playin' the stocks game
lallysingh: Here, save yourself some money, use it as others have mentioned to invest in yourself.If you're doing it to learn, there's no reason to do it under fire.I'll +1 to the other advice here: go fantasy to learn.  They're real numbers, so the educational value is the same.  You can think rationally without getting as emotionally attached to the money, so you'll learn better.  (Hopefully you won't go with real money until you've learned to keep a clear head)Most importantly, you'll know when you're actually good enough to do well in the market -- when you're doing better than your competition over a long period of time.  That will tell you when it's skill instead of luck.