Most investors in the stock market are fully familiar with the activity of day trading in which a stock trader makes repeated trades during the day, often holding a position for mere minutes at a time and even as short as computer driven fractions of a second at the big trading houses.
In contrast, but just as familiar is the practice of buy and hold where an investor may own a position for years as dividends are collected and the share price appreciates. The holder of this position may only check company developments once a quarter or less. Think big-time successful investors like Warren Buffett or Peter Lynch.
Lying between these two extremes, but certainly biased towards the short term, is the investing practice known as Swing Trading. In this arena, investors try to take advantage of short-term price movements, anywhere from minutes to days or weeks, and seek to earn a healthy return over a short time period.
Swing trading can provide a lot of flexibility as it does not require being fully invested in the market at any one time. Instead, an investor can patiently search for low risk opportunities attempting to grab the majority of profit available in a significant price move up or down.
Swing traders are also similar to day traders in that they use stock price charts and signals or indicators that inform them when to enter and exit a position. And successful practitioners must fully adhere to their proven systems in disciplined fashion if they expect to be around for the long haul. This is not a place to let emotions and gut feelings take over as when to buy or sell is every bit as important as what stock is chosen. A swing trader will act first and ask questions later.
The great upside to a proven trading system is that investment positions can be analyzed and finalized after the market has closed when activities are less hectic and cooler minds can prevail. A savvy investor can employ their techniques in just 20 minutes during the evening and have their orders entered and ready to go for the next day.
There are some general principles to bear in mind when swing trading.
First off, the trend is your friend. Stock prices may appear random at first glance, but about a third of the time they are trending upwards or downwards. The remainder of their movement tends to be flat or sideways. So the job of a profitable swing trader is to identify these trends as they emerge, or when they reverse themselves.
Next, is time, specifically the duration of it. While there is no perfect length of time over which to trade, generally speaking, the shorter the better. This means less time looking at charts and sweating over price movement thus letting discipline wane and emotions rule.
Third, is support and resistance levels or the general direction of price movements. A support and resistance uptrend consists of higher highs and higher lows. The other side of the same coin is a downtrend or lower highs and lower lows. By using these patterns, the trend lines of these highs and lows can be observed and acted upon.
A fourth element to be aware of is the “up trend” and “down trend”. For example, most times when a price drops to or near its uptrend line but then resumes its advance, the trend line has acted as a support level indicating the price movement is in an uptrend.
Conversely, most times a price rises to its downtrend line but then resumes its decline, the downtrend line has acted as resistance to upward move of its market price and it will resume its fall. However, once the particular trend has been violated, the roles are reversed and the previous resistance becomes support and the previous support becomes resistance.
Then there are the “moving averages”. These chart lines are used to smooth out the perceived randomness and erratic price movements of stock prices over some period of time; often 10, 20, 50, and 200 days. This minimizes price fluctuations on the price chart and helps identify underlying values and trigger points.
Finally there are “stop losses”. This is the level or price at which the trade should be closed. At this point the price movement has traveled too far from the entry point and therefore negates the fundamentals for being in the trade.
Once a trade is entered, an appropriate stop loss must be placed to protect one’s self from an account debilitating misjudgment. It is far easier to take a small loss and move on than sustain an increasingly bad position and lose one's shirt.
All in all, swing trading can produce regular profits when using sound fundamentals and trading systems while also allowing the intrepid trader to not get twisted into an emotional pretzel or spend hours staring at charts and indicators while making multiple trades a day.
Additionally, it leverages the fact that most fundamentals are quickly baked into the market price so it relies on inevitable up and down trends to come out ahead
Sunday 4 December 2011
Saturday 3 December 2011
Health & Fitness
You don't need to compromise your complexion to get the beach body you've always wanted - you can lose weight AND wrinkles with this easy eating plan.
#1 SPICE UP YOUR LIFE - Sprinkle, chop, grate and grind at least three herbs and spices on to every meal. You are not only adding extra flavor but also a range of different skin and brain-friendly antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Herbs have medicinal powers as well. It is a way of upgrading your nutrient intake without supplements. Some spices also increase your metabolism, and make you feel fuller and more satisfied.
#2 SNACK ON YOGHURT - The low fat (not fat free) variety, not the sugar-filled creamy kind. You can add a teaspoon of sugar-free jam or honey or a teaspoon of cinnamon. High in protein and calcium, low fat yoghurt may also help to burn fat.
#3 EAT FISH EVERY DAY - Because you only want to eat quality protein, try to eat fish every day as well as lots of chicken, eggs and low-fat diary products. Lean cuts of red meats are fine once a week. Fish that are high in beneficial omega fats - especially salmon and mackerel - can be eaten up to four times a week.
#4 MAKE SUGAR YOUR ENEMY - Keeping your blood-sugar level is important for controlling food cravings. Sugar is also aging for your skin. That means eliminating sugar in its many forms. Sugar can even be found in supposedly healthy snack bars and breakfast cereals.
#5 FEEL FULLER WITH FIBER - High fiber foods are good for keeping blood sugar balanced and helping you feel full. Go for whole grains, such as brown rice and oatmeal, as well as lots of greens, root vegetables, peas, beans and lentils, seeds and nuts.
#6 DRINK WATER - Try to drink around three liters of water every day. You can also get water from fruit and vegetables: apples, broccoli, grapes, lettuce, peaches and tomatoes are all around 80-90 per cent fluid. If you are hungry between meals have a 350ml glass of room-temperature water with lemon or a cup of tea. Wait 20 minutes. If you are still hungry have an apple.
#7 MEASURE YOUR PLATE - No more than a third of your plate should be animal based (ie protein, like chicken, fish, eggs and meat). The remaining two thirds should be made up of either two or more different vegetables plus healthy whole grains such as lentils, brown rice or pasta.
http://bit.ly/s8jUSN
#1 SPICE UP YOUR LIFE - Sprinkle, chop, grate and grind at least three herbs and spices on to every meal. You are not only adding extra flavor but also a range of different skin and brain-friendly antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Herbs have medicinal powers as well. It is a way of upgrading your nutrient intake without supplements. Some spices also increase your metabolism, and make you feel fuller and more satisfied.
#2 SNACK ON YOGHURT - The low fat (not fat free) variety, not the sugar-filled creamy kind. You can add a teaspoon of sugar-free jam or honey or a teaspoon of cinnamon. High in protein and calcium, low fat yoghurt may also help to burn fat.
#3 EAT FISH EVERY DAY - Because you only want to eat quality protein, try to eat fish every day as well as lots of chicken, eggs and low-fat diary products. Lean cuts of red meats are fine once a week. Fish that are high in beneficial omega fats - especially salmon and mackerel - can be eaten up to four times a week.
#4 MAKE SUGAR YOUR ENEMY - Keeping your blood-sugar level is important for controlling food cravings. Sugar is also aging for your skin. That means eliminating sugar in its many forms. Sugar can even be found in supposedly healthy snack bars and breakfast cereals.
#5 FEEL FULLER WITH FIBER - High fiber foods are good for keeping blood sugar balanced and helping you feel full. Go for whole grains, such as brown rice and oatmeal, as well as lots of greens, root vegetables, peas, beans and lentils, seeds and nuts.
#6 DRINK WATER - Try to drink around three liters of water every day. You can also get water from fruit and vegetables: apples, broccoli, grapes, lettuce, peaches and tomatoes are all around 80-90 per cent fluid. If you are hungry between meals have a 350ml glass of room-temperature water with lemon or a cup of tea. Wait 20 minutes. If you are still hungry have an apple.
#7 MEASURE YOUR PLATE - No more than a third of your plate should be animal based (ie protein, like chicken, fish, eggs and meat). The remaining two thirds should be made up of either two or more different vegetables plus healthy whole grains such as lentils, brown rice or pasta.
http://bit.ly/s8jUSN
Friday 2 December 2011
Thursday 1 December 2011
Health & Fitness
With two-thirds of Americans overweight, weight loss is big business. There are dietary supplements, special diets, weight loss groups, and fitness centers that cater to people who are overweight.
Estimates put the amount Americans spend on weight loss to well over $60 billion a year. Yes, that really is big business.
Being overweight is becoming an increasing problem for people of all ages. While eating too much of the wrong kinds of foods is a major factor in gaining too much weight, lack of exercise is also to blame.
So, people are trying to change their diets, take supplements and exercise in an effort to lose weight. And, unfortunately, many people lose weight only to gain it all back plus some more weight.
Something is clearly wrong with the approach many people are taking. One factor in the misdirected approach to weight loss is the exercise routines many people are using.
If you go to a fitness center you will see lots of people on elliptical machines, treadmills, and exercise bikes. They are putting a lot of effort into their exercises and burning calories successfully. But, there is a problem with people concentrating on aerobic exercises.
Consider jogging, whether inside or outside. Jogging a mile burns somewhere around 100 to 120 calories depending on your conditioning and weight. If you jog three miles you may work off 360 calories. A very effective workout.
And, if you jog like this three times a week, you'll work off 1080 calories. That's a hefty amount of calories.
Now consider this. A pound of lean muscle mass uses between 35 and 50 calories a day without exercise. With exercise, this could easily double or triple the calorie usage. And we all get some exercise unless we are sick in bed.
Suppose you do some resistance exercise to tone up your muscles and put on about 10 pounds of new, lean muscle mass. You will feel better and look better.
But, the most important thing about new, lean muscle is the calorie burning effect. Even with normal daily routines, your 10 pounds of new muscle will burn 450 calories or more per day.
Over the course of a week those 10 pounds of new muscles will burn 3150 calories. Nearly 3 times the calories burned by all that jogging.
It's pretty easy to see that resistance training that builds and tones muscles is the most important weight loss exercise.
Be sure to include resistance training in your overall exercise plan so you can boost your metabolism and burn fat even when you are relaxing.
http://cb5e53f6m88t3ldjtpcbbfxzde.hop.clickbank.net/
Estimates put the amount Americans spend on weight loss to well over $60 billion a year. Yes, that really is big business.
Being overweight is becoming an increasing problem for people of all ages. While eating too much of the wrong kinds of foods is a major factor in gaining too much weight, lack of exercise is also to blame.
So, people are trying to change their diets, take supplements and exercise in an effort to lose weight. And, unfortunately, many people lose weight only to gain it all back plus some more weight.
Something is clearly wrong with the approach many people are taking. One factor in the misdirected approach to weight loss is the exercise routines many people are using.
If you go to a fitness center you will see lots of people on elliptical machines, treadmills, and exercise bikes. They are putting a lot of effort into their exercises and burning calories successfully. But, there is a problem with people concentrating on aerobic exercises.
Consider jogging, whether inside or outside. Jogging a mile burns somewhere around 100 to 120 calories depending on your conditioning and weight. If you jog three miles you may work off 360 calories. A very effective workout.
And, if you jog like this three times a week, you'll work off 1080 calories. That's a hefty amount of calories.
Now consider this. A pound of lean muscle mass uses between 35 and 50 calories a day without exercise. With exercise, this could easily double or triple the calorie usage. And we all get some exercise unless we are sick in bed.
Suppose you do some resistance exercise to tone up your muscles and put on about 10 pounds of new, lean muscle mass. You will feel better and look better.
But, the most important thing about new, lean muscle is the calorie burning effect. Even with normal daily routines, your 10 pounds of new muscle will burn 450 calories or more per day.
Over the course of a week those 10 pounds of new muscles will burn 3150 calories. Nearly 3 times the calories burned by all that jogging.
It's pretty easy to see that resistance training that builds and tones muscles is the most important weight loss exercise.
Be sure to include resistance training in your overall exercise plan so you can boost your metabolism and burn fat even when you are relaxing.
http://cb5e53f6m88t3ldjtpcbbfxzde.hop.clickbank.net/
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