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Benefit From Borrowed Securities. Do you have a margin account with your broker? If so, did you know that the shares you have purchased may be lent out to other parties without your knowledge or granted permission? When opening a margin account, you are essentially giving permission to the brokerage firm to lend out the securities in your account even if you don't realize it. When your shares are lent out you can lose your voting rights; but on the positive side, lending out your shares can have great benefits. In this article, we will look at what your broker could be doing with your shares as well as potential ways that you could benefit. How Margin Accounts Work A margin account is a way to leverage the capital and securities you own to purchase additional investments without having to invest any additional capital. Note that the risk of trading on margin is greater than trading in a cash account because you can, in theory, lose more money than you started with in your account.

Back to Cash? How To Choose Stocks For Day Trading. Day trading is a specific trading technique where a trader buys and/or sells a financial instrument multiple times over the course of a day, to exploit minute volatility in the asset's pricing. While private investors may practice this investment strategy, it is more commonly an institutional phenomenon, as a financial institution can highly leverage its transactions to boost its profitability.

As many brokerages allow for trading online, day trading can be conducted from virtually anywhere, with only a few necessary tools and resources. However, day trading is inherently a highly risky investment strategy. SEE: Day Trading Strategies For Beginners High Liquidity and VolatilityLiquidity, in financial markets, refers to the relative ease with which a security is obtained, as well as the degree by which the price of the security is affected by its trading. Stocks that exhibit more volatility lend themselves to day trading strategies, as well. SEE: Volatility's Impact On Market Returns. Level 3 Trading - Trading Currencies. So, now you understand what the forex market is and how to read a quote, which is great.

Now comes the time to learn how to put that info to use. Though you may feel a little intimidated trading currencies at first, you'll see how easy it can be after a few orders have been placed. TradingOne unique aspect of this huge international market is that there is no central marketplace for foreign exchange. The majority of regular stocks trade on defined markets like the New York Stock Exchange.

Spot Market and the Forwards and Futures Markets There are actually three ways that institutions, corporations and individuals trade forex: the spot market, the forwards market and the futures market. The Spot MarketThe spot market is simply where currencies are bought and sold, according to the current price. The Forwards and Futures MarketsUnlike the spot market, the forwards and futures do what their names suggest, for delivery in the future. Day Trading Strategies For Beginners.

If we follow these three steps, we can determine whether the doji is likely to produce an actual turnaround, and we can take a position if the conditions are favorable. Typically, entry points are found using a combination of these three tools. (For more see the Charting Section of the Forex Walkthrough.) Finding a TargetIdentifying a price target will depend largely on your trading style. Here is a brief overview of some common day trading strategies: You can see that, although the entries in day trading strategies typically rely on the same tools used in normal trading, the exits are where the differences occur. 1.

Retail day traders usually also have another rule: set a maximum loss per day that you can afford (both financially and mentally) to withstand. Evaluating and Tweaking PerformanceMany people get into day trading expecting to make triple digit returns every year with minimal effort. How do you evaluate performance? The Bottom LineDay trading is a difficult skill to master. Options Basics: What Are Options? An option is a contract that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset at a specific price on or before a certain date. An option, just like a stock or bond, is a security. It is also a binding contract with strictly defined terms and properties.

Still confused? The idea behind an option is present in many everyday situations. Say, for example, that you discover a house that you'd love to purchase. Unfortunately, you won't have the cash to buy it for another three months. You talk to the owner and negotiate a deal that gives you an option to buy the house in three months for a price of $200,000. Now, consider two theoretical situations that might arise: It's discovered that the house is actually the true birthplace of Elvis! This example demonstrates two very important points. Calls and Puts The two types of options are calls and puts: A call gives the holder the right to buy an asset at a certain price within a specific period of time. A Beginner's Guide To Hedging. Although it sounds like your neighbor's hobby who's obsessed with his topiary garden full of tall bushes shaped like giraffes and dinosaurs, hedging is a practice every investor should know about.

There is no arguing that portfolio protection is often just as important as portfolio appreciation. Like your neighbor's obsession, however, hedging is talked about more than it is explained, making it seem as though it belongs only to the most esoteric financial realms. Well, even if you are a beginner, you can learn what hedging is, how it works and what hedging techniques investors and companies use to protect themselves. What Is Hedging? Portfolio managers, individual investors and corporations use hedging techniques to reduce their exposure to various risks.

Technically, to hedge you would invest in two securities with negative correlations. Let's see how this works with an example. The other classic hedging example involves a company that depends on a certain commodity. Series 3 - National Commodities Futures Study Guide - Preface - Preface. This guide is to help you prepare to sit for the National Commodity Futures Examination, more widely known as the Series 3.

If you are a smart, dedicated individual seriously pursuing a financial services career in the area of financial risk management, then you are someone for whom this guide is intended. Futures are the crossroads where the Farm Belt and Wall Street meet. Without futures traders, the market for grains and meats of all kind would be an inefficient network of brokers trying to understand farming and farmers trying to understand brokerages. It would be plagued by supply imbalances (gluts and shortages), both local and worldwide. Futures traders provide similar risk offsets and market efficiency for precious metals, for the equity and fixed income markets, and even for currencies.

The purpose of this guide is to assist potential futures traders to become properly licensed. The text that follows will be broken down into sections and sub-sections for ease of reference. Technical Analysis. NSE - National Stock Exchange of India Ltd.