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Stock Trading – 12 Commandment for Newbie’s

The many fears of a newbie in the stock investment business are not misplaced.

They are real. Perhaps, as a newbie, you may have suffered some form of loss

in your first attempt trading the market – thus making you loss faith and enthusiasm

in your trading techniques and the pursuit of your investment objectives, especially

now that the global stock market seems to be resting permanently in the south.

Such feelings of trepidation is not common to you, even the pros experience it

once in a while. Don’t be perturbed, it’s well. All the same, the guides enshrined

below could positively impact on your trading result if followed and applied

religiously. Use it as a checklist.

(1) Investigate Before Investing: it is very important that you don’t invest your hard earned money in any form of investment without first investigating the firm you

wish to buy into. Find out any means to get information about the firm, if possible

pay a personal visit to the firm for inside information. Result from such findings could

quite revealing. Invest only when the result of such research are positive. Your money

remains your while its yet with you. (Thou shall not invest without investigating).

(2) Research: Its imperative that you conduct research on the best stock to add to your portfolio. Take time to analyze the past performance, dividend payout policy, bonus

history, and other investment index.

(3) Trade With Your Extra Money: Thou shall not invest with money that will not allow you to sleep in your bed. The general rule of all investment that carries some form of risk is that investors should invest with what they can afford to loss. In case you loss your money, don’t loss your savings.

(4) Seek Information Online: Be active in forums and blogs where investors and newbie alike meet on a daily basis to discuss matters affecting members of the group. This will put you in the fore front of investment information and also as leverage for

building relationship.

(4) Follow Up Your Investment: Monitor and nourish your investment. The stock market is unpredictable. Be ready to react swiftly to any information can promote or put your investment in jeopardy.

(5) Attend Seminars and Workshop: As an investor whether newbie or a pro, make it a policy to attend seminars, symposia, or workshop on a regular basis. Attend at least one seminar every quarter and it shall be well with you. The gains from attending seminars can at times not be quantified. Hear this: a woman just retired from a regular

Job once had the opportunity to attend a seminar. During the seminar , she was presented with an investment opportunity about a firm that was in the verge been takeover by a core investor. She acted on the information and invested about $25,000. She made over 800% of that amount in less than 90 days. What an obscene profit!

(6) Check Stock Behavior: Thou shall know the behavior of every stock of interest for in so doing you shall know when the stock will be low or high. The stock trend of price gives you an idea of year low and high. Most stocks take the behavior of the management of the company, and trend in the way the company releases results.

(7) Know the Market: Thou shall understand the market and how it works for in so doing you will know how to plan for profit taking. Know what it takes to make money from the public offer, private placement, and the secondary market.

(8) Know Why Buy the Stock: Do not buy any share because others are buying it or buy under pressure or sentiment. Buy because you have your reason of buying.

(9) Know When to Sell: Thou shall know when to exit the market. Don’t be greedy in your exit strategy. Don’t sell because others are selling. Rather, sell because you have a reason for selling.

(10) Closure of Register: Thou shall apply the principle of closure of register, for it shall guide you on when best to sell. Never buy a stock a day after closure of register.

Posted in Guest, Option Trading, Stock Market. Tagged with , , , , , .

By admin
December 28, 2008

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Option Trading-a Quick Overview by David Baxwell

The option trading and its commodity features are not open for everyone. This is because it is a very risky, intricate and unstable business. Only a few people get into this kind of trading because they are not quite sure if they will succeed, and if investing will be worth it in the end.

There are fundamental principles in option trading that must be understood. Your objectives, experience in dealing with financial markets, the amount you can invest and above all the amount that you can afford and are ready to lose beyond your initial investments are on the top of the list. You need to be conscious of these elements as investing may just be too risky for your situation, as it was said before.

Before you enter such contracts, you need to have a firm understanding of how commodity contracts work and what their features are. You need to know the rules and to be certain that you can pay the obligations that you may owe. If you are not familiar with the complexities of options trading, then you need to get in touch with someone who can guide you through the process. When you are dealing with terms like “MACD indicator,” it is important that you have someone whom you can talk to so that you know what is being discussed.

The option trading and its commodity features are not open for everyone. This is because it is a very risky, intricate and unstable business. Only a few people get into this kind of trading because they are not quite sure if they will succeed, and if investing will be worth it in the end.There are some things you need to understand before you invest in option trading and other money features.

You should share your decisions with a broker to ascertain whether they are valid and fitting. If you have confidence in your ability and have every reason to invest with /”option trading”/ and the futures market, you must calculate to what extent you intend to depend on the broker’s recommendations instead of having faith in your personal choices.

In our previous sessions, we’ve been training - isolating and practicing the skills you need to become a better investor. You’ve generated and evaluated a number of investment ideas, selecting the right Idea Watch List. So you’re looking option trading in the right fishing hole. You’ve used your judgment to pick stocks and put them in your Best Ideas List. Then you’ve evaluated and refined your selection process - making sure you’re using the right bait.

Options trading of stocks is a means by which a person is able to purchase stocks at a defined price. In this form of investing you purchase the option up front because you believe that the stock will either increase or decrease in value. When the value of the stock rises, so does the value of the call option, it also decreases as the stock decreases. However, since there is a certain issue with the option, it does expire for this reason.

About the Author

Option trading and its commodity features are not open for everyone. This is because it is a very risky, intricate and unstable business.

Posted in Guest, Option Trading, Stock Market. Tagged with , , , .

By admin
December 23, 2008

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Writing Puts - An Introduction By Brad Castro

Writing puts can be a great source of income. It can also be a great way to purchase stock at a significant discount. And the best news is that writing puts is a relatively simple process.

How Does It Work?

The official definition of a put option is a contract that gives the holder the right, but not the obligation, to sell 100 shares of a certain stock at a certain price by a certain date.

But a simpler way to think about puts is to consider them basically to be insurance policies. For example, if I own 100 shares of the XYZ Company which trades at $33/share, I can purchase a put option that gives me the right to sell my stock for $30/share anytime up to and before the expiration date of the option. Like all insurance policies, I have to pay a premium, and purchasing a put option is no different.

And why would I want to sell my stock for $30/share when it’s trading at $33/share? I wouldn’t, of course, but what happens if the share price really tanks? If the stock drops down to $20/share, my put option would give me the ability to sell the stock for $30/share. Sure, I’d be out $3 per share plus the amount I paid for the put, but I wouldn’t be down the full $13 per share that I would’ve had I not purchased the put in the first place.

In short, by buying a put I, in effect, have insured my stock at $30/share.

Become an Insurance Company

Writing puts simply places you on the other side of the trade so that you become the insurance company. When you write, or sell, a put you receive a cash premium in exchange for giving someone else the right (but not the obligation) to sell you their stock at a certain price by a certain date. If the stock stays above that price (called the strike price) you keep the premium and the put expires worthless. Ah, a successful insurance venture.

Of course, the stock might fall below the strike price, so it’s always important that you only write puts on stocks that you’re willing to own at the strike price selected. And it’s also important that you have the necessary funds to purchase the stock in case you’re assigned (i.e. the put holder exercises the option).

The Case for Writing Puts

If done properly and intelligently, writing puts has two distinct benefits:

1. Income Generation - As long as the stock remains above the strike price, you can generate a steady stream of income. You can treat the income like a special dividend and spend it, or you can accumulate it and grow your cash reserves so that you’re able to write even more puts in the future.

2. Acquiring Discounted Stock - Say a stock you like is trading at $42/share and you think it’s already attractively priced and you would be willing to own it yourself if it came down some in price. Let’s suppose you wrote a put on it with a $40 strike price and an expiration date one month away for a $2 premium (or $200 in cash since you each contract represents 100 shares of the underlying stock). Think about what you’re actually doing–you’re getting paid $200 to offer to buy a stock for $2/share less than what it’s currently trading at. And if you do get assigned? Factoring in the premium you receive, you don’t actually pay $40/share, you pay $38/share.

Conclusion:

Writing puts, like any kind of option trading, is not for everybody. And it’s not without risk either. But it may be worth your while to conduct further research to determine if the strategy has a place in your portfolio.

About The Author:

Brad Castro is a practitioner and promoter of Leveraged Investing, or option trading techniques and strategies designed to simulate successful value investing. Leveraged Investing has two objectives: to acquire stock in quality companies as cheaply as possible and then to squeeze more returns from those stocks once they’ve been acquired. Please visit http://www.great-option-trading-strategies.com for more information.

Posted in Option Trading. Tagged with , , .

By admin
December 23, 2008

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