How to Invest in Rice on the Stock Market

Open a brokerage account that will allow you to trade futures, options and stocks (see Resources below for suggestions).
Buy an options or futures contract on rice. The ticker symbol for rice is ZR. You will need a minimum margin of $2,430 for a futures contract and $250 for an options contract.
Enter the ticker symbol into the brokerage software and click on 'Search.' This will bring up a list of rice-related products and their contract dates.
Select the month of the contract that you wish to purchase and the price that you wish to buy it at under the “Limit” price. Click on “Buy” or “Submit Order.” When the price of the contract is reached, the software will automatically purchase the contract.



Buy a stock or exchange traded fund (ETF). Since rice producers are not publicly traded companies you cannot purchase their stock directly. You can, however, buy the stock of companies related to the production of rice.
Buy stock from companies that make pesticides and seed-related products related to rice. You can research these types of companies at MarketWatch.com or Morningstar.com.
Buy an exchange traded fund (ETF). These are funds that invest in several different, but related companies for diversification. There are several agricultural ETFs that you can consider. These include the ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity fund (NYSE: RJA), the iPath DJ AIG Agriculture Fund (NYSE: JJA) and the PowerShares DB Agriculture ETF (NYSE: DBA).

How to Buy Stock with ShareBuilder (8 Steps)

Log in to the ShareBuilder website (sharebuilder.com). If you don't have a username, then you need to register. You'll need to provide your Social Security number because earnings have to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service. ShareBuilder also verifies that you aren't a professional trader.
Select the 'Trade' tab. Then click 'Trade Now.'
Select if you want to buy or sell stock. Enter the stock symbol or look it up using the 'Find Symbol' link if you don't know it. Enter how many shares of the stock you wish to purchase.
Select the type of trade you want to perform. You can select:
Market, which is a trade that happens now;
Limit, which happens once a trigger has been reached (which you enter); or
Stop-Loss, which happens once a stock drops below a certain price (which you enter).
Select your funding source. If you have already have money in your account, then you can leave it alone. If you want to add money, then click the 'Express Funding' radio button.
Click 'Next.' If you selected 'Express Funding,' you'll be prompted for your bank information like routing and account numbers.
Confirm the order and then wait for it to post. You can view your open orders by navigating to the 'Accounts' tab and clicking the 'View Orders' link.
Do your research before purchasing a stock. The tools are available on the website. If you have several thousand dollars in your account, you can trade with Margins, which means that you can borrow ShareBuilder's money to trade with at a low interest rate.

How to Calculate Stock Worth

Determine the ticker symbol for the stock in which you are interested. There are numerous websites that provide the ticker symbol when you type the name of the company into a web form.
Enter the ticker symbol into a website that offers stock quotes. The quote that the website returns is the price of one share of that stock as of that moment unless a time delay is specified.
Multiply the price of one share by the number of shares you own, and the result is the worth of your position in that stock.

How to Bid on the Stock Market

Choose a ticker symbol that interests you and that you would like to buy if the price is right. The stock market does not limit you to just corporate stocks. You can also bid on the purchase of gold, foreign stock market indexes or individual sectors through the use of exchange-traded funds and also government bonds.
Enter the ticker symbol for your desired investment instrument into your stock broker's trading platform, if it is an electronic system or call your broker to place an order.
Place a 'limit' order for your desired ticker at your bid price. When you make a bid, you are advertising to the market the price you are willing to pay for the instrument. A limit order locks in a maximum price you will pay and is the stock market's equivalent to raising a bid sign at a live auction. As part of your limit order, you must include the total number of shares you wish to purchase.
Wait for your order to be executed. If the stock market trades your desired instrument at a price that meets the criteria of your bid, your limit order will 'fill' and you will now own the shares. However, the key distinction of a limit order is that execution is not guaranteed. Thus, if other bidders are willing to pay more than your bid, the market will likely not trade down to your price, and your order will sit without execution.
Cancel the limit order at any time you choose if you either change your mind, want to enter a new bid, or accept that the market is unlikely to trade at your bid price so you get a fill.

How to Report Stock Options Taxes (8 Steps)

Review your brokerage earnings statement for the tax year (and previous tax years if necessary) and group together purchase dates and prices with the appropriate selling dates and prices.
Calculate and determine which options were short-term assets and which were long-term assets. Any option that was held for over a year is considered a long-term capital gain or loss.
Enter into line 1 of the 'Part I' Section of Schedule D the first short-term stock option transaction that was completed for the tax year. Options that are presently held will be reported in a future tax year. The description (column A) of the option must include the company name, the quantity of options traded, the type of option (Call or Put) and the expiration date (i.e. Dec 2009).
Enter into columns (B) and (C) the dates the option was purchased and sold, respectively. Notice that if the transaction was a short sale of the option, the sold date would precede the purchase date.
Enter into column (D) and (E) the sales price and the cost of the options, respectively. Ensure that commissions and exchange fees are included in these prices.
Calculate the gain or loss from the option transaction by subtracting the option cost (column E) from the sales price (column D) and enter the gain or loss into column (F).
Continue entering all the short-term option transactions that were completed during the tax year as described in the previous steps. If necessary, use Schedule D-1 (continuation sheet for Schedule D) to report all the transactions.
Enter into line 8 of the 'Part II' Section of Schedule D the first long-term stock option transaction that was completed for the tax year. Continue entering all the long-term stock option trades, following the previous steps for short-term option trades. If necessary, use Schedule D-1 (continuation sheet for Schedule D) to report all the transactions.

How to Report Non

Examine Box 1 of your Form W-2. It should be a higher amount than your annual salary. The increase is your income from exercising the stock options. Your employer will provide details on the amount in Box 1 to ensure that it includes salary, plus the difference between the option exercise price and the value of stock purchased on the exercise date.
Enter on Line 7 of Form 1040 the amount from Box 1 of your W-2. Include W-2 income from other employers, including the W-2 of a spouse if you file a joint tax return. Add the income from exercising the stock options if that amount is not already on your W-2.
Record the option exercise date in the first column of the ledger.
Write the market value of the stock on the option exercise date in the next ledger column. Label the column 'cost basis.'
Keep the ledger as a record of your purchase date and cost basis. Use this to determine taxable gain or loss when the stock is sold.

How to Buy Stock at Target (5 Steps)

Determine the current trading price of Target stock and decide how many shares you wish to purchase. Target's stock price is available at the Target website and from many online sources and search engines.
Enter the Target Direct Investment Program web page. This page is listed in the Resources section.
Complete the agreement to establish an account with the transfer agent. The transfer agent will manage the transaction.
Deliver the proper 'good funds' to the transfer agent to cover the cost of shares you wish to purchase. Stock transactions are typically not executed until the agent collects the funds from your check or wire transfer. A transaction receipt will be issued to you.
Keep all transaction records for tax purposes.

How to Get Real Time Stock Data

Launch an Internet browser and navigate to Yahoo! Finance or Money Central.
Enter the selected website and look for the 'get quote' field.
Enter the name or stock symbol of the desired company and press the 'Get Quote' button.
Look for the real-time quote. This is found directly below the name of the company on both of the above Websites.
Take note of the data for later use.