Wall Street

The History of Wall Street

Posted in Wall Street on March 4th, 2010 by stock trading – Comments Off

When people in the media, or just people in the know, refer to the various stock markets in lower Manhattan in New York City, they usually just refer to Wall Street. The now famous financial district has become synonymous with large amounts of money, power and influence. But how did one street manage to evolve into such an important address?

Ironically, most major investment firms that helped to build Wall Street into the financial force that it is today aren’t even headquartered there anymore. Thanks to technology advancements, these companies are usually headquartered in other parts of Manhattan or in neighbouring New Jersey or Connecticut. One of the most influential companies in Wall Street history, J.P. Morgan moved from the address that they helped make famous in late 2001.

The name Wall Street was actually given to the street since it formed a boundary to the New Amsterdam settlement in the early 1600’s. To help ward off the British, a 12-foot wall was built around the street to keep out invaders in 1653. In 1792, the Buttonwood agreement started the New York Stock Exchange and its headquarters would be on Wall Street.

In 1889, a newspaper that would eventually become the Wall Street Journal began publication. The paper took its name from the fact that a growing financial district was sprouting around the stock exchange and many companies that would go on to be powerful forces in the United States economy were headquartered there.

One of the most well known symbols of Wall Street, the JP Morgan headquarters, was built in 1914. The building still stands today, but is now owned and run by Deutsche Bank.

Wall Street has seen its fair share of history over the years, with the 1920 bombing that killed around 40 people and injured 400 to the great crash of 1929 that saw some people kill themselves. Today, if you check the front façade of the JP Morgan building, you can still see pock marks of the 1920 terrorist attack.

The construction of the World Trade Centers were the only real major architectural change to the financial district in the last half of the 20th century, and their subsequent destruction has left a void in the hearts and minds of many that work and live near there.

The history of Wall Street is a collage of incredible highs and devastating lows. As the center for American and some would say world finance, you can bet that there will be plenty of memories made on the most famous street in the world.

You buy and price falls,you sell and price rises.

Posted in Wall Street on October 6th, 2008 by stock trading – Comments Off

One say’s “I bought “XYZ Company” at Rs.2200 and immediately after I bought the stock price dropped to Rs.2000.” I feel sad. Another comes with a different version “I sold “XYZ Company” at Rs.2000 and it went up to Rs.2400 same evening” I made an imaginary loss of Rs.400 per share.

Solution:

You can buy more shares @ Rs.2000 and reduce your overall buying cost. This has to be done only if believe in the fundamentals,management and the future prospects of the company.

To do this you need to keep money ready.whatever money you have and want to invest,split it into two parts. Then keep 50% cash aside, only invest with other 50%.So if need to buy more of any stock when the price falls you have ready cash.

Also now if you have 200 shares of XYZ Company 100@Rs.2200 and 100@Rs.2000.Then the price goes up to Rs.2400. Sell only 100 of the shares.Then if the price further shot up, you have some shares to sell And participate in the rally to make money.

Next You sold the share and the price went up. The solutoion to this is never sell all the shares at one time.Sell only 50% of your shares.So if he price goes up later you still have the other 50% to sell and make profit.

The golden Rule is to first do your own analysis of the stock before investing and buy on tips. Also invest only in companies which declare dividends every year. To be sure that you are not investing in loss making companies.

Every Market expert advices to do your stock analysis before investind in the stock market.
But nobody tells you how.

Well in my next article I will write about how to do stock anaysis using various tools such as financial ratios and by checking the track records of the comapnies you plan to invest in.

P.S: If you are not Indian then replace the Rs. into your own local curreny to understand the artilce :)

Want to Trade Stocks? Get Your Free Stock Quote First

Posted in Wall Street on October 6th, 2008 by stock trading – Comments Off

Free stock quotes are valuable for looking at your investments and determining whether or not you want to trade in the stock market. There are several free stock quotes online and one of the most popular is Yahoo Finance. This site will allow you to search your stocks to see the growth or decline and determine if you want to buy or sell. Free stock quotes are ideal for the novice investor. They can practice their skills without investing any money until they are comfortable enough to actually invest. Once you decide to invest, though, you will need to get with a broker and there are additional fees associated with trading. However, there are many do it yourself places that only require a small fee and will often have valuable articles and free stock quotes so you can watch your portfolio continually to ensure you have made sound investments.

Before investing in the stock market, you should be aware of the basics of stock trading. This can be learned by doing some research online or by getting a book at your local library. Once you know the basics, you can start looking for individual investments. It is recommended that the novice investor start off with only the amount of money they can afford to lose. There are no guarantees you will earn money and sometimes you will lose it. So, it is important to carefully watch the stock market by looking at free stock quotes each day. You may want to buy or sell your stocks depending on how well the individual stock is doing and what forecasts are for the stock.

Free stock quotes are also great for classes in finance or the stock market. This is ideal for investor clubs, high school classes or college projects. You can either use mock money to track an investment from start to finish without actually putting in money or you can use pooled money to determine which investment you will watch and what you will do with it. This is a great way to have a bit of fun with a group while learning about investments and possibly making a bit of money.

Understanding The Stock Market

Posted in Wall Street on October 6th, 2008 by stock trading – Comments Off

Watching the numbers roll by on the bottom of your screen during a news cast might seem like nonsense to you. Those numbers are very important to many people because they make their fortune with stocks. They steadfastly watch the stock markets wanting to see how their investment is doing.

To understand the stock market you first need to understand what stocks are. Stocks are the capital raised by a company when they sell shares. Shares are offered through the stock market and the money taken in from those becomes the company’s stocks.

There are several major stock exchanges in the world where shares are traded. Company’s stocks are increased and decreased each day.

One of these stock markets is the NASDAQ. NASDAQ stands for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. The NASDAQ is a United States based stock market. It’s the world’s first electronic based stock market. It also trades more shares each day than any other stock market which means it has the most impact on stocks.

Another large stock market that is United States based is the Dow Jones Industrial Average. You might hear someone say that the Dow is up or down this is what they are referring to. Many stocks are introduced on the Dow.

Many other countries also have a great impact on stocks. In Europe almost each country has their own stock market this includes Portugal, Germany and Lisbon. The people living and working there follow invest in the stock market there and just like in North America the stocks rise and fall.

The people who handle the buying and trading are called stock brokers. Their job is to sell and trade the shares that their clients request. It’s a demanding and rewarding job being involved directly in stocks this way. Stock brokers can make a lucrative income and the ones that study the markets and understand all the ups and downs have a definite advantage.

For the everyday person to get involved in stocks they need to do a bit of research. It might be wise if a large amount of money is involved to talk to a stock broker. Their job is related to stocks and no one is better qualified to assist you.

Stock brokers are paid on commission and therefore their drive is to invest in shares that will ultimately turn a profit. Often a stock broker has extensive knowledge with just a few stocks and he concentrates on those. If you decide to invest in a share that a certain stock broker is very well versed in, it might be prudent to have him or her handle your dealings. They can offer the best advice as to when to buy and when to sell.

There are other avenues available for people interested in stocks and that’s the online stock trading companies. Many of these companies allow anyone to sign up and buy and trade their own shares. This can be a great way for someone to be introduced to the world of stocks and with some research and practice they can make themselves a profit.

Trading the Wrong Market

Posted in Wall Street on October 6th, 2008 by stock trading – Comments Off

If you know the pitfalls of trad¬ing, you can easily avoid them. Small mistakes are inevitable, such as entering the wrong stock symbol or incorrectly setting a buy level. But these are forgivable, and, with luck, even profitable. What you have to avoid, however, are the mistakes due to bad judgment rather than simple errors. These are the “deadly” mistakes which ruin entire trading careers instead of just one or two trades. To avoid these pitfalls, you have to watch yourself closely and stay diligent.

Think of trading mistakes like driving a car on icy roads: if you know that driving on ice is dangerous, you can avoid traveling in a sleet storm. But if you don’t know about the dangers of ice, you might drive as if there were no threat, only realizing your mistake once you’re already off the road.

Too many traders are fixed on only one market. They may trade only the forex USD/EUR, or the E-mini Russell, or the E-mini DOW, or just cer¬tain stocks, etc. While they may feel a certain sense of expertise or mastery over this one market, no one, no matter how experienced they are, can predict what will happen all the time. These people are setting themselves up for catastrophe, because there will inevitably come a time when they’ll make a mistake. And, with no diversity in their trades, they will lose everything they’ve worked so hard to gain.

The key to choosing a market isn’t to look for one you seem to understand better than the others. That will always be something of an illusion. But there is one market you can always depend on: the one that is moving. You know you should buy when the market goes up and sell when the market goes down. A moving market will always be profitable, even if you’ve never traded a single share there before.

Pay close attention to trendlines, both in the markets where you’re already trading and the markets you’re considering. If one of your markets is consistently choppy or just moving sideways, get out of it and move on to another. If you think of successful trading as sticking not with a market but with a trend, no matter which market it’s in, then you’re thinking successfully.

The key, of course, is that you have to keep an eye on markets where you aren’t currently trading. Keeping up with your options is just as important as watching what you’re familiar with. This is where research and experience come into play. Getting to know a number of markets (and how to find out about them) takes time. But don’t let that discourage you. Also, don’t feel like you have to understand every option at the very beginning. Pick a few different markets to actually trade in, but also choose a few just to watch. That way, you’ll see how your own trades work, and you can also compare that activity to markets you may not know much about (yet).

The only way to learn about which markets are right and wrong for you is to watch them. Watching a variety of markets will give you the knowledge you’ll need to use when it’s time to change gears and find that elusive moving trend.