Option Trading-a Quick Overview by David Baxwell

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 10:00 pm  
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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.

Writing Puts – An Introduction By Brad Castro

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 9:55 pm  
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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.

Why Are We Reluctant to Buy Shares When They Are Currently So Cheap? By James Woolley

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm  
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Stock markets generally move in cycles. There are times when the economy is strong and share prices are trending nicely upwards, and conversely there are times, such as now, when the economy is looking weak and shares are trading at very low levels. So why aren’t we all rushing to buy shares in this current economic climate?

Well I think sentiment has a major part to play here. You only have to switch on the news to see jobs being cut, large companies closing down and the latest news of the upcoming recession on a daily basis. It’s all extremely depressing and is a major reason why people are not at all positive about shares. This is a common response to all the negative news being broadcast but it’s not necessarily the most rational response.

If you take a step back and look at the current share prices of a few of the largest and most profitable stock market listed companies, you will probably notice how low their share price is currently trading at, particularly when compared to a few years ago. Now take a look at how their profits (and future predicted profits) correspond with these same profit levels of a few years ago. In a lot of cases you will see that these companies are now valued far too low, even allowing for a tougher trading environment in the next few years.

Therefore this means that a lot of these companies are hugely undervalued and yet there are still very few people actually buying, so is negative sentiment and the threat of a recession the only reason why this is the case?

Well I think another reason is because there are fewer genuine investors operating in the stock market nowadays. In this era when short-term trading facilities are available to almost everyone, a lot of people buy and sell shares over a shorter period of time and speculate on the short-term price of a share using things like options and spread bets. Indeed some people believe the days of traditional buy and hold investing are behind us.

As with society in general, we are all so impatient nowadays and few of us like to buy shares and hold on to them for years and years like Warren Buffett, for example. I still think this is a decent investment strategy but there’s no doubting the appeal of short-term trading because in this volatile market, shares can now move 10-20% in a day quite easily, and yet this used to be completely unheard of.

So overall I think there are a number of reasons why investors are not rushing to buy shares. Negative sentiment and the threat of a recession is the main reason, but I think the availability of short-term trading is also a factor.

If you would like details of the most useful stock market tools and resources, please read James Woolley’s Marketclub review and ADVFN review.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Woolley

Power of Compounding – Eighth Wonder of the World By Sonika Gandotra

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 at 9:24 pm  
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Growth investing is investing in companies that are going to show compounding growth in the time to come. The key here is timing thus you buy a stock of a growth company at a reasonably discounted price for a stipulated period and sell it just short of its full potential. This will give you the best return on your investment and that too without bothering about the corrections and crashes in the stock market.

Usually a company with small base can grow at much faster rate as compared to a very big company. Thus, investing in growth stocks has it’s challenges. A company with sound and credible management with just 100 retail outlet can grow at much faster rate as compared to another company with 1000 retail outlet. May be the company with 100 outlets is required to add only 50 additional outlets that year to grow Income and net profit at 50% as compared to the the company with 1000 outlets, which may be required to open close to 500 new outlet to match that growth. Finally, a time will come when even the company with 100 outlets at the beginning may grow large enough to sustain such a high growth rate.

Consider Investing small amounts for Growth Gains
The returns by Growth stocks can be amazing. When you invest for long term, you don’t bother about short term volatility, corrections and crashes in the market. You believe in the stock and the story that is going to unfold and this story can only be deciphered by thorough research. Lets us presume that you invest US $10000 and double your money every 2nd year i.e. approx 40% returns Compounded annually. See how your money grows:-

2nd year US $20000

4th year US $40000

6th year US $80000

8th year US $160000

10th year US $320000

Isn’t it amazing. Three hundred and twenty thousand US $ in just 10 years. Remember, you invested only US $ 10000 once. This is the Power of Compounding, 8th wonder of the world.

Don’t be a Spectator: Get the required Knowledge
It is never too late to get the desired knowledge at any stage in the life. The earlier it is acquired, better it is. So how do you find a good company to invest in that is going to make you money? Always be on the lookout for companies with good growth potential but don’t get trapped into even the good stocks by paying a steep price. This will eat into your returns. Invest in the business that can withstand competition. This type of business will be around longer and sustain superior long-term returns. Companies with high quality and unique products which are difficult to emulate would the horses for the long race.

These are just some basic tips for getting started investing in the stock market. Study the stock market and investing before you actually start. The stock market can be a crazy place sometimes and the better informed that you are, the less you will lose. Get in to get your share of the pie!

Go online with your investing accounts. The fees are lower than the standard brokerage house and you will have anytime and quick access to your investing information and to your account.

Author is a professional blogger and and is a fan of Warren Buffett for his investing style. She also maintains a very famous blog on WARREN BUFFETT. Visit his blog http://www.i-am-warrenbuffett.blogspot.com and http://www.personality-development-blog.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sonika_Gandotra

TRENDS IN STOCK MARKET TRADING

Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 8:45 am  
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Trade the trend for the trend is your friend is a popular slogan in the stock market trading. For an investor to profit in his or her stock trading efforts, such one must make a deliberate effort to learn and understand the trend trading strategy.

The index for evaluating trends in the stock market is the year low and year high of a stock. This index implies the highest price and the lowest price in which a share was sold or bought in the last 52 weeks .The up and down movement of share prices in the stock market follows a regular cycle. If the stock price goes up, it will definitely go down. Conversely, if it goes down, it will go up. All stocks listed in the stock exchange must as a matter of constancy experience their up and down moment, whether they like it or not. It is the character of the market. It therefore beholds that having an understanding of this strategy can create an astronomical profit for any investor.

It is important that an investor considers the price before he enters the stock market. Buying into a stock within the year high figure indicates that one is buying at a high price. Thus, negating the “Buy low”, Sell High” principle. On the other hand, it’s advisable that a potential investor buys into a stock when the price is “within” the year low in order to take good profit from such transaction.

To do this, create a table of stock(s) of interest against price(s) every week, and months over a couple of years. Detail study of the table will reveal a trend. That is, year high and year low that will follow a regular pattern. It is pertinent that after determining the best price to enter the market via the stock trend analysis, that we compliment it with an analysis of the present health of the firm for positive confirmation. Key index to look out for are PE ratio, Earning per share (EPS), Profit after tax, Quarterly Reports, etc. This information can be accessed readily via yahoo finance. Once done, the next step is to hit the google search box and look up all recent articles about the company in the press, recent contracted signed or revoked, takeovers, mergers, litigations, change in managements composition, insiders’ information; and any other report that can impact positively on the fortunes of any organization.

Trading the trend is a sure-fire strategy that can create obscene profit into your account. Once you get acquainted with this stock market trading tip, earning becomes easy and exciting.