Exchanging commodities is a centuries old means of investing, trading, and managing money. It is believed by some historians that variances of the modern commodity exchange have been in existence for nearly 800 years. Exchanges that deal with company stocks are a much more recent development. It has been just over 200 years since the first American stock exchange opened on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, and 190 years since that exchange moved to lower Manhattan and the New York Stock Exchange rang its first opening bell on Wall Street.

In the years since, the fortunes of American business and American investors have been made and lost countless times on the floors of that exchange, and usually with the help of stock brokers who, as members of the stock exchange, act as agents for buyers or sellers by facilitating transactions in accordance with the law. However, recent years have seen a change in the traditional broker-client relationship, and the advent of the Internet has spawned a new group of investors who eschew the help of brokers and try to make their fortunes trading stocks online.

When you purchase stock you are purchasing a share of ownership in a corporation. In the past, stock brokers acted as the intermediary agent that connected the client to the market. Typically, stock brokers would also be Certified Financial Planners, a qualification that allowed them to provide the client not only with market access, but with financial advice and management of their account.

In exchange for the service of the account and access to the markets the brokerage earned a commission in the form of a flat fee or a percentage of the trade, and those commissions could be quite sizable, especially if you were engaged in frequent trading. The desire to eliminate commissions while still accessing financial markets is the primary reason that so many investors can now be found trading stocks online.

The Internet has allowed investors the option of controlling their own financial direction and decisions. By trading stocks online an investor can avoid a significant portion of the fees and commissions that a traditional brokerage would charge – trades can cost as little as $5 dollars – but those savings come at a price. When trading stocks online through a discount online brokerage, the brokerage is only responsible for executing your trades in the market.

When it comes to advice, research, and account management, you are truly on your own. Therefore, trading stocks online is not something that should be entered into lightly. Successful investors usually have experience, expertise, research tools, and a basic market savvy that allows them to successfully, and profitably, navigate the complicated financial world. Investors who lack those skills are not likely to be good candidates for trading stocks online.

A hot tip on a new stock is usually not a good reason to get into trading stocks online. Experienced investors know that today’s hot tips are often tomorrow’s trash, and it takes more than some quick hits to be a successful online investor. However, if you are an individual with a strong financial background and an understanding of markets then you may be equipped to successfully manage your financial future on your own.

However, if you are not sure of the difference between a market order and a market maker, or ex-dividends and earnings per share, then saving money on commissions and fees probably will not offset the trading losses you are likely to incur. Trading stocks online is not for everyone, but if you want to try your hand then the Internet is the easiest way to access reputable discount online brokers who can provide you with the access you need to control your own financial destiny.

Sammy Kay
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/trading-stocks-online-provides-options-for-investors-119479.html

By.-  http://www.MomentumStockTrading.com 

The stock market should present us with a wide variety of NEW hot stocks in 2009. Many of them are going to be new technology stocks that come from the nanotech, biotech, financial, energy, healthcare & communications sectors.

Most of them might seem promising, but the truth is that a good number of these trading & investing opportunities could be extremely risky, while others are simply not as good as they look. That’s why it’s very important to know how to choose among the best especially if you want to day trade them.

When you know how to pick and approach the best hot Stock Trading opportunities, you are able to generate a consistent and respectable amount of money in a very short period of time.

Experienced day traders recognize that trading hot stocks on momentum can be the fastest way to make money in the stock market, especially on uncertain times like these.

You don’t necessarily have to trade momentum hot stocks all the time. But you can learn how to take advantage of them when you encounter the best opportunities for going long or for shorting them to make money when they are poised to fall down.

If You decide to day trade stocks just keep always in mind that for a trader to survive and be consistently profitable, its necessary to keep things as simple as possible. To much confusion and technical indicators will most of the time make you slow in your decisions and froze you up when a good opportunity is right in front of your screen.

In the end, stock market day trading is all about picking the best daily stock opportunities and following your buy and sell signals with ease and simplicity. Once you learn to master your trading decisions, you can aspire to produce consistent profitable results.

Top Stocks 2009
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-education-articles/stock-market-prediction-tips-gt-picking-stocks-in-2009-stock-system-online-711616.html

Efficient stock picking strategies are important for an investor in order to grow his/her personal wealth significantly. An investors stock picking strategies depend upon several factors including the performance of companies, market and industry trends, and share prices.

Here we are discussing some of the stock picking strategies based on different investing styles.

Growth Investing

Through growth investing strategy, investors focus on rapidly growing companies, which are witnessing significant increase in revenues and profits. The investors who focus on this strategy aim at making money from the significant increase in the share prices of particular companies they choose to invest.

Normally, returns from growth stocks are substantially higher than that of other type of stocks. However, the risks involved in this type of stocks are high as compared to others. Growth investors pick young and fast-growing companies, despite the expensiveness of these stocks, as the investors bet on the future growth potential of the companies.

The basic idea of growth investing may differ from industry to industry and company to company.

Value Investing

Value investing is opposed to growth investing. Value investors focus on stocks, which are trading below their intrinsic values. Value investors look into the fundamentals of the companies carefully and they believe that the market undervalues these stocks.

Value stocks are cheaper as compared to the net asset value of their respective companies. Value investing does not mean that choosing a cheap stock, rather investing in
undervalued stocks that have good growth potential.

GARP Investing

GARP (Growth At Reasonable Price) is a combination of value investing and growth investing strategies. Through GARP investing strategy, investors focus on stocks that are reasonably priced, at the same time possess robust growth potential.

In laymans terms GARP investors do not go for either high growth stocks that have high risks or cheaply
priced stocks, which are in trouble. So, GARP investors avoid expensive high-growth stocks. The important barometer for GARP investors is PEG ratio, which is PE ratio divided by growth.

Fundamental Analysis

Fundamental analysis is a stock picking strategy through which an investor or analyst tries to estimate the intrinsic value of a stock based on fundamentals. Although this strategy takes time and effort, it is best suited for long-term investors.

Through fundamental analysis, investors try to understand the earning trends of a company and expected earnings in the future, rather than market sentiments. Apart from earnings and revenues, investors also focus on factors such as, ROIC (Return On Invested Capital), ROE (Return on Equity), cash flows and P/E ratio etc.

Technical Analysis

Technical analysis, also called chart analysis, is an investing strategy through which investors gauge the future price movement of a stock through past performance. Technical analysis primarily depends upon the demand and supply of the particular stock and trading volumes.

Technical analysis is quite opposite to fundamental analysis. Technical analysts or chartists do not bother much about the intrinsic value of the particular stock. Despite the advantages and disadvantages of the above-mentioned stock picking strategies, many investors are making millions irrespective of the strategies they choose.

An investors choice of a particular strategy should depend upon his/her knowledge about the market, industry trends and growth potential of companies. Above all, an investors devotion of time and risk calculation capabilities play major role in choosing a particular stock picking technique.

William Smith
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/major-stock-picking-strategies-81001.html

One axiom of technical analysis suggests that while prices may fall of their
own weight, only volume can drive prices higher over time. The spring
advance of CACI International, an information systems and high technology
“solutions” company out of Virginia, is one of the best examples of this
phenomenon I’ve seen in this spring rally.

CACI was moving in a tight consolidation from mid-February into late March
when the first significant high volume day occurred on March 27th. The
uptick in on-balance volume (overlaid on the volume chart) supports the
heavy buying, as does the bullish candlestick. Even though CACI continued to
trade in a very tight range for another three weeks, the heavy volume day on
March 27th was a tip-off that buyers were interested in seeing this stock go
up–moreso than sellers were looking to get out of their positions. From the
beginning of the year until the first big up moves in late April, CACI has
advanced from about 22.5 to 28. While this 24% increase is a more than
reasonable return, the rising on-balance volume strongly suggested that
holders of the stock believed there was more to come.

In most cases, given a market with a neutral or mildly bullish bias, the
only thing that would keep a stock like CACI down (outside of a catastrophic
event) would be the determination of holders to sell, which is not reflected
in the rising on-balance volume, nor in the tightness of the
consolidation–particularly between late February and early April.

As good as the returns from CACI were from January to late April, the
advance from late April to late May was nothing short of spectacular, In
about 30 days, CACI climbed over 53%, largely on the backs of heavy buying
on May 9th and 10th, as well as on the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. Unlike many
high-volume, high percentage moves, CACI’s advance had almost no gaps. In
fact, each advance was supported by a significant support area of at least
two weeks. Nearest support currently is at 36.5 as the stock trades in the
low 40s.

The importance of these small support areas is that the advance is more
likely to be sustainable if there are areas to which CACI can retreat. The
pair of two to three week support areas here can function as places where
selling can occur without overly disrupting any renewed advance. This is in
contrast to what are commonly called “V” advances in which stocks that have
declined rocket upwards without pause, often reaping brief, but fleeting
gains. Advances that come with both heavy volume and short-term support
“platforms” are much more likely to provide reasonable entry points than
those without.

MSTS picked up CACI last week. Already it is showing a nice profit.

Mark Crisp
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/stock-trading-basics-6768.html

Have you ever heard of the terms Scalping, Swing Trading, Trend Trading and Momentum Trading? Wonder if you are any of them? Wondering what suits you? Here’s a quick definition.

The different forms of trading are actually better differentiated by time frame more than the techniques that are involved. Because of the difference in time frame, different techniques must be used in order to reap profits from the capital markets.

From the shortest holding period to the longest, we have Scalping, Momentum Trading, Swing Trading and lastly, Trend Trading.

Scalping is a term used for a method where trades are opened and closed within a very short time scale, perhaps anything from a second or two to a few minutes. This is a day trading method where Scalpers make several, perhaps hundreds of trades a day, accruing small profits intraday for an overall daily return.

Momentum trading is another day trading method where the trader sees an acceleration in a stock’s price, earnings, or revenues and takes a long or short position in the stock with the hope that its momentum will continue in either an upwards or downwards direction. Once momentum slows down or falls, the trade is exited. The holding period is commonly from a few hours up to a whole day.

Swing Trading is a style of trading that attempts to capture gains in a stock within one to four days. This is mainly used by private, at home traders. The individual trader is able to exploit the short-term stock movements without the competition of major traders. Swing traders use technical analysis to look for stocks with short-term price momentum. These traders aren’t interested in the fundamental or intrinsic value of stocks but rather in their price trends and patterns.

Trend Trading is a trading strategy where traders commonly hold their positions for up to a month. It is a trading strategy that attempts to capture gains through the analysis of an asset’s momentum in a particular direction. The trend trader enters into a long position when a stock is trending upward (successively higher highs). Conversely, a short position is taken when the stock is in a down trend (successively lower highs).

All in all, Swing Trading and Trend Trading seems like the way to go for most private traders who has a day job or who cannot afford to day trade the market.

I too am a Swing Trader and have enjoyed tremendous success for the past few years using what I call the Star Trading System. Read about it here at http://www.mastersoequity.com

Jason Ng
http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/stock-market-trading-styles-defined-65499.html