Como investir em ações

When you invest in stocks, you are buying shares of ownership in a public company in the hope that they go up in value over time. Each share represents a proportional stake in the company's profits and holding shares may also entitle you to receive dividends (payments that companies make to their shareholders). 

Like digital assets, the value of stocks fluctuate over time, meaning you can make a profit or loss. However, unlike many cryptocurrencies, stocks have a range of metrics (such as price-to-earnings (P/E) and debt-to-equity) that can be used to assess the health of the company, and the likelihood that the price of the stock will go up or down. 

You can now invest in stocks at Kraken, using its user-friendly platform which will help you build a balanced portfolio while also managing risk. 

This article explores what stocks are, how the stock market works and how to buy stocks at Kraken. 

The stock market is made up of several key exchanges that enable people all over the world to trade shares of companies. The market overall represents all of the trading activity across exchanges. It’s similar in principle to cryptocurrency trading platforms, except that the way in which they operate is slightly different.

Stock exchanges are heavily regulated by government authorities such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These regulations aim to protect investors, ensure transparency and maintain orderly market functioning.

Stock exchanges operate within fixed trading hours. For example, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) opens at 9:30 am Eastern Time and closes at 4:00 pm Eastern Time every weekday. Markets are closed on weekends and public holidays. Outside of regular hours, trading can also occur during extended sessions: pre-market trading usually runs from 4:00 AM to 9:30 AM ET, and after-hours trading takes place from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET. These sessions allow investors to respond to news and events that occur outside of standard trading times. However, extended hours trading often involves lower liquidity, greater price volatility, and limited order types.

When you own shares of a company, you often gain voting rights and may receive dividends, which represent a share of the company’s profits distributed to shareholders.

Trades on stock exchanges typically take between one to three business days to fully "settle," meaning the official transfer of ownership and payment is completed within that time frame.

Participating in stock markets usually involves compliance with regulatory procedures such as identity verification (KYC), opening brokerage accounts, and adhering to market rules designed to safeguard investors.

Shares are generally held by trusted intermediaries such as clearinghouses and custodians, which manage the safekeeping and transfer of securities on behalf of investors.

A trader looking to buy Apple (AAPL) stock opens their brokerage app and places an order to purchase 10 AAPL shares at its current market price. The broker routes the order to the stock exchange, where it is matched almost instantly with a seller offering the same number of shares at the desired price. 

Once matched, the trade is executed, locking in the purchase price. Over the next two business days, the trade goes through a settlement process where funds are officially transferred and the shares are recorded in the trader’s account. After settlement, the trader becomes an official shareholder of Apple, may be entitled to receive dividends, vote on company matters and benefit from any increase in the share price. If Apple’s stock rises, the trader can place a sell order through their broker, realize the gains and profit from the investment.

It’s important to note the slight difference between ‘stocks’ and ‘shares’. A ‘stock’ represents all the shares listed on an exchange, while a ‘share’ represents the smallest purchasable unit. 

For example, if a company worth $500m issues 50 million shares (its stock), you may purchase one share in that company for $10. 

Apple’s stock ticker is ‘AAPL’ and currently has 15 billion shares. At press time, APPL is trading at around $240, giving it a market cap of $3.63 trillion

Companies issue shares to raise funds for expanding operations, launching new projects, or acquiring other businesses.

Example: In December 2020, Tesla announced a $5 billion stock offering, leveraging its high stock price to raise capital. This move aimed to strengthen its balance sheet and support ongoing expansion projects, including new factories in Germany and Texas.

Issuing shares provides capital to invest in innovation, new technologies and product development, keeping companies competitive.

Example: In May 2020, Moderna raised approximately $1.34 billion through a public offering to fund the continued development of ‘... vaccines for infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases and cardiovascular diseases.’

Companies may issue shares to pay down existing debt, improving their balance sheets and reducing financial risk.​

Example: In 2024, South Africa's Pick n Pay launched a rights issue to raise 4 billion rand (approximately $221 million) by issuing 252.2 million new shares at a 32.48% discount. The primary goal was to reduce the company's debt and to stabilize its finances.

Companies often use their shares as a form of "currency" to finance mergers and acquisitions without heavy cash spending.

Example: In July 2021, Salesforce completed its $27.7 billion acquisition of Slack, utilizing a combination of cash and stock to finance the deal.

Issuing shares can fund day-to-day business operations without increasing debt, preserving financial flexibility.

Example: In November 2021, Peloton announced a public offering of approximately 24 million shares, aiming to raise around $1 billion to support ‘general corporate purposes’.

The price of a stock fluctuates based on supply and demand company performance, and macroeconomic factors. The initial price is set by the company offering the shares, but once they become tradable on the open market, the price can then be influenced by a range of factors. The role of an investor is to look at all the important variables and decide whether a stock is either trading at a discount or a premium. If you believe it’s trading at a discount, you may decide to invest in a stock in the hope that it appreciates over time. Naturally, a stock may go up or down, and you may lose some or all of your invested capital. 

To help guide in your search for mispriced companies, here a few things you can look:

1. Look for companies in good financial health. Examine the company's financial reports, earnings reports and key ratios:

• Earnings Per Share (EPS): Measures a company’s profitability per share.
• Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio: Compares stock price to earnings to assess valuation.
• Debt-to-Equity (D/E) Ratio: Evaluates financial leverage and risk.
• Return on Equity (ROE): Indicates how efficiently a company uses shareholder equity to generate profit.

2. Look at the wider trends and prevailing narratives and then gauge your chosen stock’s potential within its own industry. 
3. Examine the company’s management team. Do they have strong, competent management with a suitable background? Do they communicate well and have a clear vision? Have they kept their promises?
4. Look for companies with unique strengths that perhaps are yet to be discovered or priced in. This could be proprietary technology or some innovation that may be a game changer. 
5. Examine the stocks technicals and price action. How does it compare with its competitors? Is the price action bullish or bearish? Is now a good time to enter?

Once you’ve analyzed a company and are ready to invest, follow these steps to place your first stock trade:

1. Visit Kraken: Log in to your Kraken mobile app account.
2. Accept T&Cs: Sign equities-related documents
3. Search for the stock: Use the platform’s search function to find the stock you want to buy.
4. Select order type:
   • Market Order: Buy immediately at the best available price.
   • Limit Order: Set a specific price at which you want to buy the stock.
5. Enter quantity: Specify the number of shares you want to purchase.
6. Review and confirm: Double-check your order details and click ‘Buy’ to complete the trade.

Once executed, your stock will appear in your Kraken portfolio.

Diversification is key to reducing and managing risk in stock investing. Here are few things to consider, with this in mind:

Don’t put all your money into one industry. Create a blend of technology, healthcare, consumer goods, and other sectors. That way, the overall volatility of your portfolio may be reduced and you will be less dependent on one sector doing well to grow your capital. 

Growth stocks are companies expected to grow faster than the market average, reinvesting profits to expand rather than paying dividends.

Value stocks are established companies that are considered undervalued compared to their fundamentals, often paying dividends.

Growth stocks tend to be higher risk investments as their appreciation depends more on future performance and speculation, whereas value stocks reflect investments into proven business models with product-market fit. Therefore, having a portfolio with both growth and value stocks should offer a nice balance of risk and reward. 

The value of ETFs and indexes is that they allow investors to have exposure to a broader range of assets without need to pick individual stocks. This can help your portfolio be more capital efficient, capturing growth over a range of stocks in a particular sector. 

Bonds are known as fixed-income assets and they provide regular, predictable interest payments over a specific period. They are effectively loans to governments or corporations that pay a fixed rate of interest, such as US Treasury Bonds. These assets are generally considered low-risk compared to stocks because they offer stable returns and help balance a diversified portfolio.

While there are many different types of bonds you can invest in, the takeaway point here is that adding these low risk assets can help smoothen the long-term growth of your portfolio.

When managing a stock portfolio, it’s important to stay nimble and reactive when new information presents itself. Successful investing requires continuous management.

Here are some steps you can take to manage your stock investments:

Be vigilant. Stay informed on economic changes that could affect stock performance. There are various news outlets you can subscribe to that will keep you up to date on the latest developments. 

Rebalance. Reactively adjust holdings to maintain desired risk levels. For example, let's imagine you have structured your portfolio to be equally divided by 4 sectors. If one sector rallies, representing a significantly larger proportion of your portfolio, you may decide to rebalance it back to your original allocation.

Review earnings reports. Keep track of how your companies are performing financially. Pay very close attention to all the available data to see if your original thesis is being supported or challenged. 

Have a plan. It’s prudent to have a plan for each of your stock investments, such that when a stock reaches your target price, fundamentals change, or it no longer fits your strategy, you can take appropriate action. 

Getting started in the stock market can feel overwhelming, but understanding how it works and learning to analyze companies are essential first steps to becoming a more confident investor.

Kraken’s trading platform is designed with beginners in mind, offering an intuitive platform, strong security and easy-to-use tools that help you build the knowledge and skills to trade with confidence.

Sign up for your free account today!