Peter C Johnson asked:


A Forex Robot is essentially a completely automated currency trading system, which can identify trends and make trades for you automatically. There has always been a large amount of controversy surrounding forex robots- due to a high amount of scam products, and the simple fact if it sounds to good to be true, it more than likely is. I thought it was worthwhile listing some features to look for if you are considering investing in a forex robot.
Created By A Forex Trader

If you are serious about finding a forex robot, ensure the product has been created and tested by an experienced currency trader. Seek qualifications, testimonials and proof that the creator of it actually knows what they are doing. There is no point investing your hard earned money in a system, unless you can see some tangible proof.

Demo Account

Ideally the forex robot should have the ability to create a demo account, so you can test the capabilities of the product without risking any of your own capital. Demo account’s are an ideal starting place for beginner’s to foreign currency trading to gain a feel for the forex marketplace.

Fibonacci Formula

The Fibonacci formula is the key to successful trading. If the forex robot you are considering does not implement it, don’t bother. The Fibonacci formula calculates the most profitable time to enter and exit a trade. It has been proven to work time and time again.

Money Back Guarantee

If the forex robot does not come with a 100% money back guarantee, then forget about it. The nature of any product that promises automated results is that there is the potential for it to be a scam. If you are in any way unsure about the product, make sure you can get your money back if you are unsatisfied.

financial

Vijay Kumar Sharma asked:


Investors usually classify stocks into groups and sectors according to the type of their business. The idea is to compare one business type with the other for the purpose of investment. Though there are about a dozen sectors, investors mostly group them into two broad sectors: defensive sector and cyclical sector.

Defensive sector

Defensive sector stocks primarily include utilities and consumer staples. Since the supply and demand in consumer goods usually do not undergo any major changes, therefore the prices of the defensive stocks do not follow the overall market trends.

This is because the people do not stop using energy or buying their daily consumption needs. The result is that the companies dealing with consumer staples do not take direct hits immediately, though they may see changes in supply and demand in the long run.

While it is true that the defensive stocks do not suffer losses due to downward trends, it is also true that they do not climb up during Bull runs. Since the demand level of the consumers does not rise with the uptrend of the overall stock market, the supply level, therefore, does not rise.

As the name suggests, the defensive stocks provide a kind of cushion during the market crashes.

Cyclical stocks

Nearly all other stocks are covered under the cyclical sector. Some of the stocks in this sector include basic materials, capital goods, communication companies, financial products, health care products, technology and transportation stocks. Cyclical stocks fluctuate with various market factors.

Cyclical stocks are so called because they tend to move up and down according to the business cycles and other influences.

Take the example of lumber which is a raw material for many finished goods, especially in housing construction. As long as the housing market is on the rise, the price of lumber stock too will tend to rise, but when certain factors such as high interests affect the housing market, the demand of lumber also falls and so does the price of a lumber stock.

Stock classification is very useful in helping the investors to compare the stock they have bought, or, intend to buy with other stocks.

You may, for example, want to find out why one stock has an 8% price increase, whereas the other stock has an 11% price increase.

There is yet another way to classify stocks. We can classify them in respect of their growth, value and income potential.

Growth investors, as the name implies, look for stocks that have growth potential. The prices of growth stocks are usually high. Growth investors hunt for rising stars in stock market-companies that are young and show promises of becoming leaders in their industry.

A perfect example of growth stocks was technology stocks in the late nineties. Most of these companies originated with just an idea and rose to become industry leaders. This is not to suggest that every new company has the potential to become prosperous. Some of them fail to live up to expectations.

Value Investors

Value investors look for stocks that have great intrinsic value but are generally overlooked by others. Value stocks do not mean cheap stocks, but the ones that are undervalued in contrast with their true value. These stocks usually have low price/earning ratios. This means that their shares do not command much premium in the market.

Income Investors

Income investors have a simple and straightforward philosophy. They are usually more conservative and are solely interested in income. They therefore try to invest more in companies who have high dividend payout.

Investors who aim at savings for their retirement usually opt for such companies. If their stock prices increase, it comes as an icing on the cake. Wal-Mart is one such company which attracts investors despite the high price of its shares.

investing

Kyle F Sandophar asked:


Many people choose penny stocks as a playground for investment. You don’t have to invest a lot of money, which makes penny stocks less of a risk. Penny stocks may not cost much, but they are still a risk. You as a person and an investor, and you still need to make responsible and accurate decisions. However once you understand the risks fully, you will be able to stand a lot taller.

What are Penny Stocks?

A lot of people have different terms, ideas, and beliefs about what a penny stock is. In short, its investment stock trading that costs no more than 1 dollar. So it’s very easy to purchase stocks since they are so inexpensive.

One of the main problems that investors face is the fact that you have very little information on what you are investing in or who you are dealing with. You won’t know the company very well, and they do not give out SEC reports. If you want to get into penny stock trading, it is inexpensive, and if you DO have a lot of information on a certain company, you can hold your ground, and make a killer profit in the long term.

Still… you will not know much about any of the companies, their plans, their past, or their background. However there are a few tools out there that actually give you knowledge and scenarios for certain companies, and promoters. With these aids, you can get very accurate educated guesses on where your stock price will be, and how much each stock will sell for.

investing

Michael Pergrem asked:


Many people need help investing in penny stocks. They can be the most difficult types of investment in the stock market. Some people say they are to risky and will not invest in them. I say that they can be tamed just like anything else and you can use them to make a lot of money very quickly! If you need help investing in penny stocks, then you have come to the right place. I am going to give you a few hints that have helped me be successful and will continue to do so for many years to come.

One thing that has really opened doors for my investing is trend investing. This is when you find a trend, or pattern, in a stock price over the past few years. It is very easy to do. You may see that a stock price falls for about two months and then jumps just to start falling again. This is an indication of insider activity and you can use that to your benefit! So if you know when the price is going to jump, then you can pick the perfect time to buy!

Another thing I look at, and pay close attention to, is trade volume. If a stock has a large average trade volume, it will be a pretty good investment that will be easily predictable. This lessens the risk involved in investing in penny stocks. I do not touch penny stocks that get less than 100,000 trades a week. Any less than that would just be to risky.

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Michael K. Houston asked:


If I were to ask if you ever thought about investing in real estate, my guess is you would answer “yes.” Many have dreamed of purchasing investment property to supplement their income, build wealth for retirement, or fund their child’s college tuition but have sat on the sidelines watching their dreams turn to mere wishful thinking. Well, now more than ever is the time to get off the bench and onto the real estate investing playing field. We’re experiencing a rare golden market for acquiring cash flow real estate property that we may not see for many years to come (or ever see again)!

How is this so? It is so due to a combination of historically low interest rates, drastically fallen home values and stable rent prices. A few years ago when home prices were skyrocketing by the day it was nearly impossible to buy a home, rent it out and receive a positive cash flow. Yet the tide had turned, and now it’s very possible to do just that! In the summer of 2008 I helped an investor client of mine find and purchase a deeply discounted renovated bank-owned townhome in Prince William County, VA and a few weeks later secure a tenant for her which provided her a substantial positive rental cash flow. And the beauty of this transaction is that as the real estate market rebounds over the long-term she will enjoy the equity appreciation, tax benefits, and monthly supplemental income while her tenants are paying for her valuable asset.    

I truly believe that real estate is the cornerstone for building generational wealth.  I have enjoyed the benefits (although not void of challenges) of owning cash flow rental property  for 11 years and have made it my professional mission to help renters become homeowners and homeowners become successful real estate investors.  The current real estate market provides one of the greatest windows of opportunity to begin that journey towards long-term wealth accumulation.  If you are ready to experience it for yourself, I recommend the following steps:  

Schedule a consultation with an investor-friendly real estate agent knowledgeable and experienced in finding and structuring profitable cash flow real estate investing transactions. This initial consultation will provide you an opportunity to share your goals and get professional guidance on developing a plan of action to bring your vision to reality.  Get pre-approved for investor financing. Your real estate agent should have a team of investor-friendly lenders experienced in financing investment property purchases and consulting buyers on the best loan options, down payment requirements and loan terms to achieve your goals. Lenders now have more stringent credit and down payment requirements, thus making this a critical step before hitting the pavement to see homes.  Start looking for your first, or next cash flow property.  This is the exciting part! Your real estate agent should be diligent in finding homes that will yield a positive rental cash flow within your loan approval amount.  This home search process should include analyzing recent sales comparables to determine the current market value and appropriate offer price, and recent rent comparables to determine how much you can charge for rent.  With this data you can perform a quick rental cash flow profit analysis by using this formula:  Monthly Rent – Monthly Debt Payment (principle + interest + taxes + insurance + pmi) – HOA/Condo fees – Other Recurring Costs (property management fees, maintenance) = Monthly Rental Cash Flow Secure a tenant. Once you have purchased your investment property your real estate agent should help you secure a tenant, if needed, so you can start receiving your monthly rental cash flow.  Plan to hold the property long-term. Wealth accumulation in real estate historically comes from significant equity appreciation that occurs over time. 
Note: For tax and legal advice concerning real estate investing matters consult a tax professional and attorney respectively.

investments

John J. Drummond asked:


Forex Robots are becoming increasingly popular as more and more people flock to the currency markets in search of a piece of the 3 trillion dollars that change hands every day on what is the biggest market on earth. Robots are software programs which either do most of the work for you, the trader, or they do all of it.

The first type of Forex Robot I wish to review is the Expert advisory program. In this case, the software acts as the brains of the operation, finding out the best trading opportunities and presenting you with a strategy for the future. You can then review the strategy and act on what you want. You make the trades yourself. This is perfect for people who don’t have a lot of time on their hands but still like to control the trades they make. One of the more renowned programs in this family is Forex Killer

The other type of Forex robots does all of the work for you: from the monitoring to the actual trading. You basically just need to keep an occasional eye on the software to make sure the set-up is correct and running. This kind of Forex Robot can trade for you even when you’re not in the room. 2 of the most known of these automated programs are Forex Auto Pilot and Forex Tracer.

Using a Forex Robot does take some learning as each software works a bit differently and also some testing on a demo account just to be on the safe side. Furthermore, don’t make the mistake of neglecting your Forex education even if you do use an automatic program. Knowing how the market works is the best thing you can do, robot or no robot. A good knowledge of the market is more valuable than any tool. However, a good program can help to make things easier and a bit more profitable for you.

investing

Al Thomas asked:


Ever jumped out of an airplane? It’s OK if
you have on a parachute. Pretty dumb if you don’t.

Every buy any stocks, mutual funds or Exchange
Traded Funds? It’s OK if you know how much you
are willing to risk. Pretty dumb if you don’t.

Parachute investing is buying an equity
with a parachute so you won’t risk all your money
or, better yet, give back the profit you have made
as the stock or fund went up and then goes down.
If you bought that hummer at $12 per share and
during the past couple of years seen it go up to
$52 you don’t want to give back that nice
profit, do you? With a parachute you can save
most of it. How?

When you invest in any stock of fund you
must know how much you will risk before you buy it
and how much of the profit you are willing to
give back when it turns down. Take that beauty
at $12. Instead of going up it went down. Are
you willing to agonize as it drops to $5? If you
had a parachute you would have jumped out of the
plane before it crashed. If you had an exit
strategy for your stock you would have sold it
before you lost a big chunk of your cash.

The secret of a safe investment is an exit
strategy. When you bought Mr. Twelve Dollars you
shook hands and told him I’d like to be your
friend, but if you change your name to Ten
Dollars I am leaving. Maybe that that is not
very nice, but nice doesn’t cut it in the
investment world.

Mr. Twelve Dollars said I am going up and
I want you for my friend. Please follow me and if
I falter you can leave and we will part friends.
Now that makes sense. You trail along and after
it goes to $52 it does falter. Do you know where
you are going to leave or are you going to ride
it go back down to $12? In other words do you
have your parachute on?

That parachute is your continuing exit strategy
that is in place every day. In the investment
community it is called an open trailing stop
loss order. Any broker can put this in place for
you. You might be lucky enough to have a broker
who knows where to place stops, but
unfortunately there are not many of them.

The brokerage industry does not teach its
employees (brokers) how to protect customers’
money. If that is the case you might want to use
the old standard 10% rule. Have the broker place
an open stop every Friday at 10% of the closing
price of that day as it closes higher. Never
lower the stop loss. Brokers hate this as it
makes them work, but that is what they are there
for and that is how they earn their commissions.

With your parachute you can always protect
your original cash purchase from a big loss and as
your stock advances you can lock in profit as
the stock advances.

Every investment should have a parachute.

financial

Steve Selengut asked:


Whatever happened to the Stock Market Cycle; the Interest Rate Cycle; Baby Jane? How did Wall Street get away with pushing these facts of financial life down the basement stairs? Most investors, I’m beginning to believe, and all financial advisors, media representatives, and market gurus have abandoned these fascinating curves for the comfort of a straight-edged twelve-month playing field… simple, yes; realistic, not. I have to wonder if things would be different with a more investor-friendly tax-code, but that would be far less lucrative for The Wizards…

Investing with a calendar year focus has no basis in the realities of finance, business, or economics… isn’t it obvious that the Stock and Bond Markets are far more closely related to the Business Cycle than to the Earth’s around the Sun? Investopedia reports that, during the last sixty years, most business cycles have lasted three to five years from peak-to-peak. The Stock Market Cycle (in terms of the S & P 500 Average) is the period of time between the two latest highs of that average which are separated by at least a 15% decline in the average. The second high needs only to be 15% above the nadir, it doesn’t have to represent a new All Time High (ATH). Interest rates (based on the 10 Year Treasury Bond), seem to cycle in the two to five year range, and are much more closely related to Business or Economic cycles than they are to the Stock Market Cycle. Confused?

Well, you should be. Although they are closely intertwined, none of these financial realities are predictable and, therefore, need to be dealt with as hindsightful tools in the performance analysis process… a process that needs to be undertaken using personalized expectations. How many times in the last 20 years do you think that any of these cycles peaked on a December 31st? The “I’ll try this approach for a year or so and then change if it doesn’t work out better than everything else” mentality, combined with a regressive tax code that rewards losses more than gains, has killed cyclical analysis dead. It’s time to get back on our hogs and try something old. Let’s re-cycle peak-to-peak analysis like we do plastics and paper products. It might just put more “green” in our retirement programs. As recently as 1980, Separate Account (the first Mutual Funds) Investment Managers were reporting fund performance in terms of income generation and peak-to-peak growth in Market Value. But that was before investing became the number-two spectator sport in America.

Few investment professionals would argue with the observation that a viable investment program begins with the development of a realistic plan, and most would agree that investment planning requires the identification of long-term personal goals and objectives. Some experts would even agree that the end result should be a near autopilot, long-term and increasing, retirement income. Asset Allocation is used to organize and control the structure of the portfolio so that it operates in a goal directed manner. Is this easy or what! It would be if the average investor would just let things alone long enough for them to work out according to the plan. That’s the rub. Wall Street, the financial media, and financial professionals (including CPAs) have no interest in letting things work out according to plan… even if it’s a plan that they designed.

Is it clear that calendar year performance evaluation allows an average of just six months for an equity selection to ‘perform’? Is it clear that the change in Market Value of an income security over the course of a year is meaningless? Is it clear that a portfolio containing both types of securities cannot be compared with an average or index that is comprised of just one or the other? It is crystal clear until it’s your portfolio that has had the audacity to shrink in Market Value over the course of the year! Human nature is predictable but not necessarily rational. Mother Nature’s financial twin’s twisted sense of humor, though, is both… and totally unrelated to third rock movements.

If the change in a portfolio’s Market Value is really so important (the Working Capital Model would argue that it is not), why not do it over a period of time that recognizes where we happen to be, cyclically? Interest Rates have cycled seven or eight times over the past twenty-five years; the stock market has been nearly twice as volatile. Peak-to-peak analysis, although hindsightful, raises a type of question that can, at least, be portfolio personalized for analysis:

(1) Did my Equity portfolio grow in Market Value between January 2000 and January of 2002, or between January 2002 and either January 2004 or June of 2006? These were cycles on the DJIA, which at its high in June 2006, was still below the ATH established in early 2000. These are meaningful time periods that can be used to study the effectiveness of various equity-only portfolio strategies. S & P 500 cycles were pretty much the same.

(2) Does my Income Portfolio generate more income today than it did the last time interest rates were at these levels is still the most important question that should be raised… regardless of Market Value. Sorry.

But as important as it may be to determine the answers to such questions, it is equally important to understand why the results were what they were. Did I withdraw money from the portfolio, or take losses on investment grade securities for tax reasons? Did I fail to follow the plan, or lose control of my Asset Allocation? Did I change variable expenses into fixed expenses or allow tax considerations to keep me from realizing profits. Were there changes in the investment markets that would make peak-to-peak analysis less meaningful than in the past?

So by taking away the move-your-money, racetrack, mentality that runs today’s investment performance evaluation methodologies, we create a calmer, more cerebral, management exercise with which to tweak our investment strategy. We may have gone backwards because we stayed on the sidelines instead of buying when prices were low. It may have been the strategy, it may have been the management, it could have been the diversification formula, or the buy-sell-hold decision-making rules. It may even have been the fear or greed that influenced our judgment. By looking at things cyclically, and analytically, instead of celestially and emotionally, we either allow our strategy to prove itself over a reasonable period of time or obtain the information needed to change it constructively.

The recent popularity of Index ETFs has detracted from the usefulness of both the popular market averages and the most useful market statistics. Issue Breadth, 52-week High and Low, Most Actives, Most Advanced, and Most Declined figures now include thousands of these hybrid and derivative securities. A bigger problem is the artificial demand created for index-included securities, a demand unrelated to corporate financial statement fundamentals. Another problem for Investment Grade Value Stock only investors is the absence of a well-recognized average or index to use for analysis… the IGVSI and related Market Stats should help.

Analyze this: if the strategy makes sense in the long run, why knock yourself out in months, quarters, and years? Where have all the cycles gone…

financial

Alvin Han asked:


There are lot’s of Forex signals providers out there. New Forex traders might be thinking of looking for a reliable Forex signals provider. Is there any reliable Forex signals providers available?

Personally, I will say do not pay for Forex signals. Think about it – if a Forex signals provider sells Forex signals for living, you can doubt their Forex trading skills? Or else if they are pretty good in Forex trading and making lot’s of profit, I am wondering why do they still bother to sell Forex signals for money. Thus, what would be the value of such Forex signals providers? The answer is ZERO.

There are Forex traders who have been relying on Forex signals arguing those Forex signals providers really help them making money in Forex trading. These Forex traders can even show their Forex trading logs as evidence. After some though, I came out with the assumption that assuming I am the owner of a Forex signals provider, in order for my business to be in black, obviously I need some satisfying customers……

Full article available at:
http://www.forex.labuan.net/forex-signal.html

investments

James McKerr asked:


There are two issues that stock investors face in their quest to find and invest in stocks that will turn a profit.

1. Expertise

For many would be investors the greatest fear about investing is the unknown. It can take the best professional fund managers years to learn and develop their own stock picking strategies. Setting out as a newbie can be scary and it requires you to have a lot of faith in the stocks you pick. Learning which indicators to ignore and which to look for in a stock is not easy.

2. Time

The sheer number of stocks out there and the volume of data available about companies and their stocks has increase enormously in recent years. The advent of the Internet has increased the availability of fee information significantly. This has had the affect of meaning that stock picking by hand has become much more time consuming, simply because there is so much more analysis that can be done on so many more companies.

How to solve these two problems

There are now automated stock picking software available for reasonable prices that will help solve the above two problems for you. Such software has long been used by large investment banks and professional traders and has only recently become economical for the individual.

Stock picking software is basically a computer program that has been written to perform a strategy. All stock picking strategies are just a long list of checks and indicator that need to be met in order for you to buy the stock. The advantage of software doing this are that they are already programmed so even investors with very little investment experience can pick winning stocks and that they save those investors huge amounts of time.

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Mansi Aggarwal asked:


Stock market is an inquisitive place for many. It is because the place has given birth to many millionaires and is also responsible for turning millionaires to locals. Thus the bulls and bears have always been charismatic. Now millions of people invest in the stock market to make good money. The aura of the place is such that it is swarming with people any hour of the day and any season of the year. But only few know that how the stock market came into existence or what actually are its origins.

A short encounter with the past

The oldest stock certificate was issued in favor of a Dutch company in 1606. The purpose of this company was to benefit from the spice trade between India and the Far East. During the 18th and the 19th centuries the trade of spices drifted to England when Napoleon reigned over the place. With the development of United States of America as a colony to British and Alexander Hamilton (the first US secretary of the Treasury) flourished the American Stock Exchange. Hamilton played a crucial role in encouraging the trading in the Wall Street and Broad Street in New York. The New York Stock and Exchange Board now popularly known as the New York Stock Exchange was organized by the traders of New York in 1817 when trade and commerce bloomed there.

A precise survey of the Western stock market

• The Wall Street- a place where the whole of 18th century trade and commerce took place, Wall Street is a recognized place across the globe. The street was termed as Wall Street since it ran alongside a wall that was taken as the northern boundary of New Amsterdam in 17th century.

The Wall Street is known for the J.P. Morgan’s million dollar merger that created US Steel Corporation, the ruinous crisis that resulted in Great Depression and the “Black Monday” of 1987.

• The NYSE or the New York Stock Exchange is perhaps the foremost and so the oldest stock exchange in United States that is believed to be born in 1792. The significant aspects related to NYSE include the Buttonwood Agreement when 24 stockbrokers and traders of New York signed this accord and established the New York Stock Exchange and Securities Board which is now recognized as the NYSE; the considerable swings that the NYSE saw during the 20th and 21st century; the hitting of the 100 and later even 1000 mark by the Dow around 1971 and the mark of 10,000 that the Dow scaled in 1999.

• NASDAQ is the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Questions. It is an apparent or virtual stock market where all trading is done through the electronic media. NASDAQ, the global and the largest electronic stock market today was first established in 1971 in United States at the time when computers were not as developed as they are today and it was very difficult to compute. The main exchange of NASDAQ is in United Sates while its branches can be found in Canada and Japan and it is also linked to markets of Hong Kong and Europe. NASDAQ functions by purchasing and selling the over- the- counter or OTC stocks.

• AMEX-was discovered in 1842. The putative father of the institution is Edward Mc Cormick (the commissioner of SEC) who endowed it with its current name. It started its journey as the New York Curb Exchange and its name is factual. The AMEX in contrast to the NYSE operates with the small and more dynamic companies some of which even make it to the NYSE board.

thecategories.info

V. Berba Velasco asked:


On September 11th, 2001, the whole world watched the news footage of hijacked airplanes hitting the World Trade Center. On September 12th, US airports were a virtual wasteland. People were scared stiff about flying, and thousand of flight tickets went unsold each day. It was a time when Americans were afraid to buy a plane ticket.

It was also the best possible time to buy a ticket. Why? Because commercial flights were probably never any safer than immediately after the 9/11 disaster. What’s more, tickets were being sold for astonishingly low prices as the demand for air travel plummeted.

That’s what it’s like with the stock market. Generally speaking, he best time to invest in the stock market is when other people are afraid to do so-during a recession, for example. That’s when you can get the best bargains. During these periods, stocks can be purchased for much, much less than what they’re actually worth. Why? Because people are temporarily afraid, not because the stocks themselves are lacking in worth.

Mind you, I’m not advocating reckless investing. When people are afraid, it would be foolish to dismiss their concerns completely. For example, during a recession, you don’t want to invest in companies that deal exclusively in luxury items-not unless you have strong reason to believe that they will continue to perform well. However, there are strategies that one can use to invest wisely while other people are afraid to buy stocks altogether.

One time-tested approach is to invest in what are known as non-cyclical or “defensive” stocks. These are stocks in companies whose business performance and sales do not correlated strongly with the overall economic cycle. Such companies typically outperform the economy during financial hard times, and so they are generally considered to be safe investments when the fear of recession rears its ugly head.

What’s the difference between defensive and non-defensive stocks? It’s the difference between necessity and luxury. Most of us can live without a brand new car during an economic slowdown; however, all of us still need certain staples, such as food, gas, and medicine. Demand for these items is not strongly affected by a sluggish economy. The same holds true for household staples such as gasoline, soap, laundry detergent, toothpaste, and shampoo. People might cut back a little bit on such items, but not by much – after all, they’re considered to be darned near essential.

Of course, it still helps to do one’s homework. For example, I poured a lot of money into ExxonMobil stock (XOM). Why? Because Americans still consume large amounts of oil and gasoline, even when the economy takes a downturn. YEs, a lot of us will be cutting back on our gasoline expenditures; however, it’s safe to say that gas consumption will continue to be strong. I picked Exxon/Mobile because it’s a large, stable company-the most profitable and financially healthy of the major oil firms. It has a long history of strong performance, and because industry analysts give it very positive ratings. I also invested in other companies that provide household staples, have strong reputations, and are likely to perform well-for example, Proctor & Gamble (PG).

Playing safe is not the only reasonable strategy. For example, I also invested in eBay stock (eBay). I figured that during a recession, people are likely to purchase a lot of second-hand items via online auctions, and that’s one thing which eBay does well. Besides, eBay has no debts, which places it in a strong financial position. What’s more, because eBay also owns the tremendously popular PayPal system, they have a huge source of revenue over and above their more familiar auctioning site.

So remember… When everyone else is running scared, that’s the time to seize one’s opportunities. You can not completely avoid the hazards of the stock market, but you can minimize these risks by investing in defensive stocks – or by investing in stocks that are undervalued, but that are likely to perform well in the long run. These are golden opportunities, and you’d be wise to take advantage of them.

thecategories.info

Adrian Pablo asked:


In Forex trading as in all other speculative activities in the capital markets there is a major problem that all, new and experienced traders, will face every time they open their forex trading stations. This is, how to predict the behavior of the Forex market over time in order to make the highest amount of profits and with the less risk possible.

Among the techniques used in forecasting the behavior of the Forex market, Bollinger Bands are one of the most widely used and studied.

The first thing you should notice about Bollinger Bands is that they consist of a set of three curves drawn in a forex chart in relation to the currency prices.

The central band is usually a simple moving average, and serves as the reference base for the upper and lower bands. These two bands are separated by two standard deviations of the central band, and the average is taken over 20 periods of the time frame you are using, when using the standard parameters of Bollinger Bands.

Our main issue here is how Bollinger Bands will help you in identifying and predicting what the markets are doing and will do next. There is a basic analysis that you can perform in order to have an idea of what comes ahead with the behavior of the markets based on Bollinger Bands.

As it was mentioned above, Bollinger Bands are three bands based on moving averages and that are closely related to the volatility of the market, making the channel between the upper and lower bands wider or narrower depending on how high or low the volatility of the markets is.

Now for the forecast. Experienced FOREX Traders know that when the prices start touching the upper Bollinger Band in a repetitive pattern, that means that prices are very likely to go down, so they sell. And on the contrary situation, when the prices continually touch the lower band that’s an indication that prices will likely go up and it’s time to buy the particular currency you maybe trading.

Of course there is more detail on the analysis of Bollinger Bands but all of it is based on this observation about the prices touching one of this bands. And as with all the forex indicators, they are not perfect, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be very good.

thecategories.info

James Leitz asked:


Stock investing can be very profitable if you know how to invest. If you are looking for a stock investment that’s a bargain you might want to look at the stock information in front of you twice. What you see might not be an opportunity at all, but a trap. Let me give you an example in this basic money guide.

Stock information is easy to find but not so easy to interpret. For example, you’re looking for a stock investment and JKL Corp. grabs your attention. It’s selling for $10 with a 52-week low of $9.85 and a 52-week high of $40. Looks cheap, you say.

JKL has a P-E ratio of 5 when the Dow is selling at 15 times earnings. Once again it looks cheap.

The indicated dividend is $1.00, which at a price of $10 translates to a dividend yield of 10% (a year).

Bingo! You’ve just found a bargain stock investment. You can buy at $10, wait for JKL stock to go up, and make a cool 10% in dividends while you wait. Who says you don’t know how to invest?

You’ve only made two big assumptions: that JKL stock will turn around and go up, rather than continuing its downward trend; and that it will continue to pay $1.00 a year in dividends.

Well, stock investing is not that easy and a bargain is very difficult to find. The stock information might look good in print, but why is JKL selling so cheap and paying such a high dividend? Odds are there is trouble in paradise.

First, the stock is selling at its low for the year because investors have been (on balance) selling it because they don’t like what they see upon closer inspection. Second, the P-E ratio is low (cheap) because the stock price is low, not necessarily because earnings are so high. In fact, the P-E suggests that investors are anticipating a bombshell when future earnings are reported.

The indicated dividend of $1.00 is based on historical (past) data. There is no promise that it will be paid in the future, and investors apparently have no faith that it will. Again, that’s why JKL is selling at such a low price.

Stock investing is largely a matter of avoiding mistakes. This money guide will now offer three basic rules to help get you up to speed on how to invest in stocks.

Rule #1: The stock market knows everything. Millions of people invest in stocks, and thousands of them research stock information and know what’s happening inside a company like JKL. When they see trouble they sell, and that sends the stock price down. In this case people in the know sent JKL from $40 to under $10 within a period of the last year. When and if things start to turn around, informed investors will start to buy JKL and this will send the stock price up. Only when the tide starts to turn does JKL becomes interesting as a stock investment. Not before.

Money guide rule #2: Do not buy a stock when it is near its yearly low and still falling. If in doubt refer to rule #1.

Stock investing rule #3: If you buy a stock and it heads south while the major market indexes are going up … sell and take a small loss. Don’t hold a loser.

Stock information doesn’t lie; you just need to learn how to use it.

investments

Nathan Pennington asked:


Buying penny stocks can make you rich. Did you notice what I just said? Buying penny stocks CAN make you rich.

I didn’t say that it WILL make you rich. Actually, it much more likely that you will loose money trading penny stocks. Want to know the reason why? You can’t perform any kind of analysis on them. You know there are two kinds of analysis you can perform on a stock.

1) Technical analysis

2) Fundamental analysis

Well, with a penny stock, they just won’t have much fundamental data. They aren’t required to file many things with the stock exchanges because they are so small. That means that you as the investor just don’t have a lot to go on as you try to evaluate it. It becomes more of a guessing game.

Second, the shares of them are usually trading at very low values (thus the name penny stock). And the volume is going to be very low.

So, technical analysis becomes invalid. Sure, some TA patterns will show up. You can spot “head-and-shoulders”, etc.

That’s not the point. The point is that all that is invalid without enough volume to confirm it. You see one large trade could push the price and break the technical formation with easy. Most penny stocks won’t trade with more that about 10,000 shares traded per day. Anyone trader could easily make up that volume all by himself.

When you think about it, the value of the shares is only in the pennies, a stock that is trading at .03 will only cost $300. Anyone can afford a block like that and start to push the price just about anywhere.

investing