Tag: stock market

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

Are we witnesses of the historical period on the stock market?

1 min read

Is this really the historical period on the stock market?

Longest Bull Market in History?

Media reports that the US stock market broke the record for longevity on August 22, 2018. And some portals were ecstatic with this information and published articles about this ”historical record”.

This would be quite a success if it is true. But, many experts claim it is not.

The true fact is that the longest run belongs to the 12 1/2-year periods running from October 1987 through March 2000. The present bull market started in 2009, will need to wait till 2021 to beat that record.

According to some media and experts, bull markets are rallies that go beyond 20 percent and are never interrupted by a 20 percent fall. By the rules of Wall Street, that means the S&P 500 rally that began in March 2009 will surpass all that went before it on Wednesday.

Historical period on the stock market?

”It may be peaking”, said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group.

Here’s the problem: the rules aren’t made from stone. They’re not laws and even they are, people make them. So, that means the rules are not perfect and they are changeable. The 20 percent threshold people understand as arbitrary, false, an creation, fake. Experts disagree on everything and that’s good.

“If you round the data, you’re going to get a certain number of bull markets. If you don’t round, you’re going to get a different number,” Justin Walters, co-founder of Bespoke Investment Group LLC, said by phone. “If you want to do that, that’s fine, but it’s not using the standard 20 percent definition.”

If you want to start a fight on Wall Street just ask how old the current bull market will be on Wednesday.

“Hold the champagne! This is not the longest bull market on record or since WWII as the current buzz on the Street would have you believe,” wrote Jeff Hirsch, editor of the Stock Trader’s Almanac, in his blog post.
As Hirsch’s post shows, that calculation doesn’t sit well with some analysts, though not always for the same cause.

For instance, Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, noted objections that argue the current bull would have to run until April 3, 2021, to claim the crown. In this case, the rub doesn’t have to do with dating the start of the bull market back to March 2009. Instead, it hinges on the contention that the 1990s bull market actually ran longer than it is widely credited.

What is historical here?

”Using Ned Davis rules the longest bull began on October 11, 1990, and ran for 2836 calendar days until July 17, 1998. The current bull that began on February 11, 2016, would have to run until November 17, 2023, to beat it.” wrote Hirsch.

So what conclusion we can have if this bull may be younger than we think?

What we should focus on is performance. If we take this is indeed the longest bull market in history, let’s focus on returns. Through that point of view, the current bull market has returned just over 320 percent, while the bull market of the 1990s gained nearly 420 percent. To break that record would really be an achievement worth celebrating.

It is impossible to prevent anyone from celebrating or drink champagne, but do it when you have the real reason based on irrefutable facts.

Till then: Markets go up, markets go down.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

22nd August 2018
Investment Opportunities – How To Identify

It isn’t easy to find investment opportunities and anyone can fall into many traps while seeking that. Here is how to avoid them.

By Guy Avtalyon

Someone would say: We all know the basic words to successful investing: Buy low and sell high. But it isn’t so easy to find good investment opportunities.

What else or different you can tell us?

First of all, I have to tell you that investors need to have rules.

Otherwise, the common saying can be difficult to perform, especially when many of your friends and colleagues are doing the opposite. If you don’t have a solid structure and order you are predestined to fail.

Investing or trading is like a robotic work, without emotion and always strong adherent to your rules.

You can find more and more investment opportunities opening themselves up to the investors. But not all of them are good investment opportunities. In fact, so many opportunities have drawbacks. First, you can be confused and may not pick the right one. Second, you might want to pick too many. That is dangerous per se. You can end up running like a headless fly, monitoring too many stocks, with investing more than it is reasonable. Hence, you may neglect something very important for your investment goals and financial security. The consequence easily could be your empty bank account or you’ll end up in debts.
The following are things to look for when finding an investment opportunity. If some investment opportunity has most of these things or all of them, you are looking at one that is likely to bring you wealth.

For example, if you don’t see yourself owning stock in a company you are looking for in the next ten years, then you should stay away from investing in that company. Most of the money made in business investments come from owning stock in the company. Investors are leaving it alone until the value rises and reinvesting your dividends versus rapidly buying and selling your stock in a business. That is the so-called long-term viability.

You have to measure the risk involved in a market investment against the potential reward. A good ratio is one to three. After that, you should set up a maximum acceptable loss.

What is the first rule of investing?

BUY LOW!

Determine the baseline value for an investment or trade, and wait to buy it until the price is below what is reasonable. When the stock market declines and other investors panicked and start short selling, that is the best time to look for buying opportunities. Ideally, you want to purchase an asset after the price falls significantly, with the expectation that it will rise again in the future and produce a good return.

All rules of investing

The second rule of all investment is to SELL HIGH!

After the price rises dramatically it is time to consider selling an asset. This is often a time of stock market growth when many people are impatient to buy into a rising market. When some investment shows significant gains, this is the ideal time to cash out and lock in your return. You could gather the income into a secure investment or look for a new underperforming asset and try to repeat your success.

How to find investment opportunities?

The golden rule is to LEARN FROM YOUR LOSSES! Yes!

In trying to buy low and sell high, you are forced to make some mistakes. If it is easy to buy low and sell high, everyone would do it. Try not to lose sleep over it or give up investing altogether when you lose money on some investment. Maybe you just have to take a break for a while and later capture market returns with an index fund. Or you will learn to more carefully research investment before putting more than you can luxuriously afford to lose on the line. Your fears can’t be the limiting factor that mutes your potential. Let that storm be the fuel that moves you to success.

Where to find investment opportunities?

Use your fear to produce better outcomes!

You should have a list of the investments you have made in the past. Think about what you could do to produce better outcomes in the future. You can get colossal insight from physically writing down outcomes you would like to avoid. That can prevent you from making emotional investment decisions. If you have a financial planner or adviser or someone else who will look over your investment ideas, that adds gravely deeper layers of reliability and responsibility.

You have to have a plan to avoid later regrets!

Of course, that large loss can cause you to regret because of bad investment decision. There’s also the regret that comes from watching other investments got wings. When you have a good plan of inventorying and you analyze your investment options often, that can help avoid a negative result. Writing it down makes it easier to stick to a plan.

Ultimately, investing is about finding the lifestyle that you want to live. So, you can’t do that if never find good Investment opportunities.

Choosing wisely may produce enough wealth to allow you to retire sooner or walk away from an annoying job. All you need is to use logic and stick to a financial plan to successfully build wealth.

31st July 2018
Investing in Cryptocurrency – The Pros and Cons

2 min read

Investing in cryptocurrencies is generally a risky investment. Investing in cryptocurrency could be a good investment, or it could not. It depends on you and your attitude. In crypto’s early days there is no yes or no answer about the wisdom of investing in cryptocurrency. With this in mind, we will cover some pros and cons and give friendly advice. Remember, this isn’t professional advice, we don’t offer professional legal, investment, or tax advice.

If you don’t just want to buy, sell, or invest in cryptocurrency. If you want to invest in cryptocurrency, you have several options.

First comes first: You need to start investing in cryptocurrency with some flexibility. You have to be prepared to lose everything you invest in cryptocurrency. It probably won’t happen, but be careful. The least risky coins are the coins that are present the longest time and have the highest market cap and highest volume. Anything other than Bitcoin, Litecoin, or Ethereum is riskier. Bitcoin is the current top coin for resilience, market cap, and volume. Also the most expensive.

There are several pros and cons to review before investing in cryptocurrency.

CONS:

The cryptocurrency market has been very volatile since its beginning. The price of Bitcoin can swing up or down hundreds of dollars in one day. We have already seen a few bubbles and busts in the past. There is a risk of the venture on a given coin even if cryptocurrency is prosperous. Even if cryptocurrency is a good long-term bet, we don’t know if any coin will be the one that sticks around. Even more true for the countless less popular coins with smaller market caps.

Those with low-risk tolerance have a difficulty; they are inclined to getting weakness and pulling out at a loss while the market is fixing up or going down. An investor needs to be prepared to take a loss or sit on a loss for a while if the market goes down. That requires a certain type of mindset and expendable funds. There are some psychological factors to consider along with economic ones.

The only way to trade cryptocurrency on the stock market is to buy GBTC (Grayscale Bitcoin Investment Trust), which trades at a premium. The simplest way to buy a cryptocurrency for a novice aside the stock market is via some company. They charge some fees for that, but the lowest fees are on the open exchanges of the internet. Between premiums and fees and finding a broker, all options for trading have costs and it isn’t easy to calculate.

Spirit level of crypto investors is changeable. Like the Moon. Bad news in term of regulations can send crypto value to drown in one day. But the same news another day may have no effect. If you join some cryptocurrency group on social media, and you’ll note it goes from hot-to-cold with the weather. The market is a bit fussy, I think.

PROS

The cryptocurrency market is still young, and the most optimistic investors are predicting future prices, some of them claim that it can be for e.g. Bitcoin, $220,000 by 2020. Cryptocurrency is a very risky but potentially rewarding bet. More, if cryptocurrency is in a bubble, the trend could very well be toward cryptocurrency being an important medium of exchange and store of value in the future if the current price is lower than the highest price we will ever see. That makes it a good long-term bet. You can often buy high low and sell high. There is money to be made.

Despite all its risks, crypto is possible the most exciting asset 21st century. It is decentralized, works on blockchain technology which is here-to-stay. You can find billions of motives about why everyone has to be excited about crypto. As much as reasons to be conservative in your investment.

Don’t dump your whole saving into crypto, but don’t hesitate to put a small investment you are ready to lose, just to learn and have fun on your beginning. Later you will have the know-how.

TIP

If it is the bubble, then pop it!

One of the reasons for taking extreme caution is the current potentially high price. If the price goes back down to 2015 levels, then the number of PROS will increase. The unknowns and high price and volatile market make it risky, but there are plenty of reasons to be excited despite all that especially long-term.

Investing in cryptocurrencies is very risky, markets are volatile and the technologies are still quite young.

But, they are still a great opportunity for anyone interested in investing.

Treat them as you would any investment and do your own research.

Step into this new world while is time.

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

24th July 2018
Easy Ways To Start Investing With Little Money

1 min read

Despite the title, I tell you that there is no big and small money.

Money is money and it’s yours. A different question is whether you have enough to invest. For investing with little money, I mean.

If you want to invest you can’t do it without money.

Is there any way to reach decent money for investment?

Well, my friend was putting away just $15 per week. In order to avoid tempted to take the money for saving, he put the box reserved for saving money in his girlfriend house.

Uh, how she was strict and strong. But he stashed the savings away in a safe place. You may think it isn’t a lot, but at the end of the year, he had $780.

It was still not enough but it was a great beginning.

To make money in the stock market, you have to start with big money, right? Oh, no! Totally wrong!

My friend started investing with little money.

You can try with day trading, why not. It is investing with little money.

But it takes bravery and strength of character. You have to understand the different market forces at play. This isn’t for dilettantes or dabblers.

But it is a way where you can very quickly make a major amount of money with a relatively small investment. Real investing with little money.

Day trading is not for you if you don’t have any guts.

Don’t worry, there are ways to hedge your bets when you are playing the stock market. But you have to learn and learn and learn. I suggest you ensure set stop-loss limits to cut any potential for accelerated depreciation.

If you’re an advanced trader, you probably understand that market makers move stocks to play into our greed or fear of failure. It isn’t rare they push a stock down to a certain price to enhance our fear and play right into their pockets. And pay attention to averages. When stocks break moving averages, there’s potential for large upside or big downside.

You can be investing with little money in commodities.

Gold, silver, metals, energy. Silver looks like the solid hedge on inflation. That kind of commodities is the tangible property that people can hold onto. Investing in commodities means investing in futures contracts, prearranged agreement to buy a particular quantity at a particular price in the future. These are leveraged contracts, providing a big upside and a large downside. I suggest you be extremely careful.

And of course, you can trade cryptocurrencies. Trading them might seem risky, if you hedge your investment, you could limit some fallouts. There are plenty of platforms for trading cryptocurrencies. But before you step into this, educate yourself. Use some free demo account for several months and learn, test your skills, get more knowledge.

For novice traders, it is difficult to distinguish valuable and useless trading. You need to avoid any new coins until they show up well on the market.

No matter how much you want to invest with little money.

Markets are very volatile in the altcoin scene.

There is also such a thing as “compulsive trading”. It’s hard to learn the trading style from the first day. Errors will have to occur until you find a rhythm that suits your needs. The best advice is to start with investing with little money of one or two coins that look legitimate and potentially profitable.

More about The 5 Most Common Mistakes Made By Beginners In Trading Cryptos.

Everyone who wants to invest on the market should first evaluate his own preference for risk. Also, it is necessary to have at least minimum economic and financial knowledge and ability of common sense reasoning.

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

Everything is up to you. Even your investments. So, start investing with little money and follow the rules.

Be smart and good luck!

Risk Disclosure (read carefully!)

19th July 2018
The golden rules for investing in the stock market for beginners

What rules every investor should follow if want to be successful? Read to the end.

By Guy Avtalyon

Every field has golden rules, so this one has too.

Fast money and easy earnings are mostly what young people want to succeed in the business world.
They are attracted by exchanges, money is invested in shares.

WOW!

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 a portfolio one of the golden rules

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 really the golden rule.

Among other Golden rules: Read business magazines

In order to successfully start investing in the stock market, you need to be aware of the world’s stock market. Also, what are the social events that affect the rise or fall of the price of shares?

There are many respectable business magazines 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 in the company. This is one of the best golden rules I ever got.

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. This will the most important golden rule for novices.

In this way, there are fewer chances to lose money or be disappointed in your stock market business.

Do your own research one of the most important golden rules

You will hear from people who are dealing with the stock exchange that they have bought some stocks. Just 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 doesn’t necessarily mean that this trend will continue.

Always believe more to yourself than other people’s estimation.

The stock exchange is NOT a money-making machine

This is one of the Golden rules. Most of those who want to participate stock market, have an unrealistic desire to double or triple investment in the 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. Some traders became really successful when they realized this golden rule.

Follow the clues and make conclusions.

3 or 4 good stocks are enough

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

It is true that they make more profit. But if you make a smart and wise decision you will earn enough money. Golden rules should be known to beginners in this business.

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 is able to 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.

According to many kinds of 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 to be wiser in making decisions in the future.

That’s how it works!

18th July 2018
Making Money From Home – How Is It Possible?

An ideal job for most of the young people is remote work and here are some possible jobs for making money from your home.

By Guy Avtalyon

Making money from home is possible and maybe the most popular these days.

But, what do your fellows or cousins say when you express your desire to make a lot of money from home?

Most of them say: “Okay, then go to school. Be a good student. Find a good job and work hard. ” You already know that, and it’s great to have an education. But this is not a guarantee that you will make big money. On the other hand, you know that there are many people who make a lot of money in a relatively easy and effortless way.

And whenever you mention to your crowd that you know some guy or girl who are making money from home, what answers you have as feedback?

“He’s/she’s a thief.” “He/she has connections everywhere.” “It’s not an honest business.” “He/she was lucky.” “He’s/she’s one in a million.” And a bunch of similar stories.

Yeah! Tell me something about that!

However, these are just excuses.

OK, the truth is that you have to work for money. But it is not enough just to do something. It’s important to do it SMART.

There is a saying: Do it smart, not hard.

And that’s true. If hard work is the only important thing to gain wealth, all the people in the world would be at least millionaires.

What does SMART work mean and how can you make money without HARD work?

It’s very simple.

Smart work means doing the work once, then for months (sometimes for years) to enjoy the fruits of your work.

Passive income is making money from home

When you heard someone say, “I started looking for ways to get a passive income.”
Probably never.

But you’ve heard a thousand times: “I started looking for a job.” (Or worse: “I’m waiting for a job.”)

And when you try to explain passive income to someone, they immediately say that you are lazy.

I’ve heard of innumerable ways of passive earning. You can write a song, record a home video, patent an idea, write a book. You can sell handmade on Etsy, you can be freelancer, virtual assistant, or you can sell cookies. Or even simpler, you may begin to earn money from home, by trading.

With the rapid development of computers, mobile devices, and faster Internet, there are more and more opportunities for automating some jobs and generating passive income.

I’ll give you the ultimate beginner’s guide to trading online. First of all, you have to recognize different kinds of trading.

What to trade while making money from home

STOCK TRADING: That is the art of buying, holding, and selling stocks (also called shares) of securities listed on public stock exchanges.

FOREX TRADING: That is the art of buying and selling currencies in the hopes of making profits on the difference in the value of such currencies in global economics.

OPTIONS TRADING: That is the form of derivative trading in which people trade contracts that give them the rights (but not obligation) to buy or sell an underlying asset at a predetermined price.

BINARY OPTIONS TRADING: Form of trading in which traders expect to earn a predetermined payout or nothing at all (they are also called all-or-nothing options) based on the success of their ‘prophecy’ of the outcome of a specific market event. Little complicated and not secure.

YOUR FIRST TRADE

You’ll need to decide on the kind of assets or securities you want to trade. After that, you’ll need to make is choosing the right broker or brokerage firm through which you’ll access the markets. That’s very important because the broker you choose will have a direct influence on securities you’ll be able to trade, on tools you’ll have at your disposal, how much you’ll pay in fees, and what final returns you can expect on your trades.

You have to find a broker that would charge relatively low fees and provide you with a full package of resources to make your trading experience easier.

TRADING STRATEGIES

The main difference between trading and investments is that a trader seeks out market movements for profit, on the other hand, an investor waits to profit from long-term price movements in the assets in their portfolio. A trader will make tens or hundreds of trades within a week while an investor will buy and hold an asset for months or years. The first action in creating your trading strategy is to create a trading plan.

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

A 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 shouldn’t put more than 5% of your trading capital per 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. In you, your best interest is to develop the disciple 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.

THERE 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. 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. Screeners are helpful to identify top winners and losers, stocks on momentum, and stocks that are possible to break out above resistance levels or break down below support levels.

* Social trading – This is a type of trading in which traders rely on users’ financial content, gathered from different networks. This type of trading provides you the platform, so you can be part of a society of successful traders. That may help you to make your own trading decisions.

WHAT YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER

Always use a trading plan, don’t underestimating the importance of a trading journal, change trading strategy after every trade.

Test your trading skills on some FREE DEMO ACCOUNT in a virtual environment before you start risking your own money. Practice trading strategies so that when you’re ready to enter the real market, you’ve had the practice you need.

Do you have any experience in trading? Share with others.

10th July 2018