Market Crashes

You can usually predict, well before the event, that a stock market crash is going to happen. There are certain events which happen prior to the crash, and which lead up to it. To begin with the market is quite weak, a situation which is known as a bear market. When this happens many people are eager to invest in shares, believing that the value of those shares is bound to rise and therefore make them a good profit. This interest in the market does indeed cause the share values to rise, and the market becomes a bull market, in other words an especially strong one.
Mutual funds are an especially popular type of investment at this point in the investment cycle. The market is quite stable at this stage, and there are good profits to be had from investment in this early part of the cycle.
More investors join in at this stable part of the investment cycle, as investors are encouraged to buy and to increase their profit in the stock market.
Companies release stocks onto the market during the bull market phase, and it is common for IPOs or Initial Public Offerings to be available in this period before a stock market crash. Companies do very well out of this situation, with the value of their stocks rising steeply, and great confidence from investors in the value of their stocks. More and more money is being invested by people who want to be the first to buy stocks in a particular company.
Those investors who bought shares in the beginning phase of the cycle are now keen to sell them, before they lose their money, knowing that the value of their shares will soon go down. Sometimes during a bull market there can also be various scandals and scams on a corporate level, because people become greedy. The market is becoming flooded with stocks, and yet people feel that the values of stocks will continue to rise.
Eventually the stock market reaches the point where people have invested so much it is 'overbought', and the only way to go is down. This is the beginning of the stock market crash. Stocks start to lose value, and when people become aware of this fact, they then want to sell, and before you know it everyone is selling rather than buying, and this brings about the stock market crash.
Sometimes there seems to be no rhyme or reason why the stock market plummets, only sentiment; that is that there is a bad feeling about something happening and panic can set in. The fundamentals of the economy or a particular company can look healthy, but for some reason people are fearing the worst.
Alexander West holds the Financial Planning Certificate. One of his passions is learning and teaching people about finances.

Stock Market (Best Way To Make Money)

If you want to make money, investing in the stock market is a very great way to achieve it. Try the penny stocks system. Most people think that this method is very risky, but if you know what to do, you will definitely get a great money return.
When you invest below 2 dollars, that is considered as penny stocks. For beginners, investing in newer companies is better than investing in established and bigger ones. Shares of some bigger companies are less expensive because of the problems they have. Instead of putting your money here, invest it in companies that are growing. This gives you more chance of making more money.
Here are some points to remember in finding the best companies where you can have your penny stocks. First, study and evaluate the industry where the company belongs. Ask yourself, is this industry rising and growing? Can the new company emerge from the competition or the competition too tight for the company to grow? By this, you will know if the industry can make the company successful.
Next, you have to have an overview and background about their management, the people and management style. It is also important to know the products they offer to customers. Are their products possessed edge or just the same over other companies in the industry. Do they have strategies so people will turn to them? It is very important to look for a company that produces exclusive products or those that will really be patronized by people.
Know their financial status. It is natural for new companies to have a zero profit at first, especially in the times when they are just making their name in the industry. What is important is to see improvements over a time, a few months after or a year. Having an uptrend is a very good sign. Always gather news about the company. You can have information over the internet or newspaper and use those for analysis.
Investing in the stock market requires wise planning and decision. You can invest under common or preferred stocks. But for some with big amount of money, they will definitely choose to be on top list, such as to invest as creditors or bond holders. Either way, by right background study and analysis over companies and industries, you will make big money when you invest in the right company.
Investing always comes with risk so before putting your money in stocks, be sure to know the risks you may embrace. There are some tricks in the stock market. Sometimes, the share goes up even the trend goes down, or the other way around. So it is very important to always be updated on the latest news about the stock market and stock exchange. You can pull out your money when the stock is up and invest it to other companies. Or you just let it there until the stock goes higher. Proper timing is important and you should learn how to do it by reading books on stocks or just by reading stories of the successful investors, how they made it and their tips.

Big Money & Stock Trading

Forex buying and selling is all about earning big money and most capitalists view it as an uncomplicated way to quickly acquire great sums of money in the uncertain forex market. Forex is the international market where stocks are bought and sold. Regardless where you look references to the forex market as FX as well. Forex market dealing can be established via a agent or a financial establishment sometimes where you are able to purchase other types bonds, investments and shares of company stocks.
When you are thinking about getting involved in the forex stock markets, you should be aware that you are giving up your money to other countries for investment purposes. This is so that investments are lifted of people involved in certain types of hedge funds, and in overseas trade markets. The forex market could have your money committed to one market on Monday and then committed to a different country a day or week later. This quick shift of your finances is settled by the brokerage you invested with. When reading your statements and learning more about your account, you will find that every type of currency is indicated by three letters.
Some good examples are the US dollar which is USD, the Japanese yen is JPY, and the British pound sterling will read as GBP. You'll see that for every single line item detailed on your account summary, you will discover bits of information that appear like JPYzzz/GBPzzz. This is indicative that you used your Japanese cash and switched into something in the British pound market. You'll discover several dealings having your cash bouncing from currency to currency if it is scattered through out the forex markets.
Forex markets trading by investment management firms are the investment firms you can count on. You should seek out a firm that has line of experience in the forex exchange for thirty years or more, and not just a company that has just come out so that you can be assured of their staying power. Be careful to avoid certain so called investment firms that are popping up online, and often times from foreign countries that are tricking you into thinking they can invest your money successfully in the forex markets. Make sure to read the small print and be sure of who you are doing business with for the most secure transactions.
As you invest on the foreign stock markets, you will soon understand that the limits for investments are different from company to company. On one hand you might have to come up with 250-500 dollars, but at other investment firms they will need 1,000 or 10,000 dollars. Every forex investment company you give your money to will tell you the minimum and maximum you'll have to have to open an account with their company. The scams that are online will tell you, that you only need a 1 or $ dollars to open an account, but you need to learn more about that company and find out where they are sticking your money. You have to be adamant for your own security when investing with these foreign firms and markets online.

Invest For Future

Trading with forex is all about how much revenue you are able to gain and some speculators have found it quite simple to speedily acquire great amounts of money in the uncertain forex market. Forex, is the foreign stock exchange. Online and offline you will find mentions of the forex market as shown by FX. Buying and selling in forex markets is done through a stock agent or another financial organization where you buy and sell any number of of company stocks, investments and even bonds.
Before considering putting your money in the forex markets you should know you are sending money to be invested with other countries. This is to help the invested money of people involved in certain types of hedge funds, and in stock markets overseas. The forex exchange will have your cash committed to one market on Monday and then committed to a different country a day or week later. The daily changes are determined by the brokerage you invested with. Looking through your accounts and getting a finding out more about your account, you will find that every type of currency is indicated by three letters.
A list of examples include the American dollar as USD, the Japanese yen is JPY, and the GBP is they symbol for the British pound. You will also find that for every transaction on your summary account, you'll notice bits of information that appear like JPYzzz/GBPzzz. This means that you took your Japanese cash and switched into a British pound exchange. You will find many transactions having your cash bouncing from currency to currency if it is invested in the forex stock market.
Trading in the forex markets should be done by money management companies experienced in overseas trade as they are the companies you can trust with your money. You should seek out a firm that has line of experience in the forex exchange since the early seventies, and not someone just new on the block so that you can be assured of their staying power. Be careful to avoid certain so called investment firms who are sprouting up on the web, and who are foreign imposters who are tricking you into thinking they can invest your money successfully in the forex markets. Make sure to read the small print and be sure of who you are doing business with for the most secure transactions.
If you are interested in trading on the forex market, you will find limits for investing are dissimilar depending on the company. Sometimes you will need around 250-500 dollars or more while other forex investment firms will need 1,000 or 10,000 dollars. The firms you associate with will tell you the minimum and maximum you'll have to have to get an account started with them. Online scams are easy to spot because they usually only require to get started with them, but make sure you get full disclosure from them and be aware of what country they work out of before giving them a great sum of money. This is for your own protection when investing with these foreign firms and web site forex exchange sites.

Symbols of Stock Market

Do not let yourself get confused over deciphering what stock market symbols stand for. These symbols or simply stock symbols refer to the abbreviations of a corporation's name that became well-known when a ticker, which is a moving piece of tape on which prices of stock were first recorded as it was transmitted from the stock exchange, monitored stock prices.
Stock market symbols may vary according to types of stocks or classes and across different markets in the world.
To illustrate, market symbols of common stock are composed of alphabets and may be one to five characters in length. For example, the stock symbols for General Motors are GM, while the symbols for Microsoft Corporation are MSFT.
On the other hand, preferred stocks have symbols followed by a hyphen (-) plus optional class letters. The Aluminum Company of America's preferred stock carries the stock symbols of AA-.
Furthermore, symbols for the stocks in the New York Stock Exchange always consist of one to three letters, to which other letters may be added to denote classes other than common stock, while symbols for the stocks in the American Stock Exchange are always composed of three letters, to which other letters may be added to denote classes other than common stock.
There are many more examples as there are many other markets in the world and more corporations engaged in market trading. You can find these stock market symbols on the Internet.
The basics of the market can be learned relatively quickly. However the process of choosing stocks to invest in will take a lot more time. Once you can master the markets, you can basically choose how much you want to make via investing wisely. Just make sure you don't risk too much money because crashes can happen.

Strategic Stock Market

Trading in stocks means buying and selling stocks. Investing in stocks also involves buying and selling. The difference between the two is that while trading refers to frequent buying and selling, investing refers to buying a stock and holding it for a fairly long time before selling it.
It can be quite a mystery for people how the stock market provides for trading over one billions shares almost daily. It handles your transaction of one hundred shares quite as carefully and efficiently as ten thousand shares of another stock trader.
Stock market trading originally started in brick and mortar buildings called stock exchanges. We have often viewed the stock trading scenes in films and videos that show hundreds of traders in blue jackets rushing about, wildly gesticulating and shouting at each other. They are shown talking on phones while looking on the monitors and entering data into the terminals. Nothing, one might imagine, could be more chaotic.
The New York Stock Exchange -NYSE-is a fairly representative example of physical stock exchange. You want to buy one hundred shares of a certain stock. Your broker sends the message to his floor clerk on the stock exchange. The clerk alerts one of the firm's floor traders who find another floor trader willing to sell 100 shares of the stock you want to buy. The two traders agree on a price and the deal is settled. The message of the accomplished deal is sent back to your broker who in turn informs you. The whole procedure is over within a matter of few minutes.
With the advent of computers and Internet and the development of stock trading technology, we have online stock brokers. Stock trading takes place electronically. Millions of shares are bought and sold online every day. NASDAQ is an example of electronic stock exchange. Electronic stock trading and related transactions take place almost instantly.
Having understood the process of stock trading, it is time to devise your stock trading strategy as a beginner. Broadly speaking, we have two types of stocks, growth and value stocks. Depending upon the nature of stock you choose, you become a value or a growth investor.
It must be noted that there is actually no hard and fast rule about preferring one stock or strategy to the other. Growth and value strategies are not opposed to each other. They may even complement your portfolio. Each strategy has its own advantages. Experience, however, tells that the value investors usually stand to gain in the long run.
You can even start with both. It is, however, better to take up one and focus your attention on it.
Growth Investing
Growth investing involves investing in stocks of companies that show higher than average growth rates. Growth companies usually keep expanding and do not pay dividends. You hold your stake in the company till it continues to show its growth.
Value Investing
Value investing involves buying the stocks of the companies that have higher than average earnings per share. These companies usually pay high dividends to their investors. They are built upon economically solid foundations but are not usually located in glamour sectors. Most of these companies are leaders in their respective industries. Investors mostly like to hold the shares longer in value companies than in growth companies.
There are advantages or disadvantages of both types of investing strategies. Going by a broad consensus, value investing is considered less risky in the long run.
Is value investing risk free?
No stock investing is ever risk free. It is business like every other business. Therefore it has its own risks and rewards. But some businesses are less risky than the others. Value stocks are generally less volatile than growth stocks. It, however, must not be forgotten that rewards and risks go side by side. More volatile stocks carry greater risks of losses and also better chances of making higher profits. The choice depends upon the investor considering his risk appetite and financial circumstances.
How do you choose your investing strategy?
If you opt for growth investing, you should search for opportunities in current stock and economic reviews. You may not run after hot stocks as such, but look for the markets where growth is occurring.
If you love value stocks, you should browse through the financial records of the companies to find the right stock.
It must be noted that there are good opportunities in both strategies and you should not dismiss one against the other just out of any unfounded prejudice

Stock Exchange (History)

A stock exchange is simply a place where stock is traded. Obviously, in this day and age, the New York Stock Exchange is much, much more than that. Not only is stock traded, but bonds, securities, commodities and countless other things are traded, as well. The NYSE has become so well known throughout the world that it has evolved from a place to do business to a genuine tourist attraction. The history of the market, combined with the wealth and power that resides within its walls makes it a must-see for any tourist visiting New York City. But how did we go from a dirt road trading post on the outskirts of a small village to a marble and stone monolith like the New York Stock Exchange?
While the location of the very first stock exchange is somewhat controversial, it is believed that the original exchange was located in the Egyptian city of Cairo at or around the 11th century. It is thought that Jewish and Islamic merchants dealt in stock and commodities trading. This goes against most common beliefs that the Italians were the ones to actually invent the stock market.
During the next century, French commodity traders became more organised and groups that would meet on a regular basis to trade began sprouting up all over Western Europe.
The first appearance of stock brokers can be traced back to France in the 12th century. A person known as the courtier de change was saddened with the job of regulating and managing the debts and finances of communities that were based on agriculture for the local banking system. They were also known to trade the debts that they kept records of.
The first evidence of trading of government securities was seen by Venetians in the 1200's. The government of Venice soon outlawed the practice of rumour spreading with the intent of lowering prices of government-issued securities.
Within the next few hundred years, the Dutch were the first to start stock companies that let their shareholders have a piece of profits, and losses. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was the first exchange to offer the idea of continuous trade as early as the 17th century.
The road from dusty marketplace to organized stock exchange has been a rocky one, but the evolution is unmistakable. With the current trend of moving away from floor traders and to computerized trading, no one knows what the stock exchange of the future will look like, but one thing is for certain, the market will continue to change over time, no matter what.

Guide Lines for Stock Exchange

Consider the stock exchange as the market place where brokers and traders meet to trade stocks and other forms of securities. This is also a physical location where brokers and traders can be provided with the right facilities and tools for the effective issuance and the redemption of securities and other financial instruments. Securities that will be traded will come in either as the shares, the unit trusts, the derivatives, polled investment products and the bonds. But for these securities to be traded, these securities should be listed first on a certain stock exchange.
Speaking of listing the securities, often there is a designated location that can be used to record these securities. But in terms of the actual trade, trades between brokers and principals no longer just happens in the physical location rather this can now happen over the internet. The advancement of technology and the adoption of internet in effect democratize the trading system and give traders the advantages that they need in the form of speed and less cost in facilitating the transactions.
The stock exchange that is considered by many as the most important component of the stock market is known to perform a number of roles for the economy.
• The stock exchange used by companies and business organizations as platform to raise money for expansion or other purposes. Company stocks are offered in order to expand their base and raise capital. • The exchange can mobilize savings that can be used for investment. If money is used in the stock exchange, the money can be used to benefit a number of sectors of the economy and in the process this will heighten growth. • The exchange can be used as well as platform for many companies to expand through acquisitions and buy-outs. You may often hear and read in papers about companies merging and taking over another company. • Companies that are listed in stock exchanges are known for better record-keeping and management if compared to the privately-held companies since these publicly-held companies are liable to a number of owners. But this is not true in all cases, and as they say for every rule there is an exemption. Remember 'Enron' of the early 2000s? The company was listed as well on the stock exchange and owned by many but still unethical accounting standards undermine the company. • The stock exchange opens the market to small players since the exchange is designed in such a way that a person can buy the number of shares that trader can afford. • And more importantly, the stock exchange can also serve as an indicator if the economy is doing well or on a slump. So don't be surprised if analysts will say that the economy is on a slump when the stock market is a non-performer or down.
Right now there are around twenty major stock exchanges in the world, with the New York Stock Exchange leading the list. The NYSE as it is called is labeled the 'Big Board and the largest exchange by dollar volume traded. The rest of the largest exchanges are scattered in North America, Asia and Europe.