Ask HN: Hackers Guide to the Stockmarket?

Frankly, the best way to learn about the stock market is to buy and sell a few stocks. This is the fastest way to gain the greatest amount of knowledge. If you can't afford it, do it on a 'play' account. Give yourself a budget of x dollars and y days. Try to make the most amount of money (or, if you are on a dummy account, try to lose as much money as possible).

This is definitely worth 15 minutes of your time. http://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/money

tl;dr if you don't know where to start, start with an index fund.