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Tag: Trading

  • Gear up for Online Trading

    Gear up for Online Trading

    We end the year once more with trading: a topic that might not be directly tech-related. It, however, relies heavily on online technology to help with investments and therefore, is noteworthy.

    More and more millennials are getting into the habit of adopting get-rich schemes. You just have to look on Instagram and Twitter to see how gullible some of them are to Ponzi-like schemes preying on online and financial naivety.

    It has become so cumbersome as most of the predators ‘befriend’ you only to present you with the offer to trade (Forex, Binary options, or mine Crypto) on your behalf. Some blatantly just ask for you to deposit cash (usual increments of $500) into unknown accounts!

    Nothing to perform due diligence is available and not even a website sometimes – just the promise of profits of up to 30-80% weekly, monthly, or whatever – it’s all clickbait!


    A notable 60 percent of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in Latin America alone showed high-interest levels in Crypto investments in 2018.

    Capgemini’s World Wealth Report 2018.

    You can, however, as we mentioned around this time last year, take full control of your financial destiny.

    When it comes to managing an online portfolio via a broker such IQOption, there are a few things you have to consider first before dropping cash into your trading account.

    Checklist

    Research

    • Equities (Shares or stocks, ETFs, Commodities, Indices, Options, Forex, Futures, and Cryptocurrency). These are all vehicles you can engage with concurrently in the same portfolio. They all also have their (moderate to extremely high) levels of risk. Learn how each of them works. Shares are actually the less risky of the batch nowadays.
    • Have a plan! One does not just opt to invest in equities to “make money”. Of course, you will make (or lose) money. The question is how much and within what timeframe? When are you looking to have the money back? These questions will help determine what kind of investor you are or the approach to adopt when investing.
    • Based on your knowledge, appetite for risk, and the associated costs, you will either be a long, mid (mixed), or short-term investor. The latter is referred more commonly to as day-trading. Long term trading works pretty much like savings. You buy the stock/share and hold it for a long period of time (shares/stocks and indices are the best vehicles for such). All the others can be bought and sold by the minute, hour, day, or weekly.

    Setting up

    Setting up with your bank means there is also less admin when it comes to verifying your personal details such as ID, physical address, and so on.

    Be sure to have all documents ready and up to date. These are mandatory and required by local financial authorities to help prevent or determine fraud, the use of securities to launder money, or fund terrorism.

    The bank trading brokerage fee can be waivered by going for an online broker independently if you have all your ducks (paperwork) in a row.

    Costs

    Once set up, there are further internal costs that the broker will charge you. Pay attention to the commission charged when you purchase security of choice. Some waiver it but then charge what is called a spread. Then there are other deductions such as a charge for borrowing money to trade – what is termed ‘overnight fees‘.

    And of course – pay attention to TAX!

    • Pay attention to all the associated costs. It costs nothing to setup an online trading account via a broker. Your bank may charge a brokerage fee for running a separate trading account. The advantage of that mainly is just the ease of adding and withdrawing your ‘winnings’.

    We strongly recommend actively running a trial for at least 2 months before making your first deposit to start purchasing securities.

    Some strategies

    Before that first purchase, you should hopefully, by then, have used the trial period to learn some of the tools. Trading (or investing) is not something you do out of a gut feeling. There is about 3% ‘gut feel’ but the rest of the knowledge comes from studying the tools for technical and fundamental analysis.

    TradingTools
    Courtesy of cryptoworld.info

    The difference between technical and fundamental analysis is the difference between trading and investing – without any, you are outright just gambling!

    There are also some ways to mitigate your risk and minimize losses. One system that applies to all investing is called Dollar-Cost-Averaging. So, under this strategy, you divide the total amount into bits to ensure that on average your losses are smoothed out by profits. The diagram to the left illustrates this.

    Budget within your portfolio

    Always start small and see how that goes before diving fully in. People get greedy and think if $10 fetches a $5 profit then $10 000 would subsequently garner $5000 or at least $500. It doesn’t always pan out that way. If it was that easy we would all be millionaires!

    One must also quickly avoid the habit of topping up the account to get the next hot stock because like a business, your trading portfolio is an investment for future growth. It must therefore, be nurtured that way.

    Ride the waves (with your initial investment) and reinvest your winnings by ploughing back some of the profits into less riskier securities once you make a small ‘killing’.

    Switch from a short to medium term trading approach to secure your profits. Many day traders end up losing all their gains because they stay in the game for too long. The stock market always turns eventually and gets its pound of flesh!

    As a rule of thumb, purchase only after a massive drop in price – as you would in a fashion sale. When a security’s price has risen to abnormally high levels, its ‘bubble’ tends to ‘burst’. In addition, there are tools to measure whether a stock/share or any security for that matter is overvalued. Study them!

    Market trends

    The markets are constantly in motion and like a rollercoaster, prices are constantly going up and down. You have to choose where (and when) to place your buys (and positions) to make your profits.

    TradingTimes

    Know the market (opening and closing) times so you do not miss a good deal. Many markets will either open with a big rally; cool off in the afternoon and then close with a sell-off (in the red) in the evenings in general.

    What causes the up and downs is the buying and selling off respectively.

    Based on that, and with the common knowledge that everyone sells at a high profit – what do you then think would happen after a massive rise in the price of a security? It is not rocket-science yet many people fall for it and end up buying at the height (peak) price of an equity.

    Easier said than done. Naturally, it is hard to predict where this peak is as many inexperienced profit hunters have found out the hard way.

    Markets tend to crash in predictable cycles. The Crypto market fell by a whopping 70% in 2018 – a monumental drop in market capitalization after its equally amazing 2-month bull run. Many individuals and companies who bought Cryptos in January 2018 as a result went down in flames because of such bad timing – and just plain greed.

    These are just some of the basics to help you get into an investing state of mind – more particularly with online trading. You will find a few more useful pieces of information on the resources page.

    Happy trading and remember to start of with a free trial!

    General Risk Warning: The financial products offered by the company carry a high level of risk and can result in the loss of all your funds. You should never invest money that you cannot afford to lose.
  • Digital Fundraising

    Digital Fundraising

    The latest abbreviation in the finance and crypto-world is ‘ICO’. This word, however, gives global financial authorities like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nightmares for several reasons.

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    Not to be confused with Initial Public Offering (IPO) which is used by firms to raise cash through the issuing of shares to the public. An ICO (Initial Coin Offering) works like crowdfunding, but for digital currency and tokens.


    We recently covered a feature on raising funds and capital for a business but missed out on one relatively new method. Many companies are using ICOs to raise capital for their businesses.

    Why ICOs?


    The concept of an ICO works similarly to how a company raises capital through shares in that it is all based on contrived value.


    Funding raising in effect boils down to sales! If your actual product or service has nothing substantial or intrinsic to offer a client base, then it is nothing more than a scam.


    Launching an ICO is quite easy, and to an extent, many tech companies are now catching onto it.

    An ICO is the cryptocurrency space’s rough equivalent to an IPO in the investment world. ICOs act as fundraisers of sorts; a company looking to create a new coin, app, or service launches an ICO.

    Investopedia

    If you still do not believe it is possible, just listen to this testament from someone who did it after unsuccessfully knocking on the doors of conventional funders.


    The alarming spurt rate of ICOs often brings with it a scourge of potential scammers. The SEC and other institutions have to step in to monitor and regulate them.

    Social media platforms like Facebook and Google – which house a bounty of users (potential investors) have banned ICOs ads due to possible prey on unsuspecting investors; exposing them to con artists.

    Basically, the scammers use fancy websites, laden with impressive figures and terminology to con users into buying into their coins or tokens.

    Though the tokens barely even cost a cent, it adds up if they have millions of people buying in.  Once they have reached a certain amount in funding – they close shop and disappear!

    To create a new digital coin:

    Create a product concept or Business Plan for the coin or what is called a Whitepaper. This describes in great detail what the coin or token aims to do; the core technologies behind it; the team and their qualifications; the product’s lifecycle/growth path etc.

    Once completed and water-tight, the whitepaper would be submitted along with an application to one of the best Cryptocurrency Exchanges for review.

    Naturally, you would need some initial working capital for liquidity. Some of this is raised through your savings and others through institutions (via loans etc).

    You must then assure your investors of a solid return on investment (ROI) and deliver – which goes back to sales. Unless your offering is a scam, you actually need to do some work!

    This assurance comes via regular updates (marketing campaigns can have a tremendous or adverse impact on the uptake and price) on milestones reached.

    The updates are also necessary to keep your investors abreast with progress and might convince them to increase funding.

    Growing interest and the addition of more funds create demand for the coin/ token which, in turn, drives up the price and market capitalization.

    Most successful ICOs of all time

    NEO:

    Known as “China’s Ethereum”, and backed by Microsoft, Alibaba and the Chinese government, NEO uses smart contract applications. It does so, however, with the addition of decentralized commerce, digitized assets and identification.
    It enjoyed a considerable hike in token value from $0.03 to $88.20, NEO has big things coming with a 294,000% ROI.

    Ethereum:

    Unlike Bitcoin, the second-most valuable cryptocurrency in the world has more functionality than just being a coin. Its ledger technology is used to build and deploy decentralized applications a.k.a. “smart contract” technology.
    Ethereum’s ROI has been nothing short of jaw-dropping at 230,000%. Having sold its tokens at $0.31, an Ether token now sits at a whopping $713, second in value only to Bitcoin.

    Spectrecoin:

    The “premier privacy-focused cryptocurrency” enables users to send and receive currency worldwide with total anonymity. It is currencies like SpectreCoin that have most government tax offices quaking in their boots.
    If you had repurchased a token in November 2016, that puny $0.001 would be worth $0.64 today, or an ROI of 64,000%.

    Ark:

    With Ark, collaboration is the name of the game. The platform’s SmartBridge is a lightning-fast ecosystem designed to integrate other cryptocurrencies into its blockchain.
    Investors were eager as any to buy in, and they have made a 35,400% gain given today’s token price of $3.54.

    DigixDAO:

    DGD, which stands for Digix Decentralized Autonomous Organization, is a self-governing community. It gives out grants to different projects which will promote the growth of the DGX network.
    At a current value of $346.88 per token, this gives them a return of 10,722%.

    Quantum (QTUM):

    QTUM is an open-source value transfer platform which focuses on mobile decentralized apps or Dapps. QTUM is the world’s first proof-of-stake smart contracts platform.
    They hosted a highly successful ICO in March 2017, and since that time has seen an ROI of 6,400%.

    Source: investinblockchain.com

    In conclusion

    The prospect can be daunting for a cryptocurrency investor looking to make money off new investment opportunities while remaining cushioned from fraudulent ICOs and dodgy coins and tokens.


    As there is no guarantee that any cryptocurrency or blockchain-related start-up will be genuine or successful.

    You simply need to be vigilant and take steps such as getting to know the core team, poring over the whitepaper with a big magnifying glass. Naturally, you should be monitoring the progress of the token sales.


    Most importantly, you must just use common sense to gauge just how feasible the project is to ensure that you’re not falling for a scam.

    Remember, if it’s too good to be true, then it isn’t true!

  • Modern-day Profit Hunters

    Modern-day Profit Hunters

    Dealing with Cryptocurrency has its interesting dynamics. There are, however, many hidden facets making it still a mystery to the masses. Not knowing about it makes you prone to, get rich-schemes or outright scams.

    We are all by now aware of the mania caused by the soaring prices and then, the subsequent decline that followed early this year.

    What we don’t pay attention to, however, is just how complex it is to physically “acquire” and store these Cryptocurrencies.

    Mining coins can be described very basically as the process where users “or miners” become part of a Cryptocurrency network. This by making hardware (processors & graphics cards) available to support that specific network’s operations.

    As a miner, you contribute towards the working of the Blockchain. The technology requires millions of calculations to validate transactions into what are known as public ledgers.

    Click here for more about how the Blockchain works.

    There are three main ways to mine these coins but we will not be highlighting them in this post. The matter to be covered here, however, is the business aspect: how the Blockchain has created a new line of commercial entities and ‘profit-takers’.

    These modern tech “enterprises” offer you a specific or cluster of altcoins and tokens as a reward for helping them maintain their Blockchain.

    Sounds like a win-win situation right?  Or is it?

    Mining is hard

    If you have actually looked into the methods of mining, you will discover that only those with high-end hardware are able to produce enough energy to power the Blockchain. This is called “hash power” or “hash rate”. This is kind of like horsepower for cars, but for PC processing.

    There are sites that illustrate how to calculate potential profits such as one conveniently called ‘what to mine’.

    The opportunity cost of operating the customized computer systems (known as Mining Rigs), will have to be offset with the cost of acquiring hardware such as the Antminer S9i. Then there are energy costs associated with running the rigs for long periods of time.

    Your profit would, therefore, be the balance of the costs versus the revenue involved in mining coins.

    The mining profit = revenue (quantity multiplied by the price of the coin in local fiat currency). Then subtract the cost of the mining devices + annual electricity costs (measured in local currency per KWh).

    The problem with going at it alone is that it is very hard to break even. You are also faced with a conundrum:  the more powerful your hardware is, the more electricity it consumes.


    It also takes a lot longer to acquire the coins which you are awarded by the respective blockchain network after successful hashing is completed.

    To make it worth your while you would hope that the coin you mine’s market value exceeds the costs of the monthly/annual electricity bill.

    Value proposition

    There a now hundreds of these so-called Crypto/Tech companies spurting up by the day. Their modus operandi: to relieve you of the burden of the high electricity and hardware costs. This in exchange a monthly or once-off fee.

    In return, they promise to mine coins and provide you with daily or monthly profits. They can do this because they presumably have more powerful mining setups and therefore, larger economies of scale.

    Some of these establishments use big rooms, whole buildings or even warehouses to run thousands of mining rigs throughout the year.

    The payments you make supposedly help them with maintenance costs and pay for the said electricity bills. They are also usually stationed in countries where the cost of electricity is very low.

    MiningCosts

    You are likely to, however, run the risk of dealing with the occasional Ponzi-scheme – setup.  Such companies dive at the opportunity to swindle those not familiar with Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies.

    By dazzling you with the price increases and potential astronomical returns, they take your money and make a run for it!

    You can also ponder, it is incredibly difficult and expensive to mine Bitcoin these days. If these setups are actually just people who have already made their millions from acquiring Cryptocurrency.

    The acquisition naturally, would have been when they were dirt cheap, and are now offering the residue to make more profit off unknowing investors.

     

    A working example

    How it would work is: let’s say you owned 100 Bitcoins mined in 2010 for the opportunity cost of $100 each (cost of electricity).  You then sold half at the height of the Crypto ‘bull-run’ in January 2018 when they were worth $19 000 each.  You would have been $945 000 richer.

    So, with almost a million bucks in the kitty and another 50 units of coins (which would be now worth a lot less); the natural inclination would be to look at ways to make the extra coins ‘work for you’.

    And what better way than to be your own boss and head a Crypto company! You can with your new setup, sell off the residue of Crypto coins in bits for profits in cash.

    This is likely what some of these companies offering you coins for an opportunity to get Bitcoins. This under the false pretence of partaking in a ‘mining operation’. Meanwhile,  in reality, the actual mining probably took place almost a decade ago!

    All in all, do stay alert and do your research before parting with your money to join a mining pool or Crypto investment scheme!

  • BTC running low on battery?

    BTC running low on battery?

    bitcoin-1813505_1280.jpg__740x380_q85_crop_subsampling-2
    Good explanation of what the declining BTC dominance means for other Alts

    On August 11 2018, the Bitcoin dominance level (market share) touched 50% for the first time in 2018. However, the move didn’t come amid a Crypto market rally. In fact, the cryptocurrency space has been in free fall until mid-August, moving in a sideways trend since then.

    Read more via BTC running low on battery?

  • A peer-to-peer Crypto marketplace

    A peer-to-peer Crypto marketplace

    250x250You can still tap into the pool of 17-odd million Bitcoins that is now in circulation. You can even purchase them in the fiat currency equivalents.
    But where do you get them then? After all, Cryptocurrency is this dark and mysterious transaction system used only by criminals and drug addicts.
    So you acquiring them would naturally be in a shady place like the dark web – where it is used to acquire illicit things – right?
    Not quite and there are publicly accessible marketplaces where one can securely purchase Bitcoins.
    Find out more via A peer-to-peer Crypto marketplace

  • Top Crypto coins to look out for now

    Top Crypto coins to look out for now

    Some nice insights into the trending top Cryptocurrency coins out there with a good explanation as to why they are great coins to invest in.
    A good idea to look into these ahead of a potential June ‘bull run’ via My TOP 10 Coins

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    Or you can own Bitcoins directly:

  • For investment gains or for purpose?

    For investment gains or for purpose?

    As much as institutions, risk-averse, or simply skeptical people have downplayed the new digital currency revolution. It still, a decade after coming to public light, remains resilient.

    Bitcoin now gets a regular mention in daily news and stock market reports. It is being traded by several established investors and even included by fund managers as high-risk portfolio instruments.

    We all by now, have heard the rhetoric of high volatility and use for criminal activity when it comes to Bitcoin and its crypto-family.

    Billionaires Warren Buffet and Bill Gates also weighed into this by publicly lambasting Bitcoin. Buffet equated cryptocurrency to rat poison 🙂

    Be it may, digital currency, however, does have some unbeatable benefits and functions you cannot ignore.

    Financial emancipation

    Bitcoin and ‘altcoin’ investing have created a new wave of financial investors.

    These include retired bankers, ‘millennials’ – who instinctively jump on-board a new discovery that has creative destruction-like tendencies. You also have the plumber, bartender, or ‘average man on the street’ looking to change their lifestyles instantaneously.

    Based on their phenomenal returns, many people have taken to social media (via groups, profiles, and communities) to share their success stories. But this is also a reason to for you to heed caution when you take counsel from anyone claiming to be an expert in cryptocurrency investment.

    Volatility is not new to trading – and especially not with Crypto trading. It is constantly on a rollercoaster ride making it hard for even seasoned trading experts to predict movements with traditional market analysis tools.

    Money transfer

    We all have undergone the painful stress of waiting for funds to clear so your rent gets paid or waiting endlessly to receive money from abroad.

    With cryptocurrency, the aim is to be not only the most secure form of funds transfer – but the fastest.

    main-qimg-ff968a87730554a92951137b04f01117

    Converting cryptocurrency to fiat money, however, remains a bottleneck. It still needs institutions to adopt or directly accept payments in cryptocurrency to avoid you going through another step in order to transact.

    Cryptocurrencies still cut down transfer time significantly compared to traditional electronic fund transfers of fiat money.

    Some well-established companies already use Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, and Litecoin for fund transfers, or even direct exchange for services.

    Cost savings

    We cannot ignore the reduced costs associated with dealing with money you have (hopefully) earned from hard work.

    Even inheritances are gained because of the toils of the giver’s hard work. So, it wouldn’t be fair for a group of a few companies headed by executives to siphon it from you while claiming to ‘provide you with a service’.

    We all pay for Internet use (and the security software associated), for smartphones and computers.

    We, therefore, have the technology to make transactions ourselves without having to rely on others to charge us for things we can do ourselves.

    The financial institutions have long preyed on your ignorance, obedience, and unquestioning trust. This, while they brazenly burn cash dabbling in equally questionable high-risk investments like derivatives and futures.

    Use cases

    Cryptocurrencies have nevertheless, got us thinking about making profits, the tax implications, and anything financial for that matter!

    A recent development called Hodl Waves attempts to track and predict Bitcoin movements via complex usage history. It basically compares behavioural patterns of what you do when you have coins and when you choose to reinvest them.

    N26 Bank

    Blockchain technology has also spurred a new path of careers and industries. More companies globally are looking to acquire lucrative Crypto-exchange licenses to operate.

    These cryptocurrency exchanges require people to service clients in various areas. They will require employees as any company would.

    Governments too will benefit from their operations. While there are still discrepancies in most countries about how to tax you, authorities can get a lion’s share from directly taxing exchanges.

    A new wave arises

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    It is only a matter a time before the banking institutions and big companies get on board to benefit from the high-level encryption and speed provided by digital currency.

    To conclude, the ‘wait and see’ mantra is all that we can exercise when predicting the future of digital currency.

    There are, however, concerns on how secure the encryption can remain with the advent of quantum computing.  This ground-breaking tech can make calculations at millions of speeds faster and thus able to crack the toughest data encryption.

    Some form of regulation would be required in some form to keep Crypto prices stable.
  • The fuss about trade disputes

    The fuss about trade disputes

    What does a small-scale farm-holding, two presidents, some tech companies, and their respective local currencies all have in common?

    The answer might be obvious if you have been paying attention to the so-called trade war between China and the US in the news lately.
    But why is it of concern and what are the far-reaching implications for the rest of the world?


    Active involvement in international trade is a vital sign of your country’s financial health and boosts its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    GDP measures the value of all goods and services produced in a country. From raw materials (input costs) to value-added (assembly and skilled labour costs) to come up with final goods or services.


    And though “domestic” implies that this refers to your country’s internal economy, the contributions can be extended from a services perspective.


    This occurs when your country places emphasis on or relies on income from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to help boost its economy via its GNP. GNP is a similar measurement but slightly different from GDP as it incorporates.

    Importance of trade

    Fact is, all our goods and services come from unit price or costs that arise from the initial extraction of raw materials.


    These then undergo production leading to the product or service of intrinsic value for both local and international (via exports) consumption.


    An ideal situation for your country is to export more than it imports to maintain a positive balance of trade. So basically more money flowing in than out.


    The trade surplus is then plowed into your economy via the fiscal budget. It can supplement a shortage of funds raised from domestic taxes.
    The opposite, which isn’t always a bad thing, (trade deficit) would have to be managed and nursed like any other loan.


    The US has often criticized Germany for exporting a lot (cars, trains, and machinery) but not importing much. This is deemed not being ‘fair’ in trade practice. But trade itself arises from market forces, priorities, and consumer demand.


    We all love a BMW, Audi, and Mercedes Benz. So these German-made products will always be in demand compared to US car makes.
    Who you chose to trade with gives rise to favourable balance of trade if you are engaged in a trade agreement or a trading bloc.


    Why this is also a big deal

    The demand for your country’s goods and services will directly impact the strength of its local currency. More trade means more of your currency is required to pay for goods and so its value goes up.


    A strong local currency leads to stronger purchasing power for its citizens and residents. Comes in handy when you plan things like holidays, purchase goods online, invest or just send cash abroad as gifts.


    So, you can see why a strong Dollar or Euro is always favoured and why sometimes drastic measures are taken to keep it that way.

    “A higher demand for your country’s products has a direct positive impact on its currency and exchange rate”

    Country Trades

    A quick glimpse of the world in terms of the input costs for goods and services gives it a competitive edge when it comes to trade.

    • US – intellectual property, services, weaponry.
    • Germany – steel and engineering machinery giving rise to high performing automobiles.
    • Many African countries – mineral resources such as oil, tobacco cocoa, and precious stones.
    • Israel – military intelligence.
    • South America – agricultural produce.
    • India – IT and customer services.
    • China – agriculture, building/(manual) labour, and of late technology.

    The beef with China

    The technology that China (no.2 on the list) offers the rest of the world is the subject of hot debate. The alleged theft of US intellectual property for tech gadgets and software by China.


    This is one of several unfair trade practises and motives for why the US recently decided to start imposing heavier (punitive) tax-like increases on multiple goods imported by China.


    These extra costs, referred to in trade terms as import tariffs, have a spill-over effect on the costs of production.


    China then reciprocated by hitting the US with tariffs (on agricultural produce) causing the trade war that drives each country to protect its own economy.


    The higher input costs naturally, lead to the price of your product going up and reducing its competitive advantage and demand. Higher input costs can also affect your local labour force for the worse too.


    Factories, multinational corporations, and industries such as farms (both commercial and subsistence) will have to cut the cost of labour. In worse cases which we have seen, workers are laid-off in a heartbeat to stop or prevent accounting losses.


    These factors would have hopefully been taken into consideration by the respective leaders before pulling the tariff triggers. Acting with emotions rather than looking at the far-reaching implications is irresponsible.


    Have the talks of the trade war impacted productivity and the global trade economy? So far it’s just the stock markets (securities and commodities) reacting. Only time will tell.

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