Options Trading - What You Need To Know To Succeed

Options - Options 101

Trading shares of stock has become as common as surfing the Internet. But, like any financial investment, trading stock is risky. The price can fall unexpectedly and stay down for lengthy periods. To offset that risk, and to trade with more funds than you have without borrowing, options are... well, an option.

An option is a contract giving the investor the right to buy or sell some instrument at a given price on or before a stated date.

Options contracts are written on all sorts of underlying assets: real property, stocks, bonds, even movie screenplays. (Though the latter trade on a rather different sort of exchange...)

The basic idea is simple. Invest a (relatively) small sum today, to control something worth a larger amount today. Bet that the price will move in a given direction before a certain date, then sell and pocket the difference.

For example, suppose Google shares are selling at $400 per share. But buying 1,000 shares of GOOG (the symbol for Google stock) at $400 each would cost $400,000. That's a substantial investment of cash, one beyond the means of the average investor.

Even buying on margin (borrowing) would typically get you only half the way there. Most stock brokers will lend their clients only up to 50% of the total cost. (There are laws restricting them, in any case.)

But, you can still 'own' 1,000 shares of GOOG. Simply buy an option at, say, $20 per share (the 'premium'). Now your investment is $20,000 - hefty, but within reach. (That's called 'leverage' - controlling more than you own.)

Every option has an expiration date - the date by which the investor must 'exercise his option', i.e. execute a decision to buy/sell the instrument or lose his invested money. Depending on the underlying asset, and other factors, the date can be anywhere from a day to several months hence.

Options also have a strike price - the price at which the underlying instrument has to be bought or sold when exercising the option.

Continuing the example, suppose the option for GOOG expires in 30 days and has a strike price of $410. The break-even price would be $410 + $20 = $430 per share. At this point, you are 'under water' by $30 per share x 1,000 shares = $30,000. Ouch!

(Note: 'Under water' is - obviously - not the same amount as your investment. It's the amount you have to rise to reach break-even.)

But, three weeks pass and Google announces some good news about earnings. The price per share rises to $440. Now you can exercise your option ('close your position') and sell.

The options contract price has increased as well, to $25. Your profit is: ($25-$20) x 1,000 = $5,000. (Ignoring broker fees.) Not bad. That's a 25% profit on a $20,000 investment. (Of course, prices fall as well. More on risk and hedging strategies later.)

Options aren't for everyone. They're more complicated (though not too much), riskier, and generally involve shorter term trades and the requirement to watch the market more closely.

But note that purchasing the options contract did NOT involve investing 5% ($20/$400 x 100%) and borrowing 95% of the funds. Options contracts are a straight investment of funds, not a broker loan.

If the price goes in the predicted direction before expiration, you make money. Otherwise, you lose (some or all of) your investment.

As with any investment, do your homework. Make sure you understand how options work and what the relative risks are. In particular, study the market for that type of underlying instrument. Throwing darts blindly is the least successful options trading strategy.

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What Is A Bond?

What Is A Bond?

Have you ever found yourself short of cash and wanted to buy something today? You tell yourself, if you just had a faster computer you could learn more and get things done much quicker, leaving more time for other productive activities. Ever borrowed the needed money then paid it back with interest, say by using a credit card?

So do most commercial enterprises. Like you, businesses have only so much cash - working capital - to buy equipment, pay for research and a thousand other items that could be used to improve productivity. Raising productivity lowers costs and increases their income (revenue).

When businesses need to borrow, though, they have more choices than the average person. Like you, they can get a straight bank loan - but they can also 'float stock' (i.e. issue shares of ownership in the business) or issue bonds.

Bonds are a form of loan, made by bondholders to a company. They're issued with a fixed face value (usually in increments of $1,000), interest rate (the 'coupon rate') and maturity date.

The face value is what an investor pays to acquire them, receiving interest payments at specified intervals - traditionally every six months. On a certain (maturity) date, five years from the date of issue, or two, ten, thirty - the number varies - the initial amount (the 'principal') is paid back in full.

For various reasons - most of them associated with the vagaries of human interest in news stories - bonds are much less well known or understood by the average investor. Even so, the bond market is much larger.

The world total amount of outstanding bond debt has been estimated at $33 trillion, with the U.S. portion about half that. Much of that is government borrowing, who are among the largest issuers. The total equities (stock) market is roughly $20 trillion, with the NYSE (about 1/2 the U.S. total) at $8.5 trillion.

Comparing by daily trading volumes, US Treasury Securities alone are around $360 billion per day. The U.S. equity markets trade only around $50 billion per day. Both of these pale in comparison to the Foreign Exchange market that averages $1.5 trillion in transactions every day.

Bonds may get less press, but they offer investors several attractive features.

As a shareholder, the risk of loss of capital is much greater. In the event of bankruptcy, owners get paid after bondholders. Also, stock prices tend to be much more volatile - change more rapidly, more unexpectedly and with larger price swings.

Tax considerations play a larger role in bond investing. Many countries, states and municipalities issue bonds - often tax free. That means such interest payments received aren't taxed as, say, corporate stock dividends (or corporate bonds) are.

Bonds have the added advantage of having much more objective, calculable properties. Because of their inherent tie to general market interest rates and their set maturity dates, their future price and the worth of their present coupon rates in the future are safer to predict.

For example, if interest rates are currently 4% and the investor owns an 8% bond, that instrument will sell today at a much higher price than the original face value. Sorry, it's not quite so simple as double the original price.

The ability to calculate, with higher probability, the likely future value of bonds makes investing in them much more science and much less gambling art.

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Penny Stocks

Penny Stocks

Penny stocks are low-priced stocks – usually with a value of less than $5 – of small companies. These stocks are traded on the Over-The-Counter-Bulletin-Board (OTCBB) and the Pink Sheets. Both these trading venues do not have the same kind of minimum requirements of exchanges such as Nasdaq or the NYSE set by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Companies which issue penny stocks may be new businesses or close to bankruptcy. A new issue of stocks could be a way to inject quick capital to try to save the business.

All of these factors – low price, lack of standards, and lack of stability – make penny stocks one of the riskiest investments around. It is true that if a company succeeds the payoff will be great, but the vast majority of penny stocks end in bankruptcy. Other reasons why penny stocks are risky include...

Lack of information about the company. Companies listed in the Pink Sheets or the OTCBB do not have to issue financial statements. Most companies also have little reportable history.

Low liquidity. Penny stocks are infrequently traded, so finding a buyer may be difficult. The price may have to lowered substantially to interest someone in buying the stock.

Potential fraud. Due to their unregulated nature, penny stocks are often used by con artists who sell them through spam email or off-shore brokers.

So penny stocks are risky but are there any benefits to them?

Not all penny stocks are frauds or companies facing bankruptcy. Some represent hard-working businesses that are struggling to meet the requirements to get listed on Nasdaq or the NYSE. Investing in these companies offers real growth potential – you have the opportunity to get in at the ground floor and ride all the way to the top.

The difficulty is finding which companies have this growth potential. Getting this information requires a lot of research and unless you are willing to take the time to personally investigate a company, you may again be the victim of fraud. Some companies specialize in offering 'inside information' about companies selling penny stock, but they may simply be fronts for pushing a particular stock on unsuspecting investors.

There are two ways to play the penny stocks – do research or play craps. The low cost of these stocks means that you will not lose a lot money if the company goes under, and as long as you are prepared to lose this money penny stocks can be an interesting and fun addition to any portfolio. It must be stressed, however, that penny stocks should only make up a small portion of any portfolio. The odds are that most penny stocks will end up in a total loss.

If you would like to buy penny stocks you need to find a broker that will place an order for you. Many brokers will not cover them because of the difficulties in tracking them, but some online brokers specialize in penny stocks. Regulations require brokers to receive written confirmation from the client concerning the transaction. The broker is also required to give the client a document outlining the risks of speculating with penny stocks.

Finally, the broker must disclose the current market price of the stock and the amount of compensation the firm receives for the trade. Monthly statements must be sent to the client detailing market value of each penny stock in the account.

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Stock Trading Strategies

Trading Strategies

There are two basic ways to trade the stock market – shooting in the barrel or using strategies to determine which stocks to buy, when to sell, and how to protect your investment dollars. Needless to say, strategies outperform barrel shooting by a large margin. There are, however, hundreds of trading strategies to choose from. Of all of these there are a couple of tried and trued methods that have worked well for investors over many years. The beginning investor is advised to investigate some of these basic strategies and see for himself how they perform. New strategies can be explored once the basic ones are well-understood.

Hedging

Hedging is a way of protecting an investment by reducing the risks involved in holding a particular stock. The risk that the price of the stock will drop can be offset by buying a put option that allows you to sell at the stock at a particular price within a certain time frame. If the price of the stock falls, the value of the put option will increase.

Buying put options against individual stocks is the most expensive hedging strategy. If you have a broad portfolio a better option may be to buy a put option on the stock market itself. This protects you against general market declines. Another way to hedge against market declines is to sell financial futures like the S&P 500 futures.

Dogs of the Dow

This is a strategy that became popular during the 1990s. The idea is to buy the best-value stocks in the Dow Industrial Average by choosing the 10 stocks that have the lowest P/E ratios and the highest dividend yields. The companies on the Dow Index are mature companies that offer reliable investment performance. The idea is that the lowest 10 on the Dow have the most potential for growth over the coming year. A new twist on the Dogs of the Dow is the Pigs of the Dow. This strategy selects the worst 5 Dow stocks by looking at the percentage of price decline in the previous year. As with the Dogs, the idea is that the Pigs stand to rebound more than the others.

Buying on Margin

Buying on margin means to buy stocks with borrowed money – usually from your broker. Margin gives you more return than if you were to pay the full cost outright because you receive more stock for a lower initial investment. Margin buying can also be risky because if the stock loses value your losses will be correspondingly greater. When buying on margin the investor should have stop-loss orders in place to limit losses in the case of market reversal. The amount of margin should be limited to about 10% of the value of your total account.

Dollar Cost and Value Averaging

Dollar cost averaging involves investing a fixed dollar amount on a regular basis. An example would be buying shares of a mutual fund on a monthly basis. If the fund drops in price the investor will receive more shares for his money. Conversely, when the price is higher, the fixed amount will buy fewer shares. An alternative to this is value averaging. The investor decides on a regular value he wishes to invest. For example, he may wish to invest $100 a month in a mutual fund. When the price of the fund is high he puts a higher dollar amount in the fund and when the price is low he spends less money. This averages out his investment to the original $100 per month. Value averaging almost always outperforms dollar cost averaging as a percentage return on the money invested. When used as part of a broader trading strategy it can help secure the growth of your investment fund.

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Start Trading Stocks

Getting Started With Trading Stocks

Anyone with money to invest can buy and sell stocks. Stock trading has its own specialized vocabulary but once you have the basics under your belt you can understand better how the market works. As with any investment, the more knowledge you have about stock trading the more successful you are likely to be.

Most stock trades are done through a broker – an intermediary who takes orders and executes them. Brokers can also offer advice about which stocks to trade and the condition of the market. These 'full-service' brokers charge a relatively high commission. To cut costs, many people use discount brokers that charge significantly less. You don't get advice, but to some, that is an advantage.

Some of the services commonly offered by brokers include online trading, broker assisted trading and some brokers offer options like Interactive Voice Response System for placing orders by telephone and wireless trading systems for making orders by using web-enabled cellular phones or other handheld devices.

Some brokers have their own proprietary software for placing orders over the Internet while others allow you to access their order department through their website with a password. Whichever systems they use, almost every broker offers a variety of charting options that allows you to track movements on the stock market. Analysis software may also be included in their service or available for an extra fee.

Types of Orders

There are different types of orders that can be made when buying or selling stocks. A 'market order' is an instruction to buy or sell at the current market price. The order is usually executed very near the price you are quoted at the time of your order. However, if the stock price is fluctuating or is not actively traded there may be a difference between the quote and the actual transaction.

A 'stop order' or 'limit order' can be placed if you expect the stock price to move and wish to buy or sell at a certain price above or below the current market price. A stop order instructs the broker to trade at a certain price, while a limit order is an instruction to trade at a specified price or better.

A stop order helps to limit losses or protect profits. They become effective when the market hits the stop price but may trade above or below the stop price because they are traded at market price after they become active. Limit orders may not be placed at all even if the market reaches the limit price. If the market moves quickly there may not be time to execute your order before the price falls out of the limit price range.

For example: You buy Bell Canada (BCE) at $50 and then put in a stop order of $45. If the price of BCE falls to $45 your stop order will become effective and your stock will sell at market price. Conversely, if you place a limit sell after buying BCE for $60, when the price rises to that level your stock will be sold at a profit. You could also buy BCE with a limit buy order for $45. This allows you to (possibly) buy stock at less than current market. If the price does not fall to your limit buy price, however, you will not buy any of that stock.

All orders can be placed as 'good ‘til cancelled' (GTC) or as a 'day order.' GTC orders remain in effect until they are cancelled but day orders remain effective only until the end of the current trading day.

Stocks are usually traded in 'round lots' – lots of multiples of 100. It is possible to trade other amounts of stocks, but this kind of trade is called an 'odd lot'. Trading software can handle both types of orders, but odd lot orders are slightly more difficult to fill than round lot orders.

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Stock Trading Basics

Stock Trading Basics

Stock Trading Basics

Understanding the stock market starts with understanding stocks. A stock represents partial ownership of a company – the smallest share possible. Company's issues stocks to raise capital and investors who buy stock are actually buying a portion of the company. Ownership, even a small share, gives investors rights to a say in how the company is run and a share in the profits (if any). While stocks give owners certain rights, they do not carry obligation in case the company defaults or faces a lawsuit. In a worst-case scenario the stock will become worthless but that is the limit to the investor's liability.

Companies issue stocks to raise capital. They may need a cash injection to expand or to acquire new properties. Each stock issue is limited to a certain number of shares, and when they are issued they are given a par value. The market quickly adjusts that par value according the perceived health of the company and its potential for growth.

Investors usually buy stocks because they believe the company will continue to grow and the value of their shares will rise accordingly. Investors who acquire stock in a new company are taking more of a risk than buying shares of well-established companies but the potential gain is much greater. Those who bought Microsoft shares early in the game (and did not sell them) saw an exponential rise in their value.

Stock trading is done on stock exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System). This means that only companies listed on a public exchange have shares that can be bought and sold on the open market. Of course, you could also buy partial ownership in a smaller company that is not listed on a stock exchange but that is a very different type of investment than buying stocks.

Because stocks must be bought and sold on a stock exchange, an individual investor needs a broker to make transactions for him. Brokers take orders to buy or sell a certain stock. The order may include instructions to trade at a certain price or simply what the market will bear. Once the broker receives the order he attempts to execute it by finding a buyer or seller as the case may be. The buyer or seller is also represented by a broker and each broker receives a commission on the sale.

Stocks have several advantages over savings investments. Because they represent ownership in a company they give the holder rights to participate in major decisions the company faces. Every share represents one vote and shareholders are regularly asked to vote on important matters. Ownership also allows stockholders to benefit from any profits the company makes. Profits are distributed in the form of dividends, and may be issued once or twice a year at the discretion of the company directors.

If the company prospers the value of the stock will rise and distribution of profits also increases. The downside of this is that if the company does poorly the value of the stocks may fall.

When compared with savings investments (like bonds or bank certificates of deposit) stocks have the potential to earn more money -- but they also carry the risk of loss. Learning about the stock market and the various investment strategies can help to minimize loss, and most investors find they do much better on the stock market than is possible with any kind of savings investment.

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Introduction to FOREX Trading

Introduction to FOREX

The Foreign Exchange Market – better known as FOREX - is a world wide market for buying and selling currencies. It handles a huge volume of transactions 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Daily exchanges are worth approximately $1.5 trillion (US dollars). In comparison, the United States Treasury Bond market averages $300 billion a day and American stock markets exchange about $100 billion a day.

The Foreign Exchange Market was established in 1971 with the abolishment of fixed currency exchanges. Currencies became valued at 'floating' rates determined by supply and demand. The FOREX grew steadily throughout the 1970's, but with the technological advances of the 80's FOREX grew from trading levels of $70 billion a day to the current level of $1.5 trillion.

The FOREX is made up of about 5000 trading institutions such as international banks, central government banks (such as the US Federal Reserve), and commercial companies and brokers for all types of foreign currency exchange. There is no centralized location of FOREX – major trading centers are located in New York, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and Frankfurt, and all trading is by telephone or over the Internet. Businesses use the market to buy and sell products in other countries, but most of the activity on the FOREX is from currency traders who use it to generate profits from small movements in the market.

Even though there are many huge players in FOREX, it is accessible to the small investor thanks to recent changes in the regulations. Previously, there was a minimum transaction size and traders were required to meet strict financial requirements. With the advent of Internet trading, regulations have been changed to allow large interbank units to be broken down into smaller lots. Each lot is worth about $100,000 and is accessible to the individual investor through 'leverage' – loans extended for trading. Typically, lots can be controlled with a leverage of 100:1 meaning that US$1,000 will allow you to control a $100,000 currency exchange.

There are many advantages to trading in FOREX.

Liquidity - Because of the size of the Foreign Exchange Market, investments are extremely liquid. International banks are continuously providing bid and ask offers and the high number of transactions each day means there is always a buyer or a seller for any currency.

Accessibility – The market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. The market opens Monday morning Australian time and closes Friday afternoon New York time. Trades can be done on the Internet from your home or office.

Open Market – Currency fluctuations are usually caused by changes in national economies. News about these changes is accessible to everyone at the same time – there can be no 'insider trading' in FOREX.

No commission – Brokers earn money by setting a 'spread' – the difference between what a currency can be bought at and what it can be sold at.

How does it work?

Currencies are always traded in pairs – the US dollar against the Japanese yen, or the English pound against the euro. Every transaction involves selling one currency and buying another, so if an investor believes the euro will gain against the dollar, he will sell dollars and buy euros.

The potential for profit exists because there is always movement between currencies. Even small changes can result in substantial profits because of the large amount of money involved in each transaction. At the same time, it can be a relatively safe market for the individual investor. There are safeguards built in to protect both the broker and the investor and a number of software tools exist to minimize loss.

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