American Stock Exchange Primer - A beginner's guide

Saturday, December 11, 2010 | Labels: | 0 comments |

This is a general article about the NYSE and NASDAQ that should answer several questions about investing in the stock market. What kind of “traps” might come in the way of investors when they begin to trade in the U.S. stock market? Which opportunities should you should seize and which should you ignore?

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) - the largest stock market in the world. Most companies listed on NYSE belong to the US economy, but companies from other countries are listed here as well. The exchange quotes 3,500 tickers, half of them are most of the time liquid.

NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation) is an electronic stock exchange. In the very beginning, it was the stock exchange for technology companies stocks only, but now a lot of companies from various sectors are listed on NASDAQ.

On both exchanges ECN (Electronic Communication Network) system plays an important role. This electronic system executes orders automatically. Thanks to ECNs all buy/sell orders are executed according to the FIFO principle (First In, First Out).

The NYSE and NASDAQ maintain programs of funds insurance and control over all traders and financial institutions. SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) observes every transaction and stops abuses and manipulations immediately.

One of the disadvantages of the NYSE and NASDAQ is the information overflow. There are hundreds of websites providing market analysis, various strategies and blogs, as well as daily reports, free research and surveys from the leading investment companies and analyst firms.

Moments on U.S. stock exchanges that are dangerous for novices: better stay square.

A company’s earnings is a number that comes from the company’s quarterly earnings report. It seems that buying stocks before a company’s forecasted good Earnings and adding to this position after the confirmation of this data is a good idea, but at the same time, you should keep in mind that the most terrible statements of the company may also provoke incredible growth and vice versa.

Upgrades / Downgrades. Forecasts of the biggest investment companies about the particular stocks value in the future. Prices can sometimes gap and reach the amount of several dollars, and dates of these announces are not set clearly. Even if you have a paid subscription to Goldman Sachs advices, positions opened during such an event can bring heavy losses.

Dividends. First, it is not easy to catch the dates when companies pay dividends. Even if you catch the moment, sell a few stocks, and earn on a price down-move (after the dividends are paid, stocks become cheaper for the amount of the sum paid as a dividend), at the end of the month your broker will charge this sum from your account to pay the shareholders their dividends. And nobody can say for sure if the price will continue to move lower. Good dividends might attract the attention of other investors which may lead to a significant stock price growth.

Economic Calendar. Simple logic: lower oil prices will make the stocks of oil companies grow and, and the stocks of airlines fall. But there is no direct correlation between such things as potential earnings and a stock price. Sometimes the market can grow at falling home sales and rising unemployment.

IPO (Initial Public Offering). Initial public offering of securities: offering of the stocks of the company that haven’t been listed on the stock exchange before. First, don’t try to “short” stocks on IPO, stock prices can move up very quickly. You should know the company’s owners personally and have full information about the company’s products and perspectives, otherwise do not try to participate on IPO.

Here are a few common issues that you should know before making your first steps on the stock market.
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Studying Stock Market Trends

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 | Labels: | 0 comments |

Studying the stock market can be very frustrating. There are just so many different factors that can contribute to fluctuations in the market.

There are people that make careers out of predicting where the stock market will be in the next day, month or even year. If you can get good at predicting about where the stock market will go you can make a lot of money by investing in the stock market.

Learning to understand the trends of the stock market takes time and expertise. There are some basic concepts about the stock market that will help you as you try to predict what is happening with the stock market.

Learning to identify and interpret the signs that the stock market gives is crucial. You must pay attention to the stock market and invest time in learning about the stock market.

We will talk about bull markets and bear markets. These are terms that have been coined to describe upward and downward trends in the stock market.

If there is increased investor confidence and increased investing in anticipation of future price increase then you have a bull market. A bullish trend will usually start before the economy begins to show the same upward trend.

The opposite is true of a bear market. When there is widespread investor fear or pessimism and the market shows a general decline over a period of time we would classify it as a bear market.

When the investors transition from having an attitude of optimism to pessimism we are usually going to be faced with a bear market. Later when we use these terms you will understand what we are saying.

The majority of stocks move with the trends of the markets. When we are in a bull market or when we are in a bear market we will see that most trends will follow the upward or downward trend.

This proves the point that it is important for us to always know what trends are currently affecting our stock market and what trends will be happening.

Price and volume are the two key points to look at when you are trying to determine where the market is headed. When you put these two key pieces of information together you will get a picture that tells you whether there are more sellers in the market or more buyers in the market.

The volume will tell you whether there is movement in the market and the price will tell you what direction. If you find a trend, you will need to capitalize on the trend.

The three big indicators for this formula are the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. These markets will be your source for price.

They will help you decide whether the market is going to continue its current trend or it if is trying to reverse course. We chose these markets because they are the leading markets in our economy.

The indicator for the volume comes from the daily sales volume. IF the market has a high-volume day and prices are up, you will be looking at mutual funds and institutional investors buying , which is a sign of an up market trend.

But if you see that one day there is a high-volume with lower prices that could mean that there is a downward trend. Usually big players will be backing out of the market at this point.

Remember to use your common sense as you are watching the trends in the market. If you have three or four days of high volume rising prices, it is not unusual to hit a high-volume day where the prices fall off.

If you begin to see the up days too much in a market that has been moving down, you may be noticing a sign that the market is about to reverse course or stall. The same is true of noticing down days in an up market.

A market that is showing sharp price movements in either direction without corresponding volume increases is sending false messages that should be watched carefully. You need to be wary of these changes.

Understanding that you should not try to swim upstream is crucial. The obvious forces of supply and demand will drive the market.

When there are more buyers than there are sellers the market will go up. When there are more sellers than there are buyers the market will go down.

It is when you find a prevailing trend of a different price and volume than the rest of the market that you may know to expect change.
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Forex Trading from Home - Some Tips

Sunday, October 31, 2010 | Labels: | 1 comments |

Forex trading from home, offers one of the few ways where traders can start with small amounts of money and build wealth quickly. While many traders aspire to this, very few succeed and it's not because they can't learn to do it - anyone has the potential to make big gains but most fail due to getting the wrong education. Below you will find some simple tips which will give you, a roadmap to Forex trading success so follow them and currency trading success can be yours.

The first point should be obvious which is you need to do your homework and learn your art but most traders fail to do this and lose. They buy cheap Forex software and think these automated systems will give them an income each month with no effort, all for the cost of a good meal out for two! Of course they lose and you have to accept that if you want to win at FX trading, you are going to have to learn the basics but for the amount of work you have to do, huge gains can be yours.

When trading Forex you need to keep things simple and not complicate your trading so forget about trying to follow news, judge economic numbers and guess where prices may go and use Forex charts.

The advantage of using charts is - you don't need to guess or predict anything, you just follow the price action and trade the reality of the price change. The reasons behind the moves on the charts are unimportant to you because you just want to make money by locking into and following price trends.

Learning to spot chart formations that offer trading opportunities is a learned skill and the even better news is - the best systems in financial trading are simple! Forget about all the gurus and geeks, who tell you complex systems are better there not, simple systems are more profitable because they are more robust and have fewer parameters to break.

You can learn a simple chart based system in a few weeks and then you need to get the right mindset to win. The problem for most traders is their emotions prevent them from winning. They hate to lose so run losses and when they get profits they take them early. To win you need to keep losses small and take them. If you fail to do this, you will never win at currency trading. If you have an ego and want to be right all the time don't trade currencies.

Some of the best traders in the world, are people with no formal education and use simple systems but they still make big gains. If you have understood this article so far, you will understand why they win and also see, that if you have the motivation to succeed and a desire to learn Forex the right way, you can make big profits in Forex trading too.
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Strategies to be Successful in Stock Markets

Friday, October 29, 2010 | Labels: | 0 comments |

Share dealing is one from the most flexible markets to generate substantial profits and build a diversified financial portfolio. There are numerous investing tools and principles that the stock market trading investor must fully understand and take into account to achieve success. When a company wishes to boost capital to allow for growth they'll sell shares; the shareholder actually will become part 'owner' from the company.

A sensible investor will first investigate the stock they would like to buy; examining market trends, watching the movements of the particular stocks and evaluating the high price and the bottom prices of the particular company. Stock market trading could be tricky to any investor; the market is full of volatility as the price of shares would depend on supply and demand.

The share dealing investor will develop some criteria which will help these phones choose which stocks and shares will meet their financial expectations. They're going to have analyzed facts for example the other investors will pay for that stock, what are the percentage of growth they're expecting, and also the time period they be prepared to see it. They have fully monitored historical graphs, trends and prospects. As a result market analysis you can select stocks that have withstood some time and different financial situations, in addition to come with an exceptional balance sheet.

The supply to obtain more information is becoming highly accessible because of the introduction of online stock market trading news an internet-based brokerage firms at one's fingertips twenty-four hours each day seven days a week.

Over the last decade more investors do online share trading, as it they can make faster trades and may control their portfolios better. They still will require a dependable stock broker and brokerage firm; one in which could handle transactions quickly, as well as a broker they will fully trust with a highly regarded reputation.

The successful trader has also learned they shouldn't pay attention to rumors or hot tips but should use true facts and historical data when share dealing. Additionally, they understand that you should first preserve their capital after which make profit; meaning they know when you should sell so when they ought to buy and they do not over-trade nor will they invest their capital into 1 market.

In closing, the important thing to successful share dealing is to understand the marketplace as well as the companies you intend to purchase your stocks in. Knowledge is a powerful tool and one that will help you in your endeavors for high returns.
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How Money is Generated

Tuesday, October 19, 2010 | Labels: | 0 comments |

Ever wondered where all this money comes from? Who generates money? Why is the money always increasing? Here is an excellent video which shows you exactly how the money system works. It shows how the money is created and who reaps its profit. It shows how the banking system works and why the governments are always in debt.

"Money used to be backed by Gold and Silver but today's money is backed by debt - your promise to pay back a loan and the government's promise to back up the currency".

This is a nice presentation answering most your questions you ever had about how the money works.


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Which Real Estate Property Makes The Best Investment?

Sunday, May 16, 2010 | Labels: | 0 comments |

For the person who is just starting out knowing how to be a real estate investor, the safest investment is residential income property. This is real estate that can be rented out to a tenant who plans to live in the property. The tenant pays rent on a monthly basis and that should be adequate for you to make your mortgage payment, pay operating expenses, and produce a small cash flow as a return on your property investment.

The types of residential income properties that we think are university beneficial are well constructed fix up properties that can be purchased at below market prices or value.

When you focused on buying residential income property, it gives you cash flow and tax benefits. The best residential income properties to buy are small apartment buildings and single family rental houses.

There are certain types of investment properties that are better than others. Land can be used for many things but it is not income producing and does not provide any means of tax shelter. Land for development is especially risky because it is often speculative and uncertain.

Commercial income property like office buildings, strip centers, retail stores, industrial spaces is a good investment for the seasoned investor, but involves a level of expertise that most beginning real estate investors do not possess.

Unfortunately, commercial property often suffers from over building and high vacancy rates. Commercial property is also vulnerable to swings in the economy. As the economy slows, small businesses go under, leading to more vacancies and less cash flow.
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Choosing the Right Stocks

Sunday, May 2, 2010 | Labels: | 0 comments |

Most people know that one of the best ways to make real money is to invest in the stock market, trading and selling stocks with great rates to make money. Some people are able to do this; they are able to easily purchase stocks at low rates and sell them at a higher rate.

People that are able to do this make money that will provide them with the means to really enjoy their lives. If you are interested in making money, you may want to consider buying, selling, and trading stocks. If you know how to choose the right ones, stock trading is an excellent way to make money.

However, choosing the right stocks to trade is one of the biggest issues to contend with. All kinds of people have owned stocks for years and have never made much money from them. This is because they remain in the same place. Others select the wrong stocks and wind up with stocks that aren't worth anything or their profit margins drop.

Stock trading can be very difficult to get the hang of, and it can be time consuming. Therefore, something that you need to think carefully about is how you can play the stock market without needing to worry about which stocks to buy and which to sell. A trading robot is something that can be very helpful. One thing that can really help is a trading robot.

If you purchase a trading robot, you will have some options. A stock trading robot will help you be sure you're making the right moves. When you precisely follow the directions given by the stock trading robot, you have the potential to make enormous profits within a few days. You can continuously make money in the stock market as long as you follow the instructions and suggestions given by the trading robot.

You will definitely want to investigate a trading robot if you are going to play the stock market at all, but you'll have to understand how it works. It's a program that's been created and loaded with mathematical information regarding stocks. A good stock trading robot is able to recognize trades that are worth less as well as those that are worth more.

A trading program can access the current price of stocks which means it will have information about stocks that should be kept, those that should be sold, and the ones that will make money quickly.

When using a trading robot, there will be a program on your computer that's actually the robot. The program will store your information in addition to information about stocks you currently own. Every day the robot will make suggestions about the stocks you should buy as well as how many you should purchase. The trading robot also makes recommendations when stocks should be sold.

When you use a trading robot it will be just like somebody that knows all there is to know about the market is guiding you. It has all the brains and intelligence of someone that's played the market for many years, but is will to tell you exactly what to do.

As long as you can follow the directions the stock trading robot gives you and you heed these directions, there's a very good chance of your drawing the right conclusions about what should be done when playing the stock market.
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Finding Real Estate for Investment

Monday, April 12, 2010 | Labels: | 0 comments |

If you just beginning to learn the nuts and bolts of real estate investing, I hope this article can get you on the right path to change your whole outlook of making good property investments. Working with the real estate market can be very tough at times and what makes it this way can be for a whole lot of reasons. Maybe you are'nt motivated enough to push forward. Maybe you are'nt getting the proper training to feel confident to go out there. Maybe you just dont know where to start. Here are some places where you can locate good investment real estate property:

- You can start off by looking in the classified section for real estate ads. Key words to look for are: desperate, must sell, moving, foreclosure, divorce, illness, transferred or new job. Make sure you check the Property For Rent section. Owners of vacant property are often very motivated to sell.

- Dont never forget that good agents are invaluable to real estate investors. Look for agents who have worked with government foreclosures. Most government seized properties are sold only through real estate agents.

- Ask your real estate agent for permission to look through old Multiple Listing Service Books. These are books that are filled with properties for sale. In back issues you will find properties listed for sale, information on sold properties, and properties that are off the market. Check these properties and make offers to buy.

- Take a different way home where you work everyday. Drive through several neighborhoods to get a feel for good investment areas. Then write down all of the For Sale By Owner signs you see. If a house looks really interesting, pull up, and go inside to meet with the owner. Take a purchase contract along in the event the owner is ready to make a deal.

- Have you ever found a run down, vacant property that you like but you don't know who the owner is? Call the customer service department at your local title company to find the owner's name and address. If your state doesn't have title companies, go to the state, county or city recorder's office to determine the owner.

You must keep in mind that property foreclosures, bankruptcies and probate sales are listed daily. If your city doesn't have this service then go to your county recorder's office and get a list of foreclosures that have been legally file. The information is a public document. The Freedom of Information Act states that you have the right to know.
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The Basics of Stock Trading Programs

Saturday, April 3, 2010 | Labels: | 1 comments |

Trading robots are computer programs that are said to help investors get an idea what stocks will most likely make them profit. These robots are under a lot of scrutiny from potential investors and critic alike and of the biggest questions are as to whether it works or not.

Before one can understand what a trading robot is, it is first important to gain an idea of what trading is and how can investors make money of it.

Trading is the practice of buying and selling stocks with the goal of making a profit out of the difference between purchase and selling price. This type of financial trading used to be exclusively handled by banks and other financial firms who employed all sorts of trading strategies. With the advent of online trading, however, more and more people are able to participate in it.

What is a stock trading program?

A stock trading program is computer software that has been programmed to study stock market trends. It predicts and sends out tips to its users on what stocks are more likely to rise and on which stocks the investor can make the most money from.

The story behind the origin of the stock trading program varies from promoter to promoter. Some claim that an ex-stock trader is behind its creation, while others claim that software geniuses were the ones behind its invention. Nonetheless, these robots all have one goal and that is to help investors make money.

When an investor purchases the rights to use a stock trading program, they are either emailed stock tips or are given access to a website where they can get tips and information on trends. The investor then decides whether he/she wants to invest on a stock touted by the this robot. The buying and selling of stocks may also be done via the stock trading program. The result of the investment will also be delivered to the investor via the stock trading program.

Does it Really Work?

A stock trading program does work, but with a catch. Investors do see increases in their stocks, but some are concerned with the mechanisms of how the rise in stocks occurs.

The thing is, stock trading programs employ a trading strategy of investing in 'penny stocks'. These are common stocks that are traded over the counter and sell for less than 20 cents a share. These stocks are known for being volatile and investing in them is considered a high risk trading strategy. Their small size means that even a small amount of buyers will reflect as a significant raise in their stock rating. Inversely, penny stocks also fall rapidly when investors sell.

Another issue with a stock trading program is whether or not the software program really predicts stock increases. Some experts argue that the increases seen with a trading robot is just the effect of an increase in investment as a result of the tips sent out.
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