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  • How to Find Dividend Yields on Stocks’ List?

    How to Find Dividend Yields on Stocks’ List?

    How to Find Dividend Yields on Stocks' List?

    By Guy Avtalyon

    The dividend yields are metric. For every single investor, the most important question is ‘How much money can I make’. At least, the reason to buy a stock or bond or ETF is to make money. It is important to understand what people mean when they talk about yield, return, and types of both. Investors have several ways to measure the money they expect to get, Depending on their investment strategies, investors have several ways to measure the money they expect to get. Managing risk is important. 

    What produces the dividend yields?

    Yield is the earnings you can make with an investment in a period of time. It’s the cash you get from making the loan. For example, you loan a friend $1,000 for a year. And your friend agrees to pay you back that $1,000 in twelve months, as well as $10 a month. For that loan, you’ll get back the principal as well as an extra $120.

    That means you’ll end up with 12% more money at the end of the year than you started with. This is easy to understand with loans and it’s similar to bonds, where the bond rate and payout periods determine what kind of money you get back and how often you’re paid.

    Do bonds give yields?

    But bonds are a little bit more complicated than loans because you can buy them from other investors. But the yield falls as the price rises because the yield depends on both the interest rate and the price you paid.

    Let’s say someone else bought the loan to your friend for $1100 and the 12% interest rate stayed the same, they’d only get $20 for the year, or 1.82% interest. That’s a  different yield from 12%, don’t you think.

    What determines the yields?

     

    The yield depends on both the interest rate and the price you paid. If you want a higher yield, you either need to earn more money from your investment every month or pay a lower price for the investment.

    Hence, there are different types of yield you can measure. But, you must know how stocks produce yield, for this to make sense.

    Do stocks give yields?

    Stocks don’t pay interest, but stocks may pay dividends. The dividend yield is easy to compare to other investments if you know what you paid for a stock. The problem is you can’t measure what everyone else paid for it. There are more possible to see the current yield of a stock, which divides the annual dividend payout with the current price of the stock.

    How to find dividend yields?

    If you want a regular cash income from your stock portfolio, you’ll have to understand dividend yield. The dividend yield is a pivotal metric that enables investors to analyze stocks. According to stock capability to generate dividends traders are trading them at many higher prices. To define dividend yield, you’ll need to know the total of a stock’s dividend payments per year and the current stock price.
    To calculate dividend yield you’ll have to add all the dividends paid per common share over the last year. Further, divide this amount by the current price. Then, multiply this result by 100 to discover the yield.

    For example, if the stock trades at $10 per share, the dividend yield is $0.70 divided by $10 and times 100, which is 7%.
    That would mean that for every $100 you invest in this stock, you receive income of $7 per year. Compare dividend yields of different stocks, and you’ll find the best investment choice.

    What is the difference between dividend yields and returns?

    But, not all stocks pay dividends. You might earn a great return that never pays you a penny.  But it is possible you’ll get money from selling a share for more than you paid for it. The same goes for bonds.

    Slowly, that combination of the profit you made from the sale plus any dividends you’ve received makes up your total return. Exactly as with yield, the price you paid is the most important factor in your return.

    But notice that there is one more essential difference between yield and return.

    The yield looks to the future.

    What can you earn in a year, what dividends will you receive, what interest payments will you get? These are predictable, depending on the risk of the investment of course.

    Return looks to the past.

    It includes interest or dividend payments, but it also depends on the price at which you sold your investment.

    What to maximize yield or return?

    The real goal of understanding yield and return is to compare how similar investments meet your investing goals. Any investment that returns money to you, produce regular income. If you can live from the incomes of your investments, that can be a great modus operandi.

    But if you want to build real wealth and you have enough for a long-term investment, total return is more important. But never ignore yield because it can be a great way to make better your returns. Pay attention to yield but look for good returns from share price realization as well.

    Whatever, being careful about the price you pay for investment will help you improve your yields and total returns.

  • Japanese MoneyTap app Connects 60 Banks with Ripple

    Japanese MoneyTap app Connects 60 Banks with Ripple

    1 min read

    All You Need To Know About Ripple

    The payments network Ripple is looking to launch the MoneyTap application with support from the SBI Ripple Asia Japanese Bank Consortium later this year. That will cause Ripple to have a large share of the Japanese currency transfer market, maybe the largest. MoneyTap has officially launched its website which is a major step forward connecting several Japanese banks via Ripple solutions. It said, in March this year, the app would make it easier for banks to settle round-the-clock domestic payments in Japan. MoneyTap App is going to reduce fees associated with traditional money transfer services. The fact is that Japan is residence to a huge market for fintech, or financial technology, particularly in the areas of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

    The deal between Ripple and the consortium has been planned for a few years.

    Japanese MoneyTap app and Ripple

    But now it looks like the firms involved are setting the closing preparations to launch the MoneyTap application in Japan. The app which was announced earlier this year, but the website for the service went live yesterday, September, 13th.

    The main purpose of the new technologies is to be applied in a wide range of industries to facilitate and enhance a great number of processes. The banking sector is one of the spheres that eagerly adopt new solutions with a view to improving its functioning.

    MoneyTap is a kind of a “simple bank transfer application without charge” and “a new bank experience application provided from the consortium for domestic and foreign exchange”.

    Speaking about the fund transfer system in Japan, transaction fees are quite high and requires a lot of time to be executed. By implementation of MoneyTap app, the situation will be changed. Via the solutions offered by Ripple, it is planned to reduce fees and to achieve a possibility to carry out reliable same-day transfers.

    The application is not ready for download just yet. But, the website going live shows that it will be soon. The projected launch date is autumn 2018.

    Ripple’s own blockchain technology is known mainly as the underlying network for its cryptocurrency, XRP, known as ripple too and it is also used for real-time transaction settlements.

    Presentation of the new app

    The new app, Money Tap will offer a money transfer too, so that will be available on iOS and Android phones. That characteristic place them to be one of the first apps with such functionality that will be used by a number of banks at the same time.

    In the beginning, the application will be working in collaboration with three of the members of the SBI Ripple Asia Consortium. The first banks involved are SBI Net Sumishin Bank, Suruga Bank, and Resona Bank. This preliminary launch will be followed by the service for the other 60 plus members.

    Ripple hits the center of Japanese money transfer

    Ripple are hoping that the move will place them at the center of the huge Japanese international money transfer market. They believe that can offer more affordable transfer than SWIFT is. Money Tap app could be more efficient in transfer smaller amounts of money than was previously feasible with traditional options.

    It is interesting that it will also compete with remittance companies like The Western Union Co. (WU). The launch will also support Ripple’s claims of offering a robust and dependable technology platform that can form the strong support of the modern payment system.

    Japanese MoneyTap app and Ripple keep the project under the veil

    We must say that practically no information on the project has been already revealed, but it is clear that Money Tap will be used by the Japanese Bank Consortium that unites over 60 local banks. That is almost 80% of the country’s banking system.

    The CEO of a Tokyo-based Strategic Business Innovator Group (SBI) has once said that they are also examining a possibility to use XRP for bridging currency on the Money Tap fund transfer platform. Now SBI is working with different cryptocurrencies.

    Ripple solutions and XRP tokens represent a special interest for SBI. Just a few months ago, the company established its crypto exchange called VCTRADE.

    Good news for Ripple,  more and more financial institutions are implementing Ripple’s technology to make easier their processes.

    But fans of the Ripple project, particularly  XRP token, should hold off on celebrating just yet. Like with many of the projects Ripple is working on, it could be that the service exists without using the token itself. Whilst this would likely be positive for those invested in terms of exposure, it would not represent automatically adoption of XRP in itself.

    It would make sense for Ripple to sideline their XRP token given that it is still not clear whether global regulators deem it as a security.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

  • How to select trading signals?

    How to select trading signals?

    How to select trading signals?
    Trading signals are important for successful trading but too many of them will confuse you

    By Guy Avtalyon

    To select trading signals, your beliefs are the most important driver.  

    You must have the right trading signals to guide you in the intensively competitive environments you will find in the stock market, futures, forex, and options markets.

    The challenge is that it is not as simple as finding the best trading signal. Because just like everything else in your trading system, your signals should be based on your beliefs and your trading strategy.

    If this is not the case you will have trouble pulling the trigger when you get a signal. 

    Because of the way you enter and exit the market should be based on what you believe about your trading strategy and how the markets work.

    How to select trading signals based on beliefs?

    Your beliefs about the market are the most important determinant of your ideal trading system.

    The first step to ensure you select a trading signal which matches your beliefs is to document your beliefs about trade setups, entry signals, exit signals, and initial stop losses.
    Some traders believe that there is absolutely no value in using trial and error trying all different entry triggers / buy signals/sell signals hoping to find something that works.

    According to such traders, trial and error in trading signal selection will result in a curve-fitted, worthless trading system. That can be true at some point.

    The influence of trading signals

    When you apply the trial and error method, you get a curve showing the past data. You can get a system that works fantastically well on past data but doesn’t work tomorrow or into the future.

    Maybe, for that reason, it is better to start with your beliefs and your trading strategy and select trading signals that support these to reduce your chance of curve fitting.

    When you change your approach you can found enormous benefits which included:

    • Greater clarity on objectives
    • Reduced need for optimization
    • Greater real-time profitability
    • Reduced development time
    • Simplified system design

    To be clear.

    The internet is a wonderful tool, but the vast amount of information and companies/people dispensing forex trading signals and advice can be daunting and confusing to newer traders.

    Advanced traders already can recognize what constitutes quality versus hype.

    Forex signal services

    No one forex signal service will ever meet the needs of all traders, but a good service must.

    Few trading services post their performance. There are several reasons for this:

    The performance is simply not worth showing as it does little to motivate.
    The raw data, no matter how robust, falls on deaf ears.

    The first consideration is that looking for a trading signal that generates a profitable trade on its own is nonsensical. You may get the best entry signal ever created. It will be useless unless you adopt this rule as part of your trading system. Also, you’ll need all of the required components working together. Otherwise, there is no way you will make money in the long run.

    A complete trading system needs each of the following:

    Objectives
    Setup
    Entry trigger
    Initial stop loss
    Exits

    Money management and Position size rules

    The trade entry trigger is just one part of the complete system.

    Many people also suggest that it is the least important part of the system. Entry triggers are the area most prone to curve fitting, over-optimization, and random noise in the market.

    Actually, how you exit a trade once you are in determines how much profit you make from it.

    Remember, simple is better than complex. Fewer rules is better than more rules. Complex trading systems with many rules may not perform well in the future.

    Well, it is more difficult to warp fit a simple system with several rules to past data. Hence, if you have many rules and complex manipulations you can easily fit your system to the past data. This will perform it largely useless in the future!

    One trader told us: ”Use simple trading signals that fit your trading strategy and beliefs”. That helps a lot.

  • Do trading signals work?

    Do trading signals work?

    2 min read

    Do trading signals work?

    The answer is Yes!

    Of course yes. A successful trader can be a great signals provider.

    They work but you have to follow instructions, do right money management and choose a good signal provider that show real performance, not scammers.

    Off course there are signal providers which work. Some are even free of costs to you, Some work on a subscription basis. The problem is to find the right signal on these platforms.

    Yes, they do. Trading signals work.

    But it has to combine with the overall market scenario as well. Awareness about the happening in the financial world on micro and macro levels is important to fully trust a trading signal. 

    Trading signals always require a stop loss to be put along while following a signal.

    Trading Signals are meant to be an assistance, not reliance. One should never ever follow trading signals blindly.

    Always do your own research before investing in any asset class be it forex crypto or stocks. Trading signals work as a good confluence for trade setups.

    That helps!

    Trading signals in Forex trading.

    It is possible to find a number of courses for FX signals. There are a lot of websites that are dedicated to such a service, and social media makes it possible for people to share Forex signals free versions and premium versions. There are three main groups of people that are responsible for sending such signals out

    Traders
    Affiliates
    Scammers

    And you will see, many of them are scammers but a very few honest people are still out there.

    Forex trading signals serve as signposts or indicators of when/how to act on a particular currency. It is important for investors to know how to read signals.

    Trading signals work in a variety of designs, from bear/bull designs to geometric shapes, and can bring attention to important currency details.

    Do trading signals work? 1Why should an investor have to know how to read these things? For the same reason, drivers have to learn how to recognize road signs: if you don’t know what the signs mean, you could end up ruined. Forex signal trading cannot be taken lightly. It is home to a rapidly changing environment where some online brokers manipulate the original data feed to cause errors in the marketplace and earn a profit over them

    We show you these groups in the order in which they can be trusted.

     

    It is common to find traders that are looking to share their ideas with the outside world.

    Their main aim in doing so is to earn a reputation of being a good trader, help out other people, and simply support the place that was once supporting them when they were new to FX trading. Usually, it is possible to find traders that are sharing FX signals free on various forums.

    What does such a trader, signal seller try to aim?

    Traders try to send reliable signals by performing their own analysis and providing exactly the same information that they are using in their own trades

    Affiliates represent another group of signal providers.

    You can get free daily Forex signals from this group once you have signed up for an account with a broker using their affiliate link.

    In this way, affiliates can still make a commission on the trades you make, but the signals remain free to you. However, not every person has enough time to support both his affiliate business and his trading activities.

    So you should be cautious about this group of signal providers. 

    Sometimes the quality of their signals may drop because they put more accent on their own promotion. But you can still treat such signals with a decent level of trust.

    But remember, it is a must to have former testing of their daily free Forex signals on a demo account.
    Do trading signals work? 2
    Scammers are the people you should be avoided, because they are only interested in making an affiliate commission from you, or just making you purchase their ‘free’ signals. Such providers usually employ quite obvious methods of attracting clients. They provide a few free Forex signals online and later ask you to buy premium signals.

    After you have signed up for free, you will be sent some signals, but they will do the same to the other people that have signed up.

    Some of these people are going to receive BUY orders, others will be provided with SELL orders. This way a scammer can split his audience in half.

    The first 50% is going to profitable and another 50% will be losing. 

    So do not fall for scams, as they cannot deliver anything close to the best Free forex signals. Some trading signals/strategies work very well as long as they aren’t “overused”.

    You can have a go with them and see if they can produce what they claim. They have to let you know the result. If they can’t, never subscribe to that signal service!

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

  • Signal Provider – How To Pick Right One?

    Signal Provider – How To Pick Right One?

    How to pick right signal provider?
    Picking the good signal provider can be harder than anyone can imagine. Truly nightmare. 

    By Guy Avtalyon

    A signal provider can help you but also ruin you. Many forex traders use forex signal providers’ services to make money. Traders who struggle to make profitable trades in the forex market can leverage off successful forex traders by using their signals in their trades.

    Not every forex signal provider out there is authentic and attempting to make sense of which ones are con artists. And ones which are genuine can be an overwhelming assignment.

    Finding the right signal provider is the challenge

    Finding a reliable forex signal service can seem like a challenge. There are those signal providers that are professional and transparent.

    And unfortunately, there are those providers that do not always have their members’ best interest in mind.

    It is up to you. You have to do your due diligence. To be sure that you are working with an honest forex signals provider. The one you can trust and have faith in.

    There are several things the trader would consider when are going to pick your signal provider.

    A trader should be aware that there are a lot of hardcore scammers in the market. They are working very hard to provide fake, low quality, and substandard forex signals.

    Most of these hardcore scammers have no background. Or training in any financial matters. And usually, feed the trader with performance statistics that are imaginary.

    But yet convincing to a trader who is not smart enough.

    The best way a trader can deal with this problem is by spending at least 5 minutes looking at what other traders are saying about this respective signals provider.

    This will help him or her in making an informed and proper judgment.

    Another way is by the trader looking at the level of detail contained in the signals provided by the forex signal provider. If he or she realizes that it just entails a few charts with a loss or profitable line, the trader has a reason to think twice before following such signals.

    A trader should look for testimonials about various forex signal providers available in the market. A trader should look at what other players in the industry are saying about the available signal providers. This will enable the trader to choose the best provider in terms of accuracy, quality, timeliness, and affordability of the services offered.

    What trader should check?

    The trader should check the number of TPs the providers have in one trade.

    Also, the trader should check how the providers put together the performance statistics.

     Check if the providers have a trade by trade statistics.

    The bottom line is that any trader who wants to be profitable in the long term should start learning by himself or herself about forex signals through experience and self-training.

    If you search for forex signal providers on the web, you will most likely be unable to recognize the sites of scammers from genuine suppliers.

    Scammers’ sites are so comparative and competitive.

    Sometimes you can feel that clueless forex merchants typically get gotten in the scammer’s site rather than the genuine forex signal supplier. When they understood that the signal is not profiting, it would have been past the point of no return.

    The scammers had officially taken the cash and it is past the point where it is possible to do anything.

    Signal providers will give you entry and exit signals but remember you have no idea how they came up with the entry and exit points, all you have to do is follow.

    With all these promises, you will be tempted to subscribe. That is the moment it will dawn on you that whatever you have subscribed to is a pack of lies.

    Forex Signal providers are typically separated into two different groups

    It is based on how they generate their trading ideas – technical analysis and fundamental analysts.

    Technical Analysts base their trading decisions on chart analysis including support and resistance levels, candlestick patterns, price channels, market structure, or other technical approaches. Many technical analysts have a proprietary method for analyzing the markets. And the highly successful ones have spent many years researching and testing their methodology. All over historical data and in real-time market conditions.

    Fundamental Analysts base their trading decisions on economic and news related data. This could be in the form of long-term interest rate analysis, inflation, central bank policy, employment reports, sentiment surveys, and more.

    Some are longer-term position traders while many others are shorter-term traders that try to catch volatility spikes after an anticipated news release.

    Some traders may think “reliable” means having a high win rate, but that is not really what you primarily want to be looking at.

    Actually, win rates are not that important as a metric by itself. You must also analyze the average risk to reward in conjunction with the win rate.

    There are strategies with 90% win rates that can lose money and then there are strategies with 30% win rates that can make money.

    Another factor to consider is the technology the signal provider is using. Do they have a reliable platform to send out notifications and are there multiple ways for you to receive the alerts? But there is something important also. Do the trading alerts always detail the buy and sell signals, or present stop-loss levels and targets? Or do they only provide superficial information such as entries but no exit details? These are some of the factors you need to consider.

    So how can you find out if a provider is reputable and worth your time?

    Sign up for a Trial – Sometimes this the best way to get started is by signing up for a forex signals trial. You may get a real sense of the quality of service by diving in and taking a test drive. Many signal providers offer a 1 or 2 week trial for members.

    Join their Email List – Another way to find a provider is by joining their email newsletter. You will find the value that they provide for free.  So, you can evaluate whether their premium forex signals service will meet your expectations.  

    Check their Track Record – Every single reputable FX signal provider will implement a performance record detailing their published trades. This is a good way to find their average pip profit per month. Their risk parameters, average win percentage, and other related metrics.

    Google them – Yes, simply Google them. Are they mentioned in any important trade publications or articles? What type of social following do they have?

    Do everything possible to find with whom you are dealing. Just don’t be one of those naysayers.
    Check it, try it, test it, and make your own conclusion.

  • Trade signals – What Is It and How To Use?

    Trade signals – What Is It and How To Use?

    .

    2 min read

    What are trade signals?

    Trade signals are simply when someone is making a trade call. Either to buy or sell a security or other asset, generated by analysis.

    They show you that it is a good time to buy or sell a particular security.

    So if they believe an asset will go higher or lower, they will tell you via some kind of message, email or software. After that, it is up to you to follow or not to follow.

    Actually, trading signal is a alert that is based on technical indicators. 

    Trade signals come in a variety of forms. They can be bull or bear pennants, rectangles, triangles, and wedges, as well as head-and-shoulders chart patterns. Trade signals may also bring attention to abnormal volumes, options activity, and short interest.

    There are lots of trade signals

    As anyone can make calls, the challenge often is finding one run by an actual trader. These type of services exist in the institutional world as well. They just tend to be a little more accurate than ones you find available to retail traders.
    What are trade signals? 2
    Market Signal is an unintentional or passive passage of information or indication between participants of a market. For example, If a firm issues bonds it indirectly shows that it needs capital and also desires to retain control. Thus instead of equity capita,l it prefers loan capital. It is based on technical indicators. And usually is the sign for when to sell or buy a particular product.

    It also brings the attention of users to the other options available, abnormal growth and short-term interests.

    Trade signals in volatile markets

    Using signals in volatile markets can help to point out opportunities to the investors. Also, they will signal them if they disappear.

    There are usually two ways to deliver market signal: send news and activity. The market signal expects to deliver consumer, rivals and outlet member. And the earlier studying of the market signal which is mainly a concentration of signal’s influence.

    For instance, it is the price signal where costly products make the customer think it is made of high-quality raw material.

    That is a kind of advertisement in which the main aim is to make the customer think that a certain enterprise has more advantage.

    Every company doesn’t market in a static environment, the competitor and member of the outlet will make prediction and reaction to enterprises, their decisions process is a dynamic market mechanism.

    Trade signals in Forex

    In Forex, traders are using trade signals all over the world to aid them in making critical decisions about their trades. They are one of the most important tools a trader has, and almost all traders choose to use them in one way or another.

    There are many types of signals systems, some are offered for free while others for a fee but take in mind that a trustworthy service should include information about taking profit and stop loss configurations.

    A forex signal is a suggestion for entering a trade on a currency pair, usually at a specific price and time.

    Who can generate the trade signal? Human-analyst or an automated Forex robot supply a subscriber of the forex signal service. They are usually sent via email, website, SMS, RSS, tweet.

    The majority of signal providers focus on supplying signals based on technical analysis and a minority work on fundamental analysis or price action.

    Technical analysis, such as Ichimoku and candlestick charting, show both short and long-term price trends giving the signal provider flexibility in supplying a range of trade options.

    The fundamental analysis gives longer-term trade ideas. Price action gives extremely short-term trade ideas, often more suited to scalping.

    Trade signal in the stock market

    The signal in the stock market is developed by George Lane. It is an indicator that measures the relationship between an issue’s closing price and its price range over a predetermined period of time.

    What are trade signals? 3
    A short note about George Lane (1921 – 2004): He was a securities trader, author, educator, speaker, and technical analyst. He was part of a group of futures traders in Chicago who developed the stochastic oscillator (also known as “Lane’s stochastics”). This is one of the core indicators used today among technical analysts. Lane was also President of Investment Educators Inc. in Watseka, Illinois, where he taught investors and financial professionals basic and advanced technical analysis methods. He popularized the stochastic oscillator.

     

    Stock trading signals

    Stock trading signals are simply the implementation of a trading system or method.

    The actual signal is given when a traders system determines all criteria necessary for a new buy. Signal are met now and a new buy order can be placed by the trader.

    Stock trading signals are most often associated with technical analysis. This is a study of price action and derivatives of price action.

    An example of a technical analysis price indicator may be a Moving Average or MACD. Traders can receive stock signals on thousands of trading methods.

    Trading stocks can be extremely lucrative when you are able to find trading signals that are proven to be effective. Trusted stocks signals help you predict the market investing in stocks. Doing that with live trading signals sent directly to your device, in the app. With this, you will be able to get live rates on hundreds of different assets.  

    How does it work?

    The software scours social media and accumulates posts, comments, etc that include keywords of interest. All this data is then filtered and crunched to produce interesting statistics. Showing the true public opinion using their words, giving an in-depth insight into public minds.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

  • What is Speculation? Trading or Gambling?

    What is Speculation? Trading or Gambling?

    3 min read

    What is Speculation? Trading or Gambling?

    The definition of speculation says:

    The speculation involves trading a financial instrument involving high risk, in expectation of significant returns.
    The motive is to take maximum advantage of fluctuations in the market.

    Who are speculators?

    Speculators are prevalent in the markets where price movements of securities are highly frequent and volatile. They play very important roles in the markets. Because they can absorb excess risk. And provide much-needed liquidity in the market by buying and selling when other investors don’t participate. 

    What is speculation?

    Let’s be clear.

    Speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more worthy in the future.

    Speaking about finance as a field, speculation is also the practice of engaging in risky financial transactions. In an attempt to profit from short-term fluctuations in the market value of a tradable financial instrument.

    Rather than attempting to profit from the underlying financial attributes embodied in the instrument such as capital gains, dividends, or interest.

    Not one speculator pay attention to the fundamental value of a security. Instead, speculators are focused purely on price movements. Speculation can involve any tradable good or financial instrument. Speculators are particularly familiar with markets for stocks, bonds, commodity futures, currencies, fine art, collectibles, real estate, and derivatives.

    Why speculators are important? 

    What is Speculation? Trading or Gambling? 1Speculators play one of four primary roles in financial markets, besides hedgers, who engage in transactions to offset some other pre-existing risk, arbitrageurs who look for profit from situations where fungible instruments trade at different prices in different market segments, and investors who seek profit through long-term ownership of an instrument’s underlying attributes.

    Why wouldn’t we consult history?

    The appearance of the stock ticker machine in 1867,  removed the obligation for traders to be physically present on the floor of a stock exchange. Since then, stock speculation went through a dramatic expansion through the end of the 1920s.

    The number of shareholders increased tremendously. Let’ say, from 4.4 million in 1900 to 26 million in 1932.

    Whether speculation has a place in the portfolios of investors is the subject of much debate. Some investors believe the market is always fairly priced. They are thinking about speculation as an unreliable and unwise way to profits. Speculators believe that the market has a lot of variables and each of them is the opportunity for capital growth.

    The view of what distinguishes investment from speculation and speculation from excessive speculation varies widely among pundits, legislators, and academics.

    Speculation as higher risk

    Some sources note that speculation is simply a higher risk form of investment. Others define speculation more narrowly as positions not characterized as hedging.

    The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission defines a speculator as “a trader who does not hedge, but who trades with the objective of achieving profits through the successful anticipation of price movements.”

    The agency emphasizes that speculators serve important market functions. But defines excessive speculation as harmful to the proper functioning of futures markets.

    Frankly, some speculation is necessary and unavoidable.

    Why?

    In many common-stock situations, you can find substantial possibilities of both profit and loss, and the risks therein must be assumed by someone.

    True?

    Many long-term investors, even those who buy and hold for decades, maybe classified as speculators. Of course, excepting only the rare few who are primarily motivated by income. Or the safety of principal and not eventually selling at a profit.

    We already conclude the trading is art.

    But we have to admit that speculators are real artists.

    Yes, we know that some market pros have the opinion that speculators are gamblers. But as we said above, a healthy market is made up of not only hedgers and arbitrageurs, but also speculators.

    Economist John Maynard Keynes said that speculation is knowing the future of the market better than the market itself.

    And you know who Keynes was. This giant of finance, English economist, journalist, and financier is best known for his Keynesian economics, theories on the causes of prolonged unemployment.

    He developed, so-called, Keynesian economics during the 1930s in an attempt to understand the Great Depression. Keynesian economics is a theory of total spending in the economy (called aggregate demand). And its effects on output and inflation.

    A Keynesian believes that aggregate demand is influenced by a host of economic decisions, both public and private and sometimes behaves erratically. 

    Let’s go back to speculations.

    Speculation usually involves more risks than investment.

    That’s true.

    But, everyone has to recognize the price-stabilizing role of speculators. One who tends to even out price-fluctuations due to changes in the conditions of demand or supply. Only because they have better than average foresight.

    One of them explained the benefits of speculation. Victor Niederhoffer, in his book “The Speculator as Hero” wrote:

    ”Let’s consider some of the principles that explain the causes of shortages and surpluses and the role of speculators. When a harvest is too small to satisfy consumption at its normal rate, speculators come in, hoping to profit from the scarcity by buying. Their purchases raise the price, thereby checking consumption so that the smaller supply will last longer. Producers encouraged by the high price further lessen the shortage by growing or importing to reduce the shortage. On the other side, when the price is higher than the speculators think the facts warrant, they sell. This reduces prices, encouraging consumption and exports and helping to reduce the surplus.”

    What is Speculation? Trading or Gambling? 2The art of speculating covers a wide range of trading tactics. Including pairs trading, swing trading, employing hedging strategies and recognizing chart patterns. Speculators are well skilled at fundamental analysis. Including spot over- or under-valued companies, the amount of short interest a company holds. And, analysis of earnings and other SEC statements. A speculator with skills and good performance knows that the short-term movements of the investment markets are largely tied to world events.  

    According to the  Los Angeles Times, baby boomers are trying a new investment strategy for their retirements accounts.
    Instead of the passive investment strategy that most employees use, an increasing number of people have turned to speculate. In an attempt to catch up on shortfalls in their retirement accounts.

    How to become speculator?

    Every trader who wants to become speculator has to spend many years of learning, watching, practicing.

    Such one must learn how the market behaves and watch how favorite stocks react to market events.

    For many traders, the book, “How to Make Money in Stocks” by William O’Neil, is a value for learning the art of speculation.

    This book and many others provide ambitious trader practical tips on trading and risk management. 

    Speculation popularity is spreading rapidly because of the easy access to world investment markets through online brokerage portals.

    But speculation is difficult to master, so you have to learn a lot if you mean to become speculator one day.

    After you have a continuous track record of success through both up and down markets, it’s time to consider speculating with real money.

    Successful speculating takes a lot of skill, time and experience to master. Most people who work outside of the financial industry don’t have that.

    That’s why the speculators are real artists.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

  • Asian shares a sea of red on trade, emerging market anxieties

    Asian shares a sea of red on trade, emerging market anxieties

    Asian shares a sea of red on trade, emerging market anxieties 1
    Asian shares a sea of red on trade, emerging market anxieties  (Reuster)

    According to Reuters, Asian shares fell for a sixth straight session on Thursday as oil skidded and safe-haven gold gained, with investor confidence shaken by turmoil in emerging markets and jitters over a potentially severe escalation in the U.S.-China trade war. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan.MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.4 percent to hit its lowest since mid-August. Japan’s Nikkei .N225 slipped 0.2 percent while Australian and New Zealand indices.NZ50 fell more than 1 percent each.

    China’s blue-chip index.CSI300 slipped 0.2 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index.HSI dipped 0.5 percent. Read the full article about Asian shares here…

    Introducing the Australian Stock Market

     

  • Scams – How to avoid scams in trading and investing

    Scams – How to avoid scams in trading and investing

    How to avoid scams in trading and investing
    Scams in the world of trading are not rare, so pay attention to the following situations.

    By Guy Avtalyon

    The intent of all the scammers is to get hold of your money. Scams come to us with many faces, different forms, but all of them have one goal: to make us poor. They are getting us to reveal our personal details, steal our information, or make us to voluntarily give them cash.

    At first, everyone thought the Internet was a safe place. But we all can become an easy target for evil actors who want to steal our personal data.

    How to recognize scams?

    Criminal minds can reach into our private lives, our homes, and our work offices.

    And there is little we can do about it. Attack tactics and tools vary from traditional attacks from malicious software to ingenious phishing scams. They are usually developed in regions where justice can’t easily reach out to catch them.

    The forex market involves very active trading of over $1 trillion each day, with futures and currency options, it is closer to $5 trillion daily. The market does not have strong regulation, although things have started to improve recently.
    Let’s say,  everyone wanting help in making money in the stock market will be interested in finding a trading system.

    There are plenty available.

    Unfortunately, there are so many humbugs in the trading system.

    How to separate the legitimate trading systems from the scammers? 

    Based on research and experience, here are some good ways to mark trading system scams:

    • Do your own research. There is no need to be in a hurry when you have to invest your own money. You should first read up on the steps of investing. Make sure you know at least the basic setups of trading and investing. Be very cautious with online trading.
    • Choose a trading system. Successful trading systems can be a hedge fund or mutual fund. If you want to invest in something that has clear systematic knowledge-based information, you have to pick some trusty trading system.
    • * Examine a trial period. An investment scam often does not include trial-periods or customer satisfaction. Before you invest your money, you should invest your time in researching the terms and conditions of the item.
    • * Check a broker report. It has to be registered, so you may get reports that include information such as qualifications, reliability, and employment history. This can help you to spot any previous problems or concerns before investing.

    Cybercriminals will pull you to believe you can make money easy and fast on the internet. They’ll promise you plans and methods of getting rich quickly. It is quite simple especially when someone is in a difficult financial situation.

    How do trading scams work?

    This scamming method is similar to the romance scam.

    Cyberattackers approach to the emotional side of victims. For example, the false posting of non-existent jobs for a variety of positions is one of the online criminals’ methods.

    Using different job types, such as work-at-home, the victim is pushed to give personal and financial data with the promise of a well-paid job. Of course, it carries lots of money in a very short time. For sure.

    Never share sensitive financial information with anyone you don’t know well. Scammers can reach you out via phone, SMS, or email. They can contact you, pretending they are from a financial institution or government agency.

    They could tell your account is compromised or needs to be updated. These criminals are trying to trick you into giving them your credit card number, Social Security number. This scam is known as phishing.

    Keep in mind, your bank or credit card provider will never ask you for personal data in that way. If you receive a suspicious call or email, call the credit card provider or bank immediately to check on your account status.

    Let’s go back to trading.

    One of the challenges a novice forex investor faces is how to determine which operators to trust in the forex market and which to avoid. Signal sellers are a good example. Some analysts propose that many or even most signal sellers are scammers. A frequent criticism is that if it were really possible to use a system to beat the market, why would anyone that has this information make it widely available?

    Other analysts distinguish between known scammers and more reputable information sources such as Metatrader, that offer a well-thought-out signaling service.

    Behind these views lies a larger difference of opinion on whether anyone can predict the next move in a trading market. The best way to determine if a signal seller can benefit you is to open a demo trading account with one of the better-known forex brokers. Be patient, and you’ll determine whether predictive signaling works for you or doesn’t.

    Some forex brokers do not deal fairly with their customers and defraud them.  You should trade with a broker that also handles other stock market trades and is subject to SEC and FINRA oversight.

    The forex trade itself may be unregulated, but no broker as the subject of such oversight would risk its license for other securities by defrauding its forex customers.

    Follow these signals because such scammers are always coming back. With the same or slightly altered face.

     

  • How to create your first trading strategy

    How to create your first trading strategy

    How to create your first trading strategy
    Find how to create your first trading strategy, what to look at and how it differs from investing strategy

    By Guy Avtalyon

    Okay, you want to create your first trading strategy and, to be honest, I understand your dilemma. You would like to be successful and you want to know, what strategy should you choose to nail it.

    Listen, there!

    What is the trading strategy?

    A trading strategy is a set of trading settings that serve the currency trader or stock to determine whether to buy or sell a currency or stock, where to enter and exit the position.  And how much capital they invest in trade, and in doing so, earn a difference in price.  

    The trading strategy is a fixed plan that is designed to achieve a profitable return by going long or short in markets.
    A broker can offer you the opportunity to enter into trades that are multiple times the value of the margin that you place. The market is fluid and you can open a trade or exit from one very quickly, so there is potential to make considerable returns.

    What is the investing strategy?

    The investment strategy is a set of rules, behaviors, or procedures, designed to guide an investor’s selection of an investment portfolio. People have different profit objectives, and their individual skills make different tactics and strategies appropriate.

    To complicated? Wait!!! There are more!

    A trading strategy can be – automated (various robots for trading, etc.) – manual (the vast majority of traders use their own trading system.)

    We would like to show you some of them which are successful. We will give you a brief description of 5 simple strategies that can help you to maximize your profits:

    Swing trading

    You can enter a successful swing trade by timing your trade. Do that when is a breakout after a consolidation.
    What does this mean? A period of consolidation occurs when a currency pair moves in an almost precisely defined price range. A breakout will occur. What really happens is that the values of the currencies “breakout” the resistance level. If you predict the breakout accurately, you’ll profit from that trade.

    A swing trade uses a channel trading strategy. Trades take place between the support and resistance levels of swing highs and swing lows.

     

    Rangebound trading

    Here you will need to identify a currency pair that trades within a certain range. Then, you have to identify the support and resistance levels and then time your trade by taking these movements into account.

    It is likely that there will not be a big difference between the upper and lower prices of the range. Because of this reason, you could trade in one of two ways.

    The first option is to trade within the range which will limit your profits as the price difference is bound to be minimal.

    The second way is to look for a breakout from the range. If this happens, you will have to react quickly. You can make a quick profit, but you can lose out. When you see a “false breakout” be extremely cautious because it may mean the market is moving against you so you’ll end up in losses.

    Position trading

    A position trade is not a short-term trade. It is based on macroeconomic trends. It could run over weeks or months or years. Traders take a long-term position based on an understanding of how inflation or the rate at which an economy is growing, will affect the value of a currency.

    If you want to adopt this strategy, you have to stay stick to two rules. First, do not use much leverage. A maximum of 10:1 is quite good in the forex trading. Secondly, the size should be relatively small. This is because you are thinking that some large movement in the relative price of the currency pair is possible.

    Carry trade

    A carry trade means to enter the trade that could take advantage of the interest rate differential of the two currencies.  That means you will be selling a currency with a low-interest rate and buying one that provides a greater rate of interest. Normally, you would choose a currency pair where the higher interest rate currency will appreciate to the lower interest rate currency.

    Carry trades can be high-risk. They are based on a combination of technical and fundamental analysis.

    Momentum trading

    Well, you have to know that the price constantly lies, but momentum tells the facts.
    At the simplest level, you can use momentum trading when rates are going up, then you should buy and when they are declining, you should sell and maximize your profits in the forex market.

    If you want to implement this strategy, you have to identify the currency pairs that show the greatest momentum and have moved most strongly. It is possible by tracking price movements over a period of several weeks.

    Then trade those pairs that show the greatest momentum.

    What do you need to be successful in trading?

    Let’s go back to the beginning and say a few words about how for every trader is important to use a reliable and robust trading platform. You will need an Expert Advisor (EA). It allows you to conduct backtesting of your trading strategy before you commit your funds. You will need one that functions effectively on your smartphone and your tablet as well, a versatile platform that works well under Windows, MacOS, and Linux.

    A system with 100% success does not exist so that you must not expect any of these systems to get your earnings each and every time. But, while following all the rules you can only end up in the plus!

    How to create the first trading strategy?

    New traders start to learn trading strategies from other traders. They are mirroring strategies from experienced traders. But, how do they get started with their trading strategy?

    Fun fact 1: Creating your first trading strategy is easy.
    Fun fact 2: Creating a profitable trading strategy is hard.

    Basically, you have to follow some basic steps while formulating your first trading strategy. Building your own can be fun, easy, and surprisingly quick.

    But, don’t expect your first trading strategy will make you rich.

    So, what you have to do?

    Recognize the real reason why you want to enter the market and have principles.

    Before you start creating your own trading strategy, you must have an idea of how the market works. Most importantly, you need to answer this question.

    How to make money from trading?

    To answer this question you have to read and learn about both technical and fundamental analysis. Avoid get-rich-quick offers.  Take care of demand and supply. Never have trust in theories that claim that people are perfectly rational.

    Your principles will define your every step in the market, so it is very important to stick with it. It will need your full attention. It is an urge to follow one principle in your first trading strategy. Never choose complicated solutions. The simpler, the better. Trade by the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid).

    In the beginning, you don’t want to be astounded by a complex strategy. Besides, a trading strategy with more moving parts is harder to manage and improve.

    How to choose a market for first trading strategy?

    What do you want to trade: Forex, Options, Futures, Equities?

    If you want to trade forex, you have to understand what you are buying and selling with a currency quote. You have to learn about the different models of forex brokers.  You have to know how the margin is calculated. If you want to trade equities, you must know what a share means or the difference between a blue-chip and penny stock.

    There’s a lot to learn about each market but you can not start to learn until you choose your trading market. The rule of thumb is that you must understand the market you choose to trade.

    Define a trading frame

    Yeah, I know.

    It’s not easy to decide on a trading time frame. At first, you will not know if you like more quick scalping or daily swing trading.

    Maybe an idea to try intraday trading isn’t bad. You’ll be able to watch the market for long-term periods. But you have to know, when you trade fast time frames, you get fast feedback which shortens your learning period.

    If you are not able to watch the market for long-term periods, start with end-of-day charts. With some effort, you can learn enough to decide if swing trading is for you.

    What have you to define?

    Entry trigger. – It will help you enter the market without hesitation or demur. Both, bar and candlestick patterns are useful triggers. If you prefer indicators, oscillators like the RSI and stochastics are good solutions also.

    You have to plan your exit trigger. – The market can go against you, causing you limitless losses. Having a stop-loss option is crucial. You need to plan when to exit if things go wrong and also you need to plan when to exit if things do go your way. The market will not go in your favor always. That’s why you have to know when is the moment to take profits.

    Take care about the position size

    Set your risk limit. – Once you have your entry and exit rules sorted out, you can work on limiting risk. The basic way to do so is by position sizing. This means that for a certain trading setup, your position size determines how much money you are putting on the line. If you double your position size, and you will double your risk. You should be very careful about your position size.

    And it’s time to choose a tool to determine the trend. – You don’t trade when you see a Pin Bar (shortener for ‘Pinocchio Bar,’ a single candlestick set up that clues price action traders into potential reversals in the market). Trade only when the market is rising, and you should use a bullish Pin Bar to trigger your trade. You don’t trade when you see a Gimmee Bar (price action reversal candle formation). Trade only when you conclude that the market is going sideways, and you use a Gimmee Bar to enter the market.

    You have to decide on a tool to help you judge the market context, trending or not, up or down. For example, choose price action tools like swing pivots or trend lines. You can also use technical indicators like moving averages and MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence).

    Write down your first trading plan

    Write down your trading rules. – It is always good advice. Your trading strategy is still simple and you might be able to memorize the trading rules. But you must write down your trading rules. If you write down the trading plan you will get a robust and trustworthy method. Just in order to ensure discipline and consistency. It also gives you a record of your trading strategy. You will find it useful when you have to improve it.

    When you have written rules, you can backtest the strategy. – When you have a discretionary trading strategy, backtesting can be an arduous process. Discretionary trading is decision-based trading where the trader decides which trades to make based on current market conditions, and system trading is rule-based trading where the trading system decides which trades to make, regardless of current conditions. So, if you have a discretionary trading strategy you need to replay the market price action and record your trades manually.

    But if you have a mechanical trading strategy and a coding background, you can speed up this stage. Looking through the trades one by one is a fantastic way to develop your market instincts. This can also help you think of ways to improve your trading strategy.

    Should you be worried if the first trading strategy is not profitable?

    It’s okay. Your trading strategy is not fixed, it is a living thing. As your experience and knowledge grow, your trading strategy will improve. Try to avoid radical changes to your trading strategy.

    Your goal is to achieve a positive expectancy with every trade. Not positive profits for each trade. Statistics have to work for you.

    One thing is the most important when you create your first strategy and enter the market for the first time.

    Don’t be stubborn on the market. That could be the biggest mistake.