Did you know that there are 4 mains types of trader and depending on what sort you are will determine many parts of your trading strategy and trading plan. The 4 types are: scalping, day trading, swing trading and position trading. When you determine the type of trader that you are it will also determine the time frame in which you will be making your trade. This will be a very important decision that you need to make when deciding how you want to learn to day trade.

1. Scalping Trader, if you scalp the markets this means that you are only looking for a few ticks profit per trade and you may only be in the trade for a few seconds or a minute at most. trading. Some people will also call this day trading but it’s really micro day trading, buying the bid and selling the offer, it’s high speed trading and you might end up doing 10-50 trades a day. This can be quite a stressful way of trading.

2. Day Trader, the true day trader opens and closes their trade within the same trading session, usually this mean the same day, but unlike a scalper the trade may be held for a few minutes up to several hours. Usually day traders make about 2-6 trades a day and most of them will be in the 5-30 minutes range. This is a less stressful way of trading than scalping but it still requires a lot of attention and quick decision making.

3. Swing Traders, swing trading usually means that a position is held for between 1 to 5-10 days, although some swing traders may keep a trade on for longer most are within this time period. For many this is the idea way to trade because it allows you to review your trade overnight, at the very least you have several hours to make your trading decisions.

4. Position Traders, this just means that you are going to hold onto your trade for longer than 5-10 days, maybe even as long as a few months.

If you are still working out how to day trade then it may be better to go with the longer time frames as it gives you more time to think.

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Make Money With No Money

With the economy the way it is, more people are having to take a closer look at their finances.  Instead of grimacing at the thought of opening your latest mutual fund statement, you have to tear it open and understand what is happening to your money.  Although you want a bailout just as bad as the big banks and auto companies do, it is not coming.It's up to you to get ahold of your personal finances and investments when the economy is down like it is now.  Learn more about personal finance and how to manage better until things start turning around for the whole country.

People are scared to invest money now and putting that money under their pillows when they should be learning the best investing strategies instead.  There are tons of depressed properties and businesses that if you invested in now, would pay handsome returns when this nation gets back into gear.  Go to your public library and check out some books that give free financial plans so you can see what one looks like and how you should arrange your finances.  If you see a business that has good financials but is struggling, learn how to invest in a business and talk to people. Learn all there is to know about buying now and getting your returns when the time comes.

Take a little risk and invest in some distressed companies that will make it through. But you also have to have faith that the country will turn around one day and we will come back better than ever.  It is also the people who stick their necks out a little and invest a little money now that stand to profit when America turns itself around.  And it will. 

If you are lucky enough to be under 60 years old, put some money to work investing instead of sitting in a money market account getting a minimal return.Find out all you can before you decide to invest with any company.  You don't want your money to wind up in another ponzi scheme. I am not a CPA or financial planner, talk to a financial planner before making any investment decisions.  That's my standard disclaimer.  This is just for information purposes only.

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Perhaps one of the best things you can learn as an investor is investing in gold coins as the best option for security. Whether or not the current bailout plan will work, how much it will cost, and when it it will be clear is currently a mystery. The actual fact of the matter is that nobody really knows what the end results will be. The bailout could be a dismal failure just pushing the country more into debt. The truth is we just don’t know yet. The world’s economy is so complicated it is virtually impossible to comprehend how and what will happen. The only thing we can do is look at what may or may not happen and plan accordingly. However, it doesn’t take a genius to see what is obvious.

While the future may be uncertain, there is one thing that is secure. Gold has always been, and will always be a safe haven investment. Gold is the most secure investment you could make, no matter what happens economically.

All over the wold, those who are in the know are literally tripping over themselves to secure as much gold as possible. Here’s just two compelling explanations for this current gold rush:

1) Formerly secure currencies like the U.S. dollar are facing serious problems, while reserve currencies are consistently devaluing, gold is increasing in value steadily.

2) Gold stocks and gold ETFs are manipulated by the very same people who have driven this market into the ground, falling prey to these schemes has cost many their fortunes.

Bear economies cause the rich to run for gold as fast as possible. It’s plain to see that these billions and trillions of dollars don’t just print themselves out of nothing. Somebody will have to deal with the consequences. To avoid the coming backlash, a good portfolio should have it’s largest assets in a secure investment. A huge hint that gold is secure is the simple fact that major banks hold their assets in physical gold.

Recently many respected voices in the investing community have been speaking out and making  bold predictions about the price of gold. And it will rise in price for sure. A good place to start is buying gold Canadian coins since they are extremely liquid assets. By the end of this year gold is said to reach over one thousand dollars an OZ, and that this isn’t even half of what it could peak at very soon.

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Vaccines have traditionally be less profitable than therapeutic products. For many years the pharmaceutical industry poured far more research money into treating disease than in preventing it. When the cost of healthcare was less of an issue, focusing on treatment rather than prevention might have made some sense. However, in the modern era of worldwide recession and rising health costs, the investment and profit picture for vaccines looks better all the time.

What are the companies best poised to benefit from this new and possibly permanent shift in thinking about healthcare costs and the value of preventative medicine? Obviously, the big vaccine companies will do well, but the impact on share price may be slow and perhaps moderate. For investors with a more speculative interest, there are two small vaccine technology companies poised for dramatic success.

First, consider Novavax, Inc (Nasdaq: NVAX). This company is creating new vaccines on the basis of “virus-like particle (VLP)” technology. VLP technology involves making an artificial virus structure without the functional portion of the virus. When a VLP vaccine is injected into your arm, your immune system thinks it is being invaded by the real virus and produces a defensive reaction. The theory is that VLP vaccines will be more potent than simpler types of vaccine formulations. If NVAX is right about its theories, the company will eventually be worth far more than its current sub-hundred million dollar market value.

Secondly, take a look at iBioPharma Inc (OTCBB:IBPM). This company is planning to use green plants to manufacture innovative vaccines for serious infectious diseases including anthrax, plague, and pandemic swine flu. IPBM’s green plant vaccine production technology not only reduces the cost of complex vaccine products, but also speeds up their production. Speed may be important when flu strain mutations produce deadly new types of influenza, or if an outbreak were to occur with little or no warning. This company has a total market value well below ten million dollars, a number that is sure to rise as its products and technology become better known.

This article’s author does not own stock in either of the companies discussed herein. This article should be used for information purposes only and should not be construed as a recommendation to invest in any security.

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trade profits

Undeniably, the most important tip anyone can give you when learning to trade, is that you should never entertain the idea that trading is the same as investing.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of people first discover trading via the stock markets and as a result, they associate trading with investing and therefore don’t get in the right trading psycology.

Admittedly, trading can in a sense be compared to investing simply because one is putting money at risk in the hope of good returns. Of course, just because you’re willing to risk loosing your money does not necessary mean you’re investing though.

Perhaps a more accurate assessment would be to compare trading to gambling as they have much in common such as:

• Plenty of action and rarely a dull moment.

• Fast pace.

• Probability. This is the equivalent to what gamblers call “odds”.

• Uncertainties such as political or market related influences. With gambling these would be the cards, dice and other players.

• Just as you get high stake games, you also have high stake trades.

• Distorted reasoning resulting from uncontrolled emotions.

• Just as gamblers want to beat the house, so too do traders want to beat the markets.

• The majority of traders and gamblers loose more money than they make.

• Wagers are always present.

So, trading isn’t wagering?

Let me remind you about “Trading Places”; a movie starring Eddie Murphy. In the movie Eddie was recruited to operate a brokerage and when the owners explained how the commodity markets work, Eddie replied, “You’re bookies”

Almost immediately, Eddie is able to offer quality trading advice. Of course this has nothing to do with his understanding of the markets, but rather because he’s a master of betting. Accept the fact that trading is betting and you’ll be taking the best possible approach.

Rather than getting into investments, you’re getting yourself into a betting game. Essentially, each time you buy or sell, you’re betting that the markets will behave in one way or another while someone else may be betting the exact opposite.

I should of course mention that there’s one major difference between Las Vegas casinos and trading. In a casino when you make a bad bet, you’re simply stuck with it. On the other hand, if you make a bad trade, you can for the most part get out of it simply by making a different one. Because of the sheer number of people involved in trading, one can almost always find someone to take the bait, particularly between those who are new to the game.

Of course in certain markets they may not be much activity, so there’s always a chance that you won’t get a break to get out of a bad trade.

The hardest part of trading is being able to remain level headed and to stick to the system you’re using. As such, we can confidently say that trading is essentially a game of self control and good discipline.

The hidden trap within trading, as I’ve mentioned already, lies in the fact that people compare it to investments and the safety factor which goes with investing. Realistically though, trading is betting and in fact, it’s like being in a room with millions of other bettors.

Strangely enough, very few people would be willing to try and earn a living from gambling and yet there are literally millions who think they can make a living instantly with trading. Please believe me when I say it simply doesn’t work like that.

Just remember, you get gamblers and you get professional gamblers. Likewise, you get professional traders, and you get those who are simply wishing for the impossible.

Let’s see how the dictionaries define gambling:

1) To become engaged in hazardous or reckless behaviour

2) To expose oneself to risk or hazards

3) An act or undertaking which has an uncertain outcome

Now let’s see how “calculated” is defined:

1) Determined by mathematical calculation

2) Undertaken after careful estimation of the likely outcome

3) Made to accomplish a certain purpose; deliberate

Lastly, let’s take a look at how “risk” is defined:

1) Possibility of hard, loss or danger

2) An action which involves an uncertain danger

3) The variations in returns on investments

4) Possibility of unpaid debts

Professional traders don’t go with gut feelings but instead, they stick to the rules of their systems. They take risks but they’re calculated risks and the closely monitored. Professional traders aim to be ahead at the close of each month.

The plain and simple truth is, traders aren’t gamblers. Yes they are also faced with many uncertainties but unlike gamblers, the outcome for traders is not uncertain. They have their systems and they know the markets. Above all, they know that they either enter a trade well prepared, or they face heavy losses.

Whether it’s with gambling or whether it’s in trading, gamblers very rarely follow a set plan or system. Likewise, they fail to manage their finances accordingly just as they fail to calculate risk. The bottom line is, they simply cannot help themselves from being caught up in the excitement.

The last tip in this article is that as a trader you need to focus on taking calculated risks with the sole intention of generating consistent trading profits. Of course this is a far cry from the way in which gamblers operate, given the gamble more for thrills than anything else.

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Monday morning brought forth a more honest appraisal of the financial condition of banks which caused a reversal of last weeks ridiculous celebration of mark to model nonsense.

According to a bank analyst’s report prepared by Mike Mayo of Calyon Securities the amount of loans that banks will need to write off will exceed levels seen during the Great Depression.

Mike Mayo gave the banking industry an “underweight” rating, citing “the ongoing consequences” of banks’ increased risk-taking. Suffering U.S. banks face a three-fold problem: higher structural risk, cyclical pressures, and “catch-22 government actions,” Mayo said

“The seven deadly sins of banking include greedy loan growth, gluttony of real estate, lust for high yields, sloth-like risk management, pride of low capital, envy of exotic fees, and anger of regulators,” Mayo said in the report.

These “sins” created front-load earnings and pushed costs further down the line, Mayo said. Now those costs are appearing and many of the current problems being experienced are only midstream, he added.

Visit Online Stock Trader for more free research reports.

With residential real estate prices still falling and commercial real estate starting to crumble, with record credit card defaults occurring, and unemployment soaring, those who think that changing accounting rules to mark to model from mark to market are going to save the banks are delusional.

The deteriorating assets being reevaluated by the banks own models do not change the poor quality of the assets. All it does is to defer the day of reckoning, make public a dishonest accounting of the banks true exposure to questionable and in some cases worthless assets, and delay any hope of recovery.

In spite of the government’s frantic efforts to prevent it many of the banks are insolvent. If you buy into a bank rally you had best be taking very short term positions and kick the stocks out of your portfolio fast. Investors taking long term positions in financial stocks, thinking that beaten down prices make such purchases safe are taking on huge risks. Shareholders will be wiped out when the true worth of toxic assets has to be revealed.

Expect disaster in late 2009 or early 2010 as further losses become too large to hide, even with mark to model accounting rules in effect.

Visit Online Stock Trader for more free research reports.

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