Oil and Your Portfolio

By Ahmad Hassam

Wall Street watches oil prices like a hawk. Remember the early part of 2008 when oil prices skyrocketed from near $70 to almost $150 within a few months. This was more than a 100% increase in oil prices. Many hedge funds heavily betted on the increase in oil prices and made a windfall.

Most of the increase in the oil prices was due to speculation. When the stock markets crashed, most of the hedge funds had to liquidate their investments in oil futures. The prices came down. The prices are down due to low consumer demand in a recession. But it is being predicted that with a recovery in the economy, the oil prices will go up again.

As oil prices go up, consumers have to spend more on oil. The more they spend on oil, the less they spend on other products. The less they spend on other products, the less profit other companies make. Declining profits means declining stock prices.

The opposite is also true. The less the oil prices become, the more Wall Street becomes optimistic about the profit potential of companies. This increased optimism leads to increase in stock prices. Two large futures exchanges are used to determine the prices of oil. They are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYME) and the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE).

Historically the rising oil prices have been associated with falling markets. NYME is the home of the crude oil futures. By monitoring the movement of the crude oil futures, you can get a feel of the future economic situation of the United States. Since oil is heavily traded in USD, this affects the USD. The effect is however a bit complicated.

Lets take a look at it more closely. When oil prices increase, the demand for US Dollar also increases as most of the countries need US Dollar to pay for their oil imports. Increased demand for US Dollar means that it should appreciate.

But this is not the whole picture. We have to take another aspect into account. Increased oil prices also hurt the US economy. Now, which effect is more important for the currency markets?

Net effect varies for different currency pairs. Take a currency pair that involves the USD and a currency representing a country that does well during the times of high oil prices. Canada that has huge oil reserves after Saudi Arabia. US imports more oil from Canada than any other country. High oil prices help the Canadian economy. Net effect would be depreciation in the value of USD/CAD pair. Suppose you take a currency pair that involves USD and a currency whose economy is negatively affected by the rising oil prices. The demand for USD will rise.

So what we can say is that some currencies have positive correlation with oil prices and other currencies have negative correlation with rising oil prices. The currency pair CAD/JPY shows the strongest reaction to rising oil prices. Japan imports almost 100% oil.

So when oil prices rise again, watch for a currency pair that has the strongest correlation with oil prices like CAD/JPY. CAD is positively correlated with oil prices and JPY is negatively correlated. So CAD/JPY can be a very good currency pair to trade during times of rising oil prices. - 23210

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading and swing trading stocks and currencies. Learn Forex Nitty Gritty. Discover Forex Magic Machine. Try Netpicks Forex Signal Service.

Madoff Type Stock Scams Exposed!

By William R. Wiedow Ph.D.

It seems true to say, Barnard Madoff is the new Charles Ponzi. Investors put much faith in Madoff and considering the current state of things in the fanancial markets, it is a real shame that this man could betray so many good investors! At this point Madoff Type Stock Scams have really impacted countless people around the globe.

There is now a lost of 50 Billion Dollars because of Mr. Madoff who was at one time a highly respected chairman of The NASDAQ and wiz financier. He just admitted to administrating this ponzi stock scam of the century.

This is the sort of corruption that has ruined Wallstreet and Mainstreet! But for all the investors in the future let this be a text book lesson! We must learn from these kinds of scams in order to avoid this same type of horrible financial lost in the years to come.

You can think of Charles Ponzi in 1920 and Benard Madoff in 2009 and really what they did was the same thing. They both started an Illegal Pyramid to bilk later investors, I say later investors because even an illegal pyramid scheme makes great money for early investors. These early investors are used as unwitting salesman to sucker in later investors and the sales tool they use is their Ponzi/Madoff Easy Money!

The striking resemblance of Barnard Madoff to Charles Ponzi is shocking. Both orchestrated a massive fraud that would put them in the history books and in prison for years, no small thing to do even in the world of crime. So at this point some of us are left poorer because of them, but as the saying goes "Experience Is What You Get When You Didn't Get What You Wanted" and we must learn from this experience because we don't want to go from Stock Investors to Apple Stand Sales Jobs.

Diversification is the the one and only answer to these criminals because these Madoff Type Stock Scams only work with ignorant stock investors that do not diversify. It would seem to be a no-brainer for investors but the rule should be Don't Put Every Single Dollar of Your Assets in One Investment Just Because It Looks Really, Really Good! You may end up being very very sorry you did!

Absolutely amazing offers are often the sign of a scam. Madoff promised high returns on investments with low risk and plenty of liquidity. He was offering incredibly secure investments with good returns. While solid investments do exist, you are certainly not going to find ones as amazing as what Madoff was offering. These sorts of "Fantastical Guarantees" should let you know that a scam is going on!

Madoff Type Stock Scams have taught us that we cannot rely on The SEC or regulators alone. "YOU ARE TAKING A RISK WHEN YOU INVEST" and should use your common sense and best judgment. Do not feel bad if you were taking-in by Madoff, he fooled large banks individual investors, savvy financial professionals and many others. But if you were a "Madoff Victim" here are a few places you can go to for help: bernardmadoffvictims.com & madoff-help.com

We all get taken for a ride sometimes. However, you can keep this from happening by making smarter financial decisions. Hedge Funds have a lot of risks associated with them. It is almost always better for individual investors to put their money in low-cost Mutual Funds, Bank CD's or Gold. It is less risky and easier to keep public information track of when it goes up or down. Of course in 2009 you may just want to leave your money in the bank! (c) 2009 William R. Wiedow Ph.D. - 23210

About the Author:

William R. Wiedow Ph.D. Has had 25 years of experence as a Stock Broker Day Trader and Private Stock/Futures Newsletter Writer. Dr.Wiedow has had a life long passion for uncovering business and investing scams using his contacts in over 34 countries. His insight and witfull articles on business and investing can be found at: madoff-ponzi

Practice Stock Trading with an Online Stock Game Simulator

By Zachary Riff

Stock trading is often likened to gambling. But it isn't. Developing a good trading strategy is the key to making it in the stock market. Even newbies like you can learn stock trading and do it well. One way of developing your own strategy is to practice stock trading using online stock game simulators.

Stock market simulators are online game applications that mimic the principles used in real-life stock market. But no real money is involved; play money is used, so you can practice stock trading without the financial risk. Read on and know more about how you can learn and practice stock trading with an online stock game simulator.

Two Types: There are two types of online stock game applications for you to be able to practice stock trading skills and strategies: Financial and fantasy stock game simulators. A financial stock market online game application allows you to practice stock trading through a fictional portfolio based on real stock entries.

Play Money - Your financial stock simulator portfolio uses play money, so there is no risk involved at all. To prevent any collusion, or abuse of the game and the system, most online trading websites that offer these free stock games use a delayed data feed. Such a system ensures that the information and data may not be used to do actual stock trading using these information. A financial stock online simulator is a great way for you to practice stock trading scenarios and strategies, and gain experience before you move up to the real thing.

Hypothetical Stock Trading - On the other, a fantasy stock market online game simulator lets you practice stock trading through thoroughly hypothetical yet amusing settings. Unlike financial stock game applications, fantasy online simulators feature imaginary fantasy stocks that, while representing real items, would never be actually traded in actual practice stock trading setting.

Game Stocks - Some items being traded in fantasy free stock market game applications include the longevity of certain books on the bestseller list, the success of certain movies at the box office, antics of infamous celebrities, sports teams and games, and more. What fantasy stock market game applications do is show how the principles in an actual stock trading setting may work.

Using the analogy between fantasy and real-life trading anyone with no background in trading will be able to understand how the stock market works, because these often use items that are familiar to a lot of people. This is one way where you get to practice stock trading techniques and strategies while having fun.

Practice Makes Perfect - Playing on an online stock market simulator lets you practice stock trading with play money in a real-world stock market scenario. Getting the hang of how shares are bought and sold, what affects your investments and the other principles are all part of the practice stock trading experience with a stock market simulator. It will just be a matter of time between simply playing practice stock trading on an online stock market simulator and doing the real deals yourself. - 23210

About the Author:

Know how to make the leading stock pick. Practice stock trading with the leading simulators online.

Forex Investing Tips That Will Help You Make Money

By John Eather

The Forex market is an extremely large market. In fact, it is one of the biggest money markets to be found in the world as it brings in trillions of dollar trades each day. You will be able to make lots of money with forex trading, but you will need to know what you are doing. As long as you know what you are doing, there are a number of different benefits that you will be able to take advantage of. When you become a forex trader that is successful, you will find financial rewards and a great lifestyle. As we continue this article, we would like to tell you some tips on forex investing.

We're not sure, but one thing is true, with forex investing, if you play your cards right, then you will be able to get a lot of money on your behalf. Within this article, we are going to give you some tips that you will find handy during the trade.

You should think of forex trading as a game, so do not invest money that you are supposed to use towards rent, food or anything else along that line. Many of the investors out there today start off by trading a small margin and then investing the small profits they made into the trade. With this approach, it is fine for short term, but if you are looking towards making big money, it isn't going to work. Would you like a better approach?

If you can afford it, then start by trading with higher margins and using bigger amount per trade. This way, you will be making more money per trade, even after you pay those fees to your broker.

When we look at the forex market, we see that it is an unusual market and there are a number of reasons why. First of all, there are not many markets that are free from outside controls. It is also known for being the biggest liquid financial market. Some of the trades reach anywhere from 1 to 1.7 trillion US dollars each day. If you are looking into forex investing, then you are making a wise decision. - 23210

About the Author:

Head for John Eather's Free eCourse on Forex Investing. Remain informed with the most recent info concerning Automated Trading. Click on http://www.moneymakingfxtrader.com to get more details.

Forex Training: Teaching You How To Follow The Rules

By Bart Icles

Forex trading can be compared to the rules of diving. Diving is a wonderful, rewarding, exciting, and fun experience. You will be able to see natural wonders that you do not usually see all the time. You will be able to encounter beauty at its rawest form. Forex trading is the same thing. If done correctly, it is wonderful, rewarding, exciting, and fun. It will make you earn even to the point of not needing your normal nine to five job anymore. But, same as with diving, if you do not observe the rules properly, everything will snap and can get very dangerous.

Forex training will be able to teach you the rules that you need to follow in the forex market and during forex training. It will be able to inculcate in you the discipline that you need to be able to succeed. Just like in diving, if you are not a disciplined diver, your life can be put into danger. The discipline that forex training will be able to teach you can prove to be very valuable once you make up your mind to do forex trading.

The forex market is a fluctuating market. Forex training will be able to help you study the different currency price changes in line with the political and social events that are happening that influences the fluctuations. These fluctuations in the currency prices are what makes it possible to earn money through forex trading.

The forex market is global in nature. A forex training will be able to let you know that market trading hours overlap with one another which is an assurance that there is always an open market. This makes it possible to trade 24 hours a day, 5 days a week.

The power of leverage is also a big part of the forex trading world. A forex training will be able to help you understand what the power of leverage is.

Just like in diving, to be able to surface successfully with all the wonderful things that you have encountered beautifully etched in mind, you should play safe and stick by the rules. That's how it is as well in forex trading, and forex training will be able to teach you that. It will be able to teach you how to set a stop-loss order as well as a take-profit order automatically to avoid losing.

To be able to succeed in forex trading, you should put yourself in check. Do not be too fearful of losses that you are trading too tightly, but on the other hand, you should not also be too much of a risk-taker and throw caution to the winds that you lose too much. Learn the art of discipline with a forex training. - 23210

About the Author:

Forex trading starts with a desire to learn and a drive to become a great trader. Learning forex strategy takes dedication and a good teacher. But once you learn how to trade and do so successfully your life will change and you have options and financial resources you never had before.