How Exactly Does the Stockmarket Work?

By William Wilkie

Perhaps you are thinking about doing some personal investing on the stockmarket. This could be a good strategy but don't start yet; your first task should be to learn all you can about the functions of the stockmarket so that you can make informed decisions about which shares to invest in. Below I will go over the main functions of the stockmarket.

The 2 Major Purposes of the Stockmarket

In fact, the stockmarket is divided into two distinct and different types of markets. The first is called the primary market and the second is called the secondary market.

The Primary Market

The primary market is when companies issue new shares and they are offered to the original shareholders or to the public. To understand the primary market - think of the comparison to a new car dealer. You pay money to the dealer for your new car and this money goes to the manufacturer less the dealer's profit. A similar scenario goes on in the primary market; the money from the selling of the new stocks goes to the company less any additional expenses.

Companies normally offer new shares for expansion; like constructing a new factory, to develop a new product line, or to refinance debt. This can be explained as the raising of capital by sharing the risk in exchange for potential higher profits.

Secondary Markets

In the secondary market, the public can buy and sell shares and stocks. With the car comparison, we now consider a second hand car dealer. When you purchase a second hand car from the dealer, the money does not go to the manufacturer of the car. Instead, the second hand car dealer has bought a used car from the owner and has now sold it to another owner.

The secondary market therefore works by bringing together the buyers and the sellers. The same that you can buy and sell a car, you are also free to buy and sell shares at will. This is the liquidity of the markets or the way to turn assets into cash. Remember that with no secondary market there would not be a primary market.

What Causes the Markets to Move?

Essentially, you could boil down the reasons that markets move to either the rational or the irrational factors. It is, of course, a lot more complicated than that. However, there are only three main reasons for the markets to move and these are the irrational group mindset of the investors (swings of pessimism to optimism regarding risks), the fundamental factors (as an example - recession, inflation or government policies), and the technical factors (for example trends in investing or the attractiveness of an industry or product.)

Knowing what causes the markets to move are important factors to take into consideration both for short term and long term investing. You must take into consideration all of the factors all together and not just one factor if you want to take minimal risks. Learn and gain knowledge about the stockmarket before jumping in and you may make a better return on investment than if you just kept your money in a savings account. - 23159

About the Author:

William Wilkie reviews personal finance products and services. Check out his website for the top Identity Theft Program and read the TrustedID Review.

Trading Online is Getting more Popular

By Alex Daryl

Trading and investing in stocks is something you need to learn before taking actions. Nowadays, there are more people taking up the roles of financial planners upon themselves and empowering themselves when it comes to investing in the stock market. The prevalence of online trading companies has been instrumental in breaking the boundaries between the super wealthy, the only ones that could afford to regularly trade in the market, and the average man who now has the power to make the same trades for less than half the commissions that once would have been necessary for the equavalent amount of work on the part of broker.

Weird enough you need to be careful when picking your online trading source as different companies offers different types of services. One of the first things you need to check is the security with the company you are considering. In most cases, the bigger names will offer the better security. Bigger companies build their reputations by producing long term good results. They will not risk their reputations by risking your money.

The next thing you would want to check before deciding to sign up with any online trading company is the cost per transaction and how those costs are determined. There are all kinds of ways that these small fees can hit you and become big headaches later on. You should find out what are the possible fees, when will they be charged, how will they be charged and what exactly do the fees cover. The more you clarify at the beginning, there will be lesser room for misunderstandings later on.

Make sure there is a way for you to discuss problems, ask questions and get answers from the company ensuring that they are reachable. It will never be safe if you are unable to reach someone from the company for direct support. You would not want to have most of your time wasted in trying to get support from them and leave your money on risk.

Next thing would be the companies website interface. As you are trading online, most of the time spent will be navigating around their website. Make sure you can get around with their website and understand the charts, bars and graphs shown on the website. Different companies would have different ways of presenting their services. It would be easier and safer to work on a website that isn't confusing to you. If navigating around the website is a hassle and time consuming, it would be a serious problem when it comes to trading when every seconds counts.

If you can find all these critiria in an online trading company, you've probably found a great company to begin your journey as a stock market investor. If the website also offers free professional education and advice, which most of them has nowadays, you should invest some of your time learning and hearing from them. Willing to learn is critical in trading, especially when you are still new to this industry. - 23159

About the Author:

Find more tips and information about Trading Stocks at my website. I gather great tips and information on Trading Stocks Online

Using LEAP Options

By Ahmad Hassam

Great Britain was finding it difficult to stay within the tight exchange rate band set by the European Monetary Union (EMU) in the early'90s. One person who made history with options was George Soros who is famously known as the man who broke the Bank of England.

George Soros is a famous name in the world of investing. He had always believed in contrarian investing. Contrarian investing means doing exactly opposite of what the crowd is doing. George Soros had this intuition that the Bank of England would be forced to devalue British Pound. So he bought call options on German Marks and put options on British Pound. He made a bet of $10 Billion by leveraging all the assets in his hedge fund.

Within a few days, Bank of England was brought to its knees as it was unable to sustain the immense selling pressure on the British Pound. Bank of England was forced to devalue British Pound in view of the speculative attack on the British Pound.

George Soros made a cool $1 Billion profit on his bet in a matter of a few days. When you a strong intuition, you should go for the big kill. Can you make such a bet? Maybe not but this one example show the immense power options have if used correctly. Options are risky; there should be no doubt about it.

Trading options has become hot in recent years especially after the recent stock market crash. What are options? Options derive their value from the underlying asset or security on which the options contract is based. Options contract give you the right to buy or sell an underlying security like stocks, futures, commodities or currencies at a price before a certain date. This price is known as the Strike Price. This date is known as the Expiry Date. However, in European Style options you can only buy or sell on the expiry date not before that. Most people who trade options lose money, plain and simple.

You need to learn the Options Greeks. Time factor is very important when valuing an option. Further out the options contract is from expiration, you will have to pay a higher premium. As the options contract approaches the expiration date and if it is out of money, it loses its value very fast.

LEAP options are basically long term options. Leap options can help you profit over the long haul. You can use LEAP options in options strategies like the covered calls, straddles, spreads and so on. LEAP stands for long term equity anticipation. It basically means that the option is much like the regular option except that the timeframe to expire is greater than 1 year.

LEAP options are risky because the option writer usually demands a hefty premium for taking on the long term risk. However, LEAP options can be incredibly profitable if used correctly. The buyer of the LEAP options has the right to exercise the option prior to expiration should the price of the underlying stock move in the money.

See, closer the out of money option is to expiration, faster its value drops. What this means is that the buyer of the options loses the premium that was paid for getting the right to buy or sell the underlying security. LEAP options can be a great trading vehicle for swing traders as they mitigate some of the time decay that is inherent in short term options. - 23159

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. Learn Candlestick Charting! Know Fibonacci Retracement!

Currency Trading Education - The Secret To Success!

By Nigel Gartini

Becoming a professional in the market requires a top quality currency trading education. The market is complex and highly competitive. The more knowledge you have the more confidence you will have when you actually start trading. Your competition is certainly prepared so you must do the work before you start to make sure you are prepared to.

Many professional traders write books in an attempt to teach others what they have learned in the market. Learning from professionals is the best way to get a quality currency trading education. Select several of the top ranked books and use them as study guides on an ongoing basis. You may find it helpful to have these publications on hand to refer to when needed.

Many people enroll in good currency trading courses. If you can find a course taught by an experienced professional trader, this is best. Some classes are actually held in an actual classroom while others are online. Either way this is an excellent way to get an in-depth currency trading education.

One of the most used tools in making trading decisions is technical analysis. Charts can be plotted showing a picture of how prices moved in the past, given specific market conditions. These price patterns can be used to predict how future prices may behave under similar circumstances. Technical analysis can help you recognize new trends that can help in making buy and sell decisions. Most of the traders in the market understand and use charts so it is important that you use them also. The more technical knowledge you have the better your trading profits will be.

Fundamental analysis is another tool used by many traders. Fundamentals refer to market conditions that have an impact on currency prices. Interest rate changes or changes in the rate of inflation will affect price movements. Budget deficits and budget surpluses cause currency values to move up and down. Political stability within a country should be taken into consideration. Using fundamental factors in combination with charting and technical analysis is likely the best way to make trading decisions.

The old adage "practice makes perfect" holds true in currency trading just as it does in most other areas. You should open your trading account with a broker who will allow you to use a demo account to practice trading for a period of time. This will give you time to develop a trading discipline and correct some of your mistakes. Your trading instincts will be more polished as well. If a broker will not allow you to practice real-time trading, you need to find a new broker. Don't pass up the opportunity to sharpen your skills.

Continuing education will help you maintain your level of skill rather than letting it get stall. Self-study is important to do no matter how much success you have. Subscribing to relevant publications and staying abreast of industry developments is essential.

Get the best currency trading education you possibly can. It will move you to levels of success that nothing else in the market can. Spend the time and money to make yourself an expert. - 23159

About the Author:

The KEY to getting a good currency trading education is an excellent currency trading tutorial!

Things To Know About Etf Trading

By Patrick Deaton

Many people are involved in the trading sector these days. There are many aspects that this type of thing can involve with etf trading being one of them. Exchange traded funds are a way that people have found very alluring as opposed to the trading that is done with mutual funds which explains the increase in popularity that they have had over recent years.

The first thing that a person should do when thinking about etf trading is to get in touch with a stockbroker. They can help you establish an account so that you can begin trading. You need find a stockbroker that is reputable and will help you when you are starting out and learning the ropes. Many people have fallen victim to people that have claimed to look out for their interests, but have not when it came down to the reality of things. Don't let this be you.

When you open up an account in order to start trading, you will need to make an investment of some sort. This can vary from place to place and it is a good idea to look at various options before making a decision on a company to deal with. There are costs that you will need to pay but they will depend on what all you are allowed to do when it comes to etf trading.

There are also charges that are incurred when dealing with a company for etf trading. The cheapest option is not necessarily the best one to go with. Look at all of the options that are offered by a company before making a decision on which one to use. Some companies offer some amazing deals and you need to keep an eye out for these as well.

The most popular thing with etf trading that people like is that it costs far less than other forms of trading that are available. Many people have made a good profit from a fairly small investment, which explains the rise in popularity that it has seen. This is something that more and more people are looking at with the economy being in such a poor state at the present time.

Reading about etf trading can be one of the best things for a person to do if they are thinking of becoming involved in it. There are a lot of websites around that offer a lot of information that can help a person learn some valuable tips and tricks.

Forums and other websites that have information from people that have been involved with etf trading can also be a huge bonus when it comes to learning the way the system works. There mistakes are something that they have felt others can learn from and they have offered to share this information with all that want to learn from it.

Remember above all that this is something that takes money to begin. You are not given any guarantees when it comes to any type of trading and people need to keep this in the back of their minds. There is nothing worse than losing money, but it is even worse if the money that you lose is needed in other areas of your life. - 23159

About the Author:

Learn how it's very possible to make 6% per month in your investment accounts using etf trading! "Big A" is a recognized expert in the world of etf trading system and reveals etf secrets that have been kept under wraps by hedge traders for years. Get his free report and webinar today!