To really understand the behavior of a currency on the Forex market it is important to see how it has behaved over a period of time. Taken over the course of a very short space of time, it is possible to make data mean just about anything. This, in turn, means that the data will be almost worthless. Over a longer period of time, however, patterns always seem to assert themselves, and establish a firm basis for predicting the future behavior of a currency price. Among the most important figures that appear in a pattern are the support and resistance points. The point of “support” for any currency is the price level beneath which a currency never trades – effectively its market “bottom”. Whenever the price reaches this level, it almost always bounces back upwards, and for this reason many people will invest when a currency hits that point. Conversely, the “resistance” point is the traditional high point of a currency price, above which it never trades. If you are looking to cash out, this is a good reference point. Of course, the old saying “there’s a first time for everything” exists for a reason. There will come a time when a currency breaks its support or resistance levels, and this is seen as hugely important. When a currency does this it will be expected to continue this trend, possibly for an extended period of time. It is therefore a good time to get “in” if it is rising or “out” if it is... read more
Technical analysis of currency movements is now, more than ever, part of the Forex market. As time has passed, different ways of collecting and displaying data have arisen. These differing ways can be taken in isolation to either create or back up a strategy, or can be combined in order to read how the market has arrived at its present point, and how it is likely to move forward. This enables more confident predictions and sounder investments. As time goes on, more data is collected and trends are reinforced. The awareness of a trend allows a more realistic understanding of the market. For someone just starting as a Forex trader, this kind of data is all-important. One method of technical analysis is looking at diagrams and graphs. Taken over a period of time, this allows us to define and explain a pattern. One of the most popular styles of graph is the “Candlestick pattern”, which tells at a glance for any given day where the price was at the start of a period, at the end of the same period, and its highs and lows in the intervening time. Thus you can see at a glance if a currency is genuinely rising fast or slow, or falling at the same rate. The use of Fibonacci figures is another popular analytic tool. It looks at certain points in the rise or fall of a market and – with incredible regularity – predicts when it will stabilize or “retrace” (this means reversing its... read more
While mutual funds have become one of the most popular and accessible forms of investing, they do come with a few strings attached. It doesn’t matter what sort of investing you are trying, stocks, bonds, securities and even mutual funds come with fees. But how can you tell what kind of fund has what kind of fee and what are the different kinds of fees out there? A common fee connected to mutual funds that are bought through a broker or a third party is a sales charge. One of the major advantages of buying your mutual funds directly through the company that sells them is that you can usually avoid the sales charge fee. One of the most important lessons you can learn about mutual fund investing is to always look for no-load mutual funds. A no-load fund has no fees attached. But what if you see a load fund that you really want to try? Load funds are broken down into thee classes: A, B and C. Each letter carries a different set of fee rules. For A load funds, you can expect to have a 4-6{f50081c0ec796da126603b263a099f347acb98e56a69dffae82b7eb84c3f1a5d} chunk of your investment taken once you buy the fund. There is an additional annual fee of about .25{f50081c0ec796da126603b263a099f347acb98e56a69dffae82b7eb84c3f1a5d} that is also taken out. For B funds, there is no fee taken out at the beginning, but there is a fee once you want to take your money out of the mutual funds. This fee does go away after six years of having the fund, but you will get dinged if you try to take your money out any sooner.... read more
Every kind of investing has its ups and downs. Those that deal in stocks enjoy the way that stock ownership works and that it meets their investing goals. The same can be said for those that invest in mutual funds. There are both positives and negatives to investing in mutual funds, and we’ll take a look at some of those positives right now. Maybe the most reassuring aspect of investing in mutual funds is the knowledge that your fund is being managed and taken care of by a professional. With stock and bond trading, your best weapon is your gut instinct and a dog-eared copy of the Wall Street Journal. With mutual funds, you’re trusting your investment to someone who probably has the Journal memorized and also has an entire corporation’s brain trust at his disposal. For those that are working on a tight budget and may not have much wiggle room, mutual funds are a great choice because they have maximum liquidity. Liquidity is the ability to get your cash back on your investment if you need to. With some investments, your money is tied up for extended periods of time with no way for you to access it without huge penalties. Mutual funds allow you to sell back what you’ve bought at the end of every trading day so you can have instant access to your money. A common buzzword associated with investing is diversification. It’s based on the premise that you don’t want all of your investments on the same thing. Since mutual funds invest in stocks, commodities, bonds and other things, you can help to... read more
One of the biggest parts of investing is determining your own risk tolerance. When most people think of risk tolerance, they think, “How much can I stand to lose before I start to struggle.” Risk is a huge part of investing because it dictates what sort of mutual funds you can put your money into, how much money you can invest and for how long. Knowing your risk tolerance is one of the biggest keys to successful investing. Risk is usually defined as short term volatility in prices or variability in prices. But there is a whole other kind of risk at the other end of the spectrum. The risk of not meeting your goals by investing. The main reason why anyone begins to invest is to meet goals that they have set for themselves. The most common goal in investing is saving money for retirement or for that second home. Risk goes both ways, there is the chance you could lose your shirt with an investment, and the chance that if you don’t take enough risks, you won’t meet the goals you’ve set for yourself. The first thing you need to do is to take a personal assessment of your own risk and develop what is known as an investment personality. Everyone’s personality will be different, they are unique like fingerprints. Some investors can stand to take some big chances now with the lure of a potential payoff down the road, while others who may not have much time between the time they start investing and the point where their financial goals need to be realized and can’t... read more
Talk about risks. One of the notable things that most people would commonly say about option trading, or other types of trading for that matter, is that it entails risks. A lot of them. Some of them are discussed in this article. First off, any trade, in fact almost anything that promises much profit surely carries with it lots of disadvantages. You only get what you pay for. As they say, you don’t get free rides. When you give more then you would most likely get more. The same principle works with the trade. With higher promise of profit come higher and greater risks to be taken. So what makes option trading a high risk venture? It’s definitely the leverage. Leverage, in trade speak, is one of those crucial things that could make or break your trade. It gives you the advantage while taking away your potential profit if you pick the wrong option or the wrong timing to trade. Leverage is so attractive that it is among the things that make people want to enter trading but it is also disadvantageous when not properly used. In the case of options trading, there is higher leverage offered. Depending on which side of the coin you look, leverage could either mean boon or doom. As defined in its financial sense, leverage is a relatively small amount of money you invest in something that could turn out big. Sounds pretty interesting but what’s the problem? Just like what was mentioned earlier, a higher leverage could mean higher loss of profits if the trade is mishandled. Apart from these, risks of options... read more
It is easy to dismiss the benefits of a trade if the most typical description attached to it is risk. But it should not be so. There are great benefits that may be taken from participating in options trading that most people overlook. One should take into account that all types of trades have inherent risks but they also offer advantages in return. Flexibility Although it is true that options trading may not fit everyone, it still does not change the fact that to those traders who have made this trade work for them, it is clear for them that options offer great flexibility for both the option buyer and the seller. Most types of trading do not allow profiting from the underlying asset. However, with option trading this is very possible. There are various strategies traders use to maximize this advantage. Protection In comparison to other kinds of trades, particularly stock trading, options trading could give better protection to its participants. Significant losses are typically uncommon in this trade since traders only lose what they have invested and more often than not, investments are just minimal because they are limited only to the price of the option. It should be noted that typical options are just 10{f50081c0ec796da126603b263a099f347acb98e56a69dffae82b7eb84c3f1a5d} of the value of the asset. Traders could also benefit from protective put. This is a type of options strategy that allows for purchasing the same number of puts and stocks such that the stocks are protected from depreciation of value. Also, a trader who needs to buy an option in the future at a certain price can do so. It... read more
