Commodity ETFs

By Ahmad Hassam

Commodity investing may become the hottest investment in the first decades of the 21st century. Right now gold prices have broken the $1000 per ounce barrier for the first time in history. It is predicted that this upward trend in gold prices will continue for the foreseeable future. Oil prices have also started reaching $80 per barrel and it is expected that oil price will soon be above the $100 per barrel mark. It may eventually reach the $200 per barrel barrier. If you are interested in investing in commodities than you can invest in a commodity mutual fund! Many people are not aware that commodities as an asset class has a lot of potential especially in the 21st century. It is being predicted that the 21st century belongs to the commodities.

Just buy the shares of the commodity mutual fund and let its NAV appreciate before you can sell for a capital gain. This is the simplest way for you to get involved in investing in commodities as the mutual fund portfolio management will be done by a professional manager and you have to do nothing.

ETFs started off some three decades back but became highly popular as investment vehicles in such a short time. Now, you must have heard about the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). ETFs are really hot investments these days.

Now the good thing about investing in ETFs is that they give you the diversification benefits of a mutual fund with very low fees something like 0.7% as compared to 2-4% of the mutual fund. Driven by the growing demand of commodities by the investors many financial institutions are now offering Commodity ETFs.

So how about investing in commodity ETFs? Unlike a mutual fund whose net asset value is calculated at the end of the day and the shares of mutual fund cannot be traded during the day, you can go both long or short on ETFs all the time. Something you cannot do with a mutual fund! ETFs have the added benefit of being able to trade like stocks giving you the powerful combination of diversification and liquidity. Trade your ETF shares just like you trade your stock shares. Anytime go long or short!

This diversification plus liquidity benefit makes an ETF a better investment tool as compared to the mutual fund and the stocks. Now, you can find thousands of ETFs in the market on different market sectors, stock indexes, currencies, commodities and so on.

The first Commodity ETF in US was launched by Deutsche Bank in the start of 2006. The Deutsche Bank Commodity Index Tracking Fund is listed on AMEX and tracks the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index. This index is based on a basket of six commodities: light sweet crude oil, heating oil, gold, aluminum, corn and wheat.

This ETF invests directly in the commodity futures contract. Now one of the downsides of investing in this Commodity ETFs is that it can be fairly volatile as it is based on commodity futures contracts that get rolled monthly. Another downside to this Commodity ETF is that it is based on a basket of six commodities only. Now, every month a new ETF gets launched. There are a number of Commodity ETFs that track individual commodities like crude oil, gold and silver. Do your research on Commodity ETFs, you may find a good investment. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Trade Dow Futures . Learn Commodity Trading !

MLP (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

If you are interested in investing in companies that are involved in the production, transformation and distribution of commodities, than one of the best ways to do so is through investing in the Master Limited Partnership (MLP).

MLPs are public entities that trade on public exchanges. An MLP issues shares that trade on an exchange just like a company stocks that trades on an exchange. You can invest in an MLP by buying its shares on an exchange. The shares that an MLP issues are called Units and the investors who own them are known as Unit Holders.

Right now there are not many MLPs in the market. You will only find 3-4 dozen MLPs listed in the different stock exchanges. When you invest in an MLP, you are essentially investing in public partnership. There are tax advantages to investing in MLP. Unlike regular corporations, an MLP is only taxed once. Now most of the MLPs trade on the New York Stock Exchange. A few MLPs also trade on the NASDAQ and the AMEX. Tax exemption on MLPs gives them certain benefits that other companies in the same industry lack. There is a tax exemption on MLPs. You must be curious how this tax advantage works out. Because of

Suppose you invest $1 in the stocks of a regular corporation and you are in the 35% tax bracket. Corporate tax is 30% of it's before tax income. This means that for each dollar that you invest you need to get at least $1/ (1-0.35) =$1.54 just in order to breakeven. So the corporation will have to generate $1.54/ (1-0.3) =$2.2 for each dollar that you invest in order to return you $1 after tax profit. Since an MLP has got the tax exempt status it will only have to generate only $1.54 for each dollar that you invest in it.

This tax advantage gives an MLP competitive advantage as compared to other corporations when competing for assets. This means a huge advantage for an MLP. Now an MLP is run by a General Partner (GP). In most cases, the majority of these GPs in MLPs are other corporate entities setup with the specific purpose of running an MLP.

The role of a GP is very important in an MLP. You as an investor in the assets of MLP might have a very limited role or say in its running. You can think of yourself as a sleeping partner in the MLP. In most cases, the majority of these GPs in MLPs are other corporate entities setup with the specific purpose of running an MLP. This tax advantage gives an MLP competitive advantage as compared to other corporations when competing for assets. This means a huge advantage for an MLP. Now an MLP is run by a General Partner (GP). But you don't have to worry much about the GP. Most GPs do a good job of running the MLP as it is in their financial interests. GPs know that if they don't make sound management and investment decisions, most of the investors my eventually deicide to divest themselves from the units of the MLP. Now you must know as a limited partner in an MLP, you have limited voting rights. This means when you invest in an MLP, you are giving away the keys of ownership to the GP. This means you are out of the decision making in an MLP.

An MLP is obligated to distribute all available cash back to its unit holders on a quarterly basis, so you will be getting a quarterly income from your units. Secondly as the MLP expands and grows overtime, its units may give you capital gain as well. Investing in MLP units can give you quarterly cash flows as well as appreciation of the unit price. However, always do your due diligence when you want to invest in an MLP. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Trade Dow Futures . Learn Commodity Trading !

Trading Crude Oil Futures (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Crude oil trades around the world. Crude oil is one of the most heavily traded commodities in the world. Every day perhaps billions of dollars worth of crude oil gets traded. New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is considered to be the hub of crude oil trading in the world.

You should be aware of the power of crude oil in the global economy. Crude oil trades around the world. Crude oil is one of the most heavily traded commodities in the world. Every day perhaps billions of dollars worth of crude oil gets traded. You must be thinking that crude oil contracts get traded between the oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, Nigeria and so on with non oil countries. Now to your surprise, New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is considered to be the hub of crude oil trading in the world.

Light Sweet Crude is the high grade, low sulfur content crude oil that is more easily refined than the thicker oils. Now crude oil coming out of some of the Venezuelan and Saudi Arabian Oil wells contains high sulfur content and requires special refineries that only process the high grade sulfur crude oil. On the other hand Iraqi oil is close to the ground and has very low sulfur content. Ever heard of Light Sweet Crude? Sulfur content in oil is considered to be very important. Lower the sulfur content in crude oil, the easier and less costly will be its refining. The higher the sulfur content in the crude oil, the more expensive its refining will be.

The NYMEX contract for the light sweet crude is the most liquid of all the crude oil contracts. A standard crude oil contract is based on 1,000 barrels of crude oil that will be delivered to Cushing Oklahoma. The E-mini crude oil contract trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) GLOBEX platform and is cleared at NYMEX. It is based on 500 barrels of crude oil.

The E-mini crude oil contract trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) GLOBEX platform and is cleared at NYMEX. It is based on 500 barrels of crude oil. Now as a retail trader, you can trade the E-Mini crude oil contract. If you have been dabbling into futures trading than you must know that futures trading is risky and can easily wipe out the capital in your trading account in a matter of minutes. So what to do? One and easy option is to stay away from the crude oil futures trading. The more difficult option is to first learn futures trading do some paper trading and only then venture into this difficult proposition. Read the whole article, I will give you a very good solution at the end. The NYMEX contract for the light sweet crude is the most liquid of all the crude oil contracts. A standard crude oil contract is based on 1,000 barrels of crude oil that will be delivered to Cushing Oklahoma if not settled in cash before the expiry of the contract. Now trading at NYMEX can be through open outcry during the regular treading hours as well as electronic web based trading after hours. A barrel of oil contains 42 US gallons. Crude oil is traded in US dollars per barrel. In other words, the price of crude oil is quoted in US dollars per barrel.

Open outcry or electronic, it doesn't make a difference to you. Most of the traders now day trade futures contracts from the comfort of their homes. Open outcry trading takes place between 10: 00 AM EST to 2:30 PM EST. After hour trading takes place on NYMEX ACCESSS system, an internet based trading platform starting at 3:15 PM EST Monday through Thursday and ending at 9:30 AM EST the following day. Sunday trading starts at 6:00 PM EST.

You can visit the website of NYMEX and read a more about the crude oil trading that takes place at that exchange. Now trading crude oil futures contracts require you to be in tune with the market sentiment. Trends in crude oil market don't develop suddenly and they don't reverse suddenly. This is something good for you as a crude oil futures trader.

When a trend in the crude oil market develops, it may last for a few months to a year. It all depends on the global supply and demand situation of the crude oil. If you can spot a trend in the crude oil market in its early stage and ride it till its reversal, you can make a good profit. Now, just keep this in mind that crude oil prices are highly susceptible to global geopolitical situation and react violently to any political global uncertainty. As a crude oil futures trader you will need to know how to handle the seasonal cycle in the oil market as well as the weekly cycle. Now every week usually on Wednesday the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) releases their weekly supply data reports. If you want to trade crude oil futures than you should know Mark Soberman! What you need to do is click on the link on the left that says FREE EVIL GENIUS TRADING KIT. This trading kit is from Mark Soberman. Don't worry its 100% safe and legal. You only need to come out of your comfort zone. Download the free kit and find a unique method to trade the crude oil futures! - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Trade Dow Futures . Learn Commodity Trading !

How To Determine The Best Roth IRA

By Bill Timmer

Weighing your retirement options is an important process, and looking into the best Roth IRA opportunities is crucial to this process. Well-thought out choices are vital to making your retirement funds work for you.

A retirement choice in which your contributions are after-tax is referred to as a Roth Individual Retirement account. This is different from the pre-tax contribution option known as a traditional retirement account, in which you have not paid taxes on money going into the account and will not pay taxes until you reach retirement age. If you predict that, you will be earning less when reaching retirement and will therefore be in a lower tax bracket than you are presently, then a traditional IRA. If the reverse may be true then a Roth IRA may be the best choice for you. Remember to consider the pros and cons of each option with your tax accountant or financial advisor.

If you decide to start up a Roth IRA, know that there are Roth IRA limits to be aware of, such as the income limit. Earning more than $105,000 as a single filer? You may be ineligible to contribute fully to the Roth. This figure changes annually and you need to look at the IRS website, www.ors.gov, for the most up to date information. Another issue is that earnings distributions are not permitted to be made without penalty before age 59 . Furthermore, you must have your Roth IRA open for a minimum of five years to avoid penalties. Stay aware of contribution limits for the IRA as well. As of this writing, the current limit is $5,000 per year. Remember to subtract what you have already contributed to any traditional IRAs you may have-the total of all IRAs, both Roth and traditional, cannot go above $5000.

If you have read about your options and the Roth individual retirement agreement seems like a good option for you, then you should also read about Roth Ira rollovers. A rollover simply means that the funds, which are sitting in your traditional retirement account, can be transferred over to a Roth for tax reasons. This way, you can benefit from a tax-free source of income upon retirement.

You will still need to pay taxes on the funds that you rolling over, which mean you, pay now rather than later. In addition, beginning in 2010, the AGI (adjusted gross income) limits in place now will be changing, opening the Roth rollover up to those who are not now eligible. Check the Internal Revenue Service on these important changes.

There are a number of details to be aware of with the changes in 2010. For example, not only is there the elimination of the income limits currently in place, there are also unique conversion opportunities. For example, the IRS is allowing taxpayers a one-time option to spread out the payment of taxes paid on conversions in the year 2010 to both 2011 and 2012. The government is trying to ease the conversion burden and this could be of great help to many of us.

The best Roth IRA choice will essentially make for a tax-free retirement, and for that reason they are increasingly popular. Understanding your options, particularly in light of the upcoming changes to the tax code, is vital to making the most of your hard-earned retirement income. The right IRA decisions will ensure that your retirement money is working hard for you. - 31391

About the Author:

Bill Timmer loves discussing Roth IRAs. How about you? Please visit his site on Best Roth IRA agreements. Also, find out information on trading stocks in a Roth IRA!

Determining The Primary Trend

By Ahmad Hassam

If you are a trader and don't know anything about technical analysis and how to draw the trendlines and support and resistance levels than you may as well stop trading before you learn and master these concepts. A picture is worth more than a thousand words. Trading would be almost impossible without charts and technical analysis. Trading is all about anticipating and predicating rather than forecasting. Technical analysis is the best tool a trader can have.

Primary trend is the direction of the market that offers the least resistance forward making money. When you follow a primary trend in a bull market you look for strong stocks and in a bear market you look for stocks showing weaknesses. The most important thing that you should in a market is its primary trend. You use the following tools to determine the primary trend! Knowing the primary trend and trading in its direction increases your chances of making money. So how do you find the primary trend and what tools you need to determine the primary trend?

Trendlines: You don't have to worry much about how to correctly draw the trendline as most of the trading platforms have the function to help you draw the trendline. You can let the software draw the trendline for you or you can do it yourself. It is up to you. To correctly draw a rising trendline on the chart, start with the lowest low on the chart and connect it to the lowest low preceding the highest high in the chart without bothering about the prices between the two points. Knowing how to draw and use trendlines gives you an excellent start on any trade. Similarly to draw the down trendline, draw a line connecting the highest high on the chart to the highest high preceding the lowest low of the chart without passing through the prices between the two prices. Now why trendlines are important? Trendline show you the direction in which the markets are moving. If the trendline slopes up, it means that the market is in an uptrend. Prices are gradually going up. Now there might be minor trends in the primary trend but these minor trends are just like the ebb and flow of the waves in an ocean. Two more concepts that you need to learn is the key support and key resistance. Key support is the area above which the prices have held for sometimes. Key resistance is the area above which the prices have not been able to rise for sometimes. A market breaking above the key resistance or below the key support is a signals a new trend.

Moving Averages: Moving averages are sues to smooth out the market's trend over a given period of time and serve as an important support and resistance levels. Support level is the price where the prices stop falling and the buyers step in overcoming the selling pressure. A break in the support level is an indication that more weakness may be ahead.

Resistance level is the price where prices stop rising and the sellers overcome the buying pressure. A break above the resistance level is an indication that the market is going strong.

Oscillators: Oscillators are graphic depictions of points derived from the mathematical formulas that are plotted below the price charts. Knowing these mathematical formulas is not important as a trader. What is more important to know is the fact that oscillators produce useful mathematical data that can help you tell whether the market is overbought or oversold and whether the momentum of the primary trend in the market is still strong or there is a potential change in the primary trend ahead? Two important oscillators that you should be familiar with are RSI and MACD.

Bollinger Bands: Bollinger bands are calculated by plotting points one or more standard deviations above and below the 20-day moving average. However, you can calculate Bollinger Bands with any moving average. Bollinger bands are also known as volatility bands or envelopes. Bollinger bands give you visual evidence when the market has travelled too far in any one direction. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try these cash printing Forex Signals from heaven. First trade on your Forex Demo Account!

Traders Profiles (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Scalper is a workable profile for a small retail trader. However, you should be able to view the overall trend of the market to gauge whether you are trading with or against the prevailing trend. A scalper is also a seeker of short term profits of the level of 25-50 pips.

A scalper is also a seeker of short term profits of the level of 25-50 pips. A scalper might use a 10 minute chart to follow the market, a 1 hour chart to determine the long term trend and the 5 minute chart to time the entries and exits for each trade.

Day trading is something that many people are successfully doing from the comfort of their homes. There are many people who now make a living from day trading. In day trading, you open a trade and close it before the end of the day. That means you do not keep it open overnight usually. Day trader is a good profile for a new trader.

A Day Trader might use a 15 minute chart to follow the market, a 4 hour chart to determine the long term trend and the 5 minute chart for making the entry and exit. Position trader is a risky and difficult profile for a part time or new trader.

Position trader is a risky and difficult profile for a part time or new trader. The longer you hold the position, the more you are at risk of getting the market surprises that no one can predict. A market surprise can be a sharp change in direction or volatility often occurring as the result of a major surprise announcement.

Each profile requires different scales of charts and time frames but also indicators and money management parameters. If you aim for a 1/3 risk/reward ratio, a Guerilla will risk 5-10 pips per trade, a scalper will risk 15-20 pips per trade, a day trader will risk 25-30 pips per trade and a position trader will risk 40-50 pips per trade.

Even if two trader s use the same charts and technical indicators they might interpret them differently. The differences in money management techniques and attitudes are much less. Good traders tend to share money management and attitude traits. So do bad traders.

Do you want to become a good trader or a bad trader? Always keep in mind that in forex trading a 10 pips move up or down can easily occur within seconds or minutes very quickly without any reason or rhyme. No two traders can be exactly alike. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try these cash printing Forex Signals from heaven. First trade on your Forex Demo Account!

January Effect

By Ahmad Hassam

The next best holiday bets are the Labor Day and the Memorial Day because they fall before the first day of trading in September and June respectively. The day before the President's day is the worst day and the day after the Easter is the worst day after. However, you should keep in mind that a lot of other factors also come into play and you have a lot of room for error.

The best time of the year to own stocks is the Santa Claus rally which for all practical purposes is the 17 day stretch from December 21 to January 7. This is the best time of the year. Most of the folks usually feel fairly good about themselves around this time of the year.

There is a low trading volume which tends to exaggerate the trend. If the economy is not doing good and is slowing down, FED tends to lower interest rates during holidays in order to go into the new year with less of a worry. However, when you are dealing with seasonality, you should keep these facts in your mind:

1) The market is not longer static. The seasonal effect may get interrupted by other events. More and more people have real time access to information and larger amounts of capital than at any time in the past.

2) Institutional investors like mutual funds, hedge funds and insurance companies have become important players in the markets. So in case of an event free environment, seasonal tendencies may hold up fairly well. At the end of the year, institutional investors want to make their results look as good as possible to their shareholders and tend to buy the stocks and so on.

3) People want quick profits. Many people make a living from investing and trading. These are the times for day traders and swing traders. With fewer people willing to hold stocks for longer periods, it is very difficult to predict seasonality. The days of long term investing or what you call buy and hold are dead! Frequent market crashes have taught the investing public that investing for the long term is fairly risky. So there is more short term trading going on. Value investing is gone and speculation is in.

4) A lot will be written about the recent stock market crash. What were the actual causes of the recent stock market crash? Why so many big banks went belly up in matter of days. What was so special that made this liquidity problem contagious with banks all over the world? The recent market crash was the result of CMO and Default Swaps bringing down the banks and Insurance companies in ways that had not been anticipated or foreseen by the analysts. Many had assumed that derivate securities are safe. Infact they have highly unpredictable tendencies. Derivates and outside the market trading activities can result in highly unpredictable patterns.

Many things are changing. The world is always changing. There is a change in demographics also taking place. With the aging of the population, the overall trend will be towards more income producing investments. So with everyone talking about the seasonal tendencies in the market, it reliability becomes less diminished. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try these cash printing Forex Signals from heaven. First trade on your Forex Demo Account!

Get Great Investment Advice From Today's Hot Stocks

By Tim Tolands

It's so hard to predict market trends in the current economic climate. Firms that have seemingly been around forever disappeared overnight. Long term investments are tricky and often don't make the profits you are seeking. It's hard to find the best investments.

These newsletters are very much like the systems of today that are automated to pick the winning stock for the trader. These robotics simply a software or programs that are fully automated and can be left behind to do the picking of winning stocks for you. On the other hand, the newsletters also do the same purpose, pick the winners, only at a much lower price.

One newsletter that is getting great results for traders is Today's Hot Stocks. This newsletter sends email alerts to subscribers and provides regular updates on market trends. This kind of information can make a big difference in today's often unpredictable market. The newsletter allows traders to make decisions with confidence without having to constantly monitor the market.

Today's Hot Stocks sends out email alerts to subscribers in addition to their regular newsletter, so that traders can adjust to changing market conditions. There predictions have an excellent track record and have helped traders like you make great returns on their investments.. No system is right 100% of the time, but this system works more often than not.

The year 2008 has become a benchmark for many traders already. If your system or software manage to earn you a decent profit during this year, that mean you have in your hand a tool that is working well. It also means that you will most likely gain profits through it in the following years when the economy improves.

Its creators swear that this is exactly what Today Hot Stocks can do for you. It went on to show various proofs to that effect and more testimonials to support their claim. A visit in their website which is http://www.todayhotstocks.com, will give you a clearer idea of what they can do for you.

The programmer that designed the software for Today's Hot Stocks was a trader who understood the importance of choosing only the best performing stocks , and knowing when to buy and sell the stocks. The system has no human emotions and makes only logical decisions.

A program based on the knowledge of an experienced trader that can only make logical decisions about the most promising stocks is a big advantage for traders. By analyzing hundreds of factors that can effect the market and considering the probable outcome, the program chooses the best stock trades. The system's creator provides this valuable information to subscribers.

If you subscribe, you can make the most informed decision about which stocks to buy and trade and when to do your trading. The emails contain all the pertinent information about each stock. This may be better for many traders than a robot, since it gives them good information, but doesn't complete the actual trades. That is up to the trader. Subscribers make profits every day with the information they receive from Today's Hot Stock.

If you think you might be able to use the information that subscribers receive, why not pay a visit to the website. Bonuses are often offered with subscriptions and the site offers a money back guarantee. If you don't find that the information offered in the newsletter increases your profits, you will get a complete refund.

The cost of Today's Hot Stocks is $47.00 per month which is a fraction of the profits you can generate with the information provided by the newsletter. - 31391

About the Author:

Click here for more on hot stocks and stock newsletter.

Common Sense Guidelines For Forex Traders

By Ahmad Hassam

Someone had rightly said a long time ago that common sense is so common that nobody uses it. Well, if you are going to become a trader than you need a lot of common sense. If you don't use common sense than you might as well not trade at all! OK, now a few common sense guidelines for you as a trader:

1) You should always look for a reputable broker. Don't fall into the trap of some unknown broker. Your ability to trade effectively depends on consistent spread and ample liquidity. Anyone can open a position. However, your ability to close a position at a good price is more important.

2) Trading is all about making a long term winning plan. Just try to make more winning trades as compared to losing trades and over the long term you will be profitable. Use the power of compounding over the long haul and you have made your fortune. Trading means making consistent steady profits! Learn prudent money management rules. Avoid using excessive leverage that puts your investment capital at risk. Always trade with a stop! Never try to win big in one single trade. This is not trading, it is gambling. Always live to trade another day. If you believe in winning big than quit trading and start gambling! But if you do that you will only ruin yourself.

3) You should know how to calculate the risk/reward ratio for each trade. Only enter a trade when your risk/reward ratio is less than . Set a reasonable risk/reward ratio for your trades. Never ever override yours tops for emotional reasons. Don't react to price action buying just because you think it is cheap or selling because you think the price is high now. Always use technical analysis to make your decisions. Never ever trade emotionally. Stick to your plan and maintain your trading discipline. Always develop and make a trading plan before you take up trading.

4) You are not a punter. Always plan each trade. Don't punt. Punting is trading for the sake of trading without any planning or view.

5) Round numbers are dangerous in forex trading. Forex brokers always look for stop hunting around round numbers. Don't try to trade around round numbers. Don't leave stops at round numbers or obvious levels. If you do that chances are they will be triggered.

6) Don't add to a losing position unless it is part of a plan to scale into a position. In other words, don't double up just in order to recoup your losses. Only do that if it is part of a trading strategy.

7) You should develop trading discipline. When trading against the trend be disciplined in taking profits and don't hold out for the last pip. When trading with a trend always use a trailing stop loss order.

8) Treat trading as a continuum. Don't base your success on one trade. Avoid emotional highs or lows on individual trades. Consistency should be your target.

9) Always keep an eye on the crosses. Try to trade multicurrency. This will hedge your risk.

10) Be cognizant of what news is coming out each day so that you never get surprised. Don't trade just ahead of an economic news release. Always beware of volatility following the economic releases.

11) Beware of central bank intervention in illiquid markets. Stay away from illiquid times like holidays or pre-holidays when liquidity is thin. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try These Cash Printing Forex Signals From Heaven. Know A Forex Trading System With An ROI of 3000% Per Month!

The Power Of Knowledge On How To Invest Internationally

By Loren N. Love

Experienced traders know how to invest internationally. Over time they have developed the skills and knowledge that has enabled them to move their money around and still keep their losses to a minimum. For the inexperienced trader, without that knowledge you would be best off keeping your money in places where you know what is going to happen.

While investing internationally you will be using resources from outside your home country to invest and it is a risky option. Investing locally gives you more control as you are able to assess and navigate the investments physically.

Moving off-shore money around is a different story on the other hand. You need to remember that you are working in different currencies and different markets. Keeping that in mind, two important aspects from each of these can and must be applied to your investments.

There are two very important aspects to be considered before investing internationally. Since the international trading is done in different currencies, you need to know and understand how the exchange rate and exchange market function. There are millions of traders trading actively on almost a daily basis. Various factors govern the appreciation or depreciation of currencies and in fact your own currency may increase, decrease or even disappear if not monitored regularly. It is imperative that you watch the movement of your country's currency and your own money with a hawk's eye. Through experience and time you will be able to identify the indicators that will give you a roughly sensible idea of how things will turn out in the international market.

The second most important aspect is how the actual foreign market operates itself. As an able investor locally, you may know your market like the back of your hand, but the minute it comes to an off-shore market, you are playing a whole new ball game. There are new rules that come into play and if you need to know them inside and out before you can start making sensible investment decisions in that market.

A couple useful places to look at in terms of the type of investment you should make, you can consider foreign bonds, foreign currency, international stocks, mutual equity funds or even direct investment into companies themselves. Each of these has a number of considerations that you have to bear in mind when putting your money into them.

They all have their benefits and obvious returns that you should look into before making your investment, by simply knowing what to look for you can maximise returns and minimise your risk. - 31391

About the Author:

Have you been looking for a good international investment strategy that works for you? Before you spend your time looking for a good strategy, look at BeforeYouInvest.com's investing for beginners guide before you do anything else. BeforeYouInvest.com reviews everything from stock market investing to the international investment strategy so take a look.

How To Spot The Perfect Trading Time To Invest Funds Into Stocks

By Lidoine Perez

It is very common to see the stock market fluctuating these days. It is very common to see stocks rapidly go up one minute and take a big fall in just a couple of days. The fourth quarter is notorious for these fluctuations when Wall Street is in a buying frenzy to buy and sell of stocks.

Novices often try to follow Wall Street when news of their earnings reach public sector through the media. When people hear that a certain stock is hot, they rush to dump as much money into it as their funds will allow. This is a big mistake and is an evident sign of an inexperienced investor. You can lose your life savings this way.

Most new stock investors do not know how to picks stocks wisely. Too often they read the market incorrectly and invest money when they should be selling off. It has happened to thousands of would be investors who have lost their life savings by making poorly executed investments.

The most important part to increasing your chances to make money in stock trades is to learn the art of picking winning trades. While you have access to a variety of trading platforms, never use a platform that you are unfamiliar with or one that is untested. You could lose a lot of cash.

In order to find a winning system with a proven strategy, you are going to have to test few and measure the results. During this testing phase, you never want to through all of your money into one or two stocks. By testing multiple systems, you will start to gain experience that will propel you forward into winning trades.

Many times inexperienced stock market investors try to use automated robots to make trades. These programs have a steep learning curve and often require a series of trades before you learn how to use them successfully. The stock market fluctuates too fast and if you are not sharp in your thinking, you will not make the right decision.

This is why it is critical to approach stock investing very methodically and systematically. By trying to analyze too many signals that you are not experienced with, you can end up clouding your sense of sound judgment. This is why it is best to go slowly in the beginning and pick winning stocks based on proven investment strategies.

The good news is that there are many websites that publish proven and effective investment strategies and techniques. They can show what to look for in upcoming winning trades and how to take advantage of the trade to make the most money. Search the internet and you will be amazed at the resources which are available to you. - 31391

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Learn more about currency demo trading on our website.

Short ETFs

By Ahmad Hassam

You can short stocks. You can even short ETFs. Have you ever heard of Short ETFs? The ProShares Short Dow 30 ETF (DOG) will return the inverse of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) on daily basis. If the DJIA falls by 2%, DOG rises by 2% and if the DJIA rises by 2%, DOG will fall by 2%. Short ETF returns the inverse of the index it is linked to.

During the past few years, the number of Short ETFs has risen dramatically. Short ETFs not only cover the major stock indices like the S&P 500 or the DJIA but also different sectors like the energy, utilities or technology. You will even find Inverse ETFs on currencies now. Short ETFs are also known as Inverse ETFs or Bear ETFs.

The ProShares UltraShort Dow 30 ETF (DXD) rises 2% when the DJIA falls by 1%. So you can even find leverage short ETFs. A leveraged short ETF gives the trader leverage without the use of margins.

Short ETFs give you an excellent opportunity to profit from the volatility in the market and the major indices. Over the years, short ETFs have risen in popularity with the investors and hedge funds.

If you have been trading currencies, then you should know that inverse currency ETFs are a great way to profit from the volatility in the underlying currencies. Short ETFs are a great product as they have created new opportunities for traders. A trader had to actually short sell stocks to take advantage of a market drop before the introduction of short ETFs.

ETFs have opened up a whole new way of profiting from the markets. The trader had to go against the trend and buy or else move into cash or fixed income in the past if the market was dropping. Traders are not allowed to sell short stocks or ETFs in their retirement accounts. Short and leveraged ETFs provide traders with new opportunities.

China is one example that garners a lot of attention. The Shanghai Index in China rose 100% in 2007. In the first quarter of 2008, the Shanghai Index was down 35%. ETFs also provide you with the opportunity to take advantage of the global market swings.

The ProShares family of ETFs introduced the Ultrashort FTSE/Xinhua China 25 ETF (FXP). Now if you want to trade the fall of Chinese stocks, you can trade FXP ETF. In the past, traders who wanted to benefit from the fall of Chinese stocks could only short Chinese stocks that were traded in US Stock Exchanges.

Short ETFs can be used for other purposes as well. Assume you have a portfolio of $100,000 composed of 75% stocks and 25% money market fixed income. As a long term investor you can take advantage of short ETFs to hedge your portfolio position.

The forecast of the market for the next six months is not good. But you are reluctant to sell your stocks due to tax reasons. Suppose the market falls by 10%. Your stock portfolio falls by 7.5% assuming the same ratio between the market and your portfolio. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try This Cash Printing Forex Signal Service From Heaven! Learn Swing Trading!

LEAP Options

By Ahmad Hassam

One person who made history with options was George Soros who is famously known as the man who broke the Bank of England. Great Britain was finding it difficult to stay within the tight exchange rate band set by the European Monetary Union (EMU).

George Soros had this intuition that the Bank of England would be forced to devalue British Pound. So he bought call options on German Marks and put options on British Pound. He made a bet of $10 Billion by leveraging all the assets in his hedge fund.

Within a few days, Bank of England was brought to its knees as it was unable to sustain the immense selling pressure on the British Pound. Bank of England was forced to devalue British Pound in view of the speculative attack on the British Pound.

In a matter of a few days, George Soros made a cool $1 Billion profit on his bet. Can you make such a bet? Maybe not but this one example show the immense power options have if used correctly. Options are risky; there should be no doubt about it.

Options contract give you the right to buy or sell an underlying security like stocks, futures, commodities or currencies at a price before a certain date. This price is known as the Strike Price. This date is known as the Expiry Date. However, in European Style options you can only buy or sell on the expiry date not before that. Most people who trade options lose money, plain and simple.

Time factor is very important when valuing an option. Further out the options contract is from expiration, you will have to pay a higher premium. As the options contract approaches the expiration date and if it is out of money, it loses its value very fast.

LEAP options are basically long term options. Leap options can help you profit over the long haul. You can use LEAP options in options strategies like the covered calls, straddles, spreads and so on. LEAP stands for long term equity anticipation. It basically means that the option is much like the regular option except that the timeframe to expire is greater than 1 year.

Moreover, the buyer of the LEAP options has the right to exercise the option prior to expiration should the price of the underlying stock move in the money. LEAP options are risky because the option writer usually demands a hefty premium for taking on the long term risk. However, LEAP options can be incredibly profitable if used correctly.

Far away from expiration, the higher the value of the options contract! Closer the out of money option is to expiration, faster its value drops. What this means is that the buyer of the options loses the premium that was paid for getting the right to buy or sell the underlying security. LEAP options can be a great trading vehicle for swing traders as they mitigate some of the time decay that is inherent in short term options. If you need to learn options trading than you should consider joining the Live Options Mastery Classes online at the Options University. Learn options trading from a former options floor trader for safer and better investing! - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Learn Candlestick Charting! Know Fibonacci Retracement!

Trading System (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

It is very difficult to develop a trading system that can adjust to different market conditions. In simple terms, it is very difficult to adjust a mechanical trading system to a different market conditions if you are not the author of that system.

You must know this that technical indicators also lose their effectiveness overtime as the market conditions change. So how do you cater for this fact that markets keep on changing all the time. By developing a trading system that uses different trading strategy under different market conditions. For that, you will need to develop a diversified trading system consisting of a set of trading systems that can be used as a basis for a specific trade tactics at any given moment.

Trading systems based on these principles can be complex and adjustable. Such a diversified trading system can be used according to a trader's free choice and considering the individual situation.

Such a diversified trading system can be optimized for current market condition and the trader's resources at any given moment. This optimization can provide an effective evaluation of market shits and trends at any given time.

The optimal solution could be a diversified trading system based on the natural market features and regularities. A trading system needs to be evaluated by calculating its win ratio over let's say at least 100 trades. The only thing necessary is to find the tools for the probability evaluation for the trading system with maximum accuracy and minimum time.

A mechanical trading system is a better solution than a discrete trading. Developing a mechanical trading system with a set of trading rules that you can apply rigorously in making your trading decisions in any market condition should be your goal. Mechanical trading is good in the sense that it helps you avoid emotions in making your trading decisions. Emotions are your biggest enemy in trading. Fear and greed will always force you to make wrong trading decisions. Have you ever heard about the turtle trading experiment? This experiment was done in'80s in the commodity futures market.

If you have a good trading system, you can become a highly successful trader. Turtle trading experiment was conducted to demonstrate the fact that it's not the trader that matters; it's the trading system that matters.

What you need to do is learn from successful traders and try to copy their trading systems. As a young person you must have learned that just by observing good players play their games you could improve your level of playing tennis, golf, badminton, swimming or for that matter any type of game.

The same principle applies in trading. Have you heard about the Surefire Trading Challenge? Surefire trading challenge is held after every few months. The winner gets a cash prize of $5000. In every tournament thousands of forex traders take part from all over the globe. The most interesting thing is that most of these traders are part time traders and not professional traders. The top traders have an ROI of almost like 2000-3000% in one month. You need to take a look at these 25 forex trading systems that had emerged on the top of more than 5000 traders who had taken part in a recent forex trading championship. The best forex trading system had an ROI of almost 3000% in one month. By observing the trading systems of successful traders you can also develop your own highly successful trading system. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Discover a Revolutionary Forex Robot Trading System. Read about a Forex Trading System with an ROI of 3000% per month.

Short Selling Stocks

By Ahmad Hassam

You must be thinking that short selling is counter intuitive. It's not! Short selling is a way to profit from a falling market. In nutshell in short selling stocks, an investor who is short selling is borrowing stocks from the brokers and selling them to another buyer. At some point, the investor has to buy back the stock ideally at a lower price to make profit and return it to the broker. The sale money goes to the account of the investor.

Suppose you are using the RSI technical indicator that is giving a crossover sell signal. All signs are pointing towards to at least a small pullback. You feel that the stock ABC is overvalued at $60 and at some point in the near future the market will make a correction.

1000 shares of stock ABC are sold at $60 and $60,000 is placed in your account. You had placed an order with your broker to short 1000 shares of ABC stock at $60. Over the next week, you are jittery as the stock ABC instead of going down climbs to $65.

Stock prices can go up as well as down. Technical indicators can give you a likely direction of the market but they are never 100% right. Did you cater for the situation when the stock price rises instead of falling? However, you have catered for this eventuality by placing a stop loss at 10% of your account. This comes out to be $6,000. So the stop loss is not triggered and you are still in the market hoping for the price to stop going up.

Before entering a trade, you must always decide a loss level that you are comfortable with if the trade goes against you. You are prepared to lose $6,000 in anticipation of a stock price tumble as your technical indicators are giving you the sell signals. If the price goes up to $66, your stop loss will be triggered and you will be out of the market.

Suddenly on the release of a disappointing earnings report, the stock price tumbles 20% in one day. Now most earnings mishaps last a few days. So you wait and don't cover your short position for the next few days.

You decide to cover your short position, stock ABC price falls to $45. You need to buy back the 100 shares of ABC that were sold short earlier at the market price of $45 in order to close your position.

You pay $45,000 to buy back 1000 shares of stock ABC and return them to your broker. So your net profit in this case is $60,000-$45,000= $15,000. With this simple example, you should be able to understand the mechanics of short selling stocks.

In reality, you paid $45 per share to buy ABC stocks and sold them at $60 per share giving you a profit of $15 per share. Assume that you had bought the stocks for $45 per share and sold them at $60 per share, the same profit would have been made.

When you short a stock, the goal is to sell it at a higher price but in the case of short selling stocks, selling takes place first instead of buying. The goal of buying a stock is to sell it at a higher price in the future. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try This Cash Printing Forex Signal Service From Heaven! Learn Swing Trading!

Trading System (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

You need to develop your own forex trading system overtime. Using someone else's trading system won't help if you really want to become a successful trader. At one point in your trading career that might come soon rather than later, you would want to switch over to a mechanical trading system. Using a mechanical trading system not only helps traders to make decisions and increase profits but it also provides great psychological comfort to the traders.

You will also have to develop a systems approach to your trading. You will find most of the traders using a trading system approach to trading. You will realize the necessity of switching over to the system trade in order to lower the psychological pressure experienced when making every market transaction. Some of the traders may use a discrete trading system while others prefer a mechanical trading system. Trading without a system can be stressful.

The mechanical trading system lacks fundamental analysis capacity. However, the mechanical trading system set of rules may be translated into a computer program for automated trading.

With the advancement in computer programming, these automated trading systems have the capability of entering or exiting trades automatically without human intervention. The creator of such a mechanical trading system then becomes just another user of the trading system monitoring the computer generated signals. The trading system then generates trading signals that can be used by traders having access to the trading system.

Developing these automated forex trading systems is the name of the game these days. These automated forex trading systems are also known as forex robots. These trading systems may be taken as grey and black boxes. Their prices might vary from a few hundred dollars to hundred of thousands of dollars. Many traders over their trading careers develop their own trading systems. Besides the traders using their own trading systems, there are now many actively developed trading systems for sale as computer programs.

Sometimes these trading systems are developed for big banks and corporations. The most significant thing about these programs is that the traders should be able to accomplish transactions in accordance with the signals generated by the trading system.

Majority of the successful individual traders use self developed mechanical trading systems. However, it is very difficult for a mechanical trading system to cope with different market conditions.

For example, many trading systems that are satisfactory in trending conditions become highly ineffective in nontrending environment. Change of market behavior leads to negative results from a previously effective trading system which obviously would require replacement.

Many trading systems now depend on complex mathematical formula which is not understandable by the trader if the trader is not the author of the trading system. The most common disadvantage of these trading systems is the negative balance between he profitable and unprofitable trades.

What you need is a forex trading system that is profitable in the long term. In other words, it gives more winner than losers. Obviously the trading system can only be profitable in the long run if the ratio of the profitable trades is higher than the non-profitable trades. In other words the average profit of each profitable transaction is greater than the average loss of each unprofitable transaction.

Making correction in any mechanical trading system in the process of the trade is almost impossible. The trader must accurately and unconditionally follow the trading system without making any attempt to adjust it to the market conditions. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Discover a Revolutionary Forex Robot Trading System. Read about a Forex Trading System with an ROI of 3000% per month.

What is Autotrading?

By Ahmad Hassam

Can autotrading make you rich? Well, it depends on your autotrading system. Many hedge funds and other entities that manage money through forex trading use some form of autotrading in their daily activities. Autotrading is common in the currency trading.

Previously these autotrading programs also known as Expert Advisors or Forex Robots were expensive costing like thousands of dollars and only wealthy individuals or big institutions like hedge funds could afford them.

However, the recent developments in computer programming have changed the field. Many private individual traders have also begun to adopt autotrading to execute their thoroughly backtested and highly optimized forex trading strategies. The recent advancement in computer programming has made it possible for professional forex traders to team up with a software expert to develop their own autotrading systems.

The recent advancement in computer programming has made these Expert Advisors cheap. The price of these Expert Advisors has come down to around a few hundreds that can be easily purchased by ordinary investors like you and me. Metatrader platform makes it real easy to program such type of Expert Advisors.

So what is autotrading? You must have heard or read a lot about the benefits or advantages of autotrading. Recent advancements in computer programming has led to the development of trading platforms that allow an API ( Application Programming Interface) which connects the trader's system to the dealer's trade execution structure through the trading platform.

The trading system needs to be ruled based and mechanical in nature with clear cut entry and exit rules. Once all of the trading rules and criteria are determined by the trader, programming an API can be relatively straight forward for anyone with programming experience. APIs requires programming skills on the part of either the trader or a programmer hired by the trader. After the specific trading rules and criteria are determined, the trading strategy is backtested with positive results.

When this occurs not only trades entered when predetermined technical criteria is met but trade exits in the form of stop loss and take profit rules can also be programmed into the API. Autotrading is almost as simple as flipping a switch to begin the trading process.

This creates an entirely self contained autotrading system. So autotrading can actually execute real trades on current real time market prices. When a predetermined signal emerges, the software actually places a trade automatically. However, before an autotrading system is put on live trading, it is thoroughly backtested and forward tested to make sure the likely success of the autotrading system.

In fact, if the trader has optimized and perfected this type of black and white trading strategy that runs devoid of human judgment, autotrading is perhaps the best way to achieve it. Any nondiscretionary technical trading strategy that has clear cut, unambiguous rules is a good candidate for autotrading. Autotrading effectively eliminates all human biases, errors and emotions in the trading process.

Every month you will come across a new forex autotrading system. The best two forex autotrading systems are FAPT and Ivy Bot. There are a number of successful autotrading systems now available in the market for the ordinary retail investors. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try This Cash Printing Forex Signal Service From Heaven! First practice on your Forex Demo Account!

Where To Find Investment Advice That Will Suit Your Needs

By John H. Robinson

Your future financial stability depends on how wisely you invest the money you are earning today. There are numerous financial professionals who can advise you on all kinds of investment opportunities, and you will need to find one who understands your particular needs, and one who will ensure that you earn good returns on your investments. This article will give advice on where to find investment advice.

You'll find an array of investment options available and you will need to weigh up all the pros and cons of each. You will also have to establish how much risk you are prepared to take when investing. Obviously, returns on high risk investments are much higher than returns on more stable, low risk investments.

If you choose to speak to an investment adviser at a bank, you will receive extensive information about what banks offer. Some popular investments include certificates of deposit, stocks and bonds, money market schemes and, of course, a variety of savings account options.

Another option is to seek out a reputable financial planner who will review your financial status, taking into account your spending habits, and then devise a financial plan to suit your individual needs. This plan will enable you to invest money while still enjoying the lifestyle that you are accustomed to.

If you are looking where to find investment advice on stocks and bonds, it may be a good idea to consult with a professional investment adviser who will be well informed in this sphere of investment. People wanting the best advice about retirement fund investments often refer to an investment adviser.

If you're still not sure where to find investment advice, you may wish to hire a broker. Brokers are known to have their fingers on the pulse of the latest investment trends and will find the best options for clients.

If you are an experienced investor, you are likely to have a professional investment manager to manage your affairs and to continually be on the look-out for new avenues of investment to add to your portfolio.

Finally, before deciding on where and how to invest your money, ensure that you are fully satisfied with the advice you have received. There are advantages and disadvantages to most investments. If you invest overseas you are putting your money at the mercy of another country's political and economic climate which could result in the investment being a high risk venture. - 31391

About the Author:

Have you been looking for a good good financial investment advice that is good for you? Before you spend your time looking for quality financial investment information, look at BeforeYouInvest.com's guide to investing for beginners. We review everything from where to buy investments to the low initial investment mutual funds.

ETF Piggyback Strategy

By Ahmad Hassam

The premise of the piggyback strategy is to use the large dollar research of the major financial firms to come up with new and fresh swing trading ideas. When a large financial firm builds an ETF, the first step is always to choose an index of stocks that is expected to outperform the market.

Large financial firms spend millions to choose the index on which they will base their ETF. The ETF is then based on this index of stocks. The price of the ETF then changes as the basket of stocks within the index moves. Why not piggyback on that research and save yourself a few millions? Cool, huh!

So what is this ETF piggyback strategy all about? How do you implement this ETF piggyback strategy? Have you been investing in ETFs before? No! Then you need to do some research to find the best performing ETFs. Your first step should be to analyze ETFs. You need to make a list of ETFs that have outperformed in the last 3 to 6 months. This will give you an idea where the big money is flowing and which ETFs have buying momentum behind them.

After making your list of top 20, narrow it down to the five top performers and choose a few areas worth trading. Choose the best performing ETF in your opinion to begin with. Now you need to analyze the top ten holdings of that ETF.

How do you research an ETF? Just go to the website of the ETF. You can also use ETF connect.com. Etfconnect.com is a great resource for information on ETFs and closed end funds. With thousands of potential stocks to choose from, the piggyback trading strategy allows you as a swing trader to choose stocks that have a buying momentum behind them. What makes this trading strategy great is that it often generates fresh ideas for swing traders.

Investing in stocks that are well known and being actively recommended as hot investments is never a good idea. When information becomes public, it gets impounded into the market price immediately according to the Efficient Market Hypothesis. A great advantage of this piggyback strategy is that it can identify stocks that may not be household names to the average trader. With this strategy you will come across many stocks that may not be household names and have a great swing trading potential. ETFs can be utilized to find stocks for swing trading ideas that are based outside the US.

You will have a lot of option in choosing the right ETF for your investment. There are thousands of ETFs in the market now. Some are country specific, some are industry specific and some are market specific. The way to do that is to use the ETF piggyback strategy with either single country ETFs or regional ETFs. The single country ETFs invests 100% of their assets in one country. A good example can be the iShares MSCI Mexico ETF (EWW), an ETF that invests only in companies headquartered in Mexico.

A regional ETF covers several countries concentrated in a region. The iShares S&P Latin America 40 ETF (ILF) invests in Brazil, Mexico and Chile. So if you want to find international stocks for your swing trading strategy than you should begin by picking the region or the specific country.

You must be thinking why you need to think outside of US Stocks. The traders who refuse to consider international stocks only hurt themselves because with the US in the mature business cycle, the real growth and volatility that you need as a swing trader can only come from international stocks. In addition to volatility that you need as a swing trader, international stocks also give you the ability to create some hedging strategies in combining US and non US Stocks into a pair trade. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try This Cash Printing Forex Signal Service From Heaven! First practice on your Forex Demo Account!

Shorting Stocks Explained

By Ahmad Hassam

Many beginning investors get confused when they realize that it is possible to make money when the stock falls in price. In practice, shorting a stock is as easy as buying stocks once you get hang of it. When the market is falling, investors sell short a stock with the goal of profiting from the fall in the price of that stock.

When you short a stock, you borrow it from you broker and sell it with the intention of buying it back at a lower price in the near term future and returning it to your broker. The difference between the selling price and the buying price in case the price goes down is your profit.

With short selling a stock, you make profit when the price of a stock goes down. You are anticipating further fall in the price of the stock when you short a stock. However, if the price of the stock instead of going down starts to go up, you get a loss. It all depends how well your prediction about the stock price was. If you can predict the direction of the stock price very well, you can become a great trader.

So shorting a stock without proper risk and money management is not wise. Theoretically a stock price can go up and up making your loss as big as infinity. However, before that happens most probably you will receive a margin call from your broker that leads to a forced sale before your losses reach unmanageable proportions.

Some people are against the strategy of shorting stocks. In the stock market crash of 2008, many financial companies went bankrupt due to the short selling of their shares by the speculators. A temporary ban was put on shorting for sometime during that period.

Swing trading is all about looking for making a quick profit by riding the trend in the market for a few days to a few weeks. In swing trading, we are simply looking to profit from the ups and downs of stock prices. When the price of a stock goes down, short selling is the best swing trading strategy. However, the goal of short selling is not to drive the price of a stock to zero and put the company out of business.

Stock prices are highly susceptible to negative news. Negative news like poor earning, credit rating downgrade or a poor product launch can bring down a stock price in a matter of minutes and wipe out the steady gains made in months. One reason why swing traders love short selling is due to the velocity of the moves! Stock prices plunge when negative news is released.

Short selling is an integral part of options writing. Short selling is also used in portfolio risk management. Shot selling can be a good hedging strategy for long term investors too. So if you a long term investor, you can lessen the impact of the sharp price drop on your portfolio by using a short selling hedging strategy. Swing traders always look for big winners and this brings them to the short side of the market. When the price of a stock starts to fall, chances are it will fall more before the market stabilizes and the price starts to rise again. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try This Cash Printing Forex Signal Service From Heaven! Learn Swing Trading!

What is Backtesting? (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

The first was doing automated Backtesting. Automated Backtesting is easy. The second method of Backtesting is performed manually and visually by the trader. The trader would take the historical data and scroll back in time on a chart and manually apply the trading strategy as if it was in a real time environment.

The trader would advance the chart bar by bar in order to refrain from seeing price action subsequent to the trade at hand. This eliminates trading in hindsight that is detrimental to an objective backtest.

Manual Backtesting is complicated and difficult. It requires a lot of patience on part of the trader. The major disadvantage of Backtesting as compared to automated testing is the significant potential for human error in executing simulated trades and recording performance results.

Emotions are your enemy in trading. When you do manual Backtesting, these emotions can cause problems for your Backtesting results. The normal range of human emotions and biases that often interfere with actual trading can be a detrimental factor in achieving objective backtest results. Furthermore, it takes a great deal of work and discipline to simulate trades manually over a large data set without straying from the strict rules of the trading strategy.

However, Backtesting manually can provide the trader with the real feel for actually trading the strategy. This provides valuable trading experience although simulated but still a valuable trading experience that no automated backtest could possibly provide.

No matter whether you do Backtesting manually or automatically, Backtesting can save traders a great deal of time and money that might otherwise had been wasted on trading unprofitable strategies. Backtesting whether done manually or automatically can be one of the most important elements of building a solid trading strategy. Backtesting is now an important element of testing a trading system performance.

Any mechanical trading system can be backtested. This leads us to the important question of autotrading. Autotrading is the latest fad especially in forex where the number of major currency pairs is only six and this makes programming autotrading easy. These autotrading systems are popularly known as Expert Advisors or Forex Robots.

As compared to the forex market, only the US Stock Market has got more than 50,000 stocks listed with them. This makes programming a stock trading robot a bit complicated. However, during the past decade major breakthrough in computer programming has been made.

Backtesting is one of the most important components of testing an autotrading system. Big institutions like banks, corporations and hedge funds have always been taking benefit of these autotrading systems.

What type of trading strategies can be backtested and autotraded? These types of strategies are primarily technical in nature, and they must necessarily have rules and criteria that are unambiguous. Backtesting and autotrading are two important components of implementing trading strategies that generally do not rely upon the trader's judgments or discretion.

Backtesting allows the trader to determine if a given strategy would have been profitable using past price data, which is an indication of how it might potentially perform in the future. In contrast, autotrading actually executes real trades automatically according to a pre - programmed set of instructions that sets trade entries, stop losses, and profit limits. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try This Cash Printing Forex Signal Service From Heaven! First practice on your Forex Demo Account!

Where To Find Investment Advice That Will Suit Your Needs

By Michelle R. Vergara

Your future financial stability depends on how wisely you invest the money you are earning today. There are numerous financial professionals who can advise you on all kinds of investment opportunities, and you will need to find one who understands your particular needs, and one who will ensure that you earn good returns on your investments. This article will give advice on where to find investment advice.

Your adviser will need to ascertain what kind of investment is best for you, and whether you are interested in investing in low or high risk investments.

If you're new at investing, you may wish to approach a bank where an investment officer will explain all the various options. Banks can even offer advice on investing in foreign countries, stocks and bonds, as well as conventional types of investments like certificates of deposit or savings accounts. Either way, you will certainly get sound advice from a bank.

Consult a financial planner if you are concerned that you may fall on hard times and may not be able to access your money if it is tied up in a fixed investment. A financial planner will take a good look at your personal situation and put together an investment portfolio that will allow for any unforeseen emergencies.

Alternatively you can contact a specialist investment adviser who will give you advice and strategies on how and when to invest in stocks and bonds. Most investment advisers are also well conversant with retirement fund management.

If you're still not sure where to find investment advice, you may wish to hire a broker. Brokers are known to have their fingers on the pulse of the latest investment trends and will find the best options for clients.

Successful investors usually hire the services of an investment manager to monitor their investment portfolio. The investment manager will keep the client up to date with new opportunities that can increase returns. An investment manager will also ensure that your portfolio is diverse and that it includes a range of different investments.

All investments are subject to some kind of risk, even investments that are considered to be low risk. Fixed investments - these are affected by fluctuations in interest rates. Likewise, high risk ventures such as international investments can be severely affected by the economic climate of the country that holds the investment. It is therefore crucial that you obtain the best possible advice before signing any investment deal. - 31391

About the Author:

Are you searching for a solid good financial investment advice that works for you? Before you spend your time searching for quality financial investment information, look at BeforeYouInvest.com's guide to investing for beginners. We review everything from where to buy investments to the low initial investment mutual funds.

Trading With Point And Figure Charts (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

The most common amount of reversal threshold is three boxes or three points. A new column is only added when a reversal in an existing column exceeds the reversal threshold.

If the box size is set at 10 pips and the reversal amount is set at three boxes, the reversal amount in pips is 30 pips. So in case of a rising X column, price would need to turn back by at least 30 pips before a new O column would be added.

The significance of these two variables, the box size and the reversal threshold should be clearly understood. These two variables make the point and figure chart so effective at representing only the most major market moves disregarding all minor fluctuations known as noise.

Since point and figure charts outline support and resistance so well, one of the best trading strategies in most common use with the point and figure charts is breakout trading. The point and figure charts are excellent indicators of both trend and support/resistance.

A double top is a potential bearish reversal signal in bar and candlestick charts. Now you must understand that there is a notable distinction between the bar and candlestick charts and the point and figure charts in the interpretation of double and triple tops and bottoms.

However, on the point and figure charts, a double top is a resistance point where traders should be looking for a bullish break to the upside. The same difference holds for the double bottoms as well as triple tops and bottoms.

Charts patterns like triangles are prevalent as well. Like the horizontal support and resistances levels on these charts, the main method of trading trendlines and pattern on the point and figure charts is through breakouts. Point and figure charts also have their own versions of diagonal trend lines which are drawn at 45 degrees.

Point and figure charts give a very clear view of the market movements. Price action is the most important aspect of technical trading. The point and figure charts focus exclusively on the price action.

Point and figure charts had originated in the'th century. It is because of this clarity in viewing and interpreting the price movements that the point and figure charts have withstood the test of time and are still popular with traders today as an increasing relevant analytical tool for forex traders.

Point and figure charts excel at representing clear evidence of such important technical characteristics as trend, support/resistance and breakout without the extraneous elements to clutter the picture.

What makes the point and figure charts so special? Other data that is readily available on the bar and candlestick charts like time, period opens/closes are generally excluded on the point and figure charts. This leaves only the uncluttered purity of price action. Some may characterize point and figure trading as based upon pure price action. - 31391

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Try This Cash Printing Forex Signal Service From Heaven! First practice on your Forex Demo Account!

Get The Right Tool, ETF Trading Signals Will Maximize Your Investments

By Jerry Charlton

The Stock Market and the Forex Market are the most well known investments in financial circles. These investments can provide large returns on investments, but they come with fairly high risks. Not all investors want to take the chance with their money.

This was even aggravated by the current economic meltdown that has led to even bigger losses that was never imagined even by the most experienced and seasoned market traders as something that can ever happen. Even companies which are already century-old closed down because of the financial crisis felt by the whole world.

Although the market can be unpredictable, traders have continued to trade. The opportunities to make money are there even in the worst market. Many investors use computer programs to track trends in the market and try to predict which stocks will gain and which will lose. This can help traders avoid at least some of the more risky investments.

ETF Trading Signals is an automated robot that can analyze market trends and make decisions on trades that will maximize earnings and minimize losses. The market is never completely predictable, but with this system you can be ahead of the pack on your trades.

If you aren't making a good profit on your investment portfolio, ETF Trading Signals can help you turn your portfolio around and help you realize more profits from your trades.

When at first the programmer is apprehensive and does not believe that there really is no system that could truly predicts winners in the financial market, otherwise it was already discovered, he started studying the system used by his trader friend as a favor and soon realized that he could make it work. He managed to exploit what the trader has and turn it into a risk free system.

ETF Trading Signals is not intended to work for hot stocks or speculative investments. Instead, the system works with exchange traded funds. Exchange traded funds trade on the exchange like stocks, but are more diversified and therefore more stable investments.

An exchange traded fund has a variety of assets that may consist of different stocks or currency investments or even commodities. The diversity of exchange traded funds makes them a minimal risk investment. If one stock goes down, it is cushioned by other investments that may rise. In this way, a hedge against loss is provided. ETF software is capable of tracking trends in exchange traded funds with amazing accuracy.

No automated robot can guarantee a gain on every trade. Even in the ETF market, there is a certain amount of risk. Traders using ETF Trading Signals have indicated an average gain of 32.49%. While this figure doesn't hold true for every investor, most investors have reported making greater profits with the program than they realized before they began using it. The system maximizes gains while protecting against losses.

To learn more about investing in exchange traded funds and to find out about ETF Trading Signals, visit the website at http://www.etftradingsignals.com/offer/. The site will explain the advantages of trading EFTs and how the software can help you make more profits than you thought possible. - 31391

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Click here for more on best ETFs and ETF newsletters.

Mutual Funds Investments

By Bob Jones

There are, of course, many different ways that you can use the money that you have worked for and investing in a mutual fund is one of the ways. Furthermore, the many different mutual funds have many excellent options for you to investigate. However, you will also have to find the best mutual funds in order to decide which are most suited for your needs.

At the moment, you will more than likely discover that Janus, Fidelity Funds and the Vanguard Group are some of the best mutual funds available. The first thing to do is look how the funds compare with one another. There are many reviews to provide you with the information you need in order to choose the best mutual fund(s) for you.

However, before you invest in a mutual fund, you should understand what a mutual fund is, how it works and how it will be of help to you. Basically, a mutual fund is an investment company and this investment company pools the money of its investors, which it then uses to buy various kinds of stocks, shares and bonds.

Each investor then owns a percentage of the various stocks and bonds that are in the portfolio commensurate with the amount he put in. By investing in these stocks the professional managers of the corporation attempt to keep the clients' portfolio growing. Although, I have over-simplified this, I hope that it helps the novice to understand how a mutual fund group works. If you need more information, you can get it from the Internet or from a trusted financial advisor.

The best way to look for the right mutual fund is to take your time. There are so many mutual funds on the market, that it can be very difficult to know which are the best mutual funds to invest with. You can look at the reviews in the Morningstar to see which of the mutual funds are performing well. This preliminary research will help you see the direction in which the mutual funds you are interested in are heading.

After you have chosen a few of the best mutual groups to investigate further, you should see what types of funds they offer. Since some of these funds have hidden charges, it pays to understand what these funds' charges really are. You will find this information on the Internet, in the financial press or you can ask someone to clarify the details for you.

Even though almost all of the mutual funds offer reasonably good investment possibilities, there are always risks to potential clients. Therefore, you should give the matter of investing your money in mutual funds some serious consideration. The bottom line is that no matter how well the best mutual funds are performing today, tomorrow is another day so take your time and invest your hard-earned money carefully. - 31391

About the Author:

If you are interested in Investing in Mutual Funds or investing at all, please go along to our website entitled Investing in Mutual Funds

Investing in Mutual Funds

By Bob Jones

There are, of course, various ways that you can use the money that you have worked for and investing in a mutual fund is just one of them. Moreover, the many different mutual funds have many interesting options for you to investigate. However, you will also have to sort the wheat from the chaff in mutual funds in order to decide which are most suited for your requirements.

Currently, you will probably discover that Janus, Fidelity Funds and the Vanguard Group are among the best mutual funds on the market. The first thing to do is see how the funds compare with each other. There are many reviews to provide you with the information you need for choosing the best mutual funds.

Before you invest with a mutual fund, you will need to understand what a mutual fund is and how it could be of help to you. Basically a mutual fund is an investment company and this investment company pools the money of its investors together. It then uses this money to buy different kinds of stocks and bonds.

Each investor then owns a percentage of the pool of stocks and bonds that are in the portfolio commensurate with the amount he put in. By investing in these stocks the professional managers of the corporation try to keep the clients' portfolio growing. Although, I have put this is a simple way, I hope that it helps the novice to understand how a mutual fund group works. If you need more information, you can obtain it from the Internet or from a trusted financial adviser.

The best way to discover the right mutual fund for you, is to be methodical. There are simply so many mutual funds on the market, that it can be rather difficult to know which are the best mutual funds to invest in. You can look at the columns in the Morningstar or other financial newspapers to see which of the mutual funds are performing very well. This preliminary research will help you see the direction the mutual funds you are interested in are moving.

Once you have chosen a few of the best mutual groups to investigate further, you should see what kinds of funds are being offered. As some of these funds have hidden charges, it pays to understand what these funds are really. You will find this information on the Internet, in the financial press or you can ask someone to clarify the details for you.

Even though almost all of the mutual funds offer reasonably good investment opportunities, there are always risks for potential clients. For this reason, you should give the matter of investing your money in mutual funds some serious thought. The bottom line is that no matter how well the best mutual funds are performing right now, tomorrow is another day so take your time and invest your hard-earned money carefully. - 31391

About the Author:

If you are interested in Investing in Mutual Funds or investing in general, please go along to our web site called Investing in Mutual Funds