Tag: investing

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

  • Stocks Online for Free –  How to Invest

    Stocks Online for Free – How to Invest

    Stocks Online for Free - How to Invest 1Why invest in stocks online for free, where to find broker, is it really free? Read this post to the end.

    By Guy Avtalyon

    Technology is making it easier than ever to invest in stocks online for free. However, some places still are charging outrageous fees and commissions to buy stocks and ETFs online when it’s possible to invest in stocks online for free.

    Some of the firms that advertise “get started with just $5” can charge you huge fees as a percentage of what you invest. Truth is, we saw some really dishonest financial advisors charging thousands!

    We can offer this: everything held equal, the less you pay in fees, the better your returns.

    Where to find stocks online for free

    Gratefully, we live in the 21st century, and there’s never been a better time to be a small investor.

    For 95% of people, that’s fine. For those who want to buy individual stocks, there are still places that allow you to buy stocks online for free.

    You have only a few ways to buy stocks online for free.
    Thanks to developing technology investing is cheaper. More and more companies are lowering their fees and commissions.
    It is possible that they will continue with costs reducing in the coming years due to competition. So, it’s reasonable to expect the cost will drop more.

    Fees don’t have to stop you from making wise and lucrative investments.

    And now, in today’s mobile world, investing is becoming easier and cheaper than ever. Buying and selling stock investments is not as easy as watching TV series but don’t worry it is not rocket science either.

    Today you can enter your stock trades from stockbrokers websites for stock trading apps. It’s very convenient. Just read reviews of the best trading apps and you can find the best selection for you.

    Some of them you can find on Traders Paradise’s Wall of fame, like E-trade, TD Ameritrade or Fidelity.

    We can suggest you these 3 the best stock trading apps for beginners.

    • TD Ameritrade

    It is the best for ETF trades. You’ve probably discovered Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and you want to cut fees, but you want to maintain a well-diversified portfolio.

    ETFs maintain a tax-advantaged structure. They usually offer lower fees than comparable mutual funds. But, most brokerages charge you to buy and sell ETFs. Well, this broker, TD Ameritrade, don’t do so.

    TD Ameritrade offers over 100 commission-free ETFs from industry giants iShares, Vanguard, and even more. Because of the diversity of no-load ETF funds, TD Ameritrade is, in Traders Paradise’s opinion, top broker for the people who want to consider tax-loss harvesting on their own.

     

    Moreover, TD Ameritrade also has no minimum and no maintenance fee IRAs.

    TD Ameritrade’s mobile app also offers research, information, and portfolio analysis that makes free investing that easier.  But we have to say, TD Ameritrade charges for some ETFs, mutual funds, and equity trades. Our suggestion is, filter for no-load ETFs before you buy.

    TD Ameritrade has about 4,120 no-fee funds.

    • E-trade

    This broker offers thousands of mutual funds with no transaction costs.

     

    Mutual funds are the old-school ETF similar principle from the diversification angle. Like ETFs, they hold many individual investments. Hence, investors get some level of diversification in a single fund.

    Unlike ETFs, they are priced, they aren’t traded with a commission but with a transaction fee charged by the broker. That’s because they are bought and sold at the end of each trading day.

    That fee can be pretty big, sometimes almost $50. But many brokers have a list of no-transaction-fee funds.

    Of those that do, E-Trade put up the best showing, with about 4,440 and 4,350, respectively. This is why this broker tops our list of best mutual fund providers. That means you can buy funds on those lists with no charge. Though as with ETFs, investors in these funds will pay expense ratios.

    • Fidelity

    It is the best for Free ETF Trades & No Minimum IRA. Fidelity allows you to invest for free. This is surprising for most people because most people don’t connect Fidelity with “free”. But, Fidelity offers a range of commission-free ETFs. That allows the majority of investors to build a balanced portfolio.

    Fidelity IRAs have no minimum to open, and no account maintenance fees. Let’s say, you could deposit just $5, and invest it for free. That makes this a much better deal compared to some other companies. Furthermore, Fidelity just announced that it now has two 0.00% expense ratio funds. And yes, they are free.

     

    So, you can not only invest commission-free, but these funds don’t charge any management fees. This is truly free investing. But to make it a prime app, it has to have a great app, and Fidelity has it. Fidelity has a great app, so that makes them the top broker.

    Fidelity’s app is the easiest to use out of all of the investing apps we’ve tested. All their features work brilliantly together, and they have tones of them. Plus, they are the all-in-one option. With them, you have a full service investing broker. And that is more than just free.

    Why invest in stocks online for free

    Investing in stocks is supposed to be about building wealth. Well, paying trading commissions can slow your progress..Small fees on stock trades might not seem like a big deal. Most online brokers charge $10 or less for each transaction. But keep in mind that’s per transaction. If you are just starting out as an investor, or if you have only small amounts to invest, even a small fee can take a big bite out of your profits. 

    But now, you know how you can invest in stocks online for free.

     

  • Buying Stock Without a Broker – Ways to Do

    Buying Stock Without a Broker – Ways to Do

    Buy Stocks Without Broker - Ways to DoIs it possible to buy stocks without a broker? Why shouldn’t be? Here is how to do that.

    By Guy Avtalyon

    Buying stock without a broker offers some advantages and disadvantages. Young investors are worried about investing in the stock market.

    The financial crisis of 2008 strongly disturbed our formative professional years. We can still feel its specter lingers a decade later. Only 33% of millennials own stock, according to a 2016 Bankrate survey.

    The other survey, a 2015 Harvard University survey found that just 14 percent of millennials trust Wall Street.

    As any good stockbroker or experienced investor can tell you, you can find bad brokers more often than the good one.

    Being “bad brokers” means those who put their own interests above that of their clients. We have a list of bad reputation brokers here on Traders Paradise’s wall of shame.

    So, we must consider how to buy stock without a broker.

    However, that worst brokers do this in a perfectly legal way, by causing desire and weaknesses to their clients’.

    How do they do that?

    Here are three main practices that bad stockbrokers practice. They claim to their clients that aiming for stability rather than growth. Wrong!

    Usually, they force clients to obtain an income from two different sources, typically in an illicit way. Also, some of them are emphasizing low-risk, low-return, high-fee structured products in client accounts.

    That’s why many new investors ask how to buy stock without a broker.

    Because of the lack of confidence in brokers, many millennials don’t have the startup cash to fund an IRA or a brokerage account. That typically requires either automatic monthly payments or a minimum investment of around $1,000-2,500, plus commission fees of around $4-7 for every trade.

    For those people who want to go down this path to business ownership, one option can be to check out direct investment plans.

    But it is with varying degrees of success. Of course, there is no requirement that you have to work with a broker to invest in stocks or particularly equity funds.

    Buying stock without a broker offers some advantages and disadvantages.

    You will need to measure them based on your personal situation. But our goal is to provide you a good handle on how to invest without a broker.

    But it’s up to you to make a decision about whether such an approach is appropriate for you. You have to know your unique circumstances and preferences. Because there is no unique solution for everyone.

    Let’s say, you had a broker but you noticed that your broker sometimes uses unfamiliar words and phrases to describe investment concepts. Some of this stockbroker jargon is simply a shorthand that brokers use amongst themselves. They use them to refer to familiar situations without having to go into any detail on the underlying concept.

    Your head is going to explode hearing every time some strange words that cause suspicions.

    But investing can be simpler if you buy stock without a broker. Just by investing in shares through a company’s direct stock purchase plan.

    The first and easiest way to buy stocks without a broker

    It is when companies, often blue chips, fund a special type of program. It is called a DSPP or Direct Stock Purchase Plan.

    The main goal of these plans originally was designed as a way for businesses to let smaller investors buy ownership directly from the company. In the beginning, they were working through a transfer agent or plan administrator. They still do the same. Most plans allow investors to buy stock without a broker if they agree to either have an amount taken out of their checking or savings account every month for six months. Often $50 is the acceptable minimum. The other way is to make a one-time purchase, which will cost you $250 or $500.

    These plans are surely not as comfortable as getting a broker. You can’t just buy and sell a variety of company stocks at any time, for instance. Plus, you won’t have a diverse portfolio if you only own stock from a few companies. Moreover, with some plans, you won’t even escape fees. So, you have to be careful about what you sign up for.

    This means trades without commission

    But we have to say, direct stock plans are a good way to experiment with the stock market without putting too much money into the game.

    Ordinarily, the plan administrators use your cash to buy shares of the company. It can be on the open market or freshly issued from the business itself, on predetermined dates. The average cost of the purchases is weighed out.

    Also, they can use some other methodology to equalize the cost among investors. And the direct stock purchase plan statement arrives quarterly. All with a listing of the number of shares you own and dividends you receive.

    Some direct stock purchase plans trades without commission. Others charge small fees. Usually $1 or $2 plus a few cents per share, for each purchase. A larger fee, about $15 and a few cents more per share, for a sale. This is a lot lower than what you have to pay at a full-service broker.

    Buy stock without a broker by taking advantage of the dividend reinvestment program

    In this way, you can add additional shares to your holdings.

    This means to enroll in a stock’s dividend reinvestment program or DRIP. DRIPs provide you to take cash dividends, paid out by the company you partially own. And you may plow them back into buying more shares, charging either nominal fees or nothing at all. It depends upon the individual plan.

    Have this on your mind. For a typical stock, that’s a lot of transactions over 25 or 50 years on which you aren’t paying commissions. The typical stock may pay out a dividend four times per year. So, count! DRIPs usually come with cash investment options that resemble direct stock purchase plans.

    This opportunity means you can regularly have money withdrawn from your account, or send in one-time payments whenever you like.

    A lot of long-term investors have become skilled at building wealth through these types of accounts. Buying stock without a broker for years, even decades is a very nice way. You must be heard stories about some housekeeper who left behind $5 million opulence.

    They did it just on the way we said above.

    You can buy stock without a broker by obtaining a single share through a specialized gifting service

    Unfortunately, the financial industry’s decision is to move away from paper stock certificates.  And this has become a bit shaky.

    But, up until recently, you could use companies that allowed you to buy a single share of stock to get your name on a corporate shareholder list.

    Hundreds of companies offer these plans, but each has its own rules for eligibility. It’s normal to be careful about investing in stocks. But some estimates that the average millennial would lose about $3.3 million in retirement savings by avoiding investing completely. Direct stock plans are an easy way to learn the basics and establish a portfolio.

    All without spending money, time, and nerves on brokers. Anyway, buying a stock without a broker may be a clever move for investors.

    Learn how to trade in the financial academy.

  • Blue-Chip Stocks – Investing in them can be a profitable decision

    Blue-Chip Stocks – Investing in them can be a profitable decision

    Blue-Chip Stocks - Investing in them can be a profitable decisionBlue-chip stocks are popular because they can provide a safer position during economic downturns.

    By Guy Avtalyon

    Investing in blue-chip stocks may have a reputation for being boring and even a bit outdated. But think again, is it an accident that they are preferred by wealthy investors and rock-solid financial institutions?

    Anyone would like a part in businesses they understand and that have a demonstrated record of extreme profitability. The blue chips certainly go along with this description. According to generations of investors, blue-chip stocks have brought money for owners. For the one wise enough to hang on them through good times and bad times, inflation and deflation.

    And it is well known. The blue chips stocks are always there. They represent companies that are the core of the global business. The firms with the past, with history. Their products and services are present in nearly every part of our lives.

    So, why they are almost entirely ignored by smaller, poorer investors? But, at the same time, the blue-chip stocks have been supreme in the investment portfolios of retirees, non-profit foundations. Also in the portfolios of the top 1 percent of the capitalist class.  

    This puzzle gives the greatest example, a spectacular glance into the problem of investment management.
    Even more, it requires some discussion of behavioral economics.

    Blue-chip stocks don’t belong exclusively to the world of retirees and insurance companies. Here’s why.

    What are blue-chip stocks?

    First of all,  the blue-chip stock is a nickname. It describes the common stock of a company that has several quantitative and qualitative characteristics. The term “blue-chip stock” originates from the card game, poker. You know that the highest and most valuable playing chip color in poker is blue.

    But there is no general agreement on what, precisely, makes up a blue-chip stock. Hence, there are always individual exceptions to one or more rules. Anyway, blue-chip stocks have several common characteristics.

    They are not new, they have history and profitability. They have official data of stable earning power over several decades.
    Also, they have long data of continuous dividend payments to stockholders.

    They reward shareholders by growing the dividend at a rate equal to or substantially more than the rate of inflation. So, the owner’s income is increasing at least every twelve months even if the shareholder never buys another share.

    Blue-chip companies

    They have high returns on capital. Also, a solid balance sheet and income statement. Especially when measured by the interest coverage ratio and the geographic and product line diversity of the cash flows.That kind of company repurchases stock when the share price is attractive relative to owner earnings.

    They are larger than the classic corporation. Measured by both stock market capitalization and enterprise value, they are among the largest concerns in the world.

    It is difficult to unseat market share from them. Sometimes, it comes in the form of a cost advantage achieved through economies of scale, or a franchise value in the mind of the consumer, or ownership of strategically important assets such as choice oil fields. That giant companies issue bonds that are considered investment grade with the best of the best being Triple-A rated.

    They are included in the component list of the S&P 500 index, speaking about the USA companies. Many of the blue chips are included in the more selective Dow Jones Industrial Average.

    Why wealthy investors prefer blue-chip stocks

    Well, one of the reasons wealthy investors prefer blue-chip stocks is because they tend to compound at acceptable rates of return. It is typically between 8% and 12% with dividends reinvested. To say that, holding blue-chip stocks isn’t smooth by any means. They may drop by 50% or more during the period of several years. But over time, the profits perform their extraordinary power.

    Presuming that the shareholder paid a reasonable price, it shows up in the total return of the shareholder.
    Even when they paid high prices for the ”Nifty Fifty”, 30 years later, investors beat the stock market indices despite several of the firms on the list going bankrupt.

     

    By holding the stock directly, the wealthy can pass them to their children using something known as the stepped-up basis loophole. One of the most incredible, traditional benefits available to reward investors is that all of the deferred capital gains taxes that would have been owed are forgiven.

    For example, if the investor, your mother or father at the same time, vested $500,000 worth of blue-chip stocks and held on to them.

    Can the blue-chip stocks offer a safer position during economic disasters?

    It isn’t a pleasant moment, but, just, for example, they died after they had grown in value to $5,000,000. The successor could arrange that estate in a way that the capital gains that would have been owed on the $4,500,000 unrealized gains ($5,000,000 current value – $500,000 purchase price) are forgiven.  The successor would have never paid them. Their children will never have to pay them.

    Don’t you think it’s better compounding at a lower rate with a holding you can maintain for the decades? Better than trying to flit in and out from position to position, always chasing after a few extra percentage points? Yes, it is.

    Another reason blue-chip stocks are popular is that they offer a safer position during economic disasters. The less experienced and poorer investors don’t think about this too much because they’re almost always trying to get rich too quickly.

    They are looking for that one thing that will instantly make them rich. It never ends well. Markets can collapse. You will see your holdings drop by substantial amounts no matter what you own.

    Are Blue-chips safe investments?

    Don’t let the other people deceive you. One of the reasons blue chips are relatively safe is that dividend-paying stocks tend to fall less in bear markets due to yield support.

    Moreover, profitable blue chips sometimes benefit over the long-run from economic disasters. They can buy, or drive out, weakened or bankrupt competitors at attractive prices. The blue-chip stock sets the stage for much better results decades down the line whenever there is a market collapse.

    As a conclusion, wealthy and successful investors tend to love blue-chip stocks because the stability means that the passive income is hardly ever in danger. Especially if there is broad diversification in the portfolio. If we ever get to the point that premier blue-chips are cutting dividends en masse across the board, then we will have much bigger things to worry about than the stock market. We’re most likely looking at a civilization disaster.

    And if it comes, who will care!

  • The minimum amount of money you need to start investing in the stock market

    The minimum amount of money you need to start investing in the stock market

    2 min read

    The minimum amount of money you need to start investing in the stock market 3
    There are no rules that tell the minimum or maximum amount of money you need to start investing.

    It may be less than you think.

    Let’s say you have $1000 aside.

    Is that amount enough to enter the world of stock investing?

    Yes. Even $5 is enough to start investing.

    But if you can invest more it is better. For you.

    But before you jump head first into the world of stocks and bonds, there are a few things you need to consider.

    One of the biggest considerations for investors with a minimal amount of funds is how to go about investing.

    Here are some questions to answer before hitting the “buy” button.

    First of all, what are your goals?

    You have to define what you want your investments to accomplish. It will help guide you in the right direction. That’s advice from investors and experts.

    What does it mean? You have to create a kind of road map. Like you are traveling to some unknown area and you need Google maps to show you the road.

    So, let’s go back to the main question.

    Do you want to save for retirement? For a new home? Or for a kids college fund? The answer will determine how risky you want to be with your money.

    There are some very low priced stocks available.

    You can begin investing in the stock market with a lot less money than many people think.

    Here’s how much you need.

    The minimum amount of money you need to open an account

    Some online discount trading platforms have account minimum requirements. Minimums for several popular ones range from as little as $0 to $2,500.

    It is for the self-directed account.

    If you want to open a traditional full-service, broker-assisted account, you will need several thousand dollars.

    The minimum amount of money you need to start investing in the stock market 6
    However, all financial institutions have minimum deposit requirements. In other words, they won’t accept your account application unless you deposit a certain amount of money. With a sum as small as $1,000, some firms won’t allow you to open an account.

    If you really want to start with the small, minimum amount of money you can use an app.

    They will allow you to begin investing with just $5. Some apps offer you a choice of several funds to invest in. You basically end up owning part of the stock.

    When you get to $5, the app invests that money for you into a diversified portfolio. In essence, it is a mix of stocks and bonds.

    The other question is the minimum amount of money you need to buy stocks.

    Golden rules for investing in stock market for beginners

    The minimum amount of money to buy stocks

    If you want to buy a stock, you’ll need enough money to buy one or more shares of that stock. And you have to add the cost of brokerage commission.

    Yes, we know you would like to start your investing with little money. But you must be aware. Stocks trading below $5 per share can be extremely speculative and dangerous. Usually, it is not worth dabbling with them.

    Truth is that a single share can trade from pennies for some companies to hundreds of thousands of dollars for an A-class share.

    But many companies’ shares cost, say, between $10 and $100 individually.

    There are some very low priced stocks available. But before investing in the share market you should know some basic financial ratios.

    Check valuation of stock’s price

    It is equally important to buy shares at the right price points.

    To earn money in share market, buying stocks at its right price is necessary.
    What does it mean by the right price?

    Estimating the intrinsic value of stocks requires a special skill. It isn’t quite as simple as it sounds.

    There are several methods you can use to estimate the intrinsic value of stocks. Different methods will give different values of intrinsic value.

    This itself is enough proof that how complicated it is to estimate the intrinsic value of stocks.

    People who have the real art of estimating the right intrinsic value of stocks has become Warren Buffett’s.

    You have to use financial ratios to value stocks

    You can start by checking how the stock price has behaved in the last 2-3 years.

    Suppose in the year 2012 the stock price was $35. After three years it has climbed to $50. That means the company has a growing tendency.

    But it is also important to check if the stock price has touched overvalued levels?

    You can know this in a variety of ways.

    Start by comparing the stock price with its book value. If the Price to Book Value ratio is less than 1.5, we can say that stock has not touched overvalued levels.

    If the book value of a stock is $100 and it is the market price is $160, it means its P/B ratio is 1.6.

    This is a hint that stock price has touched its overvalued levels.

    The amount of money a broker requires to open an account is the answer to the minimum amount. For a host of reasons consider opening an account with one that has a local office.

    Here is a more expansive look at things to consider when beginning investing.

    If you want to begin investing, consider reviewing at least some of the major tenets of personal finance.

    For example a multiple-month living expense safety net and paying off high-interest debt, e.g., credit cards, before beginning investing.

    You don’t have to invest all amount at once or in one stock. Rather diversify your money in different companies and different time of purchasing stocks.

    YOU WOULD LIKE TO READ How to Become A Trader or Investor in Just 10 Minutes

    How to collect the minimum amount of money

    Begin to set aside a sufficient amount of money to open a brokerage account. Consider $1,000 or more as a minimum amount of money to do so. Lesser amounts, e.g., $100, 500, are insufficient to invest effectively.

    Investing is a lifelong learning experience.

    Consider investing only the money you can afford to lose.

    Consider investing in stocks as part of an overall strategy that may include participation in employee retirement plans, payroll savings plans, and IRAs. There may be tax advantages to be had.

    You have to recognize the differences in philosophies and approaches to investing versus trading.

    Investing means long-term, but trading is short-term.

    Be aware that trading stocks as a novice are most likely a recipe for disaster. Day trading is not recommended.

    The literature is filled with evidence that the vast majority of those new to the market quickly lose significant money.

    Do take the time to read and study first.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

  • Investing In The Forex Market

    Investing In The Forex Market

    Investing In The Forex MarketHow to Forex investing? It isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme but it is full of potential to become wealthy

    By Guy Avtalyon

    Investing in the Forex market is growing and people from all around the world, especially from, India, are choosing to invest in Foreign Exchange markets, after the regulation of brokers’ work and their massive presence on the market.

    In this regard, investing in the Forex market can be a good alternative for all those who want to make a high return on invested money.

    Nevertheless, regardless of the many advantages of Forex, many investors are quite skeptical when it comes to investing large amounts of money. The reason lies in numerous myths, rumors, and misinformation that can often be found on the Internet, and they are referring to the Forex market.

    In the shortest, it can often be heard or read that the Forex market is a dead end, an ideal place for losing money, a fata morgana in the desert, and so on.

    For this reason, investors instead of developing the right trading strategies, are often subject to rumors. Hence, they do not make the right decisions or completely abandon or omit to invest in the Forex market.

    On the other hand, there are completely different myths.

    There are people who believe or have heard the myth that they can get rich overnight without one day of financial education. So they believe that Forex is the right place for that.

    What is investing in the Forex market?

    Someone would say, instant win with minimal or almost no investment. But this couldn’t be more wrong. It is true that behind any desire for quick rich is the lack of experience, the uncertainty, and the lack of a properly defined strategy. Success on the Forex market comes slowly, step by step, through education, practice, and only if it is based on realistic expectations.

    Often another myth can be heard. The is investing in stock markets is nothing more than a pure game of happiness. This is certainly far from the truth and such myths are the result of a lack of financial education. Forex is not gambling. Anyone who has read something about the Forex market, if they really wanted, could easily understand the mechanisms of price formation on the market.

    Here’s one myth more about investing in the Forex market. Money can be earned on Forex, but that means a lot of nights without sleep with a computer in front. And many hours of night trading on a trading platform.

    That’s another untruth about investing in the Forex.

    Any standardized financial education or course in this area will teach you to invest in a minimum amount of time. Practically, from the computer, you will only read the latest news. Making a strategy and making decisions is not something that is done every hour. It has a longer-term character. Not to mention mid-term and long-term investments, where you can almost neglect any day-to-day operations.

    In the case of unforeseen news, whether good or bad, you certainly can make a change in the investment portfolio. But this is not something that happens every hour or every day.

    Is Forex worth investing in?

    Discipline is the basis of every success and it comes in combination with solid knowledge. It comes with a great role in patience and significant experience.

    Successful investing in the Forex market is only a consequence of well-planned and executed trading operations.

    That involves taking into account all important economic events, permanent informing, and essential understanding of price graphs.

    Finally, for all those who do not have adequate education in this field and recognize Forex as a good place to invest, the first thing they need to do is find the right provider of financial education. They have to choose mentors and plan personal development goals. The mentor is one who will propose to you the appropriate type of training, course, etc. And that one will be your guide through the first practical operations.

    The Forex market is a very complex mechanism. The undeniable fact is that it generates various controversies.

    However, the main cause of these controversies is ignorance. If you want to take advantage of the opportunities for earning in this field, you must break all the prejudices, myths, and misconceptions surrounding it.

    If you are dealing with a trader’s job, you will probably be interested in the so-called “Robo-forex” ie robotic/automated business on the forex market.

    How to Forex investing?

    In other words, can you actively trade without moving a small finger?
    It’s possible but you’ll have to do something. You’re the one who has to give instruction, you’ll have to specify inputs. Then, how is it automated, you may ask?
    It’s about a program called “The Forex Expert Advisor” (Forex Expert Advisor) and can be used within the Trading Platform.
    This program works independently, although based on the instructions you specify. But it does not require your direct participation in the execution of trade orders or any other market activity.

    So, robo-forex executes all tasks independently, meaning automatic.

    All you have to do is set the target through an online trading platform that is linked to a broker server. Then the Forex Expert Advisor will start trading according to the given instructions. It is important to note that forex market experts are necessary as advisors especially if you’re a beginner. In this way, you don’t have any responsibility for decision making and, practically, you’ll trade without stress.

    What’s more, in that case, you don’t have to be an expert or have a deep knowledge of technical and fundamental analysis. These jobs are contained in the Forex Expert Advisor Add-on – Trading Program.

    So, this means that you can practically be away from the computer because your “advisor” will monitor and process all trade signals in case of your absence.
    So, it’s possible to invest in Forex and trade this market with a little effort and engagement.

    Forex as investment

    You have often had the opportunity to hear that investing is not a sprint but a marathon.

    This means that if you want to succeed in a tough business such as trade in financial markets, you will have to, among other things, spend a lot of time on it.

    To run in the long run, you do not need the 500-euro sneakers. You can run in the old one. The point is that you can start investing in Forex even with a little money but you’ll have to do so in a way that is suitable for you.

    The price is not the most important issue when you investing in the Forex market. The most important is to feel comfortable as much as you can. Because it increases the chances that your race will end successfully. So, take advantage of this growing market. And stay tuned, follow Traders-Paradise. You’ll find plenty of valuable suggestions and examples from real investing and trading.

  • A chaotic December in equity markets

    A chaotic December in equity markets

    2 min read

    A chaotic December in equity markets 1Image from shutterstock.com

    What caused a chaotic December? A chaotic December in equity markets is closing. But, at the end of the year, these were not usual circumstances.

    It’s “completely bizarre,” says Stephen Innes, head of trading for the Asia Pacific at Oanda Corp. “It’s incredible just how harmful markets veer when sentiment slides.”

    Innes mostly is keeping his money on the sidelines. But he has been taking profit on some winning investments. And, also, from blue-chip stocks whose valuations have dropped in the December sell-off.

    Like many other traders in Asia, he’s been watching events play out in the U.S. from a distance, astonished at what he sees.
    So, what he did see?

    A chaotic December in equity marketsSource: Bloomberg

    The S&P 500 Index posted its biggest upward reversal since 2010 on Thursday. Just a day after the largest advance since 2009. Despite this two-day gain, the measure is still down almost 10 percent in December alone.

    That’s the largest drop for each key market barometer since 1931, according to data from LPL Research. But those Depression-era losses were much bigger: the S&P 500 plunged 14.5% while the Dow plunged 17%.

    Two golden rules have been broken.

    First, since 1945, December has produced the highest average gains of any month. But December is the worst month of the year. Second, since the 1970s, the S&P 500 has never slumped when earnings growth was more than 10 percent.

    Mark Matthews, head of Asia research at Bank Julius Baer & Co. in Singapore, is planning to ride it out. “I remain invested through good times and bad,” he says. “Not being invested, over the long term, is like betting against the house in a casino.” He is a long-only investor.

    The December 2018 chaos is making investors nervous.

    This chaotic December in 2018 could have an impact in the future. The investors are worried that the economy could slow in 2019 because of continued trade tensions with China and rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

    The Dow and S&P 500 are both in the red for the year, their worst annual loss since the 2008 Great Recession, and first annual loss since 2015. Last year, the S&P 500 returned 22%.

    For the past, eight to nine years never happened the U.S. market dropping at this magnitude and speed.

    Maybe the solution is to go overweight cash for the time being. The volatility will continue until year-end until investors get a clearer picture from the holiday earnings season, say experts.

    But longer-term, it is unknown if this will prove a “healthy correction”. The investors may find the S&P 500’s low valuations are attractive and earnings come in above expectations. Or it will mark the end of the bull run. Either way, one thing’s for certain, this movement is definitely unusual.

    This market turbulence isn’t normal.

    Maybe investors should keep away from new trades and tend to the existing investments. Anyway, investors opinion is very bad.

    Yes, most of them don’t think that this huge volatility will continue. But also, they are thinking that it is not a quite good idea to trade stock while the market is like this.

    The investors can’t hope that the markets will turn around in the year’s final days. They are here and it is obvious that nothing will change.

    In the past years, December was usually a very solid month for the market. Professional money managers used to buy top-performing stocks. That made their portfolios look good. This phenomenon is known as window dressing.

    There was also the somewhat mysterious Santa Claus rally effect. The market was very well in the final week of the years.
    There was some chalk up to light trading volume with so many people off for the Christmas holiday.

    But volatility remained this year. Stocks are down.

    It is, as we can see, unusual for this time of year. But the people take holidays. They have hope that the U.S. economy is robust and the sell-off will bottom out.

    For this time of year, some people are probably a little more focused on the market.

    But trying to explain short-term movements in the markets is an exercise in futility because generally, it is pretty random.

    Not only stocks, but Bitcoin has also had a brutal 2018.

    This chaotic December in 2018 had an impact on cryptos too.

    The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap is nearly 84% since its meteoric rise topped out at an all-time high of $19,870 in December 2017.

    But just after bitcoin (BTC-USD) peaked, technical trader Peter Brandt made a fantastically prescient call. This has recently resurfaced in crypto circles. In January, he called for an 80% retrace of bitcoin’s parabolic advance, predicting a $3,933 price target. Bitcoin is currently trading around $3,600. It was very close.

    But as ever, there were different opinions.
    A chaotic December in equity markets 3
    The dominant Bitcoin price prediction was that Bitcoin would reach the $14,000 mark by the end of 2018.

    However, that prediction is blown out.

    Despite some optimists who were hoping that Bitcoin will break through the $100,000 barrier till the end of this year. In fact, Jim Cramer was predicting that Bitcoin will go as far as shattering the million dollar threshold one day.

    To do so, market capitalization should surpass 1 trillion USD just on BTC to reach $66,000 per coin, a 10x increase. Well, the entire market cap is at $212 billion. The BTC market cap was $170 billion almost a year ago. Now it is $115 billion and it was at $800 billion in January 2018.

    So, who knows what can happen.

    Today’s price of BTC you can see here

    One thing is certain. After this chaotic December in 2018, next year will be difficult and uncertain. Markets will be full of volatility. Permanent ups and downs.

    Anyway, it will be interesting.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

  • Market signal – HOW TO USE IT

    Market signal – HOW TO USE IT

    1 min read

    Market signal - HOW TO USE IT 2

    What is a market signal and how to use it?

    The market signal is an unintentional or passive passage of information or indication between participants of a market. 
    For example, If a firm issues bonds it indirectly shows that it needs capital and also desires to retain control. Thus instead of equity capital, it prefers loan capital.

    It is based on the technical indicators and usually is the sign for when to sell or buy a particular product.

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

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

    The market signal is indication or information passed passively or unintentionally between participants in a market.

    For example, a firm issuing bond indirectly indicates that it needs capital. And that there are reasons for which it prefers loan capital over equity capital.

    The reason can be the desire to retain control of the firm.

    Every company doesn’t market in a static environment. The competitor and member of the outlet will make prediction and reaction to enterprises.

    Their decisions process is a dynamic market mechanism. And based on rival actions or reactions.

    The market signal is any activity of rival.

    We want to understand rivals motive, intention and direct and indirect target news and competitive signals such as reduced price.

    So, we have to understand the new product introduction and adopting new engineering technology.

    The information delivers to the market mainly through the market signal.

    If we identify, search, study and analyze the market signal, we take the strategic decision and contribute to analytical behavior trend. We also improve enterprise results.

    For example, a well-reputed company can be judged by its income i.e. if its sales increases then its reputation in the market also increases.

    Let’s take a look at the experts’ definition market signal.

    In contract theory, signaling is the idea that one party (termed the agent) credibly conveys some information about itself to another party (the principal).

    For example, examine Michael Spence’s job-market signaling model.

    Potential employees send a signal about their ability level to the employer by acquiring education credentials.

    Market signal - HOW TO USE IT

    The informational value of the credential comes from the fact that the employer believes the credential is positively correlated with having greater ability and difficult for low ability employees to obtain.

    Thus the credential enables the employer to reliably distinguish low ability workers from high ability workers.

    Signaling took root in the idea of asymmetric information, meaning a deviation from perfect information.

    That says that in some economic transactions, inequalities in access to information upset the normal market for the exchange of goods and services.

    Market signal - HOW TO USE IT 1

    Let’s suppose that two parties could get around the problem of asymmetric information.

    How?

    By having one party send a signal that would reveal some piece of relevant information to the other party.

    That party would then interpret the signal and adjust her purchasing behavior accordingly. Usually by offering a higher price than if she had not received the signal.

    There are, of course, many problems that these parties would immediately run into.

    So we can say, the market signal is any action by a competitor that provides a direct or indirect indication of its intentions. Also, motives, goals, or internal situation.

    A short note about George Lane (1921 – 2004).

    He was a securities trader, author, educator, speaker, and technical analyst. Lane was part of a group of futures traders in Chicago.

    He developed the stochastic oscillator (also known as “Lane’s stochastics”), which is one of the core indicators used today among technical analysts.

    A March 2007 article quoted George Lane’s description of his famous indicator: “Stochastics measures the momentum of price.

    If you visualize a rocket going up in the air – before it can turn down, it must slow down.

    That’s the essence.

    The market signal is developed by George Lane.

    Momentum always changes direction before price.

    This means as prices move down, the close of the day has a tendency to crowd the lower portion of the daily range.

    Just before you get to the absolute price low, the market does not have as much push as it did. The closes no longer crowd the bottom of the daily range.

    Therefore, Stochastics turns up at or before the final price low.

    Lane was also President of Investment Educators Inc. in Watseka, Illinois. There he taught investors and financial professionals basic and advanced technical analysis methods.

    He popularized the stochastic oscillator, a momentum indicator that uses support and resistance levels.

    The term stochastic refers to the point of a current price in relation to its price range over a period of time.

    This method attempts to predict price turning points by comparing the closing price of a security to its price range.

    The 5-period stochastic oscillator in a daily timeframe is defined as follows:

    %K = 100 * (Price – L5) / (H5 – L5)
    %D = ((K1 + K2 + K3) / 3)

    The H5 and L5 are the highest and lowest prices in the last 5 days respectively.  While %D represents the 3-day moving average of %K (the last 3 values of %K). 

    Usually, this is a simple moving average, but can be an exponential moving average for a less standardized weighting for more recent values.

    There is only one valid signal in working with %D alone — a divergence between %D and the analyzed security.

    The market signal is an indicator that measures the relationship between an issue’s closing price and its price range over a predetermined period of time.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

  • Bitcoin Bear Market Is Far From Over

    Bitcoin Bear Market Is Far From Over

    2 min read

    Anniversary to Bitcoin!
    Bitcoin and the Bear market? Why the bear markets are the best time to be in crypto?

    Recently, Bitcoin made a strong rally. Enough to break past the neckline of its double bottom at $3,600 to $3,700. This can be an uptrend underway. If buyers keep the price above the area of interest, it will be possible. 

    If you apply the Fibonacci retracement tool on the latest swing low and high shows that the 38.2% to 50% levels span the former resistance. That might now hold as support. That means bitcoin could recover to around $4,035 and beyond.

    Analysis indicates that the current Bitcoin price chart entirely mirrors that seen in late-2014 and early-2015, this market’s last moody bear market.

    What happened then?

    2013 marked a very significant year not only in the history of Bitcoin’s bear market but in the history of Bitcoin as a whole. In October 2013, FBI officially shut down the Silk Road. 

    Silk Road was an online black market. It also represented the first modern darknet market. However, Silk Road’s represented the crypto asset’s first form of widespread user adoption.

    The Silk Road closed activity in October of that year. But the price of Bitcoin continued to rally until the end of November before the market had fully systemized the effects of that event.

    It is impossible to know when Bitcoin has reached its peak while events are ongoing. Even more, the media didn’t help paint a clear picture of reality. At the time, even as the price of Bitcoin began dropping, headlines were incredibly optimistic.

    But, during Bitcoin’s reversal period in January 2015, the general sense in media’s headlines was negative.

    These headlines did not provide any positive signals to indicate the bottom of Bitcoin bear market, at that time.

    Let’s go back to 2018! What is happening now with Bitcoin?

    Although many have claimed that Bitcoin, has finally touched the bottom in 2018’s market downturn, data indicates that many investors still see plentiful amounts of value in blockchain-based assets.

    The research group divulged that the 30-day moving average of Bitcoin flow into investors’ wallets has been on the rise, eclipsing the $400 million milestones as of November 1st. Well, $400 million out of Bitcoin’s current $65 billion market capitalization isn’t especially important. In June, this same figure was $300 million. In that period, the price of Bitcoin was approx $6,000. Those days it is about $3,750. November’s inflows should be seen as a bullish indicator.

    The data suggests that investors have sought to accumulate Bitcoin at lower prices. Many investors started to allocate more capital towards Bitcoin, due to their long-term belief in the asset’s underlying value.

    That wasn’t the case only with “personal wallets”. The institutional players via Grayscale Investments saw an increase in Bitcoin balances. It is an investment-centric subsidiary of the conglomerate that is Digital Currency Group (DCG).

    Since the start of 2018, Grayscale has seen its Bitcoin coffers swell by 30,600 BTC to 203,000 total.

    Now it accounting for more than 1% of the asset’s total circulating supply.

    Bitcoin Bear Market Is Far From Over

    As seen in the chart above (sourced from LongHash), the wallets pertaining to Grayscale’s GBTC, a vehicle that allows retail and investors to purchase customized BTC on the U.S. OTC market, has seen month-over-month increases.

    Markets move solely based on the demand from investors. Hence, if investors think a large rally cannot be maintained throughout the years to come, then some of the largest markets can experience steep sell-offs.

    Bitcoin made the recovery and market watchers are pinning it on a number of factors. First is the Coinbase offering of crypto to crypto trading that could boost volumes in the retail sector. Next is the report that Mark Dow, the former IMF economist that opened a major short play on bitcoin after it hit its all-time highs, closed his remaining position also led many to think that he may already be seeing a market bottom.

    Bitcoin could take a longer time to recover than in previous years.

    Because the market is more structured.

    But, it is wrong to claim that Bitcoin could drop to zero because of its 85 percent decline in price this year. This because, in the previous year, it demonstrated a 1,850 percent gain. And a major correction was expected after such a large movement.
    But many aren’t convinced that lines can be accurately drawn. The Bitcoin industry has matured beyond measure in the past year alone, and even more so in the past four. Moreover, others have claimed that the worst has yet to come for crypto assets.
    Vinny Lingham, CEO of blockchain-centric identity ecosystem Civic, explained that trading within the aforementioned $2,000-wide range is likely to continue for a minimum of three to six months, a common timeline in the eyes of Bitcoin’s short-term bears. The entrepreneur added that if a convincing breakout isn’t established by the end of Bitcoin’s six-month range, a strong foray under $3,000 wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

    The Civic chief noted that Bitcoin will likely remain range-bound between $3,000 and $5,000 “for a while.”

    But Fundstrat’s Tom Lee said: ”Bear markets are a ‘Golden Time’ to be in crypto.”

    Bitcoin bear market is far from over, this is the opinion of analytics.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

  • TradeInvest90 – Why Trade With Them

    TradeInvest90 – Why Trade With Them

    3 min read

    Mnogi muškarci se suočavaju s problemima u seksualnom zdravlju koji mogu značajno utjecati na njihov život. Stanje poput ovog može izazvati osjećaj sramote i tjeskobe, te često dovodi do izbjegavanja intimnosti. Važno je da se o ovim problemima razgovara otvoreno, jer su rješenja dostupna na različitim platformama. Na primjer, mnoge pouzdane ljekarne nude pomoć putem pouzdana web stranica ljekarne, gdje se mogu pronaći informacije i proizvodi za liječenje. Za više informacija o dostupnim opcijama, možete posjetiti farm-hr.com.

    La disfunzione erettile può influenzare profondamente la qualità della vita di molte persone, generando ansia e stress. Esistono diverse opzioni disponibili per affrontare questa problematica, tra cui trattamenti farmacologici. Per chi cerca soluzioni, è possibile **comprare efudex online** per un approccio più discreto e conveniente. Ulteriori informazioni e opzioni possono essere trovate visitando ****.

    La disfunzione erettile può influenzare profondamente la qualità della vita di molte persone, generando ansia e stress. Esistono diverse opzioni disponibili per affrontare questa problematica, tra cui trattamenti farmacologici. Per chi cerca soluzioni, è possibile **comprare efudex online** per un approccio più discreto e conveniente. Ulteriori informazioni e opzioni possono essere trovate visitando ****.

    TradeInvest90 - Why trade with them

    • Traders Paradise delves into all aspects of this online trading brokerage.

    ABOUT

    TradeInvest90 is a relatively new and unregulated trading brokerage. The question is how do they compare to the competition and can they be trusted? You will find out in this in-depth review. Traders Paradise delves into all aspects of this online trading brokerage and shines a light on the products and services they provide.

    TradeInvest90 is an international online trading brokerage. It provides innovative trading services to traders all around the globe. The brokerage provides trade, invest and profit from the global financial markets. That include over 1000 top class assets.

    Where and how it originated

    TradeInvest90 was established in March 2017 and is owned and operated by Capital Force Ltd. The brokerage serves the international markets through their online trading platform. They are based out of Oceania with their company headquarters located in Samoa. As TradeInvest90 is an offshore trading brokerage, they have not acquired any sort of regulation from reputable regulatory authorities but claims to operate their services within the means of the strictest regulatory requirements.

    TradeInvest90 Trading Platform

    TradeInvest90 provides its very own proprietary web-based trading platform. The ever-popular MetaTrader 4 (MT4) trading platform is not offered. So, traders will have to learn a new platform. But, the TradeInvest90 trading platform is incredibly easy to learn and use. Their platform has a fantastically designed user interface that is fast and easy to use. That provides traders to trade multiple financial instruments all in one place. That is a great opportunity for traders who like to diversify their portfolio with one trading platform. The platform features a standard charting package with basic features for technical analysis.

    TradeInvest90 - Why trade with them 1
    You can find a variety of technical indicators, chart types, time frames, and drawing and analysis tools. This trading platform is satisfactory for most traders needs. But some of the traders could wish more recognized trading platforms like the MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. For such we have only a few words: TradeInvest90 is simple and easy to use trading platform.

    Very good for beginners

    The custom-made and in-house developed online trading platform has a user-friendly operating interface. That allows users to trade comfortably. Clients are not required to download anything on the PC. Instead, it can be accessed online using a computer connected to the internet. On the other hand, traders can also use the company’s online trading platform on all on-the-go devices. Such as mobile phones, and tablets. The supported versions of the online trading app for Android or iOS-based devices can be downloaded from Play Store and App Store respectively.

    Exchange markets and tradable instruments

    Traders at TradeInvest90 have access to over 1000 world class financial assets across 5 global markets including forex, stocks, commodities, indices, and cryptocurrencies. Traders can trade CFDs on the latter three markets and can participate in forex trading on the world’s most popular currency pairs. A complete list of asset index is available on the company’s official website. Clients can click the following link to access a comprehensive range of asset index.

    See below, a quick overview of the CFDs and Forex markets.

    CFDs

    6 commodities
    6 indices
    Over 100 stocks
    Trade on the leverage of up to 1:200
    Trade both rising and falling markets
    24 hours a day, 5 days a week
    Risk management capabilities

    Forex

    Trade Majors, Minors & Exotics
    Nearly 70 currency pairs
    Trade on the leverage of up to 1:200
    Trade both rising and falling markets
    24 hours a day, 6 days a week
    Risk management capabilities

    Types of accounts

    This company offers a standard account only. The minimum deposit is $250. All you need is to open an account at TradeInvest90 with the company’s recommended broker to get started. The broker offers Forex, binary options and CFDs trading all in one account. It has fixed spreads in place. It charges zero commission.

    TradeInvest90 - Why trade with them 2
    Clients can expect their investment to grow by 400% over time. It has state of the art trading facilities available for clients wishing to invest more than $250 including customized trading analysis and charting tools. It also provides its account holders dedicated customer support round the clock, six days a week.

    Fees and commission

    TradeInvest90 offers its traders zero commission trading by incorporating the fees into fixed spreads. The fixed spreads are higher compared with most of the competition. For instance, the fixed spread on the EUR/USD currency pair was 3 pips which are 1.5 pips higher than the industry average. Also, traders have to pay an account maintenance fee of $7.50 per month. Also, traders incur a profit clearance fee. Here are the profit clearance fees associated with the number of profits cleared.

    250$ or less = 1.5$
    $251 – $500 = 2.00
    $501-$1000 = $3.00
    $501-$1000 = $4.00
    $1001-$2500 = $4.00
    $2500 or more = $5.00

    Other penalties

    If traders account is inactive for longer than 31 days, they have to pay.fee of $10.00 per month. Honestly, this time frame could be too short. Withdrawal fees are of 3.5% and a minimum withdrawal fee $30. We have to say, the fees on traders by TradeInvest90 are pretty much high. But, clients can withdraw their funds as and when they wish to. The company offers a wide range of deposit and withdrawal methods to its clients including debit cards, credit cards, payment via e-wallets (Skrill, Neteller), bank transfers, web money, and other local payment methods.

    Tradeinvest90 customers can withdraw their funds and benefits whenever they need to when they pass the compliance procedures. It could take 5-7 business days to process the withdrawal request.

    Demo account

    Unfortunately, the company doesn’t offer any demo account. We do hope that in future it will begin offering demo accounts as well.

    Customer support

    It looks like this broker is created with great intention to be helpful to traders who just started. The broker understands the importance of excellent customer service which is excellent for novice traders. It offers 24/6 dedicated customer support to its clients. The company ensures the availability of professional and competent staff round the clock to assist its customers.

    Clients can contact the company using a telephone line. This is wonderful because of the opportunity to talk with a real person. Inquiries can also be made through email at [email protected]. A live web chat feature is also available on the company’s official website to facilitate clients on a runtime basis.

    The bottom line

    We made a very careful review. TradeInvest90 is one of the best online brokers available in the market. It’s user-friendly and award-winning trading platform. It definitely states of the art trading tools make it stand out of the crowd. It provides excellent customer support to its clients round the clock. Recommended for novice traders as well as for advanced.

    You can also find more companies we recommend in our wall of fame, and be aware of the ones inside our wall of shame.

    Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)
    Screenshots from website www.tradeinvest90.com

  • Artificial intelligence and machine learning we can apply on the financial markets

    Artificial intelligence and machine learning we can apply on the financial markets

    What is artificial intelligence and machine learning and can we apply it on the financial markets?How can we apply artificial intelligence to the financial markets

    By Guy Avtalyon

    What is artificial intelligence and machine learning and can we apply it to the financial markets?
    It took us 3 and a half years of research and development until we finally reached a point we can trust our software.

    Obviously you can find all sort of information on the internet about machine learning and AI, like these articles on Wikipedia for example, but the concept is quite simple: You run an algorithm (there are many) on the set of data, and once the algorithm is finished, the software will know how to run by itself on new sets of data, even if it’s never been seen.

    There are 2 types of algorithm methods –

    1.       Supervised – Similar to training a dog: if it does good you pet them, if it does wrong you scold at them. After a while, they will learn how to behave
    2.       Unsupervised – This is the most interesting algorithm out there. This means you give the algorithm a set of data but you DO NOT tell it what is wrong and what is good. It does it by itself.

    So, can you apply those algorithms in the financial markets?

    First, let’s start by learning a bit about how ML (Machine Learning) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) work and its purposes.

    To create simple computer software, we need to insert some scenarios we want it to handle, we add the way we’d like the software to act, and let it run.

    A “stupid” software will ONLY KNOW HOW TO WORK according to the scenarios we entered and taught it.

    An AI software will take the same scenarios we entered and ways to behave we told it to, and will be able to do it NOT only on the ones we told it to but also on SIMILAR scenarios.

    This is basically why AI and ML are the future in any way you can imagine – Because it’s not limited to what the programmer writes in the code, but also it can adjust and act to things that aren’t inside its code and also, over time, will be smarter in handling situations only by itself.

    OK let’s go back a bit

    Scenarios? Ways to behave? WHAT??

    Say we got a lifetime doctor’s records of some people. They are anonymous, of course, because we don’t care who they are. We only care about their DATA.

    Now we want to find something, like, maybe, can we find cancer disease BEFORE the person knows it’s happening – or in other words – Can we predict cancer?

    We can check – are they the cigarette smokers? If yes, how many had cancer?

    This has been the way until now.

    You probably can already guess why it’s not merely enough.

    If they don’t smoke – does that mean they won’t have cancer? We already know it’s not true.

    And sadly there’s a variety of cancers to almost every organ in the human body (cancer is when some cells of our own body stop dying unlike the other cells and the body starts to attack them. Basically, nature makes our body suicide from inside).
    So what can we do if we want to predict cancer?

    It’s simple – We take into consideration as many parameters we can. Like:

    Age, gender, place of living, place of working, family history, doctors’ appointments, and medical record, food and drink habits, etc.

    Those are the objective data.

    We need also subjective data such as happiness in life, the scale of pressure, type of person, etc.

    Once we have ALL this data for every person, we need to do 3 things:

    1.       Check which one of the parameters can, in fact, be some kind of prediction to cancer
    2.       Run a statistics machine learning algorithm (like Naïve Base)
    3.       Use the results to solve a worldwide problem  

    We wish, right?

    Now we get on to the problems of artificial intelligence (AI) and ML:

    1.  Data

    Data is extremely difficult to collect, and then to manipulate. In our example to get these data, we need to cooperate with medical services to get their clients’ data, create a questioner, and send it to all the clients and analyze the data. Though there is such cooperation around the world, it’s still not easy to also get subjective data.

    1. Analyzing big data

    Big data has become a known word around the world.

    There was a time companies said they work with big data and clients threw the money at them.

    But it’s not that simple. Every data you add for the algorithm to learn from – increases exponentially the time for the software to analyze…

     

    Inefficient software may take a very LONG period of time to run.

    Funny personal anecdote, our first AI software we developed to learn how to predict price changes in the stock market looked so genius at first, but after we started running that artificial intelligence and measuring the time it will take to finish, we saw it will take no less than 27,000,000,000,000,000 years from now(!!) Obviously, we couldn’t wait, and in future articles, I will explain how we lowered it to only a few hours running time.

    Let me give you an example of the difference between Big Data and just simple data with a game:

    I chose a number between 1-1000. You have to guess which one is it. But there’s a catch – you need to find the number in as little time possible. How would you do it?

    Think about it for a second.

    Got a solution?

    If you guessed that you should ask me “Is it higher than 500?” and then according to my answer (If I chose the number “990”), the answer is yes. Then your next question will be “Is it higher than 750″… You get the point.

     

    That’s easy, right?

    What if you got a number with 80 digits? Then it might take a long long time until we break this number, maybe even months. And that’s only one running time. What if we need it to create strategies for trading and investing and we need it to go over millions of possible strategies?

    It will take a lot of time.

    As humans, we can’t really comprehend really big (or small) numbers. Like these two questions, I like to ask people once I talk about large numbers.

    1.       If 1 million seconds is 12 days, how much time is 1 billion seconds?
    2.       And, if your salary is $100,000 each month, how long will it take until you reach 1 billion dollars (say you can save all of it each month)?

    You can easily calculate it, but it’s an intuition question, not a math one. Think for yourself, what’s your intuition answers are? The answers will be later on in this article.

    So we’ve talked about what’s machine learning algorithm and a bit on big data problems.

    Now, can we apply artificial intelligence to the financial markets?

    In short, yes.

    But it’s easier said than done.

    It took us 3 and a half years of research and development until we finally reached a point we can trust our software.

    Because other than the ML and big data problems, we face a whole different problem in the field of financial markets, since they act like in a chaotic environment it makes predicting a lot harder.

    And, (and it’s the most important and) because of the spread whenever you enter a position you face an average of 56% against you.

    That’s probably the time to say there are two kinds of players in the financial markets:

    1.       Investors – They invest their money for years ahead and they gain the average rate the market makes (around 8% a year). By the way, according to decades of studies, there’s one stock that if you’re an investor you should put all your money on, and that’s the S&P500 stock (Symbol SPY). In another post, I’ll prove this fact.
    2.       Traders – They usually use time limit (options) or profit/loss lines (if it reaches +X get out with a profit and if it reaches -Y get out in a loss)

    We are on the traders’ side.

    We want to gain more money, faster, and more chances of getting out in time.

    But unlike investors who buy now and then forget about it, as traders we must beat not only the commissions our broker offers us but also the spread (the difference between the lowest price a seller is willing to sell and the highest price a buyer is willing to buy). The spread is usually set by the broker and it’s one of the best ways for a broker to gain profits.

    So, we also know that like in gambling the house always wins, so as in the financial markets – the broker’s always gaining profits.

    Back to our financial algorithm – we found a broker service that lets us collect the financial data, and we’re saving it. Now, we need to analyze it to find patterns. But how?

    In an everyday changing environment, how can we rely on anything? 

    We solved that problem by relying on our algorithm on behavior analysis. We figure that even though the market can change, the forces that control it (the investors and traders) will stay the same (Obviously, they change too, but way slower).

    So we’re talking about collecting on average millions of data and parameters a day for each stock. Once we try to collect 1000 stocks for a few years time you can imagine how much data is inside, so it’s just a matter of creating a super-fast unsupervised machine learning algorithm with only one rule: The most money you can make is the better – and let it run and find the best way to trade by itself.

    Creating artificial intelligence

    In conclusion, it is possible to create an automatic software or some artificial intelligence to trade for you in the financial markets, but it’s EXTREMELY difficult. You need to overcome many problems in serval fields in order to do it. And after you do it, it’s unlikely that you will let anyone use it.

    But we’re different. We will let our subscribers use our algorithm for free, just to have a sense of how it works.

    Subscribe now to get more information about artificial intelligence in the financial markets and to get informed once our algorithm is ready for outside users.

    Our software will let you choose which assets you want to buy, and when – and it will tell you when to get out. Simple, yet important.

    By the way, the answers to the question before are:

    1.       One billion seconds are 32 years
    2.       It will take 830 years to gain one billion dollars if your salary is 100K per month

    Was that your intuition?

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    Top Image Credit: Photo : iStock/MF3d