A technical analysis is mostly favored by day-traders.  They put to use past prices and trading volumes to know what future prices will be.  A fundamental analysis is used by determining existing long term positions based on social, political and economic conditions.  Many Forex traders rely on trading platform software technology to help them to know when to enter and exit trading points.  The top trading platforms will be given either 4 or 5 star ratings by expert traders.  Some offer bonuses, are easy to deposit and withdraw money and offer easy to understand directions on how to navigate their site.  To be successful in Forex trading one must have a good understanding of the foreign currency market.   Beginners should trade mini-trades or small trades first so the risk is minimal.  They should make use of simulation trading platforms to learn about Forex trading before investing their money in real-life trading.

Becoming acquainted with common currencies and currency pairs, exchange rates, and spreads will help the beginner to be successful in Forex trading.  Online trading platforms are designed to allow traders to easily deposit and withdraw money and offer tutorials and forums that teach beginners to trade Forex successfully.  With bonuses and a selection of brokers available for traders, a trader can buy Forex for one price and sell for a higher price.  Experts recommend that beginners learn to analyze foreign markets, how to control risk and how to explore different trading platforms and brokers before trading Forex.

Authors Bio:

Kate Wales is a finance instructor for almost 3 years and currently taking up her masters in finance. She is currently working on her thesis, studying about Sunbird Currency Trading.

Online Currency Trading is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

Normally, mining stocks provide leverage for whatever the underlying commodity is, allowing investors to buy into a mining stock, and profit from the increase in the underlying commodity. For example, a mining company that digs iron ore out of the ground effectively leverages the returns of iron without the investor having to invest in the underlying commodity. The same holds true for gold, silver, or any other metal.

Part of the reason why mining companies may have experienced a broad-based sell off is because of the broader stock market picture and the economy where the mining operations are located. However, not all mining companies are in trouble. Some of them are poised to break out.

Vale S.A. (VALE) did well in 2011 in terms of profits. It experienced its highest net earnings which motivated the company to invest another $7.7 billion in Africa. Vale already operates in nine countries on the Dark Continent. Further investment would extend its reach and potentially increase its profits this year. It’s not like they don’t have the cash for expansion. While other mining stocks are hurting, Vale seems to be well-positioned to push forward.

Southern Copper Corporation (SCCO) is one of a few mining companies that has increased its share price over its pre-recession levels. Southern Copper has 72 percent of its sales tied up in copper, putting it at risk if the copper market falters. However, the company recently announced an increase in its dividend. This could signal a drop in share prices, but with China buying over 50 percent of Asia’s copper and consuming 30 percent of the world market’s supply, it’s unlikely that the Copper market will dry up soon.

While it’s true that China has been relying on its own copper reserves,  those reserves won’t last forever. If China continues its buying, as it has indicated that it will, then Southern Copper may give its investors a boost in their portfolio.

A surprising place to pick up mining shares may be Europe. While much of Europe is still reeling from the Greek debt crisis, countries like Slovakia don’t appear to have noticed that there is a crisis – at least not in the mining sector. Slovakia is Central Europe’s “powerhouse.” It’s also the only country that is part of the European Monetary Union. The country grew at 4 percent in 2010 year-on-year, and in 2011 the country’s GDP grew by about 3.3 percent – the fastest rate among its peers.

Slovakia also has a flat tax of just 19 percent for both individuals and businesses, making it very easy to do business there. While mining isn’t necessarily Slovakia’s strong point, the mining industry does exist there. Canadian-based company Dorex Minerals Inc. (V.DOX) is digging for gold in Slovakia. While the company is still in the early stages of its Kratke project, it looks promising even if it’s not yet economical.

Global Minerals (V.CTG) is in far better shape with its Strieborna silver-copper-antimony project. The company expects to see 13.4 million oz of silver at 231.7 g/t Ag, 48.1 million pounds of copper at 1.1 percent, and 29.8 million pounds of antimony at 0.7 percent.  The best part? Slovakia seems to be generally supportive of mining and mineral exploration activities.

Unfortunately, the news isn’t good for large cap mining companies in the precious metals industry. Fears that gold will not sustain its high are depressing large mining stock share prices for the foreseeable future. However things could turn around for some of the major players like Goldcorp, Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining, and Yamana if gold prices don’t fall.

Guest post contributed by Liz Goldman, a freelance finance writer, on behalf of Everest Forex the destination to learn forex trading and home to forex bonus points. All views and opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent Everest Forex.

Can You Profit From a Mining Stocks Rally? is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

Support and resistance levels are psychological levels which price has trouble breaking. When price stops on a level from above and cannot continue downwards, the level is a support level. When price moves up and is unable to break higher than a certain level, it is called a resistance level. The more times price has tried and failed to break a level, it is said that it is more ‘respected’ by price and therefore it is stronger. We will only trade levels that have been respected by price at least twice, for ensuring that it is indeed a strong level and not just a temporary retracement.

We can trade these levels by waiting for price to hit a support\resistance level, and enter a reversal trade when price hits th level and begins to reverse. This is a strong signal that can provide you with good profits on many stocks and commodities. Another signal that is worth trading is the breakout: it occurs when price breaks through a level it was previously unable to break. Usually after this breakout the momentum is very strong and traders who have entered the trade early can ride a long trend with big profits.

Another interesting signal is the pullback. The pullback occurs after a level is broken, and price re-tests the level from the opposite side. What usually happens, is that the support level becomes resistance (and vice versa), and price continues with a strong trend in the direction of the breakout. This is a very accurate place to join the trade for low risk-high reward trades.

The importance of these levels is due to the fact that they exist in any tradable security, and their effect is present in any stock, Forex pair or commodity. By reading the charts correctly you will be able to predict movements of price, knowing when price will reverse and you could prepare with a countertrade, or filter your trades according to those levels. For example, if an indicator gives you a buy signal but you see that price is heading towards a resistance level, you will not enter and will prevent this imminent loss.

In conclusion, support and resistance levels can be a very useful tool in a trader’s arsenal, so learn and master their use for your long-term trading success.

Steve Sollheiser is a writer and a stock trader. Visit his site, www.StockChartPatterns.org for more
articles about chart patterns.

Importance of Support and Resistance in Trading is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

Not only did this occur in the metals financial market, but also saw other currency markets such as the Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc closing against the US dollar at a record peak. There has been a rush of investors in the European markets who are moving into the purchase of physical gold, and with the debt crisis moving across to Italy for the first time, this is mostly likely to continue in the near future.

On Friday, there were the most sales seen in the past year of gold coins at UBS in Zurich according to the bank’s strategist Edel Tully. She was reported to have said that the purchasing of the coins came from many different countries in Europe, with a fear that the trading industry of gold is becoming more prevalent. The fear is unlikely to disappear until Greece’s problems have abated and there is a clearer picture of the future for them.

The upturn in the market, which has actually been about 8% in the past couple of weeks, has potentially been helped by the fact that Washington has yet to make an agreement on how to get the country out of its debt by the beginning of August.

No only gold, but silver also rose at the beginning of the week, peaking at $40.15, which is the first time since May it has broken $40. This is an increase of nearly 20% over the previous two weeks. There is a belief that gold will continue to rise over the coming years, however, compared to 1980, with the allowance of inflation, it is still a long way off what it was, which would now be $2,400.
According to the strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon, Neil Mellor, the $1,600 milestone is just another level of which gold has hit since the turn of the century, and will continue to grow as long as there is nothing in the way of the doubting investors.

Price of Gold Reach Records High is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

Gold has been around as long as I can remember, but in the past, few of us have invested in the precious metal. Today, however, things have changed dramatically and the metal has become friendlier to all who are interested in saving their fortune. Opportunities to invest in gold are countless: beginning with investing in gold bullion , gold coins, gold shares and so on hand.

Some may wonder where you can buy these precious metals. First of all, people should know that there are a variety of companies, where people can shop safely, with very reasonable prices. However, before you invest, scout out the market and find out how much gold is being exchanged. Being well informed is the first step to a safe and profitable investment, but gold can also be purchased elsewhere, such as vending machines. So, if you’re ever in Germany, or the city of Dubai, make sure you buy gold bars from a special vending machine. The gold sold is 100% genuine, but the price can be a bit high for a special memory of the city.

The gold market is open to all investors, regardless of status, place of work, etc.. When you have a little money and want to diversify your portfolio and invest in precious metals, this is probably the best option. After a long period of forbidding its citizens to invest in gold, the Chinese government now encourages people to invest at least part of their wages in the valuable metal. So it goes without saying that if China, a major world in economy, is investing in gold, so must we.

But people do not just invest in gold. Central banks around the world buy the yellow metal to protect their currencies. Nothing is more precious than gold and nothing has been as constant as the precious metal in the market. Investment of gold has become extremely accessible and can be done without any difficulty for the buyer. Therefore, if you want to invest in something to protect your assets, then you’ve found the right product to do it!

Investing In Gold and Precious Metals is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

The applications of indices- The positives

Indices do in fact have direct, useful applications. Ironically, their most obvious uses are much better leads than they look. The mere fact that an index moves up or down on a particular day doesn’t necessarily mean much, but the elements within it are often good indicators of trends. If you know how an index is weighted, you can pin down useful facts and find good information.

For example:

One glance at an index can tell you a lot. If the Aerospace index goes solidly up, it means that the heavyweights in that index are on the move. That in turn means new business, and new business for a company like Boeing is good news for related industries, localities and subcontractors and related manufacturers. It’s like a Yellow Pages of investment opportunities.

There are some market products like commodities and index based investments like mutuals and Exchange Traded Funds, which are obviously hardwired into their various indices. Their indices have direct dollar-based applications to these types of investments, and you can predict, fairly accurately, without even looking, sometimes, what’s happened, simply on the basis of the size of the index move. Again, if the Aerospace index takes a hit, you already know that Boeing or one of the other giants has tripped over something and things are looking very iffy.

So indices do tell pretty accurate stories, within these frames of reference. That is quite specifically not the case with a range of other scenarios, which are much more individualized and behavioral.

The negatives and the misleading scenarios

If indices are pretty faithful reflections of some types of information, they can be very misleading in some contexts:

• A boom market will keep telling traders they’re on a good thing in any index they look at, until the inevitable downward correction/disaster happens.
• Indices are weighted. Good stocks in dismal indices aren’t exactly unknown, and vice versa.
• Investment performance and ROI aren’t well defined by indices except in the specific hardwired investment types.
• Indices cannot track issues with their component companies very effectively, if at all.
• Nobody was aware of the scale or depth of the financial market fiasco in 2007. The indices were all pointing straight up, when the biggest downward correction since 1929 hit.
• An index can’t tell you if the semi-literate/amnesiac CEO of your investment is trying to replay the Enron saga or not with their capital management until it’s too late.  

Yes, indices matter, and yes, they can provide useful information, particularly if you’re experienced enough a trader to be skeptical on principle. Otherwise, stick to your SEO approach to key data and other information. It’s a lot safer.

Stock market indices- How useful are they for traders? is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

Self assessment- Do you need a financial manager?

There are some very simple ways of defining management issues with your investments:

• Are your investments impacting your tax returns? If so, you may find that this situation evolves into a real nuisance. These situations tend to evolve over time, and can become quite counterproductive if you don’t get assistance with tax management options.

• Do your investments consume a lot of time and space, doing things yourself? This very common problem actually costs money. Your time is being diverted from making money to administering it and doing “office work”.

• Are you constantly tinkering with investments? If you’re forever moving capital around and trying to get better performance out of your investments, you’re in danger of going nowhere. Best practice financial management is planned, not reactive.

• Are you unsure of your rights as an investor? If so, you’re definitely not alone, but this situation means that you may have issues with investment quality and performance. 

• Are your investments “treading water” or going backwards? Some investments can be truly spectacular under-performers. Not all financial products are good value, and some are much better avoided.

• Are you missing your financial targets? One of the greatest problems in financial investment is meeting your own expectations. The blunt fact is that investment has to be managed to hit targets and track performance. 

If you answered Yes to one of these issues, you’ll need to speak to a financial manager, preferably soon, to prevent escalation of the issue. If you answered Yes to more than one of the questions, you do need help, because your investments are already creating both current and future problems. These problems are already visible, and will need to be dealt with soon enough.

What’s now a nuisance can become a loss-making, expensive issue over time, sometimes quite rapidly, even with good investments. Under performing investments, by definition, mean you should be investing elsewhere. Non-performing investments mean you’re losing money, with an ongoing risk factor as well.

Getting professional help with your investments

The huge advantage of engaging professional financial managers is that you can quite literally have all the financial services you need on tap, getting expert level information and advice when you need it. Financial managers can also provide you with good investment options like managed funds, professionally managed funds which can keep your capital growing without all the issues of DIY investment administration and accounting.

Successful investment really doesn’t have to be hard work. Talk to a professional, and see what you can achieve.

Personal finances- How to tell when you need an investment manager is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

The FTSE 100 index of the top U.K companies slipped .9% due to the BoE’s decision. Also, the value of the pound dipped .3% at $1.6063.

There have been rumors in the market that the BoE can possibly increase rates. The fact that the pound fared well against the dollar was basically due to this speculation. The possibility of higher rates allured the investors to the pound because of the better chances of return on interest bearing investments.

Probably, the rates won’t rise for the time being. The B0E’s quarterly economic forecast will be out pretty soon and there are high chances that it will predict a dwindling inflation rate. Therefore, the BoE is keeping its fingers crossed. Since there are high chances of growth in spite of the recent economic contraction in the U.K and inflation can decline for good, the BoE will possibly maintain a status quo for the time being. Currently, a lot of guesswork is being done on the growth rate and inflation. As the situation becomes clear, the BoE will decide if there is any need to raise the rate which is at a historical low of 0.5pc right now.

Amidst this development, the euro suffered another setback owing to the debt crisis in Portugal. The bond yields soared again in Portugal on 10^th January this year and the euro fell by .7% to $1.3630.Germany’s DAX also underperformed by being .4% lower. Even the possible chances of a merger between New York Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse did not help. This trend was also visible in Asia where Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average dropped .1% to 10,605.65. Hang Seng index in Hong Kong also slipped 2% to 22,708.62. Worried by the developments in the continent, the Central Bank in China increased interest rate a number of times recently.

The downswing in Europe and the U.K in particular, was preceded by a slump in the Wall Street. Standard and Poor’s 500 futures declined .6% to 1311. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke commented that he was contemplating austere fiscal policies to remedy the situation.

Stocks market blues in the U.K amidst static rates and debt woes is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

The Great Financial Crisis also produced a crisis of confidence among investors. Investors want to see something at least resembling a normal market. A US recovery is the only working mechanism able to provide that reassurance. Everybody, from day traders to managed funds, wants to see solid gains and solid growth.

The “mixed signals” issues- Where the breezes are coming from

The US economy has been sending a very garbled series of messages. They may be accurate, they may be subject to interpretation, but the fact is that they’re also making market analysis pretty difficult.

For example:

Employment

Employment figures have been erratic, including some big spikes and periods when the US employment market looks positively comatose. There’s an issue here, and the issue is that the US employment market is no longer the industrial market it once was. It’s a services market, and its behavior is quite different to most of the conventional models.

Employment figures underpin major capital in domestic economics, including the manufacturing, auto, consumer goods, retail and housing sectors. The recovery has been slow, but there are signs that the New Economy business models are taking hold, supporting more trade and professional services. That’s a breeze which will definitely grow into a gale in the US. All global economies are taking up the new business approach, and many are taking big market shares. 

Housing

The US housing market was effectively hit by a dinosaur-killing asteroid in 2008. Confidence in the market has been propped up by low prices, not hype, and that’s been an almost unreadable factor in market analysis. Nobody, understandably, wants to make predictions in an environment where figures like 3 million more foreclosures are expected in 2011.

This has been a very ill wind, which will eventually blow a hurricane of good for some investors. There’s only one truly obvious factor involved in the current US housing sector- The current big surge in investment in foreclosures and bargain basement properties is the forerunner of an eventual upsurge.

From the market’s point of view, an upswing in the property sector translates into an upswing across the board, from finance to construction materials. This is a gigantic capital market, and when it comes back onstream, the US recovery will be truly underway.

Politics and the US budget

The market has naturally been highly sensitive to US government issues. This particular hurricane has arguably done more damage to market confidence than anything else. Big budget cuts, even to defense, have been foreshadowed as the US battles its huge national debt. 

The good news is that nations can’t be governed purely by self-serving verbosity. Revenue must become more than a football. Clear fiscal policies must be in place. These breezes are still blowing in multiple directions, but the inevitable outcome must be a solid blast of fresh air to restart America. When that happens, the markets will respond rapidly.

Best practice for investors is therefore to position for growth, while avoiding risk. There may not be too many “get rich quick” options on the board now, but they will be there, so get ready.

US recovery- Reading the rising breezes in between the hurricanes is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners

Automatic selling basics

Automatic selling is pretty simple. The buyer of stocks selects a price for sale, above and/or below the purchase price. The reason for these selections is to obtain a given profit margin, and to ensure loss minimization.

Making a profit

For example: A million units of stock is bought for $1.00. The seller sets a sale price of $1.23 as the trigger. The sale is conducted automatically, through the stock software. The seller doesn’t even need to look at stock prices. They’ll be notified when the sale is made.

The price is calculated on volume and on charges incurred for purchase and sale. The $1.23 includes 20% profit on the principle, and 3% to cover charges. That’s a simple $200,000 profit, clear.

Avoiding risk- Stop Loss orders

Traders don’t want to take any losses if they can help it. They prefer to maintain their working capital in one piece, and fast stock movements can happen at any time. There are various ways of hedging on investment risks, but automatic selling is by far the simplest and quickest way to avoid excessive losses, particularly in volatile markets.

This is one reason for sudden large volumes of sales on global markets.

For example:

The million units of stock above is bought by a managed fund for $1.00 is based on existing profit for a fund. The fund manager is developing their capital, and this $1 million dollars isn’t something they want to lose. The transaction is now based on risk management principles as much as a desire for further profits. The fund manager sets a Stop Loss sale price of 95 cents with the broker, (either directly or using supplied software), as a below the line sale price, to reduce risk from the outset, as well as an above the line sale price of $1.23 to get the margins described.

It’s a very good idea to consider the Stop Loss option in particular from the moment of purchase. Everyone takes some sort of loss on the stock market at some point, and minimizing the damage is definitely the best option for preventing damage to your capital base.

This methodology was developed by traders who were always at risk of a run on stocks even in the course of normal share trading . A trader holding any portfolio, including all blue chips, is always vulnerable to a major hit on a particular stock which can undermine an otherwise profitable trading portfolio quite easily.

Automatic selling is simple, quick and safe way of protecting your profits and your investments from loss.

Automatic selling- What it is, and how it works is a post from: Stock Market For Beginners