The Water Factor in Uranium Mining

Water plays an integral role for In Situ Recovery (ISR) uranium mining. If the water is not in the right place, ISR mining can not take place. A companys pounds in the ground are nearly worthless or may have to be extracted through other means.

One of the purposes of the Advanced ISR series is to finally bury the misleading Pounds in the Ground mantra. Some uranium companies have given the wrong impression about their resource estimates by championing the number of their historical pounds. Some of those pounds might never be mined or even permitted for mining. Having NI 43-101 compliant resources does not necessarily confirm whether companies have economic deposits in which the extraction process can take place. Water could be the issue.

Our interview with Glenn Catchpole of Uranerz Energy explains what investors should know about waters role in ISR uranium mining. Companies with an ISR project may disappoint shareholders because of the water location, or lack of water, in relation to the ore body. Many analysts have assigned values to an ore body without taking water into consideration. We hope this interview will help shed new light on these valuations.

StockInterview: Lets start with the basics. What is the first requirement for an In Situ Recovery uranium mine?

Glenn Catchpole: The uranium ore body itself must or should be in a confined aquifer. What you are looking for is that the uranium-mineralized sandstone is in this aquifer. If theres no water in the formation and its dry, then you cant solution mine (also known as ISR).

StockInterview: What do you mean by a confined aquifer?

Glenn Catchpole: A confined aquifer is one that is confined between two impermeable geologic strata. In Wyoming, typically they would be either mud, stone, shale or some type of clay which forms an impermeable barrier above and below the sandstone hosting the uranium. Over time, water has moved down the sandstone strata. As it moves, the water comes under pressure and becomes confined.

StockInterview: Why is this important?

Glenn Catchpole: If you complete a water well in a sandstone strata that is under pressure and encase it in cement, the water will actually rise in that casing to some level based on the pressure in the aquifer. In some cases, there could be enough pressure or head, where the well will actually flow onto the surface on its own. You want the water under pressure because the more pressure in the formation, or in the sandstone unit, then the more oxygen you can put in the solution. In the United States, you either add CO2 or sodium bicarbonate plus an oxidant, such as oxygen, to the groundwater. Then you re-inject the solution into the sandstone host formation to dissolve the uranium off the sandstone. The more oxygen you can put into the solution, the more effectively you can dissolve or oxidize the uranium.

StockInterview: How do you find out how much pressure you have in the aquifer?

Glenn Catchpole: Lets assume youve got good uranium values from the results of your exploration program, and that you may have an economic ore body using the ISR method. You then need to confirm that the ore body is in an aquifer or that the sandstone is saturated with water. To do that, you would install hydrologic testing wells. Assuming there is water in those wells, you would then do a pump test to determine the hydrologic properties of this aquifer.

StockInterview: How do you know if your properties have mineralized sandstone formations which are saturated with water?

Glenn Catchpole: There are deposits in Wyoming that are good in terms of grade, but they are completely above the water table. They are not saturated. In our case, we focused our acquisition activities in the Powder River Basin, which we know from our previous work. Most of those sands that are hosting uranium are indeed saturated with water. There are some that are not. From our experience we pretty much know those deposits that may be sitting above the water table. In other words, they are not saturated with water. If uranium went to $500/pound, maybe some day you could put a conventional mine on them.

StockInterview: What about those in the exploration stage?

Glenn Catchpole: If you were working in a new area doing raw exploration, and you did come across good mineralization that looked like you had an ore body there, you might not know for sure about the hydrology and what the water levels are like. You could get into a situation where either the sandstone is dry, or it is only partially filled with water. Or its filled with water, but it doesnt have much head or pressure on it. Youve got to do some test work and nail that down.

StockInterview: Is there any way of detecting the problem in advance, before you discover youve got an inadequately saturated formation?

Glenn Catchpole: When you are drilling an exploration hole, the driller knows when he encounters any water at all. If he doesnt get any water, you know right away, youve got a problem very early on. When the driller starts out, he can start drilling with air. If he encounters water in his drilling, then hes going to switch over to drilling mud to carry the cuttings. As hes drilling a hole, he is creating cuttings. He has to have a mud slurry in order to carry those cuttings out of the hole. An experienced driller will have a good feel for how much water hes encountered. These drillers have worked all over Wyoming; theyve got some feel for the local geology and what the water situation might be.

StockInterview: Once youve established the saturation and pressure, whats next on your checklist?

Glenn Catchpole: Assuming the mineralization is not tied up in clay streaks in the sandstone unit, then you want to know the permeability of the aquifer. How readily can you move water through the formation? To do that, you have to do a pump test, or aquifer test to calculate the value of the permeability of that aquifer. The higher the permeability, the more helpful its going to be in your mining process. You have to be able to move the solution through the formation in order to leach uranium off the sandstone grains. The more permeable the formation, the more fluid you can move through it; the more effective you can be in extracting uranium.

StockInterview: How do you determine your rate of production?

Glenn Catchpole: Two things determine your ISR mining production rate. Thats the concentration of the uranium in the fluid coming out of your recovery wells and the flow rate. Theres an equation you can use to determine the rate of production in pounds. You multiply your flow rate by your concentration, also known as head grade.

StockInterview: Is this how companies conclude how many pounds they will annually produce on their ISR project?

Glenn Catchpole: Generally, you have a production rate you are trying to achieve. For example, if I want to produce one million pounds per year, and my head grade is 80 milligrams per liter (a typical number used for U.S. projects) and my hydrologist tells me Ive going to recover 10 gallons per minute, I will need 400 recovery wells. Based upon these hypothetical calculations, I will need 4,000 gallons per minute, or 400 recovery wells each recovering 10 gallons/minute, to produce one million pounds. As a side comment, when people say Im going to have a solution mine that produces three million pounds per year, it turns out to be a lot of wells. Your major cost in a solution mining operation, once youve got the plant built, is putting in your wells. (Editors Note: Discussing costs to put in wells with others in the uranium mining sector, we found a range of $20 to $30/foot for each well.)

Conclusion

In a separate information sheet, Glenn Catchpole provided us with a hypothetical approximation of an ISR wellfield in Wyoming. He wrote, Production at an ISR uranium mine is directly related to the flow rate (FR) coming from the recovery wells and the concentration of the uranium or head grade (HG) in the recovery solution.

In this theoretical calculation, Mr. Catchpole assumed a head grade of 65 milligrams per liter, a flow rate of 10 gallons per minute for each recovery well, and an ore bodys average depth below surface of 500 feet. In order to produce one million pounds U3O8, this would require 350 production wells, 420 injection wells and 20 monitor wells. Using these assumptions, the theoretical well field would cost approximately $12 million to construct. Amortized over two years for the life of the well field, the cost for the well field construction using annual production figures of one million pounds would be about $6/pound U3O8. By lowering cost/foot for each well, a company could reduce their construction cost to about $4/pound U3O8.

Mr. Catchpole cautioned these are simplistic and very rough approximations of an ISR wellfield cost in Wyoming. He also wrote, These are presented for illustrative purposes only and the numbers generated should not be used in financial calculations or project evaluations.

COPYRIGHT 2007 by StockInterview, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. His focus on the uranium mining and nuclear fuel sector resulted in the widely popular Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market, which is now available on http://www.stockinterview.com and on http://www.amazon.com

Straight From The Hard Drive

Goodbye Big Brother; Hello Peer-to-Peer... a forerunner of whats to come...

We all know that big business dictates to musicians what music they should be writing and performing. Ask Tony Bennet, Angus Young, and Fergie. Unless musicians cooperate with the big label companies, who control the purse strings, they have little chance of enduring in the mainstream of commercial music. An upstart has little chance to go to the top of the charts without an infusion of promotional dollars from big business. The overall result is the production of mediocre music that the gurus at the big label companies believe appeals to the masses, the common denominator.

Too bad for the creative, inspired music that never sees the light of day. With very rare exceptions, stifled musicians either bow out of the game, or make compromises to at least part of the time toe the line set by music company executives.

THE BYPASS

Move over, executives. Hard drive to hard drive is here. Downloading MP3 files, through todays technology, is easier than ever. No corporate executive is at the toll-gate dictating the content and style of the product.

Whats so important about all this for stock photographers?

This distribution process paves the way for the possibility of an entirely new delivery method for photographers, artists, game makers, musicians, and writers, who have historically been at the mercy of middle-men to promote and distribute their work. Its called peer-to-peer. Your hard drive to my hard drive, without going through the Web.

Heres how it would work. As a buyer, to get the creative work you are looking for, you circumvent the usual distributor (label company in this case) and download the music file youre looking for from the supplier's hard drive. In our case, as stock photographers and photobuyers, it would be an image to download.

At first glance, you might think that Napster-sparked free trading of music files would cause a serious reduction in retail sales. On the contrary, it turns out to be a catalyst. Studies show that music sales have never been better. After Napster was reduced to a common sense Internet company by the courts, it evolved to a company that promotes new artists.

Could this work in our industry? The marketing part already has. Stock photo agencies such as iStock and Shutterstock, that practically give pictures away through royalty-free distribution, have found that the system both encourages on-line purchasing plus educates buyers in image utilization and graduating to higher-ticket image purchasing. Usage, the saying goes, begets more usage.

THE SALES ANGLE

But wait, if we give our photos away practically free, wont that discourage photographers from making images in the future? This is a natural reaction. Every time a new technology has come along, the purveyors of the former technology get up in arms, trying to prevent the new from destroying the old. Whether radio (it was going to destroy newspapers), TV (it was going to destroy radio), cable TV (it was going to destroy network TV), or DVDs (they were going to destroy movie theaters). These media have learned to live harmoniously side by side, and everyone has benefited.

The Internet has opened the window for us to cease viewing business strategies through traditional, old-think lenses, and instead see all kinds of new possibilities. The Internets peer-to-peer possibilities open new distribution doors for creators of all products.

For stock photography freelancers, the system could work like this. Software known as digital rights management systems will soon become available that will allow a photobuyer to enter your computers hard drive, search for specific pictures, download them, and purchase them. The fee may be low (like with RF photography) but the volume will be high (several visitors a day). The bottom line will be that pictures that otherwise would languish in your files gathering dust, will generate activity and sales for you. The peer-to-peer system probably wont do away with the big boys (agencies). They themselves could evolve into a pay-per-use or subscription-based model. They would share the revenue from sales with their photographers.

Both models could survive. The conglomerates could enter into general vertical markets themselves. The peer-to-peer system would open a new door where the conglomerates would continue to produce and sell their generic images. The vertical (specialized) market where most individual freelance photographers would reside, would be too spare for the big conglomerates, and not as lucrative for them as the commercial stock photo market. This would open new possibilities in specialized markets for freelancers who have deep files of keyworded content in their image databases. Internet technology today is too powerful, too ambitious, for lawmakers to regulate freedom of exchange of music, images, and graphic files. The istock phenomenon has proven this. Eventually the dust will settle, and individual freelance stock photographers are bound to come out in an even better position than was available for them in the last century.

Rohn Engh, veteran stock photographer and best-selling author of Sell & ReSell Your Photos and sellphotos.com, has helped scores of photographers launch their careers. For access to great information on making money from pictures you like to take, and to receive this free report: 8 Steps to Becoming a Published Photographer, visit http://www.sellphotos.com

The Pros And Cons Of Trading Forex

There is not other financial market which compares to the foreign exchange currencies market. Trading Forex can be done around the clock all year long, including weekends. Because of its uninterrupted accessibility, trading the Forex market has made the exchange of currencies the largest money making opportunity in the world.

Even without its uninterrupted accessibility, trading the Forex would still be the most user-friendly investment around. Its generous leverage conditions, which run as high as 100:1, allow even the smallest investors to control a considerable amount of currency. Someone with only $1000 of risk capital, for instance, can actually buy $100,000 of a currency to use for trading.

But even with that kind of leverage, no one should start trading Forex without first studying the currencies market for an extended period. Learning to recognize patterns in currency fluctuations is the only way to develop an instinct for when to enter and exit when you are trading Forex.

The Risks Of Trading Forex
There is risk involved in investing in any of the financial markets. But thousands of investors have learned that if they use discipline when trading Forex, they have a good chance of clearing a nice profit without risking too much of their own money. With trading platforms capable of instantaneously providing fluctuations in the prices of various currencies, those trading Forex can capitalize on small movements in the currencies markets and make surprisingly impressive profits.

Trading the Forex market is much less complicated than trading stocks, simply because there are only a handful of major currencies. Add that to the high leverage available in the Forex markets, and the correspondingly small amount of capital outlay required, and trading Forex seems even more attractive.

Then consider the ability to trade Forex at any hour of the day or night, and the exodus of traders from the stock market to trading Forex is easily understood.

Limit And Stop Loss Orders
For those nervous about the risks involved in trading Forex, both limit orders and stop loss orders are available. And because of the enormous liquidity of the currencies market, even limit orders are filled almost instantaneously. A limit order will allow an investor to specify both a buying and selling price, and will not have to pay more or sell for less as long as there is a buyer or seller who will meet that limit. If no one does, the limit order will expire.

A stop loss means that an investors position in a currency trade will be liquidated as soon as the price of the currency hits that level. A top loss order is a great way to get out of a currency trade which goes bad without losing your shirt.

Trading Forex will also eliminate the commission you have been used to paying your stock broker. That doesnt mean, however, that you can trade for free. Forex brokers charge a spread on each purchase and sale you make. You should learn exactly what that spread will cost you before you start using a particular broker, and also investigate any fees a broker might charge you if you hold a position in you account overnight.

You can also find more info on Trading Forex and e-Forex Trading. e-forextradingsystem.com is a comprehensive resource to know about e-Forex Trading System.

A + B - N (AMRO) Bank

The investment market is like the dating market; the ugly little duck can turn into a desirable prince(s) after someone has given it some attention. And what happens next, all of a sudden the former duck gets surrounded by a chain of new admirers. They all want her. Or him.

Currently on the scene is ABN AMRO. Not really small, nor exactly ugly but not performing according to the stock exchange standards (what ever they might be). And the bank found a buyer (Barclays) for its shares willing to pay around the 36 euros.

New admirers of the bank include a group of three European banks that are willing to offer 39 euros. Why 39, you may ask. Perhaps because 40 seems psychologically too much or simply that 39 divided by three is exactly 13.

The offer of this consortium (formed by the Spanish bank Santander, the Belgium bank Fortis and the Royal Bank of Scotland) will bring ABN to a demolition stage; each bank acquires a part of the whole. Santander receives the desired Italian branch only recently acquired and Brazil, Fortis the Benelux part and RBS the American operation.

The question whether this split-up would be worse than the original offer from Barclays remains unanswered. Many believe so, I doubt it from a cultural point of view.

In fact the situation in which ABN stranded is one of incomplete acquisition. In the financial world it is to eat or get eaten and ABN ate only half its way. It left the company with a well established market in Europe but insignificant in nearly any other continent. For Santander it makes much more sense to acquire Brazil and an Italian part (something its rival BBVA - could manage so far) and the acquisition of Fortis will make perfectly sense although a larger cultural mismatch. And the oversees (US) activities of RBS seems neither illogical.

Cultural speaking the break up would make more sense, because each three banks would expand with similar cultures. Santander would provide a better fit for the Brazilian branch, although you could question whether this fits also the Italian case.

On the other hand, the consortium offer would also mean a bigger change, because the name ABN AMRO would cease to exist.

2007 Hans Bool

Hans Bool writes articles about management, culture and change. If you are interested to read or experience more about these topics have a look at: Astor White or sign-up for our newsletter.

Why You Should Use the Forex Commodity Trading Systems

Are you searching for a great way to invest in the international foreign exchange market? Then look no further than Forex trading processes. It is one of the easiest ways to trade because you don't need to spend a lot of time learning how the system works. You can access the system anytime Monday through Saturday, twenty-four hours a day. This makes it one of the most convenient methods of investing around.

There are many other advantages of Forex trading processes that you will enjoy. For instance, when you set up the account you can use the practice account to get the feel of how the system works. If you are a little nervous about trading this will help you to relax and feel more at ease, which will help prepare you for the real thing. The Forex trading processes has six major currencies that you can choose from. Other systems have hundreds which makes them much more complicated to use. You have total control over the account and once you use the propriety software to set up the account, it will automatically buy and sell according to the way you choose.

You can then set back and relax. The Forex system will do all the work for you. You dont have to worry about spending long hours taking care of the account, all you need is a few minutes each day to check the account. Forex uses a strategy that really works. They use currencies pairs that are opposites. This means that when one is losing money the other is normally making money. The two pairs will balance out and usually leaves you with a profit. This system has been proven to work very well. It is because of this strategy that Forex is becoming so popular with investors.

Forex is one of the best ways to invest in foreign currency exchange. If investing is something that you are interested in, then you definitely need to take the time to learn all you can about Forex. This way you can see first hand all the advantages that it has to offer. You will see why it is the number one way to invest and be glad that you choose Forex to take care of all your investing needs.

Learn about Forex Commodity Trading and Forex Commodity Trading Process at http://www.forexcommoditytrading.com

Increase Your Chances Of Success In The Forex Market

The learning curve in the forex market is a big one and most traders already lost there first account before they ever get passed this point.

Almost all new forex traders believe they must predict turning points in the forex market in order to make money. Not only is this totally wrong it is also very hard to do.

I always recommend a new trader to follow the herd, trade with the trend. The trend is your best friend in the forex market and you should always be with him, never against him!

When the market is going up you buy.

When the market is going down you sell.

Simple as that, you may want to pick a couple of technical indicators to help you in your trading decisions. I say a couple because I personally believe that any more than 2 and you are just making it harder to define you entry.

For example you may want to use the 50% fib level along with round numbers. These are great tools to use as this is what the large institutions are using.

Cut your losses short and ride you winners as long as you can. Even try adding to then along the way.

Start trying to risk less than half of what you are trying to gain, this ensures that in the long run you have a good chance of success. I always try and shoot for three times what I have risked as this means I only have to be correct 25% of the time to break even.

One of the most important things I can tell you to help you with your trading is protect you account. Remember it is money, hard earned money in your trading account, don't waste it on silly trades. Only plan and take the absolute best trade set ups.

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What Is Active Trading?

Stock market investing is a great way to make money. Buy shares at a low price, and sell at a higher price. What could be easier? Sadly, its not always that easy. However, understanding the markets and the terms used by traders can help to give you an advantage. While I wont cover them all here, below you will find a couple of examples to help you get started trading.

Stock options include what is known as a covered call. Where you purchase a stock and then go back in with a covered call to ensure if the stock goes down you will not lose your money. Short sells involve buying a devalued stock because it is showing that it will increase in the next while to help increase your portfolio. A sell stop is a term for placing a stop on a stock you would like to acquire. This means you will not purchase the stock if it exceeds your set price before you can attain it.

There are what we term day traders. These active traders will buy and sell stocks in the same day. They look for stocks that are volatile, which provides the best trading opportunities for the day trader. They sit in front off their computer and watch the markets, looking for the best chart set up before taking a position. Most day traders will look at the 2 minute charts, which suggests that they wont be in a specific position for long. Unless you have a lot of time, experience and tolerance for risk, day trading wont be for you.

While there are many books out there that say they can teach you how to trade, there is no substitute for experience. The problem is, its a very expensive way to learn. The key is in keeping a stop loss, regardless of the methodology you decide to follow. Successful day traders, swing traders and even value investors use a stop loss to help minimize the amount of downside risk they are exposed to. A stop loss is a set price at which you will automatically exit your position. Its up to the investor to decide if its at a specific percentage of the trade value, a percentage off the share price, or a certain level that is deemed to be support / resistance.

Other options for the beginner trader is to use online services that will teach you how to trade in a simulated market environment. This allows you to gauge not only how good of a trader you are, but also how well you deal with risk.

Stock market investing is a great way of escaping the usual 9-5 grind. Whether you are looking to invest for retirement, or invest so you don't have to work anymore, if you can trade successfully, you will be able to attain your goals. Of course, it is not without risk. With a bit of knowledge and experience, you can improve your chances of making money in the stock market.

Visit us for more information on hot penny stocks, how to trade penny stocks online and learn to pick penny stocks.

Forex Asset Managers for Easy and Profitable Trading

Forex Asset Managers are well-informed investors seeking solid returns on investments with measured stability. They are part of conventional or electronic brokerage organizations to yield the maximum return from their clients investments and reducing their overall portfolio risk through increased diversification.

Because of poor performance of the stock and bond market, there has been an increased interest in forex. The demand for professional Forex asset managers has therefore increased to manifolds. These asset managers offer high degree of customer service with efficient money management which can be overlooked in this highly leveraged market conditions.

With the support of forex asset managers you can reap the benefits of proper diversification of your investment in the global market place. With the surveillance by these asset managers, you can eliminate concerns about stock market or real estate downfall, fundamental factors like terrorism, current events and at the same time diversify your investment profitably.

The basic advantages of hiring professional asset managers for your forex trading are

1.Your trading will be supervised by professionally traders.
2.Trades will be covered by proper risk and money management.
3.Trades will take place with the most liquid currencies in the spot market and diversification of portfolio.
4.Offers will be with the highest degree of liquidity and excellent risk-to-reward ratio.
5.Independent trades which is regardless of direction of the dollar versus other currencies.

Once your forex trades are managed by professional asset managers, you shouldn't have to worry about calculating your profits and losses. Your Forex asset manager will make this information available to you online 24 hours a day. But as an informed investor you should understand the basics of the trades and calculations.

The experienced forex asset manager help you get the most from your managed forex accounts. They will take care of all account opening formalities and required documentation. If your account size exceeds a certain amount, all these services become free. The rate of return can vary depending on a chosen investment strategy. You can limit your possible loss to a certain percentage, above which it will not exceed. Other wise it will be compensated by the forex asset managing firm.

Forex asset managers are downright prescient. Their services, advices, signals, and predictions are based on structured fundamental and technical analysis. They take care of your accounts with personalized strategies that work best for you. They offer supplementary well-researched information to keep you abreast with the current happenings and trends.

A good forex asset manager prepares you to understand the basic principles and working procedure of the trading. Your forex investment produces consistently risk-adjusted and potential returns with diversified portfolios and benefit of a Liquidity of capital.

To find out more about having professionals run your Forex trades please visit Forex Asset Managers

10 Best Investment Tips for 2007

Investments in 2007 will be your opportunity to make significant gains in your financial portfolio. Taking control early in your investment planning will maximize your returns and you'll create groundwork that will allow you to establish investing guidelines for all future investing as well.

Investing is all about placing your best researched intuitions where you feel comfortable about what will take place regardless of the expectations of others or the status of the nation's economy. Money is made daily and if you place your investments wisely, determines if you are in fact, master of your investments.

There are some misconceptions of what type of investments are the best to follow. If you do not have any real insights on the stock market, don't jump in with a large percentage of your investing capital. The keys to success are about learning as much as anything and never replaying a bad strategy.

History, self made history, is or should be your best friend for all your future investments. It's not a perfect world and neither are you, so put aside any thoughts that you can maximize every trade or other investment, make your moves slowly and consistent.

Let's say you are new to investing, you can take advantage of several courses or mini-trade routes, outlined by someone who's found consistent patterns that produce successful trades. Investing can be in a totally unexpected direction, such as applying yourself in online sales from an affiliate program. This is a very popular investment since it takes very little money to get started and you have a ready-made product already established. The commission split to you is very appealing. There are a number of programs that pay as much as 75% to you.

Investment Planning is really as simple as, where you think you can actively participate with your money and or time, that will yield you a positive return on your participation.

________________________________________________________________

1. - Know your talents, what are you good at, then think of ways to make it pay you for your efforts

2. - How much time can you devote to your investment, this is where you don't want to become sidetracked and lose sight of your goals

3. - Invest your time or money where you understand the risks and won't become shocked or surprised if it develops a slump or setback

4. - Choose an investment that you enjoy, this makes investing a pleasure and this will give you drive above all other distractions

5. - Make predictions or goals that can be obtained in the short term, don't set yourself up to finish the year before you've made your shorter range goals. Life is about living, not retiring.

6. - Read about the previous years wins and losses, in the field of your investment plans and see where to make small changes that could correct for the losses and avoid pitfalls that history provides

7. - Consider forming a team of investors, family, friends, or co-workers who are serious about taking control of their financial futures.

8. - Put all your financial plans in writing and keep them at arms reach at all times. It's very wise to make notes as you have certain thoughts from day to day and reflect, then decide if you need to make adjustments. Don't become overwhelmed with the " I should have done . . ." thinking process. This will make you miserable and you can loose focus very easily.

9. - Track your progress and determine if you should increase your investment of money, time, or both in order to see a positive return on your investment. This is not always easy to decide, but you are the controls of your investment, don't let yourself down.

10.- Find a mentor that can advise and encourage you to continue, seldom will you find a success story that didn't have contributors, regardless of their role in the success story. You may be pleasantly surprised how much others can actually affect your investments in a positive manner. ____________________________________________________________________

Investing for 2007 can be your new-found goldmine to becoming self-sufficient financially. Take the time to decide your personal plan of action and follow through with it. There are so many possibilities, it's not a question of if, but rather how you will succeed. For more investment tips:

http://wealthsmith.com/investment-tips-insights-2007.htm

Jim is an online writer and netpreneur that has a knack for current trends and topics that his readers enjoy absorbing for their personal enrichment. Today's topic is investments;

http://wealthsmith.com/investment-tips-insights-2007.htm

Sane Prediction

The reasonable way to find undervalued investment is to find the fair value of the common stock. This requires us to predict into the future. The stock that seems cheap on the trailing basis will not rise if future earning is in jeopardy. An example of this is General Motor Corporation (GM) which had been trading at a trailing Price Earning (P/E) Ratio at single digits for years. Nobody rush to buy GM because investors realize that the future of GM is still shaky. Cost is high while revenue per vehicle is $ 3500 less than its Japanese competitors, Toyota Motor (TM).

To find undervalued investment, we therefore need to have a good predictive tools. This is mainly a quest of learning by doing. The more you do, the better your prediction power would be. Experience can teach you a lot of things about the proper way of predicting future earnings. Aside from that, you can follow the guidelines below to improve your earning prediction.

Be Conservative. Lean on the cautious side. After all, not all predictions are accurate. We would like to be in the position where our investment would not lose money even when the performance of the company misses our expectation.

Be Realistic. Lets assume the company has a gross profit margin of between 40-45% for the last three years. If you are predicting a gross profit margin of 75% next year, do you think it is realistic? Nope. Unless the company is changing its line of business entirely, I dont think such drastic change is possible within a year. For example, if Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT) is expected to be in the retail business, it is unwise to predict a significantly higher gross profit margin even when it branches out to higher margin industry such as credit card or insurance. Its profit margin might be up but it will not be shooting up from 30% to 60% in one year.

Be Reasonable. Use a reasonable judgment to justify your prediction. For example, you need to justify the cause of your forecasted gross margin of 40%. Perhaps, the company is moving its production to places where the cost is significantly lower. Perhaps, the company will see increased pricing pressure due to new competitions in the marketplace. Whatever it is, every elements in the pro-forma income statement should have some justifications behind it.

Be simple. There are a lot of uncertainties in pro-forma income statement. By simplifying the elements of income statements, it will be easier to decide whether a stock is a good investment or not. For example, if a company is paying different taxes rate at different states, it is better for us to simplify it and use the combined average tax for our calculation purpose.

Get your free investing idea by visiting our commentary section at http://www.noviceinvesting.com

Franchise Opportunity - Questions To Ask The Franchisor - #36

Finding The Right Franchise

Whether its hamburgers, pizza, telecom, coffee, Internet, muffler parts, or seniors services, there are Franchise opportunities available to evaluate. There are great Franchise systems, good Franchise systems, and bad Franchise systems. The challenge is to ask the right questions to find the right system that will fit your goals and dreams. The key is to ask the questions and listen closely to the responses. Only then can you determine if the Franchise opportunity is the right fit for you. So whether its food services like burgers or coffee, professional services like telecom or IT, or manual services like cleaning or oil changes, ask the questions and record the answers.

What Are The Franchisors Growth Plans?

You may think that a Franchisors growth plans are not important to you once you become a Franchisee. However, there are a number of factors that illustrate that a Franchisor that has continuing growth plans will increase the value of your investment.

The opposite of growth would be shrinkage. That doesnt sound too good does it? The middle point would be stagnation. Thats not too attractive either. So why is growth important?

One important factor is related to the penetration goal stated above. If there is room to penetrate, and the Franchisor doesnt have strategies to meet that market, guess want will happen. Yep, competitors will penetrate, and through their growth strategies, they might eat some of your lunch. It is logically better for you that the Franchisor has growth strategies that will address that market need, and grow value in the Franchise system, as opposed to rolling out the welcome mat for competitors.

A second factor is that a normal phenomenon in Franchising is that each Franchise that is added to the system, and each new customer that is added to the system, and each new employee that is added to the system, will increase the value of the brand. Volume carries clout in price negotiation. Messages are carried by more lips. More signs, more transactions, more bank deposits, more customers, more vendors it all translates to increased brand recognition. Increased brand recognition should translate to more business for each Franchise.

In addition, growth strategies will generally drive up the Franchise Fee. That means that if you pay $2 as a Franchise Fee, and growth strategies drive the Franchise Fee up to $5, then that becomes the base value for your Franchise because the market will pay that price. Thats a nice return on investment if its achieved over a reasonable timeframe, which of course is driven by the Franchisors growth strategies.

O.K., so there are lots of good reasons that growth is important as opposed to shrinkage or stagnation. However, you must also feel comfortable that the strategy is sensible. Thats why you need to ask the questions, and you should expect well thought out answers that makes sense to you.

To receive a free copy of an E-Book titled Franchise Opportunity Making The Right Decision by Dennis Schooley, email that request to corp@schooleymitchell.com.

Dennis Schooley is the Founder of Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants, a Professional Services Franchise Company. He writes for publication, as well as for schooleymitchell.blogging.com and franchises.blogging.com, in the subject areas of Franchising, and Technology for the Layman. http://www.schooleymitchell.com, 888-311-6477, dschooley@schooleymitchell.com.

FOREX Trading Systems - How to Pick One with Big Profit Potential

Forex Trading systems can give you a ready made way to make profits from FOREX trading.

The problem is 90% are junk and are not worth the money.

This article is about choosing a FOREX Trading system with the potential to make big gains.

Lets look at some things that you need to consider:

1. Never pick a day trading system!

FOREX day trading systems are very popular, but they simply dont work and the logic is totally stupid.

Why?

Because all short term volatility is random and therefore you cant trade it.

If you dont believe the above, then ask for a real time track record of profits and you wont get one.

2. Pick a simple system

Its a fact that simple systems work better than complicated ones as they are more robust in the face of brutal market conditions.

There is no correlation between how complicated a system is and how much money it makes.

Simple systems are also easier to understand and this makes them easier to follow through inevitable losing periods.

3. Make sure the logic is revealed

Never buy a black box system where you dont know how it works.

The reason for this is like in point 2, if you dont understand it, you wont be able to follow it through losing periods with discipline.

4. Beware of optimization

Never consider a system that uses different parameters to trade different currencies.

The logic should work on all currencies or not at all.

Many vendors simply tweak the parameters to curve fit the data to make a profit.

This is similar to shooting at a target and drawing bulls eyes around every shot afterwards.

5. Track record

Ideally you want a track record that is real time and has made real dollars for the vendor.

Be wary of hypothetical track records which of course are done in hindsight, knowing the closing prices.

Anyone can make a profit this way!

Look for a track record of 2 years or more, that is real ie has been traded live without the benefit of hinsight - Either with money or done in a simulated fashion but audited by an independent ratings agency.

6. Study the peak to valley drawdown

Look at the worst drawdown on the track record and its time to recovery and decide if you are comfortable with it.

Always assume your worst drawdown is ahead of you.

Some traders can take drawdowns of 50% or more others cant, so get one your comfortable with.

7. Support and money back guarantee

Reputable vendors will give you good support and will normally provide a money back guarantee, as they have confidence in their product.

Do some research on the vendor and never buy a FOREX trading system without a guarantee.

Finally

There is no free lunch with forex trading systems so use common sense when buying one.

The above tips will help you pick one of the small percentage that make big gains.

Doing the above research will save you from potential losses and could see you make some great profits.

MORE FREE TRADING INFO & A SYSTEM WITH A REAL TIME TRACK RECORD

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including info and for an exclusive Gann Trading Course visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

What Are Your Wealth-Building Goals?

The money is out there. No matter how many people tell you that we are in the midst of a starvation economy, that the market is doing this or that, and that it's too risky to play the game, so to speak, people are getting rich every day. That is the reality.

The trick, of course, is to become one of those people.

Yeah, you might say. That guy was just lucky. What are the chances of that happening to me? Well, absolutely zero if you don't do anything about your dreams to build wealth. If you walk around thinking that you have only a snowball's chance of hitting the big one in the financial game, then you are right. That's because you are depending on chance.

Becoming wealthy is not about chance. Oh the guy you just read about may indeed have been luckybut he was not just lucky. Because fortune favors the prepared mind, you have to lay the groundwork in order to take advantage of opportunity when it arises. You have to be able to not only recognize those opportunities, but to actually have the resources to take advantage of them.

Laying the groundwork involves having a plan for your financial future. What is your plan for building wealth?

If, like most Americans, you don't have one then, like most Americans, you will retain the status quo. But if you recognize that you, and only you, are in charge of your destiny, that is an entirely different matter.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad series of books, you have to get a grip on your financial philosophy. You don't have a financial philosophy, you say? Sure you do, even if you don't realize it.

In his book Cash Flow Quadrant, Kiyosaki outlines the four philosophies as they were outlined for him by the man he calls his rich dad. You can recognize your own philosophy by noticing how you tend to make your money. On the left side of the quadrant, are the E's and the S'sthe Employees and the Self-employed. The philosopy of the E is based around security while the philosophy of the S is based around doing his own thing. While there is nothing wrong about either philosophy, neither is likely to help you build much wealth.

On the right side of Kiyosaki's quadrant, are the B's and the I'sthe Business owners and the Investors. The difference between a B and an S, Kiyosaki says, is that the B has built a system which he can rig to run itself, freeing him for other financial or personal pursuits. An S simply owns a job, as Kiyosaki says, and is such an integral part of the operation that he is essentially a prisoner of it. The company he has created is his baby. But we all know how demanding babies are, and if a business never matures into an adult that can survive without your mothering, it will eat most of your time.

The trick, then, is not to build a better product. It's to build a product bettermore efficiently with regard to your own resources. Build a system, not a job. Then you will have the money that will take care of your personal needs and allow you to invest.

If you already have loads of money to work with, then you can go ahead and jump right to the I quadrantafter investing in your own education and learning how it works. Investing is risky if you jump in blind, but if you know what you're doing, it is a whole different matter.

So lay the foundation with education and then build your wealth as though you were constructing a structure. Don't skimp on materials, but instead do it methodically. Eventually you will find yourself staring at an impressive building that will help you weather any storm.

About The Author: Investment Property Specialist Alex Anderson Helps Investors From All Across America To Buy Investment Property. Residing In Minneapolis Minnesota, Alex Also Assists Buyers Who Are Seeking Minnesota Investment Property. Alex Has Also Recently Launched A New Site That Features Minneapolis Minnesota Real Estate.

Forex-Trading Foreign Exchange Using Risk Management Tools

Trading in the foreign exchange (FOREX) market offers both tremendous profits and substantial risks, as does many business opportunities. Have you ever wondered how you could trade the FOREX while controlling and/or reducing the risks involved? Has the fear of losing in a big way kept you from entering this fast-growing market? This article explains several steps you as a trader can take to better protect your investment in this dynamic marketplace.

For starters, understand that your long-term survival and ultimate success necessarily depend on a cautious approach to the market from the start. Among other things, this means that the percentage of margin put at risk in each trade must be reasonable. Within reason, limit the amount of money put at risk. Naturally, what is reasonable to one person may have a different meaning to the next person.

Regardless of the amount of available margin in the account of the investor, the percentage traded must not be so great as to significantly deplete the trading resources if a trade turns unfavorable. Many successful traders refuse to exceed one percent of the tradable margin when executing their orders, while others may go high as ten percent. Putting an amount higher than ten percent at risk would probably qualify as aggressive trading.

Because the amount of leverage applied to the trade can have a profound impact on the outcome, it is better to trade at a level of leverage that matches your trading experience, proficiency and style. Beginning traders may not fully understand that leverage is a double-edged sword, capable of enhancing profits as well as losses. A conservative application of leverage should certainly be the practice of every new trader.

As the proficiency and confidence levels grow, a higher level of leverage may be utilized. Many brokers offer online platforms which allow the trader to pre-select the amount of leverage sought. Depending on the broker, the leverage allowed may go as high 400:1. The average maximum leverage allowed by most online brokers is closer to 100:1.

Consider utilizing the built-in safety features such as the stop loss, trailing stop and limit to help control the risks. A stop loss is a feature offered by virtually all online trading platforms. It allows you to predetermine at which price level your trade will automatically closed if the market moves unfavorably against you. News traders and day traders will typically utilize a smaller stop loss as opposed to the wider stop favored by long-term traders whose positions may be open for several days or longer. A trailing stop will allow the stop loss to be moved in the direction of your profit and has the net effect of incrementally bagging your profits as the price movement continues to move favorably.

The limit provides a capping of the profits much in the same way that the stop loss minimizes the losses. Similarly, it automatically shuts the trade down once the predetermine threshold is reached by the moving price. It is quite advantageous in circumstances where the market experiences a major whipsaw or in the event of a disconnection from the brokers server or the traders internet service provider while the trade order is open.

The occasional loss aside, trading does not have to be a traumatic experience. As the saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Still, your trades must be properly planned, executed and managed. Utilizing the safety tools designed for the protection of your trading positions is a smart way to ensure your longevity in a business where so many fall by the wayside as a result of failing to understand and properly manage the risks.

Sandy Robinson, J.D.
Copyright 2007

If you are ready to change your future by stepping into the exciting world of trading FOREX, go to http://www.winningtradersassociation.com for more information. Author Sandy Robinson, J.D. is part of the Winning Traders Association, an educational organization founded by John Beiler, President. The organization consists of a network of committed trainers and motivated traders willing to provide support to those interested in trading foreign exchange. Many of the members work from home.

The Beauty of Stocks

Stock markets are wonderful. Stocks markets are nightmares. Should we love them or hate them?

Embrace them! but be patient and consistent. As every statistics will tell you, stocks (also known as equities) is the best performing investment products available, on a long-term basis. What exactly is Stock?

When you own a stock or a share, it means you own a piece of a company. For public companies, you can buy and sell their stocks freely in the stock market. Depends on demand and supply (which is driven by factors such as the business model, historical earnings, growth prospect, success or failure of new products, lawsuits, political instability and many others), the stock prices move up and down.

Why stock gives the best long-term investment return?

As one of the owners of the company, it is natural to see that you and fellow shareholders capture the most upside when the particular company is successful. On the other hand, if the company is in trouble, you take the most risk. For example, if the company is bankrupt, the remaining money is distributed in the following order: customers, creditors, shareholders, i.e. you are at the bottom of the line.

As you can see, stock is a high-risk, high-return type of investment. The level of risk also depends on the nature of company itself: stock of Citigroup is less volatile than, say, Yahoo.

If I am not a long-term investor, should I get into stocks?

Yes, but you can adjust the risk by adding other lower-risk investment product into your portfolio. You are safe as long as a comfortable level of cash is always available and ready. At the same time, inclusion of some stocks will give you a boost to your overall asset long-term.

Conclusion

It's true that stock markets can be like roller coasters; but stock markets, if you ride it long enough, do not bring you back to where you start -- it brings you to the next level.

The author is a private banker by profession and a manager of her family fund, which has generated a cumulative 54% return in the last 3 years. Please visit her blog, bankernotes.blogspot.com, for daily investment workshops and ideas. She can also be reached at bankernotes@gmail.com

Automated Trading Systems for Financial Markets and Recommendations for Their Usage

1. Introductions
Today, using information and trading platforms has become a de facto requirement for successful trading in the financial markets. Their advantages as compared to conventional trading schemes include, for example, an unprecedented speed of processing and delivery of information to end users, the level of integration with data providers, and a wide array of built-in technical analysis instruments.

At the same time, an investor opening an account with a brokerage firm simply cannot simultaneously manage the real-time analysis and trade in more than 4-6 financial instruments in several markets 24 hours 7 days a week. This brings about the need to employ automatic trading systems in the form of runtime environment with client and server parts and the programs to control these systems (scripts).

2. Comparative Analysis of the Problem Area
Various software components embrace the entire target sector of the marketfrom analytics and forecasting to complex trade and administration. The components of a trading platform provide its clientsbrokers, dealers, traders, financial analysts and advisorsjust the service they need at the very moment they need it, from immediate round-the-clock access to information of concern by means of mobile devices, to multi-move trading operations in the major client terminal. The software market offers a great many of information and trading platforms that differ, first of all, in the functionality of the client and server parts, and the list of services provided by the financial company once an account has been opened. However, only a relatively small number of software solutions include the components that automate trading.

2.1. MetaTrader4-based Solutions
One of the worlds most widely used trade platform products is apparently MetaTrader4, developed by MetaQuotes Software Corporatіon for Forex market trading. The platform includes an integrated development environment (IDE) MetaEdіtor, intended for writing scripts in a programming language called MetaQuotes Language, or MQL4 for short. The language's syntax is based on the classic C language syntax, and the flow logic has not been significantly changed since the previous version of the platform that used MQL II as the programming language.

The new automated trade framework is, undoubtedly, an evolution of the previous one. Both languages feature good functionality, with an optimum set of built-in trading and utility functions which is quite sufficient to implement the basic operations, and a facility to define custom functions to help implement non-standard ideas.

From the programming point of view, MQL4 is much more convenient that its predecessor; this language is more oriented at professional programmers, while MQL II, in my opinion, will rather suit financial experts wishing to build trading programs (or trading advisors, in the MetaQuotes terminology) of their own.

2.2. Omega Research-based Solutions
In the New World, the vast majority of companies use the Omega Research platform developed by TradeStation Securities, Inc. This platform has long ago proven its worth at the worldwide market, and to date experts consider it to be the best system for technical analysis. The provided IDE called Omega Research PowerEditor is intended to create control programs in EasyLanguage (EL). The languages major advantage that strikes the eye is the easiness (hence is the name) of placing opening and closing orders. The corresponding program instructions can be written such as if we were formulating an order to our broker in the plain human language. In MQL4, for example, placing an order to open a position would involve specifying about a dozen of various parameters. In EasyLanguage, the same can be expressed in a short statement using a few words. Working with technical indicators is about that simple, too. But don't fall under an illusion: when creating these simple commands, language developers sacrificed the functionality and limited the possible ways of using a particular function, therefore effectively depriving the IDE users of the opportunity to accurately implement their own algorithms.

TradeStation decided not to create extensive libraries of built-in trading and utility functions but to limit to only an essential set. As the platform advanced, the number of functions written by both in-house and third-party developers grew, and TradeStation simply included them as user-defined functions into the repository of its scripts. As a result, the functionality offered to users is not in the least scarcer than that of MetaQuotes product.

PowerEditor provides a built-in dictionary that lets user search and get help on the available functions. Another handy tool worth mentioning is the strategy builder. Using the strategy builder, the user can easily create a basic algorithm for his or her trading program, and then modify and adjust it as necessary.

EasyLanguage is an old-timer and pioneer in the field of creating automated trading systems for the stock market. It was the basis for the development of MQL II. EasyLanguage will be a good choice for programmers, but still a better one for financial experts more oriented at analyzing the market than trading.

2.3. ProTrader-based Solutions
Professional financial experts can choose the ProTrader2 or ProTraderFX platform as their working tool, depending on the type of the financial marketstock or Forex, respectively. The two platforms are developed and supported by PFSoft LLC. While featuring the specially developed ProTrader Language (PTL), the provided IDE named PTL Builder offers also the opportunity to create scripts in MQLII, MQL4 and EasyLanguage. For this, the text of the program is translated to a language-independent code. Therefore, at runtime it does not matter in which language the script was written. This technology does not only enable creating new scripts, but makes it possible to use freely the entire accumulated collection of scripts that many experienced traders possess.

The main idea put into the new scripting language was to ensure maximum reliability and predictability of the scripts being run. The PTL language is built so as to minimize the possibility of making a mistake in the text of a users scriptthe potentially dangerous points will be detected even before the script is tested or launched.

Regardless of the programming language chosen, the platform works with verified managed code while running the script. This Microsoft-developed technology enables proper handling of errors that cannot be detected before the script is run. This means the program will not fail and will not perform any unwanted operations that might be due to critical errors or damage caused by another program, for which the account holder would eventually have to pay.

The PTL Builder IDE will serve well both financial experts and programmers thanks to its support of different programming languages and provided tools such as tester and debugger.

3. Approaches for Creating Automated Trading Systems and Recommendations for Using Them
It hardly needs mentioning that choosing an information and trading platform should be taken with all seriousness. For those who plan to use an automated trading system in their business, below are some points I would recommend considering, based on my personal experience.

3.1. Choosing a Working Environment
First of all, define the type of tasks the automated trading system is to perform. These could be:

Actual trading: opening and closing positions in selected instrument(s). Secondary support-type functions. These could include placing protective orders, creating and sending out reports of notifications.

Analyzing the market with different technical analysis tools using your own algorithm. Now, after you have studied user comments on the Internet and perhaps consulted your broker, proceed to getting the feel of the products offered. I strongly encourage you not to just have a cursory look, but to test the system for a day of two, thankfully, most of the large companies will let you sign up for a demo account for testing. Pay attention to both the convenience of the IDE and the tools that go with it, and to reliability and security of the control programs created with the IDE.

3.2. Creating a Control Program
If you are planning to create your own scripts, take the time to study the documentation for the programming language and the IDE. Naturally, for an automated trading system to be expertly organized, the scripts should be written by qualified professionals in the field of programming and finance. In case you wish to use one of the classic programs, remember that most of them are of trial, demonstration nature. They are good for testing the automated trading system or to be used as a basis for your own programs, but as self-sustaining, ready-to-use solutions they are of little avail.

If you decide to use programs written by third-party developers, keep in mind that good solutions will have to be paid for. The cost of one innovative strategy varies between $300 and $500, but the price for fine-tuned strategies that use advanced mathematical and economic techniques and especially for winners and runners-up of automated trading championships may exceed $1,000.

3.3. Testing Scripts
When using an automated trading system, always test your scripts. The procedure can be as follows:
1. Test the program in a script tester (if such facility is available in your IDE) several times, varying the chart period, the instrument being traded, and the program settings. Try to model the conditions close to the actual state of the market.
2. Test the script in a demo account (if such an opportunity is available). At this stage, it is important to let the program run for a sufficiently long time (it is defined by the period of the chart). Do not stop the test if the program has at once produced a big gain or a big loss. The usefulness of the script can only be estimated after it has worked for a significant amount of time.
3. Run the script in the live account. At this stage, it is not advisable to interfere with the scriptfor example, close the positions it has opened or modify their settingsor you can upset the internal logic of the program.

3.4. How Not to Fall Prey to Tricks When Choosing a Script
Remember that there are no absolutely perfect advisers. So, do not let them sell you the Brooklyn Bridgeif you had a system that brings in fabulous profits, would you sell it? There is only one advicea rigorous comprehensive testing will help you get the right impression about the script offered.

Usually, script vendors describe their products with the results of their own testing. In most cases, however, such results are very slanted. Remember that testing should always be performed on several histories, or you can simply adjust to one history fragment and show sky-high results. Based on the NFL theorem, it is fair to say that it is impossible to create a script that would the best of all those existing, in all instruments.

Some professional programmers use sophisticated mathematical tools to endow their programs with artificial intelligenceneural networks, forecasting and evolutionary algorithms are no longer surprising. I would not recommend overestimating such systemscomplex forecasting algorithms are very sensitive to errors and parameter settings, while simple schemes are not of much help to the advisor when it comes to generating trade signals, and can only be used to raise the price of the script.

4. Conclusion
In this article, I neither discuss any programming rules for creating the advisors, nor the specifics of writing scripts in a particular language. On these subjects, there are whole books written as well as a number of articles. My aim was to present several points which I think to be quite important but which have not been sufficiently covered in existing publications.

So, are automated trading systems your ally or enemy? When used carefully and without hasty judgments, an automated trading system can facilitate the financial experts work and bring in certain profits. But when used incorrectly, incompletely tested, or having settings changed frequently, the automated trading system can lose the money you entrust to it.

Remember that an automated trading system is not going to do your job for you without any effort on your part. Use it to solve your existing problems and not add new ones.

5. References
1. MetaQuotes - developer of MetaTrader, MQL2 and MQL4
2. TradeStation - developers of TradeStation and EasyLanguage
3. PFSoft - developers of ProTraderFX, ProTrader2 and ProTraderLanguage

Read article here: Automated Trading Systems

Nikita Laukhin
Automated Trading and Scripts Analyst of PFSoft Company.

Currency Trading Success - 10 Essential Trading Tips

If you want currency trading success and dont want to be one of the 90% of losers then the 10 tips below will help you.

1. Success comes from within

You cant buy advice from anyone one else it comes from within.

You need to be responsible for anything you do and keep in mind it is your efforts that will make you rich no one elses.

Forget the e-books and their fancy copy most of the authors have never even traded or failed brokers trying to make a fast buck.

2. Trade in isolation

Dont seek or give opinions, these will just upset your mental focus and let your emotions get in the way.

By trading in isolation you will stay disciplined and focused.

3. Use A simple trading method

Its a proven fact that simple methods work best and there is no correlation between how complicated a method is and how much money it makes.

In fact the opposite is true.

The more elements that you have in a system the more likely it is to break.

4. Trade with discipline

This is an obvious trait but most traders dont have it.

If you have a simple method you understand and have confidence in, you will be able to follow it with discipline through inevitable losing periods.

Many traders follow others, or systems they dont understand, confidence goes and they cant follow it with discipline.

If you cant follow a method with discipline you have no method in the first place.

5. Trade Longer Term

Day trading and intra day trading doest work, the logic is flawed and you have no chance of winning.

Use a longer term trend following system.

Currencies can show trends for months or years and this is where the profit is to be made.

6. Be patient

Many traders want to trade all time in case they miss a move, but this is pure gambling.

You need to be patient and trade only when the right trades present themselves in line with your methodology.

7. Have realistic Aims

Dont expect to get rich over night. If you could make 50 100% per annum you would make a lot of money over time.

Many traders have unrealistic aims, but it takes time to make money

8. Dont try to hard

Many traders think that the more effort they put into trading the more they will get out but this is not true.

There is no correlation between effort and reward in currency trading.

Your system can be devised in a week or two and trading should take no more than 30 minutes a day and you can see our other articles on how to do this

9. Manage risk

Currency trading is very risky, but unless you take a risk you wont get any reward.

What you need to do is take calculated risks when the odds are in your favor.

Accept risk as part of trading; never try and restrict risk so much that you have no chance of profit.

Many traders have simply no idea how to place stops.

Yet its one of the most critical elements of trading.

10. Know your edge

By this we mean:

What makes you think you have what it takes to join the 10% minority of winners?

If you dont know you dont have one!

Currency trading looks simple but few succeed and if you want to then the ten tips will help you.

FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDF'S & MUCH MORE!

On all aspects of becoming a profitable trader including free reports to download, features, articles an exclusive Gann Trading Course visit our website at http://www.net-planet.org/index.html

Why Are Coalbed Methane Stocks Red Hot

Eric Nuttall:

Coal bed methane (CBM) is perhaps one of the last significant natural gas resources available in Canada. With the maturing of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, the potential for elephant sized discoveries has been greatly reduced. Higher natural gas prices have also greatly improved the economics for CBM exploitation. We at Sprott Asset Management are quite excited about the prospects for companies with coal bed methane assets so long as natural gas prices remain above $6 per Mcf (thousand cubic feet). The economics would be very skinny under $6.

StockInterview: But there may be elephant sized discoveries in CBM?

Eric Nuttall:

Well in Canada, CBM is called the oil sands of natural gas. The analogy is that its a very large resource. The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board has assigned 71 trillion cubic feet of gas in place for Horseshoe Canyon and 239 Tcf of gas in place for the Mannville coals. Those are very large potential resources. They fit the definition of an unconventional resource: definable in aerial extent, predictable in nature and repeatable. In contrast to the oil sands, which are only found in Alberta, emerging CBM plays exists in many areas of the country, such as in Nova Scotia (Stealth Ventures), Southern British Columbia (Storm Cat Exploration), and even in Northern Ontario (Admiral Bay).

StockInterview: Can you explain why everyone refers to CBM as an unconventional resource, when methane is the key constituent of conventional natural gas?

Eric Nuttall:

Coal bed methane is referred to as an unconventional resource, because it requires different techniques and approaches than the exploitation of natural gas from a conventional reservoir. One such difference is the need to fracture the reservoir, often using air or nitrogen, due to the lower permeability of coal versus a conventional reservoir. This fracing can often be equal to the cost to drill a coalbed methane well, depending on the number of coal seams. Also, CBM wells typically come on at lower rates than conventional wells, yet have many of the same fixed costs, in addition to the added costs of fracing and compression. So it makes sense that in order for the economics to be equal, the CBM well would require a higher natural gas price.

StockInterview: Where is the strongest area for CBM exploration in Canada?

Eric Nuttall:

For the past four years, Horseshoe Canyon (province of Alberta) has been the primary industry focus. Horseshoe Canyon coals are almost always dry, are relatively shallow, produce sweet gas, and can be drilled with basic drilling rigs. The Horseshoe Canyon Trend is generally known, and exploration risk is fairly minimal. The primary risk is not whether the coals will contain gas, but rather whether there is enough natural cleating to allow for an economic rate of gas production.

StockInterview: But there appears to be more excitement in Albertas Mannville area?

Eric Nuttall:

The Mannville coals are a deeper and more complex target. The allure of the Mannville coals is they are thicker and contain much more gas than the Horseshoe Canyon coals. However, they contain large amounts of water. A joint venture between Nexen (Toronto: NXY) and Trident in mid-2002 began a 40 vertical well pilot project. They found that the coals were taking over two years to dewater and reach commercial gas rates. Such a long dewatering time greatly reduced the economic viability of the play. In August 2004, rumors of a successful horizontal Mannville well began to circulate, with gas rates of over 1MMcf/d mentioned. These rumors eventually turned out to be true, and marked a shift in Mannville CBM exploitation towards the use of horizontal wells. Operators have found that it takes months, not years to dewater the coals. The average stabilized rate is approximately 200 to 300mcf/d, an economic rate in a robust natural gas environment. Another pivotal event that served to increase interest in Mannville CBM was a recent Mannville acreage Crown land sale on December 14, 2005. EnCana (NYSE, Toronto: ECA) spent $159 million dollars to purchase rights to approximately 270,000 acres. This was their most costly land acquisition since spending $930 per acre in Cutbank Ridge. EnCana is a pioneer in the exploitation of Horseshoe Canyon CBM. I think this recent purchase demonstrates EnCanas belief that Mannville CBM is both technically viable and economic. I expect data from many wells that have been on tight hole status to become publicly available this year, and will further increase enthusiasm towards the play.

StockInterview: How does the Sprott Asset Management team feel about investing in CBM?

Eric Nuttall:

We have significant investments in several coalbed methane companies, in addition to companies with exposure to other unconventional resources, such as tight gas. I have many that I continue to monitor. We get quite excited over companies that have large resource potential and its very difficult to find that in Alberta and British Columbia now, because the basin is so mature. We look for multi-baggers at Sprott, so we look for opportunities that have well in excess of 100 percent potential upside on our investment.

StockInterview: Sprott Asset Management appears to be betting on an ongoing energy crisis, does it not?

Eric Nuttall:

Absolutely. Its a very strong macro view of Sprott Asset Management, that due to the world having peaked in its ability to produce meaningfully more oil, we are in an environment of sustainably high energy prices, whether they are natural gas, oil, coal, or uranium.

StockInterview: Which are some of your favorite CBM investments?

Eric Nuttall:

The most interesting one to us currently is Canadian Spirit Resources (TSX: SPI). We own about 15% of the company. It is a significant player in an emerging CBM play in Farrell Creek, which is north of Hudson Hope in northeastern British Columbia.

Whats unique about Canadian Spirit is the companys president Phil Geiger worked at Chevron between 2002 and 2003 at a time, when Chevron was deciding whether to pursue CBM development. Natural gas prices were low and Chevron decided not to pursue CBM. Phil Geiger was then able to leave with all of the data that he had accumulated over that time in which he evaluated potential CBM plays across the country. Farrell Creek was the one project he decided to pursue. Last year, Sproule Associates, the premier CBM reserve engineering company, assigned a contingent resource of 9 to 14 Bcf of gas in place per section, based on 46 sections. The company now sits on almost 60 net sections. Sproule is set to release a new report evaluating the entire Gething Formation. I think the assigned gas in place number could easily double. With gas content confirmed, the next risk was economic productivity. On March 15th of this year the company, after refining their frac job, released a stabilized rate of 250 300mcf/d from only part of the formation in one well. This is in my opinion clearly an economic rate.

Should Canadian Spirit Resources be able to replicate this rate on future wells, the company could be sitting on over 1 Trillion cubic feet of net recoverable gas, with a Duke gas pipeline running right through their property with 100MMcf/d of spare capacity. Though it would take many years to develop, if one were to value Canadian Spirit on a take-out basis I do not think it unreasonable to place a value of $1 per Mcf of recoverable gas, suggesting a market capitalization of $1 billion, roughly 7X larger than todays. It is important to note that the play is still in its infancy. Significant risk still remains. But this story possesses the type of upside that we look for, hence our significant ownership in the company.

StockInterview: Is there a favorite CBM company in Albertas Mannville area?

Eric Nuttall:

Ember Resources (Toronto: EBR) is the only pure play Mannville CBM company in Canada, and has approximately 219,000 acres of potential Mannville exposure. Half of their Mannville acreage offsets the Nexen/Trident Manville Project that was declared commercial in July of 2005, and whose partners plan on investing $400 million over the next year and a half to prove up the productivity of the acreage. Expectations of companies pursuing Mannville are that each section will recover approximately 3.6Bcf. Ember has over 340 net sections that are prospective. So their potential could be quite large, though it will take many years to prove up their resource potential. An investor should apply an appropriate risk factor to their acreage. I wouldnt be surprised if Ember were to be acquired at some point in the future, since it is extremely difficult to accumulate such a large contiguous area of prospective acreage.

StockInterview: Can you share another favorite with us?

Eric Nuttall:

Another company would be Rockyview Energy (Toronto: RVE), which was a spin-out out of APF Energy Trust. They were one of the first energy trusts to pursue coalbed methane. The management team is solid. Steve Cloutier, the President, was one of the cofounders of APF Energy Trust and was able to bring along his CBM technical team from the Trust to Rockyview. Rockyview has both existing conventional and CBM production, and is trading at roughly industry multiples on a cash flow basis. However, the company sits on significant Horseshoe Canyon and Mannville acreage, with 132 net sections of HSC and 55 net sections of Mannville exposure. On a risked basis, the company could have 160Bcf of unbooked resource potential. At a NPV of $1.50 per Mcf in the ground, would suggest the possibility of appreciation of over 100%. I think Rockyview would be a great take-out candidate for a Trust seeking low decline assets. I wouldnt be surprised if the company is not around in a year from now.

StockInterview: Are there many pure plays?

Eric Nuttall:

Its difficult to find pure CBM plays. There is Ember, Canadian Spirit, Rockyview, many others I wouldnt necessarily recommend. Maholo Energy (Toronto: CBM) is an exciting story I believe has significant upside potential. But their primary growth asset is not in Canada, its in Oklahoma, targeting a CBM horizon, but also an emerging shale play in the Caney/Woodford Shale.

StockInterview: Do you ever look outside North America to invest in CBM?

Eric Nuttall:

There really arent many coalbed methane plays that Im aware of outside of North America other than in China. A few companies have chased CBM in Australia, but they have not to my knowledge had a tremendous degree of success. I think anyone who has invested in an Australian coalbed methane story has not had a very pleasurable experience. Were invested in a few Chinese CBM companies. Were invested in Pacific Asia China Energy (TSX: PCE). Were also in a private company called Terrawest, which will be going public later this year. Weve found in general investments in Chinese CBM companies to have been somewhat challenging. It can take an extraordinarily long amount of time to sign a production sharing agreement with either CUCBM or with one of the state oil and gas companies. The wheels of bureaucracy move slightly slower in China than in North America.

Thankfully, future investors in Terrawest wont have to endure the wait that we had to go through. I expect over the next year that China will become a hotbed for natural gas exploration, and would encourage investors to seek companies that have already signed production sharing agreements. Both Pacific Asia China Energy and Terrawest have such agreements.

COPYRIGHT 2007 by StockInterview, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. StockInterviews Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market has become the most popular book ever published for uranium mining stock investors. Visit http://www.stockinterview.com

Forex Information - How To Use It To Your Advantage

The concepts of Globalization have changed the forex trading dramatically over the past several years. New investment strategies and instant electronic trading now ensures high returns for the investors. Therefore it has become quite important for the traders to have authentic forex information. Internet and other electronic sources like CDs, DVDs, etc., are fast replacing the conventional resources like books, magazines, etc.

The advantages of these electronic sources are there interactive modules and ease of navigation, which make them faster and more effective for even beginners to comprehend the information. Dynamic features like search or graphical representation of live data with two or three dimensional charts, graphs, and easy to learn e books are presented quite attractively to help the readers in understanding the subject.

You can have online forex information on:

Forex definitions and terms including glossary,

Market background information and the developmental stages of the trading,

Trading strategy and decision making,

Different methods of Technical and Fundamental analysis,

Controlling the risk.

Forex trading has long been recognized as a superior investment opportunity and the market is expanding to the individual small or medium traders than ever before. If you are powered by the knowledge and keep yourself informed, you have huge potential for earning from the market. Internet sites offer you wide ranges of e books which are classified in different groups like: forex books for beginners, books on market in general, on market profile basics, money management, trader's psychology, strategy and even books for advanced traders for supplementing their knowledge.

Forex information in the form of articles is again an exhaustive resource. One single site may present 2000 featured articles from which you can read any depending on your needs. These articles can be on brokerage, technical and fundamental analysis, money management, general tips or strategy building etc.

There are vendors or market professionals who offer forex tips and signals, which you can have by subscribing to their services. You can have information on forex market analysis, charts and technical analysis, trading platforms, facility to open demo account, etc. Different forex forums and groups are again a very useful resource for authentic information. You may find your queries being answered by veteran forex traders and the best thing is, most of the time, these tips are free. These traders very often share useful strategies and tips that proves to be extremely helpful.

Other than these electronic resources, you can always authenticate the forex information from books and magazines. Crash courses and short term seminars organized by different universities also prove to be helpful for those who are comfortable with the conventional class room mode of learning. Another advantage of these seminars is you get your doubts cleared by the experts directly. So the buzzword is to get informed and educated before you tread into the trade.

Forex more information about starting out trading curencies online please visit Forex Information

Future of eCommerce and Retail in India - The Perfect Storm

The online retail environment in India is eerily quiet. The overall online pie is still very small. Broadly speaking, Indian consumers arent shopping online. The distributors or local vendors still look at the online channel as a drop in the bucket. New online retailers are slowly emerging however Indian ecommerce just cant seem to hit its stride. What does this all mean? Is online retailing not for the Indian market? Are the cultural preferences of Indian customers so unique that ecommerce will never achieve a mainstream status? Although the current state paints a very somber image for eCommerce in India, it reminds me of the time when we went on a vacation to Florida, only to find out that the area was about to be hit by a category 3 hurricane. Standing in balcony of the hotel room, I could feel an uneasy quiet. Wind was calm however I could feel something big was about to happen. Two years later, I find myself standing on the verge of another perfect storm a storm that will change the face of online shopping in India.

It is not a mystery anymore that the retail industry is going through a significant organization in India. Some would argue that this opens up more exciting options for consumers to shop in a physical store, which would further impact the adoption of online shopping in a negative way. Fair argument, however, I would like to share some specific reasons why I strongly believe that a reverse phenomenon is inevitable organization in physical retail will fuel an explosive growth of online ecommerce in India.

Why has eCommerce adoption been slow in India?

Before we look at the factors that will drive an explosive growth in eCommerce, it is important to look at why eCommerce hasnt taken off so far in India. Although there have been several debates on this topic, to me the most basic reason is that most Indian consumers still dont see enough value proposition in shopping online. They cant be blamed because over the past few years, they have heard a lot of horror stories about not receiving the right products, not receiving products in time, notwithstanding the issues related to cumbersome returns and cancellation processes when shopping online. On the other hand, we cant fully blame the online retailers because they have to rely on third party vendors, logistics partners who still havent achieved enough scale and the level of technology automation to consistently meet the desired service levels. These issues really point to the lack of a mature eco system across the eCommerce value chain. The organization in retail will give a significant boost to this eco system, which will help build trust with consumers so that they can feel comfortable in shopping online.

Organization in Retail will catalyze eCommerce eco-system

First and foremost, as the retail industry gets organized in India, the overall supply chain infrastructure will see a significant improvement. This will have a direct and positive impact on the online channel. Today, the online supply chain infrastructure is virtually non-existent. Distributors use adhoc means to replenish inventories and fulfill customer orders. This leads to significant out of stock situations, which impacts the overall online customer experience. Having a solid supply chain infrastructure in place, distributors will be able to fulfill online orders in a predictable way.

Second, organized retailers will push for standardization across manufacturers and fulfillment partners. If we look at categories such as apparel, one of the biggest reasons consumers dont like to shop online is that they dont know what they are getting in terms of size, quality and fit. However, as there is standardization in quality as well as the attributes, consumers will feel more confident in purchasing the products online, without needing to touch and feel the physical product.

Another factor that will play a significant role in building this eco system is technology automation across the value chain. For nationwide retailers to maintain a competitive cost structure, they will push the manufacturers as well as suppliers to offer sophisticated technology integration so that they can better manage the flow of merchandise across the value chain. Online retailers will directly benefit from this sophistication in technology because they will be able to fulfill customers orders in a predictable fashion.

Lastly, national retailers will need to pool large amount of inventory in their distribution centers to service their stores across India. Holding inventory comes with an inevitable risk of over-forecasting. In these excess inventory conditions, retailers will need outlets for clearing the merchandise to free up the capital, and to flow fresh season merchandise into the stores. Web is a great channel for the clearance strategy, and retailers will be able to offer deep discounts online to clear up the inventory before they get ready for the next buying season. In US, various online retailers such as Overstock.com are built around the business model of buying overstock merchandise from retailers across US, and offering deep clearance pricing to customers.

Looking beyond Supply Chain & Fulfillment

The factors discussed above will help improve the adoption of eCommerce by making the online channel much more reliable. However, the role of online channel doesnt end here. With organization in retail, new online business models will emerge that will help facilitate online as well as offline sales. In Sears, we used to call these Web Influenced Sales. Over 70% of retail sales across high consideration categories in the United States are influenced by some kind of research on the internet. There are online businesses that provide comparison shopping services (e.g. Shopping.com), discussions on hot deals (e.g. Fatwallet.com), product reviews (e.g. CNET.com), Local store promotions (ShopLocal.com) etc. All these services are part of the online eco-system, that provide information at consumers fingertips so that they dont have to scour through 100s of printed store ads or rely on word of mouth to determine where can they purchase that new XBOX 360 console. As retail organizes in India, we will see the evolution of similar online aggregation and retail focused services that will not only help customers make informed purchase decisions, but will also put the online channel in the center stage of online and offline retail.

The confluence of above factors will set the stage for a perfect storm that will redefine the role of online channel in the minds of Indian shoppers.

Darpan Munjal has over 13 years of leadership experience with Fortune 100 companies in the retail and eCommerce industries. Currently, he is the Chief Technology Officer at Indiatimes. Prior to joining Indiatimes, Darpan was the Divisional Vice President of eCommerce at Sears Holdings (A $55 Billion retailer) which ranks #3 in US. Darpan holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and writes a blog on eCommerce and Retail opportunities in India at http://www.commercewiki.com

Forex Trading: The Fundamentals and the Technical

Foreign Exchange Market, FOREX, is an international exchange market where currencies from all around the world are traded. FOREX trades are always done in pairs, for example, USD/Euro, USD/JPY, Euro/JPY, GBP/CHF, and CAD/USD. United States dollars, Australian Dollars, Japanese Yens, British Pounds, Swiss Francs, Canadian Dollars, and the Euro Dollars are the seven major currencies traded nowadays. With an average of $1.9 trillion daily turnover, FOREX stand as the largest trading market in the world.

Regardless of its bulky volume of trades done daily, FOREX is relative new to the world where the market begins at 1971 and its only made available to the publics since 1998. Currencies like USD and Swiss Francs were backed up by gold previously. Unlike in the early days when it required huge investment to start FOREX trading, it is now an easy trading business that trades can be done with just a computer with Internet access and an active FOREX account. With the rise of Internet technology, FOREX trading had become an alternative for those who are seeking financial freedom without the hassles of a conventional job.

More than 70% of FOREX traders lose money in FOREX market as they traded blindly. FOREX trading involves a lot of risks thus a well-designed analysis method is a must. To reduce these risks to the minimum, FOREX traders, like traders in any other market, implement Technical analysis and Fundamental analysis in their trades.

The Fundamentals

Fundamental analysis basically means studies of surrounding events that affect the market trends. For example FOREX market, fundamental traders will consider events and situations that will affect the value of a country currency value. These factors include the local bank policies, political states, country growth rates, natural disasters, market speculators mood, terrorism attacks, and wars.

The fundamental is commonly known as no-number analysis where traders are investing solely on their personal reviews on one-country economy trends. Fundamental traders normally review a country economys situation base on these fundamental elements and respond accordingly. Generally speaking, natural disasters and unstable political state poison a countrys economy; thus currency value drops. Vise versa, if a country is basically free of natural disaster, and its showing a steady economy growth rate, currency of the country will be strong.

In FOREX market, it would be difficult to trade solely based on fundamental analysis as it only provides an overall view on the market condition. Numeric data and graphs are much needed to give a more accurate estimation on the market movement. This will lead our discussions to the second type of analysis method the Technical.

The Technical

Quoted from one of the FOREX well-established website, www.Forex.com, Technical analysis is a method of forecasting price movements by looking at purely market-generated data. (Well, at most of the time, this market-generated data means the price of the currency) The analysis is done base on the concept of history repeats itself and thru comparing present situation with the past, technical analysis is quite effective in drafting out the entry/exit price indicator.

Price charts are often the only item a pure technical trader concerns in. Through patterns of charts, various indicators will be generated and used for planning the investment tactic. A few well-known indicators for FOREX traders are strength indicator, momentum indicator, and volatility indicator. Technicians strongly believe currency price (or any other market numeric data) moves in trend and it will always follow a pattern similar to the past.

Although the methodology looks secure with proven tracks in the olden times, it would be relative unsafe to trade FOREX purely base on technical analysis. The future does not equal with the past. There are a lot of unexpected variables that technical analysis does not reflect on: change of country leaders, change of government, natural disasters, change of bank policies, investors mood, war-- all these factors affect currency value directly and might not have happened before in the past. A combined of two approaches (fundamental and technical) is always encourage to get the optimum plots on your investment plan.

FOREX can be extraordinarily beneficial to a variety of people. It gives huge leverage rates, it gives incompatible liquidity to your money, it gives convenience to trade on the Internet, and it can definitely give you a lot of money if you trade smartly. Like any other trading business, if you are new to it, best advice you can get is to learn and practice more before you test your wings. Seminars, eBooks, Internet, papers, video courses all these are handy to get yourself ready. You can also try out your skill on the demo account provided free. After all, FOREX trades 24hours a day and there is always money to make in the market, so why not be patience until you are fully ready for it?

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Forex Trading Brokers

In financial trading, it is not easy to understand the markets and make profits. It is always advisable to take assistance from experts in the field. The need for experts becomes all the more important in forex trading where there are many complications and high risks. When we talk about experts, it may not be possible to get the opinion of analysts who write articles on various forex movements but the Forex Trading Brokers who have the experience and acumen.

There are a number of Forex Trading Brokers in all the countries and each of these offers a variety of services that help the trader in making his decisions as well as money. The services start from simple carrying out of the transaction as suggested by the investor to providing online trading portals for the investor to carry on the transaction himself using various analytical software products.

Online forex trading is one of the recent developments in forex trading and most of the brokers provide this 24 hours a day on 5 days a week when the market is open. The brokers also provide real time information on the exchange rates of various currencies thus indicating the relationship between major currencies. This helps the investor to predict a fall or rise in foreign currency prices and make decisions accordingly.

Tips are given by brokers on specific forex transactions as well as in general terms to help the investor become a better-informed trader. Most brokers provide information and recommendations on a daily basis. On the other hand, whenever any important global event seems to affect the foreign currency prices at any point of time.

Forex Trading Brokers also provide analytical reports on the relationship between various currencies at regular intervals. This is prepared for traders who are interested in the top few currencies. Brokers track relative price movements worldwide such as the USD-Euro relationship, owing to the demand for these currencies.

Many brokers also provide, using various technical analysis tools, the forecasts for foreign currency price movements, on a minute-to-minute or hour to hour basis to help the trader take informed decisions.

For traders who are very new to the forex market, a number of Forex Trading Brokers offer a unique and helpful tool in demo trading accounts. These accounts can be opened online easily with a few details about the trader to register. On registration, down comes a host of information on forex developments and the online forex quotes. All this is provided in real time and only the actual trading becomes a demonstration or virtual trading to better equip the trader to the nuances of forex trading.

In the demo trading accounts, there are also certain brokers who offer online competitions with other demo traders to provide a real time trading environment. This helps the trader understand the basics of trading and the means of making more money than his rivals make. Thus, Forex Trading Brokers offer a host of services!

Thomas D. Houser http://www.bestforexcurrencyinfo.com/

What is Forex?

If you read about investing, you've seen the word forex pop up. But because forex doesn't get much publicity in the major publications and websites, many investors don't know that forex is just short for "foreign exchange." So trading the forex market is simply trading foreign currencies. As recently as ten years ago, currency trading had high barriers to entry, so only large banking and institutional firms had access to the tools and systems required to play in the forex game. Recently, however, technology has developed to the point that any individual investor can hop right in and trade with one of the many online platforms.

When buying and selling in the forex market, you'll see that there are four "currency pairs" that dominate the percentage of trades. Those four are the Euro vs U.S. Dollar, US Dollar vs Japanese Yen, US Dollar vs Swiss Franc, and US Dollar vs British Pound.

The goal when investing in currency is to be holding a currency that appreciates in value in relation to the other currencies. To use an overly simplistic example, if you bought 50 British Pounds for 100 US Dollars, held the Pounds for 1 week, and in that period the value of Pounds increased in relation to US Dollars, you could then convert those Pounds back into dollars for, say, $120.

Unlike the domestic stock markets, the forex is open for trades 24 hours a day. Much like the phrase "it's always noon somewhere," it's always business hours at some region of the globe. Since every country trades on the FX market, and it's open all day, the daily volume is roughly $1.2 trillion, which dwarfs that of the NYSE. Another comparison to make in order to truly realize the magnitude of the forex market is with the currency futures market (which has around 1% of the daily volume).

One other important distinction to make is that currency trading is not centered on an exchange like the NYSE or NASDAQ. There is no central body or organization required to act as middleman. Trading circulates between major banking centers around the world.

Until recently, there were strict financial requirements and massive minimum transaction sizes which prevented individual investors from trading. But with the advent of the internet came the FX brokers. A forex broker is similar to an online stock trading account such as etrade. Anybody can open an account and buy and sell in any quantity. Because the brokers have thousands of investors placing orders through them, they are able to meet the large minimum transaction size by purchasing in large blocks and distributing currency amongst the purchasing investors.

Although it is now easy to start trading forex, it is a complicated and complex market. While it offers fantastic opportunity for wealth, it is also very easy to lose your shirt in a hurry. Before trading forex, do your homework and read as much as you can find before investing your hard earned money.

This article is just a small piece of the free Forex Education at forexgameplan.com. Go learn about this incredible market and sign up today while the 30 day course is still free.