Archive for the ‘Investments’ Category

If your export business is performing well in domestic market for some time, you should be thinking of expanding it to the international market. Not only it can provide you with more profits but selling more units will also help in bringing down the cost per unit. Reaching out to global markets can be your way to prosperity which you have been dreaming for. But before you expand your business to outside markets, you must understand that domestic trade is quite simple when compared to international trade, which brings many new factors into play. Exchange rate is probably the most important one, you must understand what is it and how it can disturb your profits before you go through the pricing process. Let’s start with a basic definition.

Exchange rate:

All major countries have their own currencies. When you are selling to these countries, your sellers will be willing to pay in their own currency, while you can demand for a payment in your own currency. The buyer must then go to his bank and have his currency converted. This conversion will be done at foreign exchange rate. Rate of exchange is the value or price of one currency in terms of another currency. Rate of exchange is also a very important factor of the economy, having an impact on country’s overall imports & exports.

Forms of exchange rate:

Two methods are used to determine foreign exchange rate.

i) Floating Exchange rate
ii) Fixed Exchange rate

Floating (or flexible exchange rate), the one widely used in most parts of the world; let the markets decide by means of demand & supply, at which rate the local currency will be converted into other currencies. This type of exchange rate is often fluctuating, and the exporters need to be secure that some dramatic change will not shrink their profits to an undesirable level. Forward exchange rate (estimated exchange rates for some future supply) should be carefully calculated when pricing. Normally exporters come up with a cushion to secure their position in case of sudden change in exchange rate. Fixed exchange rates are decided by regulatory authorities to achieve their economic goals.

Providing the lowest cost possible is vital in international trade, so you cannot shift the whole burden on buyers. Thus, it is necessary that you observe your target market carefully, past fluctuations in its exchange rate and economic stability before you finally decide on prices of your products and services.



Selling out of the money premium can be an efficient way to building wealth. It can provide a high probability trade that has great return.

So, what is premium selling? Premium selling is simply selling calls and puts on stocks. They can form spreads called bull put spread, and bear call spread. To be profitable the stock has to close higher for puts, or lower for calls, then the strike price of the option. For instance if you sell the $40 put and the stock is at $48 by expiration you would be profitable. No one is going to make you buy this stock at $40 and sell it for $48.

Some premium sellers choose to sell a put above the value of the stock. This is considered an in the money trade and is dangerous. In this case they must have the stock move above the price of the option by the time it expires. If it doesn’t they are forced to buy the stock at a higher price then it is actually worth.

This type of trading can be dangerous because you only make money if the stock does only one thing, go up. If it goes down or sideways they will lose money. Making this a speculative trade.

That is why option sellers are benefited if they sell out of the money options instead. This will give you a smaller possible gain but a much higher chance of being right. That is because you do not need the stock to go up for you to make money. It can go up, sideways or even down a little bit for the trade to be profitable.

Another thing that should be considered when selling premium is that you do not want to let the option have a long time. The less time you give the stock to move the higher chance you will be profitable.



Crude Oil was first discovered in the US over 150 years ago in 1859.  At the start of the 20th century it supplied only 4% of the world’s energy.  However, today that number has significantly increased to 40%, with the downright domination of the transportation market at 96%.

The most direct way to trade crude oil is through futures and Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s). Crude futures began trading on the NYMEX in 1983 and are now one of the most heavily traded commodities in the world. Futures, by definition mean that you’re trading the price of oil months into the future at a later date. Traders speculate that the price in the future will be higher or lower.  Crude futures trade 30 consecutive months plus long-dated futures initially listed 36, 48, 60, 72, and 84 months prior to delivery.  Crude Futures trade in units of 1,000 U.S. barrels (42,000 gallons).

Options: One NYMEX Division light, sweet crude oil futures contract.  Trading terminates at the close of business on the third business day prior to the 25th calendar day of the month preceeding the delivery month. If the 25th calendar day of the month is a non-business day, trading shall cease on the third business day prior to the last business day preceeding the 25th calendar day.  This is why it is called futures.  Using March, we would trade the spot month April contract until the 3rd business day prior to the 25th of March.  When the April contract would expire and then the next spot month would be May, and so on.  If you have a position on at the end of expiration in that current contract then you have to either make or take delivery.  This is the process where you could accept delivery if you are long or send delivery to the buyer if you are short.  This rarely happens as 90% of oil futures trades are closed out before delivery.

Trading in futures and options involves a substantial degree of a risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not indicative of future results.



Forex Demo Accounts – How does it work?

Well, a forex demo account has all the features of a live forex account, except the funds in the account is just virtual. So its also called as a virtual forex account. If any broker supports the “Meta Trader 4″ platform its possible to open their forex demo accounts through the MT4 terminal itself. Although everything is almost identical to a live account of the same broker, its important to know that any forex trading strategy that works wonders in forex demo accounts might not perform exactly as expected on live forex accounts or even worse.

Advantages of Demo Trading

The first and foremost benefit for to-be-traders is the actual experience of trading. Unlike other industries experience is essential to trade forex. Although having a basic theoretical knowledge on forex trading is of utmost importance, its almost equivalent to reading a book titled “learn how to swim”. The only way to learn swimming is by getting into the water, similarly the best method to learn forex trading is by applying theoretical trading knowledge on a trading account. But, first up a demo account is the best place to have a feel for the market and trading.

Demo Trading – facts

A forex demo account is meant only for demo trading forex, full stop. Nothing more, nothing less. This means that any trading strategy successfully tested on a demo trading account does not guarantee similar results on live accounts. Furthermore an orthodox method to trade forex might very well work on demo trading accounts but drastically fail on live accounts.

Demo Trading – warning!

Mindset, attitude, psychology, discipline and personality of a forex trader can make or break his career as a trader. None of these aspects of a trader can be tested on demo trading accounts but only on live forex accounts. So trading well on a demo trading account does not qualify one as a potentially successful forex trader. Instead it means that he is ready to learn:

how to have the correct mindset the right attitude the psychology behind trading decisions how to become a disciplined trader recognize his personality

In a single sentence, forex demo accounts are identical to live forex accounts, except that the funds are virtual and the trading results are vastly different on forex demo accounts.



There are lots of strategies available for doing online share trading in Indian stock trading. Some of investors can go for long-term investment i.e. they invest in stock for years and then will forget it. Few traders go for short-term investment to generate many returns. Do research on stock market and learn about stock market using a share market tutorial. This is good time for investing in Indian stock trading and gets good returns. If you are part of online shares market and involved in online share trading, then you are certainly in advantageous state. It is because you may gain market information’s, watch the BSE live, view performance of the NSE, and obtain expert stock tips.

There are 2 exchanges in India.

• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) – It is oldest exchange and many of index heavy weight stock are traded in such exchange. The BSE includes top 30 stocks through market capitalization and it represents Indian Sensex.

• National Stock Exchange (NSE) – This is electronic exchange. Top 50 stocks are called as National 50 or “Nifty” it represents index of next 50 stocks through market capitalization. It is in Mumbai.

Short-term investments and day trading are strategies that the area available in the Indian stock market for obtaining quick return, but it is much risky. There are lots of chances of burning your fingers and losing money that you have invested. If you are little careful then you can win. Some tips for earning returns quickly by Indian stock trading.

* Day Trading Strategies of Indian Stock Trading:

1. Do not take more exposure in stock beyond capacity, even if brokerages give excess exposure limit. Few stocks in India such as Reliance Natural Resource Limited may look cheap so that one can take much exposure. Try to be in limit within capacity.

2. Get tips from two or more of brokerage houses and analyze tips before investing. Few of reliable brokerage house in India are Motilal Oswal, Sharekhan and ICICI Direct.

3. Before buying stocks or selling stocks on trading, check opening position of stocks by Indian stock trading live charts.

4. If opening is against brokerage recommendations, then do not take position.

5. Continuously watch prices in share trading software till you close position. Few of software that gives live price are available in Sharekhan and ICICI Direct.

6. If you feel stocks breaches stop loss prices, then immediately close position.

* Short-term Investments in Online Share Trading:

1. This is another kind of investment where one can buy stock and keep for 1 or 2 months and then can exit once price reaches target. Target few mid cap stocks such as Power Grid Corporations and another banking stock like HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank.

2. Stock market educations are essential for doing clear analysis and investment. Investor learning session is conducted by the leading brokerage houses such as Sharekhan and ICICI direct.

Online stock trading is the more efficient way for doing trading in the modern world.

The Foreign exchange market is undoubtedly the single largest financial market today with an estimated daily turnover of over $3.2 trillion worldwide with no other sector coming anywhere close in competition. It is a market sector that has an immense appeal to a financial trader as a result of its volume which assures everyone of its liquidity. This high liquidity simply means that there is an immeasurable amount of active participants in Foreign exchange trading such that a trader can decide to trade whatever currency he wants at any time with a full guarantee that there are always people at the reverse side willing and ready to undertake the opposite action and hence complete the deed of trade.

A very outstanding attribute of the Foreign exchange Market is its non-stop business activity round the clock through 24hours everyday excluding weekends. What this implies is that unlike the stock market, Forex traders do not need to wait for permission, consent or some form of authorization before making trading choices. Foreign exchange trading is carried out principally online via the internet meaning the Forex market is virtually at your fingertips. Good Forex brokers online also provide adequate trading facilities, a phenomenal array of forex trading tools, as well as other informative and user-friendly apparatuses online which makes the act of trading quite fun and exciting. The era of making traditional phone calls has now been replaced by online Forex interfaces that execute live trades at the click of a mouse. The internet has so much revolutionized Foreign exchange trading, making the retail section of the market even more powerful than was previously experienced.

The key function of the foreign exchange market is to support international trade and investment by allowing businesses to convert one currency to another currency. Foreign exchange trading has also made foreign business easier as we see today. A UK based company for example can import American goods and pay in dollars for them even though they use pound sterling in their local transactions. The foreign exchange market is very large, highly decentralized and solely determines the values of different currencies in relation to each other.

According to reports, Foreign exchange trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001. What this simply means is that with each year that passes, more and more people are getting involved in Forex trading. Quite a sizable number of individuals trade live Forex on a full time scale after having learnt the nitty-gritty of the trade. A reasonable percentage of this category of people have also made a fortune trading Forex online.



Here we are going to look at the story of “the turtles”. If you don’t know who they were, then you should study this group of traders, as learned to trade in just 14 days and made $100 million, in just 4 years! There is much to learn and it’s an inspiring story, so let’s look at it.

The story begins in 1983, when trading legend Richard Dennis decided to prove that anyone could be a trader, if they had the right mindset, the right education and the right trading system.

He picked a group of people who had never traded before.

This group consisted of both sexes, various ages and various levels of academic achievement and variety of occupations from a security guard to a boy fresh from school.

He then set about teaching them to trade in 14 days.

He set them up with trading accounts and the results were astounding:

This group of traders went on to make $100 million in four years and many went on to become trading legends.

So what can you learn from the experiment?

The first lesson is, anyone has the potential to be a successful trader and every thing about currency trading can be learned.

Secondly, if you have the right forex education you can do it quickly, 14 days is not a long time to learn any trade!

Hang on! – You maybe saying:

If everyone can learn to trade, why do 95% of forex traders wipe out their accounts?

When Dennis taught the turtles, he used a simple method – but he rammed home two:

1. You need to have mental discipline to follow any system because if you don’t, you have no method at all. He made sure that the traders knew exactly how and why the system worked, to give them the confidence and discipline to follow it.

Most traders simply never get confidence in what their doing, as they follow others or simply have no well thought out forex trading strategy and trade with their emotions.

2. Dennis also taught the traders to play great defence first. This meant strict money management to protect their equity above all else.

Just like any great football team you build from the back.

There is no point in having a great offensive line, if your backs can’t protect you and it’s the same in trading.

The Key Combination

Dennis essentially knew that you can teach anyone a trading system – but that’s not enough, you need to combine this with mental discipline.

A lot is written about discipline in trading yet, few new traders really understand how hard it is to maintain it.

To keep executing a trading system when it’s losing is tough!

Of course all systems will lose and you have to have the confidence, discipline and money management in place to ride the period out.

Could You Be Successful?

The story of the turtles actually inspired me to trade back in the eighties.

The reason it’s so inspiring is because it shows anyone can make money with the right mindset and the right education.

Sure not everyone is going to become as rich as “the turtles” – but the opportunity exists and everyone can earn an income that more than compensates for the effort.

So the moral of the story is work smart, get a simple system, have confidence in it and apply it with discipline – if you can do that your on the road to currency trading success and a life changing income.



ETF Trading is a new venture that some savvy traders are looking into to help make their money work for them. The concept is nothing new. In fact it is a solid and intelligent one that can yield maximum profits without entailing a convoluted process. And it is wise for investors and traders to always be on the lookout for a new method of improving the profits on their investment capital.

ETF trading (an exchange traded fund) is a variant on the traditional investment portfolio that is comprised of various investments which are designed to be traded in the same manner as a stock. But, of course, they are not stocks; they are a collective of various securities designed to keep track of how an index performs. Some may think this is similar to a mutual fund and, in some ways, it is. However, there is also a huge difference between ETF trading and mutual funds. That difference is that you have the potential to buy and sell an ETF throughout the same day. Yes, that means that these securities can be day traded on the American Stock Exchange and the various other legitimate world markets. Additionally, restrictions and limits associated with the closing sale price of a mutual fund would not factor into the equation.

Some may here the term ‘day trading’ and feel somewhat put off by the notion. They may have heard of high fees or other complexities associated with such trading. Here is some news for those that may have had second thoughts about looking into ETF trading: the process is not as restrictive as day trading and the concept of minimum investments is waived. It is possible sell short or buy as much as they wish to. And since the aforementioned concept of a locked mutual fund price is not part of the issue, traders are able to make purchases or sales based on current market prices and indications.

There are other uses for an ETF investment other than trading. These investments have been used to hedge portfolios, they have been optioned, and even bundled with other investments. It is this flexibility that has most definitely made this type of trading popular and effective in various investing circles. This is why more people are looking towards ETF trading as a viable concept for making their money grow in a variety of ways. This flexibility is further benefited by the fact that many have experienced reliably decent returns on their investments which certainly adds to the great value of exploring ETF trading.

Then, there is another major positive associated with working with ETF securities: there is no rule that says you cannot hold on to them for an extended period of time and term them into long term investments. In fact, many people prefer to use them for just this purpose and the end result is often something that is quite positive and impactful.



One of the main things which attract people to the Forex market is the high leverage which brokers offer Forex traders. Indeed, Forex leverage can offer substantial profits, yet using too big a leverage can also act against you and cause bigger losses to accumulate in a hurry.

How does Forex leverage work?

For instance, if you place a $500 deposit and are offered a 100:1 leverage, you can open trades of $50,000. This means that if the currency pair which you’ve chosen rises by 1%, you earn $500, or a 100% return on your investment. This is a huge return and can happen within a day or 2. Huge, right?

However, Forex leverage also has it’s own special risks as well. Take the same example of a 100:1 leverage on a $500 deposit and let’s say that your currency pair shifted 0.5% in the wrong direction. This means that you lost $250. That’s right, half of the money you put in, a loss of 50% in one trade.

So, you see, selecting how big a Forex leverage you choose is an important decision which can literally make or break your trading experience. Just imagine a new trader trying a 100:1 leverage and end up losing his or her entire deposit on a 1% shift in the wrong direction. It’s one of the reasons people think the Forex market is so risky. They lose their deposit in their first trade and are so turned off that they never try again.

If you’re new, go for much smaller leverage levels. I recommend not going over 10:1 levels. If your position rises by 1% you gain a 10% return, which is still amazing. But if you lose, than only 10% of the deposit is gone and you have a lot more to work with and earn it back in future trades.

One of the key rules of Forex risk management is to choose a leverage lever which you can handle. If your deposit constitutes a large part of your finances, than choose a lower leverage 5:1 for example. Don’t be tempted by tales of huge forex gains at 500:1 leverage. Most of the people only tell about their winning, not about their losses.

Forex trading is a long term enterprise. Don’t allow yourself to be thrown out of the game by making one bad trade at a huge leverage.



Forex trading is fast becoming one of the most popular forms of trading in the world because of the ease in which trading can be done and the market is always open. The individuals that benefit the most from day trading Forex currency are the professional Forex traders. These professionals make forex trading their day job and their strategies are what are known as Day Trading.

A day trading strategy means that the strategy will have a positive effect on a particular trade that could last just a few hours and occurs during a person’s workday. It is the most popular type of trading strategy and because of that many Forex experts focus on providing strategies that are used in day trading Forex currency.

The Forex currency market is liquid and because of that, many people use the same strategies without having a large effect on the pip prices of the various currency pairs. Being a good day trader means having plenty of discipline. Most successful traders have many losing days. However, they must look at these losing days and not panic. A successful trader must learn this type of discipline. Once it has been learned then the trader is on his or her way to becoming successful at day trading Forex currency.

Without a set plan of action, it is very difficult to succeed in day trading Forex currency. There are far too many traders and investors trading foreign exchange from a speculative point of view. They are attracted by the large leverage and the other benefits that are inherent to the Forex market. Unfortunately, this can lead to a lot of new traders chasing the currency prices up and down without a set strategy or even a system. It is referred to as Las Vegas style gambling.

Regardless of the type of market, that you chose to day trade in, you must know the personality of the market you are trading. Each market has it own characteristics and you must know what these are before you trade. Day trading Forex currency is no different. The job a day trader is to capture the daily price swings and depending on the specific trading method or system, this may mean capturing one intraday price swing or various intraday price swings.

Day trading Forex currency strategy involves how to use Forex charting data available to buy and sell the different foreign currencies. Many indicators and signals are used to trade in this market. If successful at it day trading can be very lucrative. If you have the time and freedom to use your computer then you can take the time to learn how to trade Forex currency. However, strive to be a disciplined trader before becoming a good trader.

Even if your day trading Forex currency system may not be the best system, if you remain disciplined then you will make money. If you have a great system but are undisciplined then you will not be successful. Discipline involves following your trading plan, your trading system, the management of your money and your commitment to the business of trading. Without it, you will not be successful.



I get many questions on what Forex systems work best. In the beginning of my trading career I was looking for a best trading system. After some time I found that the system itself is not the most important thing for profitable trading. I cannot stress strong enough that it’s a trader’s mindset that makes him a successful trader. The second important thing you need to have is a sound money management system. Only when one resolves the issues with his mindsets then Fx trading systems start to make a difference.

There are different types of trading systems that work for different styles of trading. Fore me the most important characteristic of a trading system is mathematical expectation. Mathematical expectation shows you how much of the risked capital you will earn per trade. There is a simple formula to calculate it for a trading system. All you need to know win-to-loss ratio and risk-to-profit ratio. Expectation should be positive. If it’s negative no matter how good a single trade may go, you will loose your account in a long run. And it is not how much it’s negative is important. As long as it’s negative it will continue to drain your account.

How you know if expectation of your system is positive or negative? The only way to find out is to back test your system first then forward test for some time. If you take 100 trades with your system on a demo account you will have a good idea about what the mathematical expectation it has. If it is positive then all you need is patience to execute your system over and over again and your account will grow gradually. On the other hand if you get negative expectation then switch the system. No matter how huge profit it can give in a single trade overall result will be detrimental to your account.

Just to give you an example let’s calculate an expectation of some system. Say you have a system with take-profit of 40 pips and stop-loss of 30 pips. You found that this system wins fifty times out of hundred based on your forward test. So the mathematical expectation of this system is 40*5/100-30*5/100=5 pips. This number gives you and average estimate of your profit per trade. Your equity curve with this system will grow as if you were averaging 5 pips in each trade.

Now let’s take a system that have the same profit and loss that are 40 pips and 30 pips. You found through back testing and paper trading that you loose 58 times out of hundred trades. That means mathematical expectation is 40*0.42-30*0.58=-0.6 pip. You lose less than a pip per trade but half a pip is enough to empty your account in a long run.

The bottom line is you need to thoroughly test your system and know exactly what the win to loss ratio of the system is. It amazes me when people know what their profit target and stop loss levels are but fail to find out the win-to-loss ratio of the system. It is not surprising to see most of them fail in trading.



If you need help making money quick, then listen up. This short article shows you exactly to make money fast with 3 proven ideas. Sure, you’ve got to take a little action, but I’m talking about making money quick, like as fast as tonight. So, let’s not waste anytime. If you follow along, you can truly get money quick. Here’s 3 ideas to make money fast:

Make Quick Money Online

The fastest and easiest way to make some money right now is to look through your attic, garage, and wherever else you (or your spouse) keeps your junk. Find everything you can and list it on eBay. You’d be surprised how many people buy stuff on eBay…stuff that you honestly would rather just throw away.

Selling some of your old collectibles can produce a pretty penny as well. I’ve seen a friend of mine sell his old coins for thousands of dollars online. Ah, the power of eBay.

Now let’s pretend for a second you don’t have a garage full of stuff (you know you do!). What can you do then? Here’s a supertip for you. Go to sites like freecycle.com and see what people are giving away for FREE. Go pick it up, then sell that on eBay. A little cheezy I know, but hey, you did say you want to be making money quick, right?

If that doesn’t product enough money fast enough for you, try this:

Get Quick Money Given To You

Let’s face it. We all know someone with money. Heck, in my family I’M the one with money! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve coughed up thousands of dollars for a friend of family member. Sister needs college money? Here ya go. Mom needs knee surgery? Got it. Friend needs a new laptop for his job? Sign me up!

So, sadly you aren’t my friend (yet!) or in my family. But odds are you know someone who has a few extra bucks laying around. Make the phone call. Tell them what you need. Make sure you use a REASON WHY. That’s what it’s all about. I need $1,000 because I want to start an online marketing business and I can get a personal coach to help me setup everything, Uncle Rich. (like that name?;)

If begging and pleading doesn’t work, don’t worry. There are other alternatives. You can hit up payday loan and cash advance places. There in your town. Google them. They are not the best places usually and I don’t really like the practice. I’d only recommend them if it was such a necessity that life and limb were on the line.

Otherwise, I’d keep working on Uncle Rich or check in Granny. But, what if you’ve got no family with money and time is running out. You’ve got to make money fast…and I mean quick. Like, yesterday, even. Here’s the real secret to making money quick:

Make Money Working Online

OK, so by now you’re expecting me to sell you something. But, don’t worry. I’ve got something you can do for free to make quick cash. You might not like it, but it is pretty fast and easy.

Join Elance.com. It’s free to join. (yay!) You can setup an account and start doing any odd jobs you possibly can. Companies and people like me put jobs on there that pay anywhere from $50 all the way up to the tens of thousands. I’d start small if I were you. Focus on what you can already do.

Some examples are accounting, copywriting, editing, translation, web design, virtual assistant, and a lot more. If you can’t find anything you can do there then try these 2 sites:

Fiverr.com and MTurk.com

They don’t pay as much, but the jobs you can do are a lot easier. Actually, the site Fiverr.com is up to you. You post what job you will do for $5.00. It can get a little crazy in there. But hey, $5 is $5 right?

If you don’t mind putting in a little effort you can setup a blog and find affiliate offers to promote. You can setup a free blog at Blogger.com or WordPress.com. Pick a niche you like. Could be knitting, writing, whatever. Use ClickBank.com and CJ.com to find affiliate offers you can add to your blog. When people click your affiliate links and buy, you get paid.

Through CJ.com you can even promote eBay products. What do you know, we’ve come full circle. To make even more money off your blog, you can add Google AdSense. These are ads that Google runs on your site and when your visitors click the ads you get paid. Sometimes I get clicks that pay me $2-$4. Isn’t that cool?

1 click an hour and you’re making decent money everyday.What have we learned about making money quick? So, what have we learned? If you’re looking to make money fast you’re easiest option is to start with eBay. Go through the garage, the attic, wherever and start listing. Just think, you can make a few bucks AND finally see your garage floor again. After you’ve exhausted your eBay stash, start calling the friends and family. At least one of them has some money they need to give to somebody. What not you? I heard Uncle Rich is waiting for your phone call. Just remember, after you say how much you need, follow up with the word because and explain why.

And after that…go to elance.com. Find odd jobs, do them. Make money fast and easy. Quickly, even. It’s all up to you. Good luck, though with these ideas to make money fast you won’t need luck.