Tag: investing

All investing related articles are found here. Educative, informative and written clearly.

  • Mutual funds are an opportunity to make wealth

    Mutual funds are an opportunity to make wealth

    3 min read

    Mutual funds are an opportunity to make wealth 1

    What are the benefits of mutual funds? How much do they cost? Which funds are right for you? What should you consider before investing?

    These are just a few of the questions we’ll answer here.

    Mutual funds are not bank deposits and are not guaranteed by any government agency.

    They involve risks, including the potential loss of some or all of your investment. Past performance is not a solid sign of future performance.

    However, it can help you evaluate a fund’s volatility and how it operates in various market circumstances.

    WHY INVEST IN MUTUAL FUNDS?

    Mutual funds are an opportunity to make wealth

    Advantages

    As an example, more than 100 million Americans use mutual funds to invest in their long-term goals. Here are some of the benefits they offer:

    Professional management

    When you invest in a mutual fund, your money is managed by full-time professionals. They research and select investments that are appropriate for the goals of each fund, and monitor the fund’s performance so they can change the portfolio when needed.

    Diversification

    Buying shares in a mutual fund make it comfortable for you to spread your investment over many different companies and industries. This may help to protect your assets over market volatility. Nevertheless, diversification doesn’t ensure a profit or defend against a loss.

    Choice

    Mutual funds give you a wide variety of choices to help meet your financial goals. You can invest for different objectives, at different levels of risk and in different kinds of securities.

    Affordability

    Mutual funds allow you to invest with a nearly small amount of money. Without a fund, it would usually demand a much considerable investment to build such a diversified portfolio.

    Liquidity

    You can ordinarily sell your shares at any moment and for any cause. Anyway, there may be exceptional moments when fund purchases are limited because of some extreme market requirements.

    Automatic Reinvestment

    Mutual funds give you the choice of reinvesting your yields and capital gains in new shares of the fund, without being indebted a sales charge.

    A mutual fund is when a group of investors gives money to managers to invest in diversified securities. It can be stocks and bonds, for example. Because it’s group, every part-owner as the investor is, profits and loses an equivalent piece. The costs of the mutual fund are divided according to the cost proportion. And, because the funds are diversified among stocks or bonds and other securities, they are regularly lower risk than individual stocks or bonds.

    To some investors, choosing individual securities to invest in and guide can be a risky task.

    Access mutual funds. With benefits like added assurance and lower risk, mutual funds are one of the best investment opportunities to enter the market. But before you take your place into the group funds, you need to know the tricks.

    Mutual funds are under the control of money managers.

    What is Mutual Fund Investment? 5

    They create portfolios for investment with a pool of money. Often, they have different kinds of investment goals. Some managers, like fixed-income managers, focus on generating low-risk, high pay-off investments for their funds, while long-term growth managers try to beat the Nasdaq or S&P 500 during the fiscal year.

    Shares in a mutual fund are typically bought at the fund’s current net asset value (NAV, or sometimes NAVPS) per share. This figure is determined by dividing the total value of all the securities in the fund by the number of outstanding shares.

    Mutual funds are actually investments like buying stock in companies.

    Investors purchase shares into the mutual fund. That, in turn, provides them a right to the fund’s assets. Hence, the value of the mutual fund represents the value of its portfolio.

    Let’s say you invest in a mutual fund. Well, not you but a manager will invest the public funds added to the fund. A manager will invest them in several securities, for example in stocks and bonds.

    The manager is ordinarily selected by a board of directors and is frequently an owner of the part in the fund.

    Such a fund manager will pick analysts to help in making investment decisions. Majority of funds will engage some accountant who’s task is to measure the net asset value of the fund every day. That will define the price of the share in the fund.

    Most mutual funds also have compliance officers who keep up-to-date on regulations.

    When investors purchase into a mutual fund, their money is managed by the fund manager. Such professionalist invests that money in different assets with specific intentions for risk and returns in judgment: like long-term increase or fixed-profit.

    Some funds may be more dangerous than others, that’s true. But usually, the composition of a mutual fund manages risks well-known low.

    Mutual funds only trade once daily and are often part of a 401(k) or an individual retirement account, IRA.

    The biggest benefit of mutual funds is, they are handled by someone other than the individual investor. You just have to put the hard decisions in an expert’s hands. The fund manager is more prepared for reasonably allocating our funds than we could do it by ourselves.

    The mutual funds regularly submit several portfolios with a group supply of money. So the personal risk to all investors is lessened. So we can say that mutual funds are honestly low-risk and high-reward.

    But, mutual funds include some fees in the kind of annual fees and stockholder fees.

    Annual running fees usually are 1%-3% of the annual funds under control. The stockholder fees are in line with the commissions paid by when buy or sell funds.

    Besides that, an obvious lack of mutual funds is that you don’t have constant control of stocks you’re investing in. Hence, for some traders, this may produce some difficulty, particularly if your fund begins dropping.

    Don’t waste your money!

    risk disclosure

  • Bitcoin is ready for the next big move

    Bitcoin is ready for the next big move

    3 min read

    Buying Bitcoin with bank account

    The Bitcoin price is $7.979, at the moment of writing this post. That is lower for 0,593842%  than the opening price this day.

    The furious rise in Bitcoin price in the past few weeks was exciting for the majority of the crypto world. But at the same time confusing also.

    Bitcoin is ready for the next big move

    For many of them, Bitcoin awakes memories on its fantastic heights at the end of 2017 when Bitcoin hit its record high of $19,783.21 on December 17.

    This new Bitcoin rally brings new peaks level to many companies. For example, several crypto-tied penny stocks recorded new peaks too.

    For example, the shares of MGT Capital Investments Inc. rose by 15% on Tuesday 9, May. This company is ranked as one of the biggest U.S. based Bitcoin miners.

    On Tuesday the company stated that it is thinking to give its cryptocurrency mining sector extra chance. The statement came after Bitcoin’s price increased expanded the mining profitability.

    Bitcoin mining, is it profitable 2

    This company had its highest market cap in December 2017 when it reached $350 million.

    That was in any sense the golden era for crypto.

    Almost at the same time, one UK company added the word ‘blockchain’ in its name rose its shares for nearly 400%.

    With the hope that such time is coming, traders and investors gave a chance to other similar companies such as Grayscale Bitcoin Trust BTC or Riot Blockchain Inc.

    The price of their shares rose in the past few weeks.

    The Bitcoin price is likely to go far up from $8,000 and it will come very fast.

    Will this word become another buzzword?

    The word that can increase importance and market value? That will be interesting to see.

    Anyway, Bitcoin increased by 60% in only two weeks.

    Nevertheless, many investors are not convinced that this rally has both legs. This price climb seems to fast for them.

    On the other side of the expert’s opinion are the other group of investors. Bulls! They insist that BTC has already reached its bottom price and all we can expect is this ‘çrypto-king’ is going to rise.

    Bitcoin touched the bottom when it fell below $6,000. The crypto expert Dave the Wave called it the “ideal buying zone”.

    However, traders were panicked and we saw a violent selloff. For smart people, it was time to buy.

    Previously, Bitcoin was in that buy zone for two years. It was 2014 and 2015, and almost one year between 2012 – 2013.

    The penny-stock companies recognized an open space to conquer.

    On the other side, the rumors about the possibility the biggest companies to adopt crypto fell in the water after the Consensus 2019 conference.

    Loving eBay formally denied such news.

    But Facebook hired two ex-Coinbase experts. At least one of them is connected with Facebook’s blockchain venture.

    Jeff Cartwright moved from Coinbase in March after five years at the cryptocurrency exchange. According to Cartwright’s LinkedIn profile, he entered Facebook this month. He will serve as a policy and compliance manager.

    It isn’t a secret anymore that Facebook has plans about blockchain and cryptocurrency. The details are secret, of course. As the secret is the true role of Cartwright because Facebook spokesperson Elka Looks refused to comment ” on personnel’.

    And, however, there is the third part – the media.

    Just to illustrate, for example, CNBC removed Bitcoin widget last month. But now, the situation is totally twisted. They have almost in every single show a segment about Bitcoin. Weird!

    And Microsoft uses Bitcoin, as we heard.

    Okay, Bitcoin owners use Microsoft, right?

    So, on Monday 14, May, the company revealed a project that, would give you the possibility to control your own credentials, autonomous of all companies. The new project is based on the technology that supports Bitcoin, blockchain.

    That will be interesting to see, of course, if you like to take such responsibility.

    Digital identity is the most exciting dream for every blockchain fans. The idea behind is that we all could have absolute, faultless access to all kinds of apps by creating mobile credentials. For now, the keys are in the hands of Facebook or Microsoft.

    Enthusiasts support this idea because it can be a blessing for privacy. No one could track your activity on the internet. And that is the core of blockchain and Bitcoin as well.

    Proponents also say it would help to stop hackers. Honestly, it would be harder for hackers to approach users data because all of them would be stored in one place or in a decentralized digital configuration.

    But we are still a far away from that.

    Until then, keep your eyes on the growth of Bitcoin.

    The future is interesting and promising.

     risk disclosure

  • HFT Strategies – The Tips and Secrets

    HFT Strategies – The Tips and Secrets

    3 min read

    HFT strategies - the tips and secrets
    HFT uses practically basic and simple strategies. High-frequency trading is not about implementing the strategy, it is all about speed of execution and flexibility.

    Well, the main strategy of HFT is to run faster than others. Of course, the principles of high-frequency trading (HFT) firms are secrecy, strategy, and speed.

    Algo trading is linked with the execution of trade orders. But HFT refers to the implementation of proprietary trading strategies.

    High-frequency trading consists of a variety of AT.

    Yes, both enable traders and investors to speed up the response on market data.

    The society of market participants using HFT is extremely mixed.

    There is a crowd of various organizations with various business forms that use HFT and there are many hybrid models.

    For example, some brokers and exchanges are utilizing HFT systems. So, in the estimation of HFT, it is essential to consider a practical perspective.

    It doesn’t matter if HFT is just an add-on technology to realize trading strategies.

    Liquidity providing is one of the HFT strategies.

    HFT strategies - the tips and secrets 1
    Well, the most frequent HFT strategies are to serve as a liquidity provider.

    How does HTF provide it?

    HFT liquidity providers have two primary reservoirs: when they provide markets with the liquidity they pocket the spread between the bid and ask limits. Also, there is a trading income by granting discounts or lowered transaction fees. The aim is to increase market quality and attractiveness.

    HFT firms will never discover their ways of acting. The significant experts linked with HFT are undercover. Well, this is not quite true. Maybe we could say they want to be in front of the public eyes less than others.

    Those firms operate with various strategies to trade and earn money. The strategies are often many kinds of arbitrage. For example, volatility arbitrage, or index arbitrage.

    HFT employs software that is incredibly fast. They have access to all market data and can make connections with minimum latency.

    HFT firms regularly use own money, own technology and a number of special strategies to produce profits.
    There are numerous strategies applied by traders to earn money for their firms.

    Even the controversial strategies.

    For example, HFT firms may trade from both parties.

    Hence, they can place orders to sell using a limit order above the market price. Also, they can place the buy order a little bit below the market price.

    And, voila! There is a profit for them. The difference between the two prices. They are market makers. All these transactions are very fast, in a millisecond by using algorithms and robust computers.

    Spread capturing as HFT strategy

    HFT strategies - the tips and secrets 2
    HFT firms are liquidity providers. They profit from the spread between the bid and ask prices.

    How?

    They are buying and selling securities all the time.

    With each trade, they receive the spread between the price at which shareholders buy contracts and the other at which they can sell contracts.

    Rebate driven strategies

    The liquidity provision strategies are developed on particular stimulus systems.

    In order to encourage liquidity providers, some trading venues use unsymmetric pricing. They charge a lower fee or give a rebate for market makers or passive trading.

    Why?

    Such traders bring liquidity to the market.

    On the other side, for more aggressive tradings they charge a higher fee. Why? Such traders remove liquidity from the market.

    An unsymmetric fee arrangement aims to boost liquidity provision.

    Point is: traders supplying liquidity earn their profits from the market spread. Fee discounts or rebates stimulate a market‘s liquidity.  

    On this way, those markets look promising comparing to their rivals.

    Arbitrage

    Chances to perform arbitrage strategies generally survive only for fractions of a second.

    But computers mission is to examine the markets in a millisecond. That feature causes the arbitrage to become the main strategy employed by HFTs.

    To conduct arbitrage HFT use the same method as traditional traders. But they use an algorithm to profit from short-lived differences between securities. The other types of arbitrage are not restricted to HFT and such, they are not the subject of this post.

    Latency arbitrage

    The latency arbitrage is the ability of HFTs to recognize new market information before other market participants even get it.

    The latency arbitrage uses direct data feeds and co-located servers to short the reaction time. Latency arbitrageurs profit from speed power. Such market participants can reduce the prices at which other traders are able to trade. That’s why you can find them under the name of predatory.

    Liquidity detection

    HFTs try to recognize the patterns other traders leave and adjust their actions accord to them. The focus of liquidity detectors is large orders.

    Liquidity detectors are getting information about algorithmic traders is usually called sniffing out the other algos.

    The bottom line

    HFT is not a trading strategy. It is the usage of advanced technology that performs traditional trading strategies. The individual trading strategies need to be assessed rather than HFT as such.

    HFT should never be banned. It would be contrary to market efficiency. High-frequency trading contributes to market liquidity and to the ability of the price creation.

    However, any strategies that have a contradictory influence on market integrity or enable market abuse, has to be are completely reviewed.

    This is particularly important for HFT. If anyone believes this technology promotes the implementation of abusing strategies, moreover, makes them more profitable and creates unfair circumstances on the market, should check the other participants too.

    Our confidence in technology is huge, but we are very cautious when it comes to the people.  

    Technology by itself is without morality. The people are those who can add it to high-tech.   

    Fortunately, we, ordinary people, don’t have any access to HFT.

    Don’t waste your money!

    risk disclosure

  • Trading Forex at the Weekend Gaps

    Trading Forex at the Weekend Gaps

    3 min read

    Trading Forex at the weekend gaps is a growing field of investment. Forex weekend trading hours have extended away the traditional trading week.

    Forex trading the weekend gaps are becoming popular because of trader’s expecting Sunday’s opening price to return to Friday’s closing price.

    There is a mistake that you can’t trade over the weekends.

    So,  you surely can trade online at the weekend. To be honest, weekend trading in currency, stocks, CFDs, and futures is increasing fast.

    Actually, the forex market is opened during the weekend.

    How Trading Forex at the weekend gaps is possible if we know that the forex market is working 24/5?

    Well, it is decentralized. And technically the forex market is open 24/7. It is true that the majority of dealers close transactions on the weekend. For retail traders close at around 5 p.m. EST on Friday and open around 5 p.m. EST on Sunday.

    And we can see a gap during the forex open time only when the price movement is great because of some news.

    But gaps are quite obvious in the forex market when the market is closed over weekends.

    How does it come?

    The market prices are moving over the weekend. You can not stop the currency transaction. For retail traders, the price isn’t the same on Friday when the market closes trades and on a Sunday afternoon when it opens.  

    If the price is higher on Sunday, we have a gap up. But we will have a gap down if it opens lower than the Friday afternoon price.

    Trading Forex at the weekend gaps is very familiar to forex traders. It is a very often use strategy. Why is that?

    Well, the Forex market is, in fact, open 24/7. Yes, trading ends on Friday and can be opened on Sunday evening.

    But so many things can influence the currency price movement over the weekend. So, when traders are trading at weekend gaps, they are expecting the opening price will hit the closing price.

    The gap traders believe that the price will continually fulfill the gap. Really? In fact, it constantly does. But it isn’t feasible always.

    That’s why some traders make losses. Some gaps are tradable some are not.

    For example, we recognize four varieties of gaps.

    Breakaway gap

    The breakaway gap regularly rises a new trend.

    The price frequently develops out of the consolidation phase. Moves up or down with powerful momentum. What leave behind is the gap.  

    Some crucial, breaking events may cause movement. That new trend isn’t always tradable. Breakaway gaps happen at the end of the price pattern. They indicate that the new trend is starting.

    Trading Forex at the Weekend GapsThe breakaway gap

    Exhaustion gap

    Exhaustion gap occurs close to the end of a price pattern. It indicates a definitive try to reach new highs or lows. Usually, it comes after a sudden move. It has an unnatural rise in volume and then turns strongly. Also, you have to know that it comes after some news or reports. For example, after the earnings announcement. That is the period when trading activity increase. Traders are closing their big positions. That causes an obvious reversal. You can find the exhaustion gaps no matter if it is an up or down trend.

    Trading Forex at the Weekend Gaps 1The exhaustion gap

    Common gap

    It simply represents a space where the price shows a gap.

    They are gaps seen on a price chart and they are very common and the most generally traded.

    Also, they regularly arrive late Sunday and early Monday market openings.

    They are suitable for short-term intra-day trading. You should look for a common gap around Sunday midnight and trade those Forex gaps at that time.

    Trading Forex at the Weekend Gaps 2The Common gap

    Runaway gap

    Runaway gaps mark trend continuing. A runaway gap is fairly one of the most secure ways to trade. Particularly if you combine them with other price tools.  

    A runaway gap happens when the price is gapping into the course of the trend. When the trend is strong you may see them.
    Runaway gaps regularly work inside a trend.

    Traders need to recognize the gap before they find the potential increase in price. This means that runaway gaps are traded after the action.

    The bottom line

    The gaps can give a lot of news about market moving.

    Trading at the weekend gaps is risky.

    But you can use the information produced by a price gap to develop a complex trading plan. It can be helpful with other trading ideas.

     risk disclosure

  • One share of stock – is it worth buying

    One share of stock – is it worth buying

    3 min read

    One share of stock – Is there any benefit to buying one? Is it better to have a bunch of shares or not? A dozen? 100? 150? 200? The answer is typically less than the number of fingers on the hand. A ruling principle of stock investing is to spread your portfolio throughout several companies.
    But, what if you don’t? What if something bad happens to your single investment? You will have practically no way to cushion the disaster. The misconception in managing a portfolio is that should contain numerous stocks.

    Why is this opinion a mistake?

    Yes, your exposure to risk in individual stocks is smaller. But, at the same time, you are also reducing the chance to make large profits in the big winners. There is a simple reason behind this: You won’t have enough shares to enjoy the gains. But there is a disadvantage of an over-diversified portfolio is that it takes a lot of commitment to watch over many companies, follow their rise, reports, and other progress.

    If you have a smaller number of shares, it’s easier to follow the companies you own.

    Yes, truth is, investing all of your money in the stock of only one company is very risky. You can suddenly lose most of your money. But it also has the potential for huge returns. There are numberless stories about investors getting into a company that went onto great things.

    For example, if someone was able to buy Apple in its early days, such has made a lot of money nowadays. Moreover, one share of stock was good enough. 

    But, there are a lot of risks here.

    Very often, those stories don’t include the fact that the investor made a lot of investments that failed before the big success happened. If you make 25 investments and they’re all average and suddenly make one that earns a big return, your overall return is not that big. The stocks can sometimes increase value, but companies can often totally fail. In that case, their stock is worthless.

    In fact, entire business areas can become insignificant over time. Some companies were probably good investments several decades ago.

    For example, producers of VHS cassettes or floppy disks. What we want to say is, you can invest in a big company to reduce the risk of losing, but that also drastically reduces the chance of big success, too. Some companies can be as steady as a rock, but still, it’s not likely to quickly double your money, either.

    Is buying one share of stock worth It?

    It is not about how many shares of a stock you buy or sell in one transaction.

    Stock brokerage firms usually charge the same commission. For smaller transactions, the fees represent a higher percentage of what you’re paying for the stock itself.

    One share of stock - is it worth buying
    Buying under 100 shares can still be worthwhile if you think you’re going to make sufficient money on the investment to cover the fees. To decide for yourself if a small trade is worth it, you’ll want to look at your brokerage’s commission and the actual stock price.
    Buying 50 shares of Berkshire Hathaway could cost $15 million since one class of stock in the company has traded above $300,000 a share, for example. But, other companies’ stock trades for as little as a penny, so buying 50 shares would cost you 50 cents. A commission of $5 dollars on a 50-cent purchase has a much different effect on the total cost than a $5 commission on a $15 million purchase. Don’t you think? It is important to evaluate whether or not the commission fees charged to you will still make the investment profitable.

    One share of stock – Fewer is better

    For a beginner portfolio of about $3,000, just two stocks are enough. But for a portfolio of $5,000 to $20,000, three stocks can be an easy load. Hence, for portfolios up to $200,000, four or five stocks are enough. Also, those who have more than a million dollars to invest should restrict themselves to six or seven stocks. To have success with some of the stocks, you have to make the right selection. This doesn’t mean you have to make excellent choices.

    All you need is a careful process of selecting companies with superior profit and sales growth.  Deduct the stocks lacking good chart profiles, and you end up with a shorter list of potential investments.

    How to evaluate

    Watch at the current share price, calculate the price at which you would sell that stock, and determine the difference. Now, calculate that price by the number of shares you plan to trade to see how much your profit would be. It is without commissions. Then, deduct the commissions you’d pay to both buy and sell the stock. And you will find if the transactions seem worth it.

    One share of stock - is it worth buying 1
    Remember, you have to consider the risk involved. The stock might not play as well as you suppose.

    Lower share price means less expensive

    That’s where most people start. But it is wrong. The price per share of any company you want to buy should be almost trivial to you. You should think in terms of your overall money invested. That’s how you should allocate. Don’t even think of what a stock’s price is, or how many shares you get.

    You have to be sure that you are buying solid companies that you feel it is good for you. Your portfolio should reflect your idea of the company’s future. The share price is meaningless. For example, Google is $700 per share, Apple is $100 per share, that doesn’t say anything about either company or whether or not one is a better investment over the other.

    Why the price of a share doesn’t matter?

    You should not make an investment decision based on the price of a share. Look at the books to decide if the company is worth owning, then decide if it’s worth owning at its current price. The price of the stock is made by how many shares were issued and how much people think the company is worth and will be worth it. The first factor can change in a stock split and without the others changing.

    What you really need to look at is what you think the future of that company looks like. But as most important, what that might do to the stock price and to the dividends it pays to stock owners.
    One share of stock - is it worth buying 2

    One share of stock can be good

    Honestly, there is no difference between more shares of a cheaper stock and fewer shares of more expensive stock. When you invest in a stock, the increase in the share price results in gains. This is a major concept of investing.
    Trading real money can be difficult without a sharp understanding of the principles involved. Investing your money without good knowledge will be stressful. It could have a discouraging effect if it doesn’t go properly.

    The bottom line

    There is no minimum order limit on the purchase of a publicly-traded company’s stock. It’s prudent to buy portions of stock with a minimum value of $500 to $1,000. As you already know, there are commissions on the trade. Whether you own 10 shares at $200 or 200 shares at $10, you still own $2,000 of a company. If that company’s market value grows by 10%, you earn $200 in any case.
    It is easy to find online discount brokers that allow you to buy fractions of shares of higher-priced stocks. So, if you don’t have enough to buy a full share it shouldn’t stop you. Also, if a company you want to own but you don’t have enough saved to buy a share, keep saving. Simple as that. It doesn’t matter if you buy now or a few months from now.


    You might find these interesting too:

    >>>  The best stocks to invest during the inflation

    >>> Trading With Signals – Full Guide on How To Trade with Signals

    >>> Day Trading the Best Methods – Day Trading for Beginners

    >>> Trading Options – Understand the World of Options

    >>> How to invest in a mutual fund

  • The Financial markets – Important guide for beginners

    The Financial markets – Important guide for beginners

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 24

     

    by Gorica Gligorijevic

    The financial markets, what is that? It comes in many terms.  We can find them among financial markets, the capital market, Wall Street, and even simply “the markets.” The financial markets are places where traders buy and sell assets. That can be stocks, bonds, derivatives, foreign exchange, and commodities.

    The financial markets are where businesses go to raise cash to grow. Hence, the place where companies reduce risks and investors make money are the financial markets.

    Why do financial markets matter?

    Financial markets provide finance for companies.

    What’s our role in financial markets?

    Setting standards for financial markets. By doing this, we want to make sure financial markets are fair and there when we need them.

    The financial markets are the place where the trade is done.

    Financial markets refer to a marketplace, where creation and trading of financial assets. Hence, the financial markets play a crucial role in allocating limited resources, in the country’s economy.

    Furthermore, financial markets act as an intermediary between the savers and investors by mobilizing funds between them.

    The financial markets provide a platform to the buyers and sellers, to meet, for trading assets at a price determined by the demand and supply forces.

    There are different types of financial markets. We recognize several types of financial markets.

    * Capital financial markets
    * Money financial markets
    * Foreign exchange financial markets
    * Derivatives financial markets
    * Insurance financial markets

    The explanation about each of these types of financial markets you will find in this article Financial markets – Basic and Important guide for beginners.

    First of all, let’s understand what is trade.

    Answer this question could be: It is an exchange of goods or services in return of money, goods or services. But there is a shorter version: it is given and take.

    Everybody is familiar with the term “trade”. Actually, we are trading every day. Everything you purchase in a store is trading money for the goods.

    In earlier days, trade took place with the exchange of goods without exchanging of money. With the invention of money, it took its form as an exchange of items with money.

    The term “trade” indicates “exchanging one item for another”.

    It usually means the exchanging of goods for money. You know, it is just buying something. Speaking about trade in the financial markets, you will see it is the same system.

    Let’s say you trade shares. You are actually buying shares, which are a small part of a company. If the value of shares jumps, then you make money by selling them at a higher price.

    This is trade.

    You buy something for one price and sell it again for another, thus making a profit or loss. I’ll explain how this differs, of course.

    Let’s say, you don’t sell it. In the world of trade, it is also known as stay in a position. The consequence is you’re not losing but you are not profiting. But when you monetize the position you will lose or profit.

    Trade has taken birth with the beginning of humankind and shall continue as long as human life exists on the earth. It enhances the standard of living of consumers. Thus we can say, answering the question, what is it, that is a very important social activity. Those who want to trade cryptocurrency should start by choosing a company with a good reputation that offers an exchange and wallet. A beginner should also start with prominent coins.

    You can find those companies by searching Google, or just visit the Traders Paradise web site, and you’ll find it there.

    Currently, we are referring to coins like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). In the future, this could be changed.

    Free and open trade has produced competition and innovation. More about this topic you can read in this article HERE

    The economic revolution is afoot. You can either be a part of it or get left on the side of the highway feeling dumb.

    Traders Paradise wants to lead you, step by step, through this important activity. Read this post from the last word and learn about trading.

    Yes, we have more articles about it and you can also find how you can become the trader in 10 minutes.

    But first of all, you must understand the essence. It’s up to you now!

    What will you find here?

    Our experience, our knowledge, everything we know about the financial markets, TRADING, INVESTMENT about cryptocurrencies, stocks, trading, investing and markets in general.

    We, in Traders Paradise, want to show how wonderful is that, what are the PROS but also what are the CONS. The trading world is a world of freedom. No matter what other opponents want to say. Don’t let them frighten you.

    In this post Financial markets – Basic and Important guide for beginners we’ll show you how wrong they are. At first, we want to show you how bad and wrong lessons we got from our teachers about money, finance, education system all over the world.

    In this tutorial Financial markets – Basic and Important guide for beginners, you will find which investment or trading strategies actually work.

    You will learn how to trade. No matter if you have a big or small amount of money. We will explain everything about Forex (Foreign Exchange) and how you have to act like a professional trader because it’s a sum-zero game. Our surveys and also many types of research shows this statistic: 20% of traders take the money of the other 80%.

    You DO NOT want to be on the 80% side. This post is aimed to prevent you from falling there. In this tutorial Financial markets – Basic and Important guide for beginners, you will also find basic terms.

    Well, if you don’t know them how you can trade or invest?

    With this article, you will have everything you need to start trading or investing.

    We want to prepare you to step into this wonderful world and become a respectable trader. We will show you how to trade and invest some time on examples of cryptos sometimes it will be stocks or shares. But the principle is the same for all financial markets.

    So, let start!

    Wish you a nice reading.

    What Do You Know About Forex Trading?

    The Forex trading takes place on the Forex exchange. Let me introduce you the concept of Forex trading.

    Forex represents the foreign exchange/currency market and it the largest among all financial markets. The word forex itself is made of two English words: foreign and exchange and signifies the purchase of currencies from different countries.

    Forex trading

    As an exception of other stock exchanges, Forex does not have its physical office. It exists in an electronic network consisting of financial institutions. Also unlike other financial assets – currency needs to be at a balance point! Why is that?

    Because let’s think about a country, like the US. Its currency is USD and you can invest your money on USD comparing, say, Euro. So if the USD is increased (or Euro is decreased) you gain a profit.

    But inside the USA – the interests are different. There’s an industry of importers and an industry of exporters. Let’s say I’m an importer that lives in the USA, and I import apples from Mexico. Just for this example, let’s say that 1USD (US Dollar) = 2 MXN (Mexico’s currency). 

    Now I make a deal with my Mexican fellow that I buy apples for the worth of 2 million MXN (and it costs me 1 million USD). Now, if the USD will get stronger, and now we say that 1 USD = 3 MXN. Now I’m losing money because I could have bought more goods for the same amount of money at the same price I spent (1 million Dollars).

    But let’s say it’s the opposite – I’m the exporter. My fellow Mexican buy from me apples at the same deal. This means he buys from me at 2 million MXN. Now I have 2 million MXN which are worth 1 million Dollar. But then, the Dollar is rising and now it’s worth 1 USD = 3 MXN. He still bought .at 2 million, right? So now those 2 million worth approx. 0.67 million USD. Now I’m LOSING money because of MY OWN currency worth more.

    That’s Forex. It has to have a balance point because if not traders are going to lose. 

    Today, Forex is the largest financial market, which has a daily turnover of around $ 5.5 trillion a day. Moreover, you can complete this whole process online.

    The term currency market means the sale of one currency with the simultaneous purchase of the other. As currency pairs are traded, to profit from the shift in the exchange rate, you need to buy the currency that you think will strengthen and sell the other. There is no need to wait for a growing market to profit. At any moment, one currency will strengthen in relation to the other.

    The Forex market is constantly creating opportunities for investment.

    Since nothing concrete and tangible is bought and sold, this type of trade can be a little confusing. You should think that you are buying a part of the value of a country.

    If you buy a Japanese yen, you are buying a part of the Japanese economy that is in direct correlation with what the market thinks about the current and future health of the Japanese economy.

    Generally, the established exchange rate of the two currencies is a ratio that reflects the state of one economy concerning the state of another economy (the state, the currency).

    .

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 1

    Forex is opened 24 hours a day, except on weekends, so that Sunday trading starts on Sunday from 21:15 CET and runs until Friday at 23:00 CET. During the day there are several time intervals that coincide with the working hours of the world’s largest stock markets.

    Who trades on the FX market?

    Forex traders can be classified into two groups, hedgers and speculators.

    Hedgers: governments, companies (importers and exporters) and some investors who are exposed to exchange rate changes.

    Speculators: This group, which includes banks, funds, corporations, and individuals, creates artificial pressure on the course in order to profit from variations or price movements.

    Basic terms

    Pip – represents a change in the ratio of the currency by one decimal. It is the smallest unit change course. Pip is the fourth and the last digit after the decimal place in a currency pairs
    Lot – 100,000 units of currency
    Mini lot – 10,000 units of currency
    Micro lot – 1,000 units of currency
    Nano lot – 100 units of currency
    Stop and Limit – Orders –  Often the trader wants to limit the loss in the position he has opened (in that case he sets the “stop” order). Or the trader wants to take profit at a certain level, which is acceptable to him/she (in this case he sets a “limit” order).
    LongUsed for the purchase order
    Short Tension used for a sales order
    BidBid price
    Ask The price that is claimed
    BuyShopping
    SellSale
    SpreadThe difference between the sale and purchase price
    Chart – Graph
    Timeframe – the Time period
    Leverage – Multiplies the amount of money you invest
    Candlestick –  Candlesticks show that emotion by visually representing the size of price moves with different colors. Red means the starting price was higher than the closing price at a certain time. Green means it ended higher than the starting point.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 2

                                                                             Example of a candlestick chart scheme

    What is needed to trade on Forex?

    Before you start trading the currency, you need to open an account with a Forex broker. Our recommendation is that before you decide on trading on Forex, open a demo account with one of the brokers.


    So that through the use of the platform, you will be able to monitor market activities and learn more.

    Conditions for Success

    You must have a good knowledge of technical and fundamental analysis, as well as managing your account. You should also know the psychological aspect of the trade and that you are disciplined. Also, in Forex, you should learn the country you’re betting on or against.

    To be able to trade Forex successfully, there is a whole world of education, really extensive analysis. Also, the countless hours of tracking a very large number of relevant and potentially relevant information. All without any guarantee that the right decision will be made. But I would like to show you some examples of how to make a successful trading. First, you must know the math behind the Forex trading.

    Actually, you can become a millionaire trading forex. But you have to know it is not easy like you see on the internet advertising and TV. It depends on how much money you start trading.

    If you start with $5,000 and make 10% of your capital each month, yes, you will be a millionaire after 5 or 6 years. Just 10% of your capital each month can make you a millionaire. And if you start with $100K you will be in 2 years. You can’t do that in any other industry.

    Tell me, where you can start at $5K and become a millionaire in a few years.

    But remember, if your dream is to become indecent rich in a week or a month, forget about the forex. Go far away from forex. Because you will lose all your money, your car, your house and in the end, your family.

    Math Guide for Forex Trading

    I know, math has never been your excellent skill. The truth is that you are afraid of it. Anyway, I want to show you how simple it can be. I want to show you some mathematical formulas that every trader have to know if wants to make success in the Forex market. And you will see how these math concepts are very simple and easy to learn even if you think that math is a great challenge for you.

    Change in currency pairs value is estimated in pips. The minimum pip you can see in the fourth digit after the decimal place. The exception to this rule is Yen pairs. The minimum pip there you can see in the second digit after the decimal place.

    I’ll use the imaginary values, they are nor real.

    For example, if the EUR/USD currency pair increases from 1.2530 to 1.32560. It is an increase of 30 pips for this currency pair. In Yen pairs, if the USD/JPY pair rises from 85.20 to 85.40, that is an increase of 20 pips for this pair. The value of a pip is different for different currency pairs. Let’s use the forex math formula to calculate the pip value of a currency pair:

    Value of a pip is calculated

    1 pip/exchange rate  x trade size

    We are going to use the EUR/USD currency pair with imaginary values.

    One Pip = 0.0001
    Base Currency: EUR
    Exchange Rate: 1.3500
    Trade Size:  1 lot meaning 100,000 units of currency
    Pip Value = 0.0001 / 1.3500  x 100,000 = 7,407 EUR

    How it works on the example on the USD/JPY currency pair?

    One Pip = 0.01

    Base Currency: USD
    Exchange Rate: 85.50
    Trade Size:  100,000 units of currency which is  1 lot
    Pip Value = 0.01 / 85.50  x 100,000 = 11.468 USD

    Or let’s see this example GBP/CHF:

    One Pip = 0.0001

    Base Currency: GBP
    Exchange Rate: 1.3840
    Trade Size:  100,000 ( 1 lot)
    Pip Value = 0.0001 / 1.3840  x 100,000 = 7.22 GBP

    Let’s talk completely about probability and numbers to see what lies behind the successful forex trading. I want us to find if a math genius essential for good trading. Making money in the currency markets demands that you first have to predict the activities of policymakers and central banks. But it is best to leave it to the economists and stay focused on short-term forex strategies.

    So, let’s try to understand the margin and leverage.

    In Forex trading, leverage will give you the capacity to control a larger position. You will use a small part of your own funds and the rest you will borrow from your broker. Margin is the deposit demanded by your broker. He or she will ask you for margin/deposit to allow you to open a position.

    Leverage is calculated by math formula:

    Trade Size/Account Size = Leverage

    Here is a realistic example to illustrate this.

    For example, you want to enter the position with a value of $200,000. But you have $ 4,000 on your trading account. Your goal is to control $200,000 with the $4,000 you actually have. 

    $200,000/$2,000 = 50

    Your leverage in my example is denoted as 50:1.

    What will happen if you instead of $4,000 have $10,000?

    You will control $200,000 with the $10,000.

    $200,000/$10,000 = 20

    Your average will be 20:1.

    Brokers can offer from 50:1 leverage for forex trading up to 500:1. But think twice before you accept any offer. It is true that leverage may increase returns but also increase losses.

    Position Sizing

    This is one of the most serious and frequent estimations that you have to make if you want to be a forex trader. Actually, before you decide to enter any trade, you have to calculate the position size. I suggest you use one of the simplest calculations. It is a fixed fractional calculation strategy. The best is to risk 1-2% per trade, 1% is better and I’ll show you why. Take it as the rule for the fixed fractional risk.

    So, you have to decide how much you can afford to risk on a per-trade. When you make this decision you have to decide where to place the stop-loss. 

    Take a look where the most current swings are. Find support and resistance points. When you settle a level where you want to place stop-loss, you have to measure the distance in pips between this level and the entry you plan. Write down that number. Then, discover the value of each pip. And you can calculate your position size.

    Math is in this formula.

    current account size x risk per trade/distance between entry and stop x value of the pip

    Let’s say your current account size is $20,000 and the fixed fractional risk per trade is 2%. The distance between entry and stop is 100 pips

    And the value of each pip is $20.

    $ 20,000 x 0,2 / 100 x 20 = 0.80 lots

    This is just an example and you will find different situations but the principle is the same.

    This the other example. 

    Let’s say your current account size: $25,000 and fixed fractional risk per trade is, as I suggested, 1% per trade, which means for the account of $25,000 you may risk $250. But if you risk up to 2% it is $500 per trade. 

    Why 1% risk is better? 

    Let’s assume you have 10 lose 10 trades in a series. It isn’t so frequent but can happen. So, 10 x $250 = $2,500 and you had before entry $25,000 on your trading account and you can say you have almost all your capital intact and make great returns. A stop-loss order doesn’t promise an exit at the price you defined. In a gap in price, you could lose more than 1%. It is slippage. If you risk 1%, such harmful moves will result in a several percentage declines in the equity. It will not be a disaster. You can recover it.

    A stop-loss order doesn’t promise an exit at the price you defined. In a gap in price, you could lose more than 1%. It is slippage. If you risk 1%, such harmful moves will result in a several percentage declines in equity. It will not be a disaster. You can recover fast.

    For Forex trading, you measure trade risk in pips. When it comes to the stock market you have to measure in cents or dollars. Suppose you purchase a stock at $10 and place a stop loss at $9,80. Your trade risk is $0,20. You must admit it isn’t too much.

    To calculate position size in stocks, use this formula.

    Account Risk (€ for example) / Trade Risk (€) = Position size in shares

    Suppose you have a €200,000 account. So you can risk €2000 per trade which is money equivalent of 1%. Say, you buy a stock at €200 and a place a stop loss at €198 because your trade risk is €2.

    €2000 / €2 = 1000 shares.

    These 1000  shares are good position size. You are risking precisely 1% of your account. The trade costs you 1000 shares x $200 = $200,000. You have just enough money to make this trade. You don’t need leverage. And your stop-loss is at €198 which guarantees you to have €2000 on your account even if your trade goes wrong.

    How to trade – all secrets about trading

    How to trade is the most used question we ever heard.

    First of all, you must understand, trading is the younger cousin of investment. As a newcomer, you can be overwhelmed by the quantity of the data available in the stock market.

    First thing first

    When you simply sign up at one of these online brokerage companies, deposit an amount of money you can live with losing it, you are ready to start.

    The most important decisions you’re going to have to make in your road to becoming a successful trader in the financial markets are, what your trading style is going to be.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 4

    Different trading strategies have their own collection of benefits and drawbacks. If you’re new to the trading scene and might not understand the differences in each trading style, you may be confused. This is extremely important to follow a strategy with your head and not heart!

    ”Damn, what I have to do?”

    You have the choice to simply buy and hold positions in any market for long periods, for years or even decades. Or you can complete your trades within one 24-hour period which is easy but the most challenging and fraught with the highest levels of risk, though it can bring big rewards.

    If you choose long-term trading and buy-and-hold trading, the offer is the lessened risk in exchange for fewer opportunities for reward.

    ”And now, what is the next thing I have to do?”

    Well, you have to pick your trading days. Research has shown that the third week of the month is the best time to buy stocks. According to research, the best of the best is the period between 18. and 22. of the month.

    Why is that?

    The prices tend to hit their lowest monthly points at that time. Because cash flows from dividend reinvestment and pension funds are likely to be at their lowest as well in that period. That means the best time to sell stocks is closer to the beginning and end of the month when cash flowing into the system is at its highest.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 5

    Speaking about the period of the whole year, April and May are the most successful time to sell your stocks. But buying new stocks in September and October is going to get you the best price (in that time the market tends to bottom out).

    If you want to be a day trader, there’s a right time for you as well.

    The best time of day to trade stocks, if you are from Europe, is between 9:30 to 10:30 AM. This time frame is offering the biggest moves in the shortest amount of time (a great and efficient combination).

    You can extend it out to 11:30 AM EST if you want another hour of trading.

    The best time for a US-based day trader is in the late afternoon Eastern Time. Corporate earnings reports and statistical reports from the federal government regularly are published in the morning. They are visible from 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm.

    ”Is there any key that is successful?”

    I was waiting for you here!

    There are no instant solutions and you have to understand that you can’t find a secret formula or secrets about trading. If there is any secret or key, it is this: keep it simple, be systematic and get educated.

    Say, you had enough capital to open a trading account. This doesn’t mean that you’re going to be successful right out of the gate. Especially if you are a beginner and if you’ve never spent a day in your life in trading before. And if you think you’ll be able to dive without educating yourself, you’re likely to end up learning the hard way. You will watch how all your investment capital disappears into the ether in exchange for a handful of stocks that end up not worth much or worse, not worth anything at all.

    Keep in mind: trading is not gambling. But there are some tips.

    One secret you should know: everyone is selling the stock or vice versa. But it’s obvious that someone has to be buying the stock also. At what price? It depends if the stock has a demand. If not – people will sell it at ANY price, and that is what leads to major drops.

    The ultimate secret of stock trading is this, learn to identify and make your trades rational and not impulsive.

    As we said, there are still some tips:

    • If you are focused on odds trading and risk/reward rather than on your ideas and emotions can set the base for a very long and successful trading profession.
    • The stock market will never consider your emotions or appetites. A few principles are the most important contributors to the losses made in the stock market.
    • Know your risk tolerance, and trade the constant strategies. If you stay focused on these two points you can be sure you will trade for a long time.
    • Don’t be risk-averse, learn to evaluate risk and learn to understand yourself.
    • Trade up to the point you can bear the loss, don’t ever cross your limits. It’s better to wait for your time.
    • Always have a plan, build and diversify your portfolio, stay away from all the mumbo jumbo.
    • Only invest in the coins that will turn over a profit, find others that you trust to keep you properly informed, use the tools of the pros.

    Use the math to trade

    The usage of math in trading stocks can support you gain better results, that’s true. It’s just about identifying risks and possibilities.

    Applying math to everything from finding a sweetheart to winning in the casino, you can be right if you think that math may help you win the stock market. Maybe someone has done it before. But, there is no known system, no matter how advanced it is, able to predict the future. You have to know that.

    The math can do a lot and it is very important for every trader. 

    Complex math can estimate the chance of market or trading events. It is very useful to help you to minimize the possibility of bad events before they appear. How math can work? It’s like your insurance company. It will never be able to predict when someone is going to die but with a great percentage, it can reveal the cause of death.

    Basic knowledge of mathematics can give an advantage to you. Frankly, almost all charts and trading strategies are based on mathematical theories.

    Profitable trading is not about beliefs, not about a forecast, or stock tips or picks. It is all about math. The point is to make more money than you lose. Trading without following the math principles produces a lack in your trading. You have to put away from emotions and quantify a system that generates the profits. You have to be able to understand the math behind the trading if you want to achieve profitability. 

    The most important stage of using math is to have answers to those questions.

    About the risk/reward ratio: How much money are you risking for a chance to earn $100 or euros?
    Speaking about position sizing you must know how much money will you place in one position.
    Do you know how did the signals you use work historically?
    What is the most amount of capital you would want to lose from your equity peak?
    Do you know the average annual return you want to reach?
    What is the relation between your winning trades against losing trades?
    What is your worst-case scenario?
    Can you recognize the chances to destroy your account?
    Do you know where to place the stop-loss order? Can you calculate how much will you lose if you make a mistake while placing the trade? Also, can you calculate the biggest reward if you are right when entering the trade?

    Warren Buffet said that successful trading means 100% efficiency. But most successful traders are right only half the time at best. Simple math confirms that “winning” on only 4 or 5 of 10 trades can provide you a great profit. Of course, that depends on how many wins you have in comparison to losings. 

    Let’s say if you have you made 10 trades and you have 5 winnings with earnings of $3,000 on each. At the same time, you have 5 losing $1,000 each. Your profit is 

    (5x$3,000) – (5x$1,000) = $10,000

    Mathematics, coupled with tolerance, creates stock market capital more surely than “big game” bets.

    This is a realistic example.  

    Let’s say you bought 600 shares at $200 each. The market price was $1,400 per share. Let’s say the stated dividend was 25%. What is your earning percent on this investment? Here is the equation.

    (25/1400)x200 = 3,57%

    Or the other one.

    For example, you bought 500 shares in a company 25 years ago and you paid it $200 per share. The dividend is 25%. Your capital rose cumulated up to $5 million. But 25% came from cash dividends you’ve collected over 25 years. Your 500 shares value today is exactly that amount minus dividends. But your earning is exactly $5 million minus your initial capital of $100,000.

    The impressive thing about math is the strength of one right investment to defeat troubles in the market. 

    What would be the possible scenario if you made 25 years ago 20 different investments of $5,000 each?

    But assume you were not a very skilled investor at that time and 15 of your investments went bankrupt a few days after you put your money on it. You have to know it is an extremely rare situation in every investor life but can happen. 

    Would you manage that? Of course. You still have your fantastic profit thanks to the compound rate. Every of your, to say survived investments provided you something about 15% of compounding rate. That is an increase of $375,000 and you invested $100,000.

    So, you have 5 good investments. Honestly, just one good investment may neutralize all bad ones.  

    What is the point? Investing is easy and needs several right decisions. They have to be well structured, to neutralize bad decisions. The answer is to let time to work in your benefit.

    Historically, that method has created the millionaires. More than any other model. Stock trading and market timing may make for some distractions but they are far away from the place where the money is made.

    Stockbroker – Choosing an online

    This is one of the most important decisions you will make as an investor in the financial markets. And the most powerful tool in your hands. Every trader has it’s own investment style of trading, and abundance of brokers’ offers allow individuals to choose what best fits their needs. If you’re an active trader looking to try your hand at beating the markets, you probably have a good idea of what you want from a brokerage: low costs, premium research, innovative strategy tools and a rich with features trading platform.

    The era of online stock brokers makes the world as high-risk/high-reward investing available to the wide public.

    Profitable investing takes time and a lot of hard work.

    It also requires you to use a brokerage service that fits your investing goals, educational needs, and learning style. If you are new investors, selecting the right online brokerage can mean the difference between a breathtaking new income stream and a short-lived struggle against disappointment, followed by inevitable frustrating handover.

    You have to know one thing, there’s no sure-fire way to guarantee investment returns, but there is a way to set yourself up for success by selecting the online brokerage that best suits you. I’ll try to show you all the important things you should be looking for in your ideal brokerage on your path to find the best online broker. For a starter, take a moment to focus in on what is most important to you in a trading platform, before you start clicking on brokerage ads.

    You’ll be surprised!

    The most important is to recognize your own needs in financial markets. 

    You must know them. If you are a novice, you may give advantage to the basic educational resources, easy access to support services. Maybe you want the ability to practice trades before you start with real money. An advanced investor, but one who wants to find a new broker, would seek for advanced chartings, more order options, or to trade derivatives, commodities, and fixed-income securities, all along with stocks.

    And you have to be honest with yourself about where you are right now in your investing tour and where you want to go.

    Do you want to try your hand at day-trading but don’t know where and how to start? Or, maybe you like the idea of tailoring your portfolio, or you want to pay a professional to provide it done right? For now, I suggest you start with these crucial deliberations as a way to determine which of the brokerage features would be the most important to you.

    To help yourself to find and use the best online stocks trading platforms be honest when you are answering these questions

    a) How much do you already know?

    Obviously, no one knows everything. But the question is how comfortable you feel when risking your own funds. Again, I encourage you to start with a demo account (you can find at the end of this post a link to a demo account)..

    b) What kind of trades will you want to execute?

    Stocks? Forex? Crypto? Daily?

    c) Are you an active or passive investor?

    Are you the type of person who can start a trade, let it go with its strategy and leave it aside. Or you’re the type of person who checks his portfolio daily, read about it, sign up to newsletters, etc.

    d) What kind of help do you need?

    Do you need help in learning how to trade? On what to trade? Recommendations? Or maybe you want to do it all by yourself?

    e) What are your goals?

    This is an important question when it comes to financial markets. Your goal is to make a profit, of course. But, how much you’re willing to lose? How “hard and dangerous” your trades look? How much profit you want to gain and monetize and how much you want to leave at your broker account to use for more money? These questions will act as your guidelines. 

    Be brutally honest with yourself about how much time, energy, and effort you are willing to put into your investments when you want to enter the financial markets in this way. Your answers may change over time, no one can anticipate all their needs and goals for the rest of their lives. Just start with where you are right now and go with the flow.

    Pay attention to several more things such as:

    * Does the brokerage website offers two-factor authentication
    * Do they clearly explain how they use encryption or “cookies” to protect your account information and how they work?
    * Try searching the web for reviews of the brokerage, using keywords like “insurance claim”, “fraud protection”, “customer support”, “chargebacks”, “easy withdrawal”
    * Will the company reimburse you for losses resulting from fraud? etc.

    And then test the broker’s platform.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 6
    Every brokerage should have a decent description of what kinds of tools and resources it’s trading platform offers. But sometimes the best way to evaluate platform quality is to give it a test drive. To find brokers that allow you to open a free or demo account, it might be worth the effort to go through the signup process just to access and test the trading platform.

    How Much Money Do I Need To Start Day Trading?

    How much money?

    This is one of the most frequently asked questions I hear from people who want to start day trading stocks, forex or futures markets.

    Well, the amount of money you need depends on where you want to trade, your style of trading, do you want to trade forex, stocks, or futures.

    And of course, how much money you need to start trading depends on which country you are coming from.

    Capital Required to DAY TRADER STOCKS

    For example, if you want to be a day trader in the USA and to trade US stocks, you need to maintain an account balance of $25,000 or more.

    You have to start with at least $30,000 if you plan to make more than 4-day trades per trading week.

    Four-day trades or more per week gives you “day trader status” and you’re subject to the $25,000 minimum account balance. It is recommended you start with more than $25,000, to give yourself a buffer above the minimum requirement.

    If your account sinks below $25,000 you will not have the possibility to day trade until you renew your account to more than $25,000.

    But in case, if the country you live or want to trade, doesn’t require the $25,000 minimum account balance, it is recommended you still deposit at least $10,000 into your day trading account.

    With smaller accounts than this, commissions and fees will significantly erase profits you made. Usually, online trading platforms let you trade CFD and forex, and for those, you can start with only $250 minimum deposit.

     

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 7

    One of the common mistakes that traders make is being under-capitalized. Losing trades happen, even to the best traders. But after taking losses you still need to have enough money to keep trading. It’s recommended risking 1% or less of your capital on a trade.

    The risk is the difference between your entry price and your stop-loss price, multiplied by the number of shares of have.

    Capital Required to DAY TRADE FOREX

    To open an account in the forex market you will need less money because it is not regulated like stocks.
    Forex gives leverage up to 50:1. However, it can be higher in some countries, but this is the usual amount. Increasing leverage means more risk but also more rewards.

    Leverage is basically trading with money you borrowed from the broker. Anyway, you have to be aware of a few things.

    For example, you may have $2,000 in your account, but you want to buy $10,000 worth of the EUR/USD. Your leverage is 5:1 on this trade. The brokers will not charge a fee for leveraging, but they will charge you a commission. You have to realize that leverage is a double-edged sword, increasing profits as well as losses. If you take a large position, the broker will charge you more commission and vice versa.

    While the broker doesn’t charge interest, the market does.

    Currency traders are subject to the interest rates prevailing in the currency they trade.

    Every transaction is buying one currency and the selling of another done at the same time. You may make a few dollars a day which will grow your account over time. But you can also earn a lot of money if you open an account with a bigger amount.

    Professionals suggest, if you want an income from forex day trading, start with at least $1000, and preferably $3,000 to $5,000. This amount allows you to potentially start building a monthly income. It is what the most day traders are looking for.

    Capital Required to DAY TRADE FUTURES

    Futures contracts are traded on oil, gold, natural gas, and stock indexes.

    To trade futures, most brokers only demand a deposit of $1,000. For most brokers, you need to have at least $400 or $500 of capital in your account to take a one contract trade.

    This is called day trading margin

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 8

    Opening an account with only $1,000 isn’t recommended. This is the recommendation of the pros. You have to open the futures account with at least $8,000. You will need more if you day trading ES futures. The futures under the ES symbol are built on the S&P 500 stock index. It is a benchmark for U.S. stocks. Hence, your broker may require additional margin. You may wish to start day trading with at least $10,000 to provide you some flexibility in what you can trade.

    You have to create a sustainable trading plan and test it with a demo account before you enter the trade with real money. Your trades have to be profitable for at least several months in a row before opening a real day trading account. This gives you time to see where you need improvements.

    When Is The Right Time To Invest In Crypto?

    The right time? Let us be clear. For those without experience, it’s never the right time. That means you MUST have knowledge, information, and experience with a free trial demo account. After you test everything you may say it is the right time for further step: investing and trading cryptocurrencies. You can make really serious money on cryptocurrencies, that is true. But you have to take care of several things when you enter the financial markets. You would be very careful when investing in any crypto because all prices of cryptocurrencies have dramatic ups and downs.

    Generally speaking, I should not advise anyone to invest if there is a misunderstanding about what they are investing in.  And when the only expectation of further growth based on previous growth is present. In addition to the famous and biggest Bitcoin, you can find many other interesting cryptocurrencies on the market.

    When I say ”interesting” it means that we think their concept is interesting, not the potential for price growth. For example, I don’t know when you’re reading this – but now, Facebook is working on its own crypto coin. For what will it use to exactly, is still unclear?

    Before you decide to trade cryptos, keep in mind that you feel well informed. And if you are not ready to lose what you have invested, you should not even try because there is no easy earning!

    Is this the right time for trading or investing cryptos?

    There is an obvious difference between those two terms – trading and investing.

    Investing refers to the purchase and storage of cryptos. Trading involves active participation in the stock market and frequent purchases and sales in an attempt to profit from price changes.

    If you are asking me about trading, it is always a good time for professional traders, for those inexperienced and untrained it’s never the right time. Hence, my opinion is that no one should engage in trade cryptos, without basic knowledge about it.

    First of all, everyone should bear in mind that it is possible to lose everything. It can happen due to bad decisions or because of the flops of the user. If you are not prepared to lose everything that you have invested, you should not invest.

    When referring to crypto trading and investing – since there no REAL value, the prices may vary and go as high as 1 million dollars per coin or 0.00001 BTC per dollar. There’s no real value, but it is worth something because it solves a problem. And I may say there is a big one. It allows people to transfer anonymously the money!  This means you can buy illegal services/merchandise with it – this will always have demand. But not only that, you can hide your activities and make genuine and “white” money without anyone knows it’s you or the government know. We, for example, have a supplier that we know who he is, is not doing anything illegal, but he wants to get pay in crypto.

    The ONLY way the crypto industry can totally fall (and in this case – worth exactly zero) it if the technology behind it, the blockchain, will be found as useless. It hasn’t happened and it might never happen (or until a quant computer will arrive in the world, but that for another story…)

    Also, you should be careful in choosing a stock exchange.

    Always use strong codes and “2-factor authentication” and you should be able to think on your feet. Most popular exchanges like Binance, Bitrex, Coin Exchange, Kraken, Kucoin, HitBTC, Gate.io, and Cryptopia recommends Google Authenticator.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 9

    Few exchanges accept Authy and few exchanges have their own 2FA service. This is very significant for online security hence whichever exchange or trading sites you are on make sure to enable 2-factor authenticator. Do not fall into euphoria when prices rise and do not panic when they fall.

    How big is the initial capital?  

    Also, how much money you need to start trading crypto? It depends on how much you are ready to lose, how much you expect to earn and how much you are inclined to risk. I have to emphasize that the right answer is your individual assessment.

    How to track the value of cryptocurrencies?

    You have to be registered on one of the exchanges where the cryptos are traded, to verify the order and deposits money. That’s all – when the money is deposited in the market, it can be traded. It is highly recommended for beginners to test their skills on some free demo account and after that, they are pretty ready to play with real money.

    Is It Possible to Lose Money Trading Bitcoin and Crypto?

    Losing money is possible. First of all, trading cryptocurrencies is not an easy task – it is a CHALLENGE and FIGHT! That’s the point!

    Frankly, you are not the only one who lose money right now. But remember like in the war:

    The lost battle is not the lost war. It shouldn’t be the question, WHY people lose money in crypto trading (it’s almost the same in every trading). The right challenge is how people manage it in general.

    Crypto trading is one of the best “money-making” methods today if done right.

    In order to avoid failure, we will introduce several reasons why people are losing money by trading crypto.

    Is there a reason to get panic? Well, actually there is no reason. One of the biggest and most important tools that traders have is technical analysis. But there are so many and plenty of ways to lose your money! Trust me! For example, you can use social media predictions. Or you follow someone in the hope that he/she knows what to do.

    And there can be the first catch.

    You can become a victim of fake news. Because naturally, marketing always goes through these channels to keep up with the current information highway traffic. It wouldn’t be a good idea to buy coins by following “Tips” given by ICO’s or people that are trying to sell their coins to increase the value of what they have.

    Right?

    They’re trying to create a fake “hype” that can end up in disaster. That’s why you should always do your own research.

    Clear?

    FOMO or “Fear of Missing Out” is something that most people are actually feeling today.

    The Bitcoin train has long gone leaving people with doubts on which of the altcoins would be the next big star. When Bitcoin has soared up to heights that no one has ever dreamed, a lot of people were in awe and dismayed that they didn’t buy BTC earlier.

    This sense of lost opportunity again triggers, always when the price of a coin goes up. It is making people buy at the wrong time (the price is high, damn) with the fear of it not going back down.

    Strategy!!!

    Going into the world of crypto trading without any strategy in mind is more like you are entering the cage with hungry lions! You will not survive! You should buy some books about trading strategies.

    “Hold on for dear life.” HODL, damn!

    HODL

     

    Most of the exchange/trading platforms or websites have a feature called “Stop Loss”.

     

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 11

    There you will be able to control the loss of your assets by setting a “safety net” that would stop your loss on time and not drag you down to limbo. Limbo is not a good place!

    Lovely leverage and margin trading! Too much of it is bad.

    Leverage or margin trading can be devastating if not used properly. If you are trading with a 20:1 leverage you can earn $20 if the price of your trade goes up by $1. But if your investment loses and it goes down $2 you will lose $40 instead of earning. A leverage trade is always expressed as a ratio: as an example, for a 20:1 leverage, you will be able to buy $20 assets with only $1. Trading on leverage is a great advantage because you can profit with the “borrowed money”. Using leverage provides you to multiply your position. For example, 100x leverage will extend your potential profit by 100 times.

    Reasonably, using leverage will raise the risk, more than in a standard trade. Luckily, the risk is not proportional to the leverage. Hence, your losses will not be multiplied by 100. How is that? Well, you cannot lose more than you initially selected to the trade.

    But I think you will need more examples. OMG how much I like math 🙂 Let’s imagine you want to buy a position of 1 BTC worth $10,000. To get the margin needed for the trade you have to divide the total value of the transaction by the leverage given for the trade.

    margin = total value of trade/leverage

    So, the value of your long position is valued at $10,000, and the margin amount for the trade at 100x leverage is calculated

    ($10,000/100) = $100

    This means, to be able to trade a contract valued based on, in our case, BTC/USD price of $10,000 at leverage 100x you will need a deposit at $100. The added advantage of leveraged trading is that it lets you short the asset. What does it mean?

    Well, you would be able to profit from the drop in the price of that asset. The short position means, you are borrowing the coin to sell it and purchase it back at a lower price. The difference in price is your profit minus the ‘debt’.

    Do not ever trade more than you can afford to lose!

    The most popular saying in the trading world is “making margin trading or the use of leverage to go beyond the line of betting/trading more than you can afford”. Since you are already in debt the minute you took the leverage. I believe that you have the right reason to invest some time in learning. You don’t need a degree! All you need is to read and to make a decision or you will face all ways of successfully losing money in trading Bitcoin and crypto.

    Golden rules for investing in the stock market

    Fast money and easy earnings are mostly what young people want to succeed in the business world. They are attracted to exchanges, money is invested in shares. However, there are many curves, curvatures, spirals and twists that, and if you don’t know how to avoid them, your trip to the stock market can be very short-lived.

    What are the golden rules for investing in the stock market, which should be known primarily to beginners in this business, but also to more experienced stock traders?

    * Create portfolio

    You can do this in a simple way. There are many free portfolio managers on the Internet, so use some of them to make a free account.

    Create a fictitious portfolio in which you would potentially invest and monitor the situation for a while, a minimum of one month. This will give you the best insight into market volatility.

    Before you take the first step, the goal is to create a profitable fictitious portfolio as an investor on the stock market. This is one of the golden rules.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 12

    * Read business magazines

    To successfully start investing in the stock market, you need to be aware of the world’s stock market and what are the social events that affect the rise or fall the price of shares. Many respectable business magazines are dealing with this topic (Forbes, The Economist, Kiplinger’s are some of the most famous ones). Follow the events in the global economy and finance and you will be able to swim more easily in the very turbulent waters of the stock market

    * Buy stock from a field you know well

    Before investing money into something, you should understand the business the company is dealing with. The first stock you will buy on the stock market should be from the sector you understand and it is familiar to you. For example, if you know the banking sector, try to explore the market and find a bank whose stocks are good and worth investing. Never invest in the action itself, but the company.

    * Have realistic expectations

    There may be a problem if your financial goals are based on unrealistic presumption. Try to be realistic in your ambitions and goals. In this way, there are fewer chances to lose money or be disappointed in your stock market business.

    * Do your own research

    You will hear from people who are dealing with the stock exchange that they have bought some stocks because the same was done by their friend or family member who understands this business.
    Accept everything with reserve. Before buying a stock, do research.

     

    If some stocks brought in earnings in the past it doesn’t necessarily mean that this trend will continue. Always believe in yourself than other people’s estimation.

    * Stock exchange is NOT a money-making-machine

    Most of those who want to participate in the stock market, have an unrealistic desire to double or triple investment in a short time frame. If you are one of them, then that’s not a job for you.

    For those who want to invest, 10% to 12% of the earnings for a long period is quite a good investment. You need to realize that you are just a small fish in a big lake and that your success depends on many factors.
    Follow the clues and make conclusions.

    * 3 or 4 good stocks are enough

    Don’t overplay, especially because you are a beginner in this business. More than 10 stocks are a good portfolio, but for investment funds.

    They indeed make more profit, but if you make a smart and wise decision you will earn enough money.

    * Don’t try to predict the stock price

    Not even the biggest billionaires and owners of the largest multinational companies in the world are doing this. No one can predict, at least for a longer period, several stock market cycles. Ability to guess the moment when the stock will have the highest value is still a myth. Even for those who have an insight into the business of some companies. Therefore, for successful business and investing in the stock market, you need to acquire certain knowledge and skills.

    Although, there is some artificial intelligence computer software that might not predict per-se, but can behave and act faster and more accurate way than a human being. Traders-Paradise will give you access to one of them, one of the best developers with his team is working on it. 

    READ more and Subscribe to get more information about AI in the financial markets.

    According to the research, the risk of investing in the stock exchange is most often taken over by young people who have just finished college. But, like in every other business, the experience you get, will help you be wiser in making decisions in the future.

    That’s how it works!

    What Is better: Investing or Trading and what are the differences?

    Investing or trading is the right question. Let us explain the differences between traders and investors, at first.

    Stock traders are individuals (or entities) engaged in the trading of equity securities, or the transfer of other financial assets. They work either for themselves or on behalf of someone else.  Hence, they may operate as agents, hedgers, arbitrageurs, speculators, or investors.

    Stock investors are individuals (or entities) who use their own money to buy equity securities. The goal of the stock investor is to gain returns, which come in the form of income, interest, or appreciation in value also known as capital gains.

    DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRADING AND INVESTING

    Investing and trading may often be classified together. But, they are both different ways of attempting to profit from the financial markets.

    The goal of making investments is to progressively increase wealth over a long period of time by using the buying and holding of a portfolio of stocks, mutual funds, bonds and other methods of investment.

    Trading involves short-term buying and selling of stock and commodities such as currency pairs and other instruments with the goal of earning profitable returns which outperform a traditional buy and hold investing.

    For example, while most investors may be satisfied with a 10% annual return, traders may seek to achieve this per month.

    William Feather

    Period of acting

    Return on investment and payback period seem to be the two most commonly used financial metrics for making sustainability investment.

    Trading is a method of holding stocks for a short period of time. It could be for a week or more often a day! The trader holds stocks until the short term high performance.

    On the other hand, investing is an approach that works on buy and principle.

    Investors invest their money for some years, decades or for an even longer period.

    Short-term market fluctuations are irrelevant in the long-running investing.

    Growth of capital

    Traders look at the price movement of stocks in the market. If the price goes higher, traders may sell the stocks.
    So we can say, trading is the skill of timing the market.

    But investing is an art of creating wealth by compounding interest and dividend over the years by holding quality stocks in the market.

    Risk of both fields

    Both, trading and investing, including risk to your capital.

    But trading involves higher risk and higher potential returns. The price might go high or low in a short while.
    Investing takes a while to develop (and there’s a whole course we created to explain how to do it). It involves comparatively lower risk and lower returns in a short run but might deliver higher returns by putting together interests and dividends if held for a longer period of time.

    Daily market cycles do not affect much on quality stock investments for a longer time.

    Essential Differences

    Trading is a one day match while investing is a championship.  Similarly, traders are skilled, technical individuals, they learn market trends to hit higher profits in the stipulated time.

    It is related to the psychology of the market.

    Investors, on the other hand, analyze the stocks they want to invest in. Investing also includes learning business fundamentals and commitment to stay invested for a longer-term.

    It is related to the philosophy that runs the business.

    For example: If in the company’s balance sheet you see the inventory cell is too high, that might indicate problems with selling and marketing. This also may suggest higher and unnecessary payments for containing the inventory. This usually leads to some drops in stock price.

    Traders put money in stock for a short-term, buy and sell fast to hit higher profits in the market. They seek a smaller and shorter opportunity.

    Missing the right time may lead to a loss. They look at the present performance to hit the higher price and book profits in the very short term.

    Investors keep themselves away from trends and invest in value. They invest for a longer period of time keeping the attention of the stocks they hold. They wait till the stock reaches its potential.

    You are the one to decide if your goal trading at a higher price making a smaller profit in a short time. Or holding on and sell at a much higher price, in the long run, is what you aim for.

    Trading Investing
    The time required to be spent on action Daily continuous tracking of the stock Few hours before taking an investment decision
    Costs Higher due to frequent trades Relatively lower
    Risk involved High Relatively lower
    Returns Low (can even tend towards negative over time) Higher
    Taxation Short term capital gains tax None provided held for more than a year

    A key rule of trading

    Do it only when you are certain that there is an upcoming future event which is predicted to drive the stock value of an organization or entity higher. But it is obviously not an easy task.

    If you think an asset’s price will go up – it’s clear that many other traders also know what you know. So it’s important to be one of the first who starts their position. If an asset has already made its rise – it’s not the best time to buy!

    When trading, there are certain strategies which must be put in place. Traders should take note of the news and use it to make an educated decision which will hopefully enable them to make a profit afterward.

    This shows the difference between trading as a short-term investment and investing as a long-term method of gaining wealth.

    When investing, the goal is to bank profits over the long term, with dips in value simply providing the opportunity to buy more of the commodity in question. Investing means sitting it out when the commodity rises in value as there will likely be more good news ahead for the company and more profits to be made.

    If you are new to the world of investing and trading, it’s important to know which you are going to choose.

    The imperative to increase your financial gain is what defines it.

    Knowledge is the key. If you are knowledgeable about the stock market but have little idea about how to trade Forex, for example, you will naturally head over to the stock market for your first investment.

    General advice: Don’t get investing and trading confused – it could seriously hurt your portfolio!

    The Difference Between Investing and Trading Bitcoin

     

    One of the biggest benefits of Bitcoin is its decentralized nature. There is no need for a central authority to be added. Hence, you can send money and eliminate banks. The most important, you don’t have to pay remarkable fees or wait for the money to come to your bank account. The whole process is finished in a minute. All the transactions are recorded in the public ledger.

    The ledger is based on blockchain technology. That allows every user of the Bitcoin network to access the records. Therefore, all users should be protected from stealing and cheating. If something suspicious arrives, the entire network would be cautioned. Bitcoin is impressive and brilliant and unique and free of governmental control.

    But before you choose to hop into investing or trading Bitcoin, you have to know a few things about its nature.

    Bitcoin isn’t a fiat currency.

    Hence, its price isn’t directly related to the economy or policies of a single country. Bitcoin has a difficult history of ups and downs, many of them related to worldwide events

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 16

    In simple words, bitcoin trading is the buying and selling the coin.

    Bitcoin trading means to gain when you buy it at a low price and sell when the price is high. The difference is your profit.

    Buying bitcoin means that you spend a small amount of fiat for a big number of bitcoin. Selling bitcoin means that you get a great amount of fiat for a lower number of bitcoin.

    Trading vs Investing Bitcoin

    This choice should depend on the knowledge of Bitcoin and the available property.

    Investing in Bitcoin can start from a small amount which can be increased with time and experience. It’s a long-term project, which might lead to accumulating a large amount of money.

    Trading should be reserved for those who know the Bitcoin nature in-depth and aren’t afraid of losing. The constant fluctuation of Bitcoin can be an exciting experience for any trader. On the other hand, it can scare away those who do not know how to deal with or handle it.

    In other words, the difference between investing and trading Bitcoin lies not only in the technicalities of it. But also in somebody’s character and temperament.

    A lot of newcomers are hooked with an idea that they can make a lot of money and can do it quickly while trading Bitcoin.

    It is a powerful scene and rates are shifting faster than in a traditional stock exchange. But it comes with higher risk. Bitcoin prices grow and decrease dramatically during the day even hours. The price is defined by exchanges. Exchanges will show you the bid price when you want to buy bitcoins. The bid price is the highest price that someone is ready to pay. The “ask” price is the lowest price for a sale. The highest and lowest prices are determined from trends covering 24-hour.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 17

    What else you have to know about trading and investing Bitcoin?

    If you’re thinking about trading, you have to put a large amount of money on the market. Be careful and invest in a protected and reliable wallet.

    An exchange can be ruined anytime, all with your money in a play.  It has happened in Bitcoin’s beginnings. The awful fall ended in losing over 800,000 bitcoins. The bitcoin owners never get money back.

    One of the most important features of Bitcoin trading is the possibility to use leverage. We already discussed leverage. It is similar to forex trading.

    For example, you have a 50:1 leverage, so you can place trades 50 times higher than your current capital. But in Bitcoin’s trading, the leverage ratio is significantly lower than in forex.

    The leverage can produce high returns, and also comparably losses.  In essence, you are betting that bitcoin price will reach a certain level. This form of trading is almost parallel to gambling – you bet a certain amount of money that a Bitcoin’s price could reach a certain high. And there is a trick. While in forex trading currency pairs can change the price by 1% maximum over one day, in crypto trading price can increase or drop more than 30% in 24 hours. 

    And you can trade from home, everyone’s dream.

    You may trade from your home and here is the detailed instruction on HOW

     

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 18

    The First Trade – How To Execute It

    The first trade should be like a selection of a school. You have to choose what assets or securities you want to trade. After that, you have to pick the broker or brokerage company to obtain access to the markets. That’s very important because the broker you choose will have a primary impact on securities you want to trade. Also, pay attention and check the tools the broker provides. Also, how much you will pay in fees. Hence, what returns you can expect from your trades. You have to find a broker that would charge low fees and provide you with a full package of support to make your trading easier.

    And you have to choose the right strategy.

    Trade execution is the simplest part. You might be surprised, but you must know what you are paying. You have to know how to recognize the highest quality trades. Let’s see the distinct components of high and low-quality trading. A high-quality trade setup provides a quick sharp movement in the wanted direction. On the other side, the average trade will struggle to achieve that. 

     

     

    The chart above illustrates an example of a high-quality trade setup.

    Can you see the price is moving to the north? That provides fewer barriers for short-term side to side support and resistance levels. Hence, there are no obstacles for the price to increase and it will do it quick. Trades that go straight into near-term support and resistance levels can be more inclined to conflict. Hence, it is more difficult to make a sharp move out of in the wanted direction.

    But trades that have more capacity to run and are not promptly interrupted by a near-term support and resistance levels have a better position to bring you to wanted result. 

     

     

    Here is the chart for more evidence. Notice the bearish pin bar. This is exactly what you have to look for when trading pin bars. But a short trade after this formation resulted in a ‘tight’ trade. That was caused by a prior resistance level. That will result in a drawdown on the trade for a short, before finally moving in favor of your trade.

    FEW WORDS ABOUT TRADING STRATEGIES

    The main difference between trading and investing is that a trader explores out market changes for profit. On the other hand, an investor tends to profit from long-term price changes in the assets. A trader will make numerous trades over one week, the investor will buy and hold for years.

    The first move in building your trading strategy is to have a trading plan

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 20

    The trading plan is like writing a business plan for some entrepreneurs. A trading plan will help you to make a realistic decision in periods of rapid market movement when your emotions might lead you to make impulsive decisions.

    The trading strategy should include specific goals such as: getting out of debt, retiring early, making your first million. Also, your trading strategy should include your asset allocation and diversification moves.  

    As a beginner, you should have up to 5% of your trading funds on any single trade. Make sure your trading strategy contains a mix of fundamental analysis of global events, like wars that impact oil prices.

    But also technical analysis like trading rules based on price and volume transformations. It is important because you can use this information to determine your entry into trades, your exit when the trade goes your way, and your escape when the trade goes against your plans.

    For you, your best interest is to incorporate stop/limit loss orders into every trade you place.

    New traders can use technology to lower the entry barriers to trading by automating many of the activities.

    HERE ARE SOME OF THEM:

    * Trading bots 

    This is simply computer programs with instructions based on a predetermined set of market indicators and parameters.

    You can use automated trading systems to trade stocks, options, futures, and foreign exchange products.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 21

    It is based on a predefined set of rules, which determine when to enter an order, when to exit a position and how much money to invest in each trading product. Trading bots are especially helpful to beginner traders and sometimes, a bot can be an important market ally for reducing your losses.

    * Stock screeners 

    That can help you filter the stocks in the market to narrow down potential winners before their big breaks.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 22

    This will help you identify top gainers and losers, stocks on turbo momentum, and stocks that are about to break out above resistance or break down below support lines.

    * Social trading

    This is simply a type of trading in which traders rely on user-generated financial content, collected from a variety of networks.

    Financial markets – Important guide for beginners 23

    Social trading provides you the platform to be part of a community of successful traders and you can purify the wisdom of the crowd and make you able to make your own trading decisions.

    WHAT YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER ABOUT FINANCIAL MARKETS 

    Always use a trading plan, don’t underestimate the importance of a trading journal, change trading strategy after every trade. Test your trading skills on a demo account in a social trading environment before you start risking your own money. Practice trading strategies so that when you’re ready to enter the real financial markets, you’ve had the practice you need.

    How do financial markets help you? Speaking about financial markets, you must know a few things.

    First, there is no quick and easy money. If that is what you want, you should get to the casino.

    Second, education is crucial. Without it, you will never become a great trader.

    Third, be aware. Scammers are lurking around.

    Financial markets perform an open and regulated way for companies to get the capital. This is done through the stock and bond markets. Also, the financial markets support these businesses to balance risk. Further, the financial markets are public. They consider all available knowledge about everything traded. So, we can say, the financial markets are placing where companies can find the buyers or someone willing to sell.

    We hope you enjoyed this article about financial markets. It was made for a total beginner in the financial markets. We tried not to use too many complicated terms, and for those – you will have to buy our other books and courses.

    Be smart, invest only as much as you can lose.

    Our Facebook page Traders Paradise Facebook 

    and find us on Twitter Traders-Paradise

    We are preparing a lot of surprises for you.

     

     

  • Investing in foreign markets – How to that

    Investing in foreign markets – How to that

    2 min read

    Investing in foreign markets - How to that

    Investing in foreign markets may sound intriguing or intimidating.

    Yes, international investing can be a difficult attempt. There are communication hurdles. Also, there are problems with money transfers to foreign exchanges. And regulations can be tricky. On the other hand, financial advisors suggest holding at least some foreign stocks in a diversified portfolio.

    Luckily, there are easy ways for Investing in foreign markets. That excludes picking up a new language or exchanging your local money for euros or dollars or something like that.

    One of the best ways to diversify your portfolio is to put some of your money in global investments. Foreign markets may react differently to economic conditions than, for example, U.S. markets. It is possible that strong performance abroad helps to compensate for weak performance at home.

    Foreign stocks can diversify your portfolio as we said, but they may open up chances for growth and success. In general, there are three ways you can use to make your portfolio more international in its exposure.

    Having an international stock appearance in your investments is a smart move that can improve your overall returns.

    International stocks add diversification

    You know the idiom: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

    This saying is particularly relevant when investing. Diversification or holding a mixture of stocks across different countries, industries, and areas of companies is a simple way to increase long-term investment returns while decreasing risk.

    An easy way to invest internationally is through a mutual fund that holds foreign securities. You get the privilege to choose from stock, bond or money market funds in several categories.

    The easiest way to invest in foreign markets is by buying exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that hold a basket of international stocks and bonds. The foreign holdings over multiple industries and countries, provide investors with the highly-diversified foreign component to their portfolio in just one easy purchase.

    In general, there are three ways you can invest internationally.

    Investing directly in foreign stocks.

    Using internationally focused exchange-traded funds to gain foreign exposure.

    Buying shares of multinational corporations that are based in the U.S. but do almost all of their business internationally.

    Let’s break down each of them.

    Buying foreign stocks directly

    The most reasonable way for Investing in foreign markets is to buy shares of foreign companies. You can find many foreign companies that list their stock on major U.S. exchanges. Moreover, investing in those companies is identical to buying shares of any U.S. company.

    For stocks that aren’t listed on major U.S. exchanges, investing gets complex. Some foreign companies trade on an over-the-counter basis. That makes them available with many brokerage accounts. But, at the same time, makes them subject to less liquid trading conditions.

    Still, other foreign stocks have no U.S. availability at all, so investors have to buy shares directly on foreign stock exchanges. There are limited numbers of brokers offer direct purchase and sale of foreign stocks on exchanges outside the U.S. This means, for example, you can count on finding the exact stock you’re looking for with a great deal of work.

    Try your hand at paper trading with foreign investments you find intriguing. This virtual-trading practice, offered by many online brokers, will allow you to learn to invest in new markets without risking any money.

    Buying international stocks through an ETF

    Many exchange-traded funds have a focus on foreign stocks. They offer a more diversified entrance at international investing. Also, they have a wide variety of different funds to choose from.

    Some international ETFs endeavor to offer stocks of the entire global market. Others focus in on particular regions, countries, industries, or other classifications of international stocks. One of the most common characteristics involves ETFs that focus on stocks in developed markets. That is versus those that concentrate on emerging market stocks. Many ETFs have limitation to one or the other of these groups.

    The benefit of international ETFs is that they’re listed on U.S. stock exchanges and are easy to trade. Fees can be higher than with domestic stock ETFs, so you have to look carefully at costs.

    Buying U.S. stocks that concentrate abroad

    Many U.S. companies have increased their presence to international markets.

    For example, Philip Morris International only sells cigarettes and other tobacco products outside the U.S. Some other companies keep a minimal U.S. presence. But they are available internationally.

    American companies win reputation abroad, especially in the consumer sector. So, the investors have to consider not only U.S. economic and industry conditions but also what companies face in their abroad markets.

    Risks of investing internationally

    Investing internationally carries the same risk associated with all investing. The market conditions can change, causing your investments to lose value.

    Political risk – Changes to government and political systems can cause devastation on a nation’s investment markets.

    Currency risk – Exchange-rate fluctuations can boost or limit investment returns.

    Market risk – Many abroad markets are characterized by wide price oscillations.

    The bottom line

    Investing in foreign markets are a great way to build international exposure in any portfolio. And you don’t have to worry about foreign stocks or regulations. Moreover, investors can achieve proper diversification for their portfolios by Investing in foreign markets.

    risk disclosure

  • Shorting Stock – Explanation

    Shorting Stock – Explanation

    Shorting Stock - Explanation 1Shorting a stock looks very simple. But, this isn’t a strategy for beginners.

    By Guy Avtalyon

    Shorting a stock is when a trader borrows stocks and quickly sells them. She or he does that in the hope that can buy them back later at a lower price and return them to the broker or lender. Of course, the trader pockets the difference in the stock price. Shorting is riskier than simply buying stocks. A trader that practice shorting is taking a short position, while investors that are buying and holding stocks have so-called a long position.

    In other words, when some trader starts short selling, he or she borrows stocks from an existing stockholder through the brokerage. Than sells borrowed shares at the current market price and takes the cash.

    What is shorting stocks? 

    Generally speaking, when you invest in stocks, you expect to profit from a company’s great times and increasing profits.

    But this is a whole different type of traders, called shorts. They do just the contrary. They search the Internet for news about car industry recalls, for example, and look for ways to cash when the stock of such a company is falling.

    It’s possible to make money when prices are going down. Of course, if you are willing to accept the risks which are big. One of the strategies to profit on a downward-trending stock is selling short. The hope behind shorting a stock is that its price will decrease or the company will go bankrupt. Of course, it can lead to total ruin for the stock owners. 

    Shorting a stock means you are profiting if the stock price drops inside the timeframe from your entering the deal and turning back the stock. But if stock price increases, you’ll take a loss. You can short almost every asset, stocks, ETFs, and REITs, but never mutual funds.

    What short-seller do?

    The short seller is a trader who is buying the stock back but at a much lower price. However, the short seller must promise to return the borrowed stock at some period in the future. Otherwise, the true owner or broker will never borrow the trader a stock.
    Borrowed shares have no dividends until the short seller turns them back. Even more, he has to compensate for missing payments to the lender from his own pocket. So, when short-selling it is very important to have accurate information.

    When you want to close your short position, you have the obligation to buy the same number of shares at the current price and return them to the lender. Your profit or your loss comes from the difference between the price you sold the stock and the price you bought them for.
    The stock for short selling can come from the broker’s inventory, a client of the firm, or from another brokerage company. When the shares are sold, the profits are added to your account.

    How to shorting a stock

    That involves some important steps. One of them is a short-term strategy.

    Selling short is essentially created for a quick profit in stocks that you expect to decrease in value.
    The main risk of shorting a stock is a possibility for the price to increase, and as a result, you’ll have a losing trade and losses. The possible stock price valuing is theoretically unlimited. Therefore, you are maybe exposed to great losses in a short position.
    Also, shorting stocks involves margin. Hence, a short-seller can be subject to a margin call if the stock price moves up. A margin call requires a short seller to deposit additional money into the account to fill the initial margin balance.
    Also, there are some restrictions on who can sell short, which stocks can be shorted, etc. You must be familiar with the regulation if want to short a stock. For example, some limitations are put on stocks wit low price.

    Who can short stocks?

    First of all, it isn’t for amateurs.

    Unlimited losses and a margin account can be exceptionally dangerous for an amateur trader. Especially you don’t completely understand the risk you’ll face whenever you enter a short position without protection.
    Due to the possible large losses that short selling generates, brokerages lower this strategy to margin accounts. In case you use a cash account without margin, you’ll not be allowed to short selling.
    If you’re not a short seller and don’t like your stocks to be borrowed, the best option is to open a cash account. That will hold away short-sellers to borrow your stocks without your personal permission.
    This is usually good practice, anyway.

    Is timing important for shorting a stock?

    In short, yes. The most important for shorting a stock is to know which one or more could be overvalued, also when it may drop, and when it may rise in value.
    Shorting a stock is possible because the stock can be overvalued. For example, the housing bubble in 2008. Firstly, we had an enormous increase in housing costs. So, when the bubble popped we had a correction in the stock market. Remember, stocks can be overvalued or undervalued. In shorting is important to know which one is overvalued.

    How long to stay in a short position?

    You can enter and exit a short position on the same day.  Or you may hold on the position for several days or weeks depending on the strategy and how the stock is performing. Timing is especially important to short selling.  But the possible influence of tax practice is important also. So, we have to say, this is a strategy that requires practice and study.

    Tools for shorting the stock

    Shorting a stock is a strategy that demands to identify winners and losers.
    For example, you may choose to go long a carmaker because you expect it’s possible to take market share. But, at the same time, you can go short to another carmaker that might sink.
    Shorting is useful to hedge the current long position. For example, you hold stocks of the company and you expect it to decline in the next few months. But you don’t want to sell that stock. So, you could hedge the long position by shorting that stock while expecting it to decrease. When the stock turn to grow again all you need is to close the short position.

    But you must be very careful.

    Shorting a stock appears as very simple. But, keep in mind, this isn’t a strategy for beginners. Only the advanced traders who recognize the potential problems should think about shorting.

    A valuable tool is the “short ratio”, you can see it specified for each individual stock. The short ratio commonly means how many days the stock needs to cover all the short positions. However, there is another benefit to that figure. It reveals the number of shares that are currently shorted by traders in comparison to the number of shares that are available overall.
    How to get this number?
    Multiply the current short ratio by the 30-day average daily volume of stocks.
    Just use it as a quick measure of investors’ sentiment towards a stock. For example, a high short ratio usually shows the belief that stock is falling. There are some exceptions, but understanding those exceptions is the key to victorious short selling.
    Stay tuned!

     

  • PENNY STOCKS – How much does it cost to invest in

    PENNY STOCKS – How much does it cost to invest in

    3 min read

    PENNY STOCKS - How much does it cost to invest in 1

    Penny stocks sound cheap, don’t you think?

    Yes, because they are. They are also called micro-cap stocks

    Penny stocks describe shares of a company that trades for low amounts. It is usually between $0.01 to $2.00. But some institutions count a penny stock is anything that trades for less than $5.00 per share.

    They’re not expensive, so what’s the catch?

    So why trade penny stocks?

    Everyone who entered the stock market knows that penny stocks equal a bigger risk than regular stocks.

    The reason for inflated risk is simple. The companies that hold penny stock typically have no profits and minimal operations.  

    Many of these companies are speculative because they are thinly traded, usually over the counter instead of on major exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange.

    They usually trade on the pink sheets or on FINRA’s over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB) and are not required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    These stocks have low liquidity due to a lack of buyers and sellers. Hence, orders may not be filled right away or even at all. Moreover, volatility tends to be high among OTC (Over-the-counter) stocks, and bid-ask spreads are frequently large.

    Investors in penny stocks should be prepared for the possibility that they may lose their whole investment.

    Plus, penny stocks are notorious for being part of so-called pump-and-dump schemes. The scammers buy up shares and then promote it as the next hot stock on blogs, message boards, and e-mails. Once the stock price is unnaturally pumped up by all the gossips, the scammers sell their stake. The investors stay with big losses.

    But…

    Where penny stocks have the advantage is the low cost.

    Also because of the simple math of penny stocks. If you buy shares for $0.40, and if the stock goes up by $0.20, then your profit is at 50 percent. That’s the pie-in-the-sky scenario.

    However, it’s just as easy for your $0.40 share to go down by $0.20 and lose 50%, instead.

    So, a $1,000 investment could lose value pretty quickly.

    Of course, not everything is so dark.

    Several years ago, CNN published a story about a young man who made his first million dollars from trading penny stocks.

    He decided to begin with his life savings of $1,500. And 3 years later his portfolio was worth more than $1 million.
    See how worth it was.

    So, how to trade penny stocks?

    We warned you but, yet you still want to trade penny stocks.

    It is possible to trade penny stocks successfully.

    If you trade penny stocks successfully, they really can offer the greatest risk-reward ratio of any investment type. But take care, the odds are not in your favor if you don’t understand what you’re doing. The must is, you have to learn. You must have the knowledge, education, in order to understand the market to successfully trade penny stocks.
    PENNY STOCKS - How much does it cost to invest in 3
    And you must stay far away from scammers. Read the fine print on any email or ad you see on social media and in emails. If you find a disclaimer at the bottom of a social media post or an email, be cautious.

    That means that someone’s getting paid to post an ad.

    YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ The awesome thing is that you can invest in stocks online for free. See HOW!

    It’s possible to profit when you understand the game, but the odds are against you when you don’t. And worse: manipulators and scammers often run the penny stock game.

    For investors who can’t afford shares of Apple, for example, the potential gains from trades like this are too good to pass up.

    So penny stock trading prospers. With a relatively small investment, you can make a nice return if the trade works out.

    So, if you spot an advertisement that promises dollars from your pennies just remember these several rules:

    Never trust the sweet stories

    You must not believe the penny stock stories that are touted in emails and on social media websites.

    And you have to say no. Let’s say, you can’t invest in penny stocks as if they were lotto tickets.

    Unfortunately, that’s what most people do, and they lose over and over. Think of penny stocks as people that you can’t trust.

    Instead, focus on the profitable penny stocks with solid earnings growth and which are making 52-week highs.

    Read the disclaimers

    Penny stocks are sold more than bought. They come as tips in emails and newsletters.

    Remember, the free penny stock newsletters are not giving you tips out of the goodness of their heart. Read the disclaimers at the bottom of the newsletters. And you will see. They are getting paid to pitch a stock because their investors want a presentation for the company. There is nothing wrong with that, but almost all penny newsletters make false promises.

    YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ Online stock brokers make investing easier than ever

    You have to know something. There is a difference between stocks making a 52-week high based on an earnings breakout and stocks making a 52-week high because three newsletters picked it. The disclaimers at the bottom of the email or newsletter, which the SEC requires,  reveals very often a conflict of interest.
    They are being paid to pump up the stock, but they rarely tell you when to sell. Usually, it’s far too late.

    Sell your penny stock quickly

    The charm of penny stocks is you can make 20% or 30% in a few days. If you make that kind of return, sell quickly.
    Never get greedy, aiming for a 1,000% return. The penny stock is getting pumped up, take any profits. And move further.

    Never trust company management

    Don’t believe what you hear from companies in this penny stock’s world.

    The companies are trying to get their stock up so they can raise money and stay in business. That’s okay, but there is no reliable business model or accurate data. So, most penny stocks are scams that are created to enrich insiders.

    There are large circles of the same people run promotions using different press releases and companies.

    Never sell short

    Don’t do it.

    Penny stocks are too volatile. If you’re on the wrong side of the trade, you could lose 50% or more on a short squeeze. Another problem is that it’s difficult to find shares of the penny stock to short. Leave shorting penny stocks to the pros.

    Focus on penny stocks with high volume

    Stay with stocks that trade at least 100,000 shares a day. It could be difficult to get out of your position if you trade stocks with low volume.

    Traders Paradise suggests that you trade penny stocks that are priced at more than 50 cents a share. Penny stocks that are trading less than 100,000 shares a day and are under 50 cents a share are not liquid enough to be in play.

    Don’t trade large positions

    You really need to be careful with position sizing. Never learn the hard way not to trade big. Famous traders rule is not to trade more than 10% of the stock’s daily volume.

    The limitation of position size will provide you to get out of the stock faster.

    The bottom line

    If you want to invest in penny stocks you have to learn.

    By the way, learn from Timothy Sykes, who is famous for turning his Bar Mitzvah gift money of about $12,000 into millions by day-trading penny stocks while in college. For the past years, Sykes has been teaching his strategies through the sale of instructional newsletters and video lessons. You can find his lessons very easy.

  • Online stock brokers for beginners

    Online stock brokers for beginners

    2 min read

    It is easier than ever to find good online stock brokers. The benefits are numerous. You can learn and invest in the comfort of your own home. The research team at Traders Paradise made some research. We tried to find the options on the market that are good for you. So, we wanted to find the best online stock brokers for beginners and super investors alike.  We had to deep into the financial world with stock experts.

    And we hope that this research will help anyone get started.

    The popularity of index fund investing and robo-advisors is rising. It may seem the trading of individual stocks is lost. But, it isn’t the truth.

    Millions of investors continue to trade individual stocks and other securities. Because online stock trading sites make investing easier it’s important to do so using the best online stock trading sites.

    Investors should know the best online stock brokers to trade with. They have the right to know. Some online stock brokers are known for their award-winning customer service. But the others are known for low-priced stock trades or powerful trading tools. Traders Paradise-Finance wants to highlight some of the best brokers available today. Actually, we want to give you some tips for choosing a broker.

    Criteria for the best online stock brokers

    The best online stock brokers offer low fees, great customer service, and smart research tools.

    Discount brokers charge as little as $4.95 for online trades. Compare that to the $100+ that many full-service brokers charge. It seems like a no-brainer choice to choose the discount broker. But, you must know how to pick the right one.

    Trading online is a self-directed practice, and you need the right broker backing you up.

    But it is a stormy time for online stock brokers.

    Between significant cuts in commissions and a few major acquisitions, the competition is fierce.

    YOU SHOULD READ Stocks Online for Free – How to Invest

    So, let’s like this, there is no one best online stock broker. But each one has different strengths and weaknesses. Our aim is to spotlight them and help you find the best one for your investing style.

    Every trader should care about cost. A few of the fees we analyzed include:

    Cost per transaction:

    Commissions are typically an investor’s biggest cost base. For example, in 2016, a usually unassisted transaction fee averaged about $8. But early 2017 brokers decrease their commission. Fidelity, E*Trade, and TD Ameritrade, also did that. Now, you can trade for as low as $4.95. No matter what the price, though, for us, transparency is key. We wanted to see affordable pricing structures.

    Account minimums:

    Seeing your wealth shrink due to a tough market or bad strategy isn’t fun. It’s worse if you’re also getting dinged by your broker’s minimum account balance requirement.

    Charges for data and tools:

    The best online stock trading sites have quality market data like real-time quotes, educational resources, and stock-screening tools built right into their platforms. But some, we have to say, like Fidelity and TD Ameritrade, stand out for also providing top-shelf resources. And it is totally free of charge.

    Extra costs:

    Executing a trade over the phone, for example, can increase an $8 commission fee to $25 or more. Some platforms offer free education on sophisticated strategies but require an upgraded platform with an annual fee. Besides cost, we valued educational material, reports and tools, and the usability of the platform itself.

    After Traders Paradise conducted this research, the following to be our top picks:

    The best for cheap trading is Ally Invest. But beginners would like E*Trade. Speaking about the platform the best has TD Ameritrade. Best research and tools have Fidelity.

    Online stock brokers for beginners 1

    Why use a discount broker

    A discount broker costs you much less money per trade. You won’t have the steep commissions that full-service brokers charge. What this means is more cash in your pocket and the opportunity to make more trades.

    The main reason is cost.
    But here we will break down who would do better with a full-service broker and who could get by with a discount broker.
    Because cheaper isn’t always better.

    Let’s see in this way.

    Do you have a large number of large investments?
    Or you not have the desire nor the know-how to handle your portfolio?
    Can you afford high commission fees?
    Maybe you not have time to manage your portfolio effectively?

    If your answers are “yes” to each of these questions, a full-service broker might be the best option for you.
    But, if you want to save money on each trade made or like to be in control of your investments, the discount broker will suites you better.

    Because you don’t want to be pressured to take other investments and you want to make frequent trades.
    The other things to consider when you have to choose your online stock brokers are:

    Minimum deposit/balance:

    Some brokers require a minimum deposit to open the account. Others don’t have a minimum. Yet others require a minimum average balance over the life of the account. Determine what you can afford to keep in the account if choosing accounts with a minimum requirement higher than $0.

    Customer service:

    Take a trial run on any broker’s website that you are considering. Check out the support they have readily available on their website. But you should also email and call them with questions. See how long it takes to get an answer.
    A discount stock broker can save you a lot of money and save your portfolio. But they aren’t for everyone. Here are a couple of other choices you may want to consider:

    Robo-Advisors: If you are familiar with a completely “hands-off” approach, robo-advisors can save you even more money. The automated system uses an algorithm to invest your money for you. After you input your risk thresholds and investment goals, the computer does the rest.

    YOU SHOULD READ Automatic Trading – What Is It

    Peer Lending: This is those who want to stay away from stocks and bonds for now. If you are one of them, consider peer-to-peer lending. You decide how much money you want to invest and what type of risk you want to take. The minimum investment is often about $25. You can break your investment up into as many loans as you want. This helps diversify your portfolio.

    Full-Service stockbroker: If you have a lot of money to invest or need that in-person advice, a full-service stockbroker is for you. You’ll find them at your larger brokerage houses, but keep in mind that their commissions are higher than discount brokers. In the most common situations, you will have to pay $100 – $200 per trade versus $4 – $7 per trade.

    The bottom line

    Using a discount broker is a great way to trade and keep your profits. Choose your broker wisely by paying attention to hidden fees and understanding account minimums. A discount broker is a great way for beginning and experienced investors alike to invest in their future.

    To find which online brokers suits you the best, you should read Traders Paradise’s WALL OF FAME.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)