Trading Library

Broker and Analyst Recommendation Primer

In the Broker recommendations section you may find some analysts or brokers recommending certain stocks listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Some may say they are Overweight or Underweight on a stock while others will claim a stock will Outperform. Some others may actually give instructions like Sell, Buy or Reduce. We will have a look at what these broker and analyst recommendations actually mean.

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How to Get Up To Date News on the Australian Stock Market

Trading on news is a dangerous prospect. Especially if you don't have a Bloomberg box or Dow Jones newsfeed sitting on your desk. But that's another issue I’ll definitely delve into at my TradingCritic blog another day. Sometimes there is a need to get the latest news: perhaps for your own research purposes to justify your trade. Or for investors to find a fundamental base onto which they will invest their money. Whatever the reason for your search for Australian stock news, here are a few places where you may be able to find the information you seek.

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What is a Basis Point?

In financial terms, a basis point is one percent or one hundred pips. For example, having a quote of 1.3493 EUR/USD - to move one basis point the currency would need to increase by 100 pips. So a move from 1.3493 to 1.3593 would be a move by one basis point.

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What are Pips?

In forex trading, a PIP is the abbreviation of "Price Interest Points." Most traders measure their forex trading profits by counting pips. One pip is one-hundredth (1/100) of one percent (1%) of a currency contract price. For example, if the AUD/USD currency pair was to move by one pip the price movement could be from 0.7483 to 0.7484.

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Actual Forex Trade – Post Interest Rate & Federal Budget

The Australian dollar has been particularly active against the US dollar as of late. So what are the main forces behind the volatility in the Aussie dollar?

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Forex = Stock Market on Steroids

To be honest I haven't been trading the stock markets for a while now. It's not because the markets are in a downturn at the moment it was simply a conscious decision to give the forex markets a go using the same technical indicators I use in the stock markets in an attempt to make similar returns or more. And after a few months of currency trading I’ve concluded that the forex markets are simply like the stock markets on steroids from a traders' perspective.

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Australian Interest Rate Rise Summary

As promised here’s my interest rate news roundup... there was a lot of news pieces out there that may be of interest to you. Even though it’s been a few days already, I think it's never too late to take a step back and assess the damage. I would just like to point out some interesting references and important points surrounding the Australian interest rate rise... Hope we can learn a thing or two from this exercise...

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Forex Trading Hypothetical eBook

This is my second free trading ebook. Its about trading forex (again), but the same technical analysis prinicples are used in trading stocks - such as basic usage of support and resistance as well as trading channels are explored. In this eBook I look at a "trading hypothetical" - basically a trade that I didn't participate in, but I observed the characterstics of the trade. You can download your copy of the eBook here.

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Is Share Trading Gambling?

Is share trading a gambling activity? The Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines gambling as to 'play games of chance for money'. It also defines gambling as to 'risk much in the hope of great gain'. Now, old George doesn't think share trading is gambling. In that post, he says, "You used technical indicators to tell you that the balance of probability lies in your court and if it doesn't - well you must quickly initiate risk management and cut losses." A statement that contradicts our dictionary definition. So some people classify share trading as "glorified gambling." Well, if you stick to the genuine definition of gambling, share trading IS gambling. Personally, I was in denial with this for a long time. Every time someone brought up share trading and gambling I would refuse to believe it was. But surely there's more to this argument...?

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What is Share Trading?

What is share trading? Of course you may say - the answer is simple: "Share trading is the activity of actively trading shares in the view of making a profit". Simple wasn't it? Well, case closed, we can all go home now. Well, I want to probe into what share trading really is in reality, not some non-sensical theory that seems impractical in the real world. Sure, the laws of supply and demand rule the markets, but what I want to discuss is what share trading means to the retail trader: traders like you and me.

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Difference between a Bubble and a Boom

What's the difference between a bubble and a boom?

The answer is earnings. In a bubble there are no earnings, in a boom there are earnings. The tech boom was a bubble, and the resources boom is a boom, but only in the resources stocks that are earning the earnings!

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Forex Trading with CMC Markets

I trade both stocks and forex. I trade forex for profit, more more importantly to execrise my risk management discipline and keep my and technical analysis skills sharp - as the forex markets are mostly traded on a technical (besides the economic fundamentals that do affect these markets). So, when I was bored last night, I went to try out some forex trading using the CMC Marketmaker platform that CMC markets uses.

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