Make Money Trading Stocks Online
 
The basic principles of how to make money on the stock market is easy enough to understand. You buy stocks in a company at $X then later on you sell them stocks for $X + $Y. If you don’t like paying tax then use a spreadbeting firm.

Putting this basic principle into practice is rather more complicated. First of all, you can’t really trust anyone. Stock market tipsters frequently get it wrong. Experts often make their money by selling their ‘expertise’ rather than trading stocks. Company directors are imaginative when it comes to stating their company’s prospects. Technical analysts, disagree with each other, and they can’t all be right.

But you have to start somewhere.

There are 2 basic methods for stock picking - technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Fundamental analysis means analysing what a company does, reading its accounts, deciding if its stock price is cheap or expensive and then buying the stocks or not. This is what Warren Buffett does and he has become a billionaire by doing it. If you have the time you can in fact just follow what Warren Buffett does and buy the same stocks that he does - you can see which stocks he is invested in here.

Technical analysis is used more by short and medium-term stock traders  - using a time frame of anything from a few days to a few months. It involves interpreting stock charts and buying stocks when certain levels are reached and then selling them when you have made the profit you were intending to make (or selling them qucikly if they start  going down instead of up).

Why do people use stock charts in stock trading ? Basically because stock charts are a reflection of human behaviour. A stock price will rise for no obvious reason then a few days later some announcement is made. The conclusion is that some people knew what was going to happen before it happened and acted on that news.

Stock charts also cause people to act even when there is no news. When a stock reaches a certain level people will sell for the simple reason that a certain level has been reached thus creating more selling and a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you are a beginner to stock trading and have no desire to really understand the fundamentals of every company you may invest in, then you really owe it to yourself to understand the basics of stock charts. Professionals use them all the time so you are at a disdvantage if you don’t know how the professionals are likely to react to certain situations.

As a stock market beginner the first thing to understand are the concepts of support and resistance and moving averages. Moving averages show the average price of a stock over a given time period. The 200-day moving average is particularly important. If a stock falls below its 200 day moving average then this is interpreted by many people as a clear sell signal, which of course drives the price down.

Support and resistance levels are the levels at which stocks fall or rise to before turning round. This is known as trending and many traders make a living by buying at the bottom of a trend and selling at the top. They then wait for the stock price to fall back to the bottom and start all over again.

Some traders say they only ever use support and resistance levels to tell them when to buy and sell. 

Finally, if you are going to be a swing trader, then another basic rule to apply is to never buy a share if the 5-day moving average is heading down.

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Stock Market Today

The DOW fell 268 points yesterday and so many people were expecting  bounce today, but they didn’t get it - after being flat most of the day the DOW finished up down another 96 points. Chartists expect anothe 5% drop at least and some are seeing a far steeper decline after the formation of what they call a ‘death cross’ in the charts. A stock market death cross occurs when the 50 day moving across crosses through the 20 day moving average when the markets are already headed down. This is what appears to be forming on the DOW - it has already formed on the FTSE.

The DOW is no at 9774 - well below 10,000 already - the S&P is at 1030 and is expected t drop down to 1000 at least.

Elsewhere Warren Buffett has been buying again for the long term, this time UK food chain Tesco in which he has bought 3% - £242 million.

For people who do not work on the same timescales as Mr Buffett itisimportant to understand chart movements in order to be able to avoid making the worst mistakes at least. For example now, buying stocks when the charts are heading down the way they are is very risky - see here for more information on stock trading for beginners

The stock market lows back in March 2009 were around 6500on the DOW so there is sil along way to go to get thre, but some people do believe that it is a distinct possibility that this might happen.

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Tips For Trading Stocks Online

By Adva Jones

Many people are wondering if, after the recent turmoil on the stock market, this is the time to start getting back in. Well, in fact, you may be a bit early, the market hit its most recent low point at the beginning of March 2009 and went up almost in a straight line till May 2010. Since then it has been decidedly wobbly and could be headed even further down. A lot of people think it needs to pull back a bit more, so a lot of investors are waiting for the markets to fall back a bit so that they can get in. Unfortunately, the markets seem to have a mind of their own, either that or there are some very rich and powerful people controlling everything, and if people are expecting the markets to pull back then they will probably do just the opposite.

So, if you are thinking of getting back into the stock market, or getting in for the first time, then you may wish to heed the following tips and advice for online stock trading and choosing an online broker..

• First and foremost it is important to realize that your PC in all probability is not directly linked to the stock exchange. Consequently, when you click to place an order things do not happen instantaneously. The order first has to travel via your online stockbroker, and online stockbrokers are not 100% accurate at all times. As I have found out to my cost. They are also very reluctant to own up to mistakes. So bear in mind that your order may take a few seconds to negotiate its way through cyberspace.
• You need also to be sure that the online quotes displayed on your PC screen are true real-time. For this you would be better off relying on personal recommendation from someone you trust if at all possible, as unfortunately some brokers have been known to have errors in their software.
• Stockbrokers do make mistakes and sometimes end up with hefty fines from the SEC e.g. TDWaterhouse which was fined $225,000 by the NYSE for “problems related to World Wide Web site failures that prevented it from filling online stock orders” in 2001
• Don’t accept the first price your broker quotes you. If you are not in a hurry try phoning them up and asking them if they can give you a better quote, inside the spread. They may oblige and they can only say no so you have nothing to lose. Be friendly with your online broker chappie.
• Get information to substantiate claims your potential broker may make concerning how easy their system is to use.
• Make sure you know the difference between market price and limit price, don’t ever place a trade and say get me the best price you can whenever you can, you may get a very nasty surprise.
• Also make sure you know what stop losses are and use them.
• Make sure you understand the risks involved in buying on margin i.e. on credit.
• Ask the broker about website downtime and breakdowns and various interruptions that may impact your ability to trade. Check with other people who use their system if at all possible.
• Check that they have an alternative order execution system in case of problems with their online system.
• Check that your name and address will not be farmed out via mailing lists to all and sundry.
• Make sure you understand what commissions and fees are involved, they can soon add up.
• Check to see if you have access to Level 2 information. Level 2 gives you more detailed information about stock prices and where they are likely to go in the next few minutes/hours. Such information is useful to know to time your trades so that you are not buying when it is clear that the price is headed down.
• Check customer service before you sign up by asking them ridiculous questions and being a pain to see how they react.
• You must of course maintain your own records of any trades you place.
• Check the status and history of any online broker to see if they have had problems before.
• You will generally find that it is a broker’s attitude to sorting out problems that sorts out the good ones from the cowboys, so you really should get as many personal recommendation as possible before handing over any cash.

So that’s it, remember that if you are trading by yourself online with a non-advisory account, then brokers are like bankers they are not there to make you rich, they are there to provide a service in exchange for fees.

Twenty years experience dealing with bankers and stockbrokers!

Online Stock Trading
Stock Trading for Beginners

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adva_Jones
http://EzineArticles.com/?Tips-For-Trading-Stocks-Online&id=2385565

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Stock Market News - Credit Card Changes

Credit card companies in the UK will have to change the way they allocate customer payments. This could save borrowres, e.g. me, £225 a year.

Card companies up until now have employed what they call a negative hierarchy - meaning low interest loans are paid off before high interest loans. If you transfer a balance at 0% rate but then buy something at 18% then your repayments pay off the 0% loan but not the 18%. This is about to change, hopefully.

The government plans to introduce legislation to stop what is called “adverse order of payments”. Nine million cardholders have debts at more than one interest rate and the move will save them about £500m a year.

GB says that the measures will put hundreds of millions of pounds back into consumers’ pockets. This is all theoretical of course as credit card companies and banks like to screw as much money out of their customers as possible so it is quite likely that they will find another way of clawing back any money they lose. But it may be a step in the right direction.

Nationwide says: “This review is excellent news for the consumer. A positive order of payments would mean that consumers can trust that when they make a payment, it will go to paying off their most expensive balance first. That would be good news for anyone who cannot or chooses not to pay off their credit card debt in full.”

Nationwide and Saga are the only two credit card companies that do not use adverse order of payments system. The rest will have until the end of 2010 to change their system.

On the stock market today things are still looking positive as the indices are near or above key resistance levels. If you are considering trying to make money on the stock market than you really need to do some basic research into online stock trading for beginners and find out how stock market charts work and what signals experts look at. The rally from March 2009 has caught many people by surprise as it was a V shaped bottom which just about everyone said was not going to happen ! Nevertheless someone somewhere knew what was going on and this is often seen in the charts before it actually happens. Oscar Carboni for example got it right a couple of weeks after the event but that was pretty good going.

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The Stock Market

At the moment the stock market is decidely strange. It has been strange of course since 2007 when everything fell apart, but now everything seems to be coming back together at an alarming rate.

The S&P500 and the DOW reached bottoms back on March 6 2009 and since then have done practically nothing but go up - almost in a straight line - while everyone has been waiting for it to fll back down again.

We were told repeatedly that the recovery would be long and hard, but as often happens the markets seem to want to do the exact opposite of what the so-called experts say it should do. So as no-one was saying we would get a storming rally that is preciseyl what we got.

The markets should of course fall back to retest the lows of March but they seem unable to do so. every time there is even the slightest pull back then the next day they just start off again on their way back up.

Today the DOW is down 106 points - after being down about 160 at one point.

Banks and financials have been rocketing, when everybody said they would be the last to recover ! Barclays has moved up 450% in two months - alright if you bought at the bottom ! Other banks have doubled and trebled. Personally I am still waiting for the stock market to fall back and test the bottom again, because I know that as soon as I decide to get back in then they will drop like a stone !

On another note I recommend buying shares in Susan Boyle if such as thing is possible or in Simon Cowell - as she is set to be the next international superstar.

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Bernie Madoff’s Assets

If I ever get round to putting in my claim here is a list of some of Bernie Madoff’s assets some of which have been seized - for info. on Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi Scheme see online stock trades :

Manhattan penthouse apartment worth $7 million

- Ocean front property in the Hamptons valued at $3.3 million.

- Home in Palm Beach, worth $9.4 million.

- Villa in Cap d’Antibes worth $1.3 million.

A Leopard 23M Sport Yacht known as “Bull”. estimated worth $7 million.

- A 40-foot Shelter Island Runabout sport fishing boat, “Sitting Bull,” approximately $430,812

- A Rybovich 56-foot sport fishing boat, made in 1969.

- A 25-foot Pathfinder boat, is known as “Little Bull”.

- 2007 BMW 530i around $50,000.

- 1999 Mercedes Benz CLK Class, $9,000.

- 2004 Volkswagen Touareg around $12,000.

- 2001 Mercedes Benz E Class over $47,000.

- Steinway piano valued at approximately $39,000.

- Silverware set worth approximately $65,000.

- Funds of approximately $17 million at Wachovia Bank in the name of Ruth Madoff.

- All interest in COHMAD Securities Corporation held in the name of Bernard Madoff, and all traceable property.

- Any securities, funds and other property in the name of Ruth Madoff at COHMAD Securities Corp valued at approximately $45 million.

I suspect he’s got a few digital cameras stacked away too but I doubt very much if he’s got the latest Leica S2

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Retirement Investing

When you’re young you don’t think about retiring, generally, because you don’t think you will ever get old. It’s too far off an dtoo uncertain - you might die tomorrow - especially if you were born in the sixties, all you thought about was the day anf lower power everything would be OK and if it wasn’t then that was OK too.

When you get old however retirement becomes a very real event and if you ain’t got no money then you ain’t retiring, which is OK too as working is no worse than not working, but of course you need to get paid for your work !

Ha ha, well such is life, but of course the sensible course is to plan for reitrement investing but who is sensilbe when they are young.

Peope should retire at the age of 20 then start working at the age of 65 that seems far more sensilbe to me , have a bit of fun whil eyou are young enough then work when you get too old to do anything else. Everything of course should be free, that would help.

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What is Equity Finance ?

In simple terms equity finance is a method of funding your business by giving up a percentage of it to a third party in return for investment.

1) How it works

Equity finance can be a good way of financing a start-up company as it never needs to be repaid to the original investor. This means therefore that the investor who provides the finance is taking a huge risk and may never see his money again if your business fails. To counterbalance this you give the investor a share of your business and the investor therefore has a level of control pver your business.

If your business is so risky that it is likely to fail you will find it very difficult to attract this type of equity finance

2) Different types of equity finance.

There are diffrerent sources of equity finance. A friend or relative, or a venture capitalist or even via  the stock markets.

The type you decide to use depends on your circumstances and the level of investment you require.

It is better in any case to err on the side of caution, accepting money from a friend may seem easier but it is fraught with danger, especially if things go wrong.

For information about trading equities online see - online stock trading

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