Are You Thinking About Investing In Gold?

Many people have begun investing in this arena with the thought that their respective country’s economy will be collapsing. This is something that has been seen in numerous locations and most people who hold this view are deciding to store the gold themselves. This mode of thought is similar to the actions of some people who were investing in gold just prior to the Great Depression. This is something that was discouraged by the government back then, but is something that is common practice in today’s day and age.

There are also other people that purchase gold without any interest in actually holding or storing it themselves. This is something that has been seen throughout the world as websites like egold have become popular. They store the gold for individuals who are investing in gold and can also shift the gold from one person to another as a method of purchasing. This is a great alternative for someone who is new to investing in gold.

Some of the other methods of making this type of investment include purchasing the stocks in the stock market. These are still more stable than most other forms of investing. The one key difference is that investing in gold through stocks means that the gold will vary in value based on the supply and demand. Some have even resorted to investing in gold through the gold mines.

Read more about investing in gold for the latest on this topic.

Managing Option Directional Trades

Options provide great position management and risk control potential when using them to trade the market directionally. This goes beyond the simple fact that a long position in a call or put option has an absolute maximum risk equal to the cost of the option (plus commissions, of course). That, in and of itself, is a very useful thing. What this article discusses, however, are a couple of handy little things one can do while holding an option position to maximize the return and keep the risk well constrained.

Roll Up/Down

Most traders are familiar with the concept of a trailing stop whereby one moves their protective exit as the market moves in favor of the trade. This is used to lock in profits. The same thing can be accomplished when one is trading options rather than the underlying. This is done by rolling one's position up or down strike prices depending on whether the trade is a long using calls or short employing put options.

Here's a recent example from the author's own trading.

A long position in Seagate Technology (STX) was initiated when the stock was trading at around 21.50 using the March 22.50 call options. They were purchased for $0.80. The market rallied over the next few weeks, eventually moving up above $24. At that point, a roll-up was executed by selling the March 22.50 calls at $2.60 and purchasing the March 25 calls at $1.40. This action served two purposes. The first is that it took $1.20 off the table, reducing the portfolio exposure and freeing up cash for use elsewhere. It also locked in a profit of $0.40 ($2.60 sales price minus the $0.80 purchase price for the 22.50 calls minus the $1.40 purchase price for the new 25 calls). At the same time, it had no effect on the remaining upside potential for the trade. The two strikes would probably profit about the same from any further appreciation in the price of STX shares.

If the portfolio exposure was deemed acceptable at $2.60, an alternate course of action would have been to sell the March 22.50 calls and not take any money out, but rather roll it all in to the March 25 calls. For example, if the position was 10 options, selling the 22.50s would net $2600. That cash could have been used to purchase 18 of the 25 calls ($2600/$140 = 18.57). By doing so, one actually increases the upside potential for the trade substantially. Of course, the full position is at risk, meaning one could theoretically lose the whole $2600 invested, which is more than could have been lost when the trade was first initiated.

Read more about managing option directional trades.

About Stock Market Quotes

Are you in the game? I'm talking about Wall Street, folks. No, not the movie with Michael Douglas, but the actual stock trading itself. Now, the truth is you do not have to be in the middle of Wall Street to buy and sell. In this day and age you can literally be in your living room or lounging on your patio. Yep, I'm talking about investing and buying stocks online. So much is done in cyberspace anymore. Not that I'm complaining. I actually love being able to transfer funds electronically. It just doesn't get any more convenient than that. Now days we even have currency trading, which involves Internet revenue and web traffic. Are you savvy when it comes to 21st century technology? Regardless if you're living in Manhattan, or down in West Virginia, you can still get those much anticipated stock market quotes. Got your internet connection fired up?

What do you really know when it comes to stock market quotes? I admit this was a somewhat baffling concept to me for quite a while. It wasn't until I finally sat down and decided to get the full scoop on the trading business. I quickly found out that you shouldn't grapple with shares that are out of your league. I mean, you are sorting through stock market quotes in order to make cash, not fall into debt.

Read more about stock market quotes.