Author: Mark

Financial & Investment Tips

How the Stock Market Works

The stock market has been around for well over a hundred years, but surprisingly a lot of people know very little about it. Some of that can be due to fear, not of learning, but just the sheer complexity of what goes on in a daily basis. It is also viewed as very risky by most people, which is totally understandable – it is if you don’t know what you are doing. Thankfully in the last 10 years or so the internet has helped out investor education by leaps and bounds. Its now quite easy to research the subject, although you might get more information than you can handle. The basics of the market seem fairly simple enough. You have companies that issue shares to the public, and

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Financial & Investment Tips

US Treasury Securities

Just like debt issued by companies or cities, the federal debt of the United States is bought and sold on freely trading markets known as the US Treasury markets. When investors go to buy debt, they don’t go buy it from Uncle Sam, and in fact, it may be many days or weeks before a newly created US Treasury Security even makes it into private hands. The Lifecycle of US Treasury SecuritiesOn behalf of the government of the United States, the US Treasury issues what are known as Treasury Bonds or Bills to the marketplace of preferred banks known as the “primary dealers.” To become a primary dealer, a bank must be a large banking institution with a size and scope large enough to be one

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Financial & Investment Tips

Day Trading System

I am often asked about day trading systems. Generally exactly what I’m referring to are stock index systems (E-minis & & S&P s etc). I do not have much favorable to say about these types of methods. I do not think I am being unfairly biased; I’ve invested over 15 years investigating all kinds of trading systems. Day trading appears to please the want for action and enjoyment in numerous traders. Often I think these traders are not looking to generate income however keep constant adrenaline pumping through their body! From my perspective, I can not think of even one day trading system from five years ago that is still doing today, that is right NOT ONE! Maybe a few have had occasional “& ldquo; return

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Financial & Investment Tips

Trader Linda Raschke: Tips On Day-Trading the S&P 500 

The S&P 500 futures market is a trading arena unto itself, which can accommodate many different trading styles, according to Linda Bradford Raschke, a well known trader, lecturer and president of LBR Group, Inc. “Not only does this market display a different daily profile than the other futures markets, but it has a much longer “length of line” (intraday swings), which offers more trading opportunities, she said. “Additionally, there is a wealth of information provided by many internal indicators on the equities market that some professionals like to monitor.” Below, the longtime trader provides some tips on trying to be a successful S&P 500 day trader. “However, let me also say that the majority of the professional S&P day traders I know tend to specialize

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Financial & Investment Tips

Dow Jones Breaks Overhead Resistance

The upward momentum of the Dow Jones breaks overhead resistance and closes near its high for the session.(See chart below). I am not surprised but it is not what I expected. This is unusual behavior but as I mentioned, the market can do what it wants. For many, selling into resistance, on strength, is OK. You may or may not get the exact high but you will get a good price as you close out your positions. In trying to anticipate a market turning point to establish new short positions, in this daily market before it happens, is not always the best approach. I have done this on occasion in my own day trading, anticipating the likely path of price, but it is usually best to

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Financial & Investment Tips

Financial Spreads Research Report

Although the Financial Spreads website is relatively new to the market, the technology, pricing and service is provided by London Capital Group which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority and a member of the London Stock Exchange. Financial Spreads aim to provide highly competitive prices with tight spreads on top of a simple, friendly and efficient service. At FinancialSpreads you can trade a wide variety of markets including shares, stock market indices, commodities, forex and more. For each market Financial Spreads: * Regularly assess our markets and are constantly keeping our spreads tight* Add Automatic Stop-losses (please note that stop-losses are not guaranteed)* Commit to a simple, friendly and efficient service* Provide the same high level of service that we expect when

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Financial & Investment Tips

Free Online Stock Trading

In the past, if you wanted to trade stocks you had to use a licensed stock broker to handle the buy and sell order for you. There were always significant costs associated with the transaction, sometimes upwards of $50. Newer investors who did not have a lot of up-front cash would be limited to just a couple of trades per month before of this cost. If you had big dreams of your investment strategies, they would take longer to achieve because of the higher cost associated with buying and selling. This is why free online stock trading has become a new favorite past time among even amateur stock traders. When the internet came into existence, a lot of businesses dramatically changed. One of these businesses was

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Financial & Investment Tips

How Much Capital Does A Day Trader Need

Working Capital needs come out of your firm’s requirement to meet cash needs. This is of course not the type of business finance and funding that you need when you acquire assets such as equipment. How then can the Canadian owner and business manager determine the amount of cash flow needs, as well as the best way to solve the problem… i.e. a solution! The way to do that is to spend some time on whets known as your ‘ trading cycle ‘… aka ‘ cash flow cycle ‘. It’s all about understanding how your payables arise and how the products and services you purchase translate into either inventory or direct to sales. And here’s the secret – the speed, or total

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