Stock Market Investing 101

By Mike Swanson

For those that are just starting out stock market investing can be intimidating and confusing. Some individuals think that investing on the stock market is too risky, but if you know what you are doing then it is an excellent place to find solid investments opportunities.

In order to do well with stock market investing you need to understand how the stock market works. As with anything you need to educate yourself to the stock market and the different cycles that occur. What occurs during a recession and how can you benefit from this, how to invest during prosperous times and more.

To learn about stock market investing you can take a class or seminar, read about stocks in the newspaper or magazine and look at financial sites online. To be successful you need to set realistic goals and implement a good stick picking strategy.

Before you purchase any stock you should research it careful. Each company will have annual reports that are available to the public. The Securities and Exchange Commission will also have information on each company and its stock. If you are very familiar with a specific industry or company then it is always advisable that you invest in things that you know.

Any investment broker will tell you that it is important to diversify and make sure you have stocks from several different industries. You don't want to put all of your money in one stock or in one industry. Make sure you spread your money out as this will minimize any lose you may have.

One way in which you can save yourself a few dollars is by doing your own investing instead of going through a company and broker. Whenever you make a trade and investment broker will take a commission for that trade. By doing your own you save on that commission fee. It is also recommended that you invest in some long term investments as it is those long term investments that can really rake in the cash. Long term investments also have different tax rates then short term. If you are willing to do long term investment then you can wait out and be successful even when a recession hits. - 23223

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Searching For The Best FX System

By Tim Barnby

If you spend any time at all in forex (FX) trading forums you'll see constant questions like: "What's the best FX trading system?, what's the best free forex trading system, or where do I find good forex trading signals?" There are so many expert advisors (EAs), indicators, and systems available that it's nearly impossible for a novice trader to find a decent FX trading system, or one that produced consistent results. Still, given a little information, traders should be able to identify a system that will work for them. Any FX trading system worth following will have four traits:

The FX trading system will trade with the long term trend. The system will provide inflexible rules. The FX trading system will use a very limited set of indicators and will rely on an easily identified setup. Finally, the ideal FX trading system will provide a positive financial edge.

Whether you are trading stock, commodities, or a Forex market, following the overall trend should be your first priority. Trading against the trend might get you a few winning trades, but a prudent trader sticks with the overall trend. Chasing retracements is okay if you want a rush. If you want to make money, you need to manage your trading like a business. That means that we make purchases at a lower price than the projected sale price. Counter trend trading goes against that rule. There are several methods for determining a trend. I recommend the Blue Zone, or a similar method for determining the health of a trend.

The ideal FX trading system will provide you with an iron clad set of rules for trading. Your trading results will be tightly correlated to your adherence to rules. When selecting a trading system, make sure you can live with the rules. If you cannot, find another system. If you find that your emotions will not allow you to follow these rules, find another way to make money. A system will only work if you use it correctly and consistently.

When reviewing messages in the Forex trading forums, you'll often see charts. Some of these charts are so covered with indicators that you can hardly see the price action! The best FX trading system will only use a couple of indicators. The Blue Zone system, as an example, only uses three simple moving averages (SMAs). It uses these to determine the health of the trend. The best FX trading systems will couple these few indicators with setups that are incredibly simple and easy to identify. There are systems that use ascending triangles, multi-candle setups, and complicated crossovers. Those are just too complicated to be of much value, and in my opinion, lack consistency. The Blue Zone system uses a single candle setup. This single candle is highly predictive of reversals and will provide consistent results. Of course you have to know which times to trade it.

Finally, any FX trading system can be judged on one metric alone, the Financial Edge. Financial edge is a simple formula. It states: E= (AW*PW) - (AL*PL) Or, in English it states Edge equals the difference between the average winner times the probability of winning and the average loser times the probability of a loss.

Example System: Average Winner: 200 pips Probability of win: 15% Average Loser: 25 pips Probability of loss: 85% Edge = 8.75 pips.

The above example illustrates how important edge is and how unimportant percentage of winning is. We only won 15% of the time in the above example. Using the system consistently, however, would give us nearly 9 pips per trade! Our goal in forex trading is not to win more often. Our goal is not to win at all. Our goal is to make money. The sooner this is learned, the better.

When reviewing the numerous systems available for forex trading, if you remember the preceding facts, you'll be well on your way to finding or developing the perfect FX trading system. - 23223

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No matter which FX trading system you choose, to be profitable in Forex you must gather three elements: Money Management, Proper (Instructor Led) Education and the Mental Game (comes from the first two). We provide everything you need from live trading rooms to intense individualized mentoring programs at The Market Mover Edge

Invest In Gold For Profit

By Michael Swanson

The precious metal gold has always been a commodity, and believe it or not, there are people who invest in gold to make profits on a regular basis. Whether it's short-term gold investing, or long-term there is a chance to make profits.

Just like other commodities gold is on a market and falls, rises, and can stay steady. Those who trade for short -term gold are looking to purchase it when gold is lower, and then will sell it as soon as it rises just a bit for small profits.

In other words, they only hold their gold for just a few minutes or hours, or perhaps a week or a month, but all of this type of trading is considered short-term.

For those who enjoy bigger profits, they may be considered long-term gold traders. They may actually hold onto the gold for several months or perhaps a year before they make another trade.

Those who trade gold are looking for a profit by either buying or even selling at the perfect time. And just like other commodities, you can invest in gold with a broker that trades in precious metals.

Now with the Internet trading platforms you do not even have to go to your brokers office or make a phone call. The ease of trading gold on the Internet has made it so everyone can invest and make profits. Just remember you also can lose money by investing in any trading commodity and gold is no different.

Therefore, understand your trading platform and your broker contract completely before investing any type of money. It's important to keep an eye on what gold is doing so that you know whether it's rising or falling and can make your profits when the price is more than when you bought it. - 23223

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Investment Trading Advice

By Mr Christopher Latterr

Many people these days have become quite enthusiastic to start investment trading. It is very wise to keep certain tips in mind before they actually begin. You should be always in touch with the latest industrial developments. You might notice that some sort of websites or some specific companies might be getting huge attention from all the corners of media. These could be very good to make an investment. You should never be scared to make an investment. You should remember the fact that more time you delay the more profit you would lose. You should look for newer trading alternatives like mobile trading, internet trading etc to save your time.

If one withdraws a trade or cancels it, make sure that it is finished earlier than making a new trade. Basically because one receives a receipt of cancellation, that may have previously gone through. One must know who to he has to get in touch with, for trading. Do not trade with some company that one does not know anything regarding the company. If it is possible, look keen on their investment record, so that one can know the trading trustworthy stock. Also join some good online investment trading service that will provide day to day comprehensive market summary features and market forecasts.

You would certainly have a better idea of the best investment options if you are aware of the worst options. One of the avoidable options is bank savings accounts. The profit margins are very minimal and you can never unleash the true potential of your money. Your investment trading should never involve insurance companies.

It is also advisable to avoid anything that deals with customers such as automobile companies, technology companies and retailers. It is also recommendable to avoid United States Treasury bonds and bills. The treasuries have now grown up greatly in value - that is the reason why they have a yield of 0%. And now the only way that they can go is down in the price. So make the effective use of these investment trading tips in setting your financial goals and to achieve the ultimate financial freedom.

The trading strategies in investment trading are basically 2 type's i.e. Automatic and Manual. Manual investment trading techniques can be very tricky as it requires great deal of skill and expertise. So if you are a beginner this type of strategy techniques may not suit you well.

On the other hand the automatic trading techniques are based on mechanized orders and implementation systems. The modeling techniques are done by using different software technologies. These technologies serve for all the types of approaches of investment trading such as conservative, aggressive and moderate.

If you are thinking of long term investment trading then you have to increase your portfolio i.e. invest in more and more areas. You should never fall to the false traps such as advertisements which claim "stock trades to gain 80 percent". They might be very less profitable and in some cases may lead you in to heavy losses. Your investment should always depend upon the factual details either acquired by you or some trust worthy sources. It is not always good to depend on the growth stocks. Some penny stocks with great growth potential can be very profitable for the long term.

Your investment strategies decide your fate in the investment trading arena. The more effective they are the more profit you would make. You should have a good idea of the market history as this would help you in being decisive in designing your strategies. - 23223

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Types of Market Orders (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

Just to remind you that forex markets are open 24 hours a day, five days a week. A market move is just likely to happen while you are asleep or in the shower as while you are sitting in front of your computer screen. Currency traders use market orders to catch market movements when they are not in front of their screens.

Market orders are very critical to your trading success. Think of the different types of market orders as trades waiting to happen. If you enter an order and the subsequent price action triggers its execution, you are in the market so be as careful as possible while playing with the market orders. Trading can be very difficult without these market orders.

Experienced currency traders routinely use orders to implement a trade strategy from entry to exit, capture sharp short term price fluctuations, limit risk in volatile or uncertain markets and preserve trading capital from unwanted loss. Market orders are essential for maintaining trading discipline.

Forex markets can be notoriously volatile and difficult to predict, using market orders can help you capitalize on short term price movements while limiting the impact of any adverse price movements.

If you dont use market orders, you probably dont have a well thought out trading plan. While there is no guarantee that the use of market orders will limit your losses and protect your profits in all market conditions, a disciplined use of market orders will help you quantify the risk that you are taking. It will also give you the peace of mind in trading.

A number of different types of market orders are available to currency traders in forex markets. You should add the market orders to the list of questions you need to ask the broker when you open an account with a forex broker because you should know that not all market orders are available at all online forex brokers.

Take Profit Orders: An old market saying, You cant go broke taking profits. Use the take profit order to lock in profits when you have an open position in the market. Suppose you are short EUR/USD at 1.2354. Your take profit order will be to buy back the position and be place somewhere below 1.2334 making a profit of 20 pips. If you are long GBP/USD at 1.8845, your take profit order will be to sell the position somewhere higher close to 1.8875.

Limit Orders: Dont forget the saying, Buy low and sell high. A limit order is any market order that triggers a trade at more favorable levels than the current market price. The limit order must be placed somewhere above the current market price if the limit order is to sell. The limit order must be entered somewhere below the current market price if the order is to sell. - 23223

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Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Know Forex Scalping. Learn Forex Trading!