Finance and Wealth Building

1. Capitalization 

The term "capitalize" means registering the quantity of an entity in a balance sheet account against the income statement. Capitalizing can be different in different companies depending on their turnovers. But a big company would not do that. Moreover, in case of leased equipment, if it is a disguised purchase and not a rental agreement, then the lease should be capitalized. A process whereby anticipated future income is converted to one lump sum capital value. A Capitalization Rate is divided into the expected periodic income to derive a capital value for the expected income 

There are basic differences between capitalization and depreciation.

Capitalization refers to adding the sum to the balance sheet. Suppose, a house is constructed after taking loans ,then some interests of it will be added to its cost, which in total with the cost will be shown as an asset on your balance sheet.

Whereas, depreciation is the reduced amount registered on the balance sheet. It refers to the systematic allocation of the price of an asset from the balance sheet and reporting it as depreciation expense on the income statement. In short, capitalization refers to the addition and depreciation refers to the subtraction of an amount from the balance sheet.

Though not distinctly different, following types of capitalization are predominant. 

o Mega cap: it includes the companies, whose market capital is over $200 billion. The most publicly traded companies like the Exxon are the leaders, which is not applicable to the majority of companies. 

o Big/large cap: their market capital is between $10 billion and $200 billion. The well noted companies like the Microsoft, Wal-Mart, General Electric and IBM fall into this category. The large capital stocks are considered to be steady and safe. These stocks are also known as blue chips. 

o Mid cap: the companies under this category are considered to be more unstable than the mega and large capital companies. A considerable part of this capital is characterized by the Growth Stocks. Some of the companies under this category are on the verge of becoming the industrial leaders. 

o Small cap: the comparatively new and young companies having the capital between $300 million to $2 billion. They offer the possibility of greater capital increase but leaving the risk factor. 

o Micro cap: The companies primarily consist of penny stocks ranging between $50 million to $300 million. They have equal upward and downward potential and thus are risk prone. You should do a lot of research before venturing into this position. 

o Nano cap: capitals below $50 million are the indicator of this category. This is the riskiest of the categories and offer for very meager gain. The stocks normally trade on the pink sheets or OTCBB. 

o This categorization does vary with the variation in the actual market.

2. Unemployment rate nearing 700ks, it may get worse

The last statistics for the job-cut given by the Labor Department in February this year reflected the worse picture than was speculated in January. The previous one registered 598,000 job-cuts in the private sector, which the February stat projected 650,000. The figures according to Briefing.com were somewhat different, which anticipated a hike of 11% in the unemployment rate from January's 614,000 to February's 697,000. This burning scenario would create wrinkles in the forehead of President Obama and would dent his administration's futuristic expenditure plans envisioning the dynamicity of the stumbling economy in the coming years.

The stark discrepancy between the White House's statement as 3.8% decline of the economy and the daily life of the Americans was evident from the actual 6.2%, the worst since 1982. Economists though are neither ready to compare the severity with that of the 1930's 25% and nor with the twin depressions of the 1980's, yet some are forecasting of more worsening. They are emphasizing on the term "depression" to describe the much longer span of crisis, which cannot be connoted by the term "downturn". The alteration of terms is much more decisive, when the govt. is strategizing to further straining of cash for the critical banks and the aid for the automobile industry.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moddy's Economy.com, predicted that the unemployment rate would reach 10.5% by the end of 2011, from 7.6% of end January, the average home prices would fall 20% over the already reached 27% and the financial system losses would more than treble, to $3.7 trillion. The chief global economist of Decision Economics, Allen Sinai maintained that the economy is already at depression. He added that Washington's assumption of the 3.2% hike in 2010 should only be a hope, not a confirmation. And in this situation, the government would be bound to reduce expenditure, increase taxes and run larger deficits. The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke predicted the rise of unemployment rate to touch 8.8% next year as against the current speculated rate of 10.3%.

Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., censured Sinai for predicting so early and estimated the ratio to over 12%, the highest since 1948. Zandi gave the rate as 9.3%. The inseparable connection among the financial system, the job market and real estate has resulted in the pink slips even in stable companies. This in turn reduces the investment by the laid offs, further cutting on the revenue from different sectors. A downward spiral is thus set to act.

3. Relation between politics and Wall Street.

Since the December take over of the Wall Street Journal by Rupert Murdoch, it has developed a sharp edge on the political issues and asserted its influence on the presidential campaign. With the fresh approach to place journalism on a new trajectory of paramount, Murdoch stressed on a broader cover area in the newspaper. Along with the primary feature on the Federal Reserve's endeavor to salvage the Bear Stearns from the seemingly inevitable crash, it also focused on the Finance Chairman Penny Pritzker and the burning Tibet issue.

In the time of bulk dismissal of the newspaper staffs and financial collapse, Murdoch has raised the volume of the journal and also expanded the Washington bureau, not leaving the foreign coverage. The 1940's approach of the newspaper to focus only on the business news and discount the breaking news is now a history, and it was also called for at the most exciting campaign moment. In fact, politics now occupies double its earlier space in it. It got reflected from the campaign backbiting of the two advisers of Hillary Clinton to the advantage of Barrack Obama in Texas due to the strife between the blacks and Latinos.

With the increased co-existence of finance and politics, the legendary A-heads are losing their importance to be constricted to the page-bottom. Murdoch led the daily for extensive campaign coverage to make it the master of journalism. But this effort may raise the question in future of its becoming the jack of the business journals. 

According to Charlie Cook, a political analyst, WSJ has been barely maintaining its stand in the business, save the business coverage and a fun story on the front page, though the standard has somewhat augmented. To add to the popularity, WSJ has started a weekly sports page, publishes recipes in the Saturday edition and has plans to commence a quarterly magazine on fashion and travel.

Murdoch once donated $1 million to the California Republican Party, had his New York Post go after selected liberal politicians, and yanked BBC News from his Sky TV satellite service in China to appease the Beijing authorities. Despite his well-spoken authority on news judgments, the journal does not seem to have evolved under the News Corp. takeover. According to him newspapers in Britain and Australia had sometimes endorsed Labor Party candidates. 

Marcus Brauchli, the chief editor has stated that Murdoch allows independence to his editors to find the means to achieve the goals he has set for the journal. But at the same time, he also waves his hands to maneuver their decisions, whether visibly or not.

4. "Trend is your Friend"?

It is very crucial for you to follow the correct trend whether you are investing in stocks, dollar or interest rates. There are no such investments that are free of risks, not even the government bonds. 95% of the Americans, having net worth of less than $1,000,000 are not allowed the choices as the rich are. They are also not expected to be that savvy of the risks in stocks, stock options, futures, mutual funds and a whole lot of very high risk investments and presumed to be incapable of understanding the risks in hedge funds. The existing system which relegates most investors to second class status is economically wrong, philosophically decadent and politically discriminatory. 

While a considerable time is given to track the accurate direction of the stock, a cautious observation to the support and the resistance lines can make the trend your friend, as shown below.

These "Trend Lines" directs to the general trends of the stock movement. Not useful for daily tracking, they are used for a long-term purpose for the stock, mutual fund or commodity.

The trend lines can also guide you for even years, than weeks or months. But they are mostly the speed-breakers, as the stocks show their inconsistency to move along these lines, and then spring back to the reverse.

If you are skilled enough to fish a stock as it springs off the support line, which is the ideal time to purchase, as you will find an authentic and valid point to stop. This could be near the support line, just below it and would reduce your amount at risk.

The stocks that are purchased just as the stock breaks through overhead resistance and forms new patterns, ensures the best performers. You should hold the stock for months or even years, until it breaks the support line to enhance your winning chance.

Often the logic behind the stocks' heightened leap is not made up. It can occur after days or weeks or even years. But the leap of that extent to break the trend line is always talked about.

When your stock jumps over its overhead resistance, you can be confident that it would continue to do so. 

One should be careful, if the support line of mutual fund or stock is broken. This will be the high time to sell a portion or the entire position. One will consider at risk, if the support line is broken, which indicates that supply is now clearly in command.

5. What are Trailing Stop and how to use them?

It is equally crucial for you to decide the time to put your hands off the trade as it is to put then on, whether in the case of long-term investing and short-term trading. Usually, selling exerts more pressure on your heart than buying. Therefore, you can not make up your mind when to exit from the trade and when you are profiting from it. Same happens when you incur a loss and cannot think to quit but wait, expecting the recovery. But prioritizing on these emotional deliberations is irrational and illogical. Despite the existence of many state-of-the-art trading techniques, a whole lot of general techniques are also available to save you from awful losses and simultaneously guarantees for awesome profits.

This calls for the use of the Trailing Stop technique. The term "Trailing Stop" refers to a stop-loss order set at a percentage level below the market price - for a long position. The trailing stop price is adjusted as the price fluctuates. The trailing stop order can be placed as a trailing stop limit order, or a trailing stop market order. Therefore, the trader is confident about the minimum profit that he or she is going to gain.

Momentum-Based Trailing Stop:

The trickiest part to set up a trailing-stop system is to predict the suitable profits or tolerable losses. This can be exemplified as a trader's entry to the position after watching and waiting for a consolidation and by placing the stops below that consolidation. It needs patience.

Apart from that, the concept of 'being overvalued' requires basic research. The trailing stops are to be squeezed to a lower percentage if the stock starts to show a P/E higher than its historical P/E. This situation aggravates when a stock enters a "blow-off" period and this can last even up to several months. The daring traders can still continue with profiting by avoiding the losses with the help of the trailing stops. But there is risk.

The Parabolic Stop and Reverse (SAR) 

The traditional traders prefer to stick to the more disciplined outlook in a systematic market and the parabolic stop and reverse (SAR) suites them. It provides stop-loss levels for both sides of the market, moving incrementally each day with changes in price. The SAR is a technical indicator plotted on a price chart that will occasionally intersect with price due to a reversal or loss of momentum in the security in question. When this intersection occurs, the trade is considered to be stopped out, and the opportunity exists to take the other side of the market. The key stipulation of the SAR is the irregularly moving security that in the unbalanced market, your trading charges and other costs will be exhausted. Another clause of the utility of the SAR would be in the security that is not showing a significant trend. You will never reach the stop, if the trend is too feeble. So the SAR is inefficient here and only most suitable in between the two extremes.

6. Work duration on demo account 

The demo account is an account which is funded virtually, but acts as a real one. All the costs and dealings are the replica of the actual business. If you want to open a demo account, you will get ready help from any brokers of Forex . They would provide you with a guidance kit to create it. To proceed, you have to fill up an online form with the help of your chosen broker and after following some simple steps; your demo account would be ready. The virtual fund depending on the brokers can range from $50,000 to $100,000.

It would be helpful for you, if you retune the balance amount of the demo account according to your actual trading amount, as it is not gambling. You will also have to learn the tactics of the trading platform, which is different with different brokers. When they offer for different orders, you will have to be attuned with the facts of placing market orders accurately, setting up targets, preventing loss and other nuances. You must have the answers to the following questions: Are contingent orders available? One cancels other (OCO)? How far from market price can you place limit buy/sell order? And more. These also vary and must be well-researched before investing, as the lack of the knowledge has led to huge amount of losses.

But, don't worry. You have the option to practice it with your demo. Before you start, get acquainted with the technical expertise that the trading software requires. You should also know whether the policy offers for system integration, automated trading, news feed and back testing capabilities. As the software are getting more intricate and are offering unnecessary features, you have to be clear about your real need before opting for them.

A common mistake is mostly done by the traders that they forget about the demo after starting the real account. One more important question is, whether to keep the demo alive, and the answer is yes. You should keep it so as long as possible; whether or not you have to re-register it after every 30 days, as some of them expire after that. Don't forget to check its health regularly by the brokers.

This is required because trading is something that mandates regular updating of the trader's awareness. Be it a tool launched by your broker, a new approach or a new system; first give it a try in your demo. And the most interesting part of it is, it is available free of cost.

7. Use of multiple time frames in trading

To ensure constant profit, you must know and follow the trend that is in, as a trader. The most common formulae include "trade with the trend" and "the trend is your friend". These are categorized as primary, intermediate and short term. But that does not entail that the market would remain in a specific trend, rather in a conjoint frame. It is quite obvious that a particular stock will be in a primary uptrend while being stalled in intermediate and short-term downtrends. It is the common practice of the greenhorn traders to deal in a specific time frame, often overlooking the even powerful primary one and the others usually disregard the importance of the short-term. But, you can have the guidelines as how to keep yourself updated with these trends.

A generalized convention is that the more stretched the time span, the more consistent the signals are. The further you go into the time frames; the charts would become more clumsy and full with deceptive move. To have an idea of their trading patterns, you should start and continue with the primary trend for a considerable time period. As you get the firm idea of the trade, you can venture into the intermediate time frame and then to the short term. For your assistance, some typical trading terms are illustrated below.

o Swing trader: you can focus on the daily charts, especially the weekly charts that set the primary timeframe and the 60-minute charts for the short-term trend. 

o Day trader: the 15-minute charts are useful, where the 60-minute charts would define the primary trend and a 5-minute chart or a tick chart to define the short-term trend. 

o Long-term position trader: while using the weekly charts, the monthly charts can be used to define the primary trend and daily charts for refining the entries and exits.

Although the ideal chart combination is the sole choice of you, yet, you should opt for the main timeframe of your interest and balance it by two timeframes above and below it. You can use the long-term chart to define the trend, the intermediate-term chart to provide the trading signal and the short-term chart to refine the entry and exit. Short-term charts are predominantly used to analyze the decisions taken in the primary chart.

A careful analysis can assure your chances of increased profit. While the long-term charts provide for the traders the advantage to assess their propositions, it also gives a caution when the different timeframes are not organized. The short timeframes give the chance to augment the entries and exits. In a nutshell, the combination of multiple timeframes gives you the complete picture of your trade and increases your confidence.

8. The History of Japanese Candlesticks

The study of candlestick methodology would lead you to the Japanese "Age of Country at War" from 1500 to 1600. It was developed during the military era and often uses related terms. You have to be as alert and cunning as a military general, with the psychology of a competitor and an aggressor to succeed in this battle named business. 

In the mid-1700's, "The god of the markets" Munehisa Homna's research on the price-movement and weather conditions concretized into the concept of candlestick. His "Sakata Rules" laid the foundation of the Japanese investment strategy. The candlestick has always been a very open and widely practiced methodology throughout Japan, but did not create interest in the US market until 25 years back. But the recent economic setback has led the researchers to look up to it. Popularizing this technique to the west is the contribution of Steve Nison's extensive research.

This theory stresses more on the real price action than on the causes of it, as the reports, wages etc. all the statistics are clearly shown in the price and the market would be controlled by the apprehension and the ravenousness of the buyers and the sellers.

12 candlestick models explaining 40 different market signals are available, which are reliable enough in terms of price-move. The 12 major signals provide sufficient outlook for the market-situations, but the others are also useful for profit-making. Though the candlestick uses the basics of a bar chart like the open, close, high and low values over the fixed phase, but it shows various connections of them with the "real body" drawn, and expressed through different colours.

There are 9 fundamental decline and inclined conditions in a candlestick. The lines extending from the candle-body are known as the wicks or the tails, which indicate the high or low of that phase. When the candle-body is clear, it indicates that the close price was above the opening price, whereas, a dark body indicates below. The Doji candle-body refers to the situation of equal open-and-close price. The different candle-models can only predict the directions, but not the extent of it.

Candlestick charts are the oldest to predict the price. They are given interesting names as the black, white, shaven head, shaven bottom, spinning top and the Doji lines and reversal patterns are the hammer, hanging man, engulfing, dark cloud, the piecing and the stars: morning, evening, Doji and the shooting (inverted hammer). This technique is very user-friendly and does not require professional help. The basic advantage of candlestick over the standard bar chart elucidation is its scope for visual analysis of the various market-conditions.

9. Types of Charts (pink denotes unchanged)

Charts are the graphical representations of any information to make the data analysis in a visually convenient manner. They are often created in a tabular form and arranges huge amount of data and their interrelations in a much more easy approach, which would not be possible without them. Among the various types of charts, some are suitable for specific purposes than the others. Having being the point of interest of the Sigma, charts are also essential for a trader for a successful, accurate and technical trade analysis. The currency charts can cover any time period ranging from a minute to a month to even many years.

Open a new Forex Chart by: 

o Through the menu options File > New Chart. 

o Right-click the Market Watch window, then select the Chart Window options 

o Clicking on "New Chart button" on the toolbar 

o Or press the Ctrl + W key combination

Trading charts are used by the day traders to supervise the trade markets, and to speculate as when or not to invest. Trading charts are all equally useful for trading analysis involving the previous and recent prices. Some of the different types of charts are as follows.

Bar Chart: 

This chart is drawn with rectangular bars the lengths of which are the representation of the magnitude or the frequencies that they stand for and they are also known as Bar graphs. The bar graphs can be both vertical and horizontal. The bars show the opening, closing, high and low during a certain time span which displays the direction. They have the flexibility of being set up in any short or long time spans, which vary from 1 minute, 33 ticks, 500 volume to 1 day, 1 week and 1 month respectively. The bars in the bar charts are often represented in different colours to enhance their visibility. They are most popular and are supported by most of the charting software.

Candlestick Chart: 

As said before the oldest of all charts, this chart was developed by the phenomenal Japanese rice merchant Homma Munehisa, in the 18th century. This chart is most simple and easy to understand and therefore is very popular. The candlestick chart shows the standard open, close, high and low market conditions along with the upward and downward direction within a period. It is the most efficient one in terms of visual analysis of data.

Line Chart: 

The line chart is the graphical representation in a two-dimensional manner of the chronological trade rate of the definite currency pair within the given time span. The lines are drawn in accordance with the closing price connections of the day.

10. Achievement of trading perfection 

The moment you decide to trade, take an oath to do it in the best way possible, not compromising on quality. Remember, that trade selection and prior planning are the two faces of a coin. Your success is half achieved through a proper planning, than by hours of trading of anything that comes handy, which is completely incomprehensible. 

Each trade has a proper style, which you must follow to reach the perfection. It involves proper management: planning, organizing, delegating, directing, and controlling.

You will not be able to plan properly, if you are not organized. Make handy your trading software, data and proper equipment. Your own well-being is also not to be done away with. It is said in trade that, there is only the winner or the loser; there is no place for the mediocre. To be the champion you need to have discipline, self-control and a willingness to train extensively. You have to give your leisure to the over charts, studying, thinking, planning and to practicing your trading and the trade selection.

This extensive study involves the study of charts. You have to record the organized and pictures data on the charts in your mind that will intrigue you to ask the questions continually as, "How does what I see in front of me relate to the supply and demand for the underlying?" or "Is what I am seeing on the chart even related to supply and demand, or is what I am seeing related to an engineered move by some insider or market mover?" As soon as you realize the fact that supply and demand do not always solely move or fail prices, it is better. Markets are maneuvered three fourth. 

But the charts reflect something else than the price patterns, as the response to the world happenings, rumours, government reports and many more. The most common thing to be overlooked is the engineering from and by the insiders, the market movers and by commercials holding large inventories. You must train yourself to analyze these things from the charts. For instance, the price patterns on your charts will help you to recognize between true and false breakouts. The pioneer trader will master trading the trend and will get the best out of it. If prices are rising, the trend is up. If prices are falling, the trend is down. The tips and tricks are equally important for you to follow and it is promising to maintain and update a collection of the techniques. To be a master trader, you can not but help practicing the recognition of blockage areas, trend identification and high possibility breakouts. Though a genius never achieves perfection, yet it is always advisable to improve your performance.