Invest Aggressively While You’re Young

Handy Online Tools for Investing in Stock Market

BSE Sensex scaled above 28,000 for the first time ever on 5th November 2014 last week, while the 50-share Nifty also hit a record high in morning trade. Whether you are a expert or a novice trying your hand at the stock market, you can never be enough prepared for how will the market move at any moment. However what you can do is stay up to date on the shares you are dealing with. Here are some tools that might come in handy to do so.

Screeners

A screener is a tool that can be used to filter stocks based on the metrics you want, be it sector, market cap, stock price and so on. It allows you to add your own ratios and columns to an otherwise crowded and confusing graphs to keep an eye on things that matter to you. And certain websites providing this tool also let you save your customised screener for future use.

Charts

If you are exploring the different techniques for investing in the Online Stock Trading or if you already do, then you must have come around the analysis strategies called Fundamental analysis and Technical analysis. Technical analysis doesn’t focus on the value of the company, but on the price movements in the market. Charts are used precisely for that.

A chart is a graphical representation of a series of prices in a given time period. It will allow you to plot and study the movements of the price of a stock, so analyse its patterns of change/fluctuations.

Indicators

Indicators are statistical tools that are used to measure the current market conditions as well as to forecast financial trends. In simple terms, they are your helpers to keep a close eye on your preferred stock.

While there are several indicators available out there, two easy ones to start with are price and volume. If you are looking to get into technical analysis of stocks, over fundamental analysis (i.e when analysis is done on historical and present data, with the goal of making financial forecasts) then you can use indicators to predict changes in stock trends or price patterns.

Watchlist

A watchlist is a dashboard created to maintain a customized list of symbols/stocks on which the investor would like to invest or to analyze the performance and make a decision by selecting it from the drop down box available. It has the parameters such as entry date, today’s range, today’s volume, charts etc.

Algorithmic Trading

As the name suggests, algorithmic trading is a system that utilises pre-defined algorithms for making transaction decisions in the financial markets. Algorithmic trading takes out the emotions part out and makes decisions objective.

These pre-programmed trading instructions are designed to determine the optimal time for a transaction to be made that will cause the least amount of impact on a stock’s price. These automated systems allow high volumes of data to be processed automatically and acted upon swiftly and efficiently.

Logo Ticker

As shown in the image above, Logo Ticker tool shows share price, volume, change and news for stocks you select. The desktop widgets usually provide a window agnostic ticker, to keep you constantly updated no matter what you are doing on your computer. However if you are adding a ticker on your mobile, you can select the positioning depending upon which app you are using.

Online Stock Calculators

In order to take the right decision on which stock to invest in, there are a number of different calculators available online. For instance a Profit-Loss calculator would help you understand the trade’s profit and loss potential before you place it, to see how the results would change based on changes in volatility and time. A probability calculator determines probability of hitting trade targets and so on.

Investopedia is an online encyclopedia for stock trading. From investment basics to the current events in the stock market, you can find it all on this website. It even has a simulator for playing virtually in the share market with virtual money, to practice your skills.

StockTwits

StockTwits is a mobile app that helps the users to share ideas with other traders and investors in real time, view charts and videos, access to market news and financial blogs all in one app. It’s like a social network for stock traders, to get insights, updates, statements and analysis from thousands of other users. It is available for both iOS and Android.

eToro

If StockTwits is Twitter for investors, then eToro is a Facebook for them. It is a trading platform and community that offers easy access to trade and invest in currencies, commodities & indices. If you are just starting with trading then you can interact and ask questions with other traders who are more experienced in this field. This too has both iOS and Android versions of its mobile app.

Stock Alerts

Stock Alerts Tools are offered by several websites including NASDAQ itself, to get updates of the selected stocks directly to your mail inbox. This will save you the trouble of opening the browser again and again to monitor the stocks.There are also some websites like TradersCockpit in India, that allows users to get these alerts directly on their mobile, choose the frequency and time period for getting the alerts in a day.

Source from : http://www.iamwire.com/2014/11/handy-tools-investing-stock-market/104284

Is it time for stocks without brokers?

The word is disintermediation. With the proliferation of lavishly funded e-commerce enterprises, this is happening in every sphere of activity. The grocer, the mobile store guy, the taxi company, the banker, the real estate broker and the mutual fund distributor are some of the people who were earlier indispensable to our lives and are now going out of business. Technology-driven platforms and applications (‘apps’) are replacing these intermediaries, creating a win-win proposition for both manufacturers and consumers.

Yet, in one area which took to technology earlier than others, nobody talks of direct access to consumers. People in the big cities have learnt to buy books, mobiles, shoes and even something as personal as lingerie online. Why do they need a broker to buy stocks which were dematerialised long ago and can be delivered directly into your account?

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) implemented direct plans for mutual funds since January 1, 2013. By June that year, these plans came to account for nearly a quarter of the sector's assets under management. While the initial push came from debt funds, recent reports suggest around half of the fresh inflows from retail investors in equity funds are through direct plans. This shows that investors, even smaller ones, are gaining confidence about choosing and making their investments online

Even the insurance sector, with a more powerful intermediaries lobby, has seen the advent of top online trading companies products that allow you to buy insurance and unit-linked investment plans directly.

Now, for someone, who can understand an insurance policy with its numerous terms and conditions and buy it online, buying a stock without the help of a broker should not be a difficult proposition. Why are Sebi or the exchanges not even thinking aloud about it?

After all, what great help is a broker to a small investor? Common sense demands that the broker deploys his best resources to some of the larger clients. So, you are going to get some a fresh-from-college relationship manager who might only be parroting what he heard on TV this morning to push the stock his boss wanted him to.

In addition, you are showing your cards to a potential competitor in the market. Most broking firms have a proprietary book where it uses its own money to buy and sell stocks. Nothing stops your broker from playing against you, despite the obvious conflict of interest. What is worse is you are paying him to fleece you.

This column would not be enough if one begins quoting anecdotes of retirees and widows falling prey to wrong broking advice and seeing their life’s savings vanish in thin air to margin calls. Brokers often use the client agreements to absolve themselves of any responsibility in such cases. As in the recent scams, after playing along, they don’t think twice about being turncoat and play the victim.

No wonder big successful investors on the Street like Rakesh Jhunjhunwala have their own broker licence. Large corporate treasuries also often execute through their own broking firms. Beside the considerable savings on transaction costs, these big guys are also able to play their cards close to their chests, an underplayed but critical factor to investment success.

Online trading has been available in the market for years. But, there is still a broker who sits in between, providing the platform and charging a fee. It is not the objective of this piece to advocate the end of stock broking but, if an investor wants to do without it, he should have an opportunity and an avenue to do so.

Source from : http://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/is-it-time-for-stocks-without-brokers-115060101165_1.html

Online Share Market- A place Of Fortunes and Misfortunes

Online share market is a place where you witness the birth and demolition of fortune with each day. In an online share market, one may be showered with fortunes, while the other weep over losses. Online share market deals with volumes. Being a virtual space to trade stocks of various companies, it has gathered huge attention of many in recent times.

To start trading on online share market you need a platform along with a trading account from various banks. This platform is provided by many share brokers or agents. Shares of various companies are sold and purchased on daily basis by individuals, companies or groups. While talking about shares, these are basic units of company stock value, which any listed company can put-forth for common people to share upon.

A listed company is a company that has been enrolled to sell or purchase its stocks over an open common platform (Stock Market). Although online share market is not a new concept, the operations of online share market have seen enormous technological advancements. With introduction of interment and personalized gadgets like cell phones share trading has witnessed dramatic shifts. It’s now possible from your desk to trade upon shares with an interface. By nature, online share market is extremely volatile. With abundance of purchases and sales every minute, the market value of shares keeps on changing gradients.

For many, online share market is a fortune maker. The diversity and volatile nature of shares accounts for big returns on investments. For many amateurs and newcomers, online share market poses extreme risk. Without basic understanding of shares, different terminology associated with share trading and share performance; any person can be fooled to loose his investments. Online share Market is about investments and disinvestments. To be a successful trader you need to earn profit with buying and selling of shares on a regular basis. Online share market is your gateway to earn good money. With your proficiency in trading shares can develop your fortune over short span of time. The basics are just to understand the favoring trends. By operating in a trendy fashion you win the game to earn your profit. Nowadays there are plenty of opportunities available for individuals to go for share trading. People are encouraged to make their presence on this glossy platform. But, understanding the basics are still out of scope for many. With advancement of technology, you have abundance of resources for gathering the concepts of share trading.

Information spreading over World Wide Web is huge. All you need is some intrinsic research to prove your competency. Being an amateur share trader you may associate yourself with any broking firm. You might ask for tips from experts. The expert advices and share tips can guide you in a better way for trading profit on your shares. Many magnificent web portals are available online for meager sum of membership fees. They make you understand the basics, make you to practice over a virtual mock stock exchange and offer you practically effective share tips to help you out to earn handsome. After all when you earn profit the broker firms gain their commission as profit. With some research online you can always find someone reliable to help you out!