Descending Triangles -Short Trading Strategy

By Jeff Cartridge

Descending triangles are not so popular with traders on the long side and are best traded when it breaks in the downward direction. A descending triangle is defined by two lines, one on the lower boundary of the price movement which is horizontal and one on the upper side which slopes down.

Descending Triangles, One Of The Best

Descending triangles are one of the most predictable patterns that are available to trade short. With 57% of the patterns breaking down descending triangles can deliver good returns when they do. The average gain is 0.92% in 9 days with about half of the breakouts (45%) being profitable. These results are good but selecting the right conditions can make trading descending triangles very attractive.

Specific Setups to Improve Profitability

A break to the downside works better in a falling market or sector environment. By using filters that require the market to be in a consolidation or a down trend you can improve the results. The sector should also be in a down trend for the best results. Strangely a sector that is in a down trend at the beginning of the pattern produces better results than a sector in a down trend when the breakout occurs.

A breakout from a descending triangle can occur anywhere on the way to the point of the pattern; it is not important exactly where the breakout occurs. The best trades occur when a down side break occurs after the stock bounces off the lower boundary and drops back before hitting the upper boundary.

If the volume supports the breakout the results are better. Supportive volume means the volume on the way down is higher than the volume on the way up.

Descending Triangles Extremely Profitable

Incorporating these simple changes when selecting descending triangles to trade short, dramatically improves the results. With an average return per trade of 2.55% in 10 days and a hit rate of 48% descending triangles are one of the most profitable patterns to trade on the short side.

Statistics for this article have been provided by Patterns Trader after analyzing over 60,000 chart patterns on the Australian market from 2000 - 2008. - 23212

About the Author:

Jeff Cartridge is a private trader and created the website LearnCFDs.com A Simple Timeless Method for Huge Gains

Ways To Come Out Of Your Debts

By Layla Vanderbilt

Many Americans struggle with the burden of too much debt and a large number of people work hard just to clear bad debt from their credit history. The vicious circle of late payments + penalties + punitive interest rate increases makes you feel trapped. And with a history of bad debt, getting a new car or home loan seems impossible. But be wary of companies that offer to help you get out of debt. You could end up in worse shape as a result of their help.

On most occasions, Companies volunteer to talk to your bill collectors to bring your loans to a respectable level in order to help you clear them. As mentioned earlier, you should be careful while endeavoring to improve your credit position; you do not end up aggravating the situation. Assuming that the companies and your bill collectors help to reduce your loan burden, your credit report could still be reflecting it as a bad debt, which will in no way help your credit score.

To relieve yourself of debt AND improve your credit score, you must pay your debt in full. A negotiated price will not help your credit rating. A debt consolidation loan is a great option for organizing your debt into one place, making it easier to get our of debt. Plus, you only have one payment to deal with.

Often the interest rate will be lower on a debt consolidation loan than it is on the credit card debt and other debt that you now carry. If it is within your means to get a debt consolidation loan and pay off all of your debt in one monthly payment, this is the preferred option. It not only enables you to get out of debt, it can also help to raise your credit score dramatically.

Another good option for paying off debt is a home equity loan. If you have enough equity in your home, you can obtain a loan at a much lower interest rate than you have on your current debt and, depending on the amount borrowed, your monthly mortgage payment may not increase too much for you to be comfortable with it. This method will save you thousands of dollars in interest payments and can dramatically reduce the number of payments that you have to make each month.

Your credit score is extremely important when you want to make a major purchase such as an automobile or a home. If you can possibly afford it you should use one of the methods described above that will pay off your debt in full. This will keep your creditors happy and will ensure that you have a good credit rating. Before you make a decision on which option is available and which one best meets your needs, you should review all of the possibilities carefully. - 23212

About the Author:

Layla Vanderbilt is the content coordinator for a leading website that offers for bad debt consolidation advice and guidance.

Trading Systems - Do you have a Trading System?

By Maclin Vestor

A trading system is a methodology of trading. An investor who uses one system and follows a specific set of guidelines when making a decision, follows system trading, and will usually never deviate. A trading system is only one method of trading, and usual requires no thinking. It is possible to have one system that is governed by multiple system.

For example, to have 10 different systems, and select only one stock from each system every month according to the main system's qualifications.

Someone that uses several Trading Systems is a multiple system trader. They have to either have an overall system that encompasses all of them, or make their own decision on which to follow. Doing so can be dangerous, as the purpose of system is to prevent human error. It is advised to be a system trader who trades one system at a time, or trade multiple systems within a larger core system, and avoid being a multiple systems trader.

Trading System - Trading can be awfully hectic without some kind of methodology. You can't expect to take on the best traders in the world who have teams and resources at their disposal just by throwing around money at will hoping that it works. You need an actually defined system in order to be able to trade effectively.

Many successful systems are based on earnings and high potential for growth. Stockbee's trading system often swings for the fences. As a result, it requires a solid degree of protection. Obviously you shouldn't limit yourself to someone else's system, you need to find one that is right for you.

There are two kinds of traders, technical traders, and fundamental traders, each has their own system. Of course there are some who use both.

Technical traders

Some system traders, are day traders. Others are swing traders. Still other people are more of a trend trader. Each will have it's unique system. The system will be based on the technicals. Is it volume that triggers the buy? Is it price movement? A combination of both? Or perhaps it's pattern trading.

Some people even have trading machines or robots that do the work for them. Others rely on pattern recognition done by a system. The method is to sign up for email alerts, or some form of alerts, then make a purchase based on the software's recommendation. There are some people that screen down a stock based on strong fundamentals, and only trade those stocks, but trade them based on the technical chart patterns and volume.

They will sell based on a trend break, or rules on when to take gains such as 20% gain according to their system. They will set a stop loss based on their system as well. It might be 4%, or 8%, or it may be a trailing stop.

Fundamental traders

Fundamental traders might do things a little differently. They are looking for improving fundamentals, or stocks that pass through a certain screener. Zacks.com is a great resource if you want to rely on fundamentals. Earnings is always a big part of a system, and the Zacks' ranking uses earnings revision to get in early when the earnings and company internals appear to be improving. Zacks' has several screens, and their software allows you to screen stocks according to many different options.

Regardless of your trading system, one thing remains important in every single system. Money Management and loss protection.

It doesn't matter what the upside is or win rate is, if you can't protect yourself from major declines, you shouldn't be trading. I don't care if your system is 90% effective (no system is and if they say they are, they're lying), and if the gain is 1,000%. If you put all your money on it repeatedly, eventually you will suffer a loss so catastrophic you will never be able to recover without borrowing money. By taking one loss, you hinder your ability to make money. That is more costly then the potential for greater gains that you would gain by taking additional risk.

Just to illustrate if your system causes you to take a 95% loss, you need a 2000% return just to make up for that loss. You cannot trade like this. No system is better then it's weakest link. That weak link unfortunately for many people is the ability to manage money. Fortunately, it is a skill that can be learned, and doing so will make you a better trader. Better yet, if you do not wish to be a better trader, you can simply follow the rules of a system that contains a methodology on how to manage money and how much to invest before placing a trade.

I recommend that you either have a trailing stop or a hard stop. You can also buy a protective put if you are afraid of a stock bottoming out overnight and plummeting through the stop. Protective puts are like owning insurance. Unfortunately, you have to continue to buy the insurance as it eventually expires if you don't use it. Don't trade options without learning everything about them.

Some puts are not good for some strategies. Longer term trades and Investments will require long-term equity anticipation securities, or LEAPs, where as you may not need to risk as much capital for short term protective puts. A trailing stop should be usually 20%, where a hard stop should be more like 7%. Different systems will require different stops so take this with a grain of salt.

A good investor or trader actually will rarely need to ever be fully invested. There are people that trade on complete margin for a few times the entire year, and the rest of the year they're on the sideline, but generally the best traders that have a career that lasts have lots of money on the side, even more so if they use options and are unhedged. If you are unhedged, that is only playing one side of the market, (all buys, or only playing one theme such as only playing inflation or only playing deflation), you need to have even more cash on the side.

The lower the win rate, the more money on the side you need, and the smaller your positions should be. Any good system won't require you to analyze. Having to do a lot of the thinking can cause you to panic and make incorrect decisions. Most people aren't cut out for that, and that's why it is a smart thing for many to use a trading system.

If you trade within a system, you have a much better chance at placing winning trades. A trading system will have a solid record of success, evidence that it works and has been working, an understanding of the decline and proper money management planning. If you trade within a system, you can estimate your results, and by doing so attain measurable success consistently with a trading system. - 23212

About the Author:

Maclin Vestor teaches about varioustrading systems and teaches you how to buy stock that works for you.

How To Pick Out A Property Management Company For Your Investment

By Layla Vanderbilt

Property management is not easy. Maintenance of your property and tenants is a nightmare. Receiving rental payment is yet another huge step. To satisfy the ever-complaining tenants at odd hours is never too easy as it eats into your precious time and money.Unfortunately the investor succumbs to the pressure of maintaining the property when the work is more than anticipated.Thus an amicable solution to this problem is by hiring a reputed property management company to manage your property.

A proficient property management company always reduces the investor?s burden by repairing the problems in the property and also by maintaining very good records. Your business will be streamlined if the company agrees to execute all the services upon the agreed fee.Hence, what are criteria upon which we can consider in hiring a manager for your property?

One important fact you want to know is how much the company fees are. The national average is around 4 percent on the income from a large rental property, while single homes are often over 12 percent. Be aware of the fees charged, the necessary cost schedule and what services are included before you sign an agreement and exchange some cash. Do they deduct their cost from the monthly rent collected? Spend several times finding out how they deal with additional expenses as fine. Will they send invoices to you to be paid and other expenses in their fee?

Enquire them about the other properties they had to manage and check a couple of them in person to verify their authenticity. You should also gauge their managerial capacity and familiarity with your property.In other words a manager with experience in apartment buildings would not go along too well with a single family home or commercial property.

Speak with the real person who will be handling the property whenever probable. Good contact with those you hire must start early in the relationship. Get references from their preceding skill. The property management company will be clever to show you the types of advertising they do. It will be not comparable for all media. Do they have a web presence? Is it easy to navigate?

Some property management companies hire contractors for work such as landscape, repair and preparing vacancies. Be sure to find out whether or not they cover these needs and how quickly they can cover them. Time is valuable, so their speed and efficiency is important to consider. Tenants may find themselves in an emergency at any time of the day, so find out the hours that the property management company is available. Location relative to the investment property is also important, so find out how far the management office is from the investment property. Some offices are located within a commercial building. How quickly the company can respond to complaints is important in terms of keeping tenants, so find a company that is located close to the investment property.

Hiring a property management company to oversee a real estate investment frees up the time an investor spends on the every day operations. The company hired to manage the investment allows the proprietor to feel less overwhelmed. The proprietor can spend further time finding more advantage deals that can be passed onto the company to manage. - 23212

About the Author:

Layla Vanderbilt is the webmaster for a leading property management software review website which connects people with the leading property management tools.

Four Ways to Learn Forex Online

By Jane MacRae

Nowadays, you do not need to have large capitals to enter the Forex (aka foreign exchange) market. This can be exciting news for average investors. However, it is important to learn enough about this type of investment before you get your feet wet. The easiest way to do so is probably to learn Forex online, and you can do so in a number of ways.

* Learn the Jargon

If you have just stepped into the Forex market, you may find that people around you often speak with terms which are foreign to you. It is important that you also learn those jargon so that you can easily listen to and learn from others. To do so, you can simply go to your favorite search engine and type "forex terms" or "forex jargon". Once you find a good list of terms, make sure you spend some time mastering them.

* Take Online Courses For Free

It may not be wise to invest in an expensive course to start your investment venture. You can simply take the advantage of free online courses, and there are no shortage of them. Again, you can do so by searching for "free online forex course" on the like with your favorite search engine. Alternatively, you can go to a message board frequented by investors and ask if anyone there knows of any good, free courses you should try.

* Learn from a Professional

There are many professionals, with years of experience in forex trading, who offer their teaching services online. The downside of such courses is that they usually are not free. But the upside is that taking such a course is almost like having a personal tutor, or a mentor who will be there to answer any of your questions, and help clear up anything you find confusing.

Again, probably the best way to find a good, reputable expert to teach you about the forex market is to ask around. Others who were once in the same boat you are in now will be happy to help steer you in the right direction.

* Try the Free Demo

When you feel you have had enough knowledge, you will want to have some real experience. A smart way to go about, without putting your pocket at risk, is to sign up for a demo or test account with transaction sites that offer such, and most of them do. For about thirty days, in most cases, you can actually try your hands at forex trading for free. These demo accounts will not only let you know whether you are ready to risk your money on the real thing, they will also help you gain hands-on experience.

Just like many other business opportunities, there is no way you can achieve something without putting in your efforts. Forex trading opens up a world of possibilities to many of us, but you really need to furnish yourself with sufficient knowledge. To learn forex online could be an efficient way leading to your success both in terms of time and cost. - 23212

About the Author:

Click here for our review of one of the leading automatic forex trading software in the market, which will grant you an unfair advantage over your competitors. You may also like to check out this related article about forex trading broker.