Archive for Basics
Stock Price – Bid – Ask – Spread – Liquidity
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are new to the world of the Stock Market, one of the first things you have to learn is how to read a stocks price. This might seem really simple and rudimentary right? Wrong!
The is a lot to a stocks price and when I think back all those years to when I began to learn about the stock market reading a stock price really took some thinking about. For example what is the bid price? What is the difference between the bid and the ask? What does “Last Price” mean? All these questions and more will be answered in the following article.
Whats in a stock price?
Take a look at this output from Yahoo Finance. It is a typical representation of stock price.
How much of it do you understand?
Stock Price : Last Trade
If a stock is currently trading, e.g. the Stock Exchange on which it is being traded is open, then you will see the Last Price. This is the price at which the stock last changed hands from seller to buyer. This changes often. One important thing to note is this example is from the LSE the London Stock Exchange and stock prices here are quotes in Pence. There are of course 100 Pence in a Pound. This “Last Price” is not 221.50 pounds, but 221.50 pence, or approximates 2.21 GBP (Great British Pounds). In the US stock markets prices are quoted in $ US Dollars. So if you trade US you will see a stock price of $2.21.
Stock Price : Trade Time
This is the time at which the last share was traded. Here you see 5:02 AM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)
Stock Price : Change
This is the difference between the last closing price and the current price (Last Price). Here we see that British Airways has increased 2.55% since the previous days close.
Stock Price : Prev. Close (Previous Close)
This is the stock price of the last transaction of the previous days trading.
Who should you trust with your investments?
Posted by: | Comments
Over the last 50 years we have been indoctrinated to hold professional people in high esteem, a job in banking was respected and working as an Financial Investment Adviser meant you understood how to invest money on behalf of your clients. But over the last two years we have seen this stripped away to reveal the truth, they are only human and humans have flaws, plenty of them!
Bankers once renowned and respected for being conservative with other people’s money were no longer conservative. They nearly lost it all. Money in the bank was supposed to be a safe haven, yet it had been completely risked. Searching for ever increasing profits they took risks with our money and never told us. Now they are too conservative, being too scared to lend money to the very businesses that keep our whole economy going. All this whilst having their profits bolstered by an extremely low cost of money (Fed Funds Rate, Bank of England base rate). They are getting the money at practically no cost while lending it out at still pre-crisis rates. You try getting a loan under 4%. All this while they are starting to pay themselves big bonuses again.
Financial advisers who talked about risk management squarely to not understand risk. Just before the Financial Crisis struck, record numbers of Newsletter writers, Hot Stock Tipsters, TV Pundits were all still bullish. Even when the crisis struck, if you had called your adviser he would have told you to “stay with your funds”, “do not do anything”, or if you really insisted you wanted to move to safety it is then you find out that you cannot as you are stuck in a fund for a “minimum period” and if you moved out there would be a “penalty”. How is that managing risk? Managing risk also should mean you have the ability to move funds quickly with no cost to avoid demolition to your retirement fund.
This exactly happened to my father, he was injured in a horrific workplace accident and had to retire handicapped early. He received a small award from the courts to compensate him for the pain (just enough to live on) . I took him to see the most respected Financial Advisers in his area. With their fancy offices and rows of Audi’s in the car park, my father was quickly convinced these people would conservatively invest his money, to enable him to live out the rest of his life with less money worries. He needed to focus on assisting my mother who also has health issues. Read More→
Stock Market Guide – The Traders Checklist Video 1
Posted by: | CommentsIn this video I talk about getting started in trading and all the things a beginner needs to focus on. There are key decisions to be made such as whether to trade online or offline, how to choose an online broker and what charting tools to use. Read the full article here or watch the video below. I hope you enjoy it!
http://www.liberatedstocktrader.com/stock-market-guide/
Learn Stock Market Trading and Investing with FREE Education and Training on Stock Screening, Stock Charts, Candlesticks, Technical Analysis & Fundamental Analysis and Stock Chart Indicators, Trading Academy Membership is free register here.
Stock Market Guide – The Traders Checklist Video 2
Posted by: | CommentsIn this video I talk about getting started in trading and all the things a beginner needs to focus on. There are key decisions to be made such as how to screen for stocks, how to track your trades using a portfolio management system and also how to educate yourself further. I hope you enjoy it!
Read the full article here, or watch the Video below.
http://www.liberatedstocktrader.com/stock-market-guide/
Learn Stock Market Trading and Investing with FREE Education and Training on Stock Screening, Stock Charts, Candlesticks, Technical Analysis & Fundamental Analysis and Stock Chart Indicators, Trading Academy Membership is free register here.
Learn Stock Trading 5 mistakes to avoid.
Posted by: | CommentsMany people new to the stock market make some fundamental mistakes when it comes to stock selection and understanding the stock market.
1. The GURU Belief. People believe it will be easier to buy a stock advisory newsletter and follow what the guru’s say they should buy and sell. The problem is no one provides precise timing and results reports. They are often delayed, and also have a vested interest. The person providing the tips usually has bought the stock already. Also they will usually have sold this stock before they advise you to Sell it. They also will not be held accountable for any losses you may make. Most “Stock Picking Guru’s” are self proclaimed and often fail to beat the market.
2. The hit and hope. People fail to realise that you cannot simply buy any stock and hold it and hope for it to go up. Market timing is critical, only buy when the market in general is going up, because as we know even the best stock in the world will go down if the whole market is plunging.
3. This is not rocket science, its easy to buy stocks. It is easy to buy stocks, but it takes discipline, and an understanding of Market and Stock fundamentals and technical analysis to buy the right stock, at the right time for the right price. You will need to learn how the market works, what technical analysis is and how to apply the principles.
4. Trading using free online stock charts. Using free online charts is better than using none at all, however paid for premium products are really advantageous when it comes to making a profit in the market. For US stocks I recommend telechart 2007.
5. Automated Stock Systems. Automated stock systems mostly use very simple techniques such as moving averages and Open High Low Close on prices. These techniques are very simple to learn for yourself, and enable you to make your own decisions. I would strongly advise never to take the decision making process out of your own hands.
It is extremely important that you own your own decisions and really learn how to trade. With just 30 minutes per day and the right tools you can begin to trade like a professional. Try out our Trading Academy for a start.
You need to find the right resources to help you on this quest. There are a lot of websites that claim to provide these services, but end up providing supposed “hot tips newsletters”. You need to seek out a provider that bases learning on openness, honesty and empowerment. You also need a service that will help you understand how to Screen for Winning Stocks and evaluate market direction.
Also a picture can be worth a thousand words, and a movie can be worth a thousand pictures, look for a training provider that can provide you the relevant training in a multimedia format to suit you. I tunes, youtube, video, DVD.
To your success.
Learn Stock Market Trading and Investing with FREE Education and Training on Stock Screening, Stock Charts, Candlesticks, Technical Analysis & Fundamental Analysis and Stock Chart Indicators, Trading Academy Membership is free register here.
Why Liberated Stock Trader
Posted by: | CommentsDear Reader
Here at Liberatedstocktrader.com, I hope to enable “YOU” to understand core concepts of the stock market, and enable “YOU” to always make informed decisions about where your money will go. Everyone who gives you advice on the stock market or investments, has a vested interest in what you do.
But none more so than “YOU”
This site and its information will be based on the following principles.
- Honesty
- Openness
- Empowerment
I will provide honest opinion, and it is only opinion I will say so. When something is fact we will always provide the supporting evidence.
I want to empower you with the knowledge to make your own investment decisions based upon industry leading facts and figures.
The Learning experience will be based upon the following elements.
Big Picture Small Picture – What is happening in the world
Fundamentals – Learning to read the numbers
Charts – Learning to read Charts
Timing – the art of timing
Strategies – investment strategies
Advanced Techniques
Web Resources – best trading resources on the web.
