Three Myths of Stock Trading

By W. Alan Gay

I've been a Stock Trader for over 15 years, and know the business inside and out. I didn't start at a fancy brokerage firm with sophisticated training courses. Instead, I made my success my own way, failing here, tweaking there, using seminars and self taught classes to learn what I needed as I went.

While this method may have taken me longer to succeed, I have accumulated a lot more real world knowledge about stock trading than a lot of those brokerage house taught investment advisors who only know what they learned from their boss. For instance, I have learned over the years that there are misunderstandings that constantly recur when talking about stock trading. Here are three of them:

First, is the myth that only certain types of people make successful stock traders. True, those folks who can analyze stock trends and pick the big winners are typically left brained thinkers (more than 60%), which is probably how this myth originated.

But there really is something in stock trading for every type of thinker. If you aren't a left brained analytical type, you just need to find a process that works well for you. I am definitely right brained, and I am being completely honest when I tell you I would hate to sit around and analyze stocks all day. Despite this, I have made a great living trading stocks. Anyone else can too.

The second misconception is that stock trading has a lot of risk to it, even more than running a small business. Now, I will be the first to admit that plenty of people have lost everything in the stock market, and of course those are the stories we see splashed over the papers that terrify a lot of people.

But I have learned that it is a matter of setting up the right process to place your stops and limiting your risks to a level that you are comfortable with. If you can do that, stock trading is really a very low risk profession. For example, I have worked out a process that results in a 75% or more success rate with my trades. That is hard to beat, and you would be hard pressed to find another business that can give you that kind of low risk situation.

Finally, how many times have you heard that its a full time job to make consistent big money in the stock market? Absolutely true for some kinds of trading and especially if you don't have good stock pickers to rely on. Then you are stuck doing the grunt and the leg work in a fast changing environment " sure that takes a lot of time.

However, rest assured it is possible to make a full time living trading stock for 2-4 hours a day. What you do with the rest of the day is up to you! The trick is to find a process that meets your comfort level of risk and is very efficient with your time. There are a lot of courses available and I agree it can be intimidating to find the one that's right for you. Investigate several choices and make sure to ask lots of questions before signing up. If you don't get satisfactory answers to your questions, move on fast, customer will not improve once they have your money! If you research your options knowing the right process is there for you, you will be on your way to success at stock trading before you know it. - 23208

About the Author:

W. Alan Gay has been a stock trader and coach for fifteen years. His free report describes Alan's trip to becoming accomplished at trading stocks and gives effective tips he and his students have used to consistently trade profitably. Click to obtain a free copy of his report and learn more about how you could be trading stocks profitably in as little as fourteen days.

Knowing How Penny Stocks, Pink Sheets and Micro Caps Differ Can Be A Profitable Journey

By James Brumley

Its extremely important that investors know how to distinguish between terms like pink sheet and penny stock, bulletin board and micro cap. The differences can mean making a winning or losing trade.

Though its likely you know the true definition of at least a couple of these terms, its worth spending a couple of minutes planting a simple " and unique " explanation in the back of your mind for each one. Doing so may mean the difference between making a profitable investment or not at some point in the future.

Whether you consider a penny stock as one that trades under $1 or one that trades under $5 really doesnt matter. Although the universe of stocks to choose from will definitely expand as the stock price rises.

If you want to short or buy a penny stock on margin, make sure you know whom youre doing business with. Some brokerages will not allow shorting of any stock under $5; others dont place a limit. So, choose wisely.

Often a stocks price sinks because a temporary situation has developed. It may even have met the same requirements as higher priced stocks at some point. A stock with this type of price movement could be a great investment opportunity when it trades as a penny stock"which can be a pink sheet or bulletin board stock (see below).

One of the riskiest types of stocks to invest in is a pink sheet stock, traded on an over-the-counter quotation system. Before you completely eliminate them from your investment world, its worth doing a little homework because this stigma isnt always deserved.

Some foreign stocks choose to list their equities in the U.S. market, but for technical or logistic reasons cant list their stock with one of the exchanges or the bulletin board system. That doesnt make the investment any less credible though. The size of the company (or market cap) is irrelevant.

On that note, however, the potential downside of pink sheet stocks appears there are essentially no reporting/disclosure requirements for companies with stocks listed as pink sheet equities. In other words, you may not be able to view any audited accounting statements for these stocks. Many pink sheet companies can and do disclose every single financial statement they produce, however. For that reason, these stocks should be considered on a case-by-case basis.

However, if a stock isnt listed on the NYSE or AMEX but rather the OTC market or as an OTCBB stock, it still means it has met SEC reporting/disclosure requirements and is considered to be of fully reporting status.

This may come as a surprise, but the bulletin board system is not the only over-the-counter game in town. Both pink sheet and NASDAQ markets are OTC markets.

Bulletin board companies dont consider share price when determining if a stock should be listed there, but market cap may be.

Dont just assume that all bulletin board stocks lack the stability of exchange-listed stocks. You might find some hidden gems that are stronger and more productive.

Micro Cap " The standard definition of a micro cap company is any company with a market cap (issued shares multiplied by share price) of $250 million or less, though the number isnt set in stone. Note that share price has nothing to do with the determination; there are plenty of micro cap stocks with share prices well over $5.00.

You may think that the companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange are bigger and stronger than all the others, but thats not true. The minimum market cap stands at $25 million, so even a micro cap stock can make the NYSE.

A Quadruple Summary

Penny stock, pink sheet, bulletin board, and micro cap four terms that are tossed around quite a bit as if they all meant the same thing. Theyre all quite unique though. If an investor chooses to overlook a particular stock because its not an attractive investment, thats fine. However, overlooking a stock simply because of a semantic misunderstanding could be a regrettable decision. Knowledge is power.

Whether youre looking for top stock picks and trading ideas among the penny stock world, bulletin board equities, or micro caps, youll find them at www.smallcapnetwork.com. We explore the information that really matters to find you the best of the best stocks, and to offer highly meaningful market commentary. Sign up for the free e-newsletter today. - 23208

About the Author:

James Brumley is an expert in the small stock arena covering penny stocks and small cap stocks for over 10 years now. Investors with an appetite for high risk/reward investment ideas should consider getting his free newsletter publication by visiting www.smallcapnetwork.com and subscribing.

Margin Accounts For Online Forex Trading Have Risks And Rewards

By John Eather

The benefits of online forex trading with a margin are that it allows the broker to leverage lots of currency which are as much as 100:1 the size of his deposit. This makes for very good profit potential. However with every high profit venture, comes the high risk aspect which is the other side of the coin. If a trader is not careful and does not know what he is doing he could lose his margin deposit.

If your margin account stands at a leverage ratio of 100:1 or 1% on a lot unit of $100 000, even a one cent move of a currency in the wrong direction will see this deposit completely wiped out. Essentially this means you lose $1 000!There are methods and safeguards in place that will limit these losses, for instance "stop loss orders". These will automatically close your position if the currency drops below a certain point. They will allow traders to limit losses, while still allowing potential profit to be earned.

Stop loss order can be put in place to prevent this from happening by they are not fool-proof. However they do still allow for a certain amount of profitable trading, as well as limiting of losses.

One of the problems which is often overlooks by foreign currency traders is the broker, on seeing a currency drop may intervene and counteract your transaction. They see your deposit margin account is falling low because of a shift in currency, and they may close it. If you are riding out a downturn, expecting the trend to change and your broker closes your position you will lose your deposit funds. In order to continue riding this downturn until the shift to an upwards trend occurs; you will be required to make an additional deposit into your margin account.

Protecting this investment does not only entail "stop loss orders" however, these professionals the same as all of us, have to be educated in the psychology of forex trading in order to be successful. While some skill can be self taught, what better way to protect your investment than undergoing formal currency trading education? - 23208

About the Author:

Make certain to sign up for John Eather's informative ecourse and reports about Online Forex Trading. Obtain the most state-of-the-art information regarding forex trading. Go to MoneyMakingFxTrader.com to learn more.

Getting Your House Ready to Sell

By Dr Adel Kitch

How can a buyer get interest for purchasing your house? Impression is the keyword. You just need to get your house ready to sell by doing some preparation. Get inspected by a professional if you want to pay a little effort for maximum results, or if you don't want to spend much money by paying professional you can do by yourself for getting your house ready to sell.

Now that become a question, how to get your house impressed a buyer? Those are the steps for getting your house ready to sell to a buyer.

Beautify your exterior What you do is just beautifying. The goal is to make your exterior look pretty and fresh to impress your buyer. Just to inform you that the exterior becomes the first impression to overlook a house. There are two sensory organs of a buyer you must impress. Those are eyes and nose. By bringing the garden homelike condition to your house exterior, making it looked pretty and freshening it up. The steps you can do are: - Get the grass, trees, flowers, and plants tidy and fresh by mowing and watering it - Clean up the curb and entering path and put the potted flower in the sides. - Freshen up the smells by put scented potpourri. - Clean up all of windows and entering doors. - Get rid of equipments out of sights. - Paint the walls if necessary.

Make the Cosy Interior After buyer got impression from your house exterior, do some simple works to get the cosiness of your house interior. It aims to make a buyer feel homelike buy entering your house. These are the steps: - Clean up the tile floors; scrub it if there are some bad spots. - Get rid of spider net from your ceilings. - Wash the carpets with a fragrant soap. - Get your furniture placed tidily and gets rid of unnecessary one. - Brush the closets - Clean the garage, basement, and attic - Get the windows opened and clean, it will bring freshness to your house inside - If you have pets, bath them. - Put some fresh fragrance in air conditioner.

Repairing and Replacing Some Repairing and replacement is necessary to do, if there are some broken furniture, equipment, or appliances. Just check out: - broken or missing door - cabinet handles - ceilings - ventilation filters - broken tiles in bathroom and kitchen - faucet - wallpaper - some furniture

Get your friends' opinion Assume some friends like a buyer, and get some advice and suggestion to make your house get more ready to sell. And the most important thing is your friends feel your home like their own home. - 23208

About the Author:

If you live in Adelaide and looking for a new kitchen to put in your house, go to Kitchens design Adelaide.

Secrets of the Forex Made Easy Way

By Chan Boldene

If you've been following Forex at all over the last few years, you've probably heard the statistic that 95% of all traders lose money at this profession (before applying Forex Made Easy principles). Let's think about that for a sec. 95% of all traders lose their money. So, how can you become part of the five percent who actually "win" in this profession? Simple, education and experience.

The First Forex Made Easy Secret is Education.

Ignorance about the hobby/profession can be costly and dangerous (in any field actually). Hand over your hard-earned money to a clerk in the local 7/11, it would be no different. But, there are many online programs and courses available, so which should you choose? Again, the answer is easy, too easy in fact: the course that's free! And everyone likes free. But but but... No buts. There are hundreds of courses available for free, you just need to search for them. Remember, not being educated could land you broke and frustrated. Part of the 95% losers. Another statistic.

The Second Forex Made Easy Secret is Experience.

Another great teacher is experience. What an understatement. When your precious money is on the line, you need to have real-world experience making the trades, clicking the correct buttons in a high pressure situation, watching your money sink and soarl with each passing tick. The only way you can do this is through daily experience (actually doing the trades - and even losing occasionally). It does seem obvious, doesn't it?

That's usually not what happens. Most Forex Made Easy people will dive right in and watch their stacks of dollars or euros or yen fly the coup. Of course they had a program to follow, but they didn't follow it. Of course they had goals but those goals weren't at all realistic. Of course they had a mini-account, but they were highly underfunded. Of course they had a premonition which way the market was going to go, but that's all it was, a hunch, a good feeling.

Greed is a large factor in the Forex market (and other markets in general). People want to make a boatload of money quickly. It just doesn't happen that way. Very few things in life do.

Learning a profitable trading method is easy and very do-able. The hard part for most Forex Made Easy traders is getting the right mindset. Here are some facts that you must accept:

- You win some; you lose some. Everyone does, even those who've been at this for decades.

- You need discipline to trade. Without discipline you will fail. Period.

Trading the Forex Made Easy way can be extremely profitable. It takes a combination of keeping great discipline, managing risk, and accepting losses to be successful. - 23208

About the Author:

Mr. Boldene is a Freelance Writer and writes about many topics. To learn more about Forex, click on the Forex Made Easy Info Blog button or the Forex Made Easy Intro.

Gold Coins or Gold Bullion for Investing

By Cindy Wilson

Not only should your portfolio be diversified with gold, but you should be diversified within the gold portion of your portfolio. There are several different forms of gold you can buy for your portfolio, including gold bullion, foreign or domestic, modern gold coins, foreign or domestic or antique gold coins, foreign or domestic.

There are also options within each gold category that allows you to receive and store your own gold or allow the dealer or broker to keep your gold for you. Most people buying gold are not only buying for diversity, but they are preparing for financial disaster. For those cases, gold coins and antique gold coins have the reputation of not being able to be confiscated by the government because of their intrinsic and collector value.

On the other hand, gold bullion in recent history has been confiscated by the US government and there are several organizations that are trying to push legislation through that will fix that situation by not allowing the government to be able to confiscate personally owned gold bullion or coins of any kind.

Can the US government confiscate foreign gold bullion or modern foreign gold coins? Back when gold was confiscated by President Roosevelt in 1933, foreign gold and foreign gold coins "earmarked or held in trust for a recognized foreign government or foreign central bank"

That would mean that if we go by what happened in history, foreign gold bullion and foreign gold coins would be safe from US gold confiscation. That's what happened before, but the US government can make laws to fit the situation, so the way it happened before, may not be the way it happens in the future.

Older gold coins are pushed by telemarketers and many dealers because of their higher profit margins. Many dealers and sales people prey on buyer's fears about the historical gold confiscation. President Ford issued his own directive that repealed Roosevelt's executive order.

Then Congress in 1977 removed the president's authority to regulate gold transactions during a national emergency other than war. What's that mean? Probably nothing. Sales people that use historic events to sell their most profitable inventory are not being completely honest and preying on investor fears of previous events. This shows that the previous gold confiscation has nothing to do with what the government may do in the future.

Just because President Roosevelt exempted antique gold coins and foreign bullion doesn't mean a current administration would go by those same guidelines. The truth is, no one knows what will happen in the future, especially in the event of a financial collapse. - 23208

About the Author:

Information for buy gold coins and antique gold coins at Buying Gold Coins Online and How to buy Gold Coins