So you’ve seen the glossy banners advertising $4.95 trades and want to know what the real deal is, right?

TradeKing does offer trades for $4.95, plus a contract fee of $0.65 for any option trades. But what do you get alongside a great price? Let’s have a look.

As a part of the package their customer service consists of a phone and chat and an email service, with a 24h reply guarantee. Most sites that provide stock trading facilities e.g. Zecco offer a similar level of service, so this is pretty much a standard.

Tradeking does do quite well when it comes to Huge array of accounts that can be opened including joint, custodial and trust accounts. On top of this there is the unique options search tool (very neat!) and the profit/Loss calculator with multiple facilities to easily find your break even point. I was quite impressed with all of these features considering that there is nothing extra to pay, nor any minimum trade.

The site overall is generally well designed and easy to use. They have the standard Firewalls and SSL security, with an automated log out after a time you set. Naturally they seem to be very aware of the nature of scams on the Internet and offer various features such as an on screen keyboard when entering passwords to defeat key loggers.

Perhaps one of my favorite aspects of the Trade King service is the excellent forum and community features. They have really worked hard to provide a community experience for everyone, with features that allow you to see who is trading the most successfully and plenty of opportunity to interact with others through forums and blogs.

The Main Features of TradeKing

Perhaps the main features of TradeKing are firstly the commission rate of $4.95. On top of that they provide a second to none trading platform with a huge array of features and tools. You also get access to a great trading community. One of the only real drawbacks I could find was that TradeKing don’t offer a Forex trading facility.

To conclude, they are an excellent (if not the best) choice when it comes to choosing an on-line broker. Unless you want to trade Forex as well then TradeKing is definitely an option worth considering. To sign up for free now follow the links below.

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The stock market has been accertained of its risk free and its profits potentials with the following other investments below, and the stock has been proven to be more yielding better than others below.

{1} Real Estate: ————- {Land & Building}
{2} Securities: ————– {Shares/Stocks and bonds}
{3} Trading: —————– {Buying/Selling/import & Export}
{4} Manufacturing: ———– {Goods & Services}
{5} Fixed Deposits: ———- {Banks/Building Societies}

Although, some investments are more lucrative than the other, but above all, ”The stock market” has still remained the most active, yielding, profitting and very lucrative among all others. A good example of one year investment trial has been conducted between the listed investments above, And yet ”The stock market” still emerge the leading profitting investment to yield potential profits among all others.

This statistic figures below has been monitored on 2 years on approximation investment prices as at between January 2006 to January 2008:-

Cost Of Price As At January 2006 Cost Of Price As At January 2008
{1} Land Cost:- 10,000 And 15,000 —— Current Price:- 13,000 And 18,000
{2} Buildings Cost:- 10,000 And 15,000 —— Building Cost:- 13,000 And 18,000
{3} Business Cost:- 10,000 And 15,000 —– Trading Cost:- 14,000 And 19,000
{4} Manufacturing Cost:- 100,000 And 15,000 — Manufacturing Cost:- 15,000 And 20,000
{5} Securities Cost, 10,000 And 15,000 —— Securities Cost:- 18,000 And 26,000

The statistics here show the result of changes in profit and in more yielding, lucrative and more profitable in each of the investments.

Statistics Of Changes In The Investment Profits As At January 2008.

Land Profits:- 13,000 And 18,000 ———– Profits Of:- 3,000 Each.
Building Profits:- 13,000 And 18,000 ——- Profits Of:- 3,000 Each.
Business Profits:- 14,000 And 19,000 ——– Profits Of:- 4,000 Each.
Manufacturing Profits:- 15,000 And 20,000 — Profits Of:- 5,000 Each.
Securities Profits:- 18,000 And 26,000 —— Profits Of: 8,000 And 11,000.

This statistic fagure above showed that the investment started at thesame time, and with thesame amount of capital investment, but with the changes and the transactions within the 2 years period of time, the securities stand solely as the highest yielding profitable investment with a huge difference of between 8,000 and 11,000 profits. The manufacturing is also another yielding investment within the same period of 2 years investment… thats to show you how profitting the stock markets and other securities markets stands to profit you money, you can even earn 3 times of your capital investment. You still earn money in stock market, even when you are sleeping or even when you are in a long distance holidays trip.

The stock market is the only assured investment that can prompt you enough chance to spend time with you family and your love one’s give, travel to the moon, engage other businesses and at the end of the day… you will still have so much to spend around with joy and happiness. Try investing into stock market today and you will see some changes in your financial capacity almost instantly, and to tell you the fact ” is INCESSANT”. You have absolutely nothing to lose order than profits, profits, profits and more profits. Read more from the authors links below.

StockInterview: When the uranium bull market began, did you foresee $40/pound uranium, now that the spot price has risen above this level?

Gene Clark:
I don’t think any of us saw $40 per pound coming. We had price projections at the time that indicated probably $25 per pound, which would be a long term equilibrium price in constant dollar terms. But, I think it was a surprise the price went up so high. I think what’s going, the biggest factor right now, is the advent of the so called hedge funds or speculator fund and groups of people. The price started to go up, and they came into the market with the express purpose of buying for holding and then selling into the market later to realize the trading profit. In 2005, the hedge funds were responsible for purchasing about 10 million pounds of the 29 million pounds purchased. I think the market is now finally adjusting to the realities of primary supply and demand. It’s been a depressed market for 20 or 30 years, primarily from the draw down of excess inventories, and what we call secondary supply.

StockInterview: Will the speculators remain active in driving the spot uranium price higher?

Gene Clark:
I think there is still some room for further speculation activity. Uranium Participation Corporation, for example, is rumored to be about to come to the equities market again to raise funds for another purchase. They’re asking for authority to buy UF6, as well as U308, and different forms of uranium than they were locked into before. Whether it be at the 10 million pound level (size of purchase), I think it kind of depends on where the market goes. If it tends to flatten out, then I think there’s going to be obviously less interest on their part. When they were active in the market, they, of course, wanted the price to go up. Therefore, they weren’t too careful about what they paid for uranium. I think that’s a part of it. In the long run, it was due for a readjustment to reflect prices of the cost of new production facilities. But, the hedge funds came in and kind of overdrove the market. Eventually, what it’s going to wind up doing is, if they sell off, it could have the impact of driving prices back down below where they would otherwise have gone.

StockInterview: Did the speculators interfere with the trading efficiency of the uranium market?

Gene Clark:
In theory, speculators come in, tend to take the risk and smooth out market prices. But, it never really works out that way. They always come in and only take the risk, if there’s an opportunity to make money. So some people make a lot of money. It does tend to upset the market. If you get away from the primary users of uranium and primary producers of uranium as your market participants, then you tend to introduce more noise than you would like.

StockInterview: With that in mind, in which direction are your price projections going?

Gene Clark:
We’re actually updating our uranium price forecast right now. We haven’t decided on a reference case yet. The reference cases we’re looking at will peak at about $50 to $55 per pound in about three years, and will then drop off pretty drastically. It has to do with a selling of the speculator reserves, the uranium that’s being held (for speculative purposes). I can see it coming back down to $30, maybe below $30 per pound. Then, in the long run – out through 2020 – getting easily back up over $40 per pound.

StockInterview: Are you predicting a down cycle during the course of the uranium bull market?

Gene Clark:
Yes. It’s pretty consistent with everything we’re doing with the changes in requirements, in different cases of high, low, and medium demand. Our modeling system is projecting this. It has to do with the supply and demand balance and the cost on the margin. The way to describe it is that prices have come to a point now of higher than we would have projected them to be, such that the supply is going to evolve. The large low cost projects will reach a point where supply then overshoots demand for a few years, which causes the price to come back down. Then demand growth, in the long run, picks up and puts a lot of pressure on the supply market to be able to meet the demand. So you wind up with pressure toward the end of the period.
StockInterview: But the markets are finicky, filled with variables, and can frequently trick price models.

Gene Clark:
Here’s what it would take to shoot that down: We have a problem with small numbers, and there are some very large projects – Cigar Lake, for example. The expansion of Olympic Dam in Australia would be going from about 12 million pounds of production to over 30 million pounds, if they finish. If you shift that out by four or five years, or if the owner decides, “No, we’re not going to expand at all,” you have a drastic effect. Then you would wind up with $100 per pound uranium, I think.

StockInterview: What are your estimates on the peak price years and the bottom years?

Gene Clark:
A lot of things could change, but here is what we’re looking at. In one case scenario, the speculators are really going to stay out of the market and holding onto their stuff for a long time. If so, then we’re going to be at the peak by the end of this year. If they stay active in the market and buying, then that stretches it out further. Depending on the scenario, we see the peak possibly at 2008 or so. I would say we’re looking at a trough around the timeframe of 20011 to 2013. Then back up after that.

StockInterview: How do you arrive at your weekly numbers for the spot uranium price?

Gene Clark:
We get our data from all of the key sources: the utility fuel managers, sales staff and management of uranium producers and processors, and uranium traders, brokers and asset managers. Some are, of course, more cooperative than others, and whom we call depends on the type of information we are seeking. Since our price indicators are a judgment call, we often focus on the losers in particular recent transactions, as those will be the next to make offers in the market.

StockInterview: Let’s back up a bit. Why has uranium gone up past the levels of the “cost of production,” which would place the spot price between $25 and $35/pound?

Gene Clark:
The biggest factor, in signaling the market, was when utilities went out for long term bid requests. They found they reached a period in which producers would have to build new facilities. Producers building those facilities felt, “I have to make at least enough profit to cover the construction costs for those facilities.” That was much higher than the market at the time. Basically, you reached a point where the chief stuff has been sold. Now, we have to actually spend some money, some capital, to build new facilities, new mines and new mills. That was, I think, the earliest signal of the price needing to adjust.

StockInterview: Isn’t there a ton of hype across all media channels about the “nuclear renaissance” and the demand for more nuclear energy?

Gene Clark:
First of all, all the hype about nuclear renaissance is really in the United States. The Chinese have had plans to expand for a long time. The Japanese have been steadily adding new capacity. Koreans have been adding new capacity. Indians have been adding new capacity all along, all the way through this, even before we started this discussion on nuclear renaissance. I think that phrase is really focused more in the United States., which really hasn’t ordered a plant since 1976 or something like that. There is a boom. Maybe it’s the uranium renaissance.

StockInterview: Is all of what we’ve been reading just plain hype?

Gene Clark:
There is some hype, but there is also some substance. A part of it is certainly a change in public attitude about nuclear power. If I was riding on an airplane, ten years ago, and someone asked me what I did for a living, I was guaranteed to have a lousy trip, arguing about nuclear power. When I mention it now, I get a positive response. There’s been a market shift in public attitude about nuclear power. From the standpoint of the utilities that would be ordering nuclear plants. To the extent that they need new capacity, looking at nuclear now is not off the drawing boards, partly because of public attitude. The industry has been moving through this trough period, preparing itself for a new era. It remains to be seen when the first order comes. But when the first actual order of a nuclear power plant, along with the license application does come, I think you’ll see several U.S. utilities following, probably five utilities very actively involved.

StockInterview: When will that actually happen?

Gene Clark:
I think it will come within the next five years, the ordering process. Of course it will be probably another eight years before we actually see the first power plant from that process. We’re talking probably about 13 years. That’s how long it takes. You can actually construct one in 48 months, but you have to have been through the licensing. If you don’t believe the anti-nuclear people are going to be psyched up to fight the first plant coming through, then you’d be very naïve. The first one is going to be more difficult and take more time, I think.

StockInterview: One anti-nuclear group told us they do not believe we’ll have more nuclear power plants in the United States.

Gene Clark:
That’s possible, but given the current circumstances, my guess is we will have more nuclear plants. We need the capacities, whether we’re going to build coal plants (or other types of power generating plants). I just came from California, moved here (to North Carolina) six months ago. They were talking about building gas-fired plants for base load generation, which is the most ridiculous thing you can imagine. The plants are cheap to build, but the fuel cost is exorbitant. I did a speech a couple of years ago, having looked at the Energy Information Administration’s projections of gas demand. All the growth and natural gas demand is going to be in the electric utility sector. We are going to be importing 60 percent of our gas supplies by 2020. Does that make any sense? No. We have a lot of coal, but there are lots of complaints about coal burning. In our state of North Carolina, the attorney general is actually suing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for the damage from coal burning of the TVA’s power plants in the adjacent state, in Tennessee. There’s going to be continued pressure on coal burning. I think nuclear has as good a shot as any in terms of new capacity.

StockInterview: Some critics have argued China and India will not be able to afford the massive nuclear power plant build up they’ve envisioned.

Gene Clark:
If you think the Chinese are going to have any problem financing things, you’d better think twice. Let’s focus on India. India is a clear case where, and it is a good rule of thumb, one percent growth in gross domestic product requires one percent growth in electricity requirement. For India to grow economically, it needs electric power. Where are they going to get it? They have coal plants there, as well. Once you use up all your hydro capacity, you really don’t have much to choose from, except coal, natural gas, and nuclear. To the extent that they can have economic growth and income, coming into their country, they would be able to finance nuclear power plants. My guess is they’re going to get the vendors of the nuclear plant to finance them.

StockInterview: Are you talking about the French?

Gene Clark:
Cogema and Primaton – the companies that construct the nuclear plants. Financing is generally part of the package. The first plants in China were basically financed by the French government. If the French go into India, you’ll see the same thing. The Russians have financed plants for developing countries. That’s not unusual for them to do. The United States may, or may not, get involved. I think there have been some types of guarantees in the past, but not at the same level as the Russians and French do it. I think those are the big choices. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the South Koreans involved in the reactor export market. They’ve pretty much developed their own technology now. They have the capability of building 100 percent of a nuclear power plant in South Korea: the pressure vessels, all the steel requirements. They can do it all. We really haven’t seen them export yet, because they’ve used up all their manufacturing capacity for their own program. At some stage, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that happen. And I think they would be able to finance reactor export sales.

StockInterview: How are the U.S. utilities going to fare in getting their “share” of uranium to fuel our domestic nuclear power plants in the context of the apparent overwhelming Asian demand?

Gene Clark:
In reality, the U.S. utilities, which tend to wait longer to contract, are going to be the ones on the losing end because the Chinese and the Indians will contract early. The implication is the Chinese and Indians are not going to be able to find enough uranium for their new plants. They are committing for supplies way out into the future. When the U.S. guys come to the market, they’re going to look around say, “Oh blankety- blank, what happened? Where’s the uranium?” They’ll be the ones that sat around. I think that is what’s going to happen unless things really change in the way contracting is done in the United States.

Most people in the trading industry will use charts to keep updated on pips. Pips are what traders call percentages factored into points. The percentages are quotes that determine the price set on currencies. The charts help these traders to keep track so they know when to buy and sell.

In the business, small and large banking institutions, as well as large and small companies invest in stocks, or Forex exchange. Using charts, the traders are provided quotes on both sides, which make up ask and bid phrase, depending on the stock market. The bids make up pricing, which is prompted once indicators within programs alert traders on Base Exchange that occurs between buying currencies on opposing sides. Once the alerts come in, the trader may select “ask” has the pricing occurs. The trader bases exchange on his, ‘ask’ which could flip at the drop of a dime.

Quotes enable traders to set their marks on pips, which can decide decimals that rise over the averages. In stocks, decimals convert in some instances to match exchange within the currencies of a sole country. Decimals base values, which are constant at all times.

One of the largest industries and growing is Forex. The foreign market exchanges currencies in stocks that have reached in the trillions of dollar brackets. That is trillions in a sole industry. This fiscal market has made the highest mark in the stock market industry. The market has overridden the largest United States equity branches.

Charts are employed in Forex. The guides, aid traders by allowing them to read, interpret through indicators, which send signals. Within the charts are treks, basic strategies, powers, and so on.

Anyone intending to get in on stocks or in the stock market, should take time to learn about highs/lows, bid/asks, charts, pips, spreads and so on to avoid increasing the high risks. Staying informed is the key to successfully gaining in any stock exchange. Still, you want to choose charts and information that offers you precision in the stock market, Forex exchange markets and other stock industries.

Your best solution for just starting out is to download free charts that allow you to monitor and analyze, while exploring pips, spreads, highs, lows, currencies and so on in stocks.

We have created a 7-point ratings system to help you in determining which companies might be best suited for your degree of investment risk. It’s a guideline you can use, and we’ve not assigned a weighting to each item. Nor have we named any uranium companies. This is a do-it-yourself ratings system, which requires but two actions on your part: (a) be persistent in your data-gathering from each company by asking the questions we posed below, and (b) be honest in your assessment when you review this data.

Some of the more speculative, pure exploration plays might abandon their properties by the end of the year or in 2007. Those would include under-capitalized companies with the more speculative properties and who also fare poorly on our ratings system. This ratings checklist would also apply to the pure specs. We began with our article, “How to Choose a Uranium Stock,” featuring Sprott Asset Management Market Strategist Kevin Bambrough and Senior Portfolio Manager Jean Francois Tardif, as a starting point to create a more advanced ratings system for you.

Uranium producers are likely to make a strong comeback as they cross over or switch to more lucrative long-term contracts. But, it could be the smaller, but more solid, uranium development companies which could emerge as the preferred investment vehicles, when the bull resumes the next leg of its long run. Now that we have had a shakeout, with possibly another one on the horizon, it is wise to properly evaluate the important merits of the more serious uranium development companies.

Below are some of the key criteria we are using in our ratings system to objectively evaluate uranium companies covered in our new book, “Investing in the Great Uranium Bull Market: A Practical Investor’s Guide to Uranium Stocks.” Please determine if your favorite exploration and/or development company meets these standards. This is one way of obtaining sufficient data to help you form a snapshot of a company’s prospects.

1.Cash Position. The more cash a company has in its treasury, the longer it can survive. Find out if your favorite company has a minimum of $20 million in cash. More than $30 million gives a company some breathing room. Exploration and development are very expensive propositions. Raising money in a down market is very tough.

2.National Instrument 43-101. This independent geological assessment determines how many pounds of uranium a company’s property hosts. While there are flaws with this system, it can be a workable yardstick. Find out if your favorite company has a minimum of 20 million pounds of a NI 43-101-compliant uranium resource. One should consider historical resources inadequate for evaluation purposes. They may also be misleading and open to hyperbole.

3.Pedigree of Known Deposits. Many of the uranium development companies hold properties, which were once held by the minerals or uranium divisions of major oil companies. Some were continuously held, during the 20-year bear market in uranium by one company or another, and then abandoned during the nadir of the drought. Find out if your favorite uranium company’s primary properties were continuously held until 2000 or a bit longer, but before the spot uranium market reversed. The earlier a company acquired its properties, the greater the probability that company got the best ones. Those who came into the game late often got the crumbs.

4.Drill Databases. Those previous land tenants, the major oil companies, who spent tens of millions of dollars drilling the uranium properties, accumulated drill databases. Some companies got the property, but not the drill databases. Some companies bought the drill database as part of their property acquisition. Find out if the company’s primary properties also have the drill database accompanying it. You may be surprised at what you find.

5.Pedigree of Uranium District. There are several premier uranium districts, which have a history of large-scale uranium production: Athabasca, Australia’s Northern Territories or South Australia, Grant’s New Mexico, Wyoming, Kazakhstan, Niger, and Namibia. Find out if your favorite company has holdings in these districts. Some companies have holdings in multiple uranium districts, which may also become recognized as a wise decision by their management.

6.Management’s Technical Experience. There are three categories of uranium experience: exploration geologist, project geologist and mine operations. Find out how much experience your company’s geological team has in each of those three categories. Those with less than 100 man-years of uranium experience behind them may be lacking. Those companies which have strength in all three categories could become the next uranium producers.

7.Political or Environmental Risk of Primary Assets. Finally, you should assess the risk of the company’s primary assets with regards to its location. Primary uranium assets in North America or Australia’s Northern Territories hold the lowest risk. Those companies exploring or developing in Niger, Namibia or Brazil have slightly higher political risk. Companies with prospects in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kazakhstan or Mongolia hold more risk than some investors may wish to tolerate. Areas which forbid mining such as Queensland, Western Australia or the U.S. state of Virginia carry an enormous degree of risk and a Kierkegaardian leap of faith.

Now you can rate your favorite uranium company and use this ratings system to help you sift through the more than 300 potential stocks in which you might have considered investing.

Step 1. Decide on the time frame and the general strategy of the investment. This step is very important because it will dictate the type of stocks you buy.

Suppose you decide to be a long term investor, you would want to find stocks that have sustainable competitive advantages along with stable growth. The key for finding these stocks is by looking at the historical performance of each stock over the past decades and do a simple business S.W.O.T. (Strength-weakness-opportunity-threat) analysis on the company.

If you decide to be a short term investor, you would like to adhere to one of the following strategies:

a. Momentum Trading. This strategy is to look for stocks that increase in both price and volume over the recent past. Most technical analyses support this trading strategy. My advice on this strategy is to look for stocks that have demonstrated stable and smooth rises in their prices. The idea is that when the stocks are not volatile, you can simply ride the up-trend until the trend breaks.

b. Contrarian Strategy. This strategy is to look for over-reactions in the stock market. Researches show that stock market is not always efficient, which means prices do not always accurately represent the values of the stocks. When a company announces a bad news, people panic and price often drops below the stock’s fair value. To decide whether a stock over-reacted to a news, you should look at the possibility of recovery from the impact of the bad news. For example, if the stock drops 20% after the company loses a legal case that has no permanent damage to the business’s brand and product, you can be confident that the market over-reacted. My advice on this strategy is to find a list of stocks that have recent drops in prices, analyze the potential for a reversal (through candlestick analysis). If the stocks demonstrate candlestick reversal patterns, I will go through the recent news to analyze the causes of the recent price drops to determine the existence of over-sold opportunities.

Step 2. Conduct researches that give you a selection of stocks that is consistent to your investment time frame and strategy. There are numerous stock screeners on the web that can help you find stocks according to your needs.

Step 3. Once you have a list of stocks to buy, you would need to diversify them in a way that gives the greatest reward/risk ratio. One way to do this is conduct a Markowitz analysis for your portfolio. The analysis will give you the proportions of money you should allocate to each stock. This step is crucial because diversification is one of the free-lunches in the investment world.

These three steps should get you started in your quest to consistently make money in the stock market. They will deepen your knowledge about the financial markets, and would provide a sense of confidence that helps you to make better trading decisions.