This chapter covered the operations and organization of the major stock markets. It also covered some of the most important order types and the construction of stock market indexes. How should you, as an investor or investment manager, put this information to work?

      First, as in some previous chapters, you need to submit as many as possible of the different order types suggested by this chapter in a simulated brokerage account (note that not all simulated brokerage accounts allow all trade types). Your goal is to gain experience with the different order types and what they mean and accomplish for you as an investor or investment manager.

      In each case, once you have placed the order, be sure to monitor the price of the stock in question to see if any of your orders should be executed. When an order is executed, compare the result to the stop or limit price to see how you did.

      The second thing to do is to start observing the different indexes and learning how they are computed, what's in them, and what they are intended to cover. For example, the NASDAQ 100 is made up of the largest NASDAQ stocks. Is this index broadly representative of big stocks in general? Of NASDAQ stocks in general? Why is the Russell 2000 index widely followed (note that it does not contain 2,000 big stocks)? Visit www.russell.com to learn more.