Profitable Candlestick Patterns-The Bullish White Marubozu

March 12, 2010 by Ahmad Hassam  
Filed under Retirement

Candlestick Charting is the best tool in the trading arsenal of an experienced trader. There are two type of candlestick patterns-Bullish or Bearish. The most bullish of the candlestick patterns is the long white candle. When this candlestick pattern is formed, it means that the bulls have been in total control of the market throughout the trading day.

As prices rise through the day, sellers do come in but not enough to stop the prices from continuing to rise. When sellers do show up during the trading day, buyers buy from them and the prices move higher.

With the long white candle closing near the high of the day, this is an indication that the bulls aren’t done with their buying and will be back for more on the following day. What this means is that there wasn’t enough of the securities in the market to keep the buyers from pushing the prices higher.

A White Marubozu may not be formed quite frequently on the chart. Most of the time, you are going to find the white long candle with a wick on either side of the candle body. These wicks will be small offcourse. What this indicates is that the closing price was close to the high of the day but not equal to it. In the same way, the opening price was close or near to the low of the day but not equal to it!Now, a true White Marubozu is a special variation of the long white candle with the closing price equal to the high of the day and the opening price equal to the low of the day.

How do you know that this is indeed the white long candle? You wil find many bullish white candles on the chart. Off course, everyone will not be the white long candle. When you find that 90% of the area between the low and high of the day is covered by the candle body, you know that this is indeed a long white candle.

On a long white candle day, a lot of price action is covered by a very short amount of time. Price action doesn’t move in one direction for that matter without retracing some part of it. This normal retracing of the price action gives you a chance to act on the signal provided by the bullish long white candle.

With long white candlesticks, the low price on the candlestick is a good support level. Support is the level where the buyers are expected to support the price of the stock or for that matter the security.

Now there are three variations to the long white candle. The long white Marubozu without any wick, this is the most bullish. The other is the closing white Marubozu. In this case, the close is equal to the high meaning there is no wick on the top. The other is the opening white Marubozu. In this case, the opening price is equal to the low meaning that there is no wick on the bottom.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Learn this powerful Fibonacci Retracement method FREE that pulls 500+ pips per trade. Download this simple yet powerful 1 Minute Forex Trading System FREE.

How Do You Invest Your Money Safely In 2010?

February 20, 2010 by Kent Jackson  
Filed under Retirement

Right now, with the economy tanking and the stock market not doing much better, people want to know where to go to find the best interest rates. They are scared and don’t know what to put their money in that is totally safe. Many folks will willingly give up a higher rate of return right now just to make sure their money is safe. So, if you do have money to invest and want to get more than an interest checking account or savings account pays, what kind of options do you have?

Today’s most secure investment is likely an FDIC insured bank CD, which is guaranteed, in actuality, by the United States government. The FDIC failing to insure your CD would only happen in the event of a complete U.S. government collapse, which means that it is highly unlikely that your money is in any jeopardy. It is too bad, though, that certificates of deposit are currently at an all time low rate of 1% currently.

Strangely enough, the best CD rate is not always the one with the longest term. Sometimes when you go into a bank looking for the highest rates, you will notice that the 30-year CD or 15 year CD actually has a lower rate than something for less years. Also, because of a special promotion, you may be able to get the best rate with one of the shorter terms CD’s.

These low rates really hurts all the people that need interest income to help them get by which are often retired people and seniors. It may be advisable for young people to invest in stocks and other vehicles that have some risk and can give a better rate of return but not older people. This is because young people have a long time horizon and can withstand market fluctuations but older people need to have their money available at all times.

For safety, other good alternatives are Treasury bills, or just holding on to your cash. In reality, you are providing the U.S. government with a free loan, and the rate of return is lower than that of a CD. . Holding on to cash means that your nest egg will not keep up with inflation, and the value of your money will decrease. The majority of individuals are experiencing financial difficulties during this time of economic turmoil.

Do you want to learn about getting the best no risk CD rates? Please go to my website Interest Rates On CDs to learn more.

What To Do With Your 401k When You Leave Your Job

February 15, 2010 by Kevin Dobbs  
Filed under Retirement

If you are in the unnerving position of finding yourself looking for a new job or of leaving your old job, you might forget that you have retirement savings in your 401k plan that you should look into for a possible 401k rollover.

Whatever happens, never disregard your 401k. Whether you simply resigned from your job in exchange of better opportunities, or you got fired, you are still entitled to your retirement savings. Take into account several options available to you upon deciding what to do with your savings. You can take the money or choose the 401k rollover.

The initial step you have to take is determine the distribution of monies in your 401k. Other way of stating this is, all the years that you have worked for your organization is compensated by your wage and 401k which is included in your salary package. The basis of the distribution of your 401k account is dependent on where the money comes from and the options available to you during a 401k rollover.

Some of the money in your plan was, of course, what you put into your plan from your earnings. However, the “vested”, or unconditionally yours, amount of total cash came from your employer’s matching deposits or whatever other contract responsibility you and your employer agreed to when you got hired. And, of course, your savings earned interest from being invested by the fund manager.

If you plan on changing jobs and making the 401k rollover, of simply withdraw you 401k for any reasons, be aware that you need to pay income taxes based on the money in your account.

Bottom line is, when you get to this situation where you no longer want to look for another job, you need to consult with a financial adviser or an accountant to make clear your options, and also to know how you will get about paying taxes or 401k rollover given the law governing your region.

If you are changing jobs, you might want to have the option of taking your money out in cash instead of a 401k rollover. But, if you are changing from one job into another you might want to have more access to your distribution without taking it out in cash until you are ready.

You can directly rollover your 401k distribution into another retirement plan when starting work with another company. You can rollover your 401k into an IRA or Individual Retirement Account. Your 401k goes from one fund to another and you are never in direct possession of your money.

Now, you should look into a 401k rollover to a roth ira for more information. You can find more tips and suggestions at 401k rollover school.

ASX Share Trading – What You Need To Know

February 12, 2010 by Dave McLachlan  
Filed under Economy

Investing or trading in the share market can be a great way to increase your wealth, and if you play your cards right eventually supplement the income from your job. But there are a few fatal mistakes that may stop you from enjoying success on the ASX Share Market.

Say you took $150 a month, and starting in 1980 invested in the ASX share market. You earn an average of 15% per annum, and today that $150 a month is worth $1,038,490. Over a million dollars using just $5 a day.

But many people when first starting out make a few fatal mistakes – maybe they lose a little (or a lot) of money. And they stop investing. They get scared out of the market. And because of this they lose out on all the rest of the gains over the years – they lose out on that million dollars we just discovered.

So if you are trading in ASX shares, there is something important you should know. One of the first but most overlooked essentials in investing is making a solid trading plan. In fact, without it you simply shouldn’t be investing. But how do you find a trading plan that suits you, and helps you make the most from your money?

Well, there are many different ways to invest – in fact as many people as there are investing. But there are a few solid ground rules that will definitely help you out. Therefore, your trading plan should have the following:

1: Your Entry and Exit Rules – these are the solid rules you have outlined allowing you to buy and sell your shares. It could be based on fundamental reasons, like a company’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), or it could be based on technical reasons, like a Dow Theory entry signal. Whatever you decide, you should follow them diligently.

2: Your Money Management Rules – this is where you decide how much of your portfolio you will invest in one share. And also how many positions you will spread your portfolio across. As a guide, between 6 and 12 positions is usually optimum. Any less than 6 and you risk not being diversified enough. Any more than 12 and you risk being unable to out-perform the market (the best portfolios are often slightly focused).

While some people can spend years determining the right trading plan – it doesn’t need to be complicated. With these rules you are well on your way to success in ASX shares.

Get more from your ASX Shares with a free course on trading and investing. There’s also free research on Australian Stocks – all at www.asxmarketwatch.com .

The Next Bull Market – How To Be Fully Invested At The Bottom

February 9, 2010 by Dave McLachlan  
Filed under Economy

It is a great dream of most investors to be fully invested at the bottom of the next Bull Market – a Bull Market being a long upward run in the prices of stocks or commodities.

Your financial planner will probably tell you it is impossible – and your stock broker will probably just tell you to keep buying, advocating a long-term approach. But what if there was a way to know that the next Bull Market in stocks was looming, and to know when to be fully invested?

Ken Fisher, in his book “The Wall Street Waltz”, discovered that unemployment was the key. Why? It’s simple: when the economy and the stock market are riding along nicely and moving upwards as they should, unemployment will never rise too much. This means that people are working, companies are making profits, and both of them are spending this money and stimulating the economy.

But the opposite is also true – if less people are working (unemployment up), then they are also spending less, companies are making less profit, and the stock market will be in a decline.

Therefore Ken says, if you are watching the news and unemployment figures have risen by more than 1 percent, then the start to a new bull market might be right around the corner. It won’t pick the exact bottom of the market down to the day, time and value, but a rise of over 1 percent will get you in the ballpark to be ready when the next bull comes along.

There is one more part to this story – cyclical stock market lows, and their subsequent bull markets, haven’t ever happened without a 1 percent rise in the unemployment rate. It happened most notably in 1970, where the stock market had been falling for 2 years. Unemployment rose sharply as 1970 began, and the stock market bottomed out in May.

There is one caveat however – the unemployment rate is not as reliable when it comes to predicting peaks in the market. This is because the stock market actually leads the over economy anyway in that regard. But Ken did find that a major peak in stock markets rarely happened without unemployment falling (jobs up) for two years.

Why is this information important? Well next time we are in a bear market and unemployment rises by more than 1 percent, we’ll know it’s time to get ready for a new bull market – it could be just around the corner.

Get your free course on stock market investing, and free research on stock trends at Dave’s site www.asxmarketwatch.com .

How to Become a Successful Option Trader

February 9, 2010 by Donald Scott  
Filed under Retirement

Hi there investors. I hope I find you doing well today, and that your portfolio is seeing consistent returns. This article on successful option trading is number two in a series of six. Each article is accompanied by a video, and I highly recommend you to watch them all.

One very important step in becoming a better options trader is to spend ample time back testing. Currently there are just a few option software programs on the market that can help you achieve this task, but back testing is worth your time. I personally learned a lot by using Optionvue as well a Think or Swim to back test my option strategies. Although, the previously mentioned software’s are very good, San Jose Options has just released a new type of back testing tool called the Options Toolkit. This back tester saves you a lot of time when compared to any other options that testing software.

For example, if you like to trade options over earnings, then you can go into the Thinkorswim software and construct a trade click a button and see if the trade made money the next day. Then you can repeat this process over each earnings date. To back test the last few years, it might take you an hour for example. Now, in the new software by San Jose Options, I can simply enter the symbol and click the mouse and back tests several years of earnings dates in about 2 seconds. Not only do I save time, but the software collects data that I could never do by hand.

So while back testing is very important to see how your strategies have played out in the past, another important quality that every successful option trader has to have is experience. Unfortunately, experience only comes with time, but the reason we need this time to pass is because the stock market has many different faces, and as an option trader we need to fully understand the market as deeply as possible.

Trading with paper money is another great way to become a better options trader. Most option brokers on the market offer a paper trading account. I personally like what Thinkorswim has to offer. I find their software very robust for trading options, and their paper trading accounts uses the same software as the real account, so it’s a great way to learn. Obviously, it’s a good idea to make consistent returns in your paper trading account for several months before entering option trades with real money. As stated before experience is very important because the stock market changes rapidly and wears many faces.

In the last part of this video we discuss why it’s important to keep about 25% of your money in cash. Good option traders know how to make adjustments, they know how to lock in profits, and they need this money to do just that. It’s never a good idea to use up all of your capital in your trading account. This can lead to serious problems. So again, if you want to become a good option trader, then leave plenty of money in cash so you can always do what you need to do.

For The Best Education in Option Trading visit the San Jose Options Course at www.sjoptions.com

When Will the Economic Recession End? How to Know In Advance

February 7, 2010 by Dave McLachlan  
Filed under Economy

That’s right – I’m going to show you what thousands of economists, financial planners and analysts the world over struggle to find: How to know when the economic recession will end, and how to know it in advance.

Times during an economic recession always seem tough, but there comes a time when they come to an end. Imagine if you or your business were ready to take advantage of the new economic times because you saw it coming? Or maybe you could have your resume ready for that new job offer, just as more jobs become available.

So, how do we tell when an economic recession will end? The answer is extremely simple – and yet it has been proven over many decades of data this last century.

In fact it is so simple your children could research it in the comfort of your own home.

For the answer we look to Ken Fisher in his book “The Wall Street Waltz”. It’s actually where the stock market comes in to play, because the stock market, believe it or not, has a magical way of leading the overall economy. In fact, the stock market will go down well before we ever hear word of a recession, and the stock market will go up long before we get confirmation that the economic recession is over.

There are so many examples of this I could not possibly list them all, but going back a mere 60 years the market started to decline half way through 1948. But six months later in 1949, the economic recession was announced. Amazingly, as people were despairing and selling their assets, the market started moving upwards half way through 1949. Six months later in 1950 the recession was deemed to be over.

But there are many more: markets in 1952 declined before a recession was announced in 1953. The stock market had predicted an economic recession again – and the end was no different.

During every recession going back over the last century, the stock market has predicted an end to economic recession. In most cases the stock market leads the economy by six months. Yes there are some where the time-frame is more or less, but six months was the average.

How can you use this? Well, you can bet in your lifetime there will be another economic recession. But this time, when it happens you’ll be ready to take full advantage of the time when it ends!

Learn more about trading and investing. Stop by Dave McLachlan’s site where you can get your free stock market research – designed for people just like you.

Learn How To Day Trade and Make Money

February 4, 2010 by Shawn Brown  
Filed under Economy

After you decide which business cycle the economy is currently in you can start researching for a trade. It is better to have some kind of a system in place that will be used before each trade. Here is a straightforward 5 step blueprint to help get you going.

Five Steps to Investing Online:

1. Locate a stock This is the most apparent and most challenging stage in stock trading. With well over 10,000 stocks to trade a good rule of thumb to take into account is time of the year. For instance, as I write this, it is the beginning of spring. It would make sense to mull over stocks that traditionally go up, or slide if you are bearish, during this time of year.

2. Fundamental Analysis Lots of short term traders may argue with the need to do any fundamental analysis, though knowing the chart patterns from the past and the news about the stock is pertinent. An example would be earnings season. If you are planning on playing a stock to the upside that has missed its earnings target the last 3 quarters, caution could be in order.

3. Technical Analysis This is the part where indicators come in. Stochastics, the MACD, volume, moving averages, RSI, CCI, support levels, resistance levels and all the rest. The batch of indicators you choose, whether lagging or leading, may depend on where you get your instruction.

Keep it simple when initially starting out, using too many indicators in the beginning is a ticket to the land of big losses. Become very comfortable using one or two indicators in the beginning. Become skilled at their ins and outs and you’ll be sure to make better trades.

4. Chart your picks When you have placed a few stock trades you should be managing them appropriately. If the trade is intended to be a short term trade watch it closely for your exit signal. If it’s a swing trade, watch for the indicators that tell you the trend is changing. If it’s a long term trade keep in mind to set weekly or monthly checkups on the stock.

Use this time to keep up on the news, clarify your price targets, set stop losses, and watch other stocks that you might want to have as well.

5. The big picture As the saying goes, all ships go up and down with the tide. Knowing which sectors are heating up stacks the chips in your favor. For example, if you are long (expecting price to go up) on an oil stock and most of the oil sector is rising then more likely than not you are on the right side of the trade. Several trading platforms will give you access to sector-wide information so that you can get the education you need.

Are you finally sick and tired of having other traders take your money to do something about it?? Read how to trade stocks and for stock picks and swing trading strategies go to how to day trade

401k Rollover Options When Losing A Job

February 4, 2010 by Kevin Smith  
Filed under Retirement

A 401k is a retirement arrangement of employers to their employees. Employees are not required to pay income tax over the account unless it is withdrawn during the person’s retirement. When an employee decides to terminate his employment in a certain company, a 401k rollover takes place. The retirement fund will be transferred to another plan.

When deciding to move your retirement savings, it is important to look at all the options. A financial planner would be able to assist with moving your money as well as explaining any risks that may be involved with each option.

One way to make a 401k rollover is to transfer the money from employer-funded 401k account to a 401K to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Through IRA, your savings will be tax deferred plus you can choose whatever investment that fits your long term goal.

There is a wide variety of investment options to choose from with a brokerage or mutual fund company IRA when compared to an employer-sponsored 401k plan. It is your option when choosing a brokerage firm or mutual fund company but I always suggest finding someone that you can trust. It would not be good for someone you don’t trust handling your 401k money. After all, this is your life and retirement savings.

You can opt to shift the retirement funds into a fixed or variable annuity. This option would ensure you are provided with a retirement account with tax shelter benefits until your retirement while you’re also granted with sure, steady income upon retirement.

Another option available is when you change employer and you want to move your 401k from your previous employer to your current one. The 401k will be assumed and will have to follow the available investment options and rules of the new account.

Now, you should look into a 401k rollover to a roth ira for more information. You can find more tips and suggestions at 401k rollover school.

What Is A 401k Rollover And Why You Should Do It

January 29, 2010 by Jake Johnson  
Filed under Retirement

If you encounter employment issue, like you want leave or you get fired, you need to roll over your 401k plan to another account within 60 days of your departure. Otherwise, you will have to face several charges like high management fees and other penalties.

The concept of rollover may not be so clear. To define, it is a transfer of your 401k plan from your previous employer to your new one and make some necessary changes depending on the policies of the new company. In case of unemployment, the account can be transferred to a private plan. This process isn’t really complicated or requires additional cost. You only need to take heed of the time frame given to you else you will face the consequences of being charged of fees which will eat up your savings in due time.

Never cash out your account with the intention of restarting it later! You will not only face heavy fines from the brokerage house you will be fined, penalized and taxed by the IRS for early withdrawal of retirement savings. It’s best if you just leave that money alone until you retire. All you have to think is that you are contributing to your retirement and you will not see that money until you reach that age.

The best thing to do is find a new account holder to handle your 401k account. Contact their transfer department and let them handle your transactions. They will be responsible for transferring your old account into a new one. With this, you can get rid of all fees altogether which is associated with your 401k because you have not withdrawn the money, but rather moved it to a new account. You won’t be charged of taxes and penalties for early withdrawal.

Bear in mind two things: do everything within the time frame, finish everything that must be finished, and secondly, let the managing companies complete the transfer transaction. You will avoid unnecessary fines, and you keep your savings with minimal effort.

Now, you should look into how to rollover 401k to ira for more information. You can find more tips and suggestions at 401k rollover school.

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