Posts Tagged ‘retirement’

Candlestick Trading Patterns- The Hanging Man, the Hammer and the Spinning Top!

Mar 8, 2010 Uncategorized

Hanging Man and the Hammer are two different candlestick patterns. The patterns are not identical. Hanging Man is considered to be bearish and the Hammer is considered to be bullish.

How to spot the Hanging Man and the Hammer? These candlestick patterns are easy to spot on the chart. When you spot a very small candle body accompanied by a pretty long wick on the bottom, it is a Hanging Man if it appears at the top of the uptrend and it is a Hammer if it appears at the bottom of the downtrend.

Now suppose, you find the Hammer or the Hanging Man. What you need is to look for the confirmation the next day! Now, in most of the cases, you will also find a small wick on the top of the candle body.

If you think that you have spotted a Hanging Man appear on the top of an uptrend, wait for the next day’s opening price. If the opening day is lower than the last day’s close, you have spotted a true Hanging Man.

Similarly, if you spot a Hammer at the bottom of a downtrend, you need to confirm it with the opening price on the following day. If the opening price on the next day is higher than the closing price on the last day, the Hammer formed was a true Hammer.

When you trade candlestick patterns, you need to look for the confirmation on the following day to confirm that the candlestick pattern formed was indeed true. Once you have the confirmation signal, you can safely trade on that candlestick pattern. If you cannot get the confirmation, you should ignore that pattern considering it to be false. Most of these candlestick patterns are ideally suited for the daily charts.

Spinning Top is just like the Hanging Man and the Hammer. Spinning Top is a signal that the battle between the bulls and the bears ended in a draw. It will start next day again with ony side giving in. What this means is that an explosive move in the price action can take place the following day.

How to identify a SPINNING TOP? A Spinning Top has a very small candle body in the middle with two equal wicks on the top and the bottom. This pattern appears very frequently in the daily charts and can be highly profitable if spotted correctly.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report FREE. Master Candlestick Charting with this 82 page PDF FREE Candlestick Guide!

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Shocking Stocks Short Selling Facts!

Mar 8, 2010 Uncategorized

Short Selling Stocks is one of the favorite day or swing trading strategy. Many traders short stocks. Now many stock brokers make it very easy for the investors and traders to short stocks. Now a days, most of the trading is being done online. When you sell a stock, a message will ask you whether you are selling stocks that you own or you are selling short. With one click, you tell the broker that you are short selling. The broker than goes about and arranges the shares for you to short sell. These shares are a loan to your account.

In some cases, the brokerage firm cannot borrow the shares as so many people have sold the stock short that there are no more shares to borrow. In that case, you will have to find another stock or use another strategy.

Now, shorting is one of the favorite strategies employed by day traders. A day trader may short stock on the mundane reason like its price had been going up for three days and it’s time to come down! Day traders are not fundamental traders. Day traders are simply interested in the daily volatility in the stock. Most even don’t do any financial or fundamental analysis of the companies whose stocks they are trading. Almost all are technicians or what you call technical analysis experts.

You have to be careful about the uptick rule as stock exchanges have rules in place to help maintain an upward bias in the stock market. What this means is that you can only short a stock when the last trade was a move up. In other words, you can’t short a stock that is moving down.

How much risky short selling can be? Well, in theory there is no stopping a stock price to reach the sky. So if you are wrong in your short selling decision, your loss can be catastrophic. But don’t worry, short sellers also use stop loss so if the price starts to move up, your position will get closed automatically by the stop loss order.

Now, don’t get caught in the market with short selling when good news spreads about the stock that you had shorted driving its price up. This is known as Short Squeeze. Once that happens, almost all short sellers get desperate to dump their stocks and exit but when they try to buy back the stock, they get more hurt as the prices go even higher and higher on rising demand for the stock in the market.

If you have already shorted that stock, you might get a call from your broker to return that stock immediately. In such a case, you will have to immediately return the stock even if it doesn’t make any sense to you!As said before, companies, investors and many brokers hate short sellers. They think that short sellers had intentionally driven down the stock prices. So sometimes, they will spread rumors of good news to create a momentary short squeeze. Sometimes, a campaign will be started by the owners of a particular stock instructing their brokers not to loan out their stocks to short sellers.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Read this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading FREE Report plus the shocking Profit Button Report that applies no matter what you trade-stocks, forex, futures or options! Turn $200 into $100K in just 3 months with this Penny Stock Trading FREE Report!

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Doji Candlestick Pattern-Something Unique And Highly Profitable!

Mar 7, 2010 Uncategorized

A Doji Candlestick Pattern is formed when the opening and the closing prices are the same. So, there is no stick on the candlestick. There are some variations but essentially a Doji is almost all wicks with no body. A Doji looks more like a cross rather than a candlestick pattern.

So for a Doji to be truly formed on a trading day, throughtout the trading day heavy buying or selling may take place but at the end of the day, the price should be where it had been at the start. In other words, the opening and the closing prices should be the same for a Doji to be formed.

When a Doji is formed with the opening and the closing prices equal, it is a signal that the battle between the bulls and the bears had been a draw during the trading day. Soon, either the bulls or the bears are going to previal. In other words, a trend reversal is about to take place.

A Dragonfly Doji pattern is unique in the sense that the opening, closing and the high prices are all the same or equal. A Dragonfly Doji is formed when the stocks opens, trades down during first part of the day. During some part of the day, the price starts to climb again and eventually closing on the high which is the same as the open.

In other words, the open, the close and the high for the day are the same for the Dragonfly Doji to form. So when a Dragonfly Doji Pattern is formed, the bears had been in control of the market at the start. But at some point in the trading day, the bulls become active and step in. Bulls start buying. This takes the prices up and at the end of the day, the security price ends up right where it had started.

The low of the Dragonfly Doji can be considered a near term support level because it is clear that the buyers stepped in at that level and turned the trend from down to up. Dragonfly Doji is a bullish candlestick pattern.

The second important variation to the Doji is the Bearish Gravestone Doji. This pattern is formed when the open and close of the day is equal to the low of the day. This is something opposite to the Dragonfly Doji where the open, the close and the high were equal. When a Bearish Gravestone Doji Pattern is formed, it is a signal that a prolonged downtrend is about to start in the market.

As said before, this pattern is rare but very easy to spot on the chart. When it does form, get ready for a trend change!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Learn this powerful Fibonacci Retracement Method that pulls 500+ pips per trade FREE! Get this 49 page Quantum Swing Trading Report plus the shocking Profit Button Report that applies no matter what you trade-stocks, forex, futures or options FREE!

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Harami And The Harami Cross Candlestick Patterns Can Be Highly Profitable!

Feb 28, 2010 Stock Investment

There are simple as well as complex candlestick patterns. There are single stick, two stick as well as three stick candlestick patterns. Harami is a two stick candlestick pattern. Two stick patterns take two days to form on daily charts. A Harami is formed whent the first day candle is longer than the second day candle. Harami can be bullish as well as bearish!

A bullish Harami candlestick pattern is formed when the first day candle is bearish. Rather the first day is very bearish and occurs on a downtrend. But on the second day, the bulls come into action and try to move the prices higher. But bulls are not very successful. The second day close is still lower than the first day open and the first day’s high is never surpassed. However, the second day is a signal that the bulls have started to take the stand and stop the current downtrend.

The second day is still a down day that follows a bearish trend. On the second day, the open is higher than the close of the first day. The bulls ruled the second day as the close is higher than the open.

Bulls and bears are always fighting with each other for the control of the market. When a bullish Harami is formed what this means is that the bulls are still cautious about their success and fear that the bears might return to take the prices lower again. However, when this does not happen, it gives confidence to the bulls encouraging more buying in the market and the reversal of the trend.

Now, like most of the candlestick patterns, a Harami can fail. What this means is that you need to confirm it with the price action on the following day. Always place the stop loss first when you trade. When you spot a Harami, place the stop loss near the open of the second day.

Harami pattern has got few variations. On of them is the Bullish Harami Cross Pattern. Now,a Bullish Harami Cross is not formed very frequently. But when it does form, it means an sudden trend reversal. So you should act immediatetly when you spot it. The first day in case of a Bullish Harami Cross is a bearish candle. The signal day or the second day is a Bullish Doji with an open higher than the close of the first day and the close lower than the open of the first day.

The bearish Harami Pattern is the other way around. The first day candle is bullish but the second day candle is bearish with the open lower than the close of the first day and the close higher than the open of the first day. But this means is that bears have taken over the market and soon a new downtrend is going to develop.

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What Is Momentum Investing? How It Can Make You Rich?

Feb 28, 2010 Stock Investment

There is a difference between trading and investing. Trading is always short term while investing is long term. The time horizon in trading can be as short as a few minutes to a few days to a few weeks. Whereas in investing, the time horizon can be months to years. Many people day trade or swing trade stocks, currencies, futures, options, ETFs, commodities or other markets. In day trading, a trader opens a position and closes it in the same day making a quick profit. In swing trading, a trader tries to ride a trend in the market as long as it lasts. On the other hand, an investor is least pushed about the short term swings in the market. He or she has a long term time horizon like a few months to even a few years. This long time horizon matches their investment and financial goals!

Now a company’s stock may have a good long term prospects supported by strong fundamentals. But the stock may stay still for a long time before it catches the attention of the media and the investing public before it’s price get’s bid up. So an investor might have to wait for a long time before realizing a return on his or her investment. Many investors can learn a few tricks from day traders that can help them make a quick profit in a matter of days orn weeks instead of months or years.

Many investors when they fall in love with their investments on the long run forget this cardinal rule of trading that you have to cut your losses. Market least care who you are and how long you have been in it.There is a general problem with so many investors. They fall in love with their investment after doing so much research and committing so much time for the position to work. Now, day traders are always hit and run types. They have developed an innate sense of discipline among themselves that teaches them when to commit money to a trade and when to cut and run.

Now as a momentum investor, you need to look for securities that are going up in prices especially if accompanied by the underlying growth. What this means is that instead of buying low and selling high, what you will be doing is buying high and selling even higher.

When a security goes up in price with a strong demand underneath it, it said to have price momentum behind it! Now, as a long term investor, you should look for securities having momentum behind them just to avoid getting stuck with securities for months before they start moving. It pays to be patient. But it works even better when the money that you invested works for you while you wait.

Now, when the price of a stock or security increases because of strong demand, it is said to have momentum behind it. When, there is momentum behind a security, it means that it’s price will continue to icnrease as long as it has got momentum. This way by investing in stocks having momentum behind them, you avoid the risk of getting stuck in stocks that might not move for months and months.

Now, when doing momentum investing, you need to also do some fundamental research behind the company. As most of the momentum investing done during the dot com bubble was on hearsay without being supported by any strong fundamentals! However, if too many investors start practicing momentum investing, it sometimes leads to bubbles like the tech bubble that happened at the end of 1990s.

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Back Testing Your Trading System-Know These Shocking Limitations

Feb 27, 2010 Stock Investment

Your trading system needs thorough testing before you decide to trade live with it. A trading system might comprise of a set of indicators. You need to know how well your trading system and its set of indicators work in a particular market.

For this you can do back testing. Back testing is a method that uses historical data to test how well your indicators work in a particular market. You can use back testing software that enables you to look at the past market data and test how well the indicators and your trading system have worked in the past market.

Backtesting results are no guarantee that the trading system will perform well under live market conditions. Things that worked in the past might not work now. Similarly something that didn’t work in the past, may work now! You never know!There are many problems with historical data. There is no slippage in backtesting. Slippage is one of the most important problem that a trader faces while trading live. The other problem that the backtest ignores is the widening of spreads under volatile market conditions.

So when you look at back testing results, you should look at them with scepticism. But it doesn’t mean that backtesting is entirely useless! What we can say is that no two trades are exactly alike.

Back testing can give you a feel how a particular market behaves under certain conditions. Back testing can also spot you certain general characteristics of the market like the seasonal trends and market tendencies.

For example, some markets especially the commodities market is highly seasonal and cyclical in nature. We can take the example of agricultural commodities like wheat, grains,corn, cotton, coffee and stuff like that. In case of the stock market, there is much talk of the January Effect. Well, it is there no doubt about it. Some years, it is highly pronounced and others it is not that pronounced. Similarly stock prices tend to rise at the end of each month and the first few days of the new months. The reason for this is that many institutional investors tend to put the new funds to work at the end of the month and the beginning of the new month! Now in other markets, you might not find any seasonal trends. For example, there is very little seasonality in curreny market or the bond market.

Back testing can also help you establish the amount of time a particular market tends to run in a certain direction. For example, in case of US Dollar Index, its trend lines tend to last for months to years.

But to tell you the truth, backtesting can only give you a rough guess about the performance of the trading system under live trading conditions. There is no substitute for live trading results!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Download this 1 Minute Forex Trading System FREE that makes money anytime instantly! Read this shocking FREE 40 page PDF FRWC Brutal Truth Report that exposes everything about trading robots!

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Finding The Safest Investments For Your Money In 2010

Feb 26, 2010 Stock Investment

Individuals are on the lookout for investments that offer the highest interest, at a time when the health of the economy is very weak, and the news from the stock market is not much better. People are feeling nervous about the trends of financial investments, and they are having trouble finding secure places for their money. If asked, most individuals will tell you that they would choose a safe investment over one offering a higher interest rate. So, if you find yourself in this position, what other alternatives are available besides an interest checking or savings account?

Today’s most secure investment is likely an FDIC insured bank CD, which is guaranteed, in actuality, by the United States government. The FDIC failing to insure your CD would only happen in the event of a complete U.S. government collapse, which means that it is highly unlikely that your money is in any jeopardy. It is too bad, though, that certificates of deposit are currently at an all time low rate of 1% currently.

But, surprisingly, you do not always get the best interest rate by choosing a CD with the longest term. You may notice that a bank’s rate for a 15-year or 30-year CD is actually lower than the rate for shorter term investments. And special promotions may get you the best rate for a shorter term CD.

Low rates tend to hurt people who rely on interest income for living expenses, etc., such as retired people and senior citizens, the most. Although it may be a good idea for young people to buy stocks and other investments that carry some risk but have a greater return rate that is not the case for older people. Young people have a longer time to invest and can endure some fluctuations in the market, but older people need their money readily available.

Other safe options are to buy Treasury bills or just keep cash. T-bills are paying even less than CD’s though, and you are almost loaning your money to the U.S. government for free. You might decide to not invest it in anything and just keep cash but then inflation is going to eat away the value of your money. It is a difficult time for everyone right now with this horrible economy and dire financial situation.

Are you trying to find information about CDs vs Treasury notes? If you are you might take a look at Best CD Interest where you will find more information.

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How Variable and Fixed Annuities Work

Feb 26, 2010 Financial Investment

Investors purchase their annuity product by paying a lump sum of money or a number of periodic payments to an insurance company. The insurance company then provides the individual with tax-free growth of their funds. The rate in a fixed account annuity can be guaranteed for a certain period of time.

The account value in a variable annuity will change depending on how well the portfolio performs. The annuity can only be invested in specific investment types and can change between fixed investments to common stock arrangements.

Then, beginning on a specified date, the individual may elect to receive regular income payments for the rest of his or her life.

Payments depend on the amount of money contributed to the account, the length of time the funds are left in it and the rate of return earned on the funds. In addition, a factor in determining the size of the payments is whether the retiree includes a spouse and other heirs as beneficiaries.

Different policy options may enable you to have payments continue to your spouse, or to your children, or for a minimum number of years, regardless of who receives them after you die. Sometimes these options may impose higher fees to be assessed to the investment.

It is important that you careful evaluate each of the different characteristics and expenses of a variable annuity account before you commit to investing. Your contract data will have this information and will inform you of anything that you need to know before investing. If something doesn’t seem right with the contract, make sure that you have it sufficiently answered before you commit to purchase the annuity.

Because the earned income is not taxed until you begin withdrawing the money (presumably at a much lower tax rate), your funds accumulate much faster than they would if they were taxed.

The insurance component, of course, is the guaranteed regular monthly income payment for the rest of your life, reducing the worry of your retirement income budgeting. In addition, should you die before you begin receiving payments, your heirs are guaranteed to receive the full amount of the original principal.

It is important to understand that certain actions outside of the design of your account may result in penalties, additional charges, or penalties that can affect the account value. Be certain that you have read the prospectus thoroughly and understand the ins and outs of the annuity contract. You do not want to be caught unawares of certain provisions and chargebacks.

The world of fixed deferred annuities can be rather complicated. To get more details on this type of investment, be sure to visit Luke Murray at The Fixed Annuity Guide.

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Finance and the People You Rely On

Feb 24, 2010 Financial Investment

It is no secret that the economy is one of the most turbulent one in recent years. The future of the economy is also uncertain. However, this is not the end of the proverbial world as far as expanding one’s financial opportunities is concerned. The need for sound advice is truly important since this will yield the much needed help that some are in dire need of. But, how would someone know the advice on investing they receive will be sound.

When you seek an established independent financial advisor in you will want to procure the services of someone that clearly understands what he or she is talking about. You want someone that has a strong handle on issues related to money and investments. You need someone that can make sure you are set up properly for the future.

The independent financial advisor, that one selects needs to be an individual that possesses a solid grounding in sections of finance you would prefer to look into. Such ventures could include preparing for retirement or establishing a trust. It is important to define what you want to achieve. For example, are you looking to establish a retirement account, so that you have a financial account when you are not retiring? Are you interested in planning an estate or trust? Or, perhaps, you wish to work with tax planning in order to keep as much of your revenues as is legally possible?

A financial advisor, has the ability to deliver on all these levels and, in some cases, a financial advisor that lacks personal experience in some areas may have associations with colleagues able to help you in a variety of ways. As such, these colleagues may prove to be enormously helpful.

Why an independent financial advisor?

Independent financial advisors possess a solid advantage over their colleagues that are not considered independent. Namely, fee-based services deal with the notion that when you pay for services, your independent financial advisor’s income is not based upon the products the advisor can sell and from this an advisor can receive a commission. Because of this, the advice that you receive will be totally unbiased and based upon helpful market performance and other common metrics. From this, we realize that the advice will be sound and shall properly work for you and not the client or company that produces the items the financial advisor is pushing.

A great many individuals that venture looking for the help of financial advisors on managing their money affairs lack a basic understanding of how the process works. As such, they need to rely on the professional guidance of a financial advisor. But, there can be an inherent conflict of interest where a financial advisor is intended to promote certain products in order to receive a commission as opposed to receiving direct payment. Through the removal of the commission, you increase the odds that your independent financial advisor will give you the most unbiased and helpful information available in order to make sure your money is properly managed.

Lastly, the independent financial advisor that you seek to hire must be one that gives trusted advice. While there is no governing body that provides an empirical analysis of what would be considered a baseline qualification, you can always look towards the organizations in which the individual is affiliated. Those organizations with high standards of quality would essentially be a character reference for the independent financial advisor. And you do want some level of reference since you need a top advisor in today’s unpredictable economic climate.

This article is an opinion piece and not intended to be used as financial advice.

Article submitter Timothy Valoriedt studies finance and also knows all about shopping Big Bear CA real estate plus Big Bear Lake, CA homes for sale overall.

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Early Retirement Planning…Know What You Are Retiring To

Feb 14, 2010 Financial Investment

If you say I am retiring early to get away from work…be careful. Retire to something not away from work…there is a difference in the two approaches.

It is easy to say I am going to do nothing when I retire. You will find if you do your retirement will be no different from work. Without firm, well thought out goals, you soon become bored and frustrated.

In retirement planning, you need to be clear about two things…what you want to do…what you never want to do again. You and your spouse should make these two lists, then compare lists. You for instance may want to play golf every day, or have the weather to make golf doable every day. Great…but not if your better half wants to be able to ski close to your house. Better find out what the differences are now, and work them out, now rather than later.

Don’t retire to watching soap operas. The couch is no place to be retired for a long time. You know it is unhealthy. You want to be able to retire for many years. Staying healthy, should be on everyone’s list.

Make sure your lists are specific and be honest with yourself. A Florida condo may be the ticket for you if you hate yard maintenance…a home with a large yard is not your ideal place to retire.

The more focused and clear your goals are the better. For instance learning to speak French as a goal is too broad. Instead stay I will be able to speak passable French 6 months after I retire. Then it is OK to go buy the language software.

Do not just look at early retirement planning from the money side…you will not be happy if you do. You will not hear of making lists of your retirement goals from your financial planner. That is not his or her job…that is your responsibility.

I have been retired 15 years. My lists of goals and never agains are 20 years old. Take a look they may get you started on your lists.

To discover what was on the writers lists for early retirement planning. If you are thinking of retirement, but do not think you can afford it you need frugal retirement living. Do not give up on retirement before going to this site.

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