Tag: trading

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

Market Timing – A Way to Beat The Stock Market

How is market timing possible? Read to the end.

By Guy Avtalyon

Market timing is the method of buying and selling in the market based on financial inclinations, business information, and market circumstances.

It is a kind of investment or trading strategy. It is an effort to beat the stock market by prognosticating its movements and buy and sell according to that data. While you are making moves in the financial market, changing the asset classes, you need some predictions. To make predictions you need tools, for example, technical indicators, financial and economic data, to be able to estimate how the market will move.

From these tools needed you can easily see that the market timing is in contrast to a buy-and-hold strategy.

Some investors don’t believe that is impossible to time the market. But on the other side, you have a whole range of investors, especially traders that are sure in it. Well, both sides are right, at some point. It is pretty hard to time the market, but it is possible for the short run. Seeking to time the market over the long run can be difficult and may show a lack of consistency.

Is market timing possible?

If you are a short-term trader or full-time investor, you may have some good results but you have to be an exceptional one to notice the right time to buy and sell in the market. The statistic is explicit, there is no notable success in comparison with the buy-and-hold investor.

Market timing is related to tactical asset allocation or dynamic investing.

Let’s say you want to invest $10,000 and you put $5,000 in the stock, $3,00 in the bonds, and $2,000 in the cash.

The market timer tries to sell when the price is the highest and to sell when the price is at the lowest level. So, the trader or investor confidence to market time will sell some part of stocks in case the interest rates are increasing and buy bonds. Such an investor wants to profit from something called a market “peak” for stocks and the start of growth for bonds.

The believer in market timing is sure that price movements in short-time are essential and usually predictable. That’s why the market anomalies are important to them to support their opinion. Chart patterns that are repeating are also important to them. Their investment horizon is shorter, it can be minutes, days, or months. On the other side, long-term investors, so-called buy-and-hold, prefer to estimate the long-term potential of their investments by employing fundamental analysis. They are estimating the company’s strategies, products, etc.

Market time investors will use leverage to gain returns. This will add more risk to their portfolios but their returns could be higher too.

Are there any costs for it?

Investors that practice this strategy claim that by using this method they are able to diminish losses. The principle is quite simple, they just have to move one sector before drawbacks. You see, their aim is to find a safe investment and avoid market volatility while they are holding volatile investments. Market timing investors that attempt to time entries and exits very often may underperform the long-term investors. The reason behind, it is extremely hard to gauge the next direction of the market. Despite their optimism, the real costs for the majority of them are higher than the possible gain of moving in and out of the market.

There are also extra trading commissions and capital gains taxes. The continuous analysis linked with market timing requires frequent asset reallocation and a lot of trading activity. Much more than passive investing. If you want to practice this method you will need more time and an excellent education.

Market timing is a questionable approach. You can find a lot of very serious studies that have revealed that the market’s bottoms and tops are pretty hard to find consistently.

Moreover, long-term investors truly support the efficient market hypothesis, which claims that the prices are random and reflect all available data, so it is impossible to outperform the market in the long run. It is especially too hard in a short time since it is impossible to forecast stock prices. Although, market timing has huge and faithful followers among investors. Can we say they are enjoying the challenge to consistently produce higher-average returns? Maybe.

The most important thing for all investors is the fact that they have to watch their investments, to watch charts and they have to know the market timing method.

23rd September 2019
Stocks Under 5 Dollars Per Share to Buy Right Now

Stocks under $5 can be a good opportunity, they are low-cost but can generate a large percentage gains

By Guy Avtalyon

Why should anyone invest in stocks under 5 dollars per share? Just read this post to the end. There is no excuse for not investing. You can do it with just $5 per share. Traders-Paradise presents you three stocks under 5 dollars per share with pretty great potential. There is a great risk involved too since they are really volatile. Be aware, all stocks under $5 are volatile. Because of their nature, these stocks may provide you great returns but large losses too.

So, these are our tips on stocks to buy right now and make a profit.

Reebonz Holding Limited

Ticker – RBZ
Market cap – $16.053M

Reebonz is an online platform with a focus on buying and selling luxury products. Headquarter is in Singapore. The company was founded in 2009, today it is the leading online platform for buying and selling luxury products in the Asia Pacific region. It has offices in Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, China, Australia, the United States, and many other countries.

On Friday it stated that will release its unaudited business results for the first half of 2019, before the opening of U.S. markets on September 23. So, we will see.

Until then, let’s see what do we know about this company.

This platform operates as an eco-system of B2C e-tail and B2C marketplace covering more than 1,000 brands. It is supported by C2C which provides private members to sell luxury products. Shopping is very easy since the company’s UI is user-friendly. Reebonz sources collections of many brands from luxury boutiques from all over the world.

The current price per share is $2.58. The analysts estimated the RBZ stock will be one year from now at $11. Our suggestion is to buy its shares.

ReneSola Ltd

Ticker – SOL
Market cap – $71.59M

ReneSola Ltd was founded in 2005. ReneSola Ltd is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2008. It is an international technology provider of green energy products.

It is a Chinese producer of the range one solar panel with a 10-year product and 25-year performance warranties. Their panels are corrosion resistant, and that fact makes them very convenient for installation by the sea. Renesola has offices in Sydney and Melbourne too.

The company produces string inverters, microinverters, and LED lighting too. It provides the highest quality green energy products and services for EPC, installers, and green energy projects all over the world.

The current price per share is $1,88. So, our suggestion is to purchase since the shares are undervalued for no reason. These shares are good. They already beat analysts’ expectations.

Trevi Therapeutics Inc.

Ticker TRVI
Market cap $82,930,751

Trevi Therapeutics was founded in 2011. Its headquarter is in New Haven, the U.S. state of Connecticut. They are developing nalbuphine ER, treatment for uremic pruritus, improving “the quality of life of patients suffering from the serious symptoms associated with chronic neurologically mediated conditions” as they stated on the official website.

The Trevi Therapeutics’ team is highly engaged and experienced in life science clinical development, successful commercialization, and building companies of exceptional value.

Since launching, Trevi has raised $92.2 million in the financing, according to the filing for its IPO this May.

Trevi Therapeutics, Inc. is focused on the development and commercialization of nalbuphine ER to treat serious neurologically mediated conditions. The company’s nalbuphine ER is in a clinical trial. The purpose is for the treatment of chronic pruritus, chronic cough in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and levodopa-induced dyskinesia in patients with Parkinson’s disease.

The current price per share is $4,5 but analysts predict that easily can be over $16 in the next 12 months

These are only three stocks under 5 dollars worth to buy right now. There are more, of course. The price per share is low, the growth potential is reasonably good. But remember, the low-cost stocks are extremely volatile. The high potential risk is involved but the reward can be great also. Everything is up to you when it comes to stocks under $5. This is just a suggestion. But I would like to give more info on trading so-called penny stocks.

Why trade penny stocks?

As I just gave you a suggestion of stocks under $5 I would like you to know that these are so-called penny stocks. So, penny stocks represent the companies whose stocks are valued under $5. You can find that definition can vary but, in essence, this is the right explanation. At least, it isn’t wrong. So, let’s put aside the definition. You may ask yourself why should you trade penny stocks.
Trading penny stocks has one reasonable goal: to turn a little money into the big money. Traders’ profit comes from small changes in stock price but from large percentage gains. They trade with large leverage. That’s the point. Also, that’s the way how you can trade with a little money and earn very nice. Once I said don’t be shy to buy cheap stocks, stocks under 5 dollars. This is especially valuable for the penny and undervalued stocks.

At the end of the day what really matters is your profit. Happy investing!

22nd September 2019
Spread Betting With Examples

3 min read

Let’s be frank.

Spread betting is extremely risky. It’s highly dangerous. It’s not for beginners and people with lack of knowledge.

But to be totally honest, it is one of the simplest ways for an individual investor to support their ideas with hard cash. If you treat the market proper, you can get big gains, very fast.

What is spread betting and how it works?

Spread betting simply lets you guessing will the price of some stock climb or drop. You can speculate from stocks to house values.

Moreover, you don’t need to purchase the stock you want to trade. You just take a look at the prices submitted by the spread betting provider and speculate if the price will increase or decrease.

Spread betting brokerages give you a quote. The quote contains a bid price and an offer price which is a bit higher. Let’s see how it works on this example.

Your brokerage quoted some stock price at $5,000 and a spread betting provider will give you a bid price of $4,990, for example, and an offer price of, let’s say $5,010.

If you think the price will increase you can “buy” for $10 per point at $5,010. Every time the point is rising up you will earn $10. Say the price increased to $5,030. It is reasonable to close up the bet.

It is time to calculate your profit

5030 – 5010 = 20

20 x 10 = 200

So, your profit is $200.

This is in case you believe the market will grow, but if you think the market will drop, you can sell your stock at $4,990.

But you have to know that the risk is involved here. You can indeed make a lot of money with betting on small amounts but you may lose a lot too.

Let’s assume that you sell your stock for $10 per point at $4,990.

How big your loss will be if the price increase to a spread at 4,990/5,020?

Let’s calculate this.

4990 – 5030 = 40

20 x $10 = $400

Your loss is $400.

You see, you can make huge losses if your trade goes in the wrong direction. And this isn’t the only loss you may gain. Spread betting brokers will demand you to pay margin. Usually, it is about 10% but can be less or more.

The dangerous situation can arise if your losses on the trade approach near to the margin. In such a case, the broker may require more money from you and activate a margin call. What will happen if you can not come with that? The spread betting provider may close and will do, your position at a current price.

You don’t want a margin call to control your losses or you’ll be broke. Instead, set stop-loss order to close your trade at a particular price.

Let’s use our example again.

For example, you sold stock at $4,990 but you placed a stop loss at an offer price of $5,010, how big your loss would be?

4990 – 5010 = -20

-20 x $10 = loss $200

Your loss would be $200 which is pretty much less than $400.

But there is a problem with markets moving. What if it is too fast? It is gapping. A normal stop-loss order will not prevent your trade since a lot of stop-loss orders are triggered together. That will cause the trades to be closed at the market price closest to the defined price and it usually isn’t the level you wanted or expected.

The better choice is to set a guaranteed stop. This will cost you more since your broker will ask more money to get you out at a settled price. In this case, it isn’t in the question how many other stop-loss orders are activated beside yours. Actually, your broker will buy you out of the trade. This is very important when the market is highly volatile and you would like to pay a bit more to stay in a safe zone.

But there must be advantages also

One end is the tax break. In many countries (we are sure for the UK), you will not pay taxes on profits gained in spread betting or on capital gains from it. The other reason is that you don’t need to pay a fee to your broker when spread betting. Your broker will earn money from the difference between the bid and offer price.

But spread betting isn’t all about money. It is all about the opportunity to speculate on a full spectrum of markets. Even if you don’t have regular access to them. As it is said in the beginning, you can bet on almost everything. Currency pairs, stocks, commodities, whatever.

20th September 2019
How to Invest in Marijuana Stocks?

Here are some tricks and tips on how to invest in marijuana stocks. They are in trend now.

By Guy Avtalyon

Marijuana stocks easily can be one of the most interesting industries in the coming decade. The sector is growing with very volatile stocks that can give possibly marvelous trades.

This sector is already expanding. But it may explode even more. We already have a lot of listed stocks, but new ones launching IPOs also.

How to invest in marijuana stocks?

Let’s be clear on what precisely a marijuana stock is.

Marijuana stocks are the stocks of companies that are included in the marijuana industry. Such companies are focused on growing, others on selling, and some on researching marijuana. Marijuana stocks you can find under the name pot stocks. Not only producers or merchants businesses are pot stocks. Pot stocks also refer to companies that are servicing firms in the marijuana or cannabis industry, for example, distribution companies. Any company that acquires more than 30% of its income from any business linked with marijuana can be a pot stock.

Tricks and tips

The marijuana sector is really hot. So, you have to be aware that it is a volatile industry. This is the reason more to read and watch the news like any other stock. The news is important because that is what makes changes in the market. The truth is that the news can make an enormous turnaround in the market, the prices may jump or drop on news, the stock may be tremendous or useless thanks to the news.

What you have to do is to watch your favorite marijuana stock tickers. Be very careful with that because some mistakes may appear.

Is trading marijuana stocks easy

It’s almost the same as any other stock. Use the charts. By using stock charts, you’ll be able to know where to enter a trade, where to set stop-loss order, what is the market sentiment about your stocks. A lot of data you may gather from charts.

To know how to invest in marijuana stocks you have to watch a stock scanner to find trade setups that match your standards and your goals. But one suggestion first. Since there is a bulk of marijuana tickers tracking all of them is simply wasting your time by watching all of them. Moreover, there is no need to do so since we have the technology to work for us. Yes, I am talking about stock scanners. All you have to do is to set up the criteria that you are looking for and after a few clicks, the technology will do the rest.

Adjust your portfolio to trade long and short. Of course, if you are an investor and not a trader, you don’t need this. Just buy and hold, you are already long and you are waiting for the price to rise. But if you are a trader, to be short means that you have to borrow the stock, sell them at a higher price and wait for the price to drop, and buy the stocks again at a lower price.

In the coming years, the marijuana industry might grow. But with stocks, we are talking about winners and losers. To be honest, it is much easier to find dropping stocks. So, the short-selling can be very tricky and you must have a really good strategy and be well educated to practice this.

How to find good marijuana stocks?

The main problem is that most investors habitually don’t have access to adequate sources to estimate a company. But still, there are choices. For example, you can invest in ETFs. There you can find pre-selected marijuana stocks.

Teams of analysts paid the required attention and chose to add some companies in these ETFs. The other solution is to engage some advisors and stock pickers.

Whatever you decide to do, keep in mind that marijuana stocks are volatile.

19th September 2019
Taking A Position While Investing

3 min read

What is the definition of taking a position? How to accurately control your portfolio positions?

By Gorica Gligorijevic

Taking a position in the stock market indicates that a trader is ready to make choices, to go long or short. These are two positions that an investor can take. Going long means to buy, short to sale.
When you hold a long position that means you own the stock. Why is this important? I like to say investing is a marathon.
Investing takes time to grow. It requires a relatively moderate risk and moderate returns in the short run. But investing may produce bigger returns by placing both, interests and dividends to hold for a longer period of time. So, we are taking a long position when investing.
You would like to hold your stock for several years and have a decent return. In most circumstances, you should take the profit when a stock grows 20% to 25% of the buy price.
A “short” position relates to the sale of a stock you really don’t own. You have to borrow shares from a stockbroker. You will have the open position of shares and that has to be closed after some time. Investors who sell short believe the price of the stock will go down. And they are selling, meaning they go short. After you go short, the price of the same stock may go down more and you can buy it back and make a profit. Never wait to the price of that stock to increase and then buy, you will catch the loss.

If the stock’s price fell to $0, you owe the stockbroker zero and your profit would 100%. What if the stock price grows doubles when you close the position? Calculate! You may gain loss to 200%, double more of your buying price.

But keep one thing in your minds, short selling isn’t for beginners.

Taking a position in the investment

You are facing the horror: that stock you bought go lower, from hour to hour, day after day.

If it fails 5%, you may say the market is changeable, so why to be worried. But the dropping is continuing. Your stock is 10% down, after a few days 25%. To defeat a 50% loss you will actually need a 100% gain.

How do you feel now? What are you going to do? To wait until it drops 50%?

So, what to do?

When to get out in the investment?

There are several possible scenarios on taking a position but at first, try not to get panicked.

You should get out in your investment when your stock no longer meets your goal. Or you purchased it by mistake, it can happen.

The other reason for selling a stock can be you need money, or you would like to get out your investment because of asset allocation or reallocation.

The general rule of investing is never getting out of your investment just because the stock price is dropping. The rule “buy high and sell low” isn’t relevant while investing. Otherwise, you will never earn money in the stock market.

A selling an investment too quickly can hurt your portfolio.

Can you “ensure” some positions?

All beginners, no matter how smart they are, have illusions, so they have losses. You have to keep your losses small, don’t let them scare you and survive.

The rules for managing the risk that we’ll show you may feel disturbing for beginners because they have small accounts. Well, the proper risk control may limits trade size. I know that. But it is important for you to know that it is a protection in the first place.

The crucial rule of risk control is the 2% rule: never risk more than 2% of your account investment on any opened trade.

Start by writing down three numbers for every trade: your entry, target and stop. Without them, a trade may become a gamble.

I want to share with you one of the best advice I got when I become an investor.

If you see your stock rises by 40% you should sell 20% of your position. When the stock later increases 49% more, sell the other 20%. That will provide you to have 125% of your primary position.

You have 100% of the initial position. And it grows 40%:

100%*1.4=140%

You sell 20% of it, which means that now in your hands you have 80% left:

140%*0.8=112%

Stocks rise for another 40% progressively:

112%*1.4=156.8%

Now you sell 20% of the stock you have in your hands:

156.8%*0.8=125.44%

You end up with a 125.44% value of the initial position.

To make this simpler, when you buy some stock you have 100% in your hands. After some time they rise by 40%, so you have 140% of the value. And you sell 20% of that 140% and you have 80% of that 140% in your hands which is 112%.
After some time that 112% rise for another 40% – that means you have 156,8% in your hands. And you make another selling of 20% from that 156,8% which means you will have, after second selling, 125,44% of your initial position.
Also, you may apply a 20% stop loss on all positions. This serves to block whipsawed. If you are properly handling your portfolio positions you could reduce lower-performing positions before the 20% level is scored.
Taking a position in trading and investing is always in the question, so you must know how to handle your portfolio. On some assets, you are taking a long position but on others, you are taking a short position. It is necessary because you would like to protect your investments as a whole.

19th September 2019
Oil Stocks Rose After The Attack on Saudi Arabia’s Oil Facilities

2 min read

Oil stocks rose and all energy stocks rose but Wall Street fell on Monday after weekend attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities. Investors’ are concerned about this geopolitical risk and its influence on the global economy.

The attack carried oil prices up more than 20%. But easing came after many countries stated they would use crisis reserves to ensure stable supplies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.52% to end at 27,076.82 points. At the same time, the S&P 500 fell 0.31% to 2,997.96. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.28% to 8,153.54. Eight of the 11 main S&P sectors moved lower.

Also, oil futures rose10% Monday morning as a consequence of the attack. Saudi Arabia suspended 5.7 million barrels of daily production, which is more than 5% of the total production in the whole world.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 10% to $66.27 in first-day trading. For example, West Texas futures increased by 10.2% to $60.44.

Oil companies and industrial stocks will benefit from new higher prices. Industrial companies that sell substances, pumps, and vehicles, processors, and sellers or auto parts companies.

As energy prices increase, investors may need to evaluate some of these energy stocks.

Oil Stocks Are Rising Which Ones to Buy

Some oil companies hit much larger gains as investors hurried to close their positions and avoid losses. For example, Carrizo Oil & Gas CRZO stock rose 19.53%, it had 39% of shares open for trading sold-short, reported FactSet. The shares climbed up 19.5% and close at $10.22. But, it is lower 62% from the 52-week intraday high of $26.67 placed in September last year.

MarketWatch published a list of energy companies in the S&P 1500 favorable to invest in now.

THE LIST IS HERE

How to determine the good one

Investors have to estimate the company’s balance sheet to reveal is it in stable financial status. Does the company have the money to satisfy its business obligations, if market conditions worsen? This is important data. Secondly, investors have to check companies leverage ratio. But the most important factor for oil investors when choosing the oil stock has to be its debt to EBITDA ratio and net debt to capital ratio.

If a company produces or uses crude oil a debt-to-EBITDA ratio should be below 2.0 times and net debt to capital ratio should be less than 30%. Although, if the company has fee-based cash flow net debt to capital ratio can be 50%.

Majority of oil companies will issue their current leverage metrics on their website so it is easy to check.

Investors should take care of the company’s liquidity.

That is money to which a company has immediate access to satisfy its financial obligations. The company must have enough cash for that purposes, a fund for several months, for example. How will you know that? Just divide a company’s declared capital budget by its cash on accounts.

An oil stock that is enough protected against a big fall in oil prices owns a stable credit rating, low leverage ratio, and much liquidity. Such companies are good investments, despite the oil prices droppings.

17th September 2019
Margin Call – How to Profit From The Trade
Every second in your account you must have 25% of the total price of the stock you hold to cover the maintenance margin.

By Guy Avtalyon

A margin call is something that every trader would like to avoid.
- Buying on margin means borrowing money from your broker to buy stocks.
- There is no profit without the risk involved.
Have you ever seen a better movie than Margin Call? A movie about the Financial Crisis? It just crossed my mind when I started to write this.

Okay, never mind. The subject of this article is a margin call in the stock market.

Let’s start from the beginning.

What turns around and around the stock market is a risk. I know that is the major problem for most of you. How to take the risk? Because the risk has its bright and dark side and you know that. For example, you are trading some stock without guarantees that it will perform well.

The identical risk that boosts stock prices one day can lower them tomorrow. Yes, the identical. Pretty scary.

But here we come to the bright side of the margin call. For investors who want to profit a lot and quickly nothing is better than buying on margin.

Buying on margin means borrowing money from your broker to buy stocks. Basically, it’s a loan from your broker.

How “buying on margin” works?

You can borrow from your broker up to 50% of the price of a stock.

For example, when the stock price is $20,000 you will pay $10,000 and your broker will lend you the rest which is another $10,000.

Let’s look at the possible scenarios.

Assume the stock price grows at $24,000. The return on your investment will be 40%. You invested $20,000, but you have to give back to your broker $10,000 and you will end with $14,000 in your hands. But you invested yours $10,000 so you will have $4,000 of profit. This is good and you can be happy because you made a profit.

But things may go in another direction.

Assume the stock price went down at $16,000. You will end up with a 40% loss on your investment. Even more, you have to give back the borrowed money to your broker increased by charges, fees, and interest on the loan, of course.

Buying on margin may be extremely risky. You may lose your entire investment. But you may lose more because of something known as a margin call.

Every second you must have an adequate amount in your account to cover the maintenance margin. That amount is 25% of the total price of the stock you hold.

What can happen if you don’t have enough cash in your account? Your broker will issue a margin call. That means, your broker is demanding you to cover the difference with more deposit and reach that 25% maintenance level.

Let’s go back to our example and situation when things went wrong. What will happen if the stock price drop at $12,000? Your loss is $8,000 and now you have only $2,000 in your account. The rule is that you MUST have 25% and $2,000 is not enough to cover that. So, you lost $8,000 and at the same time, you have to deposit an additional $500 in your margin account to stay in the market. Also, you have to pay back the money to your broker.

Is margin call dangerous to investors?

It can be extremely dangerous. In our example the missing deposit is small as the money invested isn’t big, but you can count how it is an enormous loss when the value of the investment is $200,000, $500,000, or million dollars.

The most frightful detail about margin call for you as new investors is that your broker has no obligation by law to warn you that your margin account is too low. So, what the broker will do?

The broker will sell your stock and liquidate your assets if it is necessary. He or she needs to ensure the maintenance level in your margin account. Even more, the broker can begin selling your stock even the margin call is issued. Such will not wait for you and will not give you a grace period. Damn, you are dealing with a un-patient broker. This is an extremely painful and dangerous situation. If you come up to this situation how will you earn your money back when the market turns in your favor. You have nothing to trade with.

The other danger about margin call is that you do not have an influence on which stock your broker may sell. Of course, the broker will choose the best players to cover fast and smooth the maintenance margin.

Moreover, the brokerage may change the rules and issue the margin call based on them. You will not have even zero chances to delay paying the margin call.

How to avoid the potential risk of a margin call

First, stay away if you don’t have enough experience in trading. Second, open some other account for an emergency with enough money to cover the margin call.

I can understand that you are willing to enter the market as a big player. At least to earn a big profit. Nothing is bad with that. Everyone wants the same. Just keep these things on your mind when you want to trade on margin. Buying on margin is an extremely exciting method, risky but with great potential to profit.

If you are 100% sure that you have a great player in your hands, and don’t have enough money to buy it, do it. Borrow from your broker. Sometimes, a great risk will bring a great profit. In the end, there is no profit without the risk involved.
13th September 2019
How Long To Hold Stock?

Patience is golden, but even being a golden rule of stock investing, it isn’t enough, there is more.

By Guy Avtalyon

Yes, you are asking the right question, because many stock investors ask: “How long to hold stock?” There are some possible answers.
You may hold your stock until it provides you a profit, or break your stop-loss rule, or you may hold your stock forever.

Actually, there’s no general rule that fits all stocks when the holding periods are in the question. So many variables can influence how long to hold stock.

The decision to hold stocks for the long term or the short term is individual. It depends on your poverty, expectations, or advisor. Several factors are involved in your personal decision especially if you have a winner in hand. The right question is: Will the winner be an excellent moneymaker in the future and how long?

How long to hold stock

A lot of factors will influence your decision.

First of all, the time you enter the market is important. If it is during a bull market you have to know two things. First, the usual bull market cycle will last from two to four years and you’ll be able to earn the majority of your profit during the first or second year. In simpler words, you have to wait until your stock rises up to 20 – 25% from buying price, that is the point where the profit can be taken. If your stock increase over 20% in the first 3 weeks or in a shorter period, hold it at least 8 weeks. After that period you have to examine the stock’s charts to check if your stock keeping up well. When you get this confirmation from the charts and the market is increasing too, there are a lot of chances that this trend will continue. You can expect the new breakouts and the value of your stock will rise more.

For genuine market winners, the average time from breakout to top will be from 12 to 18 months.

This looks like a pretty simple answer, but is it the right one?

What if your stock starts a downtrend and you see you can be stuck in a losing trade for a long time? That is why you must have settled rules before you enter a trade.

How to determine how long to hold a stock

The best way to determine how long to hold a stock is to do that based on your trading rules.

Before you purchase any stock you have to define what profit do you want to make. The next will be your ability to forecast how much your stock could decrease. Will your strategy provide you a bigger gain than loss? Is the stock in its downtrend, bottoming, or up-trend? You have to determine the largest possible loss you can afford.

Traders-Paradise has one suggestion for you.

The gain has to be minimum 1,5 to 2 times bigger than loss. There more variables you have to consider. For example, how much will you earn when sell your stock?

The golden rule in stock holding

Let us examine one possible scenario. You have bought the stock and you are 20% in profit after the first week. You predicted the worst scenario as a loss of 10%. In this case, your reward is at 2 to 1.

What you have to do? Should you sell? Well, the brief answer is No.

The right answer is that you should hold a stock for a longer time if you have, for example, a medium-term horizon. You have to hold your stock for several weeks or even months.

Hold the stock as long as you want to make a notable gain from a stock price move. Some traders would advise you to hold a stock something between two and 10 months to get the best reward. You have to be very blessed to develop a great profit overnight.

The average high-profit trade is 30% and the hold time is about 45 days. Also, the average drawdown is -11% to -15%. That is the statistics.

Patience is golden

You must be patient with a stock. Stocks need time to give you the profit you want. Long-term investments have made incredible profits.

Anyway, you must be careful because stocks can drop suddenly. To avoid a catastrophe you have to limit your loss but don’t place your stop-loss order at 5%. Usually, a stock may pull back 10-15%, and very soon after that, a profitable move happens.

12th September 2019
When To Buy Sell or Hold On The Stock

The enter or exit the investment must be in line with your investment plan.

by Guy Avtalyon

Beginners in the stock market are usually enthusiastic, but do they know when to buy, sell, or hold on to stocks to gain maximum growth and limit loss?

There are no guarantees for stock’s price, they can go up or down driven by various circumstances. So how to know when to buy, sell, or hold on stock?

No one can tell you about one specific, the best strategy, good for everyone. But advanced traders follow some “rules of thumb” when they examine their investment movements. They are establishing entry and exit points and evaluating fundamental factors. But they had to learn some universal systems at first and after that, they were able to choose the one or a few that suit them the best.

Examine Entry and Exit Points

An entry point is the price level where the trader buys an investment or “enters the position”. The exit point is a price where you sell or “exit”.

If you want to avoid the wrong decisions and if you want to know when to buy, sell, or hold on the stock you have to define your entry and exit points. That means you must have a clear strategy to lower the risk and enhance your return. In other words, you have to set the right entry point to maximize winnings.

Also, it is extremely important to define where to set a stop loss. This point is worth in case the stock price starts to drop. Yes, some traders will wait for the dropping price to grow, but that may be dangerous in case the stock value continues to decline. This is especially important for short-term traders with the idea to buy and sell in a short time.

Traders usually practice stop and limit orders to maintain the balance between gains and losses.

The point is to have more winning trades, right?

To avoid permanent watching the charts and price changes you can set stop or limit order. That will provide you to enter or exit the investment according to your investment plan.

A limit or stop order means that you decide how much stock you want to buy at a specific price or when it peaks a specific price. So, you can place a limit or stop order for a higher or lower price than the current market price. The market price is the prevailing price of the stock.

Stop and limit orders act separately but associate to the trader’s action in the same way. They enable traders to not have to continually watch price movements, but traders have various goals with these orders.

For example, when setting a limit order, the intent is to buy or sell a stock at a defined price. To be more clear, if a stock’s value is $85, and you want to buy it, you may set a buy limit order at $80 if you think it is your best entry point.

Thus, if you want to sell the stock, you may place a sell limit order of $90 if it is your projected or planned exit point.

Stop order is a defensive strategy to lower losses.

To secure your investment, in case the stock continues increasing in value, you may set a stop order at a point a lot bellow the current price. But if you expect that stock to be trading below, you may try to minimize your losses with a higher-stop order that will be close to the current price or just a bit under the current price.

Stop and limit orders are created to trigger when the pre-arranged price is reached. If you set a limit order at $90, the stock will be sold immediately when the stock increases, and $90 is touched. Or vice versa, if you set a stop order below the current price, the stock will be sold when the price drops and it reaches that price.

I hope the point is clear, the trader with the limit order wants to sell when the price rises, and the trader who placed the stop order wants to sell when the price drops.

Why is important to know when to buy, sell, or hold on the stock?

There is some risk involved in limit orders. A limit order “guarantees the limit price or better” but on the other side, what if it never gets filled?

A stop order means an exit from the stock position if the price drops, after your stock scores the stop you’ve set. In that case, your stop order becomes a market order and there are many competitors waiting to be filled. Hence, you don’t have a guarantee that your order will be filled at the specific price you placed. In some cases, you may end up selling the stock significantly below that level.

Moreover, if you have a sell stop at $90 and the price falls to $40, your order will be triggered at $60, which is a good thing. But things could go in the wrong way too. For example, if you purchased a stock at $80 and placed a stop at $75, the stock might go down to $70 and be sold, of course, but it can jump back to $90.

When to buy stock?

In investing, it is important to determine what a stock is worth. Will it rise up to the estimated value? Set a range at which you would like to buy a stock. That might be helpful. Will you pay that amount for a particular stock? Be honest while giving the answer.

If you don’t know the price target range, you will be in trouble with determining when to buy a stock.

Also, you have to know about the financial health of a company. It is possible through the company’s financial statements that have a treasure of information.

You have to pay attention to the company’s revenue, for example, or how it relates to its past reviews. Are the company’s sales growing or shrinking? Read the company’s guidance for revenue or sales, which reveals how it expects to perform in the future.

Cash flow is important too because it will provide you information about a company’s liquidity. A very good sign is when more money is coming into the company than it spends. It is a positive cash flow.

Further, a stock might be undervalued. So, you must estimate a company’s upcoming prospects. Compare it with current reports. In this way, you will find a possible price target. If the current stock price is lower, buy it.

When to sell the stock?

Whenever the expected price is bigger than the current stock price, you have a chance to earn.

The size of the return depends on how much of a discount a stock trades related to its expected value. Also, it is related to how much time the market needs to update its expectations. The higher the stock price discount and the sooner the market corrects its expectations, the higher the return.

You can sell your stock when it hits its expected value, or a more winning stock arises, or you change your expectations.

When to hold the stock

You have to know that it can take time for a stock to reach its real value. Any stock price forecasting is actually simple guessing.

Your stock may need several years for a stock to reach close to a price targeted. If you are sure your stock will grow, hold it 3 to 5 years. Very often, you will profit more. It is essential to know when to buy, sell, or hold on the stock if you want a profit.

11th September 2019
Should you buy a stock because of its dividend?

3 min read

Never buy a stock because of its dividend. A dividend shouldn’t be a reason to invest in a poor business. Most important is the performance of the business. That will drive a stock’s return and the company will be able to pay a dividend. So, you must pay attention to the business as a whole, the company’s plans, its goals, even to management and how they treat their employees.

Dividend stocks are recognized as safe investments, that is true. They are the highest valued companies. They have grown their dividends during the past 20 years and these are usually held as safe businesses.

But, just because a firm is providing dividends doesn’t mean it is a trustworthy investment. You have to learn how to avoid pitfalls that may arise, at first glance, with good dividends.

Executives can use the dividends to pacify nervous and fidgety investors when the stock price isn’t running as they are expecting. You must know how the management is handling the dividends in a company’s strategy, for example. If you notice a lack of growth, stay away. Such a business isn’t good to invest in, even if it provides good dividends.

Do you know what has happened in 2008?

A great stock’s dividend yields were forced to unnaturally high levels due to stock price drops. The dividend yields seemed fascinating, but as the economic crisis developed, the profits fell. That caused the numerous dividend plans to be canceled entirely. The best example is the banks’ stocks in 2008.

They were paying great dividends but whenever dividend is paid the stock value instantly falls by an equal amount. That’s the point. And you may ask if the bankers knew that? Of course, they did.

Let me explain you something.

Very often, the chief purpose why some company pays dividends is because the executives can’t discover some solid growth possibilities within their own company to invest its earned profits in.

Hence, the company allows extra earnings to stockholders by paying dividends. But this is good, you may say. Yes, but…

When a company gives a dividend equivalent to its profits, that is a sign that they are not able to find investment opportunity within their own business that would give greater return. If such a company stays for a long time in a similar situation, the growth will be slow. And at some point in time, they will stop paying dividends and the stock price will decrease to worthless.

That’s the secret. So when you ask yourself should you buy a stock because of its dividend, be careful and have a bigger picture in mind.

You should buy a stock because the company is paying attention to the development, research, infrastructure… Things that will increase your profit as the stock price is going up.

Now, can you answer me, should you buy a stock just because of its dividend?

Of course not.

Moreover, dividend-yielding stocks are taxable income.

A dividend is a delivery of a part of a company’s earnings to stockholders. It can be done in cash, stocks, or other assets. It is a bonus to investors.

Yes, many investors see dividends as the main point of stock holding. They want to hold the stock long-term and the dividends are an addon to income. Nothing is problematic in that. But buying a stock just because of dividend is very wrong.

Dividends are an indication that the company is doing well, dividends are not bad. It has profits to share, more cash than it demands and it can give it to its stockholders. And a stock’s price may rise quickly after a dividend is paid.

And there is a catch, on the ex-dividend day, the stock’s value will surely drop. The value of the stock will drop by a sum almost the same to the amount paid in dividends.

When you want to buy some stock do it because you believe in business or you think the value will rise. Don’t do it only because of a dividend.

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10th September 2019