Thursday, December 27, 2007

Day Trading - 5 Important Factors You Should Know About Before Venturing Into Day Trading

Winning is not something that comes by fluke. Whatever the business that you are in, planning, patience and diligence is what gets you there, and day trading is no exception to this.

Day trading definitely is risky business, and that is why many traders fear getting into it. There are chances you will lose a huge amount of money in a second, just as there are chances you will make big profits as well. As an indication of profits you have made in the day, a green circle appears on your card, and that's what one loves to see! If you've made losses, they are indicated on your card by the appearance of a red circle, and that means bad news. If you often see these red circles, you need a new plan of action quickly.

Here are some ideas for you if you often see those reds:

Get yourself a mentor

Its great having a guru, someone who has experience in the business of the day trading. It must be someone who knows the ups and downs of the trade . He should be ready to let you in on his secrets. In addition,he needs to be an enthusiastic guide as he puts you on track..

Look for the following factors when you are getting into the business of day trading:

1. Monetary Resources. This doesn't mean you must be an extremely rich individual. You simply need an adequate capital to see you through your initial struggle. In addition, you must also have other means of income. A back up is always good when you are venturing into new territory.

2. Experience. You need a guru who can pass on some of his experience on to you. But it is unwise to rely solely on the judgments on another. Start applying what you learn to make your own decisions.

3. Personality. You must be a go getter and be bold when you enter this competitive business. It is not for the shy and the lazy for sure.

4. Knowledge Gather all possible information and useful on the subject. Get some good books and journals on the trading business. In your time off, look on the internet to get updates on the market. From the information gathered, it is important to select what applies to the stocks you have in hand.

An overload of information is way better than having limited information. Ensure that the information that you receive is applied in your trading.

5. Willingness To Take Risks If you are over cautious it may well work against you. Take a chance here and there, but remember not to go past your personal limit. The best knowledge that one can get is through first hand experience, even if it is a trial and error method.

Try your hand at different strategies to pinpoint what suits you the most.

There is a solution to every problem. If you begin trading with an attitude of positivity and have been properly prepared then you can avoid noticed red circles on the chart.

Day Trading Stock Symbols - How To Decipher The Cryptic Day Trading Stock Symbols!

Ticking symbols refer to the letter system which are representative of the stocks. They are needed to monitor and find security info. It is useful if you are offering a quote because you might be asked to enter a symbol for the transaction. These numbers and letters contain vital security information

The tick symbol of a mutual fund is composed of five letters that end with an "X". A prime example is FMAGX which represents Fidelity Magellan fund and the VFINX represents Vanguard's Index Five Hundred fund. If this acts as the funds on the money market, three letters ending with an 'X' are used instead..

Stock symbols which are listed on the NYSE or AMEX exchanges consist of three bills of exchange, while the Nasdaq uses four letters. But 5 letters are made use of in the case of Nasdaq when the stock contains more than 1 issue of a common stock, where the fifth letter would have a defined meaning.

The 5th letterticker symbols and what they mean.

A for Class A, B for Class B, C for Class C except for the issuer of qualification, the new edition by D, E on deposits SEC is delinquent, F denotes foreign, the first of convertible bonds G, H second convertible bond , I third convertible bonds, J denotes voting, K denotes Nonvoting , various situations L.

M preferred shares of the fourth class, N the preferred shares of the third class, O on preferred shares of the second class, P denotes preferred shares of the first class, the bankruptcy proceedings Q, R designates rights, S shares of beneficial interest,T denotes rights or warrants, mutual fund X, Y denotes ADR also known as American Depository Receipt, with Z for various miscellany situations.

Some stock symbols seem funny to some of us. It can be confusing when you get these symbols from your exchange.

Some of these are - AFL.BO invest a football locker room, CHIC is a trends stock, and CRZY is a title which is very volatile, CTCO.NS your money is being sought by the city of thugs , GEEK do something to oppose CHIC Stock, DABU.NS Saturday night lives must be avoided or forgotten, BNCO.NS honest focuses on the management of a company by a person.

EMCO.NS more disadvantages on a identity is moving, FUN investing stocks is both fun and play, FUSEX explanation is not necessary, GASEX mutual fund which is fighting flatulent, GODD people investing directly on future sins, suggests careful HIT because a hit decisions could be held in inventory, HUMP forget pump and dumping of stocks regimes, ICSEX speech by saying that it is lot better to see people dead or make love in Alaska, investor or IMAN MAN with a skewed sex, INSEX fund a lot of movement.

LMNE short of a title, because it could go wrong, LUV expression of what's love got to do with it, NEB. As likes stocks, stocks MORE.BO make you sweat, MRB.SN company is need for a BS_er what is good, MRFIX adding portfolio of the fund during breaks, PNSEX mutual funds strange golden shower, RATL toy manufacturer baby SRRY apologies to the stocks invested, URI multiple personalities stock WMNXX money market funds favorite by playboys and WSob stocks are becoming hot like sushi.

A little research will tell you what these symbols really mean. . Be aware, at times these symbols may be modified and changed so do remain up to date.

8 Steps to Become a Master Day Trader

Success in any form of trading implies that you are betting your wits against every other person in the market. Every penny you make is on the back of someone else's losses. This is also true for day, future and forex trading.

Day trading is full time job and you want to make your living on day trading in stock or currency, you need to follow followings:

1. It is unrealistic to make profit from day one in stock or currency trading. You will make mistakes and you need to learn from your mistakes. Do not get depressed if you loose money during your initial period.

2. You need to be ready while market is trending. These are great opportunity to make big profits.

3. You need to work hard to limit your losses while day trading. This is more important than make big profits.

4. You should always set yourself a limit on how much you are prepared to lose on any particular trade, and set your stop loss at that level.

5. You should have 100% confidence on your chosen method of trading. Remember that success is nothing but strong desire.

6. It's your success so learn to hold yourself accountable if things don't go the way you want them to. You should be disciplined, determined, persistent, and most of all enjoy day trading in your chosen market like currency, stock or commodity.

7. You need to do intensive study and master all the tools like charting, Fibonacci sequence, and technical analysis to become a consistent trader.

8. Best day trading tips are to manage your fear and greed.

Let's discuss more on trading psychology

The fear of loss and the fear of missing out are two fears for all traders.

If you sell stocks out of fear probably, you will fail to capitalize and recover fully on the trade.

The fear of missing out forces people to abandon their rules so that they don't lose out on another major stock move.

The best suggestion to mitigate these risks is to have a defined entry and exit criteria as a part of your trading strategy.

Other side of fear is greed. Greed comes from overconfidence. Traders need to teach themselves on how not to loss focus from their trading rules.

Use Multiple Contracts to Reduce the Stress of the Exit

The other night (Australia time) I was trading wheat and found myself long 4 contracts in an erratic trading session.

Sadly, I had missed the first great breakout to the downside, and felt that the lows for the day had been made. Eventually I went long at about 944 with a target of 954.5.

Now the first thing to notice is that the very best thing I could have done is automated my exit and gone to bed! This is the strategy recommended in my eBook whereby I would have entered a stop loss order at about 942, a limit order at 954 and a market order to exit 30 seconds before the end of the session. The orders are linked in a One Cancels Other group so that only one of them ever executes.

However, on this evening I did not take my own advice, and settled down to watch the progress of the trade.

Pretty early on there was an exhilarating spike up to 951.75 followed by a distressing decline right back down to 944.5. Then we were off to the races again with a move up to 953, only to have our hopes dashed as price swooped back down to 946. Finally, after much sideways action there was another burst up to 955 before a calamitous nosedive into the close.

I do not know about you, but I hate to sit and watch a session like this!

I still say the best way to handle the situation is to automate your exits and walk away. What you do not see, you do not stress about. But if you must watch, there is something else you can do.

In this instance, I was long four contracts. When that first happy spike came, I sold a couple of them just over 950. Now, even if price declined and hit my stop for the other two contracts at 942, I am still in the black for the day.

Once I have done this, I quite enjoy watching the session. I know I cannot lose and there is a chance of quite a big win, which is what happened in this case.

Of course, I have given away some profit. If I had held on I could have sold all four contracts at 954 instead of dumping two of them cheaper. But that is a price I am happy to pay to reduce the stress of trading.

Anyway, trading is all about managing risk. The stop might have been hit today, and if I had taken no action I would have been down about a dozen points (two or three points per contract, allowing for slippage which is endemic in the wheat market). By taking the action I did, I ensured a profit of six to eight points, with the possibility of an overall profit of around thirty points.

So, without being too prescriptive, my advice to you is to trade a market where you can afford to enter positions with multiple contracts, then carefully consider what your exit strategy is going to be.

Keep in mind that you do not have to sell all your positions at once, a point that is often forgotten in the heat of battle.

For that matter, you do not have to buy all your positions at once either, but I will leave that discussion for another day.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Emini Systems - Which Emini Systems for 2008?

I started trading emini markets in 2002, in the second half of the year that coincided with the height of the post dotcom bubble recession. I focused on ES, the emini of the full futures contract of S&P 500. At that time, only NQ, the emini of the futures contract for NASDAQ 100, was liquid enough to be suitable for day trading, although certainly not as liquid as its somewhat older "cousin," ES.

Emini futures, or simply eminis, are smaller-sized contracts of "full-grown" futures contracts that have been around for decades. Unlike the latter that have been traded on physical exchanges, eminis have always been traded electronically, allowing retail traders with access to the Internet to compete against institutional traders from the comfort of their homes or home based offices.

2002 was a very volatile year in the markets. I did not realize how volatile it was until 2003 arrived bringing with it considerably narrower daily ranges. In mid 2003, the recession was definitely over and the stock market started lifting itself from the depths of the broad and in some sectors (the Internet stocks, in particular) devastating decline. The rise was steady if slow, with gloom and doom emotions giving in to growing optimism and positive economic outlook. The uncertainty was now clearly lower than just a year or even six months ago. Traders and investors became calmer. This had to lead to smaller price fluctuations and thus to smaller daily ranges.

It was in 2002 that I designed my first emini systems. They were trend following systems and they did quite well then for the markets were right for them. Wide ranges would give rise to big profits, on some, if rare, days as big as 40-50 points, which translates into $2000-3000 per contract. In 2003, ranges like that and thus the profits that came with them were already pretty much a thing of the past. The following 2 or even 3 years did not change much in this respect. Until 2007 when the markets became more volatile again.

In those years, 2003 through 2006, the right systems to use were counter-trend systems relying on the assumption that the markets are most likely to reverse to the mean and so any larger deviations from it should be countered by taking a position against such a deviation. For instance, had a market risen sharply on a given day, shorting it (i.e., selling a contract or more of its underlying futures) would have been a good idea.

Things have changed considerably in 2007, especially in its second half when volatility driven by growing uncertainties in financial markets increased significantly. This was caused largely by the slump in the housing market and, related to it, the crisis in the banking sector where rather dubious financial practices created nothing short of a financial catastrophe among sub-prime lenders responsible heavily for fueling the expansion of the housing market. The size of this bubble and its full ramifications are yet to be grasped. The uncertainty surrounding these issues has lead to increased fluctuations in the price of stocks and futures, including eminis, producing wider ranges than a year before, in some cases by as much as a factor of two or so.

This volatility is bound to stay with us for at least another few months and, what's even more, the housing crisis and the lending crisis may contribute to a recession in 2008 or 2009. This can mean only one thing for day traders: wider daily ranges in 2008, perhaps as wide as in 2002.

The answer to the question posed in the title of this article seems to be quite clear then. The emini systems that are more likely to produce profits in 2008 are the same systems that did well in 2002: trend following systems that bet on strong trends to continue rather than to reverse easily.

Day Trading Strategies - Second Entries

In trading you may have heard the term, "Second Entry," but you may not be quite familiar with its meaning. The term means that you have a second opportunity to take advantage of a particular trading setup, usually a chart pattern or other form of technical analysis pattern.

An example of a second entry would be if a stock was in a tight range for a reasonable time period and broke out of that range to the upside. If the fictional stock "ABCDE" was trading between $43.25 and $45.50 for the last 3 weeks and then a trade took place at $45.60, many day traders and "breakout traders" would start to buy the stock. The stock could run up to $46.00 or even higher, but after the buying frenzy subsided in this example the stock's price dropped BELOW the previous high of $45.50. Everyone who bought above $45.50 and held the stock is now holding a losing position, so many of those buyers would start selling to reduce the impact of their losses.

However the stock may reassert itself and begin its climb back up. If the stock's price dropped below the previous high of $45.50 for only a short period (a few bars on a chart, which could mean a few days on a daily chart or a few minutes on an intraday chart), "second entry" traders would purchase the stock when the price goes above $45.50. The psychology behind this strategy is that the short-term buyers and "weak hands" have higher odds of having been eliminated, so they feel that the "true" breakout can begin.

Many trend traders restrict their trades to those which failed the first time but quickly reasserted themselves to resume the direction of the initial move. As always, back-test any technical strategies, apply proper money & risk management procedures, and maintain proper trading psychology. Restricting your trades to second entries-only opportunities are applicable to swing traders, longer term traders, and day traders.

All standard risk, investing, trading, day trading, and financial services disclaimers apply to this article.

Stock Market Secrets - Beginners Guide to Online Day Trading - Beyond Stock Trading Tips

To many people want to discover what's the "big" secret to making money as a stock trader.

Beginner traders often fantasize or wonder about how some people are able to achieve tremendous profits by trading stocks just a few hours on a daily or weekly basis.

So going beyond the hype & the bells and whistles that a lot of the so called "trading gurus" like to invoke, the real "secrets" of the stock market game are enclosed within the trading set ups and market signals you rely on to decide how to CHOOSE stocks, as well as WHEN to BUY and when to sell them according to certain market scenarios.

So the clearer your set ups are, the faster you can spot a potentially profitable trading scenario and ACT ON IT reducing your risk.

Complicated technical systems and information overload can make you slow and confuse you right from the start, making you loose money instead of making your profits grow.

In essence, You can be sure that the trading method you employ to approach the stock market and pick stocks can make a big difference in your results as a trader.

In order to succeed you will need to FOCUS on a set of simple trading strategies that you can implement without hesitation.

Stock trading doesn't have to be complicated as many people perceive. But you do need to follow a well organized set of rules and tactics, that once you master them, you can aspire to replicate profitable trades with consistency.

Day Trading Stocks - Action Packed Tips

Traders love day trading stocks despite of the proven fact that almost 90% of investors lose in this job. For those who wish to be on the safe side and remain alert during all their investments, here are some tips that may help one to get out of the losing situation. These tried and tested tips will definitely be of great help for those who are contemplating on taking on the bulls and bears of the stock market.

This is actually an art form and obviously, everyone isn't aware of it. We are talking of selling short. Each trader always prays for the share to go up as most of the day traders buy the shares at lower prices and sell them at better prices. But selling short is a nice way to earn profit even when there is a downfall. All it needs is to reverse the process of buying and selling of stocks when a stock price goes down. On a short sell, a trader sells a stock when the price of the shares is higher even without any idea for how low it goes and buys them later when the share price actual falls.

This may sound amusing for the new stock traders though experienced stock traders' eyes. This technique is similar to selling the product that is borrowed and paid for later. The thing to be noticed is the interest of the stock cost because you are betting on the falling stock and if that gamble does not go your way, then it may turn to a loss.

It may be noted that short selling is a lot more risky than the normal trading. In a normal day trading, you buy the stocks and if it goes down you may lose all and that is moving from 100% to 0%. But, in case of short selling, first you invest in stocks and if it does not fall you may lose tremendous amount of profit resulting in loss more than 100%.

Hence, short selling is way too dangerous for inexperienced traders. For those who wish to play smart, another technique lies in investing in safer solid stocks. For those companies that are listed in Fortune 500 or those that are on tremendous growth, then

Swing Trading And Day Trading - Unknown And Overlooked Differences

I've been asked numerous times, what do Swing Traders do and how are they different than Day traders. First, I should start off by saying there isn't one best way to trade, but it seems almost everyone has an opinion about which way they feel is best.

In the past I would either day trade or swing traded exclusively, but now 90% of my trades are swing trades and the other 10% are day trades. My experience as taught me that combining the two styles offers me the opportunity to capitalize on different market opportunities other traders may pass up.

There basic differences between day trading and swing trading are:

o Holding Periods

o Risks

o Margin Advantages

Time in Trade

Swing Traders generally hold positions for days or weeks and the holding period is generally determined from the stocks trend as opposed to the market's hours for day trades.

Day traders generally start and end the day without any positions in the account. In doing so, the risk of holding overnight positions that open adversely to the trader is mitigated, which is true, but there are a few other risks many day traders don't think about.

Many people think day trading is less risky since they do not hold positions overnight. In my opinion, this is far from reality since most of the day trading proponents never talk about "commission risk".

Commission risk is the risk that the cost of commissions can significantly impact the traders account. I've been in this business quite some time and have seen individuals gross $250,000 per year trading and pay $300,000 in commissions producing a net loss of $50,000 for the year. So, if you are going to day trade, keep in mind the risk least talked about, COMMISSION RISK.

Opportunity risk is the risk that a better opportunity may present itself after a decision has been made. Traders need to realize if they are going to swing trade, which generally requires more capital than day trading they are more susceptible to opportunity cost. I can find quite a few swing trades per day, but since capital is limited I need to reduce my opportunity risk by screening all possible swing trades for the best opportunities.

Margin (What is Margin)

Day trading does give some traders an advantage, buying power. If an account qualifies to be a day trading account the broker dealer may offer the trader 4 to 1 intraday leverage instead of the industry norm of 2 to 1. Keep in mind, depending on the day traders experience and profitability this can help traders produce greater returns or losses.

Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.

Until Next time take care and happy trading.

5 Guidelines To Purchasing A Forex Course

Step 1: Figure out how much money you have to invest. This should be money that you can afford to lose. Most people cannot afford to lose any money. Make sure that losing money won't devastate you financially.

Step 2: Make sure the course costs less than 50% of the money you have to invest. The cost of the course will not be invested
directly in the market. You want to put most of the money you want to trade with into your trading account.

Step 3: Make sure that the course does not have any hidden cost. You do not want to have to pay for a signal subscription. You should also find out if the company that sells the course has any subscription type services. If they have these types of services, chances are that their system will eventually require that you use them.

Step 4: Make sure you can practice trading trading in a demo account and still get refund. There are courses out there that require
you to place trades with real money before you can get a refund. In this case, you would only need a refund if you lost all of your money!

Step 5: Make sure the information in the course teaches you how to trade independently. You need to be able to take the information you learn with you if you discover a better trading platform in the future.

You should follow the above 5 steps any time you look for an investment course. If the courses do not meet the guidelines listed above, you should move on to the next course.

Day Trading Stock Tip Lesson - What Is Your Edge?

In most businesses, many hours are spent defining their Unique Selling Propositions. This is the "edge" which make these businesses unique. In day trading, you will need an "edge" to help you define what it is that makes you money on a CONSISTENT basis. If you think long enough, chances are that you will have at least one good "differentiator" which you can use to define your trading edge! You may not know your edge, however, so spend some time with this day trading stock tip lesson and ponder these areas when determining what sets you apart from all of the other traders in the marketplace:

Start with your personality traits and what makes you better than someone else:

  • Are you faster on the keyboard than most other people?
  • Do you have a background in one of the riskier professions (pilot, firefighter, etc.) so that you are comfortable with risk?
  • Do you have more tenacity than other people you know?
  • Are you able to blend humility along with decisiveness better than most people you know?
  • Can you accept losses emotionally and still perform with precision?
  • Are you extremely analytical?

For the more "functional" ways to determine your edge, ask yourself:

  • Do you have new ways to use a specific technical indicator?
  • Do you have better technology (faster, more robust, etc.)?
  • Do you have specific trading education which most people do not have?
  • Do you have any background with previous traders such as having been on the trading floor or trading pits?
  • Do you have programming language experience to help you write programs to trade the markets?
  • Do you trade around and/or associate with consistently profitable traders?

Again, these are just some ideas to get you started. Once you have defined your edge, develop day trading strategies around those traits so that you play to your strengths. While the market offers no guarantees of success, a trading style based on your strengths will increase your reassurance and confidence when trading in the markets.

Stock Market Day Trading Charts And Your Day Trading Software

If you day trade stocks, you probably use some form of intraday stock charts on your day trading software for analysis. Even trading firms which specialize in tape reading may keep an eye on a chart of the overall index just for a quick reference!

While the market's mechanics are changing due to changes at the exchanges, greater reliance on algorithms by the institutions to execute trades, and other regulatory changes you still can use intraday stock charts to help you in your trading. There are several things you can do to have some foresight when it comes to your day trading:

  • Use a longer-term time frame on a chart to understand the "big picture." For example, if you trade using 10-minute charts, take a look at the daily and hourly charts. Even you classify yourself as a "scalper", taking trades with an expectation of making less than 1% of the stock's current price (meaning a profit target of less than $0.30 for a $30.00 stock), the larger time frame charts will help you filter out those which are nearing significant support or resistance.

  • Use charts showing the market internals. Intraday charts showing the TICK, TRIN, TIKI (Dow Jones TICK), TIKQ (Nasdaq TICK), Fair Value, and other market internals may be useful to your day trading styles. If nothing else, consider adding at least one or two market internals as parameters if you back-test any intraday trading strategies. For example, back-test the exact same strategy when the TRIN is less than a certain value; and then compare the back-testing results when the TRIN is above, or equal to, that certain value.

  • Some day trading software packages may even allow you to put technical indicators (such as moving averages or RSI) on your market internals charts. Test this capability of your day trading software to determine if and when it will have any relevance for you.

  • Do your end-of-day homework to determine which symbols have a likelihood of going up the next day and those which have a likelihood of going down the next day. While there are absolutely no guarantees in the market, using charts to help you determine POSSIBLE market direction can help you narrow your focus for the next trading session.

These three suggestions are just some of the many ways in which you may use your day trading software charting capabilities to help you possibly become a better trader.

Day Trading - Basics and Benefits of Day Trading

Why would you want to take up day trading? Maybe you're fed up with your boss, an intimidating character who cares little about anyone but her or himself? Or maybe you would just like to free up more time to spend with your Family and leisure activities and holidays.

I guess you wouldn't miss that trip to work either, getting stuck in traffic queues, paying more by the week, even the day, for fuel and car servicing costs. Your schedule is you own and you answer to no one.

When day trading, it is absolutely imperative to have a sound management strategy in place. Adopting a system that allows you to place a stop into your day trading positions is vital. A stop is simply a method by which you can integrate a fail safe into your trading position so that if and when the trade goes against you, and sometimes it will, you will not lose all your money.

Note, I say not ALL of you money. It is inevitable you will lose some money, it is part of the business as every professional trader knows. The idea is that your gains will far outweigh you losses.

Day trading requires good discipline. The two emotions that need to be addressed here are greed and fear. These two emotions, if allowed to control the mind of a trader will be a sure route to failure.

How do we quantify each, in terms of day trading? Should you not have a proper management strategy in place, you will likely not have stop loss protection. Just suppose you see your trade doing well, you become greedy and keep with it. This is in the likelihood your even watching it happen.

Then the trade starts to go in the opposite direction. Hopefully it is only temporary, hopefully it will happen slowly enough for you to cope with and to activate a stop loss manually. Unfortunately the markets are not like this and can rear their savage heads. So the reversal holds, you panic, but before you can activate your stop loss, the trade has beaten you moved faster than you can operate. You are gripped by fear. Need I say more.

For the day traders, both beginner and experienced, the easiest way to trade these days is, I think, with ones computer. There is a vast array of trading platforms enabling you to be up and running with an online account usually within minutes and similarly with data feed for which you can either trade technically with charts, or by following fundamentals i.e. analysis of company and sector performance, such as on the Bloomberg TV channel for instance.

I find it easier to focus on charting software and first learn, then adhere to a few simple indicators. There is plenty of choice and you will be able to find something that can cater for you specific day trading requirements.

As you can see, day trading is no longer the restricted domain of the professional floor trader. With consistent application, it is available for you and I to grasp. Take things gradually, steadily and methodically because correctly applied, there is a solid part or full time occupation ready for our taking, often so much more reward for so much less time spent in the average working week.

Online Trading - The Need For a 21st Century World

You would have wished to lead a happy life with all the investments in place and the family secured with children having their own families. Your retirement is also secured with the money that you have saved during your working career. But that can only happen when you know that what you save now will culminate into money in future.

So you need to act now and get your investments right. So what if an investor comes and tells you about the schemes and you like that and would like to go for it. Just when he is about to tell you the entire scheme and you are about to write a cheque in favor of the party he pops up a question do you have Internet at your place? You start wondering what kind of question is this and what is it to do with my investment. He then explains to you the benefit of online trading and how is it beneficial for me.

The executive explains that with the growing advancement of the internet people have started coming closer and closer again. He explains to you what online trading is all about. You can view the current rates of the stocks on a click of the mouse. In 1990's during the great Harshad Mehta period things were not so easy. People had to come to the market to trade. But today we have the option of online trading.

While sitting in the office and with internet access you can have the latest updates of the market and which shares are faring well and which are not, can be calculated. Kotak Securities also brings to you the Portfolio Management services that would cater to the needs. So all you need to do is just let us know what kind of investment budgets you are looking at and we have the resources who will manage all your funds to provide you with the best returns.

Online Trading an option will provide you with all the latest trading details and you can trade at your doorsteps without going to the market. All you have to do is register with us or Open an account with us and we will provide you with a Username and password. Login with that and get started to trade online with one of the biggest stock markets in the country, which soars to new heights everyday.

Day Trading And Market Internals

As an online stock trader, part of your responsibilities is understanding when to trade more actively and when to use more leverage. To have a long and rewarding carer as an equity trader you need to understand how to run your business on a daily basis. When my family owned a pizza parlor in NY it would have been great to be making pie after pie all day however that wasn't reality. You only made a pizza when there was a request, you made many of them when the store was busy.

When you are sitting at your screen you need to understand when it is busy. To define this even deeper, you want to know when institutions are involved. Since we are seeking to jump on their backs we want to know when they are involved. The tool we use to determine this larger involvement is the NYSE TICK. There is also one for NASDAQ, but we feel the info from the NYSE TICK is sufficient.

The TICK represents the number of upticking stocks versus downticking stocks at any one particular moment in time. Reading the absolute number all day is not necessary but there are specific readings to pay attention to in order to make an informed decision regarding your activity level, trade expectation and leverage.

If the TICK has readings of +500 or -500 but no more than that, there is very little institutional order flow or activity. When I see this, I slow down my activity level, lighten up on my leverage and DECREASE my expectation for each trade (meaning I expect to make less per trade).

When I get consistent pushes of +1,000 or higher or -1,000 or lower I know the big boys are around and I will increase my leverage, activity level and my leverage. I am expecting FOLLOW THROUGH now.

This simple but effective tool will be a great gauge for your trading. Monitor it for a few days, I am sure you will be very happy to add this to your arsenal.

Stock Market Trading - Day Trading For A Living

Stock market day trading is a great way of making money with a little bit of gambling. You have to have some strategy to follow when you involve yourself in stock market day trading. There are a lot of high-quality investments available that you could turn a small amount of money into a small fortune very quickly. However, to discover these you need to know what to look for and what to avoid. You need to understand supply and demand especially when it comes to what makes an investor like a particular stock and dislike another.

The day trader does not need a stockbroker. They are people who buy low and sell high all day long and can earn money very quickly. They will hold a stock anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours, but will always sell all stocks before the close of each day. The goal of any trader is to increase the value of the stocks that they own. One thing to remember is that there is a limit on the gains from a single share. This is why it's better to buy and change stocks freely and frequently.

The stock market has many ups and downs so it is very important to keep a record of all shares and the way they may turn during the day. Stocks are chosen based on a set of strategies or methodologies such as technical analysis, trend analysis, relative strength ranking, fractals and volumes, chart formations, and algorithms. A trader can also subscribe to a reliable newsletter(s), which provide expert advice on the most active stocks and indexes.

And, for those who have a very basic knowledge of investment strategy and terminology there are automated trading systems available on the Internet. Some trading systems are fairly complex and still require a fair amount of training to be used successfully. However one system has become a handy tool for many investors and that is the stock-trading robot called Marl. This robot will analyze stock trading patterns and look for patterns using mathematical algorithms that break down the trading record and determine at which points the stock peaked, and the points where it's value declined. As a result it will relay specific information to you on when to buy or sell. So, with this tool on your side, proper risk and money management, you can turn your money into a fortune.

Looking For The Best Stock Trading Software?

Stock trading software is definitely a new generation tool which has helped many stock traders to execute their option trading, day trading as well as short term stock trading positions. It is used by traders to perform transactions (both buying and selling) in the markets and instruments they are trading. It offers a reliable comparison of stocks and suggests the stocks to be bought or sold. It also provides a range of fundamental functions like real-time stock quotes. It is an indispensable requirement for short-term investors.

Utilizing software is a great tool when you're just settling in the industry and provides convenience, especially with the amount of numbers and information that need to be recorded and assessed. Stock trading software is usually MS Windows or Java based, and the best will run in a browser without any need to download large files. It will download all the information that you need and in no time you will find yourself with all the processed data that you require for making the right trading decisions. Since the software package doesn't have emotions, it will always tell you the truth. It is one of the easiest and the most convenient way to trade stocks even for the beginner trader.

The most important tip for choosing the best software package is that you feel comfortable with it. It is a tool every trader must have in their tool box because there is no better way to analyze the market than with online software. There are many companies that come and go. Just look for the best package that fits your needs and start using it today.

Make Consistent Money Everyday With Online Trading

Maybe you can identify with this: I got this fool notion one day, and decided to to Day Trade the markets. Regardless of the price, I wanted beat the best minds in the market. No matter the cost of success, it was going to happen.

And cost it did!

Whatever moves were made, it floundered. Seminars? Tried it! Reading book after book? Yep. Tried every indicator known to man? Been there and done that. At the end of every month, the trading account was either down, or at best, break even. It seems that everything failed to deliver on the promise - Consistent, Repeatable Trading Success . I wondered, "Can you make consistent money every day with online trading?" Another question was, "Is there an online trading company I can trust?"

Then came this site: Rockwell Trading . Finally, the edge was found ... the edge needed to win! More than that, the insider secrets were now available. The answer was "Yes, you can make money every day with online trading." Yes, there is an online trading company you can trust.

Let me tell you what that means...

Who is Rockwell Trading?

Rockwell Trading is a group of trading coaches. They specialize in turning failing or marginal Day Traders into success stories. Guided by a long-time, successful trader, Markus Heitkoetter, Rockwell brings each client onto the well-worn path to success. Their success ratio for new Day Traders is over 97.7%!

These are the "insiders" you can use to win.

Check out Rockwell's credentials - you can't be too careful in this business. Search the BBB for Rockwell Trading - no other Trading Education company can match their credentials. And, their transparency is second-to none.

Rockwell Trading is the real deal. They are the company for online trading success. You can make good, consistent money every day online trading.

What Do They Offer Day Traders?

Day Trading Success. Period.

Rockwell Trading delivers success different from anybody else in the industry. They offer a complete Day Trading System - based upon coaching accountability. It's revolutionary! They won't even accept a new coaching client until the trader has been qualified. And it works. You can check them out at the link below.

It costs you nothing. In fact, you get a FREE coaching session for the time you invest. Check out the link to see the Absolute, Very Best Guarantee in the Trading Education Industry, maybe anywhere. I still can't believe they offer it.

Get serious about trading to win. Check out the link for details on a FREE coaching session today!

What Are The Risks Of Day Trading?

If you are looking for a truly risky venture for your investment dollar then you may want to investigate the roller coaster ride that many know as day trading. While those that swear by it for making and breaking fortunes will swear there is a formula those that have been raked onto the rocky shores of this particular trading business will be the first to tell you that their luck ran out. Whether it's luck or science, day trading for many has proven to be risky business at best.

The Risks

In order to be successful in day trading you must be absolutely prepared to lose. You do not have time to think about failure, as it is likely at any moment. This is a lightening quick business and sometimes the market moves much more quickly than your fingers. This can result in unexpected losses as well as unexpected gains along the way. These bumps in the road are nothing compared to the highs and lows of actually being a day trader though. Forget the finances for a moment and consider the risks of heart attacks, heart palpitations, and strokes brought on the by excitement and heartburn (not that this can bring about a stroke but it sounded good) of the moment.

Day trading is very taxing. You must constantly watch your computer throughout the day for signs of life from your stock and act immediately. This is a high stress job that many simply cannot handle long term. Unfortunately day trading must become your day job because you have little time or energy to invest in anything else. There are those that get a huge charge from day trading but this is not a job for the average citizen it takes a huge toll on their health much too quickly-especially those that are sensitive to stress as it is.

Online Trading Software - Suggestions To Improve Your Results From Insiders Part 2 - New Development

If you have been around day trading for some time you know that many people always want new functionality on their software platforms. You may hear about the supposedly "latest and greatest" features on another software platform, and you want them thinking that they will give you the profitability you seek. And in some cases you may be right!

Remember, however, that new development is always a significant cost to the software firm. Like any other business, they need to understand that there is a good likelihood of a return on their investments and not just the perceived threat of losing a few customers. While threatening to walk away from the software platform, and maybe even the online broker who offers the platform, is the easy thing to do, remember that there are other costs involved with moving your account. You will have to spend time learning a new software package, lose trading days due to wiring the funds, get your paperwork signed and approved, etc.

Instead, try thinking like the software firm. If your friends (especially a consistently profitable trading friend) is using a piece of software which offers a piece of functionality which you don't have, such as the ability to create your own chart indicators or ability to get more data for the symbols, then follow these steps to have the best odds that your new development request will be given proper attention:

1) Find a third-party, objective piece of information citing that the new development is NOT just a request only for you. If you can find an article in a trading magazine, a well-respected online trading forum, or even an example from a trading book considered to be "one of the classics" then you will show the firm that your request is reasonable. Preferably, find multiple instances of respected, third-party sources backing up the need for your request. This shows the software firm that there is a greater likelihood that many people will need this new development, either to acquire new customers or prevent falling behind their industry competitors.

2) If their industry competitors have this particular piece of functionality, send the online trading software firm documentation showing that this is the case. When day trading software firms know that their rivals have a piece of functionality which they do not have AND the functionality is backed up by third-party, respected sources chances are that your software firm will take faster action.

3) Write a quick "spec" (short for "specification") which discusses what the request is and how it might appear on the software. While the actual spec will be written by the software firm's representatives and then sent to the programmers, helping the representative will go a long way toward having your request put near the top of the list.

To recap, if you want new development for your software find independent sources to back up your claim, show them how it can be used to attract new customers or at least prevent falling behind their competitors, and write a quick, basic spec with possible screenshot examples of what the new development is supposed to look like. While doing this is no guarantee that the online trading software firm will honor your request, it will impress them enough to take your future requests much more seriously.

Future Option Trading - CBOT Future - Can You Make Consistent Profits?

Can you make money consistently in future option trading? Is the CBOT Future really a place that you can profit day in and day out? Those are good questions and the answer is a resounding "Yes!" Yes, you can make consistently good profits in future option trading. Yes, the CBOT future is a place where you can make money day in and day out. You came here to find out what the biggest mistake traders make in future option trading. Here it is:

A lack of discipline is the absolute biggest reason why traders fail in future option trading. As a result of a lack of discipline, emotions get in the way and the result is disaster. What is needed is a trading system when it comes to CBOT future. Trading with a system does away with emotions from future option trading. If you don't have a strategy and you try to make decisions when the market is moving, you are bound to become emotionally attached to positions. Usually what follows is panic and indecision when the market does go your way, as you do not have a prepared response. That's when most CBOT future traders lose their money. If you follow a system you will know what to do no matter what the market does.

Th big question is: How do you learn to exercise discipline with future option trading? That is not an easy question to answer but can say that the cheapest and most direct route to consistent profits in CBOT future trading is accomplished by trading under someone. I am talking about getting a mentor or coach. If you know someone that has been successful in future option trading then I would advise getting under their wing and learning all that you can. If you do not have a coach currently you may want to click on the link below. They are offering a FREE coaching session with a professional team of CBOT future traders.

Quick Tips To Get The Most Out Of Day Trading Books Which Offer Day Trading Techniques

When successful veteran day traders get together, they sometimes spend a good portion of their conversations about day trading books and discussing day trading technique. While they may tease each other slightly about a particular stock pick or getting out of trade too soon, these traders mostly give each other advice in order to improve. One particularly useful piece of advice is how to get the most out of your day trading books.

You may be overwhelmed with the various choices in day trading services: hundreds of books and e-books, hundreds of stock picking services, cable news shows, daily market news coverage, seminars, articles, and lots of day trading software. A good place to start is to reread those trading books on your shelf, especially those which are highly regarded by fellow traders.

Here are a few tips to get useful information out of your trading books:

1) Take any technical analysis strategy with a grain of salt. No matter what the author's promises are, always test out the strategy recommendation by back-testing, paper trading (demo trading), and, finally, live trading with a small number of shares or contracts. A good investor would never take a randomly-given stock tip blindly; he would run the suggestion through his filters. The same applies for your day trading!

2) Understand the psychology of what is needed to be successful for your favorite trading time frame and methodology. Just as day trading requires a different mentality than long-term trading, different day trading methods require different mentalities. For example, the old tape-reading, "scalping" style strategies require a different mentality than pure intraday technical strategies on a 15-minute chart. Go back through your books and find those portions of the books that address your preferred day trading style and time frame.

3) Determine if the author actually has traded in recent months. Some authors give dated advice, and this is particularly true for day trading. The industry has been altered so dramatically by the new rules affecting orders, especially on the NYSE. Algorithms, greater attention to the Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP), and other trading execution changes may have rendered certain day trading techniques obsolete. So make sure that the information you include in your trading reflects the most currently available information, or at least information that most successful day traders would consider to be "timeless!"

Obviously, day trading requires knowledge and skill on several levels. Consider adding these three tips to get the most out of your trading books, and hopefully they will help narrow your focus to the information which will help you become more profitable.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Easy Strategies to Make Big Money If You Buy Stocks On Line (Don't Buy Stock On Line Without These)

You must come equipped to the Street or you will bet buried: It is that simple. If you buy stocks on line and do so with out a strategy you will more than likely lose your money fast. With the strategies I mention below you should be able to confidently buy stock on line and receive great returns on your investment. The following strategies have been used to buy stocks on line and have been very profitable. Here we go:

Buy or sell a stock after 10:00am

If you buy a stock that is making its high or short a stock that is making its low at 10:00 you will more than likely become a successful trader over the long run. Some say 10:00 and others claim 10:30 is the time at which the market settles down from the covering of short positions, euphoria and other emotionalism. I personally have seen the 10:00 time period, especially as it relates to commodity driven stocks, give the clearest indication. If you want to play it safe, at the risk of losing substantial gains, go with the 10:30 time period. This strategy is a day trade but can be extended to several days with the proper stops in place. As always, I recommend you paper trade before you buy stock on line. This will help you to build confidence before you buy stocks on line.

Playing the news

One of the mistakes that many newbies fall into is to buy into a breaking news story they hear about on CNBC. They get caught up in the hype like so many others. The problem with this approach and the reason why it so often backfires is because CNBC was not the first to know about this. The large institutions have already played into it or the news was already priced into it. There is an old saying on the street, "Buy the rumor and sell the news." The approach to take with playing the "hot stories" is to take into account the golden rule, "if the stock is supposed to go higher and it doesn't then it is going lower. If the stock is supposed to go lower on the news but doesn't then it is going higher." As you watch this happen and get more comfortable you will find many opportunities for short term gain. This may be one of the most compelling reasons for watching "The Faber Report" on CNBC. Practice, practice, practice. Remember to paper trade before you buy stocks on line.

Christmas And The Ghost Of Forex Past

With Christmas fast approaching and another New Year almost upon us, it hardly seems possible that 2007 is already reaching a close.

Around this time every year the TV will undoubtedly be showing one of the many versions of "A Christmas Carol" originally written by Charles Dickens in which Scrooge is visited three ghosts - The Ghost of Christmas Past, The Ghost of Christmas Present and The Ghost of Christmas Future.

Many versions of this popular Christmas Classic have been filmed over the years, and even Bill Murray has starred in one of the more humorous versions. My personal favourite is the 1951 version starring Alistair Sim.

In the story, Scrooge - a very mean, money hungry and unkindly man - is shown the error of his ways by the three ghosts. The first ghost shows him where he went wrong in the past. The second, how he is now viewed by his peers and the final ghost shows him what the future holds if he does not change his ways.

So how does your forex trading stack up to the scrutiny of the three forex ghosts this Christmas?

How did you fare in the past year? Was your trading up to the standard that you would wish it to be? Or did your trading leave much to be desired?

Did you exercise caution and patience measured with self discipline? Did you plan the trade and then trade the plan or were you so money hungry that you simply threw caution to the wind and traded every rumour and tip that you heard?

When examined by the ghost of forex present, how did you do? Was 2007 a profitable year or could it have been better? Did you have a plan or trading system and stick to it? Are you able to acknowledge that you are where you are right now as a direct result of your own decisions - good or bad?

As can bee seen from "A Christmas Carol", it is never too late to change your ways!

If your trading has been less profitable and less pleasurable than it might have been, take a leaf out of Scrooges book and mend your ways.

Never trade without a plan or system. Always have the discipline to stick to that plan or system. Understand that trading is about winning and losing and accept both with good grace, but make sure that your plan or system consistently gives you more wins than losses.

Remember that trading takes time and patience. Many traders fail not because they do not have the ability, but because they wrongly believe that they need to be in a live trade for most of the time that they are trading. In truth, successful traders spend more time watching and waiting than actually being in a live trade.

Be generous. If you have made money this year - give some to a worthy cause.

Before we know it, Christmas 2008 will be knocking on the door. Make sure that if the forex ghosts visit you next Christmas, you will have had a year to be joyous about.

And on that note, I would like to wish you a Very Merry Christmas and a Most Prosperous New Year.

Improve Day Trade Performance by Sorting Winners and Losers

Every daytrader is looking to improve performance. Some are discretionary traders while others use a systematic approach. Both can use some analysis to improve their trading results.

Optimizing trade performance starts with analyzing past trade data.It is very important to track every trade and its characteristics. After building a database the analysis can begin. The first step is to sort the trades. An important first sort is by winning and losing trades. Winners and losers share characteristics and careful analysis will unlock better overall system performance.

Two prominent characteristics of winning trades are time and price. One of the most important goals after a trade has been executed is defining it's likely outcome. Sorting previous trades can help accomplish this goal. Isolate all the winning trades and sort by length of time in the trade until closeout. Find the average time in the trade. Compare that number to the same calculation with the losing trades. The winners have a longer average time than the losers. Losers will tend to be quick.

It seems like this piece of information is minor. But, it can be a powerful tool to the daytrader. If you delve deeper into the data in excel you can isolate a time frame that defines when only winners survive. Create a histogram that gives the winning probability by elapsed time in the trade.

Using this piece of information can improve your performance in a couple of ways. Consider different trade entry rules that don't commit your entire capital on the initial signal. Use simple time checkins to add size to your trade to reach your optimal trade size. It can be a simple as buying every five minutes as long as the trade is alive. By staggering the entry, the quick losing trades will automatically have lower size than your long winning trades. The average winner will improve as the average loser will decrease. This lowers the overall drawdown potential . It will also raise your expected return.

An old trading maxim is to cut winners short and let winners run. Knowing your time performance data helps accomplish this goal. If you track the PL of your trades on every bar, it leads to another discovery. Graph the results and look at the chart. The winning trades not only last longer but have an upward slope. The losers will have a downward slope. Employing a trailing stop will cut the losers off but allow the winners to run by having a trailing stop below the winning slope.

Analyzing past trades is the key to improving results.

On Balance Volume

The On Balance Volume (OBV) indicator was developed by Joe Granville, and detailed in his 1963 classic, Granville's New Key to Stock Market Profits. The OBV is a momentum indicator, which attempts to display the relationship between volume and price change. The OBV is calculated by adding the day's volume to a running cumulative total when the security's price closes up, and subtracts the volume when it closes down. The On Balance Volume indicator is believed to be able to display if the "smart money" is involved in a price move. Unlike other technical indicators that have oversold and overbought conditions, the OBV is truly a subjective indicator. You as the trader have to be able to look at the price chart and determine if the OBV is confirming or contradicting the price move.

Using On Balance Volume to confirm a breakout

If you are in a stock and it is trending in a direction, you will want to see the OBV trending in the same manner. This confirmation between the price move and volume, implies that there is strength in the move. You will always need to make sure you receive confirmation with an OBV breakout, because if the volume does not follow the move, you can be caught in trap. Traps often produce sharp quick counter moves, at key price pivots. Remember, the higher the volume, the greater the odds that the move has legs. Over time you will see that your win percentage will increase as you use the OBV to follow the smart money.

See you at the top,

Support and Resistance Technical Analysis and Day Trading

Let's start with a definition of support and resistance. Support is an area of accumulation where the price of the stock is cheap enough so that people buy more (accumulate more) of the stock. Resistance is an area of distribution where the stock is at a price that traders deem to be too expensive or when they want to protect the profits they have earned, so they are encouraged to distribute or sell their holdings.

Traders who are able to successfully determine areas of support and resistance have the ability to potentially profit from market movements. Fear and greed are the two major driving forces for market movement. Those who are day trading online know that while there may be many reasons for purchasing and holding a stock, the overall market movement is based on human instinct. With that in mind, styles of trading such as day trading, swing trading and momentum trading all utilize support and resistance analysis for potential market gain. Here are some day trading tips to help you identify areas of support and resistance.

1) Identify a strong area for support or resistance.

Traders who are day trading stocks should look for the number of times that a support or resistance line has been tested. For example, if a stock has been at $40 eight times in the past six weeks and has also been at $45 three times during the same time frame, the stronger line is at the $40 price.

2) Identify horizontal and diagonal lines of support and resistance.

Traders may easily see horizontal lines of support and resistance, but they should also know that identifying a diagonal trend helps to forecast upward or downward movements of the stock. For example, the price might fluctuate daily, but if over an eight week period the price moves from $40 to $41 to $43 to $44 to $45 and so forth, traders are able to see a very apparent upward trend in stock price.

3) Identify when a support or resistance line has been broken.

If the stock prices falls below or climbs above the support or resistance line, the trend of the stock has changed. The stock might become bear, bull or neutral and day traders may need to rely on other indicators that are part of their day trading strategy to determine what action to take concerning the stock. A quick tip to help you identify if a trend change has occurred is by looking at the amount of the price difference between the support or resistance price and closing price. If the closing has at least a three to five percent difference from the support or resistance price, then most likely the line has been broken.

Support and resistance are important aspects of many day trading strategies. As you get more familiar with identifying these lines, you will strengthen your trading system and have greater potential to capitalize on market movement profits.

Day Trading Systems Why You Are Guaranteed To Lose

Day trading systems are popular and you see lots of track records of huge profits the problem is none of them have a real track record - there all simulated in hindsight and NEVER traded for real. The reason for this is day trading is based on logic that simply doesn't work.

The problem with day trading is the reliability of the data.

The time span is simply to short and to think that you can predict what millions of traders will do in a few hours or a day is ridiculous.

All these traders are motivated by different goals and the majority are ruled by greed and fear - trying to measure that in a short time span is impossible

Volatility can and does take prices anywhere in a day making support and resistance meaningless and you can never get the odds on your side - Period

Of course if you can't get the odds on your side you are going to lose longer term - it really is that simple.

The fact is every day trading track record you see has a disclaimer similar to the one below which is a standard CFTC one - read it carefully.

"CFTC RULE 4.41 - Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown".

So we have a track record that really doesn't mean anything at all.

Anyone can do a track record in hindsight knowing the closing prices but the problem with forex trading in the real world is - you have to trade without this key knowledge!

You may ask yourself the obvious question which is - if the system is so good why is the vendor selling it? Or - why don't they show me a track record audited of the trades that they have done.

Well now you know the answer.

Vendors don't normally trade the systems ( and most of them are not traders but simply marketing organizations) because they know day trading doesn't work - but they know hyped copy will sell the system. They simply appeal to the naïve and greedy investor looking for an easy quick buck and he gets a hard lesson from the markets for his trouble.

If you want to trade then you need to have the odds on your side.

This means trading longer term valid data.

You can forex swing trade looking for trades of a few days to around a week - or follow the long term trends, looking for trades that last weeks or months.

The choice is yours on which time frame you choose but you will have the odds on your side which you don't have in forex day trading and will have a chance of enjoying forex trading success.

Day Trading Like A Pro

Volatility Is The Key To Day Trading

Successful day trading requires the ability to spot trends and patterns quickly, and act on them. It's tough to know which stocks to watch, but once you have learned the skill, you will be ahead of the game. You should maintain a watch list!. These are a cross section of stocks that you keep an eye on. Many stocks have recognizable patterns, and with a little experience at watching the same group of stocks , many traders can make educated guesses about whether the stock is about to move up or down. Most day traders, at least the successful ones, make trades from their watch list. There are several criteria for choosing stocks for your watch list!

Probably the most important is liquidity. I always look for stocks that trade at least 250K shares daily. If the stock isn't trading well, you may have trouble selling when you need to get out. If you can't sell the stock, you're obviously not going to make any money. I would rather trade stocks that are moving over 1M shares a day, but certainly never less that 250K. If the stock is too thinly traded, the market makers can manipulate the price too easily.

You will also want to look at volatility. Volatility is the rate at which the price of a security moves up or down. A $20 dollar stock that moves up or down by $5 in a day would be considered highly volatile. Large price swings are where knowledgeable day traders make money, and others lose money. In my opinion this is one of the most important criteria. Good stocks , at least from a day trading perspective, are volatile. Day traders make money when the price moves dramatically over a day, or a few days. Avoid high dividend stocks . We are not in this for the long term, so the dividend is irrelevant, and these stocks tend to have high prices and low volatility. There is certainly nothing wrong with dividend paying stocks , but they should be part of a long term investment strategy, not a trading medium.

Big board stocks can have high volatility and large price swings. But measured by percentage, nothing has the volatility (and risk) of pinksheet stocks or "penny stocks ". These low priced stocks trade for under a dollar, and at times can have huge volume. Some stocks make moves of as much as 100%-200% or more IN A DAY. There is obviously a tremendous amount of risk here. But you can start out with only a few hundred dollars. As long as you pick well, you can actually make money. I know people who make their entire living from trading (mostly) penny stock.

Put together a list of 30 - 50 stocks , get to know everything about them. What market factors affect their movement. What news items cause them to move up or down. This is your stock farm, cultivate it. Once you know what moves your stocks , you will be able to trade like a pro.

Trading Psychology - Fear and Greed

No matter what system and tools are available to those who are day trading online, true success in trading still relies on the psychological strength of the individual trader. Day trading is a system based on rules, but as charts are analyzed and prices fluctuate, traders may find that they have a difficult time sticking to those rules when fear or greed become involved in the analysis. Successful traders are able to buy despite feelings of fear and sell despite feelings of wanting to prolong the holding of a stock.

A confident trader will still take the time to test and re-test a stock. At first glance a stock might look like it's in top shape and performing as expected, but a successful trader will not solely rely on first glance appearances. Those who day trade stocks know that in an instant the market can change and it's important to stay abreast of company information as well as market news and conditions. A successful trader will stick to the rules set up in day trading systems to ensure that his or her reactions remain unbiased throughout the trade.

Effective day trading strategies focus on providing consistent and disciplined actions. Successful traders have a consistent approach to the market and trading. They will take the time to systematically build up their own trading system that takes into account their own personal elements of risk control and they will take the time to stick to their original trading plan. It's not that traders shouldn't make changes based on market information, but that the changes made should be based on established trading rules that help traders determine what their entry and exit points on a trade should be.

Some of the best day trading tips that a trader can get help them deal with fear and greed. Many traders find that they may be able to memorize the rules and familiarize themselves with knowing how to accurately interpret stock charts, but they also need to learn how to prepare themselves to deal with fear and greed.

Fear in trading primarily takes on two basic forms - the fear of loss and the fear of missing out. The fear of loss leads to selling stocks prematurely and as a result, they aren't able to capitalize and recover fully on the trade. When they start to enter into trades, the trade isn't given enough time to mature and the trader sells so that more isn't risked.

The fear of missing out is another form of fear that compels people to abandon their rules so that they don't lose out on another major stock move. These fears need to be dealt with because they will impact a trader's entry and exit decisions.

Greed is the motivation for over-confidence. Dreams of "making it big" in trading can cloud a trader's perspective. Again, they abandon the rules of their trading system in the hopes that more money will come their way. Traders need to learn how to deal with greed so they can maintain their focus and not have their thoughts be swept away with illusions.

Saving Money In Your Portfolio And Trading Account Using Equity Curves

For those who rely on day trading or swing trading to provide an ongoing income stream into their account portfolio, much time is spent learning all the aspects of trading their own systems effectively. Priority is spent of developing techniques surrounding how to improving their win rate which is certainly time well spent, however there is another side of the equation that a minority of investors and traders should devote time to understanding. That is effective money management. How to develop a plan that can deal with the inevitable times when losing streaks occur can make the difference between staying in the game and blowing out your trading account.

Anyone that has traded futures, options, stocks, forex and commodities in a short term time frame can tell you from experience that losses are guaranteed part of trading. There is no way around it. Even if you are trading a system, or a plan, that has a 60% win rate, you can still expect that 4 out of 10 of your trades are simply not going to work. These are probabilities that we must acknowledge. And what if these 4 losing trades occur in a row? What if 8 of these losing trades occur in a row? This can deliver a sizable blow to your portfolio even though the long term probabilities of your trading plan demonstrate a 60% win rate. Even if your entrances to your trades are perfectly executed according to your trading plan, the follow through due to market mechanics may not provide the desired result due to no fault of your own. However, nobody executes their trading plan 100% flawlessly because as humans we are prone to make mistakes, enter trades late, enter too early because of emotions, etc. So factoring these in to the equation, this brings our win rate down even still.

So how can we, as traders, help to stack the odds in our favor even more that our accounts will be protected when losing streaks occur? One of the best techniques in place for mitigating losses affecting your equity is called Equity Curve Trading. Equity curve trading is a system that simply plots your ever-changing account equity against its own moving average, and then trading decisions are based upon the interaction of your equity line with the moving average.

How can this help? Professional system traders have used this concept for a long time, and many auto-trading computers utilize this simple technique to recognize when the trading program has experienced too many losses. With equity curve trading, once a threshold of losses is recognized, all live trading (trading with real money) is ceased and all future trades are taken in a simulation mode. Results of the simulated trades are still recorded in the equity curve as if they were live trades, but no real money is being risked until the equity curve shows that you are back on a winning cycle of follow through.

Let's explore a simple example of how this would work. I won't get into the details of explaining what a moving average is because I assume if you are reading this you already have an understanding of that. To begin with, we start by logging the profit and loss amounts of each of our closed trades in relation to our account's total equity. If our account is worth $20,000 and our next trade is a $200 winner, then we plot a point at $20,200 on a graph and connect the two points with a line. Our next trade may be a $100 loser so we plot a point at $20,100 and draw a line connecting the last two points. This begins to develop jagged line representing our changing account equity.

Next we plot a moving average of the points on our equity curve. It can be a simple moving average, or an exponential moving average or even some other, more complicated version, but for simplicity we'll speak in terms of a "simple" moving average. If we use a 10-period SMA, we wait until we have at least 10 points on our equity curve and then plot a point which is the average of them all. As our equity curve changes while we trade, we continue to update the SMA with each trade we take and this will begin to form another line moving along with our equity.

Observing where our equity line is in relation to its moving average, we can make some trading decisions about how to deal with upcoming trades. For example, if our equity curve has dropped below the moving average, we would consider taking the next trade in a simulated mode. Many trading platforms offer the ability to switch between trading money from your live account, to simply paper trading in a simulated mode. We record the results of that simulated trade as if it were live and then recalculate our equity's moving average. If the equity curve is still below its moving average, we continue to trade in simulation mode until the equity curve crosses back over the SMA and heads north.

There are many, much more complicated techniques that can be employed using this method, such as scaling the size of your positions in relation to your equity curve's SMA. But in its simplest form, this technique has the uncanny ability to stop you from trading live as you enter losing streaks and then recognize when the winning streaks happening. Will you miss a few winning trades using this technique? Certainly, but the pros far, far outweigh the cons here because equity curve trading will keep you out of many, many more losing trades than winning ones. Employ this technique in your trading and you will be pleasantly surprised to look back and review the money you saved by staying out of losing streaks.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Trading Education - Guidance on Trading Education

I would strongly advise anyone who is considering trading stocks, shares or related similar, part or full time, to invest in some good trading education. But before you part with your hard earned money, please do yourself a big favour and see if there is a product review you can read first.

By far, the worst thing I've done is to pay upwards of $800 each, to attend a few trading seminars. I've had to write it this expenditure as investing far too heavily for my trading education. In contrast, the best thing I've done is to invest less than $800 in online trading materials.

I think trading educational seminars, unless they are free of course, are not worth one's time and effort. Most of them end up being a pitch for the presenter to market his or her software and as a consequence, they will tell you enough information as to render you only partially equipped. So what does $800 pay for? Well I figure overheads like hiring a hotel room are not cheap and that is before their presentation materials and administrative staff.

After a lot of painstaking research I have managed to finally find information I need and have stumbled upon a few excellent trading educational nuggets in the form of downloadable digital PDF style ebooks, something that would suit everyone. If only I'd found these sooner, I would have saved a huge sum of money and a lot of time.

The other nice thing about downloads is that you will always have one hundred percent of what you paid for in front of you. If you go to a seminar, you will go home with some fancy promo material and a few tasters, but you may otherwise only have what notes you took which unless you can write in short could just serve only to confuse you a week later. I speak from experience.

If you decide to go the online trading route, which I think is the easiest, most of the online trading platforms you will come across will offer trading education free and if not free, at a very reasonable cost. With both the downloadable material and trading platforms, you will likely get a help facility by email, and occasionally by telephone too.

Whichever you choose, you need to be careful of padding too. Seminars are usually good at this but happily it is not something I've found too much of with downloads.

Is Penny Stock Investing Worth it?

Merchandising in stocks is a very prevalent manner of investing and
has been around since the 12th century. You may
have heard investing in penny stocks is full of risk, notwithstanding
Investing in any company in general is precarious
business, even so if you are going to be trading in the penny
market you have to make yourself prehensile
about every company to steer clear of the imposition, rip offs, pump and
dumps, and other schemes to alienate you from your
agonizing earned chips. Without a bare understanding of the stocks
you will be investing in you will make
boundless mistakes out of confoundment and absence of direction.
By designation any stock trading under $5.00 is
envisioned a penny stock are in many instances labeled as immensely
precarious securities.

Most penny stocks are accustomedly traded on either the
'OTCBB' exchange (over the counter bulletin confiture) or on
what is called the 'Pink Sheets'. OTC markets can be part
of the NASDAQ which is the National Association
of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation. OTCBB stocks
combine national, regional, and foreign equity
issues, warrants, units, American Depository Receipts and
Direct Participation Programs. OTC quotation
services (OTCBB, Pink Sheets) assist quotation of
unlisted securities. OTCBB issuers that become
disregardful in their necessary regulatory filings will have
their securities withdrawn from the OTC Bulletin
Accelerated. There are generally inexhaustible potency for the
growth of ample sufficiency and this is inordinately mesmerizing
to OTC BB investors.

While there is an abstractionism to investing in penny stock companies
I have found that it is more favorable to
invest in companies that are still awaiting their future
than companies which have already matured what
the future holds for them and are now in decline. Accordingly my
advantage in penny stock investing! howbeit, When
it comes to investing in penny stocks, there is no doubt
that there is a huge insubstantially. Albeit, with a familiarization
of solid information, you are ordained to make the greatest
preferences available when it comes to penny stock
investing affluence.

When investing in penny stocks you have the possibility to
dramatically increase your profits, in any case, you
can just as impartially loose your assets quickly. The bottom
line is, though, if you are in the business of
penny stock investing, you ought to know who has your back.
There are multitudinal things to contemplate when it
comes to penny stock investing or any kind of investing for
that matter. First and foremost, is the cost
related such as broker fees or commissions. Because of the
phase penny stock, you may think that the cost
of investing is miniature even so nothing can can be further from
the truth. Some brokers indeed charge you
more and ask for a big capacity in your account before
you're accorded to invest in penny stocks. This cost
ought to be taken into consideration when it comes to your
investing gambit as well as what your long term
goals are.

You can mitigate most of the cost associated in penny stock
investing by self-managing your own account.
Nonetheless, If you are new to the world of investing and acquire
the systematics, expenses, fees, and writ the
least bit confusing it is nobility to utilize the services of a
stock broker that is going to engagement with you
every step of the way and enlighten the way things labor at
least for the first multitudinal trades you make.
One of the centermost aspects to investing wisely with penny
stocks is to know which kinds of penny stocks are the
right ones for you as well as which sort of a broker is
excellent fitted for penny stock investing.

As a consequence, I will deal in generalities down a few of the centermost things to
bring to mind and exploit with when it comes to
finding or selecting the absolute broker for penny stock
investing.

What you will appreciate is that majority of brokers are
principal broker dealers in this become public of penny
stock investing. Nonetheless, one of the essential things you
requisite to begin with is investing in the acceptable
broker. Some brokers have unpractical restrictions about
penny stock investing which makes it very
extravagant to invest in penny stocks. So be sure to locate out
what their terms are as far as penny stock
investing before you employ their service.

You can also assume that there are things constituting steps
that you can convey to guard that the penny stocks
that you are investing in are the safest types of penny
stocks procurable. With penny stock
investing, you can observably see why it is significant to have
someone that you can trust to bolster you with
funding your transactions. As a consequence, it can be tricky for
the everyday person to verify if the penny
stock they are adjudging investing in is a ample idea or
not. Because of the high gambles associated with
investing in the stock market, bounteous investors are looking
for a way of investing their hard cash in a lower
riskiness that still rewards you with pretty ample returns over
time.

There is a culture pattern to the business that consists of assorted little
steps that, when followed customarily, can lead to
flourishing investing. It is my true fixed opinion that those
with less than one year's behold investing in
individual stocks ought to not even think about investing in
penny stocks, principally if you haven't found
your rhythm with the mid- and large-cap universe albeit.
Third, I never, ever waste my time looking at those
penny stock companies that are hyped in the multitudinal junk
emails I get from websites and promoters that are
dedicated to penny stock investing. With penny stocks do
not think for a minute that the game has changed.
Often these promoters have clearly nothing at stake in
the penny stock company they are promoting.
Most assuredly, they are paid by the penny stock companies to recommend
and circularize them.

Apply vigilance when investing in Penny Stocks. Sometimes it's
discerning not to be the early bird when stock
investing, instead wait and see what the day will bring
before you take exertion. Study the financials of a
penny stock company. Much penny stock companies will have a
negative balance albeit it's the flow of boodle
and how they put to use their finances that matters the much. The
great investing opportunities are finding companies
that manage to reinvent themselves with huge leaders and
auxiliary products. Apply a devoted absolute interest in the
effectiveness of the penny stock company you're interested in
and obtain out about their track record as this
will help stipulate what they can achieve/accomplish with
the company. Additionally, you ought to only invest
do-re-mi that you are expectant to lose.

Much penny stocks are high-gamble investments with decline
dealing volumes and finite attention from investors.
Nevertheless some penny stocks are of higher liability than
others. Pink Sheets are the majority chancy with no
reporting requirements. Yet these dangerous, pink sheet stocks
give you incredible leverage. The leverage you
get with the super subs makes up for them being more fatal.
You may have heard investing in penny stocks is
venturous. Yes, it is riskful, but High risk means high reward.
Trafficking penny stocks, while inherently precarious,
has some unique benefits. They do dole out the probability to
rise 100%, 200%, or even 1000% in a short period
of time.

To win in trafficking penny stocks, you ought to obtain the
stocks that have the first-class potential, fewest quantify of
"red flags", and you have got to also have a game plan that will
let you lock in solid profits and cheapen gamble.
Also, if you purchase or sell shares of a abject-volume stock, you
run the danger of affecting the price alleged to
excess demand or supply. This is an advanced technique that
has strict requirements and higher risks. Alleged
to the volatility in penny stocks, considerable sums of savings can
and have been made by investors willing to draw from
the insubstantially. One must also know that the liability's are just as
immeasurable as the potential for growth. Factually,
I would say the risks of loss is much considerable than the
potential for develop which is why it is certainly
critical to only invest with "imperil capital". A major riskiness
in penny stocks is that they are frequently times
de-listed from the OTC BB and are unable to get listed on
additional exchange or even re-instated on the OTC
BB. Yet with exceedingly ample research and alleged diligence and
the company's experience and structure
matter-of-factly unlimited bountifulness can be gained with miniaturized
insecurity.

Much of the time the riskiness inherent with penny stocks can
be finite or mitigated by you knowing what you
are doing and knowing how to make it a better investment
casualness. With the correct tools and the absolute
familiarity, you gigantically minimize the risk. The more
wisdom and behold you get, the less liability you
incur. Taking the time to read and research will gigantically
minimize penny stock investing gambles. If you do
not have the disposition for peril then Stay cast out of these
dicey penny stock investments. See in retrospect, most
people fail when it comes to penny stocks as the insubstantially are
high and they don't do their home labor or
research before jumping the gun or a highly promoted penny
stocks. If you know anything about the standard
stock market, then you know that the amount of insecurity that
something carries is something that is defined by
several things. In fact, every stock can be seen from a
different risk vantage point from one lender to the
after. With that said, you can deduce that there are some
penny stocks that are less fatal than others. In
short, you need to ascertain that what you invest in has the
danger grit that you can indulge or afford.

The blissful news is that penny stocks do extend some
flexibility in what riskiness that they provide. So, to pack
up, here is what you require to do to stipulate just what your
grade of insubstantially embracement is. Pin down the
amount of insecurity that you are willing to appropriate on any penny
stock that you invest in. Employment with your
financial planner or adviser to verify if the amount of
gamble is a practical accommodation for your own financial
goals in the long term and short term. nail down what danger
extent you are comfortable with and the model of
penny stocks that fits those needs. When you convey the time
to really labor out what your financial gamble
fortitude is, you will be better applicable to selecting the
appropriate kind of penny stocks that you can invest in.
The reality is that having the advantageous inclusion of safety and
insubstantially is the biggest factor in investing in
penny stocks.

George Kissi

Day Trading - No Risk, Maximum Gain

Day trading is a method of buying and selling of stocks in the same day. But the question arises why you should go for such type of option. It's a method through which you can make trading faster and can avoid the market share fluctuation that is regularly seen in the stock market.

Choose some of the reputed company shares and start trading to gain maximum profit with less time spending. This type of system is becoming popular and many professionals as well as new investors are getting attracted towards it. There are several advantages associated with day trading. These are mentioned as follows:

1. No Risk: Since trade closes the same day, the stock prices are not affected by the news events and other external factors, if any. Therefore, you get a chance to gain maximum profit out of it. Many intelligent investors choose such type of stock options and gain profits.

2. Better leverage: As there is less margin requirements, traders get maximum leverage on their funds and also because their trades are closed in the same day. As a result, increased leverage can boost up your profits.

3. Returns in every market direction: The biggest advantage of day trading is the ability to cope with the share market fluctuations. Traders are not affected directly or indirectly with the fluctuations of the stock prices. Therefore, you have no risks and maximum profits.

With the advent of the Internet, stock trading has become much more easier than ever before. Sitting at home, you can easily buy and sell stocks and manage your funds. The only thing you need to keep in your mind is the market knowledge. Since stock market is volatile by nature, therefore, it is very important to keep you updated with the changing moods of the market trends.

To start the process, you need to open an account with an online trading company. Such companies offer

Knowing How A Winning Trader Mindset Should Not Work

Trading in the stock market is a good deal more than merely having a good knowledgable grasp of the financial investment sector. Anybody getting in this line of work must understand that having absolute commitment or natural ability isn't sufficient. The difference between success and failure frequently boils down to the emotional and psychological nature of the trader's mentality or mindset!

There are numerous forms of trading in today's financial markets, including trading in stocks or options, bonds or futures, currencies or Forex. The usual theme in all of these are that while they all hold possible profits in addition to risks, everyone of them depends on having the right trader's mind-set to attain a higher success rate. Being aware of when to enter a trade, or when to get out, or how to be coolheaded in a unstable market are critical skills for any trader. Mindset controls our emotional ability to carry on with all the facets of trading and has a immense influence on winning and losing, success and failure.

Our trader's mentality can be changed by the promise of vast profits, in addition to the dread of a abrupt or out of the blue decline in the market. Basic human nature orders that we respond to a greater extent more powerfully to fear, and can consequently make foolhardy decisions. Fear of turning a loss, or looking stupid in front of our peers or co-workers changes the way our mind-set works, thus rather than taking a step back and reexamining the situation, we rush ahead and make possibly disastrous moves.

The trading market is built upon the cornerstone of optimism, the hope that our investments will make us profit. But hope isn't sufficient; a savvy trader's mind-set needs to be tuned up into to the fact that hope can also be destructive. You must also be able to define these hopes by qualifying the rationality for keeping to a position, as wishing its incline in the market would be just that - hopeful thinking!

At last, the most crucial emotion in the trader's mind-set. Greed. We fall upon greed in all walks of life, but in the trading line, greed can have colossal consequences on a individual life. Being on a winning streak has the outcome of making us over-confident or even cocky, and the hope of the get rich quick scenarios can and will be our greatest downfall. While there is a microscopic chance that we could make a killing in one fell swoop, a greedy trader's mentality will only result in huge failure in the end.

Understanding the psychological science of the trading market can not only help you change the way you deal with your own emotions. Being able to recognise these failings in your competitors gives you the power to use your new improved trader's mind-set to capitalize on any situation!

Internet Day Trading - the Forex Market and the Stock Exchange

There are two main ways for internet day trading: the stock market and the forex market (known with other names as "currency trading" "foreign exchange" or "FX market"). The basis and the background for forex is all the trading that takes place between two countries with different currencies.

Established in the early 1970's, the forex exchange has enjoyed exponential growth and widespread popularity over the past few years. It is not based on any one business or investing in any one business, but the trading and selling of currencies. The most important feature of the forex market is the huge amount of transactions that occurs on this market. Millions and millions are traded daily on the forex, almost US$ 1.5 trillion is exchanged every day.

This amount of money is much higher than the money traded on the daily stock market of any country. Until recently, only governments, international banks and large financial institutions had had access to the foreign exchange market and many other institutions from other countries were all involved in this special kind of trading. But now, there are online brokers that provide private traders on a relatively small budget with direct access to the forex market.

The main advantage of internet day trading on the forex market is that currency can easily be liquidated, meaning it can be turned back to cash fast, or often times it is actually going to be cash. It is traded mainly through the 24 hour-a-day inter-bank currency market - the primary market for currencies: the availability of cash in the forex market is something that can happen fast for any investor from any country.

While the stock market is something that takes place only within a country, the forex market is global, worldwide. Investing in the stock market means investing in firms and products that are within a country, on foreign exchange market the currency of one country is exchanged for those of another. Forex literally follows the sun around the world.

While the stock market follows the business day, and is closed on banking holidays and weekends, the forex market is open 24 hours a day because every foreign exchange market in the world works from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in their respective time zones. As one market is closing, another market is opening and this circumstance allows the currency traders a potentially endless trading time. If you invest in the stock market of any country you invest only in that countries currency, say for example the Euro, and the European stock market, or the United States stock market and the dollar.

The internet day trading in the forex market is much more versatile and allows trading with different currencies and countries. However this is not an easy financial market: internet day trading on forex can be very lucrative but there is a consistent risk to lose money too. If you would like to start trading the forex you need the right education and help to build an effective and secure trading plan.