Investment | Options as a Strategic Investment

What Makes a Good Commercial Real Estate Brokerage House?

Jan 112010

A commercial real estate brokerage, or real estate brokerage house, is a firm designed to assist clients in their commercial real estate transactions. You will find various services available at a commercial real estate brokerage. Some specialize in a specific facet of real estate, such as office, retail or industrial properties. Some offer leasing only while others are strictly investment, and then there are those that offer both commercial leasing and investment. However, a quality brokerage house will have some level of all services available to a client.

It is suggested that a client look for a commercial real estate brokerage house that provides multiple levels of service. Some of those service levels include:

INVESTMENT & USER ACQUISITION: Buyers are represented by the commercial real estate brokerage with the goal of best location, price and terms.

•Determination of Client needs.

•Compilation of properties that meet acquisition criteria.

•Identification of those properties that best meet established goals.

INVESTMENT SALES: Owners are represented by Arizona commercial real estate brokerage with the goal of maximizing asset value.

•Aggressive, credible, strategic pricing.

•Preparation of custom designed marketing materials.

•Qualification of prospects.

LANDLORD REPRESENTATION: Landlords are represented by Arizona Commercial with the goal of maximizing net operating income.

•Market planning assistance.

•Marketing plan formulation and preparation of materials for print and web.

•Presentation to local, regional and national tenant prospects.

•Brokerage community meetings, mailings, personal presentation.

•Tenant qualification.

TENANT REPRESENTATION: Tenants are represented by Arizona Commercial with the goal of top sites and the best economic terms.

•Determination of Client needs

•Financial analysis of prospective locations

The reason you want a real estate brokerage that offers all of these services is so that they can grow with you, and it is also an indication of their level of commercial real estate knowledge.

For instance, if you start a business and are looking for a new location you will want to have your commercial real estate broker knowledgeable in retail leasing. Then as years pass, you might find that you need a manufacturing location that is also suited for a shipping facility. If your brokerage house has a wider range of services available, they will be able to assist you in this.

Then if a few years later your operation has grown to a point where you need to build a custom facility that can handle manufacturing and shipping, and that can also facilitate administrative offices and a retail storefront, then you will be entering into a new real estate field. This field would be called “built-to-suit,” land investment and development, or investment sales (depending on what was available and what option was right for you).

By dealing with a commercial real estate brokerage house who offers these services, you most likely would not have to search for a new broker each time your business grew. You would already be working with a company that was familiar with the markets in which you’re entering, and best of all, would already know you. This would lend to a certain level of comfort and trust in the transaction process that was already established from previous projects.

The Complete Investment Book: Trading Stocks, Bonds, and Options With Computer Applications (404p) (Paperback)

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Jan 092010

No description for this product could be found, but have a look over at Amazon for reviews and other information.

Changes Coming To The Djia?

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Jan 042010

Are changes coming soon to the Dow Jones Industrial Average Components?By my reckoning, there currently are 5 DJIA Components of the 30 total trading under $10/share: Alcoa (AA), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), General Electric (GE), and General Motors (GM). Are changes to the Index imminent, and what are likely replacements?In my view, it would be highly unlikely that GE would be removed from the DJIA, as it is the ONLY of the original 12 companies from 1896 that is still in the Index. This is also why we have written in the past on the important effect of GE’s stock performance on overall market psychology — to some degree, it really is THE bellweather of bellweathers, regardless of the fact that somehow over the years GE basically became a finance/investment company with an industrial side business (this benefited their bottom line for many, many years but now is adding potential risk and downside pressure).It also seems unlikely that AA would be removed, and I’m sure that Dow Jones would dread at removing GM … but if the stock goes to 0, what are they to do but replace it? BAC and C seem likeliest that at least one will be soon removed. According to various sources, if GM, BAC, and C all dropped to zero at this point, the DJIA would only lose about 70 points. However, I would assume if one or more does go ‘worthless”, it will HAVE to be replaced eventually to keep the Dow at 30 stocks.The last changes to the DJIA were September 22, 2008, with Kraft Foods (KFT) replacing American International Group (AIG) and February 19, 2008 when Chevron (CVX) and Bank of America (BAC) replacing Altria Group (MO) and Honeywell (HON).Let’s look at some of the top market capitilization names currently to see what are potential DJIA additions in 2009. China Mobile (CHL) or another Chinese company would actually be somewhat logical due to the changing demographics of world economics, but this Index covers American companies only so that is a definite NO … unless that rule is altered in the future. Could Warren Buffett’s Berkshire-Hathaway (BRK-A) be a possibility? I would say that is also very unlikely due to the fact that BRK is basically a holding company/index/mutual fund in itself, with holdings in a wide variety of sectors.Now to some more likely possibilities in the over $25 Billion Market Cap list:In the Biotech/Pharma/Healthcare/Medical sectors, we have Genentech (DNA), Abbott Labs (ABT), Amgen (AMGN), Bristol-Myers (BMY), Eli Lilly (LLY) and even Medtronic (MDT) … in my view the Index may want to increase its Biotechnology exposure, as it has little outside of its Pharmaceutical names.There also are several giant Technology names that many are speculating could be added to the DJIA, including Google (GOOG), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Apple (AAPL), Oracle (ORCL) Qualcomm (QCOM) and Amazon (AMZN). But note that the DJIA has historically been hesistant on adding tech names. Other +$25 Billion Market Cap names that jump out to me as possible additions include Visa (V), Monsanto (MON), Goldman Sachs (GS) and United Parcel Services (UPS). These are a bit more of the traditional type companies that Dow Jones generally prefers.Bottom line, if the DJIA is basically forced to make 3 moves, a logical conclusion I could see would be 1 Biotechnology name, 1 Technology name, and 1 of the more traditional names mentioned above. However this is a tight, concentrated index that traditionally has remained fairly conservative and attempts to stick somewhat to the “Industrial” part of the name — so they may go with no Technology or Biotechnology — but on the other hand, it also needs to be relevant as a privately owned investment product and a market bellweather. Moby Waller,BigTrends.com

How Might the 2008 Market Crash End?

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Jan 032010

The stock market crash of 2008 is the worst that the world has ever seen in terms of the number of points erased from the major indices. At its lowest point to date, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost a historical 6749 points! To put this into perspective, the 2001 to 2003 bear market merely erased 4153 points off the Dow. In fact, many veteran economists and investors swear that this is the worst economic and stock market crisis since the Great Depression with unemployment rate already higher than the peak unemployment rate of the last crisis (according to unemployment rate of Oct 2008).
With the gloom spreading across the world, this market crisis has evolved into a global economic crisis with major firms collapsing like they didn’t exist the day before. This has further affected investor confidence in stocks and shares and worsened the stock market crisis. Even options traders who has the ability to profit in every market conditions found it hard to make consistently high profits through options trading due to the extreme volatility. One question repeatedly hit the wires… when and how will this stock market crash end?
First and foremost, the stock market cannot go down to zero. All the companies in the world cannot collapse completely. It didn’t happen during the great depression and it won’t happen this time round, so, don’t worry about that. The question next is; where is the bottom? As the saying goes, it’s always darkest before dawn. This saying has been vindicated time and again during the past few crises. During the last crisis, the stock market started recovering when most investors think that the market is doomed and when economic numbers are at its worst. This is because the stock market is a discounting mechanism, not a reporting mechanism! It moves ahead of the real economy and according to future expectations. That is why stock market bottoms are usually marked by a multi-year low economic numbers. So, which economic number is most reliable in putting a bottom to the stock market?
Unemployment rate.
Unemployment rate is the first and last indicator that convinces investors of the state of the economy. During the last stock market crisis in 2003, the stock market starting recovering when unemployment rate peaked at 6.3%. During the 1973 to 1975 stock market crisis, the stock market started recovering when unemployment rate peaked at 9% in 1975. The great depression also ended in 1932 after unemployment rate peaked at 23.6%. From the past stock market crises, I observed that the stock market has turned around before the economy does as soon as unemployment rate hit a peak.
In fact, a combination of a reversal in unemployment following a peak and the recovery in the stock market definitely points towards pending economic recovery. Why is unemployment rate such a good economic and stock market indicator? That’s because companies don’t start hiring more unless they have the potential to make more money with these hiring! There will always come a point in every economic depression when companies that have survived would find unique opportunities and low prices that were not available before. These companies would rush in on these opportunities, hire more and spur the economy upwards again.
The only question is, how do we tell if the unemployment rate has hit a peak?
This is a question that baffles even the most veteran of economists. In an economic crisis, every time unemployment rate looks like it cannot go any higher, higher it goes the next month. As such, most investors and options traders would not know where the peak is until it unemployment rate starts coming down again and missed the initial recovery of the stock market. As such, during this market crisis, I would be watching unemployment rate very closely right now as it moves higher than the last crisis. Every time a higher number is hit, I would watch for accumulation in the stock market. So far, the stock market has not accumulated with each higher unemployment rate number. As soon as it does, I would certainly be more conservative and enter using hedged long positions through options trading so that it I am wrong, I don’t get hurt.
This stock market crisis is going to end like all the rest have with peak unemployment rate number and I am going to be watching it like a hawk and be ready for it.

Fundamentals Of Technical Analysis

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Jan 022010

Technical analysis was truly an arcane art before the internet boom. Chartists perform technical analysis in their secret rooms with data that was carefully collected from professional sources. Those were the times when stock prices and data did not have a medium through which to be readily available to the public and be ran through publicly available software to produce the charts that are available today.
Today, with internet in almost every household, technical analysis became an art anyone could practice. Complex charts, technical indicators and analysis that was once the sole domain of a few highly paid wallstreet analysts are now available to anyone who wants it, often for free.
Technical analysis also became linked to short term aggressive trading instruments such as stock options and futures because of its excellent short term predictive nature.
With technical analysis this popular, I feel obligated to teach you once and for all everything you need to know about how to conduct proper technical analysis before you start looking at your first chart. A lot of amateurs fail at technical analysis simply because they didn’t have the necessary basic knowledge to understand how to interpret technical indications properly in the first place. With the knowledge in this article, you will definite experience more success at technical analysis.
Summary of Technical Analysis Basics
2 Principles of Technical Analysis: Significance, Prudence
2 Key Tools: Charts, Indicators
2 Key Components: Price, Volume
5 Key Concepts: Resistance, Support, Trend, Patterns, Setups
2 Principles of Technical Analysis: Significance, Prudence
The two principles of technical analysis are the most important foundation in understanding technical analysis and interpreting technical analysis properly. Too many amateurs misinterpret technical indications simply because they did not understand these two simple principles. This is also the only part in this tutorial that addresses the mental aspect of technical analysis and should be clearly understood before moving on. The two principles of technical analysis are Significance and Prudence.
Technical Analysis Principle #1: Significance
Significance refers to the degree that a technical indication is true. Take breakout and reversal signals for example. Does a 0.5% close above a resistance level indicate a breakout? Does a 1% reversal in a bearish stock that has fallen more than 40% indicate a reversal? No. The degree of significance for both cases is just too weak. Most technical analysis beginners who do not understand the principle of significance would take a small fake out as a breakout and then act on the wrong stocks. The judgment of significance is, however, a matter of experience. How much of a breakout represents a significant breakout? How much of a reversal represents a significant reversal and how big a candle represents a strong morning star signal? The judgment of significance is something you need to acquire and refine as you put more years behind your ears.
Technical Analysis Principle #2: Prudence
Prudence refers to the ability to say “No” when in doubt. Technical analysis is more of an art than a science. This is because even though technical indications are scientifically generated, the interpretation of technical indications is highly subjective. You are going to experience many marginal or doubtful moments in technical analysis. Technical signals that “almost made it” as well as technical signals that are “neither here nor there”. Those are the times to exercise the technical analysis principle of Prudence and to make the most conservative interpretation. When a signal is marginal, you should always exercise prudence by giving benefit of the doubt to disqualifying the signal. When a significant breakout signal is produced after a huge drawdown, you should exercise prudence by waiting for further confirmation or enter the position gradually over a few days.
2 Key Tools: Charts, Indicators
Technical Analysis Key Tool #1: Charts
Chart reading is the most fundamental tool in technical analysis and is also why technical analysis is frequently referred to as “Chartology”. Before the popularization of the internet, during the age where analysts still read tapes, technical analysts have to obtain stock quotes from “secret sources” and then plot them down on huge chart papers in their secret rooms. What then is a chart? A chart is simply a plot of the stock prices made into a curve. A chart’s basic function is to show the TREND of a stock’s price action. Without a chart, a stock closing at a price of $50 has no meaning at all. With a chart, you can clearly see the price action trend down from $100 to $50, giving investors the first indication of where the future price action of that stock might be. In the beginning, charts are plotted merely as a single line joining the prices together. Recently, with more and more powerful computers and software, more innovative and informative plotting methods like candlesticks, bar charts and point and figure charts are developed and made easily available through the internet. No matter what type of chart you look at, the only aim is to provide an indication of where the future movement of the stock might be. Another important aspect of charts is “Chart Patterns”. Different types of charting method can produce easily recognizable patterns and formations that can be associated with certain future expectations. Popular chart patterns include “morning stars” in candlestick charting, “double top breakout” in point and figure charting and “double bottom” formation.
Technical Analysis Key Tool #2: Indicators
Technical Indicators are the other key tool in technical analysis. Technical indicators are graphical representations of various mathematical formulas based on the stock price and transaction volume. The are literally thousands of technical indicators out there and more are being developed daily as new finance theories are translated into mathematical formulas every day. Technical indicators’ main function is to tell when a stock is considered oversold or overbought and when a stock is considered weak or strong relative to its past action. There are literally endless amount of formulas that can be used to provide those indications, hence the endless number of technical indicators. Because there are so many different technical indicators out there, beginners should start with a few well known and widely used ones as those tends to be used by institutional investors as well. It can be argued that the effectiveness of a technical indicator lies in its popularity. The more investors acting on the same indicator, the stronger the predictive nature of the indicator becomes. A self fulfilling prophecy? Maybe.
2 Key Components: Price, Volume
Surprisingly, so many different charting methods and technical indicators used in technical analysis all stems from the same 2 key components, Price and Volume. The price and volume of a stock are the only two publicly available information pertaining to that stock. Out of its price and volume, stock charts and technical indicators are created. Candlestick and bar charts are constructed out of the opening price, closing price as well as high and low prices. Relative Strength Index is created out of the price as well as volume of a stock compared against its historical data.
5 Key Concepts: Resistance, Support, Trend, Patterns, Setups
The 5 key concepts of technical analysis are the 5 most important analytical methods in technical analysis. Understanding all 5 are critical to the mastery of technical analysis. All 5 key concepts work together to help technical analysts predict future stock movement and know when to buy or sell a stock. Of particular importance is the ability to tell when to buy or sell a stock. This is the kind of information that fundamental analysis will not provide.
Technical Analysis Key Concept #1: Resistance Level
A resistance level is a price level at which most investors sells a particular stock at, resulting in the stock falling every time that price level is hit. It acts almost like a brick ceiling from which the stock falls down every time it hits its head on it. Resistance levels are identified from reading price charts, particularly point and figure charts. It is a level which you might want to at least take some profit off the table. Even though resistance levels make excellent selling points, a breakout of a resistance level does spur a stock strongly to upside, creating an excellent buying opportunity. When anticipating resistance level breakouts, it is important to apply the 2 key principles of technical analysis outlined above.
Technical Analysis Key Concept #2: Support Level
A support level is a price level at which most investors BUYS a particular stock at, resulting in the stock rising every time that price level is hit. Support levels are the reverse of resistance levels and acts almost like a trampoline on which the stock rebounds every time it lands on it. Support levels are also identified from reading price charts and is a level where you might consider buying a stock at, especially when a stock hits a correction. Even though support levels make excellent buying points, a breakdown of a support level does spur a stock down a lot more. This is why the 2 key principles of technical analysis are important when timing an entry using support levels.
Technical Analysis Key Concept #3: Trend
The main objective of looking at the trend of a stock through price charts is the anticipation that the trend is going to continue going in the same direction generally. It is like buying fashion that conforms to the current trend. If no other information is available, an investor looking at a price chart would always have a better feel of where a stock is going than an investor looking merely at a closing price, right? Of course, no trends go on and on forever. This is where technical indicators come in to provide an indication of how strong or weak a trend is.
Technical Analysis Key Concept #4: Patterns
Chart Patterns are shapes formed by price charts. Some popular chart patterns are “Double Bottoms” and “Head and Shoulder Formation”. They are so named based on the shape formed by a price chart. These easily recognizable patterns provide an interpretation on what investors are expecting the stock price to head towards. Double Bottoms typically indicate a reversal and head and shoulder formations typically indicate a switch to a bear trend. There are a ton of chart patterns out there and all needs to be interpreted in conjunction with the right technical indicators while applying the 2 key principles of technical analysis.
Technical Analysis Key Concept #5: Setups
Setups are specific patterns formed by using different charting methods. A morning star setup using candlesticks charting may not show up as a buying signal in a point and figure chart. This is why different charting methods need to be used to cross check buying or selling setups produced by one charting method. A setup is a lot more specific than a chart pattern. A chart patterns tells you where a stock might be heading and a setup tells you when you can buy or sell a stock. Setups need to be interpreted together with the other key concepts while applying the technical analysis principles. A buying setup occurring at support levels or a selling setup occurring at resistance levels makes the setups more convincing.
Fundamentals of Technical Analysis – Conclusion
All the fundamentals of technical analysis needs to be used together like all parts of a car, nothing can be left out if you want to be successful with technical analysis. So far, you might notice that technical analysis has the ability to precisely time entries and exits on high probability stocks. This is also what makes technical analysis so important to options trading. Trading Stock options requires the stock in question to move as expected quickly in order to reduce the effects of time decay and to maximize profits. I hope this article has been useful to you as you start your journey in trading and to your future success.

Portfolio Management Art Of War

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Jan 012010

It’s been a long and hard decade…
Having been managing investment portfolios and accounts for the past decade both professionally and personally, me, like an army of other portfolio managers out there, are not only looking for the perfect trading system, but also the perfect way to manage an investment account.
Indeed, there are whole bombardments of theories of risk management and portfolio management out there that it is mind boggling. There are risk management concepts that attempt to govern each investment trade and position sizing based on complex probability calculations and there are even concepts that were born in Las Vegas, claiming what high stake poker gamblers do. The problem with these concepts is that they are mainly mathematical concepts that took the human factor out of the game completely.
Let’s face it, if you have ever managed a portfolio or an investment account, you will know that it is never as simple or left to chance as a game of poker and it is never as mechanical and emotionless as the mathematical calculations claim.
After a decade of thinking along these lines, I realized that these portfolio management concepts are important but there must be something on top of these that must govern the mind that executes these concepts. This “Meta Program” must be the “Operating System” in the mind of the portfolio manager and rule the way the portfolio manager or trader looks at a portfolio or investment account. With such a “Meta Program” in mind, the portfolio manager will be able assess changes in a portfolio or investment account in the right light and to behave in ways that are appropriate to the prevailing situation.
Here I present my personal “Meta Program” called the Portfolio Management Art of War.
Every Investor, Trader, Fund Manager or Portfolio Manager is an Emperor or King of his or her own trading Empire. Your Empire exists in a world that is engulfed and consumed in an eternal warfare. This world is called the Exchange (stock, forex, commodity or whatever exchange you are involved in.).
The boundaries and resources of your Empire are defined by the size of your Fund. Some Kings have bigger territories and some have smaller ones but all are driven by the common need to survive in the Exchange by expanding their territories and boundaries.
As a King, your mandate in the Exchange is to find ways and means to expand your Empire over time. If that cannot be done, you will soon find that you might not be the King of this Empire for very long.
In order to expand one’s territory, one must lead one’s Empire into war against the rest of the Exchange. Some Kings are more aggressive and some, more conservative. Regardless of level of aggression, every King’s resources must be committed in various ways into battle against the Exchange. Every winning battle expands the King’s territory and every losing battle loses part of the Empire and the boundaries shrinks. Some King has a target boundary size but know that as long as you remain a King, you will one day be drawn into battle against the Exchange again. The war in the Exchange is eternal.
In order to battle in the Exchange, every King must have a Strategy. Some splits one’s army up into many squads which fights independently and some engages in a total war against the Exchange with the whole Empire leaving only very little backup. Some organizes one’s army into many functional squads, with some squads fighting more aggressively and some squads fighting more conservatively. This Strategy is called the Portfolio Management System that the King chooses to adopt. Each squad then fights using specific Tactics called Trading Systems.
How a King chooses his Strategy and Tactic depends largely on the part of the Exchange that a King chooses to fight in. Every part of the Exchange (Forex or commodity or equity etc..) has its own unique characteristics and rules of engagement which the King must be thoroughly familiar with.
Every time a King sends forward a squad to do battle in the Exchange by drawing upon his Empire and placing a position in the Exchange, it must always be held in mind that there is no guarantee that you will ever see that brave general that was being sent forth again. If the squad loses, you lose a part of your Empire to the Exchange. Therefore you must take very frequent look at the overall map of your Empire (which should always be pinned up prominently in your war room.) and monitor how far back the Exchange has taken your Empire before thinking about and making your next move. If the squad wins, that general expands your Empire farther into the Exchange. That gives you more resources and more troops to wage your next battle. The King must then decide how these new resources are to be deployed… shall he assign the new troops into his existing squads? Should the King hold the new troops and resources back as backup for future battles? Should the King expand on the number of squads using the new troops? Strategic deployment of these resources could turn the tide of the entire war.
Before a King sends a squad forward, he must first assess the capability of the General that is to lead this assault. This is your Research. If you are highly confident that this General will win the battle, should you give him more troops so that he can claim more territory? If you are slightly less confident of that General, should you cut back on his troop or hold back the assault altogether?
Finally, if your Empire has been compromised and the Exchange has claimed a significant portion of it, is it time you consider a change in Strategy and Tactics? Even if the Exchange has claimed a large portion of your Empire, you might still be able to wage a series of battles so successful that you could probably claim the Empire that you started with and maybe even more, like so many famous Kings and Generals in the world. So, even if your Empire has taken a rough hit, it is not time to surrender yet. You are the King. If you give up, the whole Empire falls.
With this “Meta Program” in mind, you will be able to apply many of the famous art of war and their centuries of wisdom on top of the modern finance techniques that you have learnt in order to have even more certain survivability for a long time to come.
Every King needs a tactical map. I have made one such map which you can use for free in order to have a strategic overview of your Empire and help you keep the metaphor in mind at
http://www.mastersoequity.com/metamap.htm
For everything you want to know about option trading, please visit http://www.optiontradingpedia.com

Ranked 3 Forex Trader at Barclays and 1st for Sharp Ratio for the Year in Currency Trader Magazine

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Dec 292009

OurRanked 3 Forex Trader at Barclays and 1st for Sharp Ratio for the Year in Currency Trader Magazine

Hello, hope all is well. My name is Dana O’Keefe; I am a senior account executive with Boston Trading and Research (BTR). We at BTR work with High Net Worth individuals, Pension Funds, Asset Management Firms, Hedge Funds, Investment Consultants worldwide helping them and their clients achieve great returns on their investments.

Formed by a hardened core of FOREX industry veterans, BTR has positioned itself on the cutting edge of the foreign exchange market, the biggest market in the World! A daily volume over $3 trillion USD traded.

FX MANAGED ACCOUNTS:

Our most popular product is called the FX-Platinum managed account program; Client’s funds allocated to this service will be managed by our head trader, D. A, a highly experienced FOREX trader from Boston. He has been trading currency futures and options for over 16 years and has worked as a chief trader and head of different trading desks of various notable banks throughout Europe. With his remarkable professional experience as a trader and financial consultant, our trader has developed a highly successful and remarkably consistent FOREX trading strategy.

His conservative day trading strategy combined with a low-risk approach to money management can provide a very attractive return on investment and long-term capital growth prospects. The minimum opening deposit required to open a managed account is: $20,000 USD.

Features:

- FX-Platinum: 30% draw down and target 6-8% per month

- Investors have 24/7 real time online access to their accounts

- Investors receive real time email alerts for every trade executed

- Investors can make deposits at any point and time of the month. Withdrawals can be made once a month for any amount as long as the account balance does not fall under $20,000.

With a conservative profit target our Platinum managed accounts delivered the follow monthly average gross profits: *

October-2006: 12.18%

November-2006: 10.06%

December-2006: 06.95%

January-2007: 10.45%

February-2007: 07.78%

March-2007: 07.81%

April-2007: 07.06%

May-2007: 07.29%

June-2007: 06.54%

July-2007: 05.77%

August-2007: 08.12%

September-2007: 08.10%

October-2007: 08.17%

November-2007: 05.56%

December-2007: 05.66%

January-2008: 05.52%

Feburary-2008: 05.15%

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS. PRICES CAN GO DOWN AS WELL AS UP. THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT RISK INVOLVED IN FX TRADING. CONDITIONS CAN VARY FROM CLIENT TO CLIENT, AND THEREFORE INFLUENCE PERFORMANCE. *UNAUDITED.

Call and ask for Dana O’Keefe.

Best regards,

Dana O’Keefe

Forex Broker

Boston Trading and Research

www.BTRFX.com

To open accounts email or call 24 hours a day at:

Dana.Okeefe@btrfx.com

Office Phone: 617-292-2827

Fax: 617-292-2826

Skype ID: Forex-king

Boston Trading and Research LLC (“BTR”) will introduce qualified customer accounts to Maximum Financial Investment Group, Inc. (“Maximum Financial”), a registered broker-dealer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and member firm of FINRA. Maximum Financial will act as counterparty in all transactions for accounts introduced by BTR. This means that clients will buy and sell foreign currencies in transactions with Maximum Financial as principal.

Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to invest in foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.

How to Develop a Good Investment Strategy

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Dec 142009

Every person reading this article will be living, working and investing in different circumstances, with mind boggling possibilities for variation.For example:

However, very few of us get to start full time investing right away – we just don’t have the capital. So, what to do? You need to develop your own long term Investment Plan – one that will allow you make changes in your circumstances and lifestyle. Every plan must be different, and your plan needs to be flexible. Here are some principles that you can use to develop your own plan:

Remember: those who fail to plan plan to fail. The cliche is old, but truth remains!

To learn more about developing your own investment plan, have a look at this page.

A Trading Strategy That Consistently Beats All Major Indexes

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Dec 132009

Are you looking to outperform the market and optimize your profits but are not sure how to pick the right stocks? Has investing become a chore? Do you find yourself investing in hot stocks after they have made their big move? Would you like to learn how I increased my portfolio by over 400% in under 7 years? Do you want to discover how I have outperformed the market over the past 3 years by a margin of 5 to 1?

Do You Hate Research? . . . I do!

I have always wanted to find an investment strategy that made sense. An investment strategy in which I do not need to know the intricacies of the market, predict market trends or follow specific stocks. How can I get the inside information of what is hot before the rest of the market knows? I can’t. Nor do I need to.

Plus, I don’t have that kind of time to commit to in-depth research. Like you, I have a regular job that I need to devote my time to. I am not a day trader; nor do I want to spend all of my free time on the computer doing research. Always following the stock market and getting stock quotes is not how I want to spend my free time.

I Avoid Individual Stocks . . . they are too unreliable!

Everybody wants to buy low and sell high. While millions of people do make money this way (and many millions loose money), I have found an easier and more effective way to use the market to my advantage. I do not trade in stocks. I do what I can to avoid individual stocks. And I consistently beat the market . . . month after month after month.

If not stocks, what’s the alternative?

Like many people, I got heavily involved in the stock market in the mid to late Nineties. Tech stocks were going through the roof and I, like everybody else, wanted a part of the action. It seemed an easy way to make money. Everybody was getting rich. You did not need a special investment strategy to beat the market.

During this time, I engrossed myself in the financial markets. I wanted to learn as much as I could without giving up my day job. I was trying to find the next best tech stock, IPOs and the occasional pre-IPO offering. But it was not until I discovered options trading that I discovered an investment strategy (The Yager Trading Strategy) that can work in any kind of market . . . Bull, Bear or stagnant.

That’s right…OPTION trading!

And I am not talking about stock options or writing covered calls. Options trading…I started selling options on S&P futures, using different methods and trading strategies. And I did well. VERY well.

Between July 1998 and January 2000 (a span of 18 months), from my option trading system, I turned an initial $25,000 investment into $167,615. That’s over 670% increase. And this was not paper money where you buy a stock and it has a certain listed value. This was real, taxed income. Profits collected on a monthly basis.

Market fluctuations and volatility have diminished greatly since then…reducing the premiums. Those types of returns are no longer available, but the option trading strategy is still very sound. I still consistently beat the market. Even the years the DJIA, Nasdaq and S&P were all down, I posted more than a 22% gain.

Learn the option trading strategy or see how to make money with this strategy. I describe the strategy and show actual recent trades on www.yagerinvesting.com. The information is FREE. No subscription required. This is a method for risk capital only.

For the preceding 12 months (May ’06 through April ’07) this is how my strategy, The Yager Trading Strategy, performed:

DJIA……………………..20.3%

NASDAQ………………..14.7%

S & P 500………………..17.3%

Yager Trading Strategy….32.2%

Learn the strategy for FREE.

http://www.yagerinvesting.com

adam@yagerinvesting.com

Are Futures Riskier Than Options

Option Trading No Responses »

Dec 132009

Let’s face it, derivative trading is risky. Period.
Derivatives such as futures and options are leverage instruments and by virtue of being leverage instruments, derivatives inherently carry more risk and exposure than pure and simple stock trading. Leverage instruments are risky because leverage allows you to do more with the same amount of money than you would normally be able to. Yes, leverage instruments such as futures and options have the potential to generate over 10 times more profit on the same move on the price of a stock than just buying the stock itself.
What most beginners to derivatives trading do not take into consideration is the fact that leverage is a double edged sword. Just as it could help you generate over 10 times more profits on the same move, it could also incur as much losses should the stock move against your favor. This is also why many beginners to futures or options trading lose their shirts so quickly and go broke.
So, why is futures and options trading still so popular then?
Very simply, most beginners with only a small fund and wants to build up a significant fund quickly could not depend on simple stock trading for a start. They need more leverage and they can afford to take more risk since the amount at stake is usually pretty small. With this in mind, the only question that remains is, which is safer for beginners? Futures or Options?
To determine which is riskier, we need to ascertain certain the qualities that constitutes “Risk”. For derivative instruments, the main qualities that constitute trading risk are: Leverage, Liability, Liquidity and Versatility (fulfillment obligation is usually not a concern in trading as traders rarely hold till expiration).
Liquidity in the stock futures and stock options market is definitely lower than the stocks themselves but is enough for the trading purpose of retail beginners and shall be excluded in this discussion.
Leverage
Leverage of futures and options is the multiplication effect on your money versus buying the underlying stock itself. We shall not go into detailed discussion on how leverage is being calculated for futures and options here. It suffices to know that the higher the leverage, the higher your potential profits and losses becomes. Leverage in futures is a lot higher than the leverage in stock options due to the much higher lot size and low margin requirement. This makes futures trading riskier than options trading in terms of potential losses due to leverage.
Find out how leverage is calculated in options trading at http://www.optiontradingpedia.com/options_leverage.htm .
Liability
Liability here means the maximum amount of loss you bear when things go wrong. Yes, we all make wrong investment decisions all the time and derivative trading is no exception. When you buy stock options, the maximum loss you can sustain is the amount of money you used in purchasing those stock options. When things go wrong, those stock options become worthless and you can lose no more than that. However, in futures trading, you are exposed to unlimited liability and will be made to top up your trading account with the daily loss amount in what is called a “Margin Call”. As long as your position continues to go south, you continue to top up your losses until you go broke or the stock gets to the bottom. Either way, you could have lost all your fortune in one go. That risk along with the fact that you have higher leverage in futures trading makes futures trading a lot riskier than options trading.
Versatility
Versatility here refers to the ability to profit in more than one direction. Logic says that if you can profit in more than one direction, risk is much lower than when you can only profit in one direction, right? Yes, stock options trading is highly versatile as there are options strategies that can be created to profit from 2 or more directions! Futures trading is basically single directional. You are either the short or the long. Never both, unless used in combination with the underlying stock, which increases capital requirement and defeats the purpose of leverage.
Get a full list of Options Strategies at http://www.optiontradingpedia.com/options_strategy_library.htm .
In conclusion, futures trading is riskier than options trading for the retail beginner to derivatives trading because of higher leverage, unlimited liability and lower versatility. This is also why options trading is slowly taking over as the derivative instrument of choice for the beginner derivatives trader. To learn all about options trading, please visit http://www.optiontradingpedia.com .

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