A friend recently told me that she learned more about how the stock market operates through building a watch portfolio than she has anywhere else. So I'm going to take you to Yahoo! to help you build a watch portfolio this week, because I want you to learn all the things that my friend learned and more.

If you aren't registered with Yahoo!, you need to do so before you can create a portfolio. Registration is free. Once you have this task accomplished, go to Yahoo! Finance and click on the "My Portfolios" tab at top left. You'll see a link titled, "Create Portfolio," in the drop-down menu, and this is where you want to go.

You'll be faced with three different types of portfolios. Pick the first one entitled, "Track a symbol watchlist." That link will take you to a window where you need to fill out a few items.

1. Name your portfolio (this is a name that only you will see and need to know)
   
   
2. Currency remains at the default "U.S. Dollars."
   
   
3. Input a ticker symbol (or two), and separate those ticker symbols with a space, not a comma.
   
   
4. Ignore the "Example Market Indices" for the moment - I'll take you there soon.
   
   
5. You can check the box to sort your stocks alphabetically, and you need to pick a "view." I usually use the "Performance" view out of habit - please pick that view for this practice. You can change the view later if you want.
   
   
6. Click on the "Finished" button.

Once you click on that "Finished" button, you'll see your new portfolio. You'll see a link and a button in the upper left side of that portfolio that asks, "New Streaming Quotes on?" Leave that button turned to the "on" mode, as this link will allow you to view price and volume changes during trading hours. But, if you pick stocks that trade on the New York exchange (NYSE), the information will be delayed by 20 minutes. If you picked stocks that are listed on any Over-The-Counter, American, or Nasdaq exchanges, those prices are delayed by 15 minutes. So, although the stock markets open at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, your portfolio won't begin to show transactions until between 9:45 and 9:50 a.m. Eastern. Alternately, while the stock exchanges close at 4:00 p.m., you'll continue to see transactions transpire on your portfolio until as late as 4:21 p.m Eastern.

Now you'll want to add some transactions for those ticker symbols. Click on the link bottom left below your portfolio that says, "Create Transaction History." A window will appear that contains your ticker symbols and a few empty spaces. You'll need to fill in those spaces with transaction history information.

If you've already purchased stocks through BUYandHOLD, don't use this portfolio for those transactions (Use the Transaction Portfolio instead, which allows you to consolidate stocks purchased at various prices and at different times). You'll need to input the following information into your watch portfolio:

Now that you've created your portfolio with a transaction, you'll see some information that pertains to the stocks that you picked in that portfolio, including any gain or loss that occurred since the previous Wednesday's transaction.

Directly above your portfolio, the word, "Performance" should be in bold, because that's the view you've selected. Next to that word is a link named "edit." Click on that link and you'll come to a page where you can add more information to your portfolio, like "Day's Value Change," "PEG ratio," and "Average Daily Volume." Add a few of these labels to your portfolio if you want. Have fun, but don't add anything if it seems too confusing. I'll explain some of these labels in the next article, so be sure to bring your notebook!

Until then, Linda Goin

BUYandHOLD does not recommend any securities. The security mentioned above is being used for illustrative purposes only and should not be regarded as an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy.