Introduction To Day Trading

History of online day trading

Day trading was pretty much the domain of stock brokers and remained that way until the late 1990s, when the increasing popularity of the internet, motivated the international stock markets to move online. The birth of day trading was made possible when the computerized, over-the-counter NASD became available in 1971.

The consequence of this move was that day trading brokers became optional because anybody with Web access could execute their own trades, provided that they had an account with a registered online brokerage. The uptake was enormous, because by 1999, at least 25% of all trades made were done as online trading by individual investors. Day trading online grew in popularity as these investors started gaining online trading maturity. This growth found further impetus with the Dot Com Bubble as many traders could buy and sell the same share on the same day with three digit returns.

What is day trading?

The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations defines day trading as "Placing multiple buy and sell orders for securities and holding positions for a very short period of time, usually minutes or a few hours, but rarely longer than a day. Day traders seek profits in small increments from momentary fluctuations in stock prices after paying commissions."

With day trading it is common to focus on short-term trading, where a trade could last for anything between a couple of seconds to a couple of hours. In day trading online, the number of trades made may vary from between just a few to a couple of hundred per day. It is also common to finish the day with a closed overnight position. This means that everything you bought gets sold, before market close.

There are many different techniques or strategies that you can use in day trading. Some of the more common online trading systems include:

?Trend following
?Range trading
?Scalping
?Rebate Trading
?News Playing

One of the techniques that started surfacing in day trading is algorithmic trading. Algo, as it is commonly called, is favoured by hedge -, pension and mutual funds. It is estimated that 33% of all US and 40% of all UK trades during 2006 were made by algo traders. Algo trading is automated, meaning that the trader leaves it up to the computer to decide when to buy and sell.

Day trading can either be done by institutions or by individuals. Individual day traders normally make use of direct trading firms that offer them direct, real-time electronic access to stock markets. For a day trader real-time access is important because it enables them to have a ?live? view of movements on the Securities Exchange of those stocks, stock options, currencies, futures contracts, interest rate futures and commodity futures that they are trading online.

What are the pros of day trading?

?Self employment ? Day trading online offers you the potential to earn really good money and it goes without saying that you will enjoy flexibility in where and when you work.

?Stimulation ? Trading online is both exhilarating and interesting. It requires analytical thinking and continually challenges your abilities. Every day is a new start ? stagnation is not possible at all!

What are the cons of day trading?

Financing ? In day trading you need money to make money ? and lots of it. Day trading penny stocks could be high risk, so you will probably need to play in the bigger leagues, or at least find a happy (and profitable) balance between the two. There are also regulatory requirements around the amount of money you need in your account. In the US for example, it is $25,000.

Latent loss potential ? You are pretty much at the mercy of economy figures, analyst comments, interest rates, and so forth. A single press release or a single comment could turn a profitable stock into a dead loss. This makes your income unpredictable.

Day trading online can be highly profitable and produce rapid returns, in spite of being high risk. The risk is mainly due to margin use, and other day trading practices. Naturally, most risks can be managed if you remain prepared, alert and focussed. In example, when you start trading online, you will probably find that you have to exit a losing position very quickly, to prevent a loss. At the same time, you will need to move just as quickly to capitalise on any winning positions you may have.

Day trading online can be a fun and even profitable adventure, provided that you have good discipline, -risk and -money management.

What they can't do is give (people) the confidence to stick to those rules even when things are going bad." Almost anybody can make up a list of rules that are 80% as good as what we taught. "The key is consistency and discipline.

Richard Dennis, on Turtle Trading

How To Get Cheap Life Insurance Online In Arkansas

after all, the person buying the life insurance policy will never benefit directly from the sacrifices that must be made to pay the monthly premiums on the insurance. Most people wait until they have a spouse and family before purchasing life insurance, and the very act of buying life insurance demonstrates a certain level of maturity ??? Buying life insurance is almost a rite of passage into the responsible, adult world.

it is the family and loved ones left behind who will benefit from the unselfish act of purchasing life insurance. No ???

Still, no matter how unselfish or even noble the purchasing of life insurance might be, most people still want to get cheap life insurance online here in Arkansas. And fortunately there are several rather simple things you can do to insure that you find the best rate possible.

Before we jump online to compare policies and prices let 's make sure we've done everything possible to keep our monthly life insurance premium as low as possible.

First, buy your insurance before your next birthday. Each year that passes drives the cost of your life insurance higher and higher.

Next, decide on which type of life insurance is right for your situation. There are basically two different kinds of life insurance policies you need to choose between, and your decision can make a world of difference later on in your life.

You need to choose between whole life or term life insurance.

Term life starts out costing you less each month, and so many people assume it is the better deal. Keep in mind, though, that a term life policy is only good for a limited number of years. When that time is up, when the policy has run its term, then your life insurance coverage is ended. If you want to continue your life insurance you will need to buy a new policy ??? at a much higher monthly premium.

If your term policy runs its term several times during your lifetime, you could end up with a very expensive policy right at the time in your life when you will have the fewest resources available to pay for your insurance.

A whole life policy costs more up-front but a whole life policy is good for your whole life ??? and so are the premiums you pay. The premiums on a whole life policy never change for the life of the policy.

Also, a whole life policy builds up a cash value after a while and you are able to borrow against this cash value at very low rates.

But regardless of which type of policy you decide on, you still want to keep your monthly premium payments as low as possible.

Start by keeping your credit rating clean. It may sound crazy, but the better your credit score, the lower your life insurance premiums are going to be.

Don't smoke or use any tobacco products. Using tobacco shortens your life and increases your monthly insurance premiums.

Similarly, being overweight shortens your life and also increases your monthly premiums. Losing even a little weight may bump you down into a lower weight category and that could save you money month after month, year after year, so do whatever you can to lose even a little weight if you are applying for life insurance.

Driving a fast sports car or routinely participating in extreme sports or having a career that is considered dangerous are all certain to increase your monthly premium.

O.K., now you've got an idea of what you need to do in order to keep your life insurance premium under control, so get online and start comparing policies and their prices from different insurance companies.

Keep in mind that each website you make comparisons on only compares a small number of companies, so if you are really serious about getting the cheapest life insurance possible in the state of Arkansas you're just going to have to make the time to check out the prices on at least 3 different websites.

Once you've done that then you can feel confident that you've done everything you can to get cheap life insurance online in Arkansas, and you can feel pretty darn good about yourself.