How To Master Candlestick Patterns

By Mark Deaton

Japanese candlesticks are basically an ancient tradition of the Chinese for keeping tabs on the rice markets. Considered by many (safe to say at this point.) to be the best way to view an asses price action. Japanese candlestick have become popular in just about every liquid market.

Japanese candlestick charts display market sentiment like no other form of charting can. With candlestick charts you have basically 2 moving parts. (If you will.) The real body, can be full or hallow, and the wicks or shadows can be long or short, or gone - either way, together you get a nice picture of price action today, or over a period of time.

A high is marked by the top of the upper shadow or a wick. It indicates the highest point of the day in trading. The low is marked by the bottom of the lower shadow. If a security closes higher than it opened, then a hollow body is drawn. The top line of the body itself would indicate the close and the bottom line of the body would indicate the open. If a security closes lower than the opening price, then a filled body is drawn with the top line indicating the opening and the lower one indicating the close. (See below.)

Candlestick charting is much more intuitive than any other form of chart reading once you learn some basics. A candlestick pattern can reveal price action relative to the past better than any other form of charting available. Not only do you get instant insight into current price action, but also that action relative to the past.

Different body sizes represent the distance between open and close. A longer hallow body represents a nice bullish candlestick where the close is higher than the open. A longer filled or black body represents a nice bearish session / day where the close is much lower than the open. In the flip side short bodies represent a close and open relatively close to each other.

There are also candlesticks with full bodies and no wicks/shadows. These should be noted and have a name they are called Marubozu's. The can be black or white (full / empty) and they appear when the open and close of the session are equal to the high and low. With the white/empty candlestick your high is equal to your close. With the black/full your low is equal to your close.

A long or short shadow with a short body are called spinning tops. Spinning tops represent indecision. The short body indicates that there was little change in the trading and the long shadows indicate there was a lot of activity with both bulls and bears. However it also indicates that neither buyer nor seller could get the upper hand, resulting in somewhat of a standoff. - 23210

About the Author:

Mastering candlestick Patterns is absolutely essential if you plan to master your trading. You need the upper hand when its available to you, and Japanese Candlesticks offer exactly that. To get more information, and download our free course visit us at http://www.candlestickgenius.com

Managing Your Investment Risk With Stocks

By C.P.Billows

Whenever you invest, you are taking a risk. The goal is the manage it and not avoid it.

Every good investor knows that he should set aside some of his portfolio for long-term, lower-risk investments. The other portion can be used for medium to higher-risk investments depending on your financial circumstances and other life factors.

Allocate Wisely

A good rule of thumb to follow is: Allocate 50% of your portfolio for the long-term, lower risk category no matter how great a speculative short term pick may appear.

This will take discipline, but on more than one occasion it will probably save you in no small way.

Most of the systems and strategies you find on the Internet are high-risk, high-gain where you can be wiped out in a single transaction.

Take a risk! I do, but only with a certain percent of my funds. You should do the same.

So let's say for example that you choose to invest in long-term, lower-risk stocks with 50% of your portfolio.

Let's start by defining what a good long-term stock is. Some will call them large-cap stocks, other's call them Blue Chip stocks.

Blue Chips will be the common stock of a nationally known company that has a long record of profit growth, dividend payments, and a reputation for quality management, products, and services. Some examples would be International Business Machines, General Electric, and DuPont. They are relatively high priced and have moderate dividend yields.

There is no true master list of Blue Chip stocks. That is because the definition of what is and isn't a blue chip stock varies greatly. Essentially though, its a consistent top performing stock.

Look to such indexes as Dow Jones Industrial Averages and Standard and Poor's 100 Averages to see such lists.

The problem is that you may invest in long-term, lower-risk stocks that stagnate for years on end. Yet, even such stocks have their ups and downs and the profit you see (or don't see) can be exacerbated by current market conditions.

Your entry time could be poor and you may have to wait years to see a break-even point on such a stock.

You still need a proven strategy with so-called "stable" investment stocks.

Buy and Sell Wisely

To get the most gain out of the stocks you buy and help to minimize your risk, you need to employ one of the tools used by professionals, which is Technical Analysis. You will use some Technical analysis to help you determine the price to buy in and the price to sell. Technical analysis is merely putting a stock through a mathematical formula.

When you employ this tool properly, you can get many times the profit you currently get or others get with the old 'buy and hold' strategy.

Each technical indicator is made to tell you something slightly different. Some will tell you the momentum of a stock, its trend strength, volatility limits, how much its diverging from previous price patterns.

Some of these indicators, while good, are for short-term action. Others are more geared for long-term action. So just because someone swears by an indicator, it doesn't mean that its the right indicator for you in a certain application.

The indicator that we have become familiar with is called the Stochastic oscillator. This indicator is a momentum indicator that is based on closing prices of a stock that doesn't take into account wild daily fluctuations. It bases the current close against previous closes to indicate buying pressure or selling pressure.

Simple use of this indicator can make you lose money quick should you not understand how to properly use it. If you have ever traded using momentum indicators, you know that many false signals can be created. Whipsaws or false movements that quickly reverse in the indicator create further problems. The more people try to compensate for the weaknesses in the indicator, the worse it seems to get.

That is until development of the K-39 Theory, also called the Last Stochastic Theory. This theory will guide you in how to ignore those false signals and take advantage of the built-in momentum of the stock.

This way you can find ways to trade the best Blue Chip stocks and know when are the better times to buy and sell. You will then have the bluest of the blue chips thanks to this method. - 23210

About the Author:

C.P.Billows is the publisher of In The Money, the Stock Options Trading Course, a 60 page eBook available at www.mandalainvesting.com. The eBook has given hundreds of people the investing edge they need to keep ahead of inflation and taxes. Click here to submit article.

Become A Great Trader

By Hass67

If you dont have winning forex trading plan, you will be crushed by the forex markets in no time. When you start forex trading, first you need to choose a good strategy. Then you need a method to implement that strategy. This is in nutshell what we call a trading plan.

Let me tell you about a great experiment in history. This experiment is a perfect example of developing and then implementing a winning trading plan. This experiment was known as Turtle Traders Experiment.

Richard Dennis and Bill Eckhardt were two great traders and partners who were arguing one day on whether great traders are born or made. This was the year 1983. Both were commodities speculators.

Bill was of the opinion that great traders are only born while Richard believed that great traders could be made through a process of good training. In order to settle the matter, Richard suggested that they recruit and train a few novice traders. Train them. Give them accounts to trade and see how they perform.

An advertisement was made in Wall Street Journal, Barrons and The New York Times. 1000 applications were received. The great Turtle Trading Experiment had begun in history.

After short listing only 80 were called for interviews. In the end only 13 traders were selected for the training. The students were called Turtles.

The turtles were given training and a complete trading plan based on rules on how to apply it. Richard would always emphasize to the turtles that he could give these rules to anyone but these rules were useless unless they were applied consistently.

Success in forex trading will only come if you get good training. Then use that training to develop your trading plan that is based on rules that are mechanical in nature and do not depend on emotional decisions. The key to success in trading is controlling your emotions. A good trading plan just does that.

Then you need to apply those rules with discipline and consistency. Without discipline and consistency, you can never become a great trader! - 23210

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in Investing, Stocks and Forex Trading. Download Turtle Trading Rules.

Let Forex Robots Trade Your Money without Fear or Greed

By Richard U. Olson

As an investor, you know that there are two things which influence the decisions which people make on the market. These two prime motivators are greed and fear. These are two of the most primal human emotions. Fear can become panic and greed can lead one to make risky decisions. The most successful investors, including Forex traders are those who are not swayed by these emotions.

Managed Forex trading is utilized by profitable Forex traders, such as those methods based on mathematical algorithms as well as other resourceful Forex trading strategies. The automated Forex trading system and trading software are very useful. They may also use a Forex expert advisor for guidance in buying, selling, stop-loss decisions and setting their trading parameters.

But whatever may be the case, Forex traders who are making money are not merely acting - or reacting - on emotions. This does not mean that they are unfeeling. These traders still don't like taking losses and they do desire to make more and more money (hence, that makes them "greedy"). However, whatever they feel about a momentary loss or a stroke of greater profits than they had anticipated is subsumed by them. In other words, if their feelings would cause them to do something that is not in their investment trading plan, they ignore their feelings.

No matter what sort of dire financial news comes out that day, no matter what sort of day you've had, you should not let these factors make your investment decisions for you. Stay to a carefully thought out Forex trading strategy and try to discount your emotional response to market movements.

Self-discipline is key to being successful in Forex trading. You risk losing a lot of potential profit by allowing your emotions to take hold and dictate the investments that you make. Fear may cause you to place a stop-loss when doing so will actually cost you money or take your profits and run when you could have made far more money by allowing your investment to run its course. By the same token, greed can lead to irrational exuberance and lead you to lose a lot of money by making unwise decisions about your trades.

Forex trading discipline is based on real history and those tried and true trading strategies and principles.

Profitable traders are actually taking advantage of the sheeple, since they profit on the Forex markets movement, resulting from the panic or excitement of other irrational investors.

Sticking to your investment strategy in the Forex market is perhaps most easily accomplished by using automated Forex trading software. This software will use mathematical modeling to predict market movements based on past behavior and can keep you focus on your investment goals without the risks posed by emotionally based investing. - 23210

About the Author:

Richard U. Olson uses the state of the art Forex Expert Advisor and he recommends it to make consistent profits in the Forex markets. Grab his FREE e-course on Forex Trading Tips to achieve your financial freedom.

Government Auctions - The Investment Differences Between Tax Lien and Tax Deeds

By Leslie Jones

Have you ever considered what the penalty is when a property owner is unable to pay their taxes? Well as you may of guessed the IRS is intolerant and will do whatever is required to retrieve the taxes due, including forcing the buyer to foreclose on their home. On the outside this may seem like a very unpleasant situation, however, there are other sources of alternative financing available to assist this owner. That's where individuals like yourself can profit while providing a possible 'light at the end of the tunnel' for the distraught home owner.

The local government will arrange a tax lien sale, where the public can bid on the right to provide the homeowner a loan in lieu of the home and/or commercial property. In return, the homeowner must pay the winning bidder back the full principle with interest, by a specific date. Both parties must agree with the terms and the date.

If the homeowner fails to pay back the lender, the lender then has every right to foreclose the property and to transfer the title in their name. In order for the homeowner to remain on the title, the owner must keep up with the payments on the new tax lien loan. The lender will charge the homeowner a predetermined interest rate which is much higher then the going mortgage rate in return for saving their home.

Obviously, a savvy business person would like the homeowner to be unable to pay back the loan or default on the loan terms, so that they can receive title on the property themselves. It's in the homeowner's best interest to pay their dues on the home and home tax loan, but if their financial situation was bad in the first place, there's is a chance it may not improve anytime soon in this economy. In many cases, all odds are against the homeowner.

In addition to tax lien sales, there are also tax deed sales. Tax deed sales are when the government auctions off the property and title right away, giving the winning bidder immediate ownership. The current homeowners must surrender their home and/or property immediately. They have no choice otherwise. Tax lien sales will give them a chance to maintain their home, tax deed sales will not.

These government auction tax sale opportunities may be the best investments one can make because you actually have a house and/or property that either you own or have as collateral should your lien interest payments not be made. Just reflect on the amount of money you can make by purchasing a tax lien and charging high interest rates, or paying the defaulted taxes, receiving the house and either renting it for a monthly income or reselling it for a healthy profit. - 23210

About the Author:

To locate websites with the best property tax sale opportunities and receive a free Government Tax Liens Report check out property tax sales or to check out the sites's main page page click government auctions.