Guide to Online Investing
In this volatile market environment, Valuewalk provided a roadmap for online investing.
“After you’ve made a list of all your investments and assets, it’s time to think about your risk tolerance. As the winds of the market shift around, risk sentiment will move as well. There is no such thing as an investment that is 100% safe.
A good guideline for determining the best mix of risk in your investments is to subtract your age from 120 and put that percentage of your portfolio in stocks and the other percent in bonds. For example, a 40-year-old would put 80% of their portfolio in stocks and the remaining 20% in bonds.
Of course, there are many other asset classes to consider too, and picking stocks is literally a full-time job. Thus, you may want to consider an index fund for your stock holdings if you just want to set it and forget it. However, if you want to take on a bit more risk in part of your portfolio, there are many actively managed funds with excellent track records to take the guesswork out of stock picking.
As you’re setting out all your investments and thinking about making changes, make sure your portfolio is properly diversified so that when one asset falls, another one gains to make up for the loss in the other one. Think over every potential change carefully before making a move to avoid unnecessary turnover and fees associated with trading.” Read more…
Instead of investing online for a long term. You can be a short-term trader. A trader is, in every sense of the word, a short term investor or a speculator. Most of the times, he trades on market momentum, disregarding the fundamentals of the stock he is buying or selling. His trades normally have a short lifespan, with almost all of his positions closed out by the end of the trading day. To get started on online day trading, these are the things that you should know.
Choosing An Online Broker.
Brokerage commission is not the only criterion in choosing an online broker. Make sure you choose one with a robust trading platform that can execute your trades promptly. http://Etrade.com and Scottrade are the premium brokers that offer superfast trade turnaround, and they have very attractive commission rates for hyperactive traders. But if you have to choose a low-cost broker, http://FirstTrade.com and http://AFTrader.com are the few low-cost brokers that offer decent trade turnaround.
Trading Plan
Before starting any trade, it is essential to put in place a trading plan, and follow this plan religiously. A trading plan sets out different criteria and parameters which dictate how trading decisions should me made in all market conditions. With a trading plan, you will know whether to stop the loss and close out the trade, or to ride out this volatile period.
Discipline
Make it your habit to be disciplined. In day trading, the price of a volatile stock can fluctuate very fast. There will be times when the price will move against you. Cut loss when you’re supposed to in accordance with your trading plan. By the same token, take profit when your trading plan dictates so! And don’t trade for the sake of trading. If there’s no good trading opportunity, stay out of the market.
Keep Your Emotions In Check
Never allow your emotions to rule your trading. Be disciplined, stick to your trading plan, and you will not get emotional during a trade. Trading decisions are often ruled by emotions for a trader who lacks discipline. This leads to bad decisions resulting in trading losses. Fear or greed are two emotions that are detrimental to a day trader.
To summarize, always develop a trading plan or system, and constantly tweak the plan for optimal results until it works. Be disciplined and know when to cut loss and take profit. And last but not least, get emotions out of the way when you are trading.
