By ian Jackson

A picture speaks a thousand words, as the old maxim goes. This maxim holds just as true for charts.

Charting is the graphical expression of the behaviour of a stock over a period in time: Charts can be used to afford a birds eye view of the historical, often repeated behaviour or to get up close and personal with the current trading for you chosen time period.

The most basic charts are bar and line charts. If you are new to the trading game and not a Ph.D. in Statistics, these humble charts are the way to go. In fact, even if you are an experienced trader, bar and line charts probably still have a special place in your daily trading life. These charts are simply indispensable.

Stocks have four different trading points throughout a day. They are: opening price (O), closing price (C), absolute high price of the day (H) and the absolute low price of the day (L). All of these points appear on the charts.

The opening price (O) is the first trade of the day. Individual traders tend to place orders when the market opens, in reaction to the close of the previous day. This price will normally be based on emotional decisions and could well indicate how the first half or the whole day of trading is going to pan out. The closing price (C) is the last trade of the day. It is generally institutional investors that place orders towards the close of the day. Unlike the opening price, the closing price will normally be representative of decisions made by reason and research, not gut feel. The low (L) and the high (H) of the day are pretty self-explanatory. The difference between the high and low on the charts is referred to as the Range.

Purely looking at these five points on the charts will not be enough to plan future trades. You will also need to be mindful of how control and commitment has influenced the charts and then figure out what the trend is likely to be going forward.

Control
To trade, you need to have two parties: The buyer and the seller. If there are more buyers than sellers, it results in a demand greater than the supply. This imbalance will result in upward pressure on the price of stocks, which will persist until the imbalance is corrected. If there are more sellers than buyers, it means that the supply of the stocks is greater than the demand. This results on downward pressure on the share, which will remain until equilibrium is regained. Whoever exerts the pressure is said to have control. If you are doing short term trading, it is extra important to know how to spot a change in control when interpreting charts.

Commitment
The response of the market to the rise or fall in share price indicates commitment. As stocks are traded, we can discern something about the emotions of the traders. Those who continue to trade in spite of high prices, show that they believe in the future of the stock, the result is a high price for the day. This is bullish trading. The opposite is true for low trades. It tells us that sellers are worried about the future; therefore they continue selling their stock in spite of lower prices. This is bearish trading.

Conclusion
Charting is not a crystal ball. Charts do not foretell future market behaviours or predict stock prices. What charts do exceedingly well though, is offer you a concise and accurate history and patterns DO tend to repeat themselves. In the history lies a trend and it is from this trend that you may extrapolate data on which to base your projections of the probable future market behaviours and stock price changes. Therein is the greatest value of using charts.

About The Author

Discover awesome techniques for trading stocks and shares online, for both the novice and experienced trader at http://www.TradingOnline4u.com

By Dane Stanton

Forex trading has become an incredibly popular method of online trading these days, mainly due to one thing…it’’s volatility! That’’s right, because of it’’s volatile nature, online investors are creating huge gains over a short period of time. But what is forex trading and how does it work?

The Forex Market

The forex market is different to the conventional market as it deals with trading in foreign currencies. Basically let’’s say you invest US$1000 into the Japanese yen, hoping it will beat the US dollar on that particular day. If it does, you make money, if it doesn”t then you lose money. So basically when the selling rate exceeds the buying rate.

Although many experts believe the forex market is highly risky and overly complicated, there are still a number of traders making huge gains. Most of the time the ones who are making a considerable amount of money, are the ones who stick well clear of any technical strategies, instead choosing one method to stick to that focuses more on common knowledge then one’’s ability to read and decipher graphs.

Most people probably don”t know that the forex market has been around since the end of world war two, when it was invented as a way to boost the world’’s economy. Today, private investors use the forex market to create massive gains.

Quick Gains

The forex market unlike other markets does not open at certain times of the day. It is always open, due to the fact it deals with international currencies where at least one market is open at any given period of the day. This is great for those looking to make quick and continuous gains. Also because of its volatile nature, it has the potential to create huge gains in a short period of time and at the same time, huge losses!

If you plan on making any money trading in the forex market, you should first read a lot of information so as to come accustomed to several different methods that have worked in the past. Trial and error of these strategies is the next step, making sure you only invest in small amounts.

Once you have found a strategy that works well, stick to it, even if you lose money initially. It’’s best to become an expert in one strategy, rather than continuously chopping and changing between methods, just because you hear about some person making a killing doing something different to you. Every method that has been invented works, that’’s why they were invented in the first place!

Lastly when you plan to invest in the forex market, make sure you NEVER invest more than you can afford to lose. This is the key to becoming a successful investor. The longer you stay in the game, the more you learn and the better you get at it. Don”t throw your life’’s savings into the forex market, because this market has a way of turning on you when you least expect it!

About The Author

If you want to learn more about forex trading or anything else about the forex market then http://www.forex-trading-platform.org is the place to go for all the best FREE information!

By Lloyd Lopes

The world of currency trading or to be precise the world of the Foreign Exchange Market is known as FOREX. For a lot of people this is a completely new way of trading, but banks, large corporations and governments have been using FOREX for many, many years.

Now it is possible for individuals to also get involved in currency trading especially with so many internet brokers offering their help and service. FOREX is different from the stock exchange in one key area. The stock exchange is only open during working hours in that country. If you look the New York Stock Exchange works different hours to The London Stock Exchange. But because the majority of FOREX trading is done online, it means that it is available all through the day.

As with any trading FOREX can be risky, don”t consider putting all your money into FOREX until you have a certain level of knowledge and know the risks involved. Start with small amount to trade with and as you trade and gain more knowledge and experience then you can trade with larger sums of money.

As with many things people see the possibility of earning a large amount of money in a very short space of time, that might be the case but you should be wise in what you do. If you have no idea about what you are doing then you might find you will not make your fortune but you have wasted away the money you had already earned. It can”t be emphasised enough learn about FOREX before you invest large sums of money into it.

There are online trading sites where you can have a dummy account, in other words it costs you nothing but you are given an amount of money to practise with. You will not get to keep any of the money, but it is a great way to learn the system without risking your own money. You might find that at the end of the first day you have lost a large amount of money because you didn”t understand the system. It is a relief to know it wasn”t real trading or real money being used. The next day you make the necessary changes and see that you end the day, having made some money.

As you look around the web and see how you can be helped in your new venture, make a note of all the tips that can help you. They could make the difference between wealth and poverty.

When you get involved in currency trading you can find that one minute your currency is gaining in value and the next minute it is being devalued. FOREX is like all trading in that the market doesn”t seem to stay static, there is always something happening with currency trading. Again it can”t be said enough make sure you are prepared to take the risks involved and that will include taking some losses. What you need to make sure is that your profits are enough to cover the losses you will see when you trade.

By learning you can make sure that your losses are kept to the minimum and your profits are kept as high as possible. By doing this you can enjoy trading with FOREX.

About The Author

Lloyd Lopes is the co owner of a general forex trading website.

Read more about currency trading at http://www.currencytrade.co.za

By Dane Stanton

Forex trading is a system developed to allow people to trade currencies in the various markets. For example if you bet $100 on the Yen to go up and it does, you make money. It has become incredibly popular over the last few years not because of its tranquility but because of its volatile nature. Seems sort of strange, but there is a good reason for it.

A volatile market can only mean one thing - a series of large spikes both up and down. This means the gains are much higher than in any other form of online trading and it’’s not strange to see traders making up to 100 times the amount they initially invested.

The forex trading market unlike options and stocks is greatly affected by a number of variables, one of them being the news. During news time when an issue arises, a stir is created in the market. This is a time when some of the largest spikes may occur and a great percentage of people make both huge profits and huge losses.

Sticking To A Strategy

Some of the most successful online traders would agree with this technique - finding a strategy and sticking to it. There is nothing magical about forex trading, the prices go up and the prices go down. Whether or not you make money, completely depends on the predictions you make.

There is no room for gut instinct in forex trading. Emotions tend to get in the way of your desired outcome and is one of the biggest reasons why 90% of traders fail within the first 12 months. There are of course many scientific ways of helping to improve your odds when trading in forex.

The Simple Moving Average

One of these strategies is to use a simple-moving average. This is where we extract a set of averages from previous existing spikes. Once you have determined this average you can then make an assumption that whenever the price crosses this average in the future, it’’s a surefire signal to buy. There are of course programs out there that can do this for you as it can be a fairly time-consuming job.

Some Tips For Beginners

Before you even think about forex trading, spend at least a week reading from people who know what they are doing. Then once that week is over, go back and analyze the information you just read to determine whether or not it was dependable. Then go and read for another week!

If there is anything to say to a beginner to the forex market or any other form of trading, it’’s this - don”t trust anyone but yourself! Sure ask for advice, but make sure the final decision on your trade investments is solely yours. Measure up the investment to also determine whether or not you can afford to lose what you are about to place in and don”t ever go overboard!

Your goal if you don”t have one, should be to find a strategy that works and stick too it. Don”t go changing strategies just because you got a hot tip from some guy who fluked a trade and made a mint. Find a good strategy that works well and stick to it.

The Fox And The Hedgehog

We can say people are categorized as being one of two things - they are either a fox, or a hedgehog. A fox is a person that knows a little about a lot of things and therefore tends to jump from one strategy to another. In other words, they are very cunning and use a great deal of strategies to try and get the hedgehog. The hedgehog knows a lot about ONE thing. It knows that whatever the fox tries, all it has to do is crawl up into a ball and when the fox pounces, he gets a mouthful of spikes, and so the hedgehog survives.

Don”t be a fox, be a hedgehog. Become an expert of one strategy in forex trading and I promise you will reap the rewards.

About The Author

If you want to learn more about forex trading or anything else about the forex market then http://www.forex-trading-platform.org is the place to go for all the best FREE information!

By Winson Peh

Did you know that Forex trading ranks approximately at eighty-five percent of all the daily transactions in the Foreign Exchange market? Forex trading is a term used when referring to the currencies of different nations being traded as bought or sold as at the same time another is sold and bought.

Dealing with Forex involves making a profit when selling currency, as you will be selling at a price higher than your cost of purchase. Since the Foreign Exchange market is such a large market for financial liquidation, the world over it is reasonable to understand how it is able to produce daily interesting yields.

Today through the wonderful advantage of an array of online trading systems, it is possible for many traders, big and small to take advantage of all the benefits that Forex Trading has to offer.

Since Forex is such a fundamental element of the world market, it is found to be fully active twenty-four hours a day. No matter what you are doing there are transactions that occur in the Foreign Exchange the world over, all week long.

Orders can be placed by a client with instructions to a broker to sell their equities overnight while others are sleeping if they wish. It is possible for Forex dealers to make transactions on the Foreign Exchange market at any major bank or Forex brokerage company.

If they feel capturing a future increase against another currency, they may choose to exchange the second currency for the first currency. In this manner setting up an expected program of producing a deal opposite the first by exchanging the first for the second, with a gainful profit rising from their dealings.

Generally, for the purpose of investment four major currency pairs are used when dealing with Forex. Take for instance, the British pound against US dollar and the US dollar against Japanese yen as well as the Euro against US dollar and the US dollar against Swiss franc.

In the recent past new or small entrepreneurs found it difficult to enter the Foreign Exchange market since the financial requirements were so inflexible and ridged as well as carrying a very large minimum in transaction sizes.

Before, the only principal dealers in the field were large entrepreneurs, big currency dealers , banks and other larger institutions. Back then, it was only those principal dealers who could afford the great advantage of the strong trends of currency exchange rates as well as the currency market’’s unrivaled liquidity.

However, today there are many small entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of this amazing opportunity of buying and selling. They may do so in any manner of numbers of small units since the brokers of the Foreign Exchange market are able to break down those larger sizes in inter-bank units, then they offer them up for buying and selling.

Since the Forex market is the largest financial market to be found worldwide, it is an interesting liquid market. Forex offers a daily turnover of nearly 1.2 trillion dollars on average. It is also known as the FX market as well as the Foreign Exchange market.

The price movements on the Forex market is a much smoother transaction in comparison with the stock market. As a result many new or smaller entrepreneurs are able to enter and exit their positions more efficiently and proficiently.

Becoming successful while working in Forex can seem to be a bit intimidating or overwhelming as well as laborious and demanding. However, it is now an opportunity that is most welcomed as an alternative option for the newer entrepreneurs or smaller companies as well as several interested individuals. When deciding to trade at the very same price movements and rates as any other currency dealer since they can earn just as much money, perhaps even make their fortune by using Forex.

As the old saying goes practice makes perfect. Once the new traders get acquainted with the skills required for Forex trading they gain a better confidence, as they can feel assured that whether any of the currency should raise of fall the market is good and stable. One thing is for sure, trading will not stop as long as there are supplies of different currency available for trading.

About The Author

Author’’s website about Forex Trading is at http://www.squidoo.com/forex-trading-88 and his trading blog is at http://www.mytradingjourney.com/blog

By Jim Brown

Sometimes we simply have too many choices. Laundry detergents can fill an entire aisle at a supermarket, when they all do essentially the same thing. Fast food restaurants offer 8 different package deals all made of the same basic food. The more options we have the harder it is to know exactly what we want. Nowhere is that more evident than choosing a broker for online investing. The proliferation of online brokerages has left the new or average investor with a pile full of prospectus stacks and no real idea of how to choose one from the many. There are three important questions to ask that will help you determine the best broker for you.

What do you want to invest?

Whoever said, “It’’s just money” didn”t have any. The amount of money you want to invest will make a difference in everything from the type of investment appropriate for you to actual brokerage houses. Some brokers require a high initial investment to fulfill the type of portfolios they specialize in. Other brokers require you to keep a certain minimum in your account. That’’s different than the initial investment price because if your stocks initially lose ground and your account drops below the balance you could be required to replace that money. There are brokers that specialize in low initial investment and new investors. Many of them use balanced mutual funds to build up an account over time then switch the investor to a higher yield account when enough money has accrued.

What kind of help do you need?

Brokerage houses offer many levels of guidance and broker interaction. The more you need your broker to do for you, the more you”ll pay in fees. Some companies such as E-Trade who have pioneered the world of online investment made easy offer the experienced investor the ability to manage their own portfolio from home with a minimum of help from employees. This saves the fees for the investor and gives them a greater sense of managing their own finances. Other brokers offer a full service online staff able to advise, make trades and notify the investor about market news and IPO’’s. A new investor should pick a broker who can offer guidance and explanation before diving for the first time in the complex world of finance.

What else do you want to do?

If all you want to do is invest and put your savings somewhere that will accrue extra money for your future then any broker can do. However many brokers, credit unions and banks offer additional services you may want to use. Some offer credit card services, retirement accounts, tax help, debit cards and loans. If you are looking for a “one stop shopping” financial solution a firm with more options may be better for your online investing needs. However, if you are comfortable with your local bank and current financial set up then any online broker can be used to add to your existing household plan very easily.

With the availability of a multitude of online brokers to assist you in the investment of your finances there is no question that they want your business. All you have to know is which one of those businesses you want.

About The Author

James Brown writes about http://www.simplybestcoupons.co.uk