Archive for the ‘Make Money Online Trading’ Category

Stocks last week extended from a technical indicator perspective an already over extended rally to close at Dow 8,076.29. The Dow was up 119.23 on Friday, or 1.50% for the day. This was the seventh week in a row that Nasdaq stocks have been able to climb the wall of worry. The NYSE fell just a little short of a seven week run but advanced in six out of the last seven weeks.

Stocks had a volatile day up and down until after 2.00 PM when the bank stress test guidelines were released by the Fed. Guidelines is perhaps too generous of a term to use as the report actually continued little detail as to exactly how the stress test have been conducted. For whatever reason the market rallied after the news release and was firm going into the close.

While the nineteen banks included in the tests were told the results Friday afternoon the public will have to wait until the week of May 4th. Since the banks and the Washington honchos are now sharing this information rumors, leaks, misinformation, and perhaps even some real nitty gritty information will probably influence the markets volatility next week. I expect that an already nervous market will be even more nervous then usual as various bits and pieces of news about the street tests hit the street.

Since the market has had such a good run while the stress tests were being carried out I expect that the old Wall Street rule of selling on the news will kick in once the results are released. In my opinion, even though we have experienced an impressive rally it is still an impressive bear market rally so the sell off could be fast and severe should the test results spook the market in anyway.

While the talking heads seem to be all excited about a market that has turned around on improving fundamentals I expect that most of the perceived improvement has been of the engineered smoke and mirrors variety, such as he mark to model accounting changes for the banks, and as reality once again sets in the big bad bear will have his way.

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The best performing Fortune 500 stocks last year were stocks of two companies that offer extreme value with the going gets rough. The two stocks are Dollar Tree and Family Dollar Stores. Seems like there is nothing like real bargains to keep sales and profits growing during tough times.

1. Dollar Tree
Dollar Tree
Fortune 500 rank: 499
2008 revenue: $4.6 billion
2008 total shareholder return: 60.8%

A newcomer to the Fortune 500, Dollar Tree was also its best performing stock last year, returning nearly 61%. That was no small feat: As a group, the Fortune 500 sank 41%. The company cashed in on the recession, as a $1 (or less) price on everything from candy to glassware drove sales at more than 3,500 stores.

2. Family Dollar Stores
Family Dollar Stores
Fortune 500 rank: 359
2008 revenue: $6.98 billion
2008 total shareholder return: 38.9%

There’s nothing like a recession to draw customers into a dollar store. Family Dollar raked in $6.9 billion in sales last year, and its stock soared nearly 40%. An expanding assortment of goods – including ready-to-serve soups and Hanes underwear – helped boost business. The average amount spent per customer: $10.

Of the 500 companies in the Fortune 500 only 24 provided shareholders with a positive return. To see which companies were successful in gaining value even in a horrible year for most investors take a look at the Fortune slide show of top performing stocks for 2008.

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No doubt for many investors and traders the idea of being able to make money online trading is appealing. Internet technology has opened up the world to those who have an interest in investing and speculative trading. As technology has advanced so has the number of online brokerage firms that offer with the opening of trading accounts the use of free trading platforms and services that just a few years ago would have cost hundreds, even thousands, a month in data access fees.

The online trading services offered extend across virtually all markets including stocks, foreign exchange or forex as it is known, and commodities. The potential is there for you as a trader to learn about and trade in any of these markets, all the while sitting in front of your computer at home. With a good fast Internet connection your home might be located just about anywhere in the world.

The fact that you have such readily available trading assets at your disposal, however, presents a danger to your financial health. Many traders do in fact make money online trading. Many others, unfortunately, get caught up in the excitement of trading and try to make money without knowing very much about the markets that they are trying to trade in. Unless you are extremely lucky this would be a mistake.

Those who consistently make money from online trading do so because they have developed an education and skill sets within their chosen markets as well as the discipline to follow well thought out trading plans. They also have true risk capital at their disposal and can trade knowing that if things don’t work out as planned the loss of their trading capital would not impact the way that they live in the least.

So can you make money online trading? Well, perhaps you can. Just be sure to know what you are doing before trading with real money. Opening a demo trading account is a good way to get started no matter if your interest is in stocks, forex, or commodities.

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