The Plight of the Plucky Day Trader

Should your ever wonder how much money is funneled through the New York Stock Exchange on any given day? The rough approximation puts the figure at $1 billion. The humble NASDAQ, by comparison, manages to reallocate approximately $50 million worth of stocks and bonds. Mind you, these are daily tallies. So, indeed, if a tidy sum is your chief aim in life, your course is set.

For all intents and purposes, the financial market has divided into two co-existing, yet antagonistic, camps. The first camp is populated by reams of business and finance majors, who went to university in the hopes of transforming themselves into diminutive versions of Gordon Grekko. Most of them are one bad year away from opting for an MBA program and them settling into some form of middle to upper management position at some firm, somewhere.

The second camp consists of the plucky day trader on his or her quixotic quest for El Dorado. Your average day trader has attended — and in most cases graduated from — college. They are certain that with the right amount of information, they can perform as good a job managing their financial portfolio as the professional stockbroker. While some day traders have indeed made quite a lucrative living for themselves, most would-be investors are loath to take the responsibility of losing their own money onto their own shoulders.

We all admire the underdog — that determined individual flaunting authority and tradition to make something of himself (or herself). Imagine the Rocky Balboa of Wall Street and you may be able to conjure the spirit of self-determination that guides a good many day traders. Now, while most of them are reliant on online trading platforms to make their exchanges, the savvy minority have opted to enroll in a professional day trading course or two.

While some may question the feasibility and long-term success of day trading, the argument is shifted in favor of the scrappy day trader as he or she could well boast that they have completed a curriculum that most professionals are subjected to as a matter of course. Indeed, a bit of professional training goes a long way, especially in the dog-eat-dog realm of stocks and bonds. Trader beware and be prepared.

Come together, you sons and daughter of liberty and find your even-footing with a professional day trading course. Cast off the shackles of Wall Street and take your financial portfolio into your own hands today.

A Review of the Stock Market During the Past Ten Years

What a tumultuous decade it’s been in the financial markets. We’ve seen peaks and valleys like never before, and it makes you wonder what lies ahead.

Looking back to the beginning of the decade, things really opened up with a bang. Internet stocks were in play, and the tech boom brought about new highs in both the NASDAQ and the DJIA.

More people were trading stocks than ever before. This was a craze that the world had never witnessed, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. New accounts were springing up left and right.

Those who sold at the top are extremely fortunate, because few people saw the major correction coming. Everything tanked during the second half of the year 2000 and fortunes were lost just as quickly as they were made.

Things quickly went down and stayed that way for quite some time. Just when it looked as if things were stabilizing in 2001, things got worse after the 9-11 attacks. The world economy was at risk and many investors were pulling their money out of the markets.

A rebuilding mode set in during the next few years, and some steady gains followed through 2006, at which point some of the indexes once again set new records. Investors were optimistic about market conditions and money was beginning to flow back in.

Not only were the equities markets thriving, but fortunes were being made through foreign exchange currency trading and commodities trading. Even vehicles like ETFs began to spring up and attracted heavy investment money.

Once again, the doom kicked back in and the markets hit their lowest points since the 1990s. Things have since rebounded a bit, but it makes you wonder where we might be headed next. Something tells me that wherever we go, it’ll be a wild ride

If you’re interested in the forex markets, take a look at this writer’s article about the no loss robot ripoff concerns.

A Million Dollar Reason Why Stock Trading Delays Must Be Fixed Fast

Computer programmers have created an inexpensive solution for diagnosing delays in data center networks as short as a hundred millionth of a second. These very short delays measured in millionths of a second can cause multi-million dollar losses for investment banks running automatic stock trading systems.

The University of California and Purdue teamed up to create this cheap solution. The programming code was presented on August 20th, 2009 at SIGCOMM.

This new programming method enables data centers to diagnose delays as short as millionths of a second in routers. The programming method also will detect packet loss as infrequent as one in a million at every router in a data center’s network.

The programming code is called the Lossy Difference Aggregator. It requires no new hardware and has no performance penalty on the router.

Institution stock traders and corporations that sell online stock trading platforms will go crazy for this technology. The reason is that if an online brokerage firm has a stock trading algorithm that reacts to an incoming market data feed even just 100 microseconds faster than the competition, they can buy millions of shares before their competitors.

Online automated exchanges like the American Stock Exchange use custom designed hardware boxes that are very expensive. These boxes are put on routers and key points in a data center network. These external hardware boxes are too expensive to put on every router within a data center network making it difficult to trouble shoot and find a problem router. By the time the problem is detected and fixed, it will cost the company anywhere from 2 to 4 million dollars because of delayed buy and sell orders.

This computer programming code will allow router vendors to add loss tracking on every router at no additional cost. This will completely eliminate the need for specialized external router monitoring devices.

The old school way of monitoring a routers performance is to use an external device to track when a packet arrives and when it leaves the router and then have it calculate the difference.

Instead of summing the arrival and departure times of all packets traveling through a router, the computer programmers new system randomly splits incoming packets into groups and then adds up arrival and departure times of each of the groups separately. As long as the number of losses is smaller than the number of groups, at least one group will give a good estimate.

Subtracting the sums of the groups and then dividing by the number of messages gives an approximation of the average delay with very little performance reduction of the router. It has about the same overhead as a series of small counters.

With this computer programming code built into every router, a data center manager will be able to quickly pinpoint the offending router and interface that is adding extra millionth of a second delays or losing even one packet in a million.

By Lance Jepsen. For free stock trading advice by master stock traders and free stock charting software go to stock trading

Investing Knowledge Equals Success In The Stock Market

Anyone who has been trading for awhile will tell you that investing in the stock market is anything but easy. There is nothing like the pain you get in your stomach when you put your hard earned money on the line and get it wrong. You do not have to take a stab at investing alone. Thanks to the Internet there are many investing blogs, websites, and forums that you can go to to get free information. Try and meet more knowledgeable traders than yourself and then learn everything you can about making money investing in stocks.

You have probably heard the cliche two heads are better than one, and that three heads are better than two. Imagine having thousands of people with a common interest in investing to share knowledge with. Think about just how much you can learn by sharing and listening to stories from fellow investors, experienced and inexperienced alike. I am not only talking about investing with respect to this learning: you may be surprised with how much you can learn from other people, never mind the fact that they are only online and not communicating personally. Socializing, at any level, is the spice of life, so why not integrate something as complicated as investing with the simple act of communicating with other people? Investing blogs make sure that you learn, while enjoying the benefits that socializing brings as well.

Make sure you read the rules for the website or blog before joining. Each website will have its own set of rules they want you to follow. Also, you should check out a website’s reputation with other traders. If you see comments being deleted on a regular basis, stay away from that website. Websites that put amateur moderators in charge are usually bad websites to be on. The reason is that they restrict the free flow on information and knowledge. Anyone who exercises the power of deletion as a moderator is someone who does not care about giving everyone their right to free speech. If they are willing to trample free speech, what else are they willing to do: take money from your trading account? So take some time researching a stock blog or message forum before getting addicted to their content.

Some stock blogs require no user account information whatsoever. These are the best financial blogs to subscribe to. Whatever you decide, connecting with other stock traders will increase the profitability of your trades.

Keep an eye on the type of stocks a message forum, club, or blog is telling you to buy. Is there a pattern of the stock picks always being small caps? If there is, watch out. Small cap stocks move on very little buying activity. These are the easiest stocks to push higher. Make sure you are not the target of a pump and dump snow job involving small cap stocks.

By Jens Jackson. When are you finally going to get tired enough of losing money in the stock market to do something about it? Make sure you see Lance Jepsen’s excellent free investors blog at investing

The Dirty Tricks Of Professional Traders In The Stock Market

Are you losing money in the stock market because of false breakouts? This article could completely turn around your trading…

This little known secret has saved me thousands of dollars and now I’m going to share it with you.

You are about to learn a low down dirty trick that institutional traders use against you.

It may upset you. It may piss you off.

It may even make you want to close this page and forget you saw it…

Read this entire article…

And I promise you you’ll be glad you did.

Because by the time you finish this article you’ll have a whole new method for avoiding false breakouts…

First I will talk about what support and resistance lines REALLY are, and then I’ll talk about false breakouts.

Learning the how and why resistance lines and support lines form will help protect you against false breakouts.

When most traders buy and sell, they make an emotional commitment to their trade. Their emotions can keep a market trend going, or send it into a reversal.

When a stock takes a plunge, some of the crowd trading the stock will sell for a loss, some of the crowd will sell for a gain, and some of the crowd will hold on to their position.

A chart is really nothing more than the result of emotions coming from the crowd of people in that particular stock.

Pain Is the #1 Reason Why Support and Resistance Lines Form

If a trader is still holding on to the stock when the price claws back to his cost basis, he’s likely going to sell. He has painful memories of being in this stock and wants to get out as quickly as possible. This selling will temporarily stop a rally. These painful memories are the reason why areas of support and resistance form.

For example, suppose a stocks falls from $30 down to $25 where it trades for a couple of weeks. The longer the $25 level holds, the more that believe $25 is support. Suddenly, after a couple of weeks of trading at $25, the stock falls down to $20. Smart traders will sell quickly and get out at $24 or $23. Amateur traders will hold on and sit through the entire painful decline. Some amateur traders will get out at $20. Other amateur traders who haven’t given up at $20 will be the first to sell when the stock gets back up to $25. They will happily jump at the chance to “get out even.” Their selling will temporarily stop a rally and form a resistance level.

Regret Is A Reason Why Support and Resistance Lines Form

Traders who discover a stock that has spiked up feel like they have “missed the gravy train”. When the stock falls back to a certain level, the traders who felt regret at missing the first spike up are eager to jump in for a chance at a second spike up or upward move. Their buying forms a support level.

Take your stock chart and draw resistance and support lines at recent tops and bottoms. You should anticipate the trend to slow down at these levels. Use these support lines and resistance lines to either buy (at support) or to take profits (at resistance).

Institutional Traders Cause False Breakouts

A false upside breakout occurs when the market rises above resistance and sucks in buyers before reversing and falling.

A false downside breakout happens when a stock falls below support, attracting more bears just before a rally.

Any stock chart can form false breakouts but be especially careful of any stock that has a high percentage of institutional ownership.

Institutional traders cause these false breakouts to make a ton of money off amateur traders.

Institutional traders have access to all limit orders. They know how many more buy orders are above a resistance level.

Institutional traders engage in what is called “running the stops”. False breakouts happen when Institutional traders organize hunting parties to run stops.

Take the following example: when a stock is just under resistance at $20, the buy limit orders come flowing in near $18.50. The institutions calculate the liquidity ratio which measures how much the stock will go up if all buy limit orders are executed at $18.50. They calculate that the stock will run to $21 if all the buy limit orders at $18.50 are executed. They short the stock at $20 to push it down to $18.50. At $18.50 they cover their short position and go long as the wave of buy orders are automatically executed pushing the stock up to $21. If greedy traders start piling in, the institutional trader will stay long the trade. As soon as the buy orders start drying up, they sell short and the price falls back below $20. A false upside breakout will show on your chart.

If you are knocked out of a trade because of a false breakout, do not be afraid to get back into the stock. Amateurs usually make a single run at a stock and stay out if they are stopped out. Professional traders will make several runs at a stock before nailing down the trade they want.

How To Cash In On Double Tops and Bottoms In The Stock Market

Professional traders kill amateur traders in the stock market with double top and bottom patterns. Do not be another victim. In fact, after reading this article you will be able to get the revenge you deserve.

All stock market rallies reach a point where bulls say, ok, I’ve made enough, I’m going to sell and take profits. When this happens, charts will top out when not enough new bulls are coming in to offset their profit taking.

Bulls who just bought in are mad as they came in too late. They are trapped. Their position continues to pile on losses. Should they hold on or sell for a loss? Only when enough bulls decide the stock has overreacted on the downside will they come in and buy. The rally will resume to the upside as more bulls rush in to buy on weakness. As prices approach the level of their old top, you can expect sell orders to hit the market.

There are always those traders who were trapped in the previous reversal and now they have sworn to their gods to jump out if the market would just give them another chance by rising to its old high.

An exact opposite situation happens in the stock market at a bottom. A stock falls to a new low at which enough shorts start taking profits by covering their positions which causes the market to rally. Once that short covering rally stalls and the stock begins falling again, all eyeballs are on that previous low-will it hold? If fear is greater than greed, prices will break below that previous low which will mark a continuation of the downtrend. If greed is stronger than fear, the downtrend will stop near the old low forming a double bottom. Your other technical indicators will help you figure out which of the two possibilities is more likely to occur.

Whenever you see a stock climb to its previous high, the first question in your mind should be will the stock climb to a new high or form a double top and head back down. Technical indicators like the RSI, MACD, and volume are very helpful in answering this question.

If a stock climbs to its previous high, if the volume, MACD, and stochastics are dropping then a double top is likely to form.

When a stock falls to its previous low, a double bottom is most likely to form when the volume, MACD, RSI, and stochastics are rising.

Stock Trading Course Software for Day Traders

There is a stock trading course available online for people who are interested to learn about day trading style. In fact, a number of web sites have provided write ups, videos and links for interested individuals who wish to get involved with the stock exchange business. It is just a matter of choosing which site can provide the most detailed and comprehensible discussions on the subject matter regarding day trading.

This type of trade execution is quite risky for new traders. It can bring about substantial financial losses within a short period of time. It is of great necessity to obtain proper education to know the fundamental aspects of the industry more especially on the technical analysis.

The technical analyses are the foundations for decisions when to trade and how to approach the market. The data found in the charts are the essential elements needed for technical analysis. It is vital for all trader and investors to understand the stock charts for these are the carriers of the market indicators.

The knowledge in charts is highly important for these are the carriers of the market indicators. The indicators are vital to technical analyses which are the foundations for decisions when to trade and how to approach the market. Charts reflect the essential elements needed for technical analyses.

Online courses may not be that expansive as that of the software. A stock trading course must be comprehensive enough for a person to learn the strategies and skills needed for different trade executions. This can be available on the software especially developed for this purpose.

The stock exchange business is not an easy one and involves investment in terms of money and time. For someone who is really serious in the business, it is advisable to available of the software on stock trading course.

Knowing Currency Correlations

Everything is interrelated in the forex markets. It is important for you to understand that the price action of each currency pair is not mutually exclusive.

Different currency pairs move relative to one another. You need to understand that different currency pairs are correlated. Correlation can be positive or negative.

Knowledge of the strength of this relationship and its direction can help you in developing your trading strategies. Correlation numbers have the potential to become a great trading tool for you.

Correlations are calculations based on past pricing data between different currency pairs. It is always a number between -1 and +1. These numbers can provide you with a lot of information that can maximize returns, minimize risk and help you avoid counter productive trading.

Lets make it clear with an example. Suppose USD/JPY and USD/CHF had a positive correlation of +0.83 last month. This number is close to +1 and means that both pairs are moving together most of the time in the same direction.

Since both the pairs move together, if you are trading USD/JPY and USD/CHF at the same time, it will double up your position if you go long or short on both at the same time. In other words, if you lose a trade on USD/JPY, the chances are that you will also lose the trade on USD/CHF 83% of the times.

Take another example. Suppose EUR/USD and USD/CHF have a negative correlation of -0.9 in the past month. Both the pairs are moving in opposite directions. If you go long on one, it is not a good strategy to go short on the other. It will only double up your position and increase your risk.

When investing in two pairs at the same time, try to choose such pairs that have correlations close to zero. This will make the two pairs almost independent of each other and you can invest in both of them safely.

Always keep this in mind that currency markets are constantly changing. The correlation between currency pairs also keep on changing. It would be a good idea to calculate the correlations between pairs on a monthly basis.

Orchids Pseudobulbs

Many orchids produce pseudobulbs or false bulbs, although this is not always the case. Those that do, develop a svmpodial type of growth, where a new pseudobulb is added each season along a continually extending rhizome. In this way, the plant builds up a series of pseudobulbs that form a chain.

Cattleyas produce just one or two broad, semi-rigid leaves from the apex of the pseudobulbs. Leaves vary considerably in colour from a light mid-green to dark grey-green. Some paphiopedilums and phalaenopsis are mottled with light and dark green shades. Not all sympodial orchids produce pseudobulbs. The paphiopedilums and phragmipediums, for example, form fans of leaves from a basal rhizome. Monopodial orchids have a single vertical rhizome from which pairs of leaves grow at right angles. Vandas and phalaenopsis are the best examples of monopodial orchids in cultivation.

While the vandas can become considerably tall, and at some stage in their life need to be reduced in height, the phalaenopsis are selfregulating, never attaining much upward growth, because the older leaves are shed at the same rate as new ones appear. The leaves of vandas and other monopodial orchids are semi-rigid, while those of phalaenopsis are broad and flat. In the wild, the latter plants are not subjected to extreme temperatures or bright sunlight, and their wide surface is designed to catch as much of the filtered light as possible.

Some vandas, on the other hand, have rounded, or terete, foliage, which lessens the surface area on plants that can survive in areas of full sun. Leaves that remain for one or two seasons only are wide, soft and papery, such as with the lycastes, while leaves that are hard and leathery will live for much longer.

Pseudobulbs have evolved into an unlimited range of shapes and sizes, from long, thin, pencil shapes to rounded or even flattened structures. They may be no larger than a pea, round and shiny, and delicious to look at when newly formed, as in the smaller coelogynes and bulbophyllums. By contrast, they may be the size of a tennis ball, as in the case of some cymbidiums. In cattleyas and allied genera, they become tall and clubshaped, swelling out from a narrow base adjoining the stout rhizome, while the one or two leaves are formed at the top.

Some leafless monopodial orchids exist, such as Chilochista species, that are no more than a cluster of roots, and it is the roots that contain the chlorophyll to enable the plants to photosynthesize. A few orchids have thick hairs on both sides of the foliage.

The strangest of all are the hollow pseudobulbs of Schomburgkia tibicinis and Caularthon bicornutum, two species with slits at the base of their hollow pseudobulbs. It is difficult to be sure why these have evolved, because they defeat the object of functioning as a food store when they are completely empty. Usually occupied in the wild by a species of fierce ant, they can serve a dual purpose: providing a home for the insect, which, in turn, grooms the orchid and keeps it free from parasites and unwanted pests.

Some orchids, such as Trichotosia ferox, produce plants covered with fine, brown hair, the purpose of which is not fully understood. It is thought that the hairs may provide a layer of protection in cold climates. The stems, new shoots and base of the flower buds of Dendrobium infundibulum are covered with thick, black hairs, creating a rough surface. As the new growth starts to age, the hairs become less apparent.

Watering Orchids

Water your orchids using a spouted watering can of a size that reflects the size of your collection. As this grows, you will want to convert to a garden hose in your greenhouse connected to the mains water supply. Use an adjustable nozzle to make the job easier and more enjoyable.

When you apply water, give enough to flood the surface, allowing the water to run through, then repeat the process. This will ensure a good soaking. Because of the nature of orchid compost (growing medium), the water will quickly disappear, so you need to use much more than is actually retained.

Dry compost will vary in colour, or you may notice other subtle differences that will only come with experience. If you are still not sure, slip a plant out of its pot, without breaking up the compost ball, and take a quick look underneath to see how wet it is. Take a look also at the plant itself. This will tell you what has been happening over the past weeks.

Many orchids flower while they are resting. In the wild, this would probably ensure a ready supply of pollinating insects on the wing, and it would prevent blooms from being damaged by torrential rain and winds. Odontoglossums complete their season’s pseudobulb and produce their flower spikes at the same time. Only after flowering does the new growth appear, which may be at any time from the early winter onwards.

There are other, more expensive methods of converting your water supply, or it may be easier to collect rainwater from outside and use that. If stored water is being used, be sure that it is at room temperature, especially in winter, when icy water will chill the roots. If your water butt (deep sink) is outside, bring in a can-full the day before you need to use it.

Mains tap water is available from several sources. In your area it may have fallen recently as rain and drained into reservoirs. Alternatively, it may be extracted from a river needing treatment before it is suitable for domestic use. It may also be water that has come from deep, underground, natural reservoirs, in subterranean rock formations. This water may be hundreds of years old and contain many minerals.

Your water may be fit for human consumption, but epiphytic plants do not like water that contains lime or calcium. Artificial water softeners are available, which work by adding salts and various ingredients to soften the water. Again, these may be fine for domestic use but not very good for our orchids. In fact, the salts added can be more harmful than the original lime.

Water softeners such as reverse osmosis, however, remove impurities to leave a better-quality water suitable for orchids.

Next Page »