The world of trading and investment can be as frustrating as it can be rewarding! You need to be prepared...
Firstly, decide if you are a trader or an investor.
An investor is someone who enters the stock market inadvertently - usually via their superannuation policies. A trader is someone who makes a decision to buy and sell shares via the stock market. This can be done online or by using the services of a stock broker.
If you decide to become a trader - to win - you must have a survival strategy...
You need to study the market yourself - not just rely on 'reading the news', or listening to others advice and tips.
Take advantage of technology - computers, software, electronic data - all at your finger tips. Seek out charting software and appropriate internet sites - they are plentiful.
Ensure that you 'manage' your money and keep some in reserve.
Have the ability to quickly identify failures as well as successes.
Stock Market trading appeals to those who are a little adventurous - rather than just placing their capital into bricks and mortar.
But - be mindful that portfolio values are less stable than real estate as they are continually moving up and down.
However - investing in the Stock Market means that you are putting your money to work - be aware, and enjoy the gains!
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Friday, September 24, 2010
How To Choose A Stock Market Analyst?
With so many different companies offering such a wide variety of stocks and bonds, it can be difficult to keep track of which ones are good investments and which ones will cause you to lose money. If you aren't sure how to tell the good stocks from those that aren't so great, or simply don't have the time that you'd need to keep track of all of the different stocks so as to know when it's time to buy or sell, you might want to consider hiring a stock market analyst.
A stock market analyst is an individual, sometimes as a part of an investment firm, whose job it is to watch the changes in the market and keep track of which stocks and bonds are performing well and which ones aren't.
If you think that you might be interested in hiring a stock market analyst but aren't sure how you would go about doing so, then the information below should help you begin your search.
Find Local Analysts
The first step in hiring a stock market analyst is finding one to hire. You can often find listings for market analysts or investment services in your local phone directory, and many analysts are likely to advertise in the financial section of local newspapers and other financial publications. You might also try searching the internet for information about financial analysts in your area.
Once you've found the analysts that are closest to your area, it's time to begin investigating the services that they offer and finding the one that's best for your investments.
Compare Prices and Services
Obviously, stock market analysts are going to charge for their services… after all, it's how they make a living. You should take the time to see how much the various analysts in your area charge, and find out exactly what services that price covers. Some market analysts might have several different packages at different prices, offering different services for different amounts so as to cover a variety of different service needs and financial limits.
Take some time to compare the prices that each analyst charges and the packages that they offer, and when you've decided upon the one that offers the most services that you desire for the best price begin checking to see how good they are at their job.
Check References
Taking the time to check references and to see if your potential analyst has any major complaints against them can help you to avoid having to repeat your search in a short period of time. In most cases, you'll find that businesses such as stock market analysts will have customers who are more than willing to allow the analyst to use them as a reference because of good experiences that they've had. If they don't have any references that you can use, take a little time to ask around and see if you can uncover any good or bad experiences that others have had with them in the past.
Though it may seem like a lot of work, you want to make sure that the person that you hire will be able to do the job that you're hiring them for.
Making Your Decision
After you've done some checking around and gone over the information that the analyst has given you again, it's time to make your decision. If it seems as though they'll do a good job in advising you on your stock choices, go ahead and hire them… if not, you should continue your search until you can find the one that will.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
A stock market analyst is an individual, sometimes as a part of an investment firm, whose job it is to watch the changes in the market and keep track of which stocks and bonds are performing well and which ones aren't.
If you think that you might be interested in hiring a stock market analyst but aren't sure how you would go about doing so, then the information below should help you begin your search.
Find Local Analysts
The first step in hiring a stock market analyst is finding one to hire. You can often find listings for market analysts or investment services in your local phone directory, and many analysts are likely to advertise in the financial section of local newspapers and other financial publications. You might also try searching the internet for information about financial analysts in your area.
Once you've found the analysts that are closest to your area, it's time to begin investigating the services that they offer and finding the one that's best for your investments.
Compare Prices and Services
Obviously, stock market analysts are going to charge for their services… after all, it's how they make a living. You should take the time to see how much the various analysts in your area charge, and find out exactly what services that price covers. Some market analysts might have several different packages at different prices, offering different services for different amounts so as to cover a variety of different service needs and financial limits.
Take some time to compare the prices that each analyst charges and the packages that they offer, and when you've decided upon the one that offers the most services that you desire for the best price begin checking to see how good they are at their job.
Check References
Taking the time to check references and to see if your potential analyst has any major complaints against them can help you to avoid having to repeat your search in a short period of time. In most cases, you'll find that businesses such as stock market analysts will have customers who are more than willing to allow the analyst to use them as a reference because of good experiences that they've had. If they don't have any references that you can use, take a little time to ask around and see if you can uncover any good or bad experiences that others have had with them in the past.
Though it may seem like a lot of work, you want to make sure that the person that you hire will be able to do the job that you're hiring them for.
Making Your Decision
After you've done some checking around and gone over the information that the analyst has given you again, it's time to make your decision. If it seems as though they'll do a good job in advising you on your stock choices, go ahead and hire them… if not, you should continue your search until you can find the one that will.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Try To Understanding The Stock Market
Many people look to the stock market to enhance their hard-earned money more and more each year. Some people are not even aware of their investments, because they can come in the form of pensions with their place of employment. The company invests this money in efforts to increase your retirement funds. In order to fully understand what is happening with your money, you should understand how the investments work.
The stock market is an avenue for investors who want to sell or buy stocks, shares or other things like government bonds. Within the United Kingdom, the major stock market in this area is LSE (London Stock Exchange. Every day a list is produced that includes indexes or companies and how they are performing on the market. An index will be compromised of a special list of certain companies, for example, within the UK; the FTSE 100 is the most popular index. The Financial Times Stock Exchange dictates the average overall performance of 100 of the largest companies with in the UK that are listed on the stock market.
A share is a small portion of a PIC (public limited company), owning one of these shares will give you many rights. For example, you will gain a portion of the profits and growth that the company experiences, additionally you will obtain occasional accounts and reports from the chosen company. Another exciting feature of owning a share of a company is the fact that you are given the right to vote in various aspects of what happens with the company.
Once you purchase a share of a company you will receive something called a share certificate, this will be your proof of ownership. This certificate will contain the total value of the share, this will likely not be the price that is listed upon the exchange and is specifically for reasons of a legal matter. This will not affect the current value the share currently holds on the market.
Typically, as a shareholder, you will receive your profit in the form of a dividend; these are paid on a twice per year basis. The way this works is if the company makes a profit, you will as well and on the opposite end of this spectrum if they do not make a profit, neither will you. If a company does extremely well their value increases, which means the value of the share you own will as well. If you should decide to sell your share, you will only benefit from it, if the company has experienced growth.(Courtesy of Jeff Lakie )
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
The stock market is an avenue for investors who want to sell or buy stocks, shares or other things like government bonds. Within the United Kingdom, the major stock market in this area is LSE (London Stock Exchange. Every day a list is produced that includes indexes or companies and how they are performing on the market. An index will be compromised of a special list of certain companies, for example, within the UK; the FTSE 100 is the most popular index. The Financial Times Stock Exchange dictates the average overall performance of 100 of the largest companies with in the UK that are listed on the stock market.
A share is a small portion of a PIC (public limited company), owning one of these shares will give you many rights. For example, you will gain a portion of the profits and growth that the company experiences, additionally you will obtain occasional accounts and reports from the chosen company. Another exciting feature of owning a share of a company is the fact that you are given the right to vote in various aspects of what happens with the company.
Once you purchase a share of a company you will receive something called a share certificate, this will be your proof of ownership. This certificate will contain the total value of the share, this will likely not be the price that is listed upon the exchange and is specifically for reasons of a legal matter. This will not affect the current value the share currently holds on the market.
Typically, as a shareholder, you will receive your profit in the form of a dividend; these are paid on a twice per year basis. The way this works is if the company makes a profit, you will as well and on the opposite end of this spectrum if they do not make a profit, neither will you. If a company does extremely well their value increases, which means the value of the share you own will as well. If you should decide to sell your share, you will only benefit from it, if the company has experienced growth.(Courtesy of Jeff Lakie )
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
The Stocks and Futures - What is the Difference?
Are you new to trading? Perhaps you wonder what the difference is between trading Stocks and trading Futures. Often when I meet someone new who inquires as to what I do, I get a response of "that's like trading stocks, isn't it?"
In some ways they are similar, but only minutely so. So let's consider some of the major differences between the two.
Most individuals have likely traded stocks at one time or another. Usually, it is to buy in order to 'own' a percentage of a particular company or to liquidate such partial ownership. They pick up a phone to call a broker or go online to purchase or sell. The order is facilitated through an 'exchange', such as the New York Stock Exchange for example.
Buying and selling Futures is similar in this respect. You can call a broker or go online to buy or sell Futures contracts. The order is then facilitated througha commodity exchange, such as the Chicago Merchatile Exchange for example. Yet while buying a stock gives you part ownership in a company or portfolio of companies (as in a fund), buying a Futures contract does not give you ownership of a commodity or product. Rather, you are simply entering into a contract to purchase the underlying commodity at a certain price at a future time, noted by the contract. For example, buying one May Wheat at 3.00 simply creates a contract between you and the seller (whom you need not know as this is taken care of via the exchange) that come May you will take delivery of 5000 bushels of Wheat at $3 per bushel, regardless of what the price of Wheat at market happens to be come May. As a speculator simply trading to make a profit from trading itself and with no interest in actually taking delivery of product, you will simply sell your contract prior to delivery at the going market price and the difference between your buy price and sell price is either your profit or loss.
When you buy a stock, you are part owner of a company. When you buy a Futures contract, you simply are entering a contract. With stocks, you will pay for the stock at the time of your purchase plus broker commissions. When buying a futures contract, you are simply entering the buy side of a contract and no monies is paid other than commissions to your broker.
Stock exchanges and commodity exchanges are both membership organizations established to act as middlemen between the buys and sells of all types of traders, from business entities to the individual small trader. The stock exchange act to bring capital from investors to the businesses that need that capital. They facilitate the transfer of property rights (ownership in the various companies offering stock).The commodity exchange act to bring people willing to assume risk for the opportunity to make a substantial amount of money for taking such risk. This helps transfer the price risk associated with ownership of various commodities, such as Soybeans, or a service, like interest rates, from producers.
To buy stocks, you only need enough money in your account to purchase the stock outright plus commissions. Once you make the purchase, the money is removed immediately to make the purchase. With trading futures, since you are not actually purchasing anything but simply entering a contract to do so at a later time (which you will exit prior to avoid delivery), the broker will require a certain amount of margin (good faith deposit to cover any possible losses) in what is called a 'margin account'. Each commodity has a different minimum margin requirement depending on several factors. Your broker may use the exchange calculated margin or require a different margin of their own. If the value of the commodity were to decrease and you are on the buy side of the contract, then your contract has lost value and your broker will notify you if your unrealized losses exceeds have gone beyond your minimum margin requirement. This is called a 'margin call'. Naturally you would want to have more capital than simply the margin amount when trading futures to avoid these broker calls. The broker has the right (and likely will) liquidate your position if you are getting too close to not having enough to cover the losses in order to protect themselves.
With buying stocks outright, there is no potential for a margin call. You simply own the stock outright. So perhaps you may be wondering why anyone would bother buying futures contracts rather than stocks. The major answer is: LEVERAGE.
Leverage gives the trader the ability to control a large amount of money (or commodity worth a lot of money) with very little money. For example, if Live Cattle futures requires a minimum margin of $800 to trade a single contract, and a single contract represents 40,000 lbs at the current market price of say 75, you would be controlling $30,000 worth for a leverage of over 35:1. This is appealing to many traders and justifies the risk. What is that risk? Just as leverage can work in your favor, it can work against you at the very same ratio. Known as a 'two-edged sword'.
You can increase the leverage of trading stocks if you trade with a margin account. This usually allows you to purchase stocks on margin at the usual rate of 50%. So for every dollar you have you can purchase $2 worth of stock. The leverage is 2:1. How this works is that the broker is actually 'lending' you the other 50%. Of course by purchasing stock with margin you can lose more than you have due to the leverage. And in this case you can end up getting a 'margin call' from your broker if your stock losses too much value. But trading stocks comes no where close to the kind of leverage you get trading Futures.
When you look at these two trading vehicles, the bottom line comes to MARGIN and LEVERAGE.Courtesy of Richard Ratchford)
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
In some ways they are similar, but only minutely so. So let's consider some of the major differences between the two.
Most individuals have likely traded stocks at one time or another. Usually, it is to buy in order to 'own' a percentage of a particular company or to liquidate such partial ownership. They pick up a phone to call a broker or go online to purchase or sell. The order is facilitated through an 'exchange', such as the New York Stock Exchange for example.
Buying and selling Futures is similar in this respect. You can call a broker or go online to buy or sell Futures contracts. The order is then facilitated througha commodity exchange, such as the Chicago Merchatile Exchange for example. Yet while buying a stock gives you part ownership in a company or portfolio of companies (as in a fund), buying a Futures contract does not give you ownership of a commodity or product. Rather, you are simply entering into a contract to purchase the underlying commodity at a certain price at a future time, noted by the contract. For example, buying one May Wheat at 3.00 simply creates a contract between you and the seller (whom you need not know as this is taken care of via the exchange) that come May you will take delivery of 5000 bushels of Wheat at $3 per bushel, regardless of what the price of Wheat at market happens to be come May. As a speculator simply trading to make a profit from trading itself and with no interest in actually taking delivery of product, you will simply sell your contract prior to delivery at the going market price and the difference between your buy price and sell price is either your profit or loss.
When you buy a stock, you are part owner of a company. When you buy a Futures contract, you simply are entering a contract. With stocks, you will pay for the stock at the time of your purchase plus broker commissions. When buying a futures contract, you are simply entering the buy side of a contract and no monies is paid other than commissions to your broker.
Stock exchanges and commodity exchanges are both membership organizations established to act as middlemen between the buys and sells of all types of traders, from business entities to the individual small trader. The stock exchange act to bring capital from investors to the businesses that need that capital. They facilitate the transfer of property rights (ownership in the various companies offering stock).The commodity exchange act to bring people willing to assume risk for the opportunity to make a substantial amount of money for taking such risk. This helps transfer the price risk associated with ownership of various commodities, such as Soybeans, or a service, like interest rates, from producers.
To buy stocks, you only need enough money in your account to purchase the stock outright plus commissions. Once you make the purchase, the money is removed immediately to make the purchase. With trading futures, since you are not actually purchasing anything but simply entering a contract to do so at a later time (which you will exit prior to avoid delivery), the broker will require a certain amount of margin (good faith deposit to cover any possible losses) in what is called a 'margin account'. Each commodity has a different minimum margin requirement depending on several factors. Your broker may use the exchange calculated margin or require a different margin of their own. If the value of the commodity were to decrease and you are on the buy side of the contract, then your contract has lost value and your broker will notify you if your unrealized losses exceeds have gone beyond your minimum margin requirement. This is called a 'margin call'. Naturally you would want to have more capital than simply the margin amount when trading futures to avoid these broker calls. The broker has the right (and likely will) liquidate your position if you are getting too close to not having enough to cover the losses in order to protect themselves.
With buying stocks outright, there is no potential for a margin call. You simply own the stock outright. So perhaps you may be wondering why anyone would bother buying futures contracts rather than stocks. The major answer is: LEVERAGE.
Leverage gives the trader the ability to control a large amount of money (or commodity worth a lot of money) with very little money. For example, if Live Cattle futures requires a minimum margin of $800 to trade a single contract, and a single contract represents 40,000 lbs at the current market price of say 75, you would be controlling $30,000 worth for a leverage of over 35:1. This is appealing to many traders and justifies the risk. What is that risk? Just as leverage can work in your favor, it can work against you at the very same ratio. Known as a 'two-edged sword'.
You can increase the leverage of trading stocks if you trade with a margin account. This usually allows you to purchase stocks on margin at the usual rate of 50%. So for every dollar you have you can purchase $2 worth of stock. The leverage is 2:1. How this works is that the broker is actually 'lending' you the other 50%. Of course by purchasing stock with margin you can lose more than you have due to the leverage. And in this case you can end up getting a 'margin call' from your broker if your stock losses too much value. But trading stocks comes no where close to the kind of leverage you get trading Futures.
When you look at these two trading vehicles, the bottom line comes to MARGIN and LEVERAGE.Courtesy of Richard Ratchford)
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Your Best Stock Market Investment
It has long been said, and not without justification, ,that stock market investment is not for the faint hearted and when you take into account the fact that many investors over the years have lost everything it is not difficult to see why.
With the economy seemingly in a constant volatile state it might seem that investing in the right stocks and shares would be an impossible task to do accurately. However, since the invention of the computer, modern information technology has make stock market investment much easier to access by people from anywhere in the world. It has also facilitated the task of research which is an important part of any stock market investment especially as your money will be riding on all stocks selected for purchase.
Today, more than ever, stock market investments seem to be enjoying an all time high but it is as well to remember that fortunes can be lost easier than won. So, for those who would like to get the very best out of their stock market investments, the following advice may prove to be helpful.
1. Investing in the stock market carries inherent risk
It is generally believed that there is nothing difficult about buying stocks and, of course, this is quite true. But just buying is not dealing and so the next part of the operation is to sell your stock at a profit and this is where the problems actually start. If you wish to make a profit then you have to wait until the value of the stock begins to rise and, once this happens, to then know at which point to sell for a profit. If you sell too soon you will miss some extra profit but if you wait too long then you may lose out completely should a downturn fall to below your purchase price. In the early days and until you have more experience it is best to be restrained with your outlay - better to lose a little rather than a lot. This is good stock market investment strategy.
2. The 'trailing stop strategy'
The most experienced investors incorporate this when getting stocks. This involves 'riding' their stocks high whilst maintaining an exit strategy should things begin to deteriorate. This is where liquidity plays a vital role in their investment as this liquidity can be easily converted to cash should the need arise.
3. Never invest more than you can comfortably afford
This really just boils down to common sense; it is quite easy to get carried away should a stock market investment look like a really good buy. However it is wise to always remember that there is always the risk of losing ones money so enthusiasm should always be tempered with judgment and restraint. In this way your best stock market investment will not turn out to be a catastrophe.
To sum up, the best advice is to always approach each investment with caution, do the groundwork with regard to research and company background and use an amount of purchasing capital that you are comfortable with and which you can afford to lose. If you heed this advice you will avoid falling into the 'gambling' state of mind which can happen all to easily and which has bankrupted many in the past. Read all you can about stocks and shares, take a few instruction courses (which are readily available) and you will find that your best stock market investment can become a reality.(Courtesy of Brian Hunter)
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
With the economy seemingly in a constant volatile state it might seem that investing in the right stocks and shares would be an impossible task to do accurately. However, since the invention of the computer, modern information technology has make stock market investment much easier to access by people from anywhere in the world. It has also facilitated the task of research which is an important part of any stock market investment especially as your money will be riding on all stocks selected for purchase.
Today, more than ever, stock market investments seem to be enjoying an all time high but it is as well to remember that fortunes can be lost easier than won. So, for those who would like to get the very best out of their stock market investments, the following advice may prove to be helpful.
1. Investing in the stock market carries inherent risk
It is generally believed that there is nothing difficult about buying stocks and, of course, this is quite true. But just buying is not dealing and so the next part of the operation is to sell your stock at a profit and this is where the problems actually start. If you wish to make a profit then you have to wait until the value of the stock begins to rise and, once this happens, to then know at which point to sell for a profit. If you sell too soon you will miss some extra profit but if you wait too long then you may lose out completely should a downturn fall to below your purchase price. In the early days and until you have more experience it is best to be restrained with your outlay - better to lose a little rather than a lot. This is good stock market investment strategy.
2. The 'trailing stop strategy'
The most experienced investors incorporate this when getting stocks. This involves 'riding' their stocks high whilst maintaining an exit strategy should things begin to deteriorate. This is where liquidity plays a vital role in their investment as this liquidity can be easily converted to cash should the need arise.
3. Never invest more than you can comfortably afford
This really just boils down to common sense; it is quite easy to get carried away should a stock market investment look like a really good buy. However it is wise to always remember that there is always the risk of losing ones money so enthusiasm should always be tempered with judgment and restraint. In this way your best stock market investment will not turn out to be a catastrophe.
To sum up, the best advice is to always approach each investment with caution, do the groundwork with regard to research and company background and use an amount of purchasing capital that you are comfortable with and which you can afford to lose. If you heed this advice you will avoid falling into the 'gambling' state of mind which can happen all to easily and which has bankrupted many in the past. Read all you can about stocks and shares, take a few instruction courses (which are readily available) and you will find that your best stock market investment can become a reality.(Courtesy of Brian Hunter)
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
What is Fundamental Analysis ?
Fundamentals are associated with the economic health of a company, measured in terms of revenues, earnings, assets, liabilities, Return on Equity (ROE), Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Investments (ROI), growth prospects and cash flows, etc. The fundamentals tell you about a company. You can say a company is having robust fundamentals if it is growing at a nice pace, generating a profit, has limited debts and abundant cash.
The analysis of a company's fundamentals involves getting deep into its financials, rather than day-to-day movement in its share price. Equity researchers normally do fundamental analysis in order to calculate the intrinsic value of a company's stock. If a company's stock is trading above the intrinsic value or fair value, then the stock is overvalued. If a company's stock is trading below the intrinsic value, then the stock is undervalued. However, if you watch the stock markets very closely, the share price of most companies never matches the fair value. Often, day traders and investors who would prefer short term investment options invest in those stocks, regardless of the companies' long term growth prospects. However, long term investors generally prefer to invest in companies with robust fundamentals and ignore near-term share price movements.
The following are various components that constitute a company's fundamentals:
Revenues: Revenues (sales) are the total amount of money received by a company through the sales of its goods and services during a specific period of time. Revenues are one of the most important barometers of the growth of a company as it indicates whether there is demand for their products and services.
Cash flows: Cash flows are calculated by deducting a company's cash payments from cash receipts over a particular period of time. Cash flows indicate the liquidity position of a company. However, one must pay particular attention to the operating cash flows, since the health of the business can be most clearly seen there.
Net income: Net income, which is also called the 'bottom line', is calculated by subtracting from revenue, all of the company's costs, such as operating costs, interest expenses, depreciation, taxes and other expenses associated with running the business.
Balance Sheet: Balance sheet is the company's financial statement, which reflects its assets and liabilities. A company's fundamentals are said to be robust if its assets are significantly higher than the liabilities. However, one must carefully analyze companies who are reporting large intangible assets as they may have questionable liquidation value to offset any real liabilities.
Return on Assets (ROA): ROA is an Indicator of a company's profitability, which is calculated by dividing the net income for the past 12 months by total average assets of the company. This is one of the important indicators, which long-term investors consider before investing into a particular stock.
Although long-term investors and institutional investors consider a company's fundamentals before investing, the share price of a company often does not correspond to the fundamentals - which can present enormous investment opportunities. A company's long-term growth is driven primarily by fundamentals, while a company's share price can be driven by short-term news and investor sentiment, which can be extremely volatile. Every investor must consider a company's fundamentals before investing into its stock if you want to gain stable returns over the long term. (Courtesy of Joel Arberman)
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
The analysis of a company's fundamentals involves getting deep into its financials, rather than day-to-day movement in its share price. Equity researchers normally do fundamental analysis in order to calculate the intrinsic value of a company's stock. If a company's stock is trading above the intrinsic value or fair value, then the stock is overvalued. If a company's stock is trading below the intrinsic value, then the stock is undervalued. However, if you watch the stock markets very closely, the share price of most companies never matches the fair value. Often, day traders and investors who would prefer short term investment options invest in those stocks, regardless of the companies' long term growth prospects. However, long term investors generally prefer to invest in companies with robust fundamentals and ignore near-term share price movements.
The following are various components that constitute a company's fundamentals:
Revenues: Revenues (sales) are the total amount of money received by a company through the sales of its goods and services during a specific period of time. Revenues are one of the most important barometers of the growth of a company as it indicates whether there is demand for their products and services.
Cash flows: Cash flows are calculated by deducting a company's cash payments from cash receipts over a particular period of time. Cash flows indicate the liquidity position of a company. However, one must pay particular attention to the operating cash flows, since the health of the business can be most clearly seen there.
Net income: Net income, which is also called the 'bottom line', is calculated by subtracting from revenue, all of the company's costs, such as operating costs, interest expenses, depreciation, taxes and other expenses associated with running the business.
Balance Sheet: Balance sheet is the company's financial statement, which reflects its assets and liabilities. A company's fundamentals are said to be robust if its assets are significantly higher than the liabilities. However, one must carefully analyze companies who are reporting large intangible assets as they may have questionable liquidation value to offset any real liabilities.
Return on Assets (ROA): ROA is an Indicator of a company's profitability, which is calculated by dividing the net income for the past 12 months by total average assets of the company. This is one of the important indicators, which long-term investors consider before investing into a particular stock.
Although long-term investors and institutional investors consider a company's fundamentals before investing, the share price of a company often does not correspond to the fundamentals - which can present enormous investment opportunities. A company's long-term growth is driven primarily by fundamentals, while a company's share price can be driven by short-term news and investor sentiment, which can be extremely volatile. Every investor must consider a company's fundamentals before investing into its stock if you want to gain stable returns over the long term. (Courtesy of Joel Arberman)
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Stock Trading Psychology
Many of today's highly successful traders will tell you that the general key to success in trading is to be able to comfortably take a loss. It is general knowledge among experts in the trading psychology field and among traders that the market is not predictable and it is safe to say that it never will be. In the world of trading, it is expected to take a loss; even those who are highly skilled traders know that it is inevitable. With that said, let us have a look at things you as a trader should be aware of, how you can take a loss effectively and use it towards the greater good of your trading world.
Trading psychology tells us that when a trader loses he begins to become somewhat of a perfectionist in his dealing. Many traders think that in trading, a good day will always be one that is profitable. Trading psychology experts tells us this is not true. A trader should define a good day as one where they have extensively researched and planned with discipline and focus, and have followed through to the entire extent of the plan. Yes, when a trader has mastered the art of accepting losses and working through them with a well thought out plan then good days will become profitable in time.
Because the art of trading in an unpredictable market fluctuates so greatly from one day to the next, experts in trading psychology believe that it is important that you concentrate on what you can control, instead of things that are beyond your control. Looking into the short-term you cannot expect to be able to control the profits of your trading. With that said, look at what you do you have ability to control.
You do have the ability to control the difference between good and bad days. You are able to control this factor by extensively researching the strategies you implement within your trading experiences. By learning to research your chosen strategies, thus controlling the amount of good and bad trading days you experience, you will, in the long-term begin to generate profits, which is the ultimate goal of every trader.
Trading psychology experts tell us that it is important to become realistic in trading instead of becoming a perfectionist. Perfectionist traders, relate a loss with failure, and will become obsessed with the failure, focusing only upon it. Realistic traders understand the unpredictability of the market and taking a loss is simply part of the art. The main key you must remember in trading psychology to be able to effectively limit your losses, instead of becoming obsessed with them. A common thing seen within the trading psychology world is that traders who are obsessed with their losses often have a hard time bouncing back from them, thus losing in the end.
Experts in trading psychology have organized three basic strategies you can use to effectively stop losses. These strategies are:
* Price Based * Time Based * Indicator Based
Stops that are priced based are generally used when the other two have not functioned. To make this work you will need to make hypothesis's about the trade and identify a low point in that particular market. Then you will set your trade entries near your points, thus making sure that losses will not be overly excessive if the hypothesis fails.
Time Based stops constitutes making use of your time. Designate a holding period you allow to capture a certain number of points. If you have no achieved your desired profit within that time limit, you should stop the trade. If effectively used you should stop even if the price stop limit has not been achieved.
The Indicator based stop makes use of market indicators. As a trader, you should be aware of these indicators and utilize them extensively within your trading experiences. Look at indicators such as, volume, advances, declines, and new highs and lows. Experts in trading psychology say that setting stops and rehearsing them mentally is a good psychological tool to use and will help ensure that you follow through.(Courtesyof Tim Renolds).
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Trading psychology tells us that when a trader loses he begins to become somewhat of a perfectionist in his dealing. Many traders think that in trading, a good day will always be one that is profitable. Trading psychology experts tells us this is not true. A trader should define a good day as one where they have extensively researched and planned with discipline and focus, and have followed through to the entire extent of the plan. Yes, when a trader has mastered the art of accepting losses and working through them with a well thought out plan then good days will become profitable in time.
Because the art of trading in an unpredictable market fluctuates so greatly from one day to the next, experts in trading psychology believe that it is important that you concentrate on what you can control, instead of things that are beyond your control. Looking into the short-term you cannot expect to be able to control the profits of your trading. With that said, look at what you do you have ability to control.
You do have the ability to control the difference between good and bad days. You are able to control this factor by extensively researching the strategies you implement within your trading experiences. By learning to research your chosen strategies, thus controlling the amount of good and bad trading days you experience, you will, in the long-term begin to generate profits, which is the ultimate goal of every trader.
Trading psychology experts tell us that it is important to become realistic in trading instead of becoming a perfectionist. Perfectionist traders, relate a loss with failure, and will become obsessed with the failure, focusing only upon it. Realistic traders understand the unpredictability of the market and taking a loss is simply part of the art. The main key you must remember in trading psychology to be able to effectively limit your losses, instead of becoming obsessed with them. A common thing seen within the trading psychology world is that traders who are obsessed with their losses often have a hard time bouncing back from them, thus losing in the end.
Experts in trading psychology have organized three basic strategies you can use to effectively stop losses. These strategies are:
* Price Based * Time Based * Indicator Based
Stops that are priced based are generally used when the other two have not functioned. To make this work you will need to make hypothesis's about the trade and identify a low point in that particular market. Then you will set your trade entries near your points, thus making sure that losses will not be overly excessive if the hypothesis fails.
Time Based stops constitutes making use of your time. Designate a holding period you allow to capture a certain number of points. If you have no achieved your desired profit within that time limit, you should stop the trade. If effectively used you should stop even if the price stop limit has not been achieved.
The Indicator based stop makes use of market indicators. As a trader, you should be aware of these indicators and utilize them extensively within your trading experiences. Look at indicators such as, volume, advances, declines, and new highs and lows. Experts in trading psychology say that setting stops and rehearsing them mentally is a good psychological tool to use and will help ensure that you follow through.(Courtesyof Tim Renolds).
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
The True Basics of Stock Market
Financial markets provide their participants with the most favorable conditions for purchase/sale of financial instruments they have inside. Their major functions are: guaranteeing liquidity, forming assets prices within establishing proposition and demand and decreasing of operational expenses, incurred by the participants of the market.
Financial market comprises variety of instruments, hence its functioning totally depends on instruments held. Usually it can be classified according to the type of financial instruments and according to the terms of instruments’ paying-off.
From the point of different types of instruments held the market can be divided into the one of promissory notes and the one of securities (stock market). The first one contains promissory instruments with the right for its owners to get some fixed amount of money in future and is called the market of promissory notes, while the latter binds the issuer to pay a certain amount of money according to the return received after paying-off all the promissory notes and is called stock market. There are also types of securities referring to both categories as, e.g., preference shares and converted bonds. They are also called the instruments with fixed return.
Another classification is due to paying-off terms of instruments. These are: market of assets with high liquidity (money market) and market of capital. The first one refers to the market of short-term promissory notes with assets age up to 12 months. The second one refers to the market of long-term promissory notes with instruments age surpasses 12 months. This classification can be referred to the bond market only as its instruments have fixed expiry date, while the stock market’s not.
Now we are turning to the stock market.
As it was mentioned before, ordinary shares’ purchasers typically invest their funds into the company-issuer and become its owners. Their weight in the process of making decisions in the company depends on the number of shares he/she possesses. Due to the financial experience of the company, its part in the market and future potential shares can be divided into several groups.
1. Blue Chips
Shares of large companies with a long record of profit growth, annual return over $4 billion, large capitalization and constancy in paying-off dividends are referred to as blue chips.
2. Growth Stocks
Shares of such company grow faster; its managers typically pursue the policy of reinvestment of revenue into further development and modernization of the company. These companies rarely pay dividends and in case they do the dividends are minimal as compared with other companies.
3. Income Stocks
Income stocks are the stocks of companies with high and stable earnings that pay high dividends to the shareholders. The shares of such companies usually use mutual funds in the plans for middle-aged and elderly people.
4. Defensive Stocks
These are the stocks whose prices stay stable when the market declines, do well during recessions and are able to minimize risks. They perform perfect when the market turns sour and are in requisition during economic boom.
These categories are widely spread in mutual funds, thus for better understanding investment process it is useful to keep in mind this division.
Shares can be issued both within the country and abroad. In case a company wants to issue its shares abroad it can use American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). ADRs are usually issued by the American banks and point at shareholders’ right to possess the shares of a foreign company under the asset management of a bank. Each ADR signals of one or more shares possession.
When operating with shares, aside of purchase/sale ratio profits, you can also quarterly receive dividends. They depend on: type of share, financial state of the company, shares category etc.
Ordinary shares do not guarantee paying-off dividends. Dividends of a company depend on its profitability and spare cash. Dividends differ from each other as they are to be paid in a different period of time, with the possibility of being higher as well as lower. There are periods when companies do not pay dividends at all, mostly when a company is in a financial distress or in case executives decide to reinvest income into the development of the business. While calculating acceptable share price, dividends are the key factor.
Price of ordinary share is determined by three main factors: annual dividends rate, dividends growth rate and discount rate. The latter is also called a required income rate. The company with the high risks level is expected to have high required income rate. The higher cash flow the higher share prices and versus. This interdependence determines assets value. Below we will touch upon the division of share prices estimating in three possible cases with regard to dividends.
While purchasing shares, aside of risks and dividends analysis, it is absolutely important to examine company carefully as for its profit/loss accounting, balance, cash flows, distribution of profits between its shareholders, managers’ and executives’ wages etc. Only when you are sure of all the ins and outs of a company, you can easily buy or sell shares. If you are not confident of the information, it is more advisable not to hold shares for a long time (especially before financial accounting published).
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Financial market comprises variety of instruments, hence its functioning totally depends on instruments held. Usually it can be classified according to the type of financial instruments and according to the terms of instruments’ paying-off.
From the point of different types of instruments held the market can be divided into the one of promissory notes and the one of securities (stock market). The first one contains promissory instruments with the right for its owners to get some fixed amount of money in future and is called the market of promissory notes, while the latter binds the issuer to pay a certain amount of money according to the return received after paying-off all the promissory notes and is called stock market. There are also types of securities referring to both categories as, e.g., preference shares and converted bonds. They are also called the instruments with fixed return.
Another classification is due to paying-off terms of instruments. These are: market of assets with high liquidity (money market) and market of capital. The first one refers to the market of short-term promissory notes with assets age up to 12 months. The second one refers to the market of long-term promissory notes with instruments age surpasses 12 months. This classification can be referred to the bond market only as its instruments have fixed expiry date, while the stock market’s not.
Now we are turning to the stock market.
As it was mentioned before, ordinary shares’ purchasers typically invest their funds into the company-issuer and become its owners. Their weight in the process of making decisions in the company depends on the number of shares he/she possesses. Due to the financial experience of the company, its part in the market and future potential shares can be divided into several groups.
1. Blue Chips
Shares of large companies with a long record of profit growth, annual return over $4 billion, large capitalization and constancy in paying-off dividends are referred to as blue chips.
2. Growth Stocks
Shares of such company grow faster; its managers typically pursue the policy of reinvestment of revenue into further development and modernization of the company. These companies rarely pay dividends and in case they do the dividends are minimal as compared with other companies.
3. Income Stocks
Income stocks are the stocks of companies with high and stable earnings that pay high dividends to the shareholders. The shares of such companies usually use mutual funds in the plans for middle-aged and elderly people.
4. Defensive Stocks
These are the stocks whose prices stay stable when the market declines, do well during recessions and are able to minimize risks. They perform perfect when the market turns sour and are in requisition during economic boom.
These categories are widely spread in mutual funds, thus for better understanding investment process it is useful to keep in mind this division.
Shares can be issued both within the country and abroad. In case a company wants to issue its shares abroad it can use American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). ADRs are usually issued by the American banks and point at shareholders’ right to possess the shares of a foreign company under the asset management of a bank. Each ADR signals of one or more shares possession.
When operating with shares, aside of purchase/sale ratio profits, you can also quarterly receive dividends. They depend on: type of share, financial state of the company, shares category etc.
Ordinary shares do not guarantee paying-off dividends. Dividends of a company depend on its profitability and spare cash. Dividends differ from each other as they are to be paid in a different period of time, with the possibility of being higher as well as lower. There are periods when companies do not pay dividends at all, mostly when a company is in a financial distress or in case executives decide to reinvest income into the development of the business. While calculating acceptable share price, dividends are the key factor.
Price of ordinary share is determined by three main factors: annual dividends rate, dividends growth rate and discount rate. The latter is also called a required income rate. The company with the high risks level is expected to have high required income rate. The higher cash flow the higher share prices and versus. This interdependence determines assets value. Below we will touch upon the division of share prices estimating in three possible cases with regard to dividends.
While purchasing shares, aside of risks and dividends analysis, it is absolutely important to examine company carefully as for its profit/loss accounting, balance, cash flows, distribution of profits between its shareholders, managers’ and executives’ wages etc. Only when you are sure of all the ins and outs of a company, you can easily buy or sell shares. If you are not confident of the information, it is more advisable not to hold shares for a long time (especially before financial accounting published).
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
How to Make Profit from a Falling Stock?
There are several ways to profit from a falling stock, but for tonight we are going to discuss the two most basic principals, shorting stock versus buying "put" options.
If you have been with us for any length of time you know I have written many times about how to "short" a stock. Basically you are simply selling a stock now, taking in the cash for the sale, and "buying back" or covering the sale at a cheaper price. so if you "short" ABC at 60 dollars and you sold 1000 shares, you took in 60,000 dollars. Now if ABC falls to 50, and you "Cover" you are buying it back cheaper. In this case you will spend 50,000 dollars. The difference between where you sold and what you spent, 10 G's is your profit.
That really is as easy and as basic as it gets friends. Don't let all the talking heads throw you a curve ball, shorting is easy and its really no more risky than going long as long as you use stops to protect yourself. Since the market goes up and down, if you only play the long side, you are missing a lot of profit potential.
But there are problems with this approach. First you need a margin account to do it, all short sales are through margin. Second, it eats up a lot of your buying power because when you go short, you are holding that position with margin that will tie up your money.
The other play is a put option. Here again any share market system elsewhere has tried to buffalo the average investor into thinking options are for the big boys. What nonsense! Anyone can and should use call and put options as a trading strategy. The risk is limited, and the returns can be phenomenal because of the leveraging inherent in options. With a put option, you are placing a bet that the stock is going to fall. Win the bet and you will win big time. Lose the bet and just like Vegas, your loss is limited to how much you bet.
If the market is going to run up for a few weeks and then spiral back down, which way should you play? That is impossible to say, we don't know your style, your risk tolerance, your bank account balance etc. but for us it's an easy call, put options win out over shorting in a scenario like that.
By using put options we can use a relatively small amount of money to be in several "plays" and each of them could return several hundred percent returns. Look at it like this. If you short ABC at 100 and it falls to 60 fantastic! You made 40 points and 40%. But if you buy put options for 1.75 and they go to 10.00, what is the percentage there? Over 500%. And look at the cost. It's next to nothing, to get such a shot at big returns.
For our money, when the time is right, buying puts against the Dow Jones Industrials, the NASDAQ 100 and the Composite and select individual stocks that carry high P/E's will be the way to go as we feel those will be taken to the woodshed for a spanking.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
If you have been with us for any length of time you know I have written many times about how to "short" a stock. Basically you are simply selling a stock now, taking in the cash for the sale, and "buying back" or covering the sale at a cheaper price. so if you "short" ABC at 60 dollars and you sold 1000 shares, you took in 60,000 dollars. Now if ABC falls to 50, and you "Cover" you are buying it back cheaper. In this case you will spend 50,000 dollars. The difference between where you sold and what you spent, 10 G's is your profit.
That really is as easy and as basic as it gets friends. Don't let all the talking heads throw you a curve ball, shorting is easy and its really no more risky than going long as long as you use stops to protect yourself. Since the market goes up and down, if you only play the long side, you are missing a lot of profit potential.
But there are problems with this approach. First you need a margin account to do it, all short sales are through margin. Second, it eats up a lot of your buying power because when you go short, you are holding that position with margin that will tie up your money.
The other play is a put option. Here again any share market system elsewhere has tried to buffalo the average investor into thinking options are for the big boys. What nonsense! Anyone can and should use call and put options as a trading strategy. The risk is limited, and the returns can be phenomenal because of the leveraging inherent in options. With a put option, you are placing a bet that the stock is going to fall. Win the bet and you will win big time. Lose the bet and just like Vegas, your loss is limited to how much you bet.
If the market is going to run up for a few weeks and then spiral back down, which way should you play? That is impossible to say, we don't know your style, your risk tolerance, your bank account balance etc. but for us it's an easy call, put options win out over shorting in a scenario like that.
By using put options we can use a relatively small amount of money to be in several "plays" and each of them could return several hundred percent returns. Look at it like this. If you short ABC at 100 and it falls to 60 fantastic! You made 40 points and 40%. But if you buy put options for 1.75 and they go to 10.00, what is the percentage there? Over 500%. And look at the cost. It's next to nothing, to get such a shot at big returns.
For our money, when the time is right, buying puts against the Dow Jones Industrials, the NASDAQ 100 and the Composite and select individual stocks that carry high P/E's will be the way to go as we feel those will be taken to the woodshed for a spanking.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Stock Investing Rules Every Successful Investor Should Follow
There are many important things you need to know to trade and invest successfully in the stock market or any other market. 12 of the most important things that I can share with you based on many years of trading experience are enumerated below.
1. Buy low-sell high. As simple as this concept appears to be, the vast majority of investors do the exact opposite. Your ability to consistently buy low and sell high, will determine the success, or failure, of your investments. Your rate of return is determined 100% by when you enter the stock market.
2. The stock market is always right and price is the only reality in trading. If you want to make money in any market, you need to mirror what the market is doing. If the market is going down and you are long, the market is right and you are wrong. If the stock market is going up and you are short, the market is right and you are wrong.
Other things being equal, the longer you stay right with the stock market, the more money you will make. The longer you stay wrong with the stock market, the more money you will lose.
3. Every market or stock that goes up will go down and most markets or stocks that have gone down, will go up. The more extreme the move up or down, the more extreme the movement in the opposite direction once the trend changes. This is also known as "the trend always changes rule."
4. If you are looking for "reasons" that stocks or markets make large directional moves, you will probably never know for certain. Since we are dealing with perception of markets-not necessarily reality, you are wasting your time looking for the many reasons markets move.
A huge mistake most investors make is assuming that stock markets are rational or that they are capable of ascertaining why markets do anything. To make a profit trading, it is only necessary to know that markets are moving - not why they are moving. Stock market winners only care about direction and duration, while market losers are obsessed with the whys.
5. Stock markets generally move in advance of news or supportive fundamentals - sometimes months in advance. If you wait to invest until it is totally clear to you why a stock or a market is moving, you have to assume that others have done the same thing and you may be too late.
You need to get positioned before the largest directional trend move takes place. The market reaction to good or bad news in a bull market will be positive more often than not. The market reaction to good or bad news in a bear market will be negative more often than not.
6. The trend is your friend. Since the trend is the basis of all profit, we need long term trends to make sizeable money. The key is to know when to get aboard a trend and stick with it for a long period of time to maximize profits. Contrary to the short term perspective of most investors today, all the big money is made by catching large market moves - not by day trading or short term stock investing.
7. You must let your profits run and cut your losses quickly if you are to have any chance of being successful. Trading discipline is not a sufficient condition to make money in the markets, but it is a necessary condition. If you do not practice highly disciplined trading, you will not make money over the long term. This is a stock trading “system” in itself.
8. The Efficient Market Hypothesis is fallacious and is actually a derivative of the perfect competition model of capitalism. The Efficient Market Hypothesis at root shares many of the same false premises as the perfect competition paradigm as described by a well known economist.
The perfect competition model is not based on anything that exists on this earth. Consistently profitable professional traders simply have better information - and they act on it. Most non-professionals trade strictly on emotion, and lose much more money than they earn.
The combination of superior information for some investors and the usual panic as losses mount caused by buying high and selling low for others, creates inefficient markets.
9. Traditional technical and fundamental analysis alone may not enable you to consistently make money in the markets. Successful market timing is possible but not with the tools of analysis that most people employ.
If you eliminate optimization, data mining, subjectivism, and other such statistical tricks and data manipulation, most trading ideas are losers.
10. Never trust the advice and/or ideas of trading software vendors, stock trading system sellers, market commentators, financial analysts, brokers, newsletter publishers, trading authors, etc., unless they trade their own money and have traded successfully for years.
Note those that have traded successfully over very long periods of time are very few in number. Keep in mind that Wall Street and other financial firms make money by selling you something - not instilling wisdom in you. You should make your own trading decisions based on a rational analysis of all the facts.
11. The worst thing an investor can do is take a large loss on their position or portfolio. Market timing can help avert this much too common experience.
You can avoid making that huge mistake by avoiding buying things when they are high. It should be obvious that you should only buy when stocks are low and only sell when stocks are high.
Since your starting point is critical in determining your total return, if you buy low, your long term investment results are irrefutably better than someone that bought high.
12. The most successful investing methods should take most individuals no more than four or five hours per week and, for the majority of us, only one or two hours per week with little to no stress involved.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
1. Buy low-sell high. As simple as this concept appears to be, the vast majority of investors do the exact opposite. Your ability to consistently buy low and sell high, will determine the success, or failure, of your investments. Your rate of return is determined 100% by when you enter the stock market.
2. The stock market is always right and price is the only reality in trading. If you want to make money in any market, you need to mirror what the market is doing. If the market is going down and you are long, the market is right and you are wrong. If the stock market is going up and you are short, the market is right and you are wrong.
Other things being equal, the longer you stay right with the stock market, the more money you will make. The longer you stay wrong with the stock market, the more money you will lose.
3. Every market or stock that goes up will go down and most markets or stocks that have gone down, will go up. The more extreme the move up or down, the more extreme the movement in the opposite direction once the trend changes. This is also known as "the trend always changes rule."
4. If you are looking for "reasons" that stocks or markets make large directional moves, you will probably never know for certain. Since we are dealing with perception of markets-not necessarily reality, you are wasting your time looking for the many reasons markets move.
A huge mistake most investors make is assuming that stock markets are rational or that they are capable of ascertaining why markets do anything. To make a profit trading, it is only necessary to know that markets are moving - not why they are moving. Stock market winners only care about direction and duration, while market losers are obsessed with the whys.
5. Stock markets generally move in advance of news or supportive fundamentals - sometimes months in advance. If you wait to invest until it is totally clear to you why a stock or a market is moving, you have to assume that others have done the same thing and you may be too late.
You need to get positioned before the largest directional trend move takes place. The market reaction to good or bad news in a bull market will be positive more often than not. The market reaction to good or bad news in a bear market will be negative more often than not.
6. The trend is your friend. Since the trend is the basis of all profit, we need long term trends to make sizeable money. The key is to know when to get aboard a trend and stick with it for a long period of time to maximize profits. Contrary to the short term perspective of most investors today, all the big money is made by catching large market moves - not by day trading or short term stock investing.
7. You must let your profits run and cut your losses quickly if you are to have any chance of being successful. Trading discipline is not a sufficient condition to make money in the markets, but it is a necessary condition. If you do not practice highly disciplined trading, you will not make money over the long term. This is a stock trading “system” in itself.
8. The Efficient Market Hypothesis is fallacious and is actually a derivative of the perfect competition model of capitalism. The Efficient Market Hypothesis at root shares many of the same false premises as the perfect competition paradigm as described by a well known economist.
The perfect competition model is not based on anything that exists on this earth. Consistently profitable professional traders simply have better information - and they act on it. Most non-professionals trade strictly on emotion, and lose much more money than they earn.
The combination of superior information for some investors and the usual panic as losses mount caused by buying high and selling low for others, creates inefficient markets.
9. Traditional technical and fundamental analysis alone may not enable you to consistently make money in the markets. Successful market timing is possible but not with the tools of analysis that most people employ.
If you eliminate optimization, data mining, subjectivism, and other such statistical tricks and data manipulation, most trading ideas are losers.
10. Never trust the advice and/or ideas of trading software vendors, stock trading system sellers, market commentators, financial analysts, brokers, newsletter publishers, trading authors, etc., unless they trade their own money and have traded successfully for years.
Note those that have traded successfully over very long periods of time are very few in number. Keep in mind that Wall Street and other financial firms make money by selling you something - not instilling wisdom in you. You should make your own trading decisions based on a rational analysis of all the facts.
11. The worst thing an investor can do is take a large loss on their position or portfolio. Market timing can help avert this much too common experience.
You can avoid making that huge mistake by avoiding buying things when they are high. It should be obvious that you should only buy when stocks are low and only sell when stocks are high.
Since your starting point is critical in determining your total return, if you buy low, your long term investment results are irrefutably better than someone that bought high.
12. The most successful investing methods should take most individuals no more than four or five hours per week and, for the majority of us, only one or two hours per week with little to no stress involved.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
How Do I Forecast the Stock Market?
Every day I see in the financial section of newspapers how to forecast what the market will do in let us say in the nest 6 months, 12 months, or several years. “Ten stocks that will double in the next 6 months.” Right! I have trouble trying to forecast what it will do tomorrow. Do not trust any who claims he knows what the future will be for the market.
Of course, your broker will send you gobs of slick material about various companies that predict they will double or triple in the next 12 months. On the New York Stock Exchange there will be about one half of one per cent (0.5%) of companies that will double this year. Are you smart enough to pick those winners? I’m not and I am considered a professional trader. And I am sure your broker isn’t either. He just wants to make a commission and is probably promoting a stock his brokerage company wants to push.
Every investor wants to know the future and will send money to some “expert” who will send him news about a company that only (?) he knows. And pigs can fly. One thing about the market. It is almost impossible to keep a secret and everyone knows everything about other companies. As soon as some “analyst” finds a cogent fact that can influence a stock price he will share that “secret” with a few close friends. Within minutes the “secret” is known by hundreds of thousands and is immediately reflected in the price of the stock.
If you do get sucked into one of these money traps by some smooth-talking salesman or newspaper verbiage I strongly suggest you immediately plan your exit strategy. Without an exit plan you can easily lose a large amount of your “investment”. This is not an investment; it is a gamble and should be treated as such. The first thought of any professional trader is ‘if I am wrong how much am I willing to lose’? Maybe 2%, 5%, certainly no more than 10%. Pros understand that small losses are OK, but never take a big loss.
From 1982 to 2000 it seemed everyone was a financial genius. How many of those folks kept those big winnings from 2000? Almost none. Most lost 40% to 60% of their money. Brokers said, “Hang in there. You are in for the long haul”. Unfortunately he did not tell you that Modern Portfolio Theory is based on a 40 year time line.
Yes, but understand you don’t need to predict anything. Don’t forecast. What you can easily learn is follow the major trend. You bought in 1982 and you sold out in 2000. The trend can be found in many ways with the simplest being posted every day in Investors Business Daily newspaper under the IBD Mutual Fund Index. When the Index price is above the 200-day moving average you own equities and when it is below you are in cash or bonds. Nothing complicated,
The best advice is:Don’t try to forecast the market. Let the market trend tell you.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Of course, your broker will send you gobs of slick material about various companies that predict they will double or triple in the next 12 months. On the New York Stock Exchange there will be about one half of one per cent (0.5%) of companies that will double this year. Are you smart enough to pick those winners? I’m not and I am considered a professional trader. And I am sure your broker isn’t either. He just wants to make a commission and is probably promoting a stock his brokerage company wants to push.
Every investor wants to know the future and will send money to some “expert” who will send him news about a company that only (?) he knows. And pigs can fly. One thing about the market. It is almost impossible to keep a secret and everyone knows everything about other companies. As soon as some “analyst” finds a cogent fact that can influence a stock price he will share that “secret” with a few close friends. Within minutes the “secret” is known by hundreds of thousands and is immediately reflected in the price of the stock.
If you do get sucked into one of these money traps by some smooth-talking salesman or newspaper verbiage I strongly suggest you immediately plan your exit strategy. Without an exit plan you can easily lose a large amount of your “investment”. This is not an investment; it is a gamble and should be treated as such. The first thought of any professional trader is ‘if I am wrong how much am I willing to lose’? Maybe 2%, 5%, certainly no more than 10%. Pros understand that small losses are OK, but never take a big loss.
From 1982 to 2000 it seemed everyone was a financial genius. How many of those folks kept those big winnings from 2000? Almost none. Most lost 40% to 60% of their money. Brokers said, “Hang in there. You are in for the long haul”. Unfortunately he did not tell you that Modern Portfolio Theory is based on a 40 year time line.
Yes, but understand you don’t need to predict anything. Don’t forecast. What you can easily learn is follow the major trend. You bought in 1982 and you sold out in 2000. The trend can be found in many ways with the simplest being posted every day in Investors Business Daily newspaper under the IBD Mutual Fund Index. When the Index price is above the 200-day moving average you own equities and when it is below you are in cash or bonds. Nothing complicated,
The best advice is:Don’t try to forecast the market. Let the market trend tell you.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
How To Trade Stock In Market System?
The stock market system is an avenue of how to trade stock for listed corporations. As a corporation is formed, its initial shareholders are able to acquire shares of stock from the point of subscription when a company is created.
When a company starts to be traded to the public, the primary market comes in where those who subscribe to the initial public offering (IPO) takes on the shares of stock sold from point of IPO. When those who bought into a company at IPO point of view decides to sell their shares of stock to other people, they can do so by going to the stock market.
The stock market is a secondary market for securities trading wherein original or secondary holders of a company’s shares of stock can sell their stocks to other individuals within the frame work of the stock market system.
The stock market has buyers of stocks or those who wants to own a part of the company but wasn’t able to do so during the initial public offerings made by the company to the public when it has decided to list itself as a publicly listed company. The secondary market or the stock market allows other individuals to sell shares of the company when the initial shareholders may have realized that they want to sell their shares after gaining either significant profit or realized significant loss from point of acquiring a company from its IPO price.
As the stock market has developed and progressed over the years, the ways of how to trade stock from one individual to another has become more complicated and more challenging to be regulated. Technology has aided in providing more efficient ways of transactions. Front and backend solutions are put into place that helps direct the exchange of shares of stock in timely and secure manner.
Public education over how the stock market works is one of the primary concerns of the investing public in order to promote the trading activities of the stock market to other individuals who may also benefit from doing transactions over this secondary type of equities market.
With the abundance of relevant company information on performance of publicly listed companies, this information will help the investors to become more aware of the directions of the companies where they have share of stocks on and this will also aid them in how to trade stock and where to direct their investment strategies.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
When a company starts to be traded to the public, the primary market comes in where those who subscribe to the initial public offering (IPO) takes on the shares of stock sold from point of IPO. When those who bought into a company at IPO point of view decides to sell their shares of stock to other people, they can do so by going to the stock market.
The stock market is a secondary market for securities trading wherein original or secondary holders of a company’s shares of stock can sell their stocks to other individuals within the frame work of the stock market system.
The stock market has buyers of stocks or those who wants to own a part of the company but wasn’t able to do so during the initial public offerings made by the company to the public when it has decided to list itself as a publicly listed company. The secondary market or the stock market allows other individuals to sell shares of the company when the initial shareholders may have realized that they want to sell their shares after gaining either significant profit or realized significant loss from point of acquiring a company from its IPO price.
As the stock market has developed and progressed over the years, the ways of how to trade stock from one individual to another has become more complicated and more challenging to be regulated. Technology has aided in providing more efficient ways of transactions. Front and backend solutions are put into place that helps direct the exchange of shares of stock in timely and secure manner.
Public education over how the stock market works is one of the primary concerns of the investing public in order to promote the trading activities of the stock market to other individuals who may also benefit from doing transactions over this secondary type of equities market.
With the abundance of relevant company information on performance of publicly listed companies, this information will help the investors to become more aware of the directions of the companies where they have share of stocks on and this will also aid them in how to trade stock and where to direct their investment strategies.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Stock Market And Investments-The Key to Big Wins on the Stock Market
In life, you have to learn to walk before you can run. In the stock market, you have to learn to lose before you can truly win.
Sure, your first trade may be a winner, but to consistently make money in the stock market you have to learn how to lose. More to the point, you have to learn how to cut your losses.
he majority of people who dabble in the stock market see themselves as smart, educated and sharp. Self-belief is great. The most successful people in the world have a strong belief in themselves. Some of the most unsuccessful people in the world also have a strong belief in themselves. So what's the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful?
One major difference between successful traders and unsuccessful traders is the ability to admit when one is wrong. A successful trader will cut their losses before they get out of hand. An unsuccessful trader will let their losses grow in the false belief (hope) that things will pick up.
It would be nice if every stock pick was a winner, but when you get the odd loser you better make sure you cut that baby lose before you lose some big dollars.
The Stop-Loss
Before you even consider entering a trade, you should determine your stop-loss point. Your stop-loss point should be set at a price that you're willing to sell your stock at should things turn bad. The price you pick will vary depending on your financial position and the particular stock being considered.
You may want to set a stop-loss exactly 8% under your purchase price, or you may want to set it just below some clear resistance in a chart (if the stock falls below the resistance level, you can be fairly sure things will continue South for a while). The most important thing is to test your system. If you set your stop-loss too close, you'll never be in the game when the stock turns good. If you set your stop-loss too far away, you'll end up losing too much money.
Remember, the main aim is to make a profit across your entire portfolio. Imagine you owned $1000 worth of 5 different stock. You set a stop loss at 10% current market value; so if the value of a single stock drops to $900 you'll sell at that price. Even if you are wrong with 3 of the 5 picks (a $300 loss), you only need to make 15% on the remaining 2 stocks to break even. What if those remaining 2 stocks made 50% (which is very realistic if you pick your entry right).. You'd actually profit $700 across your entire portfolio despite the fact 60% of what you picked were duds! :)
Starting with 5 positions worth $1000 each: $5000
3 losing stocks lose 10% each: -$300
2 winning stocks make 50% each: +$1000
Total = $5700
Modern trading systems have completely automated stop-loss systems. This makes it so easy to set stop-losses that you have no excuses for losing big in a single trade anymore! In fact, you're mad if you don't take advantage of stop-losses. The only trick is setting them wisely. You'll learn how to plan and time your entry and exit points on this site over the next few months.
Until then, good luck and keep on learning..
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Sure, your first trade may be a winner, but to consistently make money in the stock market you have to learn how to lose. More to the point, you have to learn how to cut your losses.
he majority of people who dabble in the stock market see themselves as smart, educated and sharp. Self-belief is great. The most successful people in the world have a strong belief in themselves. Some of the most unsuccessful people in the world also have a strong belief in themselves. So what's the difference between the successful and the unsuccessful?
One major difference between successful traders and unsuccessful traders is the ability to admit when one is wrong. A successful trader will cut their losses before they get out of hand. An unsuccessful trader will let their losses grow in the false belief (hope) that things will pick up.
It would be nice if every stock pick was a winner, but when you get the odd loser you better make sure you cut that baby lose before you lose some big dollars.
The Stop-Loss
Before you even consider entering a trade, you should determine your stop-loss point. Your stop-loss point should be set at a price that you're willing to sell your stock at should things turn bad. The price you pick will vary depending on your financial position and the particular stock being considered.
You may want to set a stop-loss exactly 8% under your purchase price, or you may want to set it just below some clear resistance in a chart (if the stock falls below the resistance level, you can be fairly sure things will continue South for a while). The most important thing is to test your system. If you set your stop-loss too close, you'll never be in the game when the stock turns good. If you set your stop-loss too far away, you'll end up losing too much money.
Remember, the main aim is to make a profit across your entire portfolio. Imagine you owned $1000 worth of 5 different stock. You set a stop loss at 10% current market value; so if the value of a single stock drops to $900 you'll sell at that price. Even if you are wrong with 3 of the 5 picks (a $300 loss), you only need to make 15% on the remaining 2 stocks to break even. What if those remaining 2 stocks made 50% (which is very realistic if you pick your entry right).. You'd actually profit $700 across your entire portfolio despite the fact 60% of what you picked were duds! :)
Starting with 5 positions worth $1000 each: $5000
3 losing stocks lose 10% each: -$300
2 winning stocks make 50% each: +$1000
Total = $5700
Modern trading systems have completely automated stop-loss systems. This makes it so easy to set stop-losses that you have no excuses for losing big in a single trade anymore! In fact, you're mad if you don't take advantage of stop-losses. The only trick is setting them wisely. You'll learn how to plan and time your entry and exit points on this site over the next few months.
Until then, good luck and keep on learning..
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
What the hell! You Buy and Price Falls, You Sell and Price Rises !
One say's "I bought "XYZ Company" at $.2200 and immediately after I bought the stock
price dropped to Rs.2000." I feel sad. Another comes with a different version "I sold "XYZ Company" at $.2000 and it went up to $.2400 same evening" I made an imaginary loss of $.400 per share.
Solution:
You can buy more shares @ $.2000 and reduce your overall buying cost. This has to be done only if believe in the fundamentals,management and the future prospects of the company.
To do this you need to keep money ready.whatever money you have and want to invest,split it into two parts. Then keep 50% cash aside, only invest with other 50%.So if need to buy more of any stock when the price falls you have ready cash.
Also now if you have 200 shares of XYZ Company 100 @ $.2200 and 100 @ $2000.Then the price goes up to $.2400. Sell only 100 of the shares.Then if the price further shot up, you have some shares to sell And participate in the rally to make money.
Next, You sold the share and the price went up. The solution to this is never sell all the shares at one time. Sell only 50% of your shares.So if he price goes up later you still have the other 50% to sell and make profit.
The golden Rule is to first do your own analysis of the stock before investing and buy on tips.
Also invest only in companies which declare dividends every year. To be sure that you are not investing in loss making companies.
Every Market expert advise to do your stock analysis before investing in the stock market. But nobody tells you how.
Well in my next article I will write about how to do stock analysis using various tools such as financial ratios and by checking the track records of the companies you plan to invest in.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
price dropped to Rs.2000." I feel sad. Another comes with a different version "I sold "XYZ Company" at $.2000 and it went up to $.2400 same evening" I made an imaginary loss of $.400 per share.
Solution:
You can buy more shares @ $.2000 and reduce your overall buying cost. This has to be done only if believe in the fundamentals,management and the future prospects of the company.
To do this you need to keep money ready.whatever money you have and want to invest,split it into two parts. Then keep 50% cash aside, only invest with other 50%.So if need to buy more of any stock when the price falls you have ready cash.
Also now if you have 200 shares of XYZ Company 100 @ $.2200 and 100 @ $2000.Then the price goes up to $.2400. Sell only 100 of the shares.Then if the price further shot up, you have some shares to sell And participate in the rally to make money.
Next, You sold the share and the price went up. The solution to this is never sell all the shares at one time. Sell only 50% of your shares.So if he price goes up later you still have the other 50% to sell and make profit.
The golden Rule is to first do your own analysis of the stock before investing and buy on tips.
Also invest only in companies which declare dividends every year. To be sure that you are not investing in loss making companies.
Every Market expert advise to do your stock analysis before investing in the stock market. But nobody tells you how.
Well in my next article I will write about how to do stock analysis using various tools such as financial ratios and by checking the track records of the companies you plan to invest in.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Oline Stock Trading
Online Stock Trading is a recent way of buying and selling stocks. Now you can buy and sell any stock over the Internet for a low price and you don’t need to call up a broker.
You can buy any stock and sell any stock and it doesn’t take much to get started.
All you need is a brokerage account and you can start an account with them for $500 and their commissions are only $7, so they are not expensive at all.
Once you have setup a brokerage account you then need to choose an investment method and then research different companies and then buy stock in the ones that you feel will go up because they are good sound companies.
So as you can see there are several benefits to online stock trading but let’s recap.
With online stock trading all you need is $500 to open a brokerage account, the brokerage commissions go for low brokerage from somewhere $7 and you can buy and sell your stocks from your home computer anytime that the stock market is open.
Well now that you know that you can do online stock trading with a minimal investment you should get started today and then start learning about the stock market and choose the stocks you want to invest in.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
You can buy any stock and sell any stock and it doesn’t take much to get started.
All you need is a brokerage account and you can start an account with them for $500 and their commissions are only $7, so they are not expensive at all.
Once you have setup a brokerage account you then need to choose an investment method and then research different companies and then buy stock in the ones that you feel will go up because they are good sound companies.
So as you can see there are several benefits to online stock trading but let’s recap.
With online stock trading all you need is $500 to open a brokerage account, the brokerage commissions go for low brokerage from somewhere $7 and you can buy and sell your stocks from your home computer anytime that the stock market is open.
Well now that you know that you can do online stock trading with a minimal investment you should get started today and then start learning about the stock market and choose the stocks you want to invest in.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
What are Stock options?
A stock option is a specific type of option with a stock as the underlying instrument (the security that the value of the option is based on). Thus it is a contract to buy (known as a "call" contract) or sell (known as a "put" contract) shares of stock, at a predetermined or calculable (from a formula in the contract) price.
It is Having the Rights to purchase a corporation's stock at a specified price.
Infact There are two definitions of stock options.
1. The right to purchase or sell a stock at a specified price within a stated period. Options are a popular investment medium, offering an opportunity to hedge positions in other securities, to speculate on stocks with relatively little investment, and to capitalize on changes in the market value of options contracts themselves through a variety of options strategies.
2. A widely used form of employee incentive and compensation.In some Companies, Stock options constitute part of remuneration. Employee stock options are stock options for the company's own stock that are often offered to upper-level employees as part of the executive compensation package. An employee stock option is identical to a call option on the company's stock, with some extra restrictions.
Performance Stock Options are Options that vest if pre-determined performance measures are achieved. The performance goal (revenue growth, stock-price increases…) must be reached for the options to be exercisable or for the vesting to be accelerated.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
It is Having the Rights to purchase a corporation's stock at a specified price.
Infact There are two definitions of stock options.
1. The right to purchase or sell a stock at a specified price within a stated period. Options are a popular investment medium, offering an opportunity to hedge positions in other securities, to speculate on stocks with relatively little investment, and to capitalize on changes in the market value of options contracts themselves through a variety of options strategies.
2. A widely used form of employee incentive and compensation.In some Companies, Stock options constitute part of remuneration. Employee stock options are stock options for the company's own stock that are often offered to upper-level employees as part of the executive compensation package. An employee stock option is identical to a call option on the company's stock, with some extra restrictions.
Performance Stock Options are Options that vest if pre-determined performance measures are achieved. The performance goal (revenue growth, stock-price increases…) must be reached for the options to be exercisable or for the vesting to be accelerated.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
What is a Share ?
In finance a share is a unit of account for various financial instruments including stocks, mutual funds, limited partnerships, and REIT's. In British English, the usage of the word share alone to refer solely to stocks is so common that it almost replaces the word stock itself.
In simple Words, a share or stock is a document issued by a company, which entitles its holder to be one of the owners of the company. A share is issued by a company or can be purchased from the stock market.
By owning a share you can earn a portion and selling shares you get capital gain. So, your return is the dividend plus the capital gain. However, you also run a risk of making a capital loss if you have sold the share at a price below your buying price.
A company's stock price reflects what investors think about the stock, not necessarily what the company is "worth." For example, companies that are growing quickly often trade at a higher price than the company might currently be "worth." Stock prices are also affected by all forms of company and market news. Publicly traded companies are required to report quarterly on their financial status and earnings. Market forces and general investor opinions can also affect share price.
Quick Facts on Stocks and Shares
Owning a stock or a share means you are a partial owner of the company, and you get voting rights in certain company issues
Over the long run, stocks have historically averaged about 10% annual returns However, stocks offer no
guarantee of any returns and can lose value, even in the long run
Investments in stocks can generate returns through dividends, even if the price
How does one trade in shares ?
Every transaction in the stock exchange is carried out through licensed members called brokers.
To trade in shares, you have to approach a broker However, since most stock exchange brokers deal in very high volumes, they generally do not entertain small investors. These brokers have a network of sub-brokers who provide them with orders.
The general investors should identify a sub-broker for regular trading in shares and palce his order for purchase and sale through the sub-broker. The sub/broker will transmit the order to his broker who will then execute it .
What are active Shares ? Shares in which there are frequent and day-to-day dealings, as distinguished from partly active shares in which dealings are not so frequent. Most shares of leading companies would be active, particularly those which are sensitive to economic and political events and are, therefore, subject to sudden price movements. Some market analysts would define active shares as those which are bought and sold at least three times a week. Easy to buy or sell.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
In simple Words, a share or stock is a document issued by a company, which entitles its holder to be one of the owners of the company. A share is issued by a company or can be purchased from the stock market.
By owning a share you can earn a portion and selling shares you get capital gain. So, your return is the dividend plus the capital gain. However, you also run a risk of making a capital loss if you have sold the share at a price below your buying price.
A company's stock price reflects what investors think about the stock, not necessarily what the company is "worth." For example, companies that are growing quickly often trade at a higher price than the company might currently be "worth." Stock prices are also affected by all forms of company and market news. Publicly traded companies are required to report quarterly on their financial status and earnings. Market forces and general investor opinions can also affect share price.
Quick Facts on Stocks and Shares
Owning a stock or a share means you are a partial owner of the company, and you get voting rights in certain company issues
Over the long run, stocks have historically averaged about 10% annual returns However, stocks offer no
guarantee of any returns and can lose value, even in the long run
Investments in stocks can generate returns through dividends, even if the price
How does one trade in shares ?
Every transaction in the stock exchange is carried out through licensed members called brokers.
To trade in shares, you have to approach a broker However, since most stock exchange brokers deal in very high volumes, they generally do not entertain small investors. These brokers have a network of sub-brokers who provide them with orders.
The general investors should identify a sub-broker for regular trading in shares and palce his order for purchase and sale through the sub-broker. The sub/broker will transmit the order to his broker who will then execute it .
What are active Shares ? Shares in which there are frequent and day-to-day dealings, as distinguished from partly active shares in which dealings are not so frequent. Most shares of leading companies would be active, particularly those which are sensitive to economic and political events and are, therefore, subject to sudden price movements. Some market analysts would define active shares as those which are bought and sold at least three times a week. Easy to buy or sell.
Keep trading and trade wisely and in smart way!
See ya soon!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
How Do your Pick Share That you Want To Buy?
The key here is to research, research, research! That’s the key to picking the winners. Granted, you’re not a qualified financial professional with access to the information available to equity analysts, however you can hire someone to pick them for you or you can do it yourself, with some research and basic information.
A stock broker isn’t what they used to be. The heady days of the 80’s pained a slimy and money-hungry picture of stock brokers but nowadays, with more safeguards for investors in place – stock brokering is a competitive industry – with brokers all vying for your investment dollar.
Stock broker, who?
There is much confusion over the term “broker”, as many believe this is the person that you consult and receive advice from when you want to trade shares – this is not the case. A broker is a stock broking firm and offer two main services. Firstly, a full service broker will offer personalised information and tailored advice. You can see them more like a financial planner that solely concentrates on equity. You can ask them for ideas or you can ask them for advice on portfolio mix. The benefit of having a broker is their access to information and ability to obtain shares in oversubscribed floats (when there are more buyers than sellers). This type of service costs around $150 per trade or for large trades, 2.5% of the total amount traded.
The second type of brokers are the “execution only” type, which have seen a great proliferation in recent years. They simply take your order and process the transaction. Typically, each trades cost between $15-30, substantially lower than with a broker.
Which broker should I choose?
If you are new to the game, it might be useful to start with a broker and establish if they add value to your own research. Be wary, as they are paid based on the volume you trade, therefore their incentives may not be linked to your benefits.
See ya soon!
A stock broker isn’t what they used to be. The heady days of the 80’s pained a slimy and money-hungry picture of stock brokers but nowadays, with more safeguards for investors in place – stock brokering is a competitive industry – with brokers all vying for your investment dollar.
Stock broker, who?
There is much confusion over the term “broker”, as many believe this is the person that you consult and receive advice from when you want to trade shares – this is not the case. A broker is a stock broking firm and offer two main services. Firstly, a full service broker will offer personalised information and tailored advice. You can see them more like a financial planner that solely concentrates on equity. You can ask them for ideas or you can ask them for advice on portfolio mix. The benefit of having a broker is their access to information and ability to obtain shares in oversubscribed floats (when there are more buyers than sellers). This type of service costs around $150 per trade or for large trades, 2.5% of the total amount traded.
The second type of brokers are the “execution only” type, which have seen a great proliferation in recent years. They simply take your order and process the transaction. Typically, each trades cost between $15-30, substantially lower than with a broker.
Which broker should I choose?
If you are new to the game, it might be useful to start with a broker and establish if they add value to your own research. Be wary, as they are paid based on the volume you trade, therefore their incentives may not be linked to your benefits.
See ya soon!
Are Ready you To Invest?
Your first investment might be frightening and exciting, because you do not know when or how to start investing. When you look at the historical prices of some shares, they have gone up and down, so how do you know when to jump in and start buying?
As a long term investor, the time horizon for your investment should be around 5 years, this is from the time you buy to the time you sell. Thus, short term volatility should not change your decision on when to invest. The markets will inevitably rise and fall, but short term volatility should not matter as long as the long term gains are there.
In an earlier section to this guide, we discuss the importance of diversification and share selection. The shares you select will form the portfolio in which you diversify risks. But firstly, you have to ask yourself some questions about your investment goals.
What is your time frame? 2 years, 5 years, 10 years? How risk adverse are you? (Are you willing to forego returns for a less risky investment?)Do you prefer capital growth over dividend yield (dividend payments)?
In answering these questions, it’s useful to know how shares are categorised, what their inherent risks and returns are:
Blue Chip – you hear this term in the media commonly and this refers to shares which are the most establish in terms of stability of earnings and history. They generally pay a steady dividend and maintain steady capital growth. These are deemed the least risky shares.
Income – these shares usually pay a larger dividend to attract investors who do not want to sell their shares to generate income. Because they are paying dividends, the usually grow slower due to lower reinvestment.
Growth – these are usually newly listed shares which have high growth and have little or no dividends. In lieu of dividends, investors receive a higher capital growth, as the company uses the profits to reinvest back into the business. In recent times, these have been typically technology and mining shares.
Cyclical – these are linked to the economic cycle which means when the general economy is performing poorly, these share will mirror the general economy’s performance and fall.
Defensive – these are the opposite of cyclical shares and usually perform in the same way despite the economy being in a recession. Typically, companies of this nature will sell good and services such as insurance, staple food and pharmaceuticals.
A mixture of the above share will provide good diversification in a portfolio, thereby reducing the risks.
As a long term investor, the time horizon for your investment should be around 5 years, this is from the time you buy to the time you sell. Thus, short term volatility should not change your decision on when to invest. The markets will inevitably rise and fall, but short term volatility should not matter as long as the long term gains are there.
In an earlier section to this guide, we discuss the importance of diversification and share selection. The shares you select will form the portfolio in which you diversify risks. But firstly, you have to ask yourself some questions about your investment goals.
What is your time frame? 2 years, 5 years, 10 years? How risk adverse are you? (Are you willing to forego returns for a less risky investment?)Do you prefer capital growth over dividend yield (dividend payments)?
In answering these questions, it’s useful to know how shares are categorised, what their inherent risks and returns are:
Blue Chip – you hear this term in the media commonly and this refers to shares which are the most establish in terms of stability of earnings and history. They generally pay a steady dividend and maintain steady capital growth. These are deemed the least risky shares.
Income – these shares usually pay a larger dividend to attract investors who do not want to sell their shares to generate income. Because they are paying dividends, the usually grow slower due to lower reinvestment.
Growth – these are usually newly listed shares which have high growth and have little or no dividends. In lieu of dividends, investors receive a higher capital growth, as the company uses the profits to reinvest back into the business. In recent times, these have been typically technology and mining shares.
Cyclical – these are linked to the economic cycle which means when the general economy is performing poorly, these share will mirror the general economy’s performance and fall.
Defensive – these are the opposite of cyclical shares and usually perform in the same way despite the economy being in a recession. Typically, companies of this nature will sell good and services such as insurance, staple food and pharmaceuticals.
A mixture of the above share will provide good diversification in a portfolio, thereby reducing the risks.
Why Should you Invest in Shares
If you are reading this beginners guide, it’s most likely that your savings are currently in a term deposit just sitting in the bank.
The theory behind investing your money is simple and a lot better for you than letting it sit under the mattress. In fact, hiding your money under the mattress actually makes you worse off, as inflation (remember your grand parents saying how they could buy a kilogram of lollies for 1cent in the 1940’s? That is because $1 now buys less than $1 in 1920 as the price of good and services rises) eats away at your savings.
What is a share?
So before you go spending your money in shares, you are probably wondering, what is a share? When a company wants to “go public”, they float their shares on the stock exchange, which raises “equity”. By going public, the company is selling a piece of their company to you. So when you buy a share, you own a proportion of the company, this is the “equity”. In return, the company takes your money and uses it to invest in their own projects, so the company can make money and sometimes pay a dividend or other benefits.
The share market in recent years has boomed. Returns on the (which is the top companies listed on the stock exchange have been as good, if not better than most other investments (such as bonds) in the long term, but more about returns later. Also, almost half of all Australians own shares because of the rewards, but with the rewards comes risks. To be a good investor, understanding the risks in the investment is the key to being a good investor. This is so that your purchase is a bargain and fewer unforeseen events occur to derail you from achieving your investment goal.
Why invest in shares?
When you look at the richest people in the world or the BRWs rich list, time and time again there is one characteristic most these people share. They own their own business. While it is possible to be rich by inheritance or lottery winnings, the chance of that happening to the regular joe is highly unlikely.
Now what has this got to do with shares? well, everything. Owning shares allows you to own quality companies. For example, if you had shares in the in any of the most renown banks, you are a shareholder and therefore a part owner of the the company. When these companies earn money, so will you (in the form of capital growth & dividends).
How much do you need to invest?
So how much do you need to start investing in shares? You can enter the market with as little as $500, however with this amount, brokerage cost (This is the cost you pay your broker to buy/sell shares, with discount brokers such as comsec and e*trade this can be as low as $19.95 - $29.95 per trade) will eat away a chunk of your money. Most people say it’s best to have around $10,000 so that you can have a relatively diversified portfolio of 5 shares with $2000 invested in each.
If you don’t have enough for this, it’s probably better to invest in a managed fund. As suggested above, when you are a first time investor, it’s probably a bad idea to put all your eggs into one basket. Manage funds allow you to diversify your investments for as little as $1000, though $2000 is more ideal.
Happy Investments!
The theory behind investing your money is simple and a lot better for you than letting it sit under the mattress. In fact, hiding your money under the mattress actually makes you worse off, as inflation (remember your grand parents saying how they could buy a kilogram of lollies for 1cent in the 1940’s? That is because $1 now buys less than $1 in 1920 as the price of good and services rises) eats away at your savings.
What is a share?
So before you go spending your money in shares, you are probably wondering, what is a share? When a company wants to “go public”, they float their shares on the stock exchange, which raises “equity”. By going public, the company is selling a piece of their company to you. So when you buy a share, you own a proportion of the company, this is the “equity”. In return, the company takes your money and uses it to invest in their own projects, so the company can make money and sometimes pay a dividend or other benefits.
The share market in recent years has boomed. Returns on the (which is the top companies listed on the stock exchange have been as good, if not better than most other investments (such as bonds) in the long term, but more about returns later. Also, almost half of all Australians own shares because of the rewards, but with the rewards comes risks. To be a good investor, understanding the risks in the investment is the key to being a good investor. This is so that your purchase is a bargain and fewer unforeseen events occur to derail you from achieving your investment goal.
Why invest in shares?
When you look at the richest people in the world or the BRWs rich list, time and time again there is one characteristic most these people share. They own their own business. While it is possible to be rich by inheritance or lottery winnings, the chance of that happening to the regular joe is highly unlikely.
Now what has this got to do with shares? well, everything. Owning shares allows you to own quality companies. For example, if you had shares in the in any of the most renown banks, you are a shareholder and therefore a part owner of the the company. When these companies earn money, so will you (in the form of capital growth & dividends).
How much do you need to invest?
So how much do you need to start investing in shares? You can enter the market with as little as $500, however with this amount, brokerage cost (This is the cost you pay your broker to buy/sell shares, with discount brokers such as comsec and e*trade this can be as low as $19.95 - $29.95 per trade) will eat away a chunk of your money. Most people say it’s best to have around $10,000 so that you can have a relatively diversified portfolio of 5 shares with $2000 invested in each.
If you don’t have enough for this, it’s probably better to invest in a managed fund. As suggested above, when you are a first time investor, it’s probably a bad idea to put all your eggs into one basket. Manage funds allow you to diversify your investments for as little as $1000, though $2000 is more ideal.
Happy Investments!
Share Trading
“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons” – Woody AllenThe Money Guru;Woody Allen’s quip sums up this beginners guide to investing in shares. This is a good start to your education on investing – putting your money where it can gain greater returns than just earning interest in a high-interest account. Investments in shares or stocks (called stocks in the USA) can be daunting as there is vast and various amounts of information on investments and everyone is ready and willing to take your money. But in this guide, investing is not as complex as you’d think. This is also proven by the fact that Australia has the highest personal share investment in the world. This guide hopes to give you better information in which you can make individual tailored investment decisions, while also covering some basic finance concepts.
Doing all the research for this guide has also illustrated the amount of short rule-type guides to get rich quick. There are a plethora of guides; some of the ones I’ve seen are Ways to Make Saving and Investing Easier, Steps to Retire Rich, Rules of Wealth Building and Eight Secrets to Improving Your Portfolio Returns. Sure, you can read a guide which is a page long on how to invest your entire savings, but what you put in is what you get out. If you believe that reading a few of these guides will prepare you for investment then you should read this guide before you go any further. Investing is not as simple as these guides make it out to be, but you don’t need a PhD in quantitative statistics to figure it out.
This guide hopes to break down the jargon and seeming complexities of investing in the financial markets by making things as simple as possible. I will try my best to remove all the cheesy quips used by the media and to demystify the financial markets, which almost has as much jargon as it does quick rich schemes.
This guide is broken up into sections which should make it easier for you to get some answers and find specific information for the knowledge you need to start investing.
I wish you a better share trading!
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