How to trade in futures market?

The futures market offers the opportunistic investor the option of using small amounts of their own money to control large amounts of products, including gold, currencies, and agricultural commodities.

A futures contract is a legally binding contract to deliver, if you are selling, or to take delivery, if you are buying, of a specific commodity, index, bond, or currency at a predetermined date or price. A futures contract can include everything from a standard size amount of wheat, oil, or a country's currency. The amount and date of delivery of the contract are specified, though in almost all cases delivery is not taken as contracts are bought and sold for speculative or hedging purposes.

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Investment Strategy: The Investor's Creed

Fascinating, isn't it, this stock market of ours, with its unpredictability, promise, and unscripted daily drama! But individual investors are even more interesting. We've become the product of a media driven culture that must have reasons, predictability, blame, scapegoats, and even that four-letter word, certainty. We are a culture of investors where hindsight is rapidly replacing the reality-based foresight that once was flowing in our now real-time veins... just like downhill racing, grouse hunting, and Super Bowls.

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How To Trade Stock, Timing Is Everything

The following article lists some simple, informative tips that will help you have a better experience with how to trade stock.

Aim for the best timing in stock market trading. It is the only option for a successful stock market investor learning how to trade stock.

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How To Undertake Free Stock Research

Stocks are not constant. They increase, decrease and disappear. In fact, investing in the stock market is a risky endeavor not to be taken lightly. You name it-- you may start out happy with the high standing of your stocks and after an hour or two turn sad because your stocks have somehow lowered down below their original value. They may actually plunge, slamming down to the lowest values fathomable. You may emerge feeling depressed that you’ve lost an investment that you’ve worked hard for and had much hope in. For this reason, investing in stocks can be both exhilarating and disconcerting.

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Investor Awareness Campaigns: A Look at the Other Side

So you've signed up for a newsletter which promises to give you great stocks picks. Trust their stock picks and you wont miss out on the latest stock market darling. You dont want to miss out on another company who's shares have moved up over 100%. Follow their advice and you will never have to do your own due diligence again!

If only it were that simple!

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Is Day Trading For A Living Your Cup Of Tea?

If you like working with other people's money, then maybe day trading for a living is what you should be doing. This type of trading works daytime hours only, from the moment the stock market opens at 9am until it closes at 4pm in the afternoon, you can do a lot of trading in that amount of time. Or maybe you want to do day trading for livings with your own money, that way if you loose it, then you have no one to blame but yourself. However, it may be a good way to watch your money grow too. The following is the basic definition of what day trading is all about. Maybe it is your cup of tea, maybe not, only you can decide.

What is Day Trading?

Day trading for a living is when you take a position in the markets with a view of squaring that position before the end of that day. Day trading for a living mean a trader usually trades many times a day looking for fractions of a point to a few points per trade, however, by the end of the day he or she will close out all their positions. The goal of the day is to capitalize on price movement within one trading day. Unlike investors, the day trader will hold positions for only a few seconds or minutes, and never overnight.

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How to Use Annual Report

There are many steps in calculating the fair value of a company. However, before we even do that, it is imperative to know how a company earns its profit. Does it do that by selling to consumers? licensing its technology to other companies? or extracting natural resources from the ground?

The sensible way to do it is by reading the company's annual report. What is an annual report? Annual report is yearly publication by public companies to better inform investor about the company's line of business. Annual report gives investors a glance of the company's line of business, financial health as well as management's strategies for doing business.

Let's look at CNET Networks Inc. The company trades in the NASDAQ market with symbol: CNET. What does CNET do? I know CNET owns cnet.com. But do you know that it also owns download.com, MP3.com, ZDnet.com and News.com ? How do I know that? Yep, you guess it. CNET's Annual Report will gives you all that.

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Is Online Trading In Your Future?

So you've heard about the stock market right? How about the foreign exchange market or forex for short? What about day trading? Did you know that there are now very affordable ways to be your on broker by doing online trading? That's ok not many people who don't do this stuff every day know much about this otherwise excellent opportunity too make many investment dollars. So you are getting in at a good time before there is a glut of investors creating competition and parity and driving profit potential way down.

In the foreign exchange people exchange their money into different (foreign currencies) according to how they think the economy of that country compares with others and/or the public perception there of. Just like in the stock market if you buy low and sell high you make money. And the potential is there to make a lot of money in online trading depending on how knowledgeable you are about international economies and how current events affect people and their confidence or lack thereof in any given economy. People who know the systems whether it is the stock market or foreign exchange and are therefore willing to invest and assume that risk, will make money.

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Increase Your Trading Profits

Do You Want Increased Profits? Then Go After Decreased Losses!

Hello, this is Bob Eldridge and I'd like to share with you a frequently overlooked source of profits from your trading. It's a simple concept yet so very important if you expect to be able to continue trading for any length of time! The concept is that of controlling both the number of losses you have and the dollar amount of those losses. I realize that statement sounds so obvious that you might be tempted to put this article away in favor of a night of bad television, but please stick with me here. I'll share some things with you that you probably don't expect to find here!

To better visualize the concept I'm describing, picture a large washtub, the kind you probably remember from your childhood. Now imagine the difficulty of filling the washtub if it has several 'six-inch' holes in the bottom! No matter HOW MANY garden hoses you have filling it up, the water is running out faster than it's going in!! Now imagine plugging each of the holes, one at a time. Plug the first one and the difference is almost imperceptible. Plug the second hole and you begin to notice that there is less water splashing on the ground. Plug the third and you actually may see the water level in the tub begin to rise ... just slightly, perhaps, but rise nonetheless! Plug ALL the holes but one and the difference becomes measurable! Now that you're down to one hole, let's begin to repair it a piece at a time. First we cover HALF the hole ... while the tub still leaks, you can now tell there's more water going INTO the tub than running out the bottom. Patch half the remaining leak and you begin to adapt to the idea that it's OKAY if a little water comes out, just as long as there's more going in than coming out!

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Know Your Broker Before Trading Online

Proper investment strategies should always include researching your broker, but in today's world of new technologies and online investment, what questions should you be asking?

The following are some key questions to ask your broker, which can save you both time and money:

* What tools are available from your broker? Stock quotes, news, charting, level II data and advanced order types are among many key tools for traders. Be sure your broker has the tools you specifically need.

* How fast are orders being executed? Keep in mind that online trading can significantly speed up the order process in comparison to placing orders over the phone.

For example, RushTrade offers Direct Access Trading, which allows you to direct your order to the execution venue of your choice. This can result in faster executions, improved price and greater control of your orders.

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4 Benefits of Long Term Trading vs Short Term Trading

Both short term trading and long term trading can be effective trading strategies, however, long term trading has several significant advantages. These include the effect of compounding, the opportunity to earn from dividends, reduction of the impact of price fluctuations, the ability to make corrections in a more timely manner, less time spent monitoring stocks.

1. Compounding

Time can be investor’s best friend because it gives compounding time to work its magic. Compounding is the mathematical process where interest on your money in turn earns interest and is added to your principal.

2. Dividends

Holding a stock to take advantage of payouts from dividends is another way to increase the value of an investment. Some companies offer the ability to reinvest dividends with additional share purchases thereby increasing the overall value of your investment. Additionally, dividends are more a reflection of a company's overall business strategy and success than volatile price fluctuations based on market emotions.

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Growth and Value: What's the Difference?

While the majority of American investors understand the importance of diversifying across growth and value investments, few are able to achieve a passing grade on a test of their knowledge of the differences between the two, according to a new American Century Investments survey.

Test your knowledge with the Growth & Value IQ quiz below:

1. Which best describes a growth stock?

a) Stock that offers guaranteed rate of growth tied to consumer price index.

b) Stock in a company specializing in agriculture, lumber, landscaping, and other organic products.

c) A stock in a company demonstrating better than average profit and earnings gains.

d) All of the above.

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5 Advantages Of Long Term Trading

Both short term and long term trading can be effective trading strategies, however, long term trading has several significant advantages. These include the effect of compounding, the opportunity to earn from dividends, reduction of the impact of price fluctuations, the ability to make corrections in a more timely manner, less time spent monitoring stocks.

1. Compounding

Time can be investor’s best friend because it gives compounding time to work its magic. Compounding is the mathematical process where interest on your money in turn earns interest and is added to your principal.

2. Dividends

Holding a stock to take advantage of payouts from dividends is another way to increase the value of an investment. Some companies offer the ability to reinvest dividends with additional share purchases thereby increasing the overall value of your investment. Additionally, dividends are more a reflection of a company’s overall business strategy and success than volatile price fluctuations based on market emotions.

3. Reduction Of The Impact Of Price Fluctuations

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Day Trading Your Way To Success

If you are interested in day trading you first need to know what it is all about and to understand the basics of day trading. For starters, a day trader is a person who is very active in the stock market and makes several trades a day in an attempt to make quick gains by buying and selling stocks in a short time span.

As the market is never the same day to day, no one particular day trading strategy will work each time. To be successful, you first need to understand how the market works and get a feel for the market.

This includes recognizing the stocks' basic trend, the long and short setups, when to enter a trade, and where to place stops. Another very important basic is how to protect your profits and minimize losses.

Once you have learned the basics and are ready to try your first day trade, here are some tips and guidelines you should keep in mind that is essential to your success as a day trader.

Being a day trader requires a lot of time and practice before you get used to the everyday volatility in the market. Do not expect to become an expert day trader overnight. No matter how many books you have read or day traders you have watched, that will not make you an immediate expert.

There are day trading websites that simulate trading. Practice with their trading platform first before trying out the real thing. It could save you a lot of money and you will learn the ropes faster this way.

If you are ready for real live trading, do not be scared by the thought of losing money. There are ways to minimize your loss such as with stop orders.

If you lose money, do not worry, as some loss is to be expected. Just remember, with increased experience and sensitivity to the market, you will start turning a profit soon.

If you profit large sums of money, stop trading. Do not gamble it away by trying to gain even larger profits. You can always trade another day.

Sometimes the market will not perform as you expected. When you encounter this situation, it is best that you do not trade at all.

Once you gain more experience in day trading, you may be able to predict the direction of a stock price. However, try not to pick top stocks or bottom stocks. This is one of the most common mistakes of a beginner.

If you cannot predict where the market is heading, it is best if you stand aside and wait, or you can always go home and trade again another day.

It is a good idea to record all of your day trading results. This way you can learn what works and what does not, and be more effective in trading.

Observe good traders. Look at how and when they sell or buy. Generally, good day traders often buy on bad news and sell on good news.

Beginners often get emotional in their trades. Avoid this at all cost, stay emotionally detached and professional.

Learn to trust your instincts. Relying too much on analysis may mean letting a few good trades slip away from you.

As you gain experience, you will see that different day trading strategies are required on different days and required on different stocks. Be flexible.

Bad day traders often focus on too many stocks that are not manageable and often lose track on where each stock is heading. It is wise to limit your stocks in manageable numbers.

With patience and practice, you can be successful in day trading, and as your experience grows so do your profits. Everyday you can learn new day trading strategies in the market, which you can use to your advantage.

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