Many people are intimidated by the prospect of releasing their hard earned money on the stock market, and with good reason. No matter how much you study, analyze, evaluate, or research, every market investment is a gamble, and there is always a risk that instead of earning a return on your investment, you'll barely break even, or possibly lose money. However, it's important to remember that there are many tools available for evaluating stock market performance of a certain security, and as long as you're wise about the money that you expose to the market, the risk can be kept reasonably low.

If you've already invested in a couple of stocks, you might be wondering how well they're doing, and whether it is worth it for you to keep your money tied up in these companies. Many people utilize brokers or financial managers for their investment portfolios, and aren't privy to the day to day trading that these professionals engage in as they work toward a larger dividend. Many times, all you have to do to evaluate your stock market performance is ask for an appointment with your financial professional, and they can show you the fluctuations in price that have occurred, and what they mean for the future.

These days, many people are deciding to forego the high cost of commissioned stock market brokers and instead are investing on their own through affordable online brokerage companies. These companies provide accessible, convenient trading options that are available through the internet, any hour of the day or night. The only drawback is that you don't have a trained professional with you to talk you through each step of the process, which means that you'll be responsible for you own stock market performance evaluations.

When evaluating your portfolio for stock market performance, it's important that you use all your market knowledge as well as common sense to monitor whether a stock is really worth your time and money. Don't be afraid to set aggressive goals for stock performance, and drop the stock quickly if it doesn't meet these goals after a set period of time, say three or six months. This means that you have to use technical analysis to make sure that the stock is headed in the right direction for growth in the first place. Always look for trends and patterns that will indicate whether growth or decline is in your future.