Learn About Stocks and Precious Metals

By Adela Thomas

As a stock trader, you should ask, is the trader in you? if you like stocks and bonds and the exciting life of a financial trader, then it very well may be. The first thing to test this hypothesis out is the stock market. This is an area where you can see if you have what it takes to make it in the crazy fast world of high finance. The typical image of the floor of the Mercantile Exchange being filled with a bunch of guys that couldn't land jobs anywhere else is very outdated and sad. Instead stock traders are increasingly becoming some of the most sophisticated investors on earth. The ability to pick a winner in the stock market is what it all boils down to.

You can try trading for free using what's known as a paper money account. Of course when we think of money we think of the actual paper, but in this case paper money refers to fake money. There are paper accounts on numerous web sites on the internet. Most stock brokerage firms will have paper trading accounts, and there are many virtual stock market games and simulations around the net as well.

You can trade for stocks, but another market many people like to look into is the commodity market. Commodities consist of oils, metals, grains, and raw material and generally assets that are consumable.

The gold and silver game, precious metals and currency go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly goes on a sandwich. The reason that precious metals are well, very precious to the human race is that we believe that they are rare and unique. This is true to a degree, however one should think about the supply and demand factors first and foremost. If diamonds and gold were easily excavated and mined and everyone could just dig into the soil of the earth and pull out tons of it, then would it be so valuable? Most likely it would not be.

One area that also gets a whole lot of attention is that of precious metals. Precious metals have always been a small piece of the industrial machine but mostly are used as an inflation hedge and as an asset backed alternative currency as more and more of the fiat currencies look long term bankrupt. When everyone thinks of precious metals they first think of gold. Gold has always been the standard by which most of the worlds economies are pinned to. The shiny piece of coin that moves worlds markets and commands a tidy sum. - 23204

About the Author:

Adela writes about many topics related to businesses and financing. He teaches about various things including business, finance, and money market accounts.. You can also learn more from him about how to make money online

Online Brokers Trading Commissions Explained

By Charles Benedict

Stock broker commissions are becoming cheaper and cheaper. The choices are also expanding so look for competition to continually bring prices down. This is good for us, but there are so many choices to choose from. Here are a few you might want to look into.

OptionsHouse made a splash with their less than three dollars stock trade. If there is a cost that's as close to nothing as possible, this is the broker that you should choose.

Zecco came out with free stock trades, but then it changed its rules again and again. These days, you only get 10 free trades if you have more than $25,000 in assets or if you trade 25 times or more a month.

OptionsXpress must be making a lot of money off customers because their trading commissions are highest of the bunch. It's $14.95 for most people and $12.95 for high volume traders. Pretty expensive right?

Wells Trade is one of the stock brokers I use because they provide 100 free trades. It's easy to sign up for an account if you are already a Wells Fargo customer and I like the fact that you can transfer assets around easily.

One of the best discount broker is TradeKing, because of its amazing customer support. Their $4.95 a trade made headlines back in the days and continue to be one of the best options out there.

I love Etrade because of their user interface. Even though the stock commission is $9.99 and $12.99 in some cases, it is still at the top of my list of recommended stock brokers.

If you love customer service, you need to check out Scottrade. They've always give out bonuses to their employees and they have the best customer support. Their stock commission is $7 per trade.

TradeMonster is new and worth a look because of their ties to OptionsMonster. The celebrity endorsement of the Najarian Boys is reason enough to take a look.

Charles Scbwab is the luxury of discount stock brokers. They tailor their business to individual starting with $300,000 in assets and it shows. Their trading commission is $12.99.

I don't really like TD Ameritrade but it works fine. Their stock commissions are $9.99 a trade and they have no hidden fees to boot. This option is fine, but it's not one I recommend. - 23204

About the Author:

No hidden fees is what separates this broker from the rest. Well, not quite because they have Scottrade promo code too.

Are You A Futures Trader? (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Apart from professional traders and speculators, futures trading is done by most of the people like you and me who are interested in making money in the markets. Like stocks, Buy low and sell high, is the basic premise in futures trading as well.

You will like to know what is different in futures trading from stock trading. The fact that you can trade futures with leverage on either long or the short positions introduces an additional element of risk not present in the stock market. Leverage is a risky.

Another major difference with stock trading is that there is no uptick rule in futures trading. Thus, it is as easy to sell short as it is to buy long. This means that you can easily enter into a position to capture a downward move in prices with no restriction.

Even when you are not particularly good at it, how do you manage to survive at futures trading? The answer is simple. You should have the money first to open a margin account. Then you should have the ability to develop a trading plan that enables you to keep making money in the market long enough to capitalize your next big move. How do you become good at futures trading? By learning technical analysis!

In nutshell, it means that you wont be able to trade futures if you dont have enough money. And you wont last long in the market if you dont have a good trading plan. The chances are your money will quickly disappear.

You must know this thing that 95% of the people trading futures lose money consistently. In order to start trading futures, you need to have at least $25,000 in your account. Off course, $5,000 is the minimum with which you can start trading futures.

Make sure that you understand the risks involved and that you go into trading futures contracts with realistic expectations when you start trading futures. If you are not sure how to handle the risk involved in futures trading, you can take advantage of the managed futures accounts.

In short, you need money, patience, knowledge and technology to be able to trade futures contracts. Trading futures contracts is truly a hybrid that uses both fundamental and technical analysis.

The fundamental side of futures trading involves getting to know the industry in which you are making trades and the futures contract specifications and seasonal tendencies of the markets. You should also know the important report that you need to keep an eye on.

You should determine your trading style. Are you are scalper? Are you a day trader? Are you a swing trader or are you a position trader? You will need to develop your own trading style whether it is momentum trading, scalping, day trading or swing trading. Your personality will determine your trading style. Now, the technical side of futures trading tells you what the market will do in response to the fundamentals.

Once you know your trading goals, establish a trading plan for getting there. Dont try to conquer every type of analysis at once. Instead, focus on mastering one item at a time"maybe concentrating only on chart patterns such as bull and bear flags, for instance. - 23204

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading futures and currencies. Trade Dow Futures and S&P Futures!

Why Learning to Trade Commodities Could Boost Your Commodity Trading Results

By William Davies

Embarking on learning to trade commodities gives the eager future trader a new perspective of what is really possible in commodity trading. It may be a focus on one area such as cotton or orange juice or alternatively taking the broad spectrum of the commodity markets, whichever it is, you will increase your understanding hugely. Just think about the big crude oil trades that happen daily on the New York Mercantile Exchange and how energy security worries and supply shortages affect prices. Have you thought why platinum or nickel prices might fall, and why might cocoa prices shoot up very quickly?

These are exciting markets to study, so finding a top quality commodities training provider is so important. How do you go about learning to trade commodities? What are the key areas you need to master with confidence so that you feel comfortable entering the global commodity markets? Firstly, if you are learning to trade commodities find where to do the commodity trading courses that may be on offer. Either start your commodity education at home using study materials with an online training package or attend a top quality trading school where students cover all aspects of commodities and futures.

What do you gain from going to a commodity training centre? You will benefit from physical contact with the tutors and there may be one to one coaching opportunities. What is likely is that lecturers will have real world knowledge of trading as they may be former or still active commodity traders, and this can be a valuable skill which you could benefit from. There is also the advantage of being able to share ideas with colleagues in your classroom and network afterwards.

While on location you benefit from watching "live" trades executed by your tutors, who can give you feedback about the price action. It is arguably better to understand a technique when you observe it happening in real time, rather than in theory. Here you get a sharp edge to your learning curve in commodity trading, and the coaches can offer you help as you tailor your personal commodities trading plan. The expansion of global trading centres means that you are likely to find a training centre close to your home, such as in Dubai, Singapore, London, Toronto, as well in US cities like Philadelphia, New York, Milwaukee, Dallas and Chicago.

What are the advantages of online commodity trading packages? Sometimes your location or commitments make it impossible to attend a physical location. So why not try an online training package featuring technical and fundamental aspects of commodity trading, which provide greater flexibility with your work schedule.

The online commodities trading packages most likely provide students with e mail support from the tutors along with resources like charts, blogs, forums and video to supplement the main material. Along with CDs and DVDs software may also be downloaded so students can link up with the markets and trade without committing capital.

What is likely to be covered when you begin learning to trade commodities? Expect to look at effects of supply and demand on commodity prices in fundamental analysis, which considers the effects of wars, inflation and the economic cycle. Technical analysis is also important and includes understanding indicators on commodity charts, such as support and resistance, Fibonacci, moving averages, Japanese candlesticks and volumes of trade, which act as signals for when to exit and enter a trade.

Your trading course will explain a futures contract and demonstrate the ease of electronic trading on global commodity trading platforms. You will learn how to place orders, set and maintain margins on your account, and learn about the importance of hedging. Risk management is important, including how to mitigate losses of capital when using derivatives such as futures contracts. Psychology is key when trying to execute your commodity trading plan will certainly be covered when you start learning to trade commodities. - 23204

About the Author:

The author, William Davies, travels the world and writes for a Commodity Trading website, providing an informational resource on commodities and markets. Find out more about learning to trade commodities here.

My Strategic Forecast for Accurate Market Research Reports

By Lennie Mclucas

My husband and I actively purchase and trade stocks and bonds. We are trying to save even more to retire and figure we should add to our savings as much as possible by doing investment research.

In the past, we used a major brokerage to handle all of our trading needs. We decided that the service that was provided to us was vary general. When we asked for advice, we were given general market summaries that had no real market direction outlined. We noticed that their financial newsletters were describing the market the same way it was a few months prior. New trends and current market reports were not provided to us.

We realized the brokerage's research was not good enough to invest our money off of. Then we realized that the research needed to be done by us to be able to secure our stock portfolios position.

We realized we could not afford to pay out for services that we could do better ourselves. If you had to do your own research and had to pay someone for it anyways you would also start to resent it.

Financially things are starting to change. We found great new tools on MyStrategicForecast.com's website. With the accurate investment research from My Strategic Forecast you really can succeed with investing. As soon as we inquired with them about their services they sent over an accurate sample report that showing the direction the market was headed. We soon started contacting them for their financial input and investing advice once we realized their research was so accurate. We then felt we could start investing strategically investing of trying to guess if our research was complete and accurate.

My Strategic Forecast offers investment research in the form of financial newsletters, stock newsletters, and investing newsletters. Not only does their research cover current market analysis but it also shows you the past trends so you can easily forecast which direction the market my go. With the current trends mapped out in their newsletter we had a good idea of where the market was headed.

With My Strategic Forecast providing our investment research, I felt that I was receiving information that wasnt just a prediction or a hunch. Things like economic trends, political conditions and other interesting elements go into their financial forecast newsletters. I mean, why should non-economic factors really be part of investment research? My Strategic Forecast realized that financial markets are not only driven by economics, and that other investment analysts seem to forget that fact. - 23204

About the Author:

My husband and I are confident that our decision-making has been developed through the research provided by My Strategic Forecast. You can't miss to not look into it. Check out www.MyStrategicForecast.com and begin benefiting today.