Intervention. Now don't let that big word scare you. The talking heads on TV have been discussing it all week because the major banks of the world are going to "prop up" the Euro. What the heck is the "euro"? This is a currency just like the British Pound, the French Franc and the German Duetschmark, but it supercedes those currencies and is supposed to ultimately replace them as the money of all the European countries. It is another layer on top of the currency of each country. It was introduced in January 1999 and has been sinking ever since....

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What account size do I need? How much money can I make with trading? First of all, let's clarify a common misunderstanding: You never risk your full account size. You always have a "catastrophic stop", and it is important to define the "ruin" before you start trading. Let's say you start with a $10,000 account, and you decide to stop trading if you lost $2,000. In this example you are "ruined" if your account decreases to $8,000. Though you invest $10,000, you only risk $2,000....

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Wall Street's watchword has always been diversification, but what does it mean and why do they say it? The standard Wall Street definition is flexible because each broker or financial planner will vary the portfolio based on your age and income. They say that the younger you are the more risk you should take and the older you are the less risk. They design a group of individual stocks, mutual funds and bonds to fit your personal profile and inclination toward risk. For a young guy under age 35 they will put you into more high flyer type stocks, hardly any mutual funds and no bonds....

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We learnt the following the hard way! If any of these things applies to you, don't worry - there is an easy solution! MISTAKE ONE Lack of Knowledge and No Plan It amazes us that some people expect to trade the stock market successfully without any effort. Yet if they want to take up golf, for example, they will happily take some lessons or at least read a book before heading out onto the course. The stock market is not the place for the ill informed. But learning what you need is straightforward - you just need someone to show you the way....

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Before you embark upon a journey of trading stocks or futures, and before you make any trades, you MUST determine and establish your risk level. Traders that fail to do this are usually doomed from the start. The fact is that most trading accounts that go bust are because of the failure to determine at what point the trader will cut their losses and move on to the next trade. Rookie traders are particularly prone to do this. They hang on to losing positions hoping that they will turn around - only to watch the price drop even further....

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Ever done any whitewater rafting or canoeing? Long periods of tranquil river followed by short periods of terror. Suddenly the water grips your vessel and you are pushed and shoved by massive currents over which you have no control. Missing boulders you paddle as hard as you can. You almost lose everything and think to yourself, "Why didn't I portage that last rapid?" Remind you of the stock market lately? Nice steady up moves of equity growth in your portfolio followed by gut-wrenching waterfalls when the market takes back most of your gains....

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In his wonderful book, 'Multiple Streams of Income', best selling author Robert Allen advises Investors to divide their Stock Market investment and trading capital into three portions -50% invested long term (forever) in an Index Fund, 30% invested in Accelerated Stock strategies and 20% in options or high risk investment strategies. This article will discuss long term investing and how technical analysis can alert us to points in time when it is prudent to take profits and exit the Stock market....

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You've decided to try your luck at trading stocks or commodities, but so called experts tell you that you need to determine your trading objective. What exactly does that mean and why is it so important? Well, it's really a question of your trading philosophy. A trading objective basically identifies the horizon on which you've chosen to trade. For instance, a day trader will have totally different set of objectives and goals than will a long term investor. They look at the market through different sets of glasses and it can be very dangerous to your trading account to try to mix and match trading styles....

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One of the basic laws of physics states that a body in motion will continue in motion in the direction it is going until interrupted by another force. That basic physics law also applies to stocks and mutual funds. To see this trend it will be very apparent in a weekly or monthly chart rather than a daily chart. The daily chart shows too much noise (random movement). In the Friday edition of Investor's Business Daily you will find 37 weekly charts on the back page of Section 2. One of the common occurrences among these issues is the steady upward progression of price, many with an angle of 30 degrees or more....

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Every day in any financial publication you will find the Wall Street mavens giving their predictions on many stocks. It was issued here and should go there. It is now undervalued and is worth that much more. Really? Has anyone gone back to check out thesepredictions? I haven't, but I know that as astock increases in price these same geniusescontinue to raise their target prices. How theyarrive at these mysterious numbers is beyond me. When their price target is reached do they evertell you to sell?...

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Mutual funds and brokers are always preaching not to buy any fund with a high expense ratio. That is the annual costs of the fund to pay for trading of stocks within their portfolio, salaries, rent, telephone, analysts, etc. Most of them tell you not to buy one that exceeds 1.5%. There is also another expense added by some mutual funds called a 12b1 (usually from ј% to 1%) that is supposed to be used for promotional purposes only. These numbers may appear small, but they are being applied to multi-millions, sometimes billions of dollars....

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