Trading for a Living Blog

There are many candlstick patterns that you can master. Candlestick patterns can be highly profitable trading signals. However, some patterns appear frequently and can be easily spotted. Hanging Man and the Hammer are the two among them. Both are different. Hanging Man is bearish while the Hammer is bullish.

The first question. How do you identify whether this is a Hanging Man or a Hammer? Hammer and the Hanging Man both have a very small candle body accompanied by a long wick either on the bottom. If this type of pattern appears at the top of an uptrend with the long wick at the bottom, it is a Hanging Man. And if it appears at the bottom of an downtrend it is a Hammer.

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

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.

A Hammer should have a very small candle body with a long wick at the bottom. Similarly suppose, you think that you have correctly spotted the Hammer in a downtrend. You should confirm this with the opening price on the next day. If the opening price is higher than the closing price the previous day, you have a true Hammer. If the opening price is not higher than the closing price the last day, it is not 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.

Spinning tops appear much more frequently and are very easy to spot with a very small body in the middle of the candlestick and almost equal wicks on the two sides. A spinning top is a nice indication that the trend is about to change direction. Knowing about a trend change early is a highly profitable trading signal.

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If you have ever fallen in love with a beautiful person, you then know the value of giving a gold ring or a gold necklace as a token of your true love. Gold has always been considered to highly valuable from the dawn of civilization. It is still considered to be the ultimate currency and a safe haven in times of political and financial uncertainity. Recently gold price crossed the historical barrier of $1,200 per troy ounce. Gold market is in an uprecedented uptrend for the last ten years!

Forex trading is the hottest market right now after the recent stock market crash. Many small investors lost their lifetime saving in the stock market crash of 2008. Investors have turned towards forex in droves. Forex trading is considered to be a recession proof business as there is neither a bull market nor a bear market in currencies. Currency prices are always quoted relative to one anther and currencies are traded in pairs. What this means is that if one currency goes up the other goes down. It is being said that many millionaires will be made in the currency markets.

When you trade a currency pair, you go long on one currency and short on the other. In other words, you simply buy one and sell the other. Many people don’t know this that you can trade gold on forex too. Many forex broker platforms that you use to trade forex, allow trading of gold and silver against the US Dollar (USD) from the same platform. Both these precious metals have high demand in the industrial sector and as the global economy recovers from the recession, the prices of gold and silver are expected to skyrockets as industrial production picks up and consumers start buying again.

But when you trade gold, you take long or short position in gold in the spot market with the opposite position in US Dollar (USD). In other words just like trading a currency pair like EURUSD, JPYUSD, GBPUSD and other pair involving USD as the counter currency when you trade gold, you are trading against USD.

Now, suppoe the price quote in the spot market is 1100 XAUUSD. What this means is that one troy ounce of gold in the spot market right now is equal to $1,100 USD. So, in spot gold trading on forex, you are trading one troy ounce of gold against USD. Interestingly the symbol for this is also XAUUSD with XAU representing one ounce of gold.

Just like anyother financial market, the price quote in the gold spot market has got a bid/ask spread. So if the price quote is 1110/1115, it means that you can sell one troy ounce of gold in the spot market for $1,110 and buy one troy ounce of gold at $1,115 meaning you will have to pay a spread of $5 per troy ounce when trading in gold in the spot market.Spot gold trading on forex is a fast moving market and the spread keeps on changing throughout the day.

Spot gold market is a fast moving market and the price quotes keep on changing. So, suppose just after 60 minutes, you find the quote to be 1120/1126. You see a profit and decide to get out selling at $11,200 making a profit of $30. Now if you had used leverage, you would have needed a much lower initial investment to make a profit of $30 in just 60 minutes. Now a standard lot in currency trading is equal to $100,000. But in case of gold on forex, a standard lot is equal to 10 troy ounces of gold. So, if you find the price quote to be 1112/1117 and you are interested in going long. In that case you will have to buy 1 lot of gold that is equal to $11,170.

Gold is also know as anti dollar. What this means is that their is an inverse correlation between gold and USD. This inverse relationship can help you hedge your positions in other currency pairs.

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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!

Investors in theory can wait for a long time to see their stock pick to play out. A company’s stock may be ridiculously cheap. But it may stay like that for a long time before it catches everyone else’s attention and the price is bid up. It might be good for investors to learn a few tricks from traders especially day trading that can help them make a few quick bucks.

Successful day trading requires an innate sense of discipline. Successful day trading requires the sense when to commit money to a trade and when to cut the losses and run. However, if you are an investor who has never day traded, you might have done so much research and committed so much time waiting for a position to work out that you might forget the cardinal rule of traders: The market doesn’t know you are in 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.

One of the tricks that you can learn from day traders is momentum investing. In momentum investing, you look for securities that are expected to go up in prices accompanied by the underlying momentum. When investing, you try to buy low and sell high. In momentum investing, you buy high and sell even higher!

Now most serious momentum investors are infact swing traders who hold positions for a few weeks or a few months. Most of them employ some sort of momentum indicators to help them identify when it is good time to buy a stock. Some of the indicators that can be used is the Relative Strength Index (RSI), Moving Average Convergence and Divergence (MACD) and the Stochastic Index.

Momentum investing can also lead to bubbles like that happened in the dot com bubble in the last few years of 1990s. It is always a good idea to do some fundamental research on the companies before doing momentum investing.

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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 is formed in a downtrend when the first day candle is very bearish. But on the second day, the bulls come into play and beat the bears out of the market by taking the prices higher. However, the bulls are not completely successful and the second day is still lower than the first day open and the first day high is not crossed. But this is an important signal that bulls are now active and trying to take hold of the market. This means that the downtrend will be soon over and an uptrend is about to start.

The open is higher than the close of the last day on the signal day. However, the bulls close the day higher than the open.On the second day when the Harami is formed, the bears are still slightly ahead of the bulls at the start of trading.

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.

What this means is that you need to confirm it with the price action on the following day. Now, like most of the candlestick patterns, a Harami can fail. 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. 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. 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 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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There are simple as well as complex candlestick patterns that are used by traders to identify trend reversal as well as trend continuation. Candlestick charting has become one of the most important tool in the trading arsenal of any trader. Almost all the trading platforms now have candlestick charts in their menu. One candlestick pattern does not occur frequently but when it does it means that the trend will reverse itself soon is the Inverted Hammer.

An Inverted Hammer is a quite rare pattern as the price action needed to produce it does not takes place frequently. But if it does, it is an important signal that you shouldn’t ignore. Now an inverted hammer can get formed in a downtrend as well as an uptrend. In a downtrend, the first day is a bearish candle signalling that the bears are still in control of the market.

An inverted hammer has a very small body at the bottom with a long wick at the top. As the high is way above the body, most of the trading took place near the small area close to the low. This low serves as the support for the upcoming days.

Now, if you find the open of the next day higher than the low of the previous day, the inverted hammer pattern formed last day was a true pattern. Before trading on an inverted hammer signal, you need for the confirmation on the following day. You can now trade this inverted hammer pattern by placing a stop close to the open of the day.

Now, let’s talk about an uptrend. Identifying an Inverted Hammer in an uptrend is almost similar to a downtrend. When an inverted hammer is formed in an uptrend, it means that the uptrend is about to reverse itself into a downtrend. On the first day, you will find the usual bullish candle signalling that the bulls are in control of the market. This is followed by a gap opening and more buying.

But soon the bears start to take control of the market and push the prices down. The close of the day is equal to or close to the low of the day. When you idenfity a bearish inverted hammer pattern, you can safely go short by putting a stop near the open of the signal day or the day when inverted hammer was formed.

Once, you have placed the stop, you have limited your risk. In case, the market moves in the direction as anticipated, you make a nice profit. Placing a stop loss is very important in trading risk management. If the subsequent price movements do not confirm the inverted hammer, the stop loss comes into action and takes you out of the market at an acceptable loss. If you are an aggressive trader, you can place the stop loss close to the high of the inverted hammer.

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You must have traded ETFs. No, then let me first introduce you to ETFs. ETF is the short acronym for Exchange Traded Funds. ETF are a basket of stocks or other assets that have been designed to closely track a stock index, a market index, sector index or any other index. Now trading stock indexes is what many trader do. You can trade stock indexes with options. However, trading ETF Options can be a more profitable venture for you!

The most important difference is that Index Options are cash settled on expiry while the ETF Options are settled with the underlying instruments that is shares of that ETF. Since with an ETF Options, you can also own the underlying security, you can use various combination strategies.

Stocks have dividends that are paid out periodically to the stock holders. Dividends are an important part of the return that a stock gives over a certain period of time. Now when you are trading index options or ETF options both of them get affected by the dividend payments on the underlying stocks. You need to take this fact into account when calculating the values of puts and calls with an Options Calculator otherwise your investment returns may not be what you have been anticipating.

Now, ETF Options are more flexible than the Index Options as you can use the underlying ETF as well in your options strategies. If you have already traded stock options, ETF options should not be difficult for you. You can hedge your ETF position with an option on the ETF.

Now when trading ETF Options, you can use the famous Protective Put Strategy by combining long ETF with a long put. This way you can hedge against the downside risk with a small increased cost to the ETF. A Protective Put will limit the downside risk to the put strike price.

Similarly, you can use a Covered Call on ETF. A Covered Call is formed by taking combining long ETF with a short call on that ETF. The short call will give you some income in the shape of a premium and reduce the cost of the position. This will also slightly reduce the risk of the position. But on the other hand, a covered call will limit the upside profit potential. Your max profit now will only be limited to the call strike price.

Now, you can also use a Collared Position as well by combining a long ETF with a long put and a short call. This combination limits the downside risk to the put strike price with a slight increase in the cost of the ETF. This net increase in cost by taking a long put is offset with the premium brought in by the short call. On the other hand, the limited but high risk is turned into limited risk only.

Whatever options strategies you use with the ETF, you should first paper trade those strategies and instruments. This is an inexpensive way of test these strategies and can be a good lesson in unexpected risk of either of these securities.

An important fact that you need to know is that not all ETFs have options written on them. This should not surprise you as there are many stocks that don’t have options written on them. Another important fact that you should know is that ETF Options are always American Style. American Style options can be excercised anytime before expiry. You can even trade LEAP Options on ETFs. LEAP Options are long term options having expiry of more than nine months to less than two and a half years.

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Any investment marketplace is a place in which an individual might sometimes generate a great deal of cash or a bit based on how well he or she places their investments. A futures marketplace in particular may be extremely high associated risk however the benefits magnify this associated risk also. By figuring out to buy and sell in corn futures and different commodities, you may enjoy a substantial reward and also find ways to reduce your risk at the exact same time.

The quickest method to enter the futures market is by going online and performing some investigation. corn futures in particular enjoy a way of varying in price from day to day based along the actual supplies and need. The Internet is a fantastic method to stay up with these types of changes and permits the smart person to monitor their activities using little to no energy.

There are numerous internet sites obtainable that permits for the buying and tracking of corn futures and also other commodities. These may become an priceless tool for the person that may want to do this without the use of a trader. By purchasing futures in this kind of way, the broker fees are cut away and all of the earnings will go directly to the individual.

Investing in corn futures nevertheless is one of the greater risk investments on the market today. You may reduce the preliminary risk by making use of a few diverse techniques. These alternative techniques both require the use of a agent, but this allows for a lower danger to your capital along with the knowledge that you have a specialist providing you assistance.

The first method to minimizing your risk would be to start a managed account. With this type of account, the broker could make the buying choices for you utilizing your capital to acquire the futures. The benefit to this is the education the agent brings to you in the trends in the market place togetherwith what is a wise move or not.

The second way might be to enter into a commodity pool. This is the lowest risk way to deal in corn futures trading as the total expenditure is added in to others and therefore if a loss is taken, that damage is divided amongst a few people rather than just you as a solitary buyer taking the brunt. The commodity pool also enables for diversification into additional areas of commodity buying and selling.

By going on-line and doing some research, a lot of sites may be found describing trading proceduresand the correct way to make investments. These sites all include worthwhile tracking details in respect to trends in the commodities industry and general pricing guides for previous years. They will as well display projections for the approaching year as the area of investing that is being looked into be is after all, the “futures” market.

These websites are one method the do it yourself trader can gain the same knowledge as the brokers that manage from an office. They employ the same figures and trending patterns to come up with their selections and the Web permits you to take advantage of that. Lots of of these internet sites also offer really low priced deals and are excellent for the part time buyer or the full time day investor.

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As we all grow older, we perceive many changes going on in our minds and in our bodies. During this time, the body and the mind is saying that you need to take control and keep yourself active and in shape. Health in very important and requires work everyday to keep it in check.

Aging is something we cannot avoid so taking control now is very important. It is always best to start young. Our diets alter as we grow older and often the body begins to lose its ability to hold the nutrients it requires to stay healthy. As we grow older, the body also loses its ability to hold the vitamins it needs to stay strong. You may want to consider taking a supplement to increase the daily vitamins you are no longer getting from your meals. Apart from meals, you also require exercise to keep you fit.

Exercise plays an extremely important part in keeping our bodies and minds in shape. As we grow older, we have a propensity to slow down. This slow-down causes the joints to stiffen and the brain starts to slow down as well. Our brains and body need as much activity as they can get to keep them from losing the ability to function as they should.

Our bodies need exercise everyday or as often as possible. Get yourself into an exercise routine to keep yourself moving and it will stimulate the brain at the same time. An exercise program can be carried out with a group making it more fun and at the same time you meet new people. Keep the body moving all the time so it doesn’t get lazy and want to stop. Exercising will help you lose weight, tone up, keeps you from getting stiff and will give you something to look forward to each day. If you get bored doing the same thing each day, try walking every other day for 30 minutes and on the off days enjoy your life with your new friends.

When starting a new exercise program take it slow so you don’t get aches and pains. When you start something new, such as a workout, you are using muscles and parts of the body that were often unused. The muscles might be stiff, so you want to take it slowly at the start. Always begin with stretches and end your work out with stretches as well. Don?t peter out once you’ve started a routine; keep going and you’ll notice a big difference. It takes time to see a change, but it will do good to you in the end.

If you feel sick, don’t always try to deal with it yourself. Some things have to be taken care of with medicine, so if you’re feeling sick notably for more than a couple of days, you ought to check with your doctor. See your doctor on a regular basis for a check up, he can usually see something that you can’t before it starts to get worse.

Your diet plays a vital function in maintaining your health. Being overweight is common and it should be checked regularly by your physician. Being overweight can cause many things to go wrong with your bodily and mental system.

Diabetes is increasingly in the young and old alike. Diabetes if caught in time can be controlled by medicine and diet. Be sure to get the right amount of carbohydrates, fats, and protein in your diet every day to help keep the doctor away. A well balanced diet slows down the aging process and makes for a healthier you. The best options for keeping healthy, as you grow older are: to exercise; to diet; to visit your doctor often and to keep your mind active.

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The next best holiday bets are the Labor Day and the Memorial Day because they fall before the first day of trading in September and June respectively. The day before the President’s day is the worst day and the day after the Easter is the worst day after. However, you should keep in mind that a lot of other factors also come into play and you have a lot of room for error.

Children love Santa Claus. Do the markets love Santa Claus? You must have heard about the Santa Claus Rally? Most of the folks usually feel fairly good about themselves around this time of the year. The best time of the year to own stocks is the Santa Claus rally which for all practical purposes is the 17 day stretch from December 21 to January 7. This is the best time of the year. People are happy and the markets are happy.

There is a low trading volume which tends to exaggerate the trend. If the economy is not doing good and is slowing down, FED tends to lower interest rates during holidays in order to go into the new year with less of a worry. However, when you are dealing with seasonality, you should keep these facts in your mind:

1) The market is not longer static. Money has no borders now. With one mouse click money is transferred from one locality to another. The seasonal effect may get interrupted by other events. More and more people have real time access to information and larger amounts of capital than at any time in the past.

2) At the end of the year, institutional investors want to make their results look as good as possible to their shareholders and tend to buy the stocks and so on. Institutional investors like mutual funds, hedge funds and insurance companies have become important players in the markets. So in case of an event free environment, seasonal tendencies may hold up fairly well.

3) These are the times for day traders and swing traders. With fewer people willing to hold stocks for longer periods, it is very difficult to predict seasonality. The days of long term investing or what you call buy and hold are dead! Frequent market crashes have taught the investing public that investing for the long term is fairly risky. So there is more short term trading going on.

4) The recent market crash was the result of CMO and Default Swaps bringing down the banks and Insurance companies in ways that had not been anticipated or foreseen by the analysts. Many had assumed that derivate securities are safe. Infact they have highly unpredictable tendencies. Derivates and outside the market trading activities can result in highly unpredictable patterns.

Then there is a change in demographics also taking place. With the aging of the population, the overall trend will be towards more income producing investments. So with everyone talking about the seasonal tendencies in the market, it reliability becomes less diminished.

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Just like stocks on the NASDAQ and NYSE, there is a huge variety of penny stocks to watch. Here recently, there have been huge increases in activity on the penny stock market. This increased penny stock activity is understandable. People just don’t trust the big corporations that got us into the recession. I for one would rather put my money into a small business that I trust. However, some people are turning to penny stocks strictly because they can make more money. This is possible, but should be done cautiously because of the rampant fraud on the penny markets.

Penny stocks are risky, but so are the larger stocks, especially while we are suffering through a recession. Many stocks on the larger markets go as high as $50 / share. That means that $1000 will purchase 20 shares in one large company. If that company performs poorly, that investment will dwindle quickly. It’s kind of like putting all of your eggs in one basket. However, on a penny market, that same $1,000 could be used to cover investment fees and still buy thousands of shares in multiple companies. If one stock performs poorly, your investment will still be safe.

Most of America is sick of seeing corporate executives being paid hundreds of millions every year to run a company. What’s worse is the behavior of these large companies. They have been greedy years and are now paying the price. Many of them are being bought out by competitors for pennies on the dollar. Either that or they are just going belly up as a result of decades of corruption. It’s not surprising that American investors are looking for a better place to invest their hard earned money.

Penny stocks are a great alternative. This market is made up of everyday people like you and me. Entrepreneurs who worked hard to build their businesses and are willing to continue that work to keep it going. Usually they went public because they wanted to do more with their company but needed capital to do so. For instance, a local farmer just put his farm on the penny stock market because he could get more corn to the market if he had a $250,000 harvester (tractor). Going public as a penny stock gave him the money he needed to expand the farm.

This growth is usually slower than that of their large business counterparts, as is the growth of their stock value. However, overtime that growth can add up. Further, some companies on the penny stocks will grow naturally from a small business to a large player. Along the way, the value of the stock in the company will grow too. When this growth happens it’s usually very quick. Sometimes it will plateau in as little 24 hours, so penny stock investors have to be prepared to sell quickly.

Just be careful when investing in penny stocks. These companies aren’t as well regulated as the big boys on the stock exchange. Because of this lack of oversight, it’s easy for people to game the system and make it look like a company is growing fast. When they do this, the stock prices rise. At some point in time, these scammers dump their shares at the new rate and walk with the cash. This can make your shares worthless overnight.

When building your list of penny stocks to watch, consider this type of fraud. Instead of chasing the big money makers, consider targeting companies that have grown steadily for years. This will help you avoid frauds and will help ensure you are supporting a growing small business.

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