
Companies issue stocks to raise capital for expansion, equipment and other projects. Stocks have been a very popular form of investment for years. Each share of a stock a person owns represents a small ownership of the company.
Stock values fluctuate based on the fortunes of the company. When the company is doing well the stock price will increase, at this time the investor can sell their stock to capture the profit or they can continue to hold it in hopes of greater profits in the future. Some companies will pay dividends on stocks; dividends are a small share of the profit per each share of stock.
To buy and sell stocks you must use a broker and go through one of the stock exchanges. In the US there are two exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation System (NASDAQ). Some very large companies may have stocks on multiple exchanges but most companies will sell their stocks on one or the other.
Until recently the stock market was seen as a long-term investment strategy. Most portfolios would have a large number of "Blue Chip" stocks. These are stocks that have proven their value over a long period of time. With the addition of internet trading we are seeing what is typically known as day trading. Day traders attempt to take advantage of the daily fluctuations in the market by making multiple trades during the day. This is a fairly high-risk method of investment and is further hindered by the large number of commissions charged for each transaction.
In some cases stocks can be bought on margin. In the stock exchange your margin rates are usually about 50%, which means you need half the cost of the stock to be able to buy it.
FOREX
The FOREX exchange is significantly different than the stock exchange. On the FOREX exchange almost all trades are short-term trades, in
fact a trader may only hold a currency for a few minutes before moving it again. Since there are no brokers fees in the FOREX exchange you can make numerous trades in one day without racking up large commission fees.
With over $1.5 trillion in trades every day the FOREX exchange is the largest financial market in the world. To put this in perspective all of the American stock markets combined only handle about $100 billion worth of trades a day. This huge volume causes the FOREX exchange to be the most fluid market in the world. Because so much of the world economy is dependent on moving currency from country to country there is always a buyer and a seller for every currency combination. The stock market on the other hand is not nearly as liquid, you may not always find a buyer for the stock you want to sell or a seller for the stock you want to buy.
The FOREX market is not located in a single place but is worldwide. Due to time zone changes the FOREX market is open 24 hours a day 5 days a week.
Stock exchanges are normally only open for 7 hours a day, you can not buy or sell a stock if the exchange that it is listed on is closed at the time.
FOREX is more predictable than the stock market as well. It follows well-defined patterns, you can also leverage better in FOREX than the stock market. Margin accounts in FOREX run as high as 100:1 which means you only need $1 to buy $100 worth of currency.
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![]() National Post | FOREX-Euro retreats vs dollar on nagging Greece worries Reuters NEW YORK, March 19 (Reuters) - The euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar in more than two-weeks on Friday, ... WORLD FOREX:Dollar Gains As Investors Fret About Greece, Rates Forex - Dollar mixed vs. rivals as US jobs data eyed Forex: EUR/USD falls further to 1.3535, 2-week low |
WORLD FOREX: Dollar Soars As Greece, India Hike Rattle Markets Wall Street Journal NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--The dollar surged Friday on the back of a surprising interest rate hike in India and mounting ... WORLD FOREX: Euro Up Vs Yen, Dollar On Hedge Buying; May Resume Fall |
![]() Globe and Mail | FOREX-Dollar rebounds broadly; AUD and CAD off highs Reuters ... dollar yet after getting done with major central bank events this week," said Hiroshi Maeba, executive director of forex trading at Nomura Securities. ... WORLD FOREX: Dollar Drops As Fed Kills Early Rate-Rise Hopes WORLD FOREX: Euro Down Vs Dollar, Yen As Asian Equities Weigh FOREX-Dollar falls vs most majors; euro off 5-week highs |
FOREX: US Dollar on the rise. Leading Indicators, Manufacturing rise. Jobless ... CountingPips EUR/USD Chart – The euro dropping today versus the US dollar in forex trading and breaking through the rising support trendline on the hourly chart. ... |
![]() istockAnalyst.com (press release) | Forex - Dollar mixed against rivals after US PPI data Forex Pros Forex Pros – The US dollar was mixed against other major currencies on Wednesday, following the release of disappointing data on producer prices in the ... Forex: Dollar falls further against European currencies FOREX: US Dollar starts week strong. EUR/USD falls below 1.3700 Forex - Dollar down vs. most rivals on Fed, BOJ decisions |
The Trader Advantage: Forex Heats Up- Swiss And Cad Rate Questions ForexTV.com After a range-bound Asian session, the US dollar started again to strengthen across the board during the last European session of the week. ... Forex trends: dollar gains ground touching 2-day high vs euro Forex: Swiss Franc rallies across the board, SNB awaited Forex - USD/CHF climbs after mixed Swiss data |
Forex: GBP/USD falls to test 1.5100 NASDAQ FXstreet.com (CĂłrdoba) - The Dollar is gaining strength across the board. GBP/USD broke below 1.5125 and currently is testing the 1.5100 support. ... Forex: EUR/GBP retakes 0.9000 Forex: GBP/USD breaks below 1.5100, approaching 1.5000 Forex: GBP/USD attempting recovery from 1.5125 low |
![]() France24 | WORLD FOREX: Dollar Gains Ground After Strong US Retail Sales Wall Street Journal "The data was dollar positive," said Jacob Oubina, a currency strategist at Forex.com in Bedminster, NJ "It's going to raise [US's] first quarter GDP up ... FOREX-Dollar falls vs yen and euro after trade data WORLD FOREX: Dollar At 2-Week High Vs Yen On Asia Stock Rises US dollar mildly lower as markets eye retail data |
![]() France24 | FOREX: Dollar slides vs Majors. Fed holds interest rate, housing data declines CountingPips AUD/USD Chart – The Australian dollar today surging higher versus the US dollar in forex trading. The AUD/USD rose to its highest level since January 19th ... Forex Market Bell by Ben Bernanke US DOLLAR: NOTHING WRONG WITH BEING PREDICTABLE USD May Fall Further Following Bernanke Testimony |
WORLD FOREX: Dollar Dips On Profit-Taking After BOJ Easing MarketWatch TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The dollar fell against the yen in Asia Wednesday as as a widely expected decision by the Bank of Japan to further ... |