Investments and How to Find Them

There are risks involved in all investing. The skill of investing is knowing which risks are worth taking, and which should be avoided. Finding and knowing which risks to take is the essence of good investing and the whole reason that investments can pay such a high reward. It cannot be done without careful research and analysis. You must give yourself every chance to make the right decision. Investing without carrying out sufficient research is like playing roulette. You are giving yourself virtually no chance of covering your investments and avoiding disaster.

There are certain steps you will have to take in order to give yourself a fighting chance of being a successful investor. If you are considering investing in company shares on the stock market, then you should be aware that all publicly traded companies must provide investors and potential investors with access to company financial data. This data is generally available from the company so if you are considering buying into a company, then get access to this information and satisfy yourself that the company is in a good financial state before parting with any money.

Be Aware

If you do research a company, and are taking a look at its financial position, then you should look back two to three years into the past. You probably dont need to go back further than this but if you go back less, there may be important trends in the finances that you will miss. Take special note of the quarterly statements and the revenue and earnings per share.

You should be trying to identify trends in certain figures. While these are no guarantee of what might happen In the future it is undeniable that an upward trend in revenue and profits will be a positive sign to look out for.

Once you have satisfied yourself with the basic financials of the company and that the prospects of making good profits into the future are favourable you will be in a position to consider putting money into the share. There is an ongoing debate over whether its preferable to buy shares that will increase in value, or shares that pay good dividends and the answer to this question must always lie with the individual investor. What must be remembered however is that there is little point in chasing dividends. This refers to the practice of buying a share just before a dividend is expected to be announced. The price of the share will already have taken the dividend into account so you will be paying for it in any case.

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Power of Candlestick assist you in Forex Trading

An Introduction To Candlesticks There are two ways to analysis a market price, (i) fundamental analysis, (ii) technical analysis.

Fundamental analysis- is used to gauge the market price according to the number of stock, such as price or earnings ratio, return on invest, or anything related to the economic statistics.

Technical analysis - is used to deal with psychological component especially the emotionalism of traders. It is always seeking answer for the question "how are other traders viewing this stock, and how would them react for that future trading?. So, the candlestick chart is always considered as the most effective way to gauge the reactions of other traders.

Lets compare the candlestick charts with the western charts. There are four components in the western bar chart, (i) open, (ii) high, (iii) low (iv) close. For the vertical bar, the top and bottom of the bar represents the high and low of the session. For the horizontal bar, the left horizontal line represents the open and the right horizontal line represents the close.

By using the same data, the Japanese Candlestick Line has created a much more visualize pictures to show the traders how the market stock is going. The main colour thick part of the candlestick bar is called the real body. It represents the range between the price of opening session and close session. The red real body represents that the session close at a lower price than the open point; while for the green real body, it represents that the session close at a higher price than the open point. The top and bottom lines are called shadows. The shadows represent the extremes of one sessions price. The top part shadow is called the upper shadow and the bottom part shadow is called the lower shadow. So, the upper shadow represents the high of the day and the lower shadow represents the low of the day.

The major difference between the Western Line and the Japanese Candlestick line is the relationship between opening and closing prices. The Western Line gives more priority to the closing price regarding to the previous close. But for the Japanese Candlestick Line, the Japanese gives more priority to the close regarding to the open of the same day. To make the words clearer, lets compare the daily chart plotted with Western Lines and the Japanese Candlestick lines by using the same data. There is nothing much difference between those charts as both charts can be easily interpreted the overall trend of the stock. However, with the Japanese Candlestick chart, the sentimental changes day to day is more easier by viewing the real body colour changed (from green to red or vice versa).

I know it is very difficult to visualize without the graphic assisted. But i have no idea to put the chart and candlestick bar here. If you need more information, go Easy Forex Strategy or http://www.learnforexsecret.com

Learn Forex Secret

To Enjoy Your Retirement Years And Have Enough Money You Need To Plan Now

It is never too late or too early to start investing for the future. Of course there will be a lot of advantages if you start investing for the future at an early stage. Note that if you start investing while you are still very young, time could work to your advantage. The value of money and properties could go higher with time, thus in most instances, the longer you keep the investment, the greater will be your gain.

Contrary to some myth that you will need a fairly large sum of money to start investing, you could actually start small. If you were financially hard up that every dollar would count to tide you over to the next payday, with more reason for you to save and invest your money into some profitable ventures. Why would you save when you can hardly afford to buy the basic necessities in life?

Although you might think that setting aside savings for investment purposes is illogical when you are financially hard up, this could actually be the soundest thing to do. Just think about it, if you are financially challenged today and you don't do anything about it, you will still be financially challenged the next day, the day after next and so on. You must do something different and break the chain of living from paycheck to paycheck and whining about it too.

How much do you really need to start investing in stocks or mutual fund portfolio? To open an account, you could actually start with just $100 and then build up your portfolio by contributing about $25 to $50 monthly. If you don't have hundreds now, you can save some amounts every payday until you have enough to open an account. You must understand that the dollars that you invest now could be worth a lot more in a few years. By building your portfolio slowly, you could accumulate a lot of money after a few years. Studies shows that people who have invested in mutual funds when they were in their early twenties have earned a great deal of money by the time they reach the age of forty. In some instances, people who started investing early could have enough money to plan for an early retirement.

There are many companies offering investment programs that could suit your needs. If you are really serious about building a financial nest for the future, you could start getting information online on how to open investment accounts. Find a good website which could give comprehensive information about how mutual funds or shares of stocks could work to your advantage. It is always a good idea to learn more about the product that you want to invest your money in before you actually put up your money. Note that it is important to pick a winner when investing or else you will end up losing some money instead of earning some.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about this as well as a stock investing at http://www.investingmaster.com

Understanding and Managing Market Turbulence

The initial trigger for the huge market turbulence was the possibility that the Chinese government would impose taxes aimed at stopping speculative activity and controlling the speed of growth in the countrys market, which has doubled in value over the past 12 months. The rumors set off a sudden wave of selling in China, sending China's stock market index down by more than 8% in a single day which was its steepest decline since the September 11 attacks in 2001.

This strong decline was accompanied by a tremendous volatility in the global market. Over the course of just five days, the principal stock exchanges of Europe lost an average of 6.9%. In the United States, the Dow Jones dropped 4.6% and the S&P 500 dropped 5.19%. These declines are slight in comparison with the losses suffered in the stock exchanges of emerging markets. In Latin America, the Buenos Aires exchange plunged 12.58% during this period; the Bovespa in Brazil dropped 10.88% and the IPC in Mexico fell by 8.05%.

Of course circumstances leading up to the crises varied across countries and regions. But each of these events had one dynamic in common - the confluence of a sharp increase in risk perception, and the subsequent actions taken by financial institutions and investors to limit their exposure and to hedge against further losses.

Volatility can, and should, be expected along the way and we encourage investors to use this market volatility to reassess their asset class weightings and level of risk in their portfolios. While market corrections are not pleasant for investors we consider it normal and expect such market movements on occasion. The truth, of course, is that without risk no investment would ever produce a return worthy of the name.

Volatility expectation can be forecasted using historical volatility that is a measure of how much an exchange rate or any asset has varied, on average, over a specified period, say one year. As its name suggests, historical volatility is backward looking. This measure has the advantage of telling us something about expected volatility over the certain timeframe. It therefore has a forward-looking component.

Achieving ideal returns by managing and diversifying away risk is a weightier issue than ever for Resolute Capital Growth Fund. In our view market-neutral investing is one of the hottest strategies for achieving downside protection. Resolute Capital Growth Fund opens investors up to new thinking on highly effective approaches to return enhancement and risk reduction through our market-neutral investing techniques that hedge exposures to neutralize the impact of market volatility on investment performance. Resolute Capital Growth Fund has shown it can outperform in down markets as well as in up markets, and, if there were a recurrence of such market condition, we would expect a similar outcome. The objective of the Fund is to achieve consistent equity growth regardless of market conditions by investing in the global markets using the most advance asset allocation process.

The never-ending dilemma for investors is to decide to what extent they should remain invested in risky assets when risk premiums have been eroded. Focus your concern on your portfolio allocation, your portfolio diversification, and whether your investments are inline with your expectations.

With RESCGF you can enjoy the long-term benefits regardless of the market conditions, because we accept volatility and we learned to ignore it. Considering the current state of global markets, our approach will not change moving forward. We will continue to proceed with caution given the state of financial markets, a strategy that has proven to be a sound approach in light of recent events.

Forex Trading - Earn Bigger Profits Now By Applying the 80-20 Rule

The 80:20 rules applies in many spheres of life and if you know what it is and apply it in forex trading you will increase your profits dramatically. So lets take a look at what it is and specifically how to apply it to forex trading.

In the late nineteenth century an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto observed that, in his native country of Italy, a small group of people held nearly all the power, influence, and wealth.

Came to the conclusion that in most countries, about 80% of the wealth and power was controlled by about 20% of the population and he referred to this as:

Predictable imbalance, which became known as the 80:20 rule.

He concluded that in relation to an individuals effort:

20% of your effort or energy output will produce 80% of your income furthermore, 20% of your time will produce 80% of your work out put or income.

Does this apply to forex trading?

Yes it does and the lesson you can learn from the 80:20 rule is to work smart not hard. Concentrate your effort on the trades that have the best risk reward.

Cut The Number Of Trades You Do

Its a fact that most traders trade too much and execute trading signals to often, as they want to force the market to give profits, but of course profits cannot be forced.

The way to apply the 80:20 rule to currency trading is drop your frequency of trading. If you look at forex charts you will see that there are very few big trends each year but when they do occur they produce huge profits.

How do you spot them?

Here is a checklist

1. Look for valid resistance levels, that if broken are considered significant by the market.

2. Learn how to use a breakout methodology and go with breaks of these support and resistance levels.

3. To increase the odds even further make sure that you use momentum indicators to confirm that price momentum is supporting a break.

4. As you are trading less you can afford to risk more on these trades and increase profitability.

5. Dont trail stops to close and have a profit target that relates to the size of the break.

The above method will ensure you are trading a lot less and it could be as much as 80%, but your profitability will be increased.

Its a fact that most of the big profits are generated from trades that break from new market highs - NOT market lows.

So if you have been buying dips its time to re think your forex trading strategy.

Trading Less for More Profits

If you like excitement and the thrill of trading this strategy is not for you. The above strategy is all about making money and trading the trades with the best risk to reward which can yield triple digit annual gains.

If you have been trading and making marginal profits, apply the 80:20 rule to your trading, cut the frequency of trades and increase the profits!

GRAB 3 X FREE TRADER & FREE TRADER PROFITS NEWSLETTER

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some critical FREE Trader PDF's and more FREE Forex Education visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

Best Forex Trading System

Venturing oneself in any kind of investments is not easy. Though most people consider capital as the major element, still many failed to find success. Perhaps you have heard about forex trading as a business venture, but you dont understand what its all about. This article will give you a little overview, before you can examine the benefits it can provide you.

Trading of foreign currencies through brokers is known as forex market. Movement of currency is the basis of forex exchange depending on market conditions. Process of dealing with the forex market to investors is called forex trading. Objective of every investor here is to profit. Opportunities of becoming rich or bankrupt via forex trading are speculative, because changes in forex rate are unexpected.

As time goes by, the impact of engaging in forex trading business is becoming more and more powerful especially to those who focused and risk their lives in this kind of gamble. Thus, every business individual or company at the back of this venture must not only be knowledgeable and responsive. There are so many qualities to own, ideas to adapt, and techniques or approach to apply in order to include your self in the series of successful forex trading investors.

Recently, many forex trading companies are providing best forex trading systems for their million clients. These systems can be accessed online, even without using your phone or going out somewhere else. In short, everybody deserves an effortless way of gaining profits at home. Online systems like these, provides historical display where you can back-check previous market exchange conditions. Having this is so simple. They can be downloaded directly to your PC, providing you a tutorial training based on video that will enhance your skills step by step. After this, why not imagine yourself profiting more in the biggest currency market in the world.

In fact, best forex trading system can be successfully achieved by examining first what is applicable or ideal for you. In choosing the best, you need to examine what is the difference between two kinds of forex systems discretionary and mechanical forex trading systems.

Discretionary systems uses good or bad experiences, direct perception or immediate apprehension on input and outputs while programs coming out directly from mechanical systems following systematic procedures and technical studies are categorized under mechanical systems. Which of the two can fulfill your preference? Its your duty to find out.

Know your personality first. If you think you can accomplish something based on the given standards of your systems, fearing yourself to be placed in risky situations, then it is recommended that youll use a system that belongs mechanically. On the other hand, if youre flexible enough to adapt in any kind of forex trading conditions, then discretionary type of system is ideal for you. With this kind of set up, you need to plan what to execute next.

The ways you choose the best forex trading system actually do matter. At the end, you still need to consider several significant points before having one. Determine the compatibility between the system and your personality; otherwise you will end up waiting for nothing. Have one for trial and two as a second option is possible.

Discover the best forex trading system recommended by Ricky that enable him to earn $545 per day working only 2 hours a day.

Shares or Mutual Funds - Which One is Better for You?

Every Investment has got some level of risk associated with it. This risks ranges from low to high and the rate of return from the investment is directly proportional to the risk associated with it. That is, if you invest in a high-risk instrument, the rate of return is high and if your investment is in a low-risk instrument, then the rate of return on that investment is low.

Shares and Mutual funds are now considered as best option for investment. Shares belong to high-risk investment category. Before starting investment in a particular share, you have to do a deep research on the company you are going to invest, its future plans and current performance. But in the long run, if the company is under performing, then the share price can come down resulting in a significant erosion of your total investment.

Mutual funds are the next best option if you have a low-risk appetite. You can buy a Mutual Fund in units. Instead of you directly managing your funds, the Mutual fund company does all the buying and selling of shares through its Fund managers on your behalf. Fund managers are experienced professionals who are appointed by the Mutual fund company to look after your investment. He manages your investment carefully during turbulent economic upheavals.

The performance of a Mutual fund is reflected on its Net Asset Value. This is commonly known as NAV. If the NAV of a unit is more than the NAV at which you bought the unit, you can book profit or wait for some more appreciation on your investment. If the NAV is less than the rate at which you bought the unit, then you are in a loss. You can wait till the time NAV reaches above the NAV at which you bought the units.

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Forex Trading - Spotting the Big Trends For Big Profits Part 2

In part 1 we looked at how human psychology pushes prices away from fair value.

When there are extreme moves away from fair value you can make a contrary trade to the majority and pile up big profits with low risk.

So what tools do you need? Lets take a look.

As a general rule these tools will work in any market not just forex markets.

What sets ups do you look for?

Generally you want a set up that is the news where there is no end in sight to a spike move.

This generally indicates that greed and fear have taken hold and the market being looked at is emotionally driven and away from fair value.

This happens all the time:

The recent spike in crude oil, the 87 stock market crash and many others including in the forex market.

First place to start

Is the chart look for huge price spikes in short time spaces accompanied by experts and the news telling you there is no end in sight.

Now delve a bit deeper to see the true picture.

Useful technical tools are:

RSI, Sochastics and Bollinger bands

Then add in these sentiment tools to the mix.

% Bullish

This indictor is a poll of people, experts, brokers etc that have a view or interest in the market.

When this poll indicates above 70% are bullish the market is in overbought territory and when below 30% is in oversold territory.

In the currency markets we like to look for even more extreme readings of below 20% and above 80%

Commitment of Traders Net - Traders Position Report

This is a tool used for years by futures traders and shows the breakdown of open interest among three main participants.

We will explain what it means in a minute buy here is its definition of the groups.

Hedgers The smart money commercial traders

Large speculators These are normally large funds with reportable positions

Small speculators everyone else.

The commercials are long term traders and are close to the fundamentals and move very slowly they are hedging not speculating and not influenced by greed or far and are the smart money.

Speculators on the other hand, both funds and small speculators, are driven by greed and fear

If you see a set up where commercials start to move the opposite way to speculators at a market top or bottom and hold an opposite extreme, then prices have moved to far from fair value.

With the commercials taking and building the opposite position to speculators in a rampant bull or bear market you know prices are probably due to re bound.

You must only use extremes with this tool and this normally means 8 months to 2 years.

Breaking it down

Study chart first, look for experts telling you there is no end in sight to the move, then look at % bullish and then net trader report.

Finally, use the technical indicators to confirm the move.

These moves do not happen often.

Maybe a few times a year.

But when they do

You can zero in on a contrary trade that not only offers huge profit potential but offer low risk.

FREE ESSENTIAL CONTRARY TRADING PDF'S

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and your essential FREE Trading PDF's visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

FOREX Brokers - Tips for Choosing the Best Forex Broker

There are many Forex brokers to choose from when trading currencies online - and choosing the right one is essential, if youre going to maximize your FX trading profits.

This article is all about choosing the best broker to help you trade online - and help you achieve currency-trading success.

Firstly, you need to understand the following:

A Forex broker is there to help you place orders and give you a good service when doing so.

Many novice traders however choose a broker assisted account - and then expect their broker to help them make money!

You shouldnt use a broker-assisted account.

To succeed in FX trading you need to understand that you alone are responsible for your trading success, and no one else.

Now you have your FOREX trading system / trading plan, its time to choose a broker. Here are some tips to help you:

Spreads Offered

Spreads can be very competitive and you need them to be. Transaction costs mount up - especially if you are trading frequently.

The tighter the spread, the more profits you will make.

Today, many brokers offer spreads as tight as 3 - 5 pips - and this is what you should look for.

Deposit Online

Look for a broker who will take online payments to your Forex account - and make sure the payment method is secure.

This is a great facility for funding your account quickly - and getting your trading profits back into your bank account!

Guaranteed Stop Loss Protection

The leverage is one of the main reasons that people are attracted to currency trading, as it increases the profit potential dramatically.

Of course, leverage is a double-edged sword - and where there are high rewards, there is high risk.

Many traders are nervous of trading with the potential to lose more than their initial deposit. With this in mind many Forex brokers now offer guaranteed stops and negative balance protection.

This is a sensible service to utilize when you first venture into trading, as it gives peace of mind for a small fee.

Leverage Offered

The leverage brokers will give you varies dramatically from broker to broker.

You should look at a broker who will grant you at least 200:1, as it will maximize your potential profits.

In fact, many brokers will give you leverage of up to 400:1.

Other Charges

Your only transaction cost should be the currency spread - you should not pay other commissions.

Always make sure that the currency spread is the only fee youre charged, and that you dont pay any extra brokerage commissions.

Investment Amounts

Today, currency trading is not just the preserve of wealthy individuals and banks - anyone can get involved, as deposits are affordable to all investors.

You can open a trading account online with as little as $100.00 this means that novice traders who want to start out with a small amount can do so.

Trading Platform

If you are trading online, you will go through a Forex trading platform - and you should look at this closely when looking to trade with a broker.

You want ease of use and reliability but also check that the broker provides assistance and support.

FOREX Trading Education

While you should always make your own investment decisions, its nice to get free trading tools such as:

FREE trading guides
Forex training seminars
Trading news
Trading recommendations
Forex trading systems
Trading books

These can be useful when you first start to learn Forex trading, and you are developing your own Forex trading strategy.

Choose Your Broker Wisely

When choosing a Forex broker you have a lot of choice, and the above tips will help you choose a broker that will be a valuable partner in your quest for profits from online Forex trading.

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Short Selling for Investors

Shorts. Lets see. If there are shorts there must be longs. Which is best? Longs or shorts?

If you are trading in the stock the stock market experts like longs better than shorts. If you are long that means you own stock and that is good. If you are short you have sold stock and that is bad. At least that is what Wall Street preaches. And why do they want to make you believe this and is it true? Lets examine the facts.

Today I hear stories on the financial news and there are articles in the paper that people who are short driving the market down. They have sold more stock than they own and this is causing the market to collapse. I even hear that Congress is trying to pass a law that will not allow people to sell short. They are blaming hedge funds who are allowed to sell short. The basic flaw in this concept is when a short sale is initiated it must be done on an up tick. That means the stock must be going up in order to make a short sale. No short sale may be made to pressure the market down. That is a fatal pin in the balloon of that lie.

There are reasons people will make the sale of a stock. If you own it you may just need the money now or if it is going down you may not want to lose money should the downward trend continue. There is on old saying in the market the trend is your friend. If you see a stock that is declining you may want to sell it first and when it declines further you will buy it back at a lower price later on. This actually puts a floor under that stock because some time in the futures you MUST buy it. Whoever is doing the shorting does not matter whether it is an individual or a hedge fund. They are actually doing two things that are both good for the market. They are providing a future buy to support the price at a lower level that keeps it from going lower and they are providing liquidity to the market.

When you buy long you want it to go up so you can sell it later at a profit. When you sell short you sell it now with the idea of buying it back after it declines. Both are driven by the profit motive. How can one be good and the other bad? It is like saying there is good electricity and bad electricity.

If company CEOs dont want people to short their stock I suggest they look in the mirror to find out who is at fault. The CEO is not running his company properly and that is why the stock is declining. No outside person or group can drive a stock lower that is making a good profit. There is a good reason for the price decline.

Buying short does not put the market down. The ultimate outcome of a short sale (covering the short) is very positive for the market.

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http://www.mutualfundmagic.com Copyright Albert W. Thomas All rights reserved. Author of If It Doesnt Go Up, Dont Buy It! Former 17-year exchange member, floor trader and brokerage company owner.

Two Little Four Letter Words

The two words that every share trader has to come to grips with every time that they trade is "Risk and Fear." Combine the two of them and you have concocted a poisonous mixture.

As soon as you start with your first trade transaction you are leaving your self wide open to "Risk." That is the risk of losing part or nearly all of your original capital.

The first loss you encounter which you have no control over is brokerage. The amount depends which stockbroker you have chosen to deal with. So the share price has to rise a little bit just for you to break even. If the share price decreases then the loss compounded.

One of the first things that will help you to overcome "Fear" and to survive in the share market is by using a trading plan and sticking to it. Without one you are doomed to eventually fail. For all you are doing is a hit and miss affair.

By using a trading plan the odds of your survival and trading success arc dramatically increased tenfold if not more. By having a trading plan and adhering to it does not a guarantee success just puts the odds more in your favor.

Now the action we take to protect our trading capital is a "Stop Loss." This is also known as a conditional order.

Now before you set the stop loss in place you need to have planned in advance how much of your precious capital you are prepared to lose. Once you have agreed upon the stop loss and have put it into place you can then sit back happily knowing that you have done the best you can possibly do to save your trading capital.

In a successful trade the share price is rising and soon you are experiencing a paper profit. It is called a paper profit because as yet we haven't as yet physically taken a profit. This only occurs when we sell the stock and not before.

Now we experience the risk and fear of losing that hard won profit. That is assuming that you have picked a preset level of profit according to your trading plan.

To safely lock in that profit we use a variant of the stop loss we first employed when we opened the trade. This is called a "Trailing Stop Loss." The purpose of this is to follow the share price upwards and it effectively locks in your profit that you have made so far.

These stop losses are based on either a percentage or a dollar figure. Most important of all is that they must be reviewed every day in case they need an adjustment. And when required do not procrastinate but do them straight away for it could cost you dearly.

By doing all of the above you have alleviated a lot of the risk and reduced your fear levels considerably which makes for sleeping better at night worry free.

Christopher Strudwick is a keen amateur investor on the Australian Stock Market. Visit his weblog for more free articles and useful information at http://www.asxnewbie.com

Currency Trading Courses - What Makes a Good Training Manual?

Many Forex courses use past information and facts as a basis for their training materials. The main problem with this is that they do not spend enough time on the practical side of investing. A better than average currency trading course should be able to help you understand the practical and technical workings of the Forex market which in turn will help yoin in developing and applying a strategy that you have formulated yourself.

Good courses should not spoon-feed you all of the information, sure they should teach you new things but it is important they also get you thinking for yourself. This is the only way you will learn how to apply the information they preach. You should be asked to think of your own approach to solving a particular problem.

Another sign that you have found a great course is if the manual is able to provide you with some first hand experience of the market or at least something simulating it. Video demonstrations, access to a safe, practice trading arena and a good level of support are always good signs that the currency trading course in question is worth purchasing.

Whilst Forex courses have their advantages, the one thing that has no substitute is confidence. A currency trading course must implant in you a confident attitude in making decisions related to Forex trading. Trading after all, is about taking risks and that is not possible until and unless you are confident about your own abilities.

When you are buying a currency trading educational course you must be sure that the material it offers you will prime you for successful trading in the real world not just in a practice environment. You will have to make a number of decisions in Forex trading and these actions that you choose will depend a lot on your instincts and on the knowledge. Therefore you are using the course to gain knowledge, which in turn builds your trading confidence and brings better results - thats the theory anyway!

It goes without saying that like any other field you want to enter, you need to have a basic understanding of the field. Forex trading is no different, if anything it is even more important to understand the fundamentals of the market than with any other market. Unlike stock trading you do not just need knowledge in one company or industry, you need global knowledge as a change in one currency can effect a change in another.

Most of the currency trading courses start with the US Dollars for the simple reason that it is the most predominant player in the market. With time, you should gain experience and knowledge about Forex trading with the US Dollar and after some practice you will find yourself more able to trade intelligently in other currencies also.

The currency trading courses can also teach you how to calculate the pip which, put simply, is the difference with which a currency rate increases or decreases. In other words, if the current exchange rate for two currencies is 1 to 45 and the next day it turns to 1 to 45.3, this means that the pip is 0.3. Calculating pip is not difficult but predicting it is essential in making profits and analyzing risk in any Foreign Exchange trade.

In summary, if you are looking to utilize a currency trading course to learn more and improve your Forex profitability then please do remember to consider the issues raised in this article carefully. A course should not be seen as a magic tutor that will bring you instant profits but should instead be viewed as a very useful learning experience that will boost your confidence and make you a more secure trader.

Paul Bryan operates Forex Reviews, News and Advice - A site aimed at bringing you the best and most independent Foreign Exchange information and articles.

Forex Education - Success You Follow These 2 Golden Rules

I read a lot about forex education and most of it is wrong; its a fact that 95% of traders lose, because they learn forex trading in the wrong way. Forex Trading success is easy but most traders simply have no idea how to acquire the right forex education and thats what this article is all about.

Learn these two golden rules and you can have a successful forex trading strategy and they are:

1. You are Responsible for Your Success

The problem for most forex traders is they think they can buy success from a vendor for a few hundred dollars. These gurus and mentors make millions from gullible and naive traders.

Most of the currency trading systems sold on the net are junk and simply promoted by clever marketing and the best example is perhapsforex day trading. Great story but it doesnt work.

The only person who can make you successful is you.

This means devising your own forex trading strategy for success.

If you devise your own strategy (its not as hard as many people think and is covered in our other articles) you will have a total understanding of your system and why it will work. This will give you two key character traits for success:

Confidence in your system and the discipline to follow it through inevitable losing periods.

2. Work smart and learn the RIGHT knowledge

There are those traders who are naive and gullible and believe someone else can give them success for a few hundred dollars, on the other hand there are others who believe that to make money you need to work hard their logic is the more you put in, the more you will get out but this is simply not true.

There are plenty of smart people working hard trading forex and a lot of them lose.

Why?

Because in the world of forex trading you only get a reward for being RIGHT and the market gives you nothing for effort.

So what does working smart entail?

Firstly, if you are new to forex trading develop a simple technical system with just a few indicators.

Simple systems work far better than complicated ones, as there are less elements to break in the brutal world of currency trading. Then, you need to focus on the long term trends and use a breakout methodology - its easy to understand, easy to apply and it's very profitable.

All the information you need is available free on the net.

If you seek out this forex education, you will be able to get a system that is robust and works and get a forex trading strategy together in less than 2 weeks.

If you are a long term trend follower you will only be executing forex trading signals a few times a month and your forex analysis will take under half an hour a day.

Is It Really That Simple?

Yes it is.

Currency trading success is built on a simple robust system and the ability to apply it with discipline.

Unless you develop it yourself, you wont confidence to follow it with dsipcline and without discipline, you dont have a method in the first place.

Currency trading is all about having the right knowledge and the right attitude to apply it.

Its a fact that everything about forex trading can be learned and anyone can become a successful trader, but 95% dont for the reasons outlined above dont make the same mistake.

GRAB 3 X FREE TRADER & FREE TRADER PROFITS NEWSLETTER

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including features, downloads and some critical FREE Trader PDF's and more FREE Forex Education visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

Learning Forex Trading - The Eight Steps To Get You On Your Way

Learning forex trading can certainly be a daunting process if you have no idea where to start. Although forex is less complex than some other methods of trading because it only deals with one specific commodity, it can still be a chore to get to grips with. There is so much involved when learning forex trading, especially if you want to be successful, but by following the tips below, you can soon obtain the knowledge and know how that you need.

1. Research forex trading You can never walk into any kind of investment without first investigating the possibilities and weighing up the advantages and disadvantages, and learning forex trading is no different. You should at least know what it is and how the concept of forex trading works before committing yourself to attempting to profit from it.

2. Learn all about currencies Most individuals know a little about the dollar, pound and euro, but it is essential to learn about all currencies and their histories whilst learning forex trading. Without having basic knowledge of the fundamentals of currency, you cannot hope to do well at forex trading.

3. Assess the odds The odds of success and failure are part and parcel of learning forex trading because you need to be able to recognise trends, analyse profit margins and recognise potential.

4. Learn the key terms Every investment opportunity has some form of jargon attached to it. Ensure that you have a full understanding of the jargon associated with learning forex trading before progressing to the next possible step.

5. Watch the market As with anything in life, always watch the market to get the feel of it before progressing to participation. Learning forex trading is all about understanding before participating, and the only way for you to do that is to watch other before attempting it yourself

6. Use software to trade for free Some softwares enable the learning forex trading before you actually invest. You can trade imaginary amounts via simulators to give you practice and give a greater understanding of the system. You can analyse your mistakes and rectify them before actually investing your own money!

7. Set a budget Always work out what you can afford to trade whilst you are learning forex trading. It is easy for an individual to get in over his or head and end up losing far more than he or she can afford, so make sure that you are not one of those people!

8. You are ready to begin for real Your learning forex trading crash course is complete so as soon as you feel confident, go for it!

Simon Aridej is the owner NewForexLive.com a site which provides a good information about forex trading tips, how to trade like a professional forex trading free forex trading ebook and much more. You can download forex trading ebook for free by Click Here!

Flat Panel Displays - Beyond Plasma

The term set-top box will become something of a misnomer in the near future, as most displays will become too thin to allow a box to placed on top of them. As the price of plasma & LCD displays has plummeted and their image quality has improved, they are popping up in homes everywhere.

Although they are the darlings of the media and the generic for flat panel display in the minds of many, plasmas are about to be in a serious fight with other technologies for the flat panel crown.

LCD displays, seen on the desktop for years as computer monitors, and commonplace in smaller flat panel TVs, are finally increasing in size to the point they are becoming a rival to plasmas in the 42" 50 size range. Picture quality is similar to plasmas; however LCDs are immune to the burn-in that can affect plasma displays. This burn-in occurs when plasma units are used to display static images such as video game screens and stock or sports tickers.

Plasmas generally have an edge in the ability to produce deeper blacks and more saturated colors than LCDs. Plasmas are also better at producing full motion video than LCDs because of the response time of the LCD panels, although this difference is disappearing.

LCD TVs are a bit more expensive than plasmas at 42" and larger sizes, but they should last a while longer. Plasma displays should last 20,000 25,000 hours and LCDs should give 30,000+ hours of useful life. However, the latest generation of plasma displays from NEC, LG & others is claimed to have a 60,000 hour life. If that is an industry trend, the traditional lifespan advantage held by LCDs may soon disappear. This comes at a time when Sony and other major consumer electronics manufacturers are either abandoning plasma or reducing their plasma offerings. Others, such as Panasonic, Fujitsu and Pioneer are firmly commited to Plasma technology.

Currently Sony has a 42", NEC a 40", Sharp a 45", and Samsung a 40" LCD TV or display. Samsung also has the big one, a 46" that started shipping in early September of 2004. The Samsung 46" was the first consumer LCD video display to have a 1080 line native resolution. This allows it to display 1080p native when that format arrives for HDTV. The Samsung has been joined by Sony, Toshiba and others, to endow the mid 40" size category with some pretty solid LCD offerings. The largest consumer LCD TVs or monitors are the Sharp 65" and Sony showed a prototype 82" LCD from their Bravia line at the 2006 CES in Las Vegas.

Other technologies are on the horizon as well. One that has shown great promise is OLED, for Organic Light Emitting Diode. Developed by Kodak and Pioneer, this technology has been used for a few years in car stereo and cell phone displays. It's just about ready for prime time. Philips has shown a 13" unit, Samsung a 17", and Seiko-Epson has shown a 40" prototype.

OLEDs advantages are many. It actually emits its own light, so it requires no backlight and has better contrast than a traditional LCD. OLED displays have a wide viewing angle like a plasma display. Power usage is very low, less than 1/2 that of a traditional LCD display. At around 2mm deep, OLEDs are much thinner than either a plasma or LCD.

They have a refresh rate about 1,000 times faster than a traditional LCD, so they will be far superior for video applications. They have fewer parts than LCD or plasma and can be manufactured using a novel ink jet printing process. This promises to keep prices low as the technology is implemented. It is expected to see sub 20" displays in stores by 2006 with larger units following one to two years later.

Other promising display technologies on the horizon include SED (Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display) and carbon Nanotube. SED was developed by Canon, who began research into the technology in 1986. SED is basically the same principle as CRT, however there are important differences. The most important from a consumer standpoint is thickness. An SED display is only an inch or two thick, depending upon screen size.

The basic construction is two glass plates separated by a vacuum. One of the plates is coated with phosphors the other is mounted with electron emitters. Electrons are ejected when a voltage of about 16 to 18 V is applied to the emitters. These electrons are then accelerated by a higher voltage into a beam similar to that in a CRT display.

The visual advantages of SEDs are as for CRT displays, great color, deep black levels and quick motion response. These advantages, combined with the slim form factor, low cost and small power requirement should make for a real winner.

A unit shown by Toshiba at a Japanese trade show in April of 2005 even had its contrast ratio up to an incredible 100,000 to 1 by significantly reducing black luminance. Even if the specs were a bit inflated this would still amount to a fantastic contrast ratio, on the order of 5 times that of a traditional CRT. At one time, Toshiba indicated they would move to this technology for all displays over 40 by 2006. However, after a spectacular demo at 2006 CES by where they indicated a late 2006 debut, both Canon and Toshiba, Toshiba resheduled their release date for SED until mid 2007, ostensibly to allow them to produce lower cost SEDs.

There is another fly in the SED ointment too. On April 21st, 2005 US firm Nano-Proprietary has filed a suit against Canon in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Texas, alleging that the surface (SED) televisions that Canon plans to release violates a licensing agreement signed 5 years ago between the Japanese giant and Nano-Proprietary.

The pace of change in the home theater and entertainment display market has just kept accelerating. There are some promising technologies around the corner that will allow, as usual, higher performance, lower cost and more compact form factors. As prices for advanced technologies plunge and technology improves, it will make it even easier for the average person to have a fantastic media system almost anywhere in their home.

Steve Faber has almost 15 years in the custom installation industry. He is a CEDIA certified designer and Installer 2 with certifications from both the ISF and THX. His experience spans many facets of the industry, from the trenches as an installer and control systems programmer, and system designer, to a business unit director for a specialty importer of high end audio video equipment, a sales rep for a large, regional consumer electronics distributor, and principal of a $1.5M+ custom installation firm. He currently is senior sales engineer for Digital Cinema Design in Redmond, WA. For much more about flat panel technology, home automation and home theater, go to flat panel displays for your home and theater

Five Fundamental Steps To Successful Stock Option Trading

Stock option trading presents the opportunity to potentially make a fortune trading options than almost any other form of online trading in todays market. The level of reduced risk combined with above average leverage allows a skilled option trader the chance to make sizable gains but an aspiring option trader must have a solid understanding about what creates a reliable option trading method to insure long term success at option trading. There are five fundamental steps that any option trader must implement when creating a superior stock option system.

To begin with you must realize the affects of time on the premium of the option you are choosing to trade. There are two parts you must factor when considering time into the stock option trading process. The first part that has to be considered is the time left on an option till expiration. Since stock options have a defined time period of anywhere from 30 days up to three years in some cases then you must be sure to select the proper stock option with enough time on it in order to profit. You must be sure that you purchase the correct option containing enough time on it to insure that time decay doesnt erode your investment away before your position has enough time to be profitable.

This brings us to the second part of the option selection process of trading options successfully is factoring time into your trading system. Trading a particular stock option and knowing the key factors of your option trading system or setup by knowing the average time period of a trade once it has been signaled and entered. For example, if your average holding time for an option trade is five days then you dont want to buy an option with four months of time premium left on it because you would be paying more for the extra time with the options purchase price. Nor would you buy an option with less than 30 days till expiration as time decay would eat away the value of option so rapidly that even if the stock options underlying stock moved favorably in your direction the time decay would be so great you would be too late to capture a gain in the option itself.

The third step to successful stock option trading is comprehending the relationship of volatility between the market, the underlying instrument that the option is based on, and the effect is has on the cost of the option itself. When the stock market as a whole as an index goes thru periods of low volatility or experiences low trading volume then the stocks that make up the market tend to follow general market and also begin to follow suit with periods of low volatility which cause cause the value of stock options to become cheap. However if the general markets volatility begins to spike it causes individual stock option premiums to increase in value as long as the market moves in the traders favor.

The fourth key in successful stock option trading is having a trading method that takes factor these key steps into giving clear entry signals, clear exit signals, a defined system of trade management, and a profit factor greater than your average loss over a series of trades. Understanding all steps of various trade setups is meaningless if you dont have a trading system that guides you through each step of the trade management process. A solid trading stock option system guides you by the hand and details each step while guiding you towards being a consistent winning trader in the markets and being profitable in the end.

The fifth and final step to trading stock options successfully is trading psychology. Traders and there mental makeup are usually complex so it is very important that stock option traders have a sound stock option trading system or method that factors this into their overall approach to trading the markets as well as the discipline to follow their trading methods. You can give two traders the same exact profitable trading system but its very likely that they will experience very different results. The reason for this is usually is because the one that has the ability to remain as detached from his losing trades as well as his winning trades while maintaining the discipline to follow the systems rules no matter the individual trading result will come thru as the most profitable trader in the end which shows us that it comes down to a superior mental process towards trading the markets.

Using these five steps as a foundation to create your own stock option trading system can help you avoid the mistakes of many other stock and option traders. By understanding time decay, factoring an options time into your trading method, how volatility impacts a stock options intrinsic value, what details a winning stock option trading system, and your own trading psychology you now have a the key steps to build your trading career on.

Would like to earn greater profits in today's markets? Sign up for a free newsletter and ebook at StockOptionSystem.Com and read more articles like this one at StockOpSys Article Directory!

Avoid "Buying" Mutual Fund Dividends

At this time of year, you need to be aware of the ex-dividend date of any mutual funds you plan on purchasing. If you heed this advice, you avoid some nasty tax and investment performance consequences.

To explain why, let me first define ex-dividend date. On the ex-dividend date, all registered owners of a mutual fund become eligible to receive any declared dividends and capital gains distributions. If you do not own the fund by that date, you do not receive the payout. You also want to keep in mind the distribution date. After that date, you can go ahead and buy your shares without the negative impact on the NAV (Net Asset Value).

At this time of year (Oct Dec), most mutual funds declare their dividend and capital gains distributions. You have nothing to worry about if you want to buy stock. Such distributions do not impact the share price. However, if you own mutual funds you need to consider the impact of this distribution on the NAV or share value. On the day of the distribution, you will see the NAV of your mutual fund shares drop by the declared dollar amount. In industry parlance, we call this buying dividends.

Heres how it works. Throughout the year, the cash from dividends paid by stocks within the fund and capital gains realized from the sale of assets either accumulates adding to the funds cash balance or gets reinvested in equities by the fund manager. At the end of the year, the fund must distribute at least 95% (?) of the dividends/realized capital gains not reinvested in new securities. Typically, funds declare this distribution in the months of October and November.

At the end of the year, the NAV of the fund reflects the value of all the investments it contains plus the starting cash balance and the accumulated cash resulting from dividends and capital gains. When the fund manger distributes the dividends and capital gains, the NAV drops a corresponding amount. Thats fine for the people who have owned the fund most of the year. They enjoyed the NAV appreciation that resulted from the growth of the investment, the dividends, and the realized capital gains. An investor who buys just before the ex-dividend and distribution dates has purchased cash value. When the fund distributes the cash, the new shareholder sees the value of her fund shared decrease, receives back part of her investment, and then gets to pay taxes on in essence her own money! Not a good deal.

A look at an example will show why you want to avoid buying dividends. Suppose the ex-dividend date is tomorrow and you buy shares at a NAV of $25. The fund declares a dividend of $3.00 per share. Doing so means that tomorrow the fund distributes $3.00 of the NAV so your shares are now worth $22 instead of the original $25. You now owe taxes on $3.00 per share even though you didnt enjoy the price appreciation you would have had if you had purchased at the beginning of the year.

You can see that you lose in this situation. You should avoid buying dividends. Instead, wait until after the after the distribution date to purchase your shares. Then you will get to enjoy any price appreciate throughout the year and not pay taxes on the return of your own cash!

About the Author:

Catie Fitzgerald is a 10+ years veteran of the money management profession and the founder of Financially Savvy. Financially Savvy provides investors with the education and resources necessary to gain confidence in making their own financial decisions. We offer a variety of educational venues including classroom sessions, one-on-one coaching, and online resources. If you have a personal finance question you would like answered, contact Catie at cfitz@financiallysavvy.com.

Forex Strategy - How Do You Trade The Non-Farm Payroll Report?

In the development of your forex strategy do you wonder how you can trade the non-farm payroll report?

Seeing this is one of the most, if not the most, volatile announcement during the month (first Friday in every month) newer traders watch the huge movements and wonder how to make money from all that volatility.

The answer given below you may not fully appreciate until some explanation is offered.

Question

"How do I trade the non-farm payroll report?"

Answer

"You DON'T!"

Or to put it another way, "By maintaining a neutral position!"

The market is far too volatile at this time to expect a high probability trade. There may be some gamblers out there who relish the thought of 'placing a bet' to go long or short. But serious traders know better.

Actually, the professional traders I know all say the same thing: "Stand aside and wait for the market to calm down."

This may take between 30 to 45 minutes in some cases and even then the direction of the market may be uncertain.

Some suggest you can trade volatile market movers such as the non-farm payroll report by waiting for the first leg of the move, up or down, then wait for price to pull back 10 or 15 pips, then enter a trade to catch the second leg of the move which often follows.

That's one possibility but still high risk. Personally I prefer to base my forex strategy on sound market assessment and carefully researched trades.

Trading The Aftermath

However, while many professional traders sit out the non-farm payroll report, that doesn't mean they don't trade afterwards.

After the market has made a violent move in one direction you sometimes see price stalling and then give a clear signal that it's momentum is exhausted.

Look For Combination Factors

This may be in the form of a candle pattern such as a hammer with a very large shadow which also happens to be on a key support or resistance level.

Now you can enter a trade with a small level of risk as you place your stop just above the high or low of the candle signal.

By applying a number of technical indicators to the chart pattern after a non-farm payroll report, you may see a point where a previous support/resistance level convergences with a Fibonacci retracement or extension, or the 200 EMA (Exponential Moving Average), or a pivot point.

If a distinctive candle forms at that level also you can expect a reasonable price bounce and extract a number of pips from the market.

This advice applies to all fundamental announcements which are considered 'market movers'.

By developing a cautious forex strategy based on sound trading principles, you will enjoy this business and get the satisfaction of seeing your account equity steadily growing.

Get a useful free tip on how to use the MACD indicator for safe trading here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/forex-strategy-MACD-save-anxiety.htm

To learn how to preserve your mental and emotional equity in addition to your account equity click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/Advisor/forex-day-trading-mental-equity.htm

For the best free economic calendars plus a free pivot point calculator and Fibonacci calculator click here:

http://www.vitalstop.com/Forex/tools.html

Set Yourself A Set Of Forex Trading Rules And Stick To Them

One of the biggest problems for the new Forex trader (and quite a few experienced traders) is that they are no real rules to Forex trading. Now in some ways that's one of the beauties of forex trading and it's nice to have the freedom to trade when you want to, to enter and exit positions whenever you feel like it, to increase or decrease an existing position and simply not to trade at all if you don't feel like it.

But within this freedom there also lies considerable danger.

No matter what we do in life there is no doubt that we do much better if we have a clear objective in mind and a roadmap to get us there. However, even though having a road to follow is essential, it is also important that we have a set of rules to follow to keep us on that road and to stop us from taking a wrong turning and ending up heading off course or driving up a dead end road.

In Forex trading there's no doubt at all that traders who follow a strict set of rules meet with far greater success than those who simply 'wing it'. Also, if you speak to traders who do follow a set of rules they'll tell you that, nine times out ten, when they have a bad day it's because they don't follow the rules and, when they have a good day, it's because they stick to them like glue.

The problem is that, since Forex trading doesn't really have any rules, you have to create a set of rules for yourself.

Now exactly what rules you will lay down for yourself will depend very much on your own trading plan and your rules will need to be reviewed whenever you update your plan - which you should do on a regular basis. So what sort of rules are we looking at?

Well, you might for example decide that you will never enter a trade without ensuring that you have a stop loss order in place. You might also decide that you will only enter a trade if certain analytical conditions are met. In other words, you will not enter a trade simply because you have a feeling about it, but will only do so if the numbers tell you that you should do so. In addition, you might decide when you are in a profitable trade you will move your stop when your profit reaches a pre-determined level in order to protect your position.

These are just a few ideas and your own list will need to meet your own particular trading strategy. However, whatever shape your list takes and however long or short it is, it is vitally important that you draw up a list, having thought about it very carefully, and that you then stick to it and also review it at regular intervals.

ForexOnlineTradingSystem.info is the ideal place to learn Forex trading and provides information on a wide range of topics including currency exchange rates and the benefits of testing the water through mini Forex trading.

Futures Contracts - Profitable Investment Alternatives?

With the growing popularity of futures trading, more and more people are jumping into this interesting form of investing. People quickly find out that futures contracts are vastly different than agreements to purchase common stocks; with futures contracts, you are not actually buying a particular commodity, you are obtaining the right to purchase the underlying asset during a particular time period.

Pork Bellies?

Another difference between investing in the stock market and investing in futures contracts is the asset itself. Of course stocks are the assets involved in the stock market, while the commodity assets in futures contracts include:

Currencies The currency market is one of the best known commodities, trading the likes of the British pound and the American dollar.

Interest Rate Futures T-Bonds represent long-term interest rates and Eurodollars are for short-term interest rates.

Energy Futures Natural gas, heating oil and crude oil futures are the most widely known in this sector.

Food Sector Coffee, orange juice and sugar are well known commodities in this sector.

Metals Gold, silver and copper are traditionally strong commodities.

Agricultural Wheat, coffee, cotton, soybeans, pork bellies and corn futures are among those that are best known.

With so many futures contracts available, it can be difficult to decide which commodities interest you, especially if you are new to commodities trading. Sometimes it can be helpful when you start trading to begin with more popular commodities.

Below are five of the most popularly traded futures contracts:

1.S&P 500 E-mini This is extremely popular for those investing in the futures markets. The E-mini can be traded electronically 24 hours a day, five days a week. In addition, the E-mini has most of the same advantages of the regular S&P 500 commodity but the cost of investment is much less.

2.E-mini NASDAQ 100 The E-mini NASDAQ 100 follows the movement of the NASDAQ 100. Like the S&P 500 E-mini, this futures contract can be electronically traded and the contract and the amount of margin you have to set aside to trade the contract are smaller than a standard contract. Since most individuals don't have large enough accounts to trade regular contracts for the NASDAQ 100, the E-mini works out great.

3.Light Sweet Crude Oil Probably the most famous commodity traded is oil futures. When you see the price of oil discussed on the evening news or in an investment newsletter, this is exactly what they are discussing.

4.Gold If oil isnt the most famous futures contract, then gold surely is. A gold contract tracks the price variations of one ounce of gold. Gold became an important part of the US economy when the United States went to the Gold Standard in the 1970s. Since then, the price of gold changes dramatically, almost always in the opposite direction of the US dollar. Gold investments are frequently used as hedge funds because of the relationship with the US dollar.

5.E-mini Euro FX - The E-mini Euro FX contract tracks the movement of the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Euro. The "E-mini" means that the contract and the amount of margin you have to set aside to trade these futures contracts are smaller than regular contracts. Most individuals don't have large enough accounts to trade a regular contract for the Euro, so E-minis are excellent investment strategies.

Conclusion

Futures contracts provide interesting and potentially profitable investment alternatives to many investors. Understanding the investment basics of futures contracts and commodities such as these will help you to be a more successful trader when it comes to futures contracts.

http://www.candlestickforum.com/PPF/Parameters/1_21_/candlestick.asp A site dedicated to stock market investing using Japanese Candlesticks

Vertical Spread - Vertical Option

When option traders or investors engage in spread strategies, many times they are working with vertical spreads.

Any spread is created when a person buys and sells call options on the same stock or buys and sells puts on the same stock.

A vertical or price spread gets it's name from the vertical movement of prices. In this options strategy, the strike prices are different but the months are the same.

Vertical vs. Horizontal

A horizontal spread is when the strike prices are the same, but the months are different. They are also called calendar spreads. A vertical strategy is the opposite. The months are the same, but the strike prices on the options are different.

The strategy behind this is to make money on the strike price difference potential or the premiums - if a premium gain was achieved. All spreads come down to premium gain vs. trading or exercising potential. Verticals can be credit or debit.

Debit Spread

When a spread is created and the investor has lost money on the premiums (more money was spent on the buy then the sell), it is a debit spread. Because money was lost on the options, the investor will lose money if the options expire worthless (which is possible). The only way a debit spread holder can profit is by the options widening or getting exercised. Widening refers to the premiums growing and the contracts becoming valuable enough to trade later on. A vertical debit spread tells the trader that these contracts need to be traded or exercised for profit.

Credit Spread

When a spread is set up and the investor has gained money on the premium, it is a credit spread. The profit here rests with the options expiring worthless and the person making the premium as their maximum gain. A vertical credit spread is a strategy that does not work if the options are exercised. The strike prices would be inverted - profit wise.

Examples

Buy 1 WEF Oct 60 Call for $500
Short 1 WEF Oct 70 Call for $200

This is a vertical or price spread because the strike prices are different. It is also a debit, because the premiums have resulted in a $300 loss. This is also a bullish spread. It is bullish because the trader needs the market to rise, hoping the options get exercised. The buy call gives him the right to buy the stock at 60 and the short call carries an obligation to sell the stock at 70. This 10 point potential gain on the stock is why someone would create a vertical debit spread. If the options expire, the maximum loss would be the $300.

Buy 1 GHF Apr 30 Call for $600
Short 1 GHF Apr 20 Call for $900

This is a price or vertical spread as well, but it is a credit spread. It is also bearish. The strike prices are not attractive to this investor, as he will suffer a 10 point loss on them - if exercised. The goal here is for the stock to decline and the vertical options to expire. Credit spreads are always bearish.

These and all spread strategies are most effective profit wise, when working them with stocks you are familiar with. Knowing the trading ranges and price habits of your stocks can make them attractive candidates for options or vertical spreads.

More on Stock Option Trading HERE

Good Luck!

Nick Hunter is the President of American Investment Training. Their website http://www.aitraining.com offers investors and brokers with education courses, trading investment information and a free financial glossary look-up.

Real Estate Property Investment Series: Focus Morocco 2007

The Moroccan government realised that the way forward for their nation in terms of creating employment and boosting the economy significantly was to increase tourism and to create an environment so attractive for investors that they would come in their droves and buy up real estate stock.

To that end the government has been promoting Morocco around the world there is a permanent stand at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida heralding the virtues of this North African nation that practically touches Europe across the Mediterranean Sea that divides it from mainland Spain for example, and now the skies over Morocco are open to cheap flight operators from across Europe and the UK. The nation has year round sunshine and is directly south and a short flying time from affluent Western Europe and all of these factors are starting to affect Morocco positively.

In 2006 in the first nine months alone tourism traffic was up almost 10% on the previous year with revenue generated from tourism up almost 30% which proves that the government are targeting the right sort of tourist i.e., the ones who come, stay, enjoy and spend money in Morocco! Looking to the longer term the Moroccan government has plans to increase tourism until 10 million visitors annually enter the nation by 2010. There are even plans afoot to build a tunnel under the sea to connect Morocco to Gibraltar in Europe

But why all this information about tourism I hear you ask?

Because it is the tourism market that property investors in Morocco are targeting. On the one hand they are targeting those seeking villa and apartment rental and on the other hand they are aware that todays holiday maker is tomorrows second, retirement or holiday home buyer. And investors really are in Morocco buying up and developing real estate stock. Already six brand new coastal resorts are in the planning and development stages, money is flooding in from Dubai and Qatar based development companies and European buyers are purchasing off plan knowing full well that their real estate assets are appreciating even before they are completed and handed over. Buyers in 2007 have a chance to buy in ahead of the continued predicted rise in tourism and before Morocco is established in many peoples minds as a place to invest in real estate.

Consider buying off plan and flipping stock or better still, simply buying and renting to the tourism market on the Atlantic or Mediterranean coasts or in the mountainous ski resort of Oukaimeden. Rental income is earned tax free in Morocco for the first five years and those who hold property for ten years or more pay no capital gains tax when they resell, furthermore one is not subject to local inheritance tax in Morocco either. In conclusion - Morocco offers an investor a wealth of opportunity. Basically an investor needs to consider his preferred investment approach and his target market and then seek suitable real estate with room for growth or with prospects for returning good yields.

Rhiannon Williamson writes about property investment worldwide, to read more about property investment in Morocco in 2007 and beyond visit her site http://www.amberlamb.com

FOREX Brokers What I Learned as a Broker Trading 5,000 Clients

I spent 10 years as a forex broker and traded thousands of clients, here I will give you a brokers view of trading clients.

I will reveal who won, who lost, how we made money and how we treated them.

I joined as a rather green salesman and had no idea about the reality of forex and futures trading.

I was excited about joining an industry where millions were made and millions were lost by clients It was very exciting!

The company

I was rather shocked at the reality which was:

Clients didnt appear to win very often and the company based its balance sheet on commission to equity.

The view was that about 95% of clients would lose and they would do it all on their own, with no help from us.

The clients we liked (from a financial perspective) were the ones who made commission for the company and top of the list were:

Day traders:

They lasted for short periods, never won and made loads of money for the company.

If they believed it worked, let them get on with it and we would take the commission.

Shoot from the hip traders

The action men.

They loved the buzz, in and out all the time, trading the news and advice from gurus and with no discipline.

Again, they wiped themselves out and made us plenty of money.

The company did not dislike its clients.

We treated all clients well and did what a good broker should:

Help them with queries and made sure they got fast accurate executions.

We just let them do as they wanted and in most cases they lost thats simply the reality of trading.

The clients

We had clients from all walks of life, from retired people, to highly educated mathematicians and the few that did win surprised me.

The ones I personally hated were the ones I will refer to as educated fools

Cocky as anything and believed they had a divine right to win, because they were clever.

They would ignore my warnings, that they would not win with systems that were too complicated and tell me to mind my own business.

If I am honest, when they learned the reality of a wipe out, I felt a little inclination to say told you so, but never did.

Perhaps my favorite client was a retired lady, 81 years of age, who lived on a sheep farm in Australia.

A lovely lady and she taught me a few things, that I remember to this day.

She devised a system and showed it to me.

It was a simple buy and sell strategy and relied on holding big trends for months on end and you could learn it in a few hours.

Personally I thought it was to simple to work, but she built a $5,000 account to $39,000 in three months and had passed $100,000 in under a year.

She drew her charts by hand ( this was the late eighties) and didnt have a TV and never read the papers.

Each day she would check her prices draw her charts and make her trades if she needed to.

A polite, humble trader, who was loved in the office by all.

We all had respect for the way she was our most profitable trader, even above some quite well known money managers.

We had many other clients.

Most lost and some won ( very few), but the ones who did win were humble, had simple systems, traded only when their systems told them to, had iron discipline and believed they were right.

This is just my experience.

I did trade a lot of people.

They from all walks of life and I learned very few won, but the ones who did, kept it simple, the ones who didnt, had big egos, or liked excitement and traded with their emotions lost.

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Stock Trading Psychology

A key strategy and habit to successful stock trading is the ability to take losses comfortably. The stock market is not stable, it never was and it is not likely to be. This requires the trader to have proper stock trading psychology. Due to the unpredictable nature of stock trading, the trader must be able to face the prospect of unexpected losses. Even the best traders will eventually run into some loss making situation, there is simply no way to avoid it. The only thing is to be prepared and watch out for the signs that indicate imminent loss.

Stock trading psychology indicates that traders tend to become perfectionists when they face a loss. All traders assume that every single day will end in profit when that is simply not true. A good day in stock trading is not defined by profits at all. Instead, experts in stock trading psychology define a good day as one that is researched and planned and follows an overall trading strategy. Planning is the key to facing and walking out of a loss and also the key factor that enables the trader to accept loss as a part of the game.

Stock trading psychology suggests that a trader focuses on what is within control. In this unpredictable market there will always be random factors that can lead to frustration and despair. Do not focus on things beyond your control. This essentially means that neither profits nor losses are exactly in your control. You are always playing against a market that has a mind of its own so you have to be able to understand this. Your control is limited, so focus on that.

Within this control is your freedom to fully understand the stock market and develop the right strategies. Use every experience to refine these strategies and come up with a strong trading plan. The more you understand your own strategies, the better results you will achieve.

The stock trading market is no place for perfectionists. Instead, you must train yourself to be realistic. A perfectionist will always see a small loss as an overall failure and that is bad stock trading psychology. This eventually leads to obsession with failure. The realistic traders understand that loss is just part of the market and they have to face it eventually. Instead of focusing on failure, you must focus on limiting your losses. A trader that becomes obsessed with failure will find it next to impossible to bounce back and even the best strategies will not be able to get that trader back into the profit zone.

Stock trading psychology experts recommend 3 strategies for effectively stopping losses. These are called Price Based, Time Based, and Indicator Based strategies.

Priced Based stops simply involve a low point beyond which you will cut your losses and quit the trade. Time Based means you wait for a specified time to make a profit and if the time expires you quit. Indicator Based strategy uses market indicators. This requires some experience and you will eventually be able to pull out based on indicator movement.

Alan King is a writer that concentrates on helping people better themselves, for cutting edge information you NEED to know about stock trading before you try to cash in on this multi TRILLION dollar industry I strongly suggest that you check out my friend Mark Crisp's awesome free 9 page e-book at http://www.stressfreetrading.com

Essential Investment Books What I Learned Losing a MILLION Dollars

This book by Jim Paul and Brendan Moynihan is a book any trader should read The book correctly states that there are lots of different ways to make money and only a few ways to lose it. Therefore you need to concentrate on not losing first

If you have not read this book you will see the markets in a completely different light and one that could lead you to bigger profits and is simply one of the best investment books ever writtten.

What I Learned Losing a Million Dollars is a fascinating, insightful, easy-to-read true story of Jim Pauls rise from a humble country background to jet-setting millionaire trader and Governor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

It is an examination of the lessons he learned from losing a million dollars in the market which brought about his demise and then covers his rise from the ashes.

This book contains no technical theories and really focuses on how NOT To lose money there are plenty of ways to make money so how come most traders lose it?

The answer lies as we have stated that:

Its not how you make money thats important there are many ways to do that, but are only a few ways to lose it and if you are mindful of them and dont make losing mistakes - you can emerge a winner.

The book is essentially divided into two parts:

Section 1

The first half of the book about Jims life makes you feel close to him and the experience he is facing as his world crashes around him. Its both funny and sad in equal measure and is a superb fiction story.

Section 2

After the loss and its aftermath, comes the authors views of what he had learned and this really is original, thought provoking and insightful. The authors show you how to identify and manage the risks, both monetary and emotional that is part of any decision making including trading.

Playing great defense

The authors covers the key areas ALL losing traders fail in, that let losses get out of control.

Key areas covered are:

- The three biggest mistakes traders make and how to avoid them.

- Why the most important part of building wealth is not losing it.

- The psychological pattern which all losses take in a traders head, regardless of the position size

The discussion on the risk/reward ratio, and why most other books get it wrong is perhaps the most interesting part of the book.

This point is worth the books price alone as the aothor explains

Why you have to take into account the PROBABILITY of return, and PROBABILITY of loss, when trading and not simply divide the size of your expected return by the size of your expected loss, as most authors suggest if you do you will lose!

This really is the key point of the book if you want to keep losses under control as it states in the preface.

This book is a case study of the classic tale of countless entrepreneurs: the risk taker who sees an opportunity, the idea that clicks the intoxicating growth, the errors and the collapse. Our case is that of a trader, but as with all case studies and parables the lessons can be applied to a great many other situations.

If you want a book to show you the importance of emotional discipline and the art of risk management, then this is it.

This book has recently gone out of print, so get your hands on a second hand copy or get to the library and read it.

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What is the Foreign Exchange Market

Introduction
Foreign exchange, Forex or FX as it is know is the Planets oldest and largest financial market. It is the place where one countrys currency is exchanged for that of another. On average $2 Trillion exchanges hands every day in the form of currency transactions. This volume makes equity markets look minuscule by comparison. For example, the daily market for equities is $50 billion and the average daily value of futures contracts traded is roughly $30 billion.

Trading Hours
Foreign exchange is a 24-hours-a-day, interbank (or OTC) market. Since currencies are traded 24-hours-a-day there is no central exchange like you will find with the Worlds major stock markets. Proceedings begin in the financial centres of the Far East after the weekend and close in the US on a Friday evening. There are three main financial centres, each of which has specific opening and closing times. Tokyo: Open 19:00, close 04:00
London: Open 03:00, close 12:00
New York: Open 08:00, close 17:00
All times EST.

Who Participates?
The arrival and the growth of the Internet has allowed individual speculators to enter a market that was once dominated by large investment banks, multinational corporations, currency dealers and international money. There are currently countless on-line brokerage firms who offer access to the currency market. The advantages of this competitive market place are low spreads and very often, no commission on your trades.

Why Participate?
The main reasons for participation in the foreign exchange market are:

Actual currency exchange: From the small scale money exchanges made when you want to go on holiday to a foreign country to large multinationals changing profits made abroad into their domestic currency.
Hedging: Large multinationals often hedge against unwanted currency fluctuations that can harm profit figures.
Speculation for profit: It is estimated that 95% of foreign exchange participation falls under this category. Large multinationals, investment banks and individuals are all active at this level.

How does it work?
Currencies are traded in crosses and pairs such as EURUSD, GBPUSD and USDJPY. This means that every time you trade a currency pair you are simultaneously buying one currency and selling another. For example, if you were to buy the EURUSD at 1.2700 then you are buying the Euro and selling the Dollar, or buying the Euro against the Dollar.

The most commonly traded currencies are those of the Worlds largest economies. It is estimated that 85% of currency trading takes place involving the U.S. Dollar, the Euro, the Japanese Yen, the British Pound Sterling, the Swiss Franc, the Canadian Dollar, the Australian Dollar and the New Zealand Dollar. These currencies are popular because of the stable political environments in their respective countries as well as respected central banks and sound monetary policy.

USD: US Dollar
EUR: Euro
JPY: Japanese Yen
GBP: Great British Pound
CHF: Swiss Franc
CAD: Canadian Dollar
AUD: Australian Dollar
NZD: New Zealand Dollar

Currency rates are displayed as follows:

EUR/USD 1.2723/ 1.2725
EURUSD 1.2723/ 1.2725

A quote is read as follows: For our EURUSD example earlier of 1.2700, 1 Euro (the first currency in the quote) is worth 1.2700 U.S. Dollars. The first currency is known as the base currency. It is always the case that the base currency is assumed to have the value of 1 unit. So if the EURUSD is currently quoted at 1.2700, 1 Euro is worth 1.8870 Dollars. This means it will take 1.8870 Dollars to buy 1 unit of the Euro.

Therefore if the quoted value is higher than 1, it means that one unit of the base currency has a higher value than one unit of the second currency in the quote (quote currency, counter currency or terms currency). This is not always the case; for example, the AUDUSD quote currently reads 0.7490. This means that 1 Australian Dollar currently has a market value of slightly less than 0.75 US Dollars (or 75 cents).

You will also notice that a quote is listed as 1.2700/ 1.2702. The difference between the first price (bid) and the second price (offer) is known as the spread.

Foreign exchange currency is traded in something known as lots. There are three type of lots, standard or maxi (100 000 units of currency), mini (10 000 units of currency) or micro (1 000 units of currency). You are free to trade in as many multiples of these lot sizes as your account balance will allow. However, not all brokerage firms offer all of the different lot sizes and you should check before opening your account. In each case you are trading in units of base currency.

Advantages of currency speculation
The fact that the Forex market is so large is significant for the following reasons:

All of this money changing hands creates massive liquidity (the degree to which a currency can be bought or sold without affecting its price). Therefore as your account grows you have no worries about ever moving the market or having an order only partially filled (however the reliability of your broker may have something to say about this). In effect you can remain completely anonymous within the market place.
The fact that the foreign exchange market is so large is partly due to the fact that big banks (both commercial and federal) are active participants. By following their money you can, in theory, eliminate a lot of risk from your trading.
As we have already established, there are smaller costs associated with Forex trading when compared to trading stocks or futures. Forex brokers also offer a higher rate of leverage. Typically this figure stands at 1:100, which means that you can command a $100 000 position with a balance of $1 000.

David Thorpe is a senior contributor for http://www.passion-trading.munbuns.com a free educational resource centre for traders and investors. The site has a dedicated forex trading and currency trading portal and its goal is to stimulate the minds of its users, enabling them to achieve a greater understanding the forex market, thus helping them to become more profitable.

Learn How to Trade in Foreign Exchange

There are millions of people around the globe who trade in foreign exchange. It can be pretty easy or difficult to trade in foreign exchange depending on whether or not you know how to.

First of all some facts - Foreign exchange market operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Trade in foreign Exchange is a multi trillion market. Yes, Multi trillion dollars change hands each and every day of the year.

So it is really obvious that thousands of people are taking to trade in foreign exchange every day. But it is really surprising that only a few people know how to trade in foreign exchange. This is also a fact that more than 90% of the people who take to trading in foreign exchange lose lots of money because they fail on the first basic principle - They did not invest in learning how to trade in foreign exchange.

There are a number of different strategies which you can choose from before deciding on how to trade in foreign exchange. The most important thing is you will need to come up with a strategy that suits you.

At the end of the day exactly what strategy you decide to adopt is largely immaterial but, what is important, is that have you a strategy before you start to trade in foreign exchange.

Many traders today choose to base their strategy on a technical approach to trading while others prefer to follow a fundamental approach. Both approaches are fine but the truly successful traders will tell you that the real secret lies in not selecting one or the other but in combining the two.

Deep technical analysis reveals that prices follow trends and that markets possess clearly identifiable patterns which can be recognized if you know what you are looking for. Both knowledge and experience play an important role in technical analysis but here it is a case of knowledge and experience of not just the patterns in the market but of working with the barrage of tools which are now available.

Many people who trade in foreign exchange like to work with what are called support and resistance levels. In this case a support price is a low price to which a currency repeatedly returns, effectively representing the bottom of the market or the price at which it supports the market. By contrast, a resistance price is the high price which a currency reaches from time to time but above which it tends to resist rising.

The importance of these two levels is that once a currency price drops below its support level it will commonly continue to fall and, similarly, once the price exceeds its resistance level it will continue to climb.

It is also common for many traders to make use of moving averages which show the average price of a currency over a given period of time within a longer period. This is extremely useful for eliminating short term fluctuations in a currency price and producing a clearer picture of the movement of a currency over time.

These are of course just the two of the strategies. And there are many more if you want to learn how to trade in foreign exchange. I cannot stress it enough that how important it is to learn to trade in foreign exchange before you dive right in. You will owe it to yourself in the long run.

I have highlighted one course for you right here. You will learn three strategies, not one.Click here to gain access