Stock Market Tips

On London: Scant comfort to be found in the pound's current decline (FT.com)

FT.com - Sterling's decline against the dollar showed no signs of slowing this week, but what was more interesting was the reaction of the London market. The FTSE 100 fell 7.1 per cent - its worst weekly performance in percentage terms in more than six years - turning on its head the idea that the UK market performs well during periods of dollar strength.

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On London: Scant comfort to be found in the pound's current decline (FT.com)

FT.com - Sterling's decline against the dollar showed no signs of slowing this week, but what was more interesting was the reaction of the London market. The FTSE 100 fell 7.1 per cent - its worst weekly performance in percentage terms in more than six years - turning on its head the idea that the UK market performs well during periods of dollar strength.

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stock market lesson plans

Why should you want to steal someone else`s stock market lesson plans? First, let me tell you that a trading plan is only useful if you follow it. Following your plan will make you successful, yet many traders circumvent the stock market lesson plans that they have carefully created. They become emotional invested in a trade, to the point where they ignore all warning signs. Remember, when the market corrects itself, which it always does, no position is immune, no matter how strongly your ego may be tied to it. Many investors have stock market lesson plans that watch as their portfolio values are cut in half or more, yet they will still hold their positions. They may fear being left out of a big gain, or be so deep in loss that they felt they couldn`t possibly sell at that point. But even if you believe that all positions will recover from their losses, and the truth is that not all of them will, this is a terrible way to trade. You tie up too much capital, and your rate of return plummets. Just as you shouldn`t become emotionally involved in a trade, you should also never become tied to ideas. By this I mean becoming so fond of a particular strategy or trend that you cling to it even after it has stopped working. You need to have strategies, and to have plans, but you must also be aware of the shifts and swings of the market, the beginning and the ends of trends. When you first form your plan for a trade, you should consider what price or price range you think the stock is likely to reach. This is often called a target price, which gives some traders the wrong impression. A target price is not a price that the stock has to meet. A stock does not have to do anything. If you treat your target price as a goal, it can lead to many problems. Your target price should only be used as a guideline. The target price helps you figure out your risk to reward ratio, and it gives you an exit point in your trade. At the least, it should give you a point where you`ll reassess the trade`s ability to continue to moving upward. But your trade may never reach your target price. Many market factors can interfere with its progress, and you may have set your target higher than you should have. Since there`s no way all your trades will hit your price targets, it is a good idea to sell half your position at a more conservative target. Routinely taking profits will reward you in the long run

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Wize Stock Trading Revisited

What comes to mind when you think about wizetrade? Wizetrade is a new revolutionary way of trading in the U.S. stock market. As a wizetrader, you have to follow some very important tactics. Upon following the tactics, you should experience greater trades and more consistency in your stock trading portfolio.

Wizetrade Steps:

Step 1: Paper Trade

Paper trading is arguably the most important aspect to making a wizetrade. Paper trading is the process of trading in the stock market (often in real time) with fake money. Many paper trading accounts allow the individual investor to start out with about $50,000. The best way to think of paper trading is a practice run or a simulation.

Step 2: Manage your profit to risk scenario

Your profit to risk scenario is your personal financial breaking point. To manage your profit to risk scenario, you need to determine how much money you would like to make daily, weekly, monthly, annually, or any other frequency. After you've determined that, you need to determine what you're willing to risk and what you're not willing to risk. For example, instead of getting excited every time you hear of a great news release, have a predetermined amount of money set aside each month that you're willing to invest. Do not go below or beyond that amount.

Step 3: Manage your account

Managing your account is also another very very important part of the wizetrade stock trading plan. The stock market moves very quickly. To ensure you do not get caught up in the game, make sure you determine the frequency of your trading style. Are you going to be a day trader, swing trader, conservative, etc. After you have determined this, manage and review your account based on the frequency you have determined.

Step 4: Watch the money roll in

Enough said. No need for explanation

Bart James is an official wizetrade-wizetrade.blogspot.com stock investor. He runs a blog about the new and cutting edge concept.

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Micro-Cap Stock Trading – Pros and Cons of a Micro-Cap

Micro cap stock trading can be a way for a person with very little money to enter the stock market and make a lot of money fast. Micro cap stocks are simply stocks that have a market capitilization of under $250 million. Traders and investors are doubling or tripling their money by trading hot micro cap stocks. But before you open up your new trading account or use your present account to start trading micro caps there are some things you should know about these types of stocks.

Pro: Since 2000 the micro cap and small cap stocks have outperformed larger stocks in the market. In particular, micro cap stocks traditionally outperform large caps during a recession and early stages of a recovery.

Con: Micro cap stocks are usually listed on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Boards (OTCBB) and do not have to meet minimum listing standards that the larger caps must in order to keep their listings on the major stock exchanges.

Pro: Micro cap stocks offer a way to make money fast without a major outlay of your hard earned capital. They sell for very little per share, usually under $5. So if you have very little money to get started trading you get more bang for the buck and can lay the foundation for a good second income.

Con: These stocks can be thinly traded and volatile. If you have a fear of risk then micro-cap stocks are not for you.

Pro: Returns of 50%, 100% and 1000% and more in a day even an hour is a common occurrence.

Con: Researching penny stocks is difficult. Traditional technical analysis and fundamentals can provide very little clues to predict these huge gainers.

Pro: Research has proven that 7 out of 10 stocks that do gain 100% or more do so because of stock promotions. These are necessary to get the word out to the public about the company. Some micro cap stocks are simply small companies working hard to grow their business with an end goal of making it to the larger markets.

Con: It is difficult for the regular investor or trader to tell if the promotion is legitimate or not. Sometimes they involve companies that have a poor business plan, a product that has no demand, and some companies might even already be headed for bankruptcy.

Pro: There are many established e-mail newsletter services that provide the in-depth research that uncovers the hot micro-cap gainers for you and that give you all the information and support you need to make an intelligent micro cap trading decision.

Con: Without and advisory newsletter service finding the hottest micro-caps takes a lot of time for the average person to sort through all the information and confidently find the stocks with the potential to gain 100% and more.

For micro-cap stock trading to be successful it is advisable to seek out the inside advice of a professional e-mail newsletter service. These organizations help the traders and investors to eliminate some of the cons of micro-cap trading. They provide the critical in-depth research necessary to uncover the most promising micro-cap stocks and free the trader and investor to concentrate on intelligently trading the best stocks for their particular situation.

Eliminate the cons and accentuate the pros of micro cap stock trading

If you're ready to read more about how a micro cap stock pick newsletter can help you do this while doubling or tripling your money and get three FREE stock picks too boot then visit here now Join the thousands of traders and investors that are becoming wealthy each and every day.

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A Stock Market Timing Secret Revealed

Relative Strength Index (RSI) is a well known and much used
momentum indicator. It was invented by J. Welles Wilder Jr.,
a great technical analyst.

RSI compares the magnitude of a stock or index's recent gains
to the magnitude of it's recent losses and that information is
turned into a number that ranges from 0 to 100. A single
parameter is used, the number of time periods for the calculation.
14 periods is recommended by Wilder.

Common practical use of RSI in stock market timing is to measure
the underlying strength of the market and to determine if it's
getting overbought or oversold. Wilder's own recommendation was to
use 70 and 30 levels, to indicate an overbought and oversold market,
respectively. If RSI rises above 30 it's considered bullish for the
stock or index. If the RSI falls below 70, it's a bearish sign.

Bullish & Bearish Divergences
Stronger buy and sell signals can also be generated by looking
for positive and negative divergences between the RSI and
underlying prices. For example, a falling market index whose RSI
instead rises from a low point of 10 and back up to above 50. The
underlying index will often reverse it's direction soon after
such a divergence. Divergences that occur after an overbought or
oversold reading, usually gives more reliable signals.

Center Line Break

A bullish or bearish indication is given with readings above and
below the 50 level. A reading above this center line indicates that
average gains are higher than average losses. A reading below 50
indicates that bears are winning the fight. For confirmation of
bullish and bearish signals, some traders look for moves above and
below 50, respectively.

Below is the author's special indicator combination and settings,
for short & medium term stock market timing.

Daily Chart:

- 200 ema (exponential moving average)

- 89 ema (closing prices used for both ema calculations)

- RSI set at 25 periods with horizontal lines at 60 and 40

Weekly Chart:

- Walter Bressert's Cycle10 plotted with horizontal lines set at 70 and 40

- MACD plotted with Signal Time Periods set at 5

By the use of a 25 period RSI on a daily chart, in combination
with Cycle10 and MACD, plotted on a weekly chart, larger tops and
bottoms can often be found. This special indicator setup can be a
contributing factor for more accurate stock market timing, although
no guarantees are given. Examples for 2005 are the significant April
and October lows in the OEX, (S&P 100) where the RSI dipped below 40.

Later in 2005 and so far in 2006, three RSI moves above 60 all alerted
about important OEX peaks, in November, January and March.

Below is how i use this as an alert system in my own technical analysis:

By using this 25 period RSI, instead of the standard 14 RSI, some
whip-saws will be filtered out. When RSI 25 climbs above 60
or falls below 40, odds are greater more significant tops and
bottoms are forming, respectively. This part of the system acts
as a warning, a trading opportunity shows up on the Long or Short
side and more attention is given.

Long (Bullish) Entry Parameters:

Weekly MACD must be in bearish mode (closing prices).
When Daily RSI closing readings falls below 40, (for a bullish entry
consideration) weekly Cycle10 must be in it's buy zone (below 40)
and make a positive reversal on a weekly closing basis, before entry.
It's important to separate between the daily and weekly charts used
for each indicator.

A less aggressive approach is then to wait for the high of the weekly
bar that caused the Cycle10 reversal, to be broken by a few points.
Depending on the risk tolerance, a protective stop can be placed a
few points below the swing low or below the low of the bar which caused
the weekly Cycle10 reversal. When weekly MACD's signal line crosses it's
moving average, a bullish trend reversal confirmation is given.

Taking Profits

Deciding when to take profits is often viewed as the most difficult
part of trading. I would consider taking profits, when the 38.2%,
50% or the key 61.8% Fibonacci retracement levels (of the previous
bearish trend) are reached. It depends on how overbought the market
has become, when those Fibonacci retracement levels are touched.
Another, usually slower approach, is to simply take profits when MACD
turns bearish again (MA crossover).

The odds for a successful trade would increase if weekly MACD has just
been through a bullish divergence pattern formation first, before
entering bullish mode (MA crossover).

Other profit taking suggestions are when weekly Cycle10 makes a bearish
reversal up in it's sell zone (closing basis). A drawback with this
method, is that Cycle10 doesn't always reach it's sell zone, before
making a bearish reversal.

Another good point to take profits, is those times when the key 61.8%
Fibonacci price level is reached and Cycle10 at the same time is in it's
sell zone. In this case a bearish Cycle10 reversal is not waited for.
Any market wants to reach it's key 61.8% Fibonacci zone, 60-70% of the
time, before making a new trend reversal.

Short (Bearish) Entry Parameters:

Weekly MACD must be in bullish mode (closing prices).
When daily RSI rises above 60, weekly Cycle10 must be in it's sell zone
(above 70) and make a bearish reversal on a weekly closing basis, before
entry. Again, a less aggressive entry, is then to wait for the low of the
bar which caused the Cycle10 reversal, to be broken by a few points.
A protective stop can be placed a few points above the swing high or the
high of the weekly Cycle10 reversal bar. When MACD's signal line crosses
it's moving average, a bearish trend reversal confirmation is given.

Taking Profits
The same suggestions as for the Long entries, it depends on how long you
are willing to stay in the trade.

  • When the 38.2%, 50% or the key 61.8% Fibonacci retracement levels (of the previous bullish trend) are reached.
  • When weekly Cycle10 makes a bullish reversal down in it's buy zone.
  • When the key 61.8% Fibonacci level is reached and Cycle10 at the same
    time has entered it's buy zone, without waiting for a bullish reversal.

    For your profit taking decisions, the 89 and the 200 EMA, plotted on the
    daily chart, can also be used as important resistance and support levels
    to be aware of.

    In general, not more than 2-5% of the total trading capital should be at
    risk in any trade. This prevents the trading account from being wiped out,
    when a streak of losses may occur, as can happen in any system.

    The trading strategy outlined in this article is in no way the "holy grail"
    of stock market timing. It's an opinion of when important market tops and
    bottoms can be expected and hopefully be useful information in this regard,
    a tool in the tool box, if you like.

    (c) Copyright Arild Myklebust

    Arild Myklebust publishes a Free Trader's Tips Newsletter. Get Market & Indicator Updates, Charts & Commentaries, Trading Tips, Systems and Ebooks delivered to your email box.

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    A Quick Look at Some Stock Market Basics

    I have always heard the words 'dabbling in the stock market.' I never did dabble, but I did decide to find out exactly what that entails. If all goes well when you buy stocks from a certain company, you are actually part owner of that company and will receive money from your stocks.

    The appropriately named common stock is stock that anyone can purchase. A shareholder receives money from their stocks when the business does well. By purchasing stock in the company, you are an owner of part of the assets of a company. The more assets a company gets, the more money is generated, which in turn makes the value of the company go up. When the value goes up the stock goes up.

    Companies make stock available to raise money to either buy more properties or to expand the original company. Only a certain number of stocks are put out by the company. When these stocks are sold they are given a value called a par value.

    If you are a shareholder in a company, for every stock you own, you will receive one vote to decide who should be on the board of directors. The board of directors of a company have a lot of power in the business world. They decide how to spend the money that is generated by the company. They have the final say on whether to reinvest the money or pay dividends. Not only do they have the say so on this topic but when it boils down to it, the board of directors is in charge of hiring and firing top management officials in the company.

    Normally individuals only purchase stock to a company that is showing that it is doing well. However new businesses are often good investments. Wouldn't you have like to been in on the Microsoft stock when they first started out? How about Wal-mart or Sam's Club? That would have been one of the best investments you could have made.

    If you are starting to think maybe this isn't as hard to understand as you first thought and may be considering dabbling, the stock market isn't all about earning money. If a stock that you purchase doesn't do well, the value of the stock you own may go down lower than what you paid for it. Or it could become worthless if the company doesn't make it and has to declare bankruptcy.

    If you are not deterred from the decision to invest in the stock market, you will have to shop for a broker. This is the person who handles the buying and selling of the stock you purchase or sell. They receive a fee for their services. They watch the stock market constantly for their clients and will advise you on whether you need to hold onto the stock for a while or sell.

    Before you decide to buy stock, take a long look at your finances. Only spend what you can afford to lose. There is no guarantee that the company that you decide upon for purchasing stock will do well. If it does you will be thrilled and promptly decide to buy more stock.

    There are many more types of stock and all sorts of terms that are easier to understand if explained in the right manner. However that is for another time. Hopefully a basic understanding of how to buy a common stock is now much easier for you to understand.

    Whether you want to trade penny stocks or are debating stocks vs bonds, we can help you learn how the stock market works better than anyone.

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