1/01/2011 08:05:00 PM
01 January, 2011
28 December, 2010
10 Qualities of a successful stock market trader
12/28/2010 10:05:00 PM
1. A successful trader has a trading plan and does his homework diligently.
2. A successful trader avoids overtrading.
3. A successful trader does not get unnerved by lossesessons from your losses.
4. A successful trader tries to capture the large market moves.
5. A successful trader always keeps learning.
6. A successful trader always tries to make some money with less risky strategies as well.
7. A successful trader treats trading as a business and keeps a positive attitude.
8. A successful trader never blames the market.
9. A disciplined trader keeps a cushion.
10. A successful trader knows there is no Holy Grail in the market.
Do and don'ts for stock market investments
12/28/2010 10:02:00 PM
What must I do now?
This is the question probably every equity investor would have asked himself a number of times in the past few months.
With the stock market moving to dizzying heights before succumbing to gravity, it's easy to get nervous or over-excited.
Here's what we suggest you do when the bulls and bears kick up a lot of dust.
1. Don't panic
The market is volatile. Accept that. It will keep fluctuating. Don't panic.
If the prices of your shares have plummeted, there is no reason to want to get rid of them in a hurry. Stay invested if nothing fundamental about your company has changed.
Ditto with your mutual fund. Does the Net Asset Value deep dipping and then rising slightly? Hold on. Don't sell unnecessarily.
When the market dips, go ahead and buy some stocks. But don't invest huge amounts. Pick up the shares in stages.
Keep some money aside and zero in on a few companies you believe in.
When the market dips -- as it did this month -- buy them. When the market dips again, say in November, you can pick up some more. Keep buying the shares periodically.
Everyone knows that they should buy when the market has reached its lowest and sell the shares when the market peaks. But the fact remains, no one can time the market.
It is impossible for an individual to state when the share price has reached rock bottom. Instead, buy shares over a period of time; this way, you will average your costs.
Pick a few stocks and invest in them gradually.
Ditto with a mutual fund. Invest small amounts gradually via a Systematic Investment Plan. Here, you invest a fixed amount every month into your fund and you get units allocated to you.
A stock does not become a good buy simply because its price has been rising phenomenally. Once investors start selling, the price will drop drastically.
Ditto with a mutual fund. Every fund will show a great return in the current bull run. That does not make it a good fund. Track the performance of the fund over a bull and bear market; only then make your choice.
To compare funds, you need to look at returns and risk. How to compare mutual funds and How risky is your mutual fund? will enable you to do that.
When you buy and sell shares, you will have to pay a brokerage fee and a Securities Transaction Tax. This could nip into your profits specially if you are selling for small gains (where the price of stock has risen by a few rupees).
With mutual funds, if you have already paid an entry load, then you most probably won't have to pay an exit load. Entry loads and exit loads are fees levied on the Net Asset Value (price of a unit of a fund). Entry load is levied when you buy units and an exit load when you sell them.
If you sell your shares of equity funds within a year of buying, you end up paying a short-term capital gains tax of 10% on your profit. If you sell after a year, you pay no tax (long-term capital gains tax is nil).
What you MUST do
1. Get rid of the junk
Any shares you bought but no longer want to keep? If they are showing a profit, you could consider selling them. Even if they are not going to give you a substantial profit, it is time to dump them and utilise the money elsewhere if you no longer believe in them.
Similarly with a dud fund; sell the units and deploy the money in a more fruitful investment.
Don't just buy stocks in one sector. Make sure you are invested in stocks of various sectors.
Also, when you look at your total equity investments, don't just look at stocks. Look at equity funds as well.
To balance your equity investments, put a portion of your investments in fixed income instruments like the Public Provident Fund, post office deposits, bonds and National Savings Certificates.
If you have none of these or very little investment in these, consider a balanced fund or a debt fund.
Don't invest in shares based on a tip, no matter who gives it to you.
Tread cautiously. Invest in stocks you truly believe in. Look at the fundamentals. Analyse the company and ask yourself if you want to be part of it.
Are you happy with the way a particular fund manager manages his fund and the objective of the fund? If yes, consider investing in it.
If you decided you only want 60% of all your investments in equity, don't over-exceed that limit because the stock market has been delivering great returns.
Stick to your allocation
Stock Market Jokes
12/28/2010 10:02:00 PM
The market may be bad, but I slept like a baby last night. I woke up every hour and cried.
What's the difference between buying a lottery ticket and buying a penny stock? In the first case, you help finance your local community swimming pool. In the second case, you help finance the stock promoters home pool.
My broker and I are working on a retirement plan. Unfortunately, it's his!
A long term investment is a short term investment that failed.
A stockbroker is someone who invests your money till it's all gone!
It was so cold today I saw a stockbroker with his hands in his own pockets.
A market analyst is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today!
I'm thinking of leaving my husband, complained the broker's wife. "All he ever does is stand at the end of the bed and tell me how good things are going to be."
Momentum Investing: The fine art of buying high and selling low.
Value Investing: The art of buying low and selling lower
Q: Why did God create stock analysts ?
A: In order to make weather forecasters look good.
** How do you define Bear Market?
9 to 10 month period, during which
children don't get any pocket money,
wife doesn't get any jewellery,
and husband doesn't get any sex!
** Trader in the stock market recently changed his daughter's name from SHRUTI to SHRAXIS.
Because UTI bank is now AXIS bank!
** The Pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
The Optimist sees the glass half full.
The Trader JUST ADDS WHISHKY...
Relax on Weekends......................
Pivot Point
12/28/2010 09:45:00 PM
Pivot Point :: A technical indicator derived by calculating the numerical average of a particular stock's high, low and closing prices.
The pivot point is used as a predictive indicator. If the following day's market price falls below the pivot point, it may be used as a new resistance level. Conversely, if the market price rises above the pivot point, it may act as the new support level.
Support (Buy Level)
A support level is a price level where the price tends to find support as it is going down. This means the price is more likely to "bounce" off this level rather than break through it. However, once the price has passed this level, even by a small amount, it is likely to continue dropping until it finds another support level.
Resistance (Sell Level)
A resistance level is the opposite of a support level. It is where the price tends to find resistance as it is going up. This means the price is more likely to "bounce" off this level rather than break through it. However, once the price has passed this level, even by a small amount, it is likely that it will continue rising until it finds another resistance level.
Pivot Point Advantage
The main advantage of this the pivot point is that it is price-based as opposed to indicator-based. By the time most indicators generate a buy or a sell signal, the pivot point move is already well under way. By following this price-based methodology, I will get into a trade before the indicator-based traders, and I usually end up handing off my position soon after a buy or sell signal is being generated on a stochastic or other oscillator type system. The pivot point is especially true on choppy days. On choppy days, it's the indicator-based traders that get taken out back and shot. Pivot points are set up to naturally take advantage of their mistakes.
The pivot point is also a good system for traders who don't have time to stare at the charts all day long, or for traders who have a bad habit in chasing the market higher and lower. Playing the pivot point automatically creates trader discipline because the entries and exits are pre-determined before the trading day even starts.
Pivot Point Tool
The other thing I like about the pivot point is that they can be used as a tool to quickly determine what kind of trading day it's going to be. On a trending day, markets will move to a pivot level, consolidate for 15-20 minutes, and then continue to march in the direction of the trend. On these days I wait for the move through the pivot point level, and then buy the first pullback to that level. On choppy days, however, the markets will move up to a pivot point level, hang around for a short time, and then drift back in the direction from whence they came. Many traders get "chopped up" during these types of trading days, losing money and making their brokers rich in the process. The pivot point are naturally set up to be faded on these days, and are one of the few profitable ways to trade the low volume, narrow range chop.
Pivot points are mainly used by day-traders to forecast the current day's support and resistance levels based on the previous day’s high, low and close levels. They are regularly used by chartists and technical analysts as an indicator which is often unbelievably accurate.
The pivot point is used as a predictive indicator. If the following day's market price falls below the pivot point, it may be used as a new resistance level. Conversely, if the market price rises above the pivot point, it may act as the new support level.
Support (Buy Level)
A support level is a price level where the price tends to find support as it is going down. This means the price is more likely to "bounce" off this level rather than break through it. However, once the price has passed this level, even by a small amount, it is likely to continue dropping until it finds another support level.
Resistance (Sell Level)
A resistance level is the opposite of a support level. It is where the price tends to find resistance as it is going up. This means the price is more likely to "bounce" off this level rather than break through it. However, once the price has passed this level, even by a small amount, it is likely that it will continue rising until it finds another resistance level.
Pivot Point Advantage
The main advantage of this the pivot point is that it is price-based as opposed to indicator-based. By the time most indicators generate a buy or a sell signal, the pivot point move is already well under way. By following this price-based methodology, I will get into a trade before the indicator-based traders, and I usually end up handing off my position soon after a buy or sell signal is being generated on a stochastic or other oscillator type system. The pivot point is especially true on choppy days. On choppy days, it's the indicator-based traders that get taken out back and shot. Pivot points are set up to naturally take advantage of their mistakes.
The pivot point is also a good system for traders who don't have time to stare at the charts all day long, or for traders who have a bad habit in chasing the market higher and lower. Playing the pivot point automatically creates trader discipline because the entries and exits are pre-determined before the trading day even starts.
Pivot Point Tool
The other thing I like about the pivot point is that they can be used as a tool to quickly determine what kind of trading day it's going to be. On a trending day, markets will move to a pivot level, consolidate for 15-20 minutes, and then continue to march in the direction of the trend. On these days I wait for the move through the pivot point level, and then buy the first pullback to that level. On choppy days, however, the markets will move up to a pivot point level, hang around for a short time, and then drift back in the direction from whence they came. Many traders get "chopped up" during these types of trading days, losing money and making their brokers rich in the process. The pivot point are naturally set up to be faded on these days, and are one of the few profitable ways to trade the low volume, narrow range chop.
Pivot points are mainly used by day-traders to forecast the current day's support and resistance levels based on the previous day’s high, low and close levels. They are regularly used by chartists and technical analysts as an indicator which is often unbelievably accurate.
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