Penny Stock Trading

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There are simple as well as complex candlestick patterns. There are single stick, two stick as well as three stick candlestick patterns. Harami is a two stick candlestick pattern. Two stick patterns take two days to form on daily charts. A Harami is formed whent the first day candle is longer than the second day candle. Harami can be bullish as well as bearish!

This is an important signal that bulls are now active and trying to take hold of the market. This means that the downtrend will be soon over and an uptrend is about to start.A bullish Harami is formed in a downtrend when the first day candle is very bearish. But on the second day, the bulls come into play and beat the bears out of the market by taking the prices higher. However, the bulls are not completely successful and the second day is still lower than the first day open and the first day high is not crossed.

The open is higher than the close of the last day on the signal day. However, the bulls close the day higher than the open.On the second day when the Harami is formed, the bears are still slightly ahead of the bulls at the start of trading.

The bulls are still cautious after the downtrend thinking that the bears are going to come back again and push the prices still lower. The confidence the bulls gain when this does not happens encourages more buying and the culmination of the downtrend and the start of an uptrend.

Just like with other candlestick patterns, a Harami pattern can fail. So to be on the safe side when trading on the Harami, place the stop loss close to the open of the second day or what you call the signal day.

Harami pattern has got few variations. On of them is the Bullish Harami Cross Pattern. Now,a Bullish Harami Cross is not formed very frequently. But when it does form, it means an sudden trend reversal. So you should act immediatetly when you spot it. The first day in case of a Bullish Harami Cross is a bearish candle. The signal day or the second day is a Bullish Doji with an open higher than the close of the first day and the close lower than the open of the first day.

When a bearish Harami is formed what this indicates is that bears have taken hold of the market now and are about to push the prices down signalling a downtrend is about to start! The bearish Harami is similar to a bullish Harami. It is formed in an uptrend. The first day is a usual bullish candle that forms in an uptrend. The second day candle is a bearish candle. It’s open is lower than the close of the first day. And it’s close is higher than the open of the first day.

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ETF investing has become highly popular in the last two decades. ETFs or what you call Exchange Traded Funds give you the benefits of both mutual funds as well as stocks. Now, ETFs are a basket of securities that are tailored to track a particular index whether it be a stock index, market index, a sector index, a commodity index, a currency index or other. You can trade options on ETFs as well. This makes ETFs a highly powerful addition to your portfolio.

ETF Options are settled with the underlying instruments that is shares of ETFs. This gives you the chance to use various combination strategies with ETF Options that you cannot normally use with Index Options.Now trading ETF Options is somewhat different than trading Index Options. Though both track almost similar indexes but Index Options are settled in cash at expiry.

Stocks have dividends that are paid out periodically to the stock holders. Dividends are an important part of the return that a stock gives over a certain period of time. Now when you are trading index options or ETF options both of them get affected by the dividend payments on the underlying stocks. You need to take this fact into account when calculating the values of puts and calls with an Options Calculator otherwise your investment returns may not be what you have been anticipating.

If you have traded stock options before, trading ETF Options should not be difficult for you. As said before, since ETF Options get settled with ETF shares, you can use the different options trading strategies on them unlike the Index Options that get settled in cash. This makes ETF Options a much superior instrument as compared to Index Options.

Protective Put is a famous options trading strategy that portfolio managers use to hedge their stock positions. Now when trading ETF Options, you can use the famous Protective Put Strategy by combining long ETF with a long put. This way you can hedge against the downside risk with a small increased cost to the ETF. A Protective Put will limit the downside risk to the put strike price.

Another options trading strategy is often used is the Covered Call. Covered means that you are covering the call with the stocks that you own and on which you have written the call. You can use a Covered Call on ETF. A Covered Call is formed by taking combining long ETF with a short call on that ETF. The short call will give you some income in the shape of a premium and reduce the cost of the position. This will also slightly reduce the risk of the position. But on the other hand, a covered call will limit the upside profit potential. Your max profit now will only be limited to the call strike price.

How about a Collared Position. This is another combination strategy that you can use with an ETF is forming a Collared Position. A Collared Position is formed with a long ETF and a long put combined with a short call. The premium paid in taking a long put position is offset somewhat by the premium that you get by writing a call. A Collared Position limits the limited but high risk to a limited risk only. The downside risk is now only limited to the put strike price.

Whatever options strategies you use with the ETF, you should first paper trade those strategies and instruments. This is an inexpensive way of test these strategies and can be a good lesson in unexpected risk of either of these securities.

ETF options are always American Style meaning you can exercise them any time before the expiry. You can even use LEAP Options on ETFs. LEAP Options are long term options having expiry ranging from nine months to 21/2 years. Now just like stocks, not all ETF have options available for trading.

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Inverted Hammer Candlestick Pattern is a trend reversal pattern. This pattern can be bullish as well as bearish and occurs rarely or what you can say not frequently.

Now an inverted hammer can get formed in a downtrend as well as an uptrend. In a downtrend, the first day is a bearish candle signalling that the bears are still in control of the market. An Inverted Hammer is a quite rare pattern as the price action needed to produce it does not takes place frequently. But if it does, it is an important signal that you shouldn’t ignore.

How to identify an Inverted Hammer? Identifying an Inverted Hammer is not difficult. It looks just like an inverted hammer! What this means is the high of the trading day is way above the body. So most of the trading took place close to the small area near the low. Now, this low serves as the support for the coming days. An Inverted Hammer has a very small body at the bottom of the candle with a long wick on the upside.

Now, you should wait for the confirmation the following day in order to trade this bullish inverted hammer pattern. If the open of the next day after the appearance of the inverted hammer pattern is higher than the low of the previous day, the inverted hammer pattern is a true pattern and you can trade it by putting the stop at the same level of the open of the day.

Now, let’s talk about an uptrend. Identifying an Inverted Hammer in an uptrend is almost similar to a downtrend. When an inverted hammer is formed in an uptrend, it means that the uptrend is about to reverse itself into a downtrend. On the first day, you will find the usual bullish candle signalling that the bulls are in control of the market. This is followed by a gap opening and more buying.

But soon the bears start to take control of the market and push the prices down. The close of the day is equal to or close to the low of the day. When you idenfity a bearish inverted hammer pattern, you can safely go short by putting a stop near the open of the signal day or the day when inverted hammer was formed.

However, as an aggressive trader, you can place the stop at the high of the inverted hammer formed on the second or the signal day. Always follow the rules. Place the stops and wait for the market to move further. If the market moves in the direction anticipated, you can make a nice profit. If not and the candlestick pattern is not confirmed by the subsequent price action, the stop loss order will take you out of action at a very small loss. Sometimes, the price action can retrace itself but stick with the rules, this is what disciplined traders do!

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Investing on the stock exchange has been popular over the years, whether the market is high or low. With proper handling of stocks in his account, an investor can expect to produce a good return of investment. However, patience and learning is needed before someone can jump right in and make money investing in stocks.

There are different stages that you have to go through to invest money into the stock exchange. There are two ways that an investor can play the market, either online or offline, and the it all depends on whether they want to have a stock broker, or if the investor would like to create his own strategies. The following are several ways that someone could purchase stock if they wanted to do so online.

1. To start buying and selling stock on the net an investor just needs an internet connection, an account with an online brokerage, and some money. There’s definitely no need for special software and basically all you need is an Internet browser.

2. The Internet has a huge variety of sites that will allow you to trade stocks. One of the best things you can do is read forums and get reviews from normal customers of sites that look interesting. Most brokers that work online are quite similar, often times the only difference is the prices they charge for their services. As a beginner you should look for a highly experience and reputable broker to ensure your money is safe.

3. When the investor looks over the site, he will be able to start filling out a form for opening his new account. The questions on this form will include things like, their name, phone number, and address. You have to give them your correct social security number so that the government can see the money you make and tax you on it.

4. After providing the site with the investor’s basics, it is required you “fund” the account that means to put money in it. After money has been deposited via wire or check, you have a green light to begin trading stocks and it is truly that easy to get started.

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If you have ever made an investment decision and regretted it shortly after the trade was executed, you are not alone. Consider the following checklist consisting of three, basic pre-trade points. While these three points are not considered exhaustive, following them will easily help eliminate or at least reduce those post-trade doubts.

Probably the most important thing to determine when buying into a position is whether the risk that comes with that security is acceptable to you, the investor. Since risk is a relative term, the easiest way to determine the risk of a security is to know its Beta. Beta is a measure of projected volatility relative to the overall market. You can find a security’s Beta at Yahoo! Finance.

Beta compares a stock’s volatility to the overall market’s. At 1.0, a security will match the market’s movement. At a Beta of 3.0, that same security will move 3 times more than the market will. So, if he market rises by 2%, the security with a Beta of 3.0% will rise by 9%.

A second important statistic is the Price to Earnings ratio (PE Ratio). A PE ratio tells investors how much a particular stock price is vis-a-vis its earnings. So, if you are looking at a PE ratio of 6, you are paying $6 for every $1 in earnings that the company generates. This alone tells investors very little. However, if the stock you are looking at has a PE ratio of 6 and all of that company’s competitors have shares with PE ratios in the 30’s range, then you need to find out why (there is a reason).

A final ratio that investors need to be familiar with is the Earnings Per Share (EPS). This simply tells investors how much each shareholder’s share of the revenue is for each share that they own. Again, this alone will not be a determining factor on whether to purchase a share, but when compared to competitor shares, it should provide an indication as to whether an investor needs to tread more lightly and do some more digging.

Beta, the PE ratio and EPS alone do not tell investors whether or not to buy a share. The point in this exercise is to do some digging and in most cases, one of these will prompt the investor to do exactly that. And by spending more time on the financial statements and accompanying notes, the more the investor will know about the company he or she is considering buying into. And with this, there will be a lot less trading stress and regret.

Chris is the founder of the Mutual Fund Site, a site that aims to help people determine Where To Invest.