Understanding Investment Bonds

April 26, 2010 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Forex 

Bonds are one of the main stream types of investment along with stocks and real estate, and if you want to learn how to trade bonds make sure that you get a good education in the subject 1st. There are certain things you must understand about bonds before you start investing in them. Not understanding these things may cause you to purchase the wrong bonds, at the wrong maturity date.

Like all investments it is important to learn about what you are investing in, and certainly don’t just take the advice given to you by a bond seller without checking it out first yourself. The three most important points that must be considered when purchasing a bond include the par value, the maturity date, and the coupon rate.

The par value of a bond refers to the amount of cash you will receive when the bond reaches its maturity date. In other words, you will receive your initial investment back when the bond reaches maturity.

The maturity date is the date that the bond will reach its full value. On this date, you will receive your initial investment, plus the interest that your money has earned.

Corporate and State and Local Government bonds can be “called” before they reach their maturity, at which time the corporation or issuing Government will return your initial investment, along with the cash that it has earned thus far. Federal bonds can not be “called”.

The coupon rate is the interest rate that you will receive when the bond reaches maturity. This number is written as a %, and you must use other information to find out what the interest will be. A bond that has a par value of $2000, with a coupon rate of 5% would earn $100 per year until it reaches maturity.

Because bonds are not issued by banks, many people don’t fully understand how to go about buying one. There are 2 ways this can be done.

You can use a broker or brokerage firm to buy them for you or you can go directly to the Government. If you use a brokerage, you will more than likely be charged a commission fee. If you want to use a broker, shop around for the lowest commissions!

Purchasing directly through the Government is not nearly as hard as it once was. There is a program called Treasury Direct which will allow you to buy bonds and all of your bonds will be held in one account, that you will have easy access to. This will allow you to avoid using a broker or brokerage firm.

More advanced traders may try to buy and sell bonds to take advantage of the price movements, you can even swing trade them. But this is a very risky business if you don’t know what you are doing, you will need to take a swing trading course if this was something that wanted to, but again most people just buy and hold.

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Trader Types?: Scapler, Day Trader, Swing or Position

March 23, 2010 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Investing 

Did you know that there are 4 mains types of trader and depending on what sort you are will determine many parts of your trading strategy and trading plan. The 4 types are: scalping, day trading, swing trading and position trading. When you determine the type of trader that you are it will also determine the best time frame in which you will be making your trade. This will be a very important decision that you need to make when deciding how you want to learn to day trade.

1. Scalping Trader, if you scalp the market this means that you are only looking for a few ticks profit per trade and you may only be in the trade for a few seconds or a minute at most. trading. Some people will also call this day trading but it’s really micro day trading, buying the bid and selling the offer, it’s high speed trading and you might end up doing 15-50 trades a day. This is a very stressful way of trading for many people.

2. Day Trader, the true day trader opens and closes their trade within the same trading session, usually this mean the same day, but unlike a scalper the trade may be held for a few minutes up to several hours. Usually day traders make about 2-5 trades a day and most of them will be in the 5-30 minutes range. This is a less stressful way of trading than scalping but it still requires a lot of attention and quick decision making.

3. Swing Traders, swing trading usually means that a position is held for between 1 to 5-10 days, although some swing traders may hold a trade on for longer most are within this time period. For many this is the idea way to trade because it allows you to review your trade overnight, at the very least you have many hours to make your trading decisions.

4. Position Traders, this just means that you are going to hold onto your trade for longer than 5-10 days, maybe even as long as a few months.

If you are still working out how to day trade then it may be better to go with the longer time frames as it gives you more time to think.

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Are You A Short, Medium Or Long Term Investor?

February 17, 2010 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Stocks 

Did you know that there are 4 mains types of trader and depending on what type you are will determine many parts of your trading strategy and trading plan. The 4 types are: scalping, day trading, swing trading and position trading. When you determine the type of trader that you are it will also determine the time period in which you will be making your trade. This will be a very important decision that you need to make when deciding how you want to learn to day trade, maybe using a stock picking tool like stock assault software

1. Scalping Trader, if you scalp the markets this means that you are only looking for a few ticks profit per trade and you may only be in the trade for a few seconds or a minute at most. trading. Some people will also call this day trading but it’s really micro day trading, buying the bid and selling the offer, it’s fast trading and you might end up doing 10-50 trades a day. This is a very stressful way of trading for many people.

2. Day Trader, the true day trader opens and closes their trade within the same trading session, usually this mean the same day, but unlike a scalper the trade may be held for a few minutes up to several hours. Usually day traders make about 2-6 trades a day and most of them will be in the 5-30 minutes range. This is a less stressful way of trading than scalping but it still requires a lot of attention and quick decision making.

3. Swing Traders, swing trading usually means that a position is held for between 1 to 5-10 days, although some swing traders may keep a trade on for longer most are within this time period. For many this is the idea way to trade because it allows you to review your trade overnight, at the very least you have several hours to make your trading decisions.

4. Position Traders, this just means that you are going to hold onto your trade for longer than a few days, maybe even as long as 1 to 2 months.

If you are still working out how to day trade then it may be better to go with the longer time frames as it gives you more time to think, of course you should also take the best technical analysis course you can find.

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How To Buy Top Stocks

February 11, 2010 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Stocks 

Although it may seem obvious to most stock market swing traders there are a number of simple rules that you can follow which will ensure that you have more success when buying stocks:

In the USA stock market there are 3 major indexes which are each made up of a basket of stocks, they are the S and P 500 (also known as the S&P500), the DOW 30 and the Nadaq 100. These stock indexes generally only contain major blue chip stocks, as long as you buy from these 3 groups you will at least know that you are getting a well known solid stock.

For example the DOW30 contains major industrials and large multinational stocks such as Home Depot (HD) and Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) whereas the Nasdaq 100 mainly contains techical companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Miscrosoft (MSFT).

Always buy a stock that is liquid, this means that it is a highly traded stock, this will enable you to quickly buy and sell at the price you want without having a delay. You will also get a smaller spread, thats the difference between the BID and ASK price of the stock. For a stock to be considered very liquid it should trade at least 500,000 shares per day, ideally even more.

It is best to aviod stocks that are bellow as this usually means the company is in trouble, although with the bear market of 2008/9 there have been a lot of good stocks at bargin prices between and . Avoid buying a stock that is below at anytime.

Another consideration is options, does the stock has options?, this will be important if you want to trade options around your stock, such as a covered call, or you may want to buy a PUT option inorder to protect your stock.

Be very cautious about buying a stock just before it’s earnings release, stocks often drop significantly if you come out with a poor report. Earnings are released 4 times a year with one of them being the annual report.

If you are going to trade options make sure that you learn how to trade by getting some good education. There are many swing trading strategies that work well with stocks in todays volatile markets.

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Investing Money To Aid One’s Future

January 31, 2010 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Investing 

At the age of twenty-three, on one particular day, I was having a conversation with a friend called Tim. He basically earned the same amount of money as I did and lived a similar lifestyle. Tim told me that he was thinking of buying a flat and that he was going to cash in his investment bond to help fund the move. I was very shocked that he even had a bond and asked him how long he had had the bond, and how he had managed to get the money to put into it. I expected Tim to tell me that his parents had given him the money, but they hadn’t, he had saved up the money himself.

Tim told me that he tries to save as much money as he can per month and normally manages to save at least £100. When he has a £1000 saved in the bank, he then invests the money into a bond.

I was very impressed with Tim and I have to admit a little bit jealous of his money. I then thought to myself, if Tim can save, then so can I. I set myself a goal of saving up a £1000 and planned to do this within ten months. I had to be less wreckless with my money and it would be a good test for me.

It did not prove to be that difficult and it was a good feeling seeing a healthy bank balance for once. After only eight months I had saved my target of £1000. Instead of putting it into a bond, I decided to take an even bigger risk and to buy some shares. I am happy to say that two years later the share price of the company I had chosen to invest in, had risen by sixty percent. This I have to admit was pure luck as I had simply guessed at who to invest in. The company I chosen had had a dismal few years and its share price was at its lowest ever level. I had heard that the company had recently had some major changes at the top and I decided to gamble just on these few facts.

This taught me a valuable lesson in life and I have now managed to set up my own stuttering treatment center where I teach people the art of how to stop stuttering. I firmly believe that it is very important to save cash into an emergency fund whether it is for personal or business use - this enables one to have a piece of mind - less stress certainly makes me a content boy. I am also a partner in a composite doors business - this is something I really enjoy as it is basically the profits from all of my successful investments.

 

Making Money With Forex Investing

December 25, 2009 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Forex 

Forex (foreign currency exchange) investing is growing in popularity. Laws were passed recently that make the market available to small investors as well as the banks and large investment firms that have made money trading on the forex market for many years. Forex investing is one of the highest risk forms of investment, but the returns are proportionately higher as well.

There are many opportunities to make money with forex investing. The keys are having access to information that is current on how different currencies are trading at any given time and being willing to act on that information in a timely manner. Inexperienced traders will probably find it well worth their money to work closely with a forex advisor who is experienced and has a proven track record trading on the market already.

Unlike stocks, investing in foreign currency is not assured growth if the investment is left in over the long haul. Forex investing is normally done on a day trading basis, meaning that a person invests in a foreign currency early in the day and makes several trades as the day progresses. At the end of the day, if the person has acted on good information at the right times, he/she has more money than he/she started with. If not, the person may be broke.

There are several websites that offer resources, information, training, and even practice accounts that let you follow real time information from the forex market and make trades to see how you can do at it without actually risking any of your own money. Advisors will work with you and teach you the strategies that have proven successful for them for a fee.

Making money with forex investing is not easy, but it can be very rewarding if one is willing to actually work at it. The risks are high, and a person can and will sometimes lose money, but the rewards can more than make up for it

Forex Investing - Play Your Cards Right

December 1, 2009 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Forex 

The Forex investing market sure has changed. In the old days, it was different and there are tons more people using it. Forex investing has become very easy to do, all thanks to the Internet. In the older days, not many people were able to turn to Forex trading to make money. Is it because today’s world holds more risk takers?

We’re not sure, but one thing is true, with Forex investing, if you play your cards right, then you will be able to get a lot of money on your behalf. Within this article, we are going to give you some tips that you will find handy during the trade.

Never before have we seen so many benefits in Forex. There are so many people out there that have become millionaires all thanks to the tricks of the trade. Speaking in money, there is one thing we believe you should know. If you are the type that generally does not have extra money in your pocket, then the trading system may not be the best for you.

Why are we telling you this? Are we trying to persuade you away from it? No, we’re not trying to persuade you away from it, but it’s all about risks. So many people turn to Forex investing, they put every last dime into it; even money they should use to pay for rent. In the end, some of them end up losing all of the money and they are left with no money for rent. You should be prepared to lose the money you put into Forex.

Many will tell you to start small when you are putting money on the trading game, but really, you should start big. That’s right, if you want to earn big money, then you have to put big money into the game. However, you should only take this approach if you can afford it. A key reminder: don’t go putting money on Forex investing that you cannot afford to lose.

Forex Book Selection Tips

September 30, 2009 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Forex 

Before you start fx trading it is always better to learn the basic from forex books. It is suggested that you either join mentor program like Pip Mavens Inner Circle or read a good book to learn the basics before begin trading manually or through software like Ivybot. There are a few printed books that have more or less turn out to be classics in the 3 decades that forex trading has been  a recognized form of speculative investment. Still, a lot of of these may perhaps seem obsolete now that we have online foreign exchange trading that everybody can carry out from house. Something that was written during the days when foreign exchange trading was all undertaken by the major banks might still be useful, but it takes some work for the small home based forex trader to use it to our modern condition.

These days the forex trading books are available in digital format. At times these are standard printed books that the writer has converted into an online format, and at times they are ebooks only. Example, the famous Forex Trading Made Ez book is available only in pdf format. You can normally download these immediately onto your PC the instant that you get them with no waiting for delivery or paying any delivery charge. The ebooks can be read on computer monitor or you can print them and read.. This is actully very convenient.

How to select a good fx trading book?
In fact you don’t have to worry too much since it is uncommon for a book or an even an ebook to be a entire rip-off. As a rule you will get what you paid for. Whether you like what you are sent is a different issue, just as with anything that you receive from mail order or online. In nearly all cases you can get a refund anyway so it must not be a problem.

There definitely are fx trading scams but they mostly consist of folks trying to get a hold of your investment money. So do not hurry into placing your funds with the first forex broker or firm that you see. Make sure they are honest through currency trading forums and reviews for customer feedback, and be sure that they are controlled by authorities in whichever nation they are based in. It is usually best to put your funds through a corporation in your own nation or one that has adequate laws preventing fake and scams.

Even though your foreign exchange trading book may be a complete fraud, there are still some books that are much more useful than others. One method is to verify if the author is an qualified trader.

Many scam artists will try to hide the truth that there is always risk involved in fx trading. Search for opinion from other folks like you who are putting the system into practice and check out their outcome if you can. All of this will help you pick  the best fx trading book to suit your requirements from the numerous books that are obtainable.

How To Buy Good Stocks

September 28, 2009 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Forex 

Although it may seem obvious to most stock market swing traders there are a number of simple rules that you can follow which will ensure that you have more success when buying stocks:

In the USA stock market there are 3 major indexes which are each made up of a basket of stocks, they are the S and P 500 (also known as the S&P500), the DOW 30 and the Nadaq 100. These indexes generally only contain major blue chip  stocks, as long as you buy from these 3 groups you will at least know that you are getting a well known solid stock.

For example the DOW30 contains major industrials and large multinational stocks such as Home Depot (HD) and Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) whereas the Nasdaq 100 mainly contains techical companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Miscrosoft (MSFT).

Always buy a stock that is liquid, this means that it is a highly traded stock, this will enable you to quickly buy and sell at the price you want without having a delay. You will also get a lower spread, thats the difference between the BID and ASK price of the stock. For a stock to be considered highly liquid it should trade at least 500,000 shares per day, ideally even more.

It is best to avoid stocks that are bellow $10 as this usually means the company is in trouble, although with the bear market of 2008 there have been a lot of good stocks at bargin prices between $5 and $10. Avoid buying a stock that is below $5 at anytime.

Another consideration to make is options, does the stock has options?, this will be important if you want to trade options around your stock, such as a covered call, or you may want to buy a PUT option inorder to protect your stock.

Be very cautious about buying a stock just before it’s earnings release, stocks often drop significantly if you come out with a poor report. Earnings are released 4 times a year with one of them being the annual report.

If you are going to trade options make sure that you learn how to trade by getting some good education. There are many swing trading strategies that work well with stocks in todays volatile markets.

 A675645879

Five Essential Currency Trading Tips

September 28, 2009 by Ryan · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Forex 

Currency trading market is the prevalent financial market on the planet. Billions of dollars are being traded on currency trading market on daily. Obviously forex trading market is attractive to a person who wants to make money online. Nonetheless foreign exchange trading involves high risk and if you do not obtain sufficient understanding on foreign exchange trading you could experience heavy losses. The following 5 forex trading tips are valuable for anyone who is a beginner at foreign exchange trading. So go through these important currency trading tips.

1. Learn Technical Analysis
Studying technical analysis is the key to become victorious at Fx trading. Sure, fundamental analysis is important since you should identify when to stay away from forex trading market. Nevertheless the most efficient way to trade currency is to utilize Forex charts and folow the reality of price change as it displayed on the chart. Spend your time to read the charts and pick-up trends.
If you focus on learning you can figure out technical analysis in few weeks and start making profits.

2. Begin with Easy to Follow System
Never try to start complicated trading systems when you are beginning. You might lose your money. When you are starting out in Fx trading go with a simple system which only consist of support and resistance chart and a few confirming indictors.

3. Avoid currency trading Robots
The idea of making money from automatic Fx trading is really attractive to everyone. But keep in mind that many of these forex trading robots are pure sales hype and might not perform as good as they claim. Of course there are couple of good forex trading  programs like FAP Turbo and the new IvyBot. But if you want to make real money from trading, it is absolutely important that you learn technical analysis and do the trading by yourself.

4. overcome Your Emotions
Losing some trades are inevitable in Fx trading. Even the greatest forex traders in the world make losses. When you lose the money, you either lose your courage to trade further or you might want to take the revenge. Neither will help a trader. Use stop loss and learn to accept minor losses. It’s part of trading.

5. Discipline the Success Key
Some of the most successful traders make use of simple and straight forward trading systems to make profits with Fx trading. What is the secret of their success? It is discipline in trading. Once you have profitable trading system never deviate from the system. Time to time you may see people making big claims about their latest trading systems. You may get tempted to go for it. In case you want to test a new forex trading system, try it on a demo account or on a mini account. Replace your present system only if you are 100% confident that the new system is far better than your present system.

You can make money in forex trading. I strongly suggest you to spend few hours and money in good forex training. You can find books or sign-up for a Fx trading mentor program like Pip Mavens and learn all you should know about profitable forex trading.

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