My 13 year old son is doing a faux stock trading assignment at school.  He thinks he may want to try the real thing.

My first thought is just for him to get an Etrade account for go for it.

Are there better options?  

Tax ramifications that I should consider?

thanks

Tax liabilities..........until child is an adult, parent is responsible.   Many forms to be signed by the responsible adult.

ETrade and TDAmeritrade are good.....but adult has to be owner of account.   As little as $500 will open an account.  Child COULD practice trading "on paper"........play trading under your name.

Looks easy, but, the big boys have the insider trades going, and can buy 24/7.   Small traders are limited to one hour before market and a few hours after market.

Small traders cannot "bounce in and out" like we could until about 12 years ago.  Used to "bounce in n out" all day long.   NOW.....only 3 "round trips"(in and out of same stock) are allowed in a 5 business day period.  More than that, they will lock the account for 90 days.    

UNLESS, you have $25,000 balance at all times.  Then you can "round trip" ALL DAY LONG.    

Currently the marijuana stocks are expected to be the "Next Big Thing"........they were from late December, last three weeks they have dropped.   Possibly because of uncertainty of what the NEW Attorney General Sessions will do.    He is on record as anti-marijuana.  Several big name professional politicians STILL say they believe MJ is an addictive gateway drug.  Not the case, but that has not stopped the putrid 50+ year persecution of MJ users started by disgraced richard nixon.   His "War of Drugs" continues to destroy our beautiful America.  
Write me privately, I can give you a list of top/active MJ stocks..........most are penny stocks.  Several are big time stocks.  Did you know Miracle Grow is investing 500 million in the MJ market?
They have bought several companies and buying more.  Most penny stocks will die on the vine,  maybe 6 will flourish and grow into the next Microsoft.  Staying informed and choosing wisely is essential.

I use the stock simulator on Investopedia.com.

I made $10k today on Chemours (CC). Up $24k on all my other trades today. Too bad it's fake money. I am up $280k YTD (started with $500k though).

That's awesome that your kid is starting early. I remember my days of looking into the news paper to see what certain stocks were doing and then researching mutual funds at that age.

I wish him luck!!

I would like to apologize   to the OP as I do not want to highjack is thread.
Do you know ok of any MJ sector funds, that gets you alittle bit of everything, and touches all parts of the in the MJ industry?

Not to detract the thread, but MJ will continue going mainstream, and no AG is going to stop it. Budget shortfalls are real, and states will need to makeup funds.

You could compare it to casinos. It used to be that you'd have to fly or Vegas or Atlantic City to play blackjack. Now they're in virtually every major city. Gamblers have a certain stigma attached to them, but more and more people are going, and on a normal basis. I voted against casinos when it came on the ballot, but it was legalized in 2012.

I voted no on MJ the last time it came up on the ballot, but that's because the proponents like Nick Lachey were trying to monopolize, by making it so there could only be ten approved growing sites, and only the rich could do it.