Stock Market Secrets

By Michael Swanson

Anyone with any margin of success in stock market investing pays very strict attention to his stocks using technical analysis. Watching the ups and downs of stock prices is the most important element of playing the market.

Watching your stocks has to be a daily habit. Check the stock market listings in the business section of your paper daily and double check for the most up-to-the-minute prices on the internet. Keep track of the history of your stocks and follow every rise, every fall and the fluctuations in between.

It's also important to read the statements that your stock broker sends out to you every month. It will help you keep records of price trends. In between statements from your broker, the Internet will be a most valuable resource for the correct prices.

Stocks that have caught your eye should be monitored before you buy them. Monitor those stocks and watch when they go up or down. Establishing a pattern of highs and lows will make the decision to buy a little easier.

When you have a small windfall or extra cash, you'll know which stocks to top up by monitoring price trends. Those stocks that are steadily increasing in value should be added to first. Plus, diversify your portfolio of investments. You really shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, as they say.

Keep your broker's phone number handy for when it's time to buy or sell stock. Tell him what to do and at what price. Your broker will handle the transaction and give you a transaction number when your order is placed.

Read the Wall Street Journal or Barrons and keep on top of daily news about your stocks and current events that affect the stock market.

Because the stock market is such a volatile place, you must monitor your stocks if you hope to make money. Keep a three year goal in mind and don't panic-sell if stock prices start to fall and fall hard. Evaluate your stock's performance over time.

If you're in day trading, you know how hard that constant attention can be, however, it can be very lucrative for sophisticated investors. - 23159

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EUR/USD

By AHmad Hassam

EUR/USD is the most liquid currency pair in the currency markets. There are four currency pairs that are known as the major currency pairs namely EUR/USD, GBP/USD, CHF/USD and JPY/USD that are heavily traded in the global currency markets. The rest of the currency pairs dont have the liquidity to trade big volumes as these four pairs do. Almost like 90% of the global currency exchange is in these pairs. Out of these four pairs, EUR/USD has the most liquidity and is the most popular among the currency traders all over the world. EUR/USD is the most heavily traded currency pair in the global currency markets at the moment. Most of the currency traders are in fact speculators. Trading currencies can be exciting and lucrative. Its a great market because of the way politics affect the trends. Elections, strikes, and sudden developments, both good and bad, can lead to significant trading profits if you stand ready to trade the EUR/USD is a convenient currency pair because it encompasses the policies and the economic activity and political environment of a volatile but predictable part of the world: Europe.

Inflation is not good for any economy. Most central banks fight inflation by increasing or decreasing interest rates in the markets. In the United States, where the free-market approach and a usually vigilant Federal Reserve make more frequent adjustments on interest rates. France, Italy, and Germany, the largest members of the European Union (EU), normally operate under high budget deficits and tend to keep their interest rates more stable.

Fed changes its interest rates frequently keeping in view its inflation and unemployment targets. The general tendency of the Fed is to make the dollar trend for very long periods of time in one general direction. Here are some general tendencies of the EUR/USD currency pair on which you need to keep tabs aside from the technical analysis:

1) As said before most central banks in the world have a strict agenda to fight inflation. Given Germanys history of hyperinflation in the first half of the 20th century and the repercussions of that period, namely the rise of Hitler, the European Central Bank (ECB) is almost fanatical about inflation. That means that the European Central Bank most of the times raises interest rates more easily than it lowers them. However, right now keeping in view the severe global recession, ECB has lowered the interest rates drastically to stimulate economic activity across the Eurozone.

2) EUR/USD pair is affected by what is happening politically and economically both in Europe and the US. The European Central Banks actions become important when all other factors are equal, meaning politics are equally stable or unstable in the United States and Europe, and the two economies are growing. For example, if the U.S. economy is slowing down, money slowly starts to drift away from the dollar. In the past that meant money would move toward the Japanese yen; however, because the market knows that Japans central bank will sell yen, the default currency when the dollar weakens is often now the euro.

- The flip side is that the market often sells the euro during political problems in the region, especially when the European economy is slowing and the economy in the United Kingdom (UK), which often moves along with the U.S. economy, is showing signs of strength.

As a word of caution, its okay to form an opinion and have some expectations, but the final and only truth that should make you trade is what the charts are showing you. As usual, you want to closely monitor major currencies and the cross rates. The direction that counts is the one in which the market is heading.

It is always best to choose only two or three currency pairs and become a specialist in them. Two currency pairs that I would recommend for you are the EUR/USD and the GBP/USD. Both these currency pairs are highly liquid and very popular among the currency traders. Fundamental analysis can help you determine the strong/weak currency pair. Use fundamental analysis to determine if USD is expected to lose value and EUR is expected to gain more strength that means that the currency pair EUR/USD is perfectly timed for swing trading. Use technical analysis to make the entry and exit decision. Combining fundamental analysis with the technical analysis can give you the edge as a forex trader. Sometimes there is a fundamental shift in the direction of a currency pair. As long as you are not following a currency pair like EUR/USD on the daily basis, you wont be able to understand what is happening. - 23159

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Know Forex Rebellion!

Select an Online Options Broker, Learn More Option Trading Tips

By William Davies

As someone considering trading forex options on global exchanges you will want to find an online options broker, look at the key points and decide which service provides the best value. You should find out for example if the firm has any exposure to leveraged instruments like credit default swaps and mortgage investments, as this could be an indicator of potential solvency problems at a future point in time. Also look to see if the firm cover other areas like futures, stocks and bonds.

A key question will be the size of the company and the range of its operations, and you will want to know about its trading volume, whether it is half a million, a million or more, to gain a better picture. As a prospective trader client of an online options broker you would want to check out how the firms margin requirements work, and establish whether it uses automatic limits in real time or offers a service where the broker may make a margin call at the end of the trading day. Check out also what minimum balance the broker requires clients to maintain.

Some option contracts allow you to exit at any time up to the expiry date while other types of contract must be held to expiry or settlement. So you would need to know what type of options your broker can offer in their online trading platform. There is also the question of cost and whether the online options broker can offer a discount and so lower your trading costs. Under what circumstances would they do this? Do you have to have a premier type account or hold a higher maintenance margin to benefit from a discount?

It is possible for the options trader to gain exposure to different markets in the global options universe. You could approach a plain vanilla options broker who will enable you to enter markets with deeper liquidity and the contract is broadly a standard, uncomplicated vehicle most likely traded through the main clearinghouse system. If you are more adventurous you could use an exotic options broker and trade the niche sector of smaller, less liquid traded currencies.

An important consideration when looking the choice of an online options broker is the availability to clients of a quality educational support system and training program. The new trader will benefit greatly from a range of quality seminars and videos which explain the basics of options trading in a clear and concise way. See if these videos are interactive so that they let you see the results of decisions you take in the trial run as they affect your trading capital. Check out to see if they also offer trading tips via a newsletter as well as trade alerts.

You will also want to know what type of trading software the broker provides and how easy it is to use by a relatively inexperienced trader as well as by more seasoned professional traders. When you try out a paper account see how easy it is to follow your trades and to make a decisive decision and act on it through the platform. As for price, you may want to be confident that the online options broker can secure a better price for you than its competitors.

The ability to look at price and risk in real time is a great advantage and so technology which allows you to achieve this will improve your trading management performance. Check also to see if the broker provides data on interest rates, volatility and other key trading measures which will help you decide what to trade. So after investigating the above and other factors you will choose the online options trader right for you, but always remember that there is a risk of losing your capital when trading options and other derivatives. - 23159

About the Author:

The author, William Davies, contributes articles for a website on Commodities Trading, offering an educational information for those wishing to learn more about commodities, futures and options. Find a suitable online options broker for your trading style.

How To Deal With Your Forex Investment

By Bart Icles

Investing in the forex market is one way to really be able to augment the income of anybody who would be venturing in it, and nowadays, people from all walks of life can already do forex trading since the information about it is no longer limited to just banks and big financial institutions. Forex investments and the resources about it are being advertised across all medium, like newspapers, the radio, the television, and the internet. All these forex investment advertisements and information resources are saying basically one thing, that is, a forex investment is an easy way and a great way to earn money on a consistent basis. Not only that, it does not really require that much of a capital since one can already open a forex account with just some hundreds of dollars give or take a few. However, statistically, only a few beginners in the forex trading world are really able to gain some semblance of success. Why is this?

Of course, if you are planning to venture into dealing with a forex investment, your main aim is to become successful by making money through it and not losing your hard-earned cash, especially now that the global economic recession is still being felt all over the world. The main question that all forex beginners are asking is this: What makes a forex investment lucrative?

For those who are aspiring to become successful forex investment traders, the most important thing is to have the right knowledge about the forex trading world. Period. Without the proper education about the different quirks of the forex market, it is not possible for a forex trader to have a lucrative forex investment. One could not rely on beginner's luck. It takes much more than that to become successful in forex trading.

Now, the question is, how can you use the forex education that you have acquired in a positive manner? There is only one important quality that a forex trader should have. A forex trader should be able to acquire and hone the value of discipline. Without the right amount of discipline, all the forex education in the world would be useless, however good it is. The ability to manage risks is really a very important factor, otherwise, instead of making a lot of money, one would lose a whole lot, even to the point of being indebted.

There are lots of factors influencing forex investments. One should just be able to know how to use these factors to their advantage when doing forex trading. Disciplining one's self by using these factors would make one a successful forex trading magnate in the long run. - 23159

About the Author:

Managed forex trading accounts start with a desire to learn and a drive to become a great trader. Learning mini forex trading platform takes dedication and a good teacher. But once you learn how to trade and do so successfully your life will change and you have options and financial resources you never had before.

Do You Know Anything About The Short Sale Process?

By Annabella Sherie

Do you find yourself wondering what the short sale process is; well if this is the case then you have come to the right place as we are going to reveal how you can begin finding these discounted homes. The internet is full of information about these homes because thousands of people would love to learn how to purchase these homes and save big money.

Most of us have heard the news about how the real estate prices have really taken a down turn in the past year; however in some of the places they seem to be going back up. When we hear these types of stories then you will see more and more people turning to the internet in hopes of learning more about the short sale process so that they can begin learning how to invest in these homes.

Chances are you have found yourself browsing the internet in hopes of learning more about how the short sale process works. You have landed on an article that will prove to be extremely helpful; we have found tons of information about this subject that can help anyone grow their real estate portfolio.

The basic definition of the short sale process is when the lender of the property is willing to sell the property for less than is owed on the original loan. Now you may be wondering why would a bank want to take less than what is owed on the original loan? Well the truth is that we all know that the bank is not in the business of foreclosing and taking back property.

If you have just recently become a homeowner and who is struggling to make your monthly payments then you have come to the right place. We wanted to provide you with some great tips that you can begin using to help save your home and will help you save your credit. We have listed some tips below that can help you learn more about these short sale properties.

1. Owner or buyer will contact the bank to discuss the possibility of selling the home as a short sale. The lender will then make a decision on whether they really want to sell the home at a discount price. Of course the process can take several weeks or months.

2. Learn about writing a hardship letter if you are experiencing financial difficulties; this is the only way the bank is going to be able to help you overcome this problem. Every homeowner who is experiencing financial difficulties and can not make their payments needs to learn more about writing a hardship letter.

These are the basic steps of the short sale process that someone may have to follow if they choose to begin investing in real estate short sales. You should definitely visit our site below right now to find out some more valuable tips that can assist you. - 23159

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Real Estate Foreclosures What You Need To Know! Avoiding Foreclosure