Archive for the ‘Articles’ category

10 Tips for Successful Stock Market Trading

January 29th, 2011
Mark Crisp asked:




1)Do learn what really works on Wall Street. What many books and journalists love to blab on about doesn’t actually make money in stocks. Watch what the successful traders do. This is the cornerstone of your success. Follow the wrong method and everything else is waste of time.

2)Learn to be disciplined. If there is one character that separates the winners from loses in this game it is discipline. Top traders learn to follow their rules. They stick with winning stocks and are not afraid to keep out of the markets when conditions are not right. They do not over trade or trade for the sake of trading.

3)Cut those losers. I have never met a trader and never will, who does not have losing trades. It’s all part of the business. But winners will cut those losers fast and move on. Losers will hang on and hope it turns around. If you cannot cut those losers you will not be in Wall Street long. That I can promise you.

4)Let those winners run. Occasionally in your stock trading career you might be lucky enough to actually snag a “10 bagger” (a stock that goes up ten fold) BUT in order to do this you must give it room to grow and be disciplined enough to ride those corrections out along the way.

5)Stick to top quality stocks: Contrary to popular belief stocks do not go up out of the blue. Hey go up because they are massive profit pulling businesses that have years of high-powered growth (or expected growth) ahead of them. Institutions and other big traders follow these stocks and invest money into them. This is what makes them move. Penny stocks, poor stocks, beaten down stocks are simply a gamblers paradise.

6)Only invest/trade in favourable market conditions. During the great bear market of 2000 -2002 there was hardly a stock worth trading for me. I was virtually out of the market for 2 years as other trades lost money. When the market finally turned I was able to make great money again. But I needed to protect my capital first.

7)Truest your-self: Learn to find and trade winning stocks on your terms. Do not go looking for other people’s advice. It’s human nature to want to follow the herd. But the “herd mentality is often wrong” If you have to ask you shouldn’t be trading.

8)Risk a little and live to fight another day: For individual traders you should not be risking more than 3% of your trading capital on any one trade. Any more and the very least you are going to experience are enormous equity swings. At the worse you will wipe out. I am telling you now. Risk more than 3% of your capital and the stress will start to eat you up. It isn’t a race.

9)Get really good at one possibly two methods of trading: Stop jumping from one method to another. There are many different ways to make money in the stock market but you need an edge and that edge comes from experience. Every method goes through good/flat times. Resist the temptation to jump ship when your method goes through a flat period.

10)Take it easy. The stock market is not a business that can be forced to give up money if we work hard in it. It’s opposite to most other types of business. It’s pretty weird actually. When conditions are right you will make so much easy money you will laugh. The key is not to give that back when conditions are not right.

Website content

Stock Market Basics

January 29th, 2011
Joseph Kenny asked:




Stock markets represent and portray the commercial and economical strength of a country. The economy of a country relies on the stock market to a great extent, since they trade in the stocks of major companies. These markets are the source of capitalism in the United States. They play an important role by raising funds for companies. Being a part of a stock exchange may seem complex to many, but you can be a part of any popular stock exchange, either with the help of a brokerage account that can be opened online, or by interacting directly with the exchange.

A stock market is a place where people who want to earn money through investment, and companies who can provide those investment opportunities, come together. The trading and investing of stocks takes place in this market. Companies need funds and in order to raise funds, they issue stocks in the form of shares in which you invest, to earn money. If the company earns profit, then you as a stockholder of that company will also get a share in that profit.

You can gain a lot on the selling floor of a stock market. It is necessary, however, for you to understand the basics of a stock market, what its roles are, and how it works. For this, a proper study of all the possible market moves is essential. This needs constant appraisal, as the market moves very fast, and there are many ups and downs involved.

Stock markets are fraught with risk. Therefore, be it trading or investing, you need to proceed with caution. It is advisable to analyze a company’s profits and cash flow, the services it offers and the profit distribution pattern it follows, before investing in its stocks. If you are confident that the shares are commercially viable, you can go ahead and make an investment.
.
Beside the profit incurred through the sale and purchase of stocks, you can also get the benefit of dividends that profitable companies offer. As an investor, you ought to know that blue chip stocks, income stocks, defensive stocks and growth stocks are several groups under which the future shares of companies are divided.

Big companies that pay dividends without fail, and have a record of growth in profit, have their shares referred to as blue chips. You can also invest in income stocks because the companies that issue these stocks pay high dividends, and have a stable earning in the market. Growth stocks grow very fast, but may fetch you nil or minimal dividends. In order to minimize your risk you can invest in defensive stocks as their value remains constant even if the market falls.

Companies can also issue their shares abroad with the help of banks. If you are planning on investing in stocks then try to invest in companies that offer dividends along with discounts. You can do the purchasing through the brokerage, or dividends, or a direct investment plan. Since a lot of people buy shares and stocks there is a cycle of supply and demand. Depending on this cycle, various fluctuations take place in the stock market. So, try to immunize yourself from these fluctuations by investing wisely.

The stock market not only provides you, as a trader or investor, an opportunity to purchase or sell shares or stocks, but also plays an important role in maintaining the cash flow in the economy of a country. If you are interested in making money in stocks, then it is recommended you learn the basics of stock markets before leaping in.

Create a video blog…instantly.

Stock Market Language

January 27th, 2011
Bradley A Johnson asked:




The language of the stock market can be a mystery to many outsiders and beginners. It can be very difficult to make wise investing decisions when even the basic vocabulary is confusing and foreign. Before diving into any investment strategy it is very important to understand the terms that will be used. Here are some of the more common terms and their meaning:

Stock Market Index

While many people refer to the stock market, this can have many meanings. Many times people are referring to a particular stock market index. A stock market index is a group of stocks weighted in various ways to try to give a broad view of how the market as a whole, or a particular subset of the market is doing. The most common examples of these are the Down Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ composite.

Bull/Bear Market

In stock market language a bull market is one that is moving generally upwards and a bear market is one that is moving generally down. Moreover when the general sentiment is favorable for stock prices people are said to be “bullish” and when they swing the other way they are “bearish.”

Retirement Account

The creation of retirement accounts is one of the great driving forces behind people becoming more interested in the stock market. 401(k) plans as well as individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, have become very common these days. In the language of the stock market a “retirement account” is any account which allows the taxes on profits to be deferred until the money is withdrawn (presumably at retirement).

Mutual Fund

A mutual fund is a managed collective investment. All the money invested in mutual funds is pooled and invested by a manager in things like stocks and bonds and other securities. Mutual funds offer a way for investors to diversify their portfolios without having to research a wide variety of stocks and investments. They have the downside however that they are based on faith in the manager of the fund. For this reason many people prefer to invest in a particular kind of mutual fund called an index fund.

Index Fund

Index funds are funds which are set up to try to match the returns of a particular stock market index. In an index fund the management fees are very low because there is very little to do other than buy the correct amount of certain stocks. Additionally you can expect to earn average returns over the long haul which is often times better than many managed mutual funds and not as subject to downturns in particular industries or types of stocks.

Website content