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SIX STEPS and the IRREFUTABLE LAWS of the MARKET Every Investor and Trader MUST KNOW to Succeed
Step 1:
A move begins with the sponsors (smart traders) who have insider knowledge as it relates to a particular stock or market. This information will move a market up or down depending on the insiders’ information. These buyers are smart, very smart, and recognize tradinginvestment opportunities very early in the markup cycle.
Step 2:
Days, weeks, or sometimes months after a move has started, there is a brief mention in the electronic media (radio, cable, TV) or on one of the internet chat boards that a market has moved. The public hears for the first time and begins to get interested, but does not buy.
Step 3:
A blurb of information appears in print media. The move also begins getting more exposure on blogs and internet message boards. The public starts paying a little more attention, and will buy a little bit.
Step 4:
Wall Street and LaSalle Street brokers go into full hype mode and hawk the market to their customers. The public begins buying in greater volume.
Step 5:
A full-blown front-page article appears about the particular stock or market in one of the major financial newspapers, magazines, or financial websites. This is often six months after the fact and after a market has shown its greatest appreciation. There is often heavy public buying, even a possible frenzy, as all media, brokers, and so-called “gurus” start to tout the market.
Step 6:
As step 5 gets underway, the sponsors or smart traders begin to move out of the market and take their profits off the table.
The finale: The move ends, the market falls, and investors lose money.
Stock trading has numerous benefits as a viable part time occupation.
In contrast to a second job, there are no special qualifications to begin. The stock market doesnt care about your level of success, education, ethnic origin or any personal characteristics. Complex employers, office politics or difficult employees do not play a part in trading. Additionally you have the freedom to trade from any location. If you follow a few simple rules you can run your business on your own terms.
The most important factor is to be clear about why you want to trade stocks. What do you hope to gain financially from learning to trade?
Are you looking to:
1.Create an enhanced lifestyle with supplemental income?
2.Replace a full time income with a passive income stream?
3.Become independently wealthy by creating a financial base independent of other income sources?
What would being a successful trader mean you? Imagine yourself making successful trades and gaining financially. Think about what it would feel like to have extra money in your bank account and to achieve your targets. With a clear picture of what you want and how that would feel you will be able to remain focused and motivated.
Your first task.
Your first task is to put one primary goal for your trading plan in writing. Additional goals you set can then support your primary plan.
Know Yourself
As well as learning to trade stocks it is essential that you understand yow you react under stress. Being aware of your own behaviour patterns and common causes of and reactions to stress when trading will help you to master stock trading.
The reason that many people lose money in the stock market is because they lack the proper knowledge base. Independent of trading styles there is one thing common to all successful traders; the use of a tested and proven system.
In learing to trade you must be willing to let go of pre-formulated ideas and start fresh, develop new successful habits, and the discipline necessary to trade successfully over time.
Are you willing to do this?
Successful stock market trading eludes many people because they dont have contact with an experienced, successful trader or trading system that actually works. Going it alone can be potentially expensive when learning by trial and error. Investing in a solid education and taking advantage of the insights and experience of successful trader makes a lot of sense when learning to trade successfully.
As small investors look for ways to ensure a good return on their money, land sales are increasing in popularity. Profits, whilst not guaranteed, are often better than those from the stock market, for several reasons:
Less risk, more profit
Whilst some investors have a significant investment in the stock market, often with a comprehensive, well-managed portfolio, for most smaller investors, their experience of the market is limited to one or two companies and they are therefore more open to stock market fluctuations and risks. Company share prices can be affected by many external factors, often beyond the companys control and, unless you are watching the market carefully day by day, you usually have to hold onto your shares for many years in order to turn a good profit.
By contrast, if you select the right land, or take the advice of a reliable land agent, you can realise potentially fantastic profits in a much shorter space of time. This is because the land thats normally made available to smaller investors has been carefully chosen. Big land investors buy and then bank land that they think will be ear-marked for development in the future, and then either hold onto it, or parcel it up and sell it to private investors, who reap the benefits if planning permission is granted at a later date.
No maintenance required
Once youve bought your piece of land, you own it outright and can sell it whenever you choose. You dont need to maintain it as you would a property and you dont need to follow its fortunes day in, day out, to find out whether youre making any money. If you need to raise money, you can sell your land quickly, whereas if your shares are at a low price, you wont be able to make enough cash.
The best of both worlds
If you have thought of investing in land, but dont want to get out of the stock market completely, then just broaden your portfolio by reducing your shareholdings and investing in land as well. You get the best of both worlds, and the chance to make a very health profit if you choose the land wisely.
Why Forex Is A Better Investment Idea Than Stocks or Commodities
Forex, the Foreign Exchange Market, is a worldwide market for buying and selling foreign currencies. The major currencies that are traded include the U.S. pound (USD), Euro (EUR), British Pound (GBP), Canadian pound (CAD), Australian pound (AUD), Japanese Yen (JPY), and the Swiss Franc (CHF). The purpose of this article is not to go into the details of how Forex works, but to compare the benefits of trading in the Forex market versus trading the Equity (American stocks) or Futures markets (Commodities).
The Forex market is the largest market in the world with over 2 trillion pounds traded every day. This compares to the 200 billion pounds traded daily in the Equity and Futures market each. Because of this, the Forex market benefits from fairer prices, price stability, and better trade execution.
Forex has the advantage of being open 24 hours a day. The Forex market opens on Sunday afternoon and remains open until it closes on Friday afternoon. The Equity and Futures markets are only open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. This gives Forex traders the opportunity to trade around their personal schedule. Also, liquidity in the Equity and Futures markets are reduced after regular trading hours.
When trading Forex, you will not incur the commissions or transaction fees that exist in the Equity and Futures markets. You pay a spread on the currency pair you are trading and costs are very low, especially when compared to the other markets.
Investment leverage in the Forex market can be as high as a 200:1 margin. In the Equity and Futures markets your average margin is 4:1. This means that you can control 10,000 worth of currency with only a 50-pound margin.
In the Equity and Futures markets, investors are expected to fund several thousand pounds to open a trading account. In the Forex market, you can open a mini account for only 300 pounds and begin trading.
In the Equity market, short selling is very risky and comes with limitations. In the Forex market, you are able to buy long or sell short any currency pair with no limitations or difference in risk.
As an investor in the Forex market, you are able to concentrate on only a few major currencies. There are seven major currencies yielding four major currency pairs that most Forex investors concentrate on. Whereas in the Equity market, investors have over 40,000 stocks to choose from when contemplating where to invest their money.
There are many factors to consider when deciding on which market you want to spend your time and money. The Forex market provides many benefits over the other major investment markets that will allow you, the investor, to make larger profits, take less risk, and spend more time with your personal life and less time investing.
Buying on margin means that you are buying your stocks with borrowed money.
If you are buying stocks outright, you pay 5,000 for 100 shares of a stock that costs 50 a share. They are yours. You’ve paid for them free and clear.
But when you buy on margin, you are borrowing the money to purchase the stock. For example, you don’t have 5,000 for those 100 shares. A brokerage firm could lend you up to 50% of that in order to purchase the stock. All you need is 2,500 to buy the 100 shares of stock.
Most brokerage firms set a minimum amount of equity at 2,000. This means that you have to put in at least 2,000 for the purchase of stocks.
In return for the loan, you pay interest. The brokerage is making money on your loan. They will also hold your stock as the collateral against the loan. If you default, they will take the stock. They have very little risk in the deal.
One way to think of buying on margin is that it is often comparable to buying a home with a mortgage. You are taking out the loan in the hopes that the value will go up and you will make money. You are in control of twice the amount of shares. All you have to see is the additional profit exceed the interest you have paid the brokerage.
However, there are risks to buying stock on margin. The price of your stock could always go down. By law, the brokerage will not be allowed to let the value of the collateral (the price of your stock) go down below a certain percentage of the loan value. If the stock drops below that set amount, the brokerage will issue a margin call on your stock.
The margin call means that you will have to pay the brokerage the amount of money necessary to bring the brokerage firms risk down to the allowed level. If you don’t have the money, your stock will be sold to pay off the loan. If there is any money left, you will be sent it. In most cases, there is little of your original investment remaining after the stock is sold.
Buying on margin could mean a huge return. But there is the risk that you could lose your original investment. As with any stock purchase there are risks, but when you are using borrowed money, the risk is increased.
Buying on margin is usually not a good idea for the beginner or normal, every day investor. It is something that sophisticated investors even have issues with. The risk can be high. Make sure that you understand all of the possible scenarios that could happen, good and bad.
Penny Stocks can be a very effective way to provide you with a secondary income. They can be used to create passive income because they do not require you to be constantly watching over them. The problem that most people have when it comes to stocks is – not knowing the right time to sell.
Penny Stocks can rise very quickly but they can also fall quickly too. The reason that most investors hold onto a stock is because the fail to separate their emotions from their actions.
All of your penny stocks buying and selling should, of course, be based on sound research both of the market and the companies recent history. How the company is doing in terms of profitability, whether they are just about to, or have just announced profits, losses or new patents, discoveries and products, can all affect your decision on whether, or not, to buy.
Knowing the right time to sell your penny stocks however can sometimes seem, as much an art as a science, although getting it wrong can be fatal. Many people seem to put all their research efforts into knowing what penny stocks to buy and when to buy them.
Investors seem to forget about researching to sell stocks. Instead, they let their emotions take control and sell at the wrong time. Investors selling at the wrong time fall into two categories. These categories are, The Runners and The Sitters.
The Runners like to take profit way too early. They see their Penny Stocks rise a little and sell because they dont want to risk too much. Ive seen it time and time again; these people set out to earn a 25% Return on Investment and end up taking profit at 1%. Someone who takes profit twice at 25% earns a lot more than someone who takes profit twice at 1%. Usually, as soon as they sell a penny stock, it will rise even further and theyll be wondering why they sold so early.
The Sitters are the heavily emotionally involved in their penny stocks. They are gamblers at heart and just do not want to let go of a losing position because it could bounce back any day now. When they do let go of their Penny Stocks – there is virtually nothing left. The sitters like to sit on a losing position. They like buying but dislike selling.
Do you want to be a Runner or a Sitter? Well, I hope you are neither. You want to be a winner. A winner will separate their emotions from their investment thinking and will also research when buying and also when selling. They will buy and they are not afraid of selling.
There is great deal of profit to be made from trading in Penny Stocks. But you have to know not only what to buy but also how long to keep it and when the best time to sell. The answer, as with most things in the world of finance, is good information and research. But that doesnt end when you buy. Find out why your penny stocks are rising and this will put you in a much better position to know when to sell.
Blue Chip Stocks are quality stocks that have a proven track record. A Blue Chip stock is like a member of the family in the American pastoral landscape. The Blue Chip stock makes toilet paper, laundry soap, aluminum, steel , washing machines and just about every well known brand we used every day The Blue Chip stock is Bank of America, U.S. Steel, Proctor & Gamble and others we think of as being our companies.
In times of uncertainty and for long term investors the Blue Chip stocks are a part of every portfolio either in direct stock purchases or through mutual funds. The Blue Chip stock is a large cap company and has decades and even a century of presence on the stock market. Some Blue Stock stocks are relatively new players like Home Depot or the result of a merger & acquisition. If you look around your house and around your town the brand products you use or have come to rely on are Blue Chip stocks.
The fact is that we take for granted the Blue Chip stocks both in our familiarity as an end user, but often times in the stock market. The Blue Chip stocks make up the S&P500 index. These stocks as a whole can be purchased as an index fund. Some Blue Chip stocks make up the Dow 100. These stocks on the whole are a bell weather of how the overall market is doing.
Like any familiar item the Blue Chip stocks become like a comfortable old pair of sneakers. We know where they are and they are easy to slip into, but they may not be as exciting as say Google or Baidu. In recent months some of the Blue Chip stocks have been a flight to safety for some investors. Not all Blue Chip stocks are alike, but some have been grossly undervalued and therefore a good buy.
Ways to invest in Blue Chip stocks:
The investor can pick and choose a Blue Chip stock and buy it through a stock broker or on-line with a trading company like Scotttrade or E*Trade. This gives you access to the companies performance on the short term and charts going back at least 10 years. The investor can access the companies financial reports and quarterly earnings on-line. The investor can ask the company to send you a company prospectus.
There are index funds of Blue Chip stocks that can be bought through a financial brokerage house. There are mutual funds that are designated as Blue Chip Funds in most family of funds offered in all of the major mutual funds companies. There is even a mutual fund company that offers a spider fund comprised of Blue Chip stocks that is similar to the S& P 500.
The variety of ways to invest in Blue Chip stocks is endless. Spiders, Index funds, and hybrids in between. There are option contracts and some tricky investments that only a really savvy trader can advise you about.
The Blue Chip stocks merit a good review in all times not just in times of market uncertainty.
Want to Trade Stocks? Get Your Free Stock Quote First
Free stock quotes are valuable for looking at your investments and determining whether or not you want to trade in the stock market. There are several free stock quotes online and one of the most popular is Yahoo Finance. This site will allow you to search your stocks to see the growth or decline and determine if you want to buy or sell. Free stock quotes are ideal for the novice investor. They can practice their skills without investing any money until they are comfortable enough to actually invest. Once you decide to invest, though, you will need to get with a broker and there are additional fees associated with trading. However, there are many do it yourself places that only require a small fee and will often have valuable articles and free stock quotes so you can watch your portfolio continually to ensure you have made sound investments.
Before investing in the stock market, you should be aware of the basics of stock trading. This can be learned by doing some research online or by getting a book at your local library. Once you know the basics, you can start looking for individual investments. It is recommended that the novice investor start off with only the amount of money they can afford to lose. There are no guarantees you will earn money and sometimes you will lose it. So, it is important to carefully watch the stock market by looking at free stock quotes each day. You may want to buy or sell your stocks depending on how well the individual stock is doing and what forecasts are for the stock.
Free stock quotes are also great for classes in finance or the stock market. This is ideal for investor clubs, high school classes or college projects. You can either use mock money to track an investment from start to finish without actually putting in money or you can use pooled money to determine which investment you will watch and what you will do with it. This is a great way to have a bit of fun with a group while learning about investments and possibly making a bit of money.
Imagine you are trying to do car repairs, and the only tool you have is a hammer. Sure, youll be able to get some jobs done, but they wont be done properly and youll most likely break something else in the process. Trading stocks online is much like that. There are many ways to trade, but only some of them truly work. Sometimes, investors end up losing money because they didnt take the time to find the proper investment method or tool. Here are some tips that can help you to trade successfully.
If you want to reduce the risk that comes with holding an investment, you will want to look into the practice known as hedging. One of the best ways to hedge your investments is to take any shares you have in a company and sell them to the companys opposition.
For stability, you will want to look to investing a pre-arranged amount of money each month into one or more mutual funds. Mutual funds are composed of shares from approximately 10 companies, and often focus on a specific area of the market, such as energy, paper, or currency. Although there is still a risk that you can lose money through your mutual funds, they are much more stable and have a much higher chance of recovery, based on the fact that they center on stocks from more than one company. Be patient if the market takes a downturn; dont sell your funds or stock immediately. History has shown that if a market goes down, it will also go up.
Another online trading tactic is to look at the stock market and find good, stable companies whose stock has taken a downturn. The way to find them is to look for ones that have dividend yields. Pick several of these companies and invest equal amounts of money in buying stocks from each of them. Although there is risk involved with this method, the history and stability of these companies is often enough to pull them through the slump they may be experiencing. And when their stocks begin to rise in value, you will benefit from this wise trading investment.
While quite a bit of time and research goes into selecting stocks, it is often hard to know when to pull out especially for first time investors. The good news is that if you have chosen your stocks carefully, you wont need to pull out for a very long time, such as when you are ready to retire. But there are specific instances when you will need to sell your stocks before you have reached your financial goals.
You may think that the time to sell is when the stock value is about to drop and you may even be advised by your broker to do this. But this isnt necessarily the right course of action.
Stocks go up and down all the time, depending on the economyand of course the economy depends on the stock market as well. This is why it is so hard to determine whether you should sell your stock or not. Stocks go down, but they also tend to go back up.
You have to do more research, and you have to keep up with the stability of the companies that you invest in. Changes in corporations have a profound impact on the value of the stock. For instance, a new CEO can affect the value of stock. A plummet in the industry can affect a stock. Many things all combined affect the value of stock. But there are really only three good reasons to sell a stock.
The first reason is having reached your financial goals. Once youve reached retirement, you may wish to sell your stocks and put your money in safer financial vehicles, such as a savings account.
This is a common practice for those who have invested for the purpose of financing their retirement. The second reason to sell a stock is if there are major changes in the business you are investing in that cause, or will cause, the value of the stock to drop, with little or no possibility of the value rising again. Ideally, you would sell your stock in this situation before the value starts to drop.
If the value of the stock spikes, this is the third reason you may want to sell. If your stock is valued at 100 per share today, but drastically rises to 200 per share next week, it is a great time to sell especially if the outlook is that the value will drop back down to 100 per share soon. You would sell when the stock was worth 200 per share.
As a beginner, you definitely want to consult with a broker or a financial advisor before buying or selling stocks. They will work with you to help you make the right decisions to reach your financial goals.