offers that features below that are of particular interest to you.

Portfolio

Shows details about your account and transactions. You will normally be given a summary of your account(s) showing your total cash balance and equity value. Details of currently held shares will be available. Against each share will be information such as the quantity of shares held, the book cost, the current bid price, the price change since buying the shares, the current market value and the net gain or loss for that share.

Transaction History

Allows you to review all transactions executed in your chosen account, or search for a specific transaction. The information available will typically include the date and time of the transaction, whether it was a 'buy' or 'sell', the name of the share traded, the quantity of shares, the transaction price, any costs in involved and the total transaction amount.

Price Watch

Enables you to create a list of shares whose market price you are then able to closely monitor. The advantage of this approach over requesting individual share quotes is that all the market price information for each share you have selected is displayed conveniently on one page.

Quotes and Charts

You can request the latest market price of a chosen share and usually display a chart showing the market price of that share over a period of your choice, which can typically range from 1 day to 5 years. Many financial portals offer a free quote service. However, in most cases these are prices delayed by 20 minutes, whereas the majority of online share dealing accounts will be able to give you a live price quote.

Market News

You should have access to the latest market news and prices. With this information to hand you able to watch out for any news that may impact your current share holdings or bring to your attention shares that you may then consider buying. General news stories may also be available, as these can often have an impact on the market or individual share prices.

Highest Movers

Two lists are often available showing the stock market's highest gainers and highest losers in terms of percentage movement, showing the price change and percentage change against each share. This movement is normally based on stock market price changes since the closing price of previous trading.

Most Active

This is a list of the most heavily traded shares on the Stock Market.

Alerts

You are able to select a stock and then request to be informed when the price of that stock rises to or falls to a specified level. The more flexible online trading accounts will allow you to specify how you would like to be notified, with choices including an alert within your online account, via email or via SMS.

This functionality is extremely useful if you are day trading or looking to make a profit over a short period of time. It is also useful in helping you to limit your losses.

Ticker

A ticker is a narrow banner that is normally displayed permanently at the top of your screen across which live share prices constantly scroll horizontally. This enables you to keep an eye on share prices whilst you are working with different applications.