Tuesday, October 28, 2008

dangers of online stock market trading

Online stock market trading has made it possible for millions of individuals, especially those who are not keen on investing in stock the traditional way, to play the stock market game. Almost anyone, can participate in online stock market trading.

Online stock market trading has made the business of trading easier, faster, and cheaper. An investor who does online stock market trading will not need to call his broker to conduct business. Stock market trading using online applications like the internet has made stock market trading more efficient, secure and manageable to a lot of retail stock market investors.

But online stock market trading has many dangers and if you are nit careful you could end up losing instead of earning lost of money. Needless to say, investing in stocks market trading is a risky business.

Online stock markets trading allow individuals to participate in the stock markets at greater speed. But because of this, it has also become easier to make investment mistakes. Therefore, the fundamentals of smart should still be applied in online stock market trading to avoid falling into traps.

New online stock market traders think that they could survive in online stock market trading without any investment skills and knowledge is because markets have been bullish recently. Like in traditional stock market trading, the first thing you have to do is to arm yourself with basic information about stock market trading and the company you’re investing into so as to avoid “gambling.”

What potential online stock market investors need to realize is that online stock market trading is really no different from traditional stock market trading. The web hasn't changed the fundamentals of smart investing it has only made it easier to invest. investors should still have a set of rules and guidelines to help them avoid the dangers of online stock market trading.

To avoid such risks, you must diversify your portfolio. Basically, it means buying a little bit of a lot of different types of stocks and bonds. It is a good idea to have some stocks in the technology sector, telecommunications, biomedical, and consumer corporations.

There are also companies that offer "safety stocks". It will be a sound decision to have several shares of companies such as this in your portfolio. This is because such stocks rarely fluctuate and most often offer a slow and steady growth, thus giving you an assurance in your investments.

These online stock market brokers or stock market websites, as they are called, also contains a lot of additional services in their websites. They can provide online stock market traders with stock market information, and other relevant insights.

Guide to stock market depressions

10 Worst Stock Market Crashes

10th Worst Stock Market Crash (1932 – 1933):
This crash required the longest recovery time of all the 10 crashes. The combination of the tech bubble bursting and the September 11th terrorist attack served a deadly blow to the stock market, but relative to markets past, this was a minor one.
Date Started: 1/15/2000
Date Ended: 10/9/2002

Total Days: 999
Starting DJIA: 11,792.98
Ending DJIA: 7,286.27
Total Loss: -37.8%


9th Worst Stock Market Crash (1916 – 1917):
This market suffered about a 40% loss.
Date Started: 11/21/1916
Date Ended: 12/19/1917
Total Days: 393
Starting DJIA: 110.15
Ending DJIA: 65.95
Total Loss: -40.1%

8th Worst Stock Market Crash (1939 to 1942):
It was one of the most grueling. It took nearly 3 years to recover from this crash! With the attack on Pearl Harbor, the markets had a very tough time.
Date Started: 9/12/1939
Date Ended: 4/28/1942

Total Days: 959
Starting DJIA: 155.92
Ending DJIA: 92.92
Total Loss: -40.4%

7th Worst Stock Market Crash (1973-1974):
Another long market crash -one that many people still remember (think Vietnam and the Watergate scandal). This crash lasted for 694 days before bottoming out.
Date Started: 1/11/1973
Date Ended: 12/06/1974
Total Days: 694
Starting DJIA: 1051.70
Ending DJIA: 577.60
Total Loss: -45.1%

6th Worst Stock Market Crash (1901 – 1903):
This is the oldest crash to make the list (DJIA records are not available before 1900).
Date Started: 6/17/1901
Date Ended: 11/9/1903
Total Days: 875
Starting DJIA: 57.33
Ending DJIA: 30.88
Total Loss: -46.1%

The 5th worst stock market Crash (1919 – 1921):
This crash followed a post war boom (Stock prices rose 51%). After the crash bottomed out in August of 1921, this decade saw tremendous growth in the stock market and the economy (often called the roaring twenties).
Date Started: 11/3/1919
Date Ended: 8/24/1921

Total Days: 660
Starting DJIA: 119.62
Ending DJIA: 63.9
Total Loss: -46.6%

The 4th worst stock market crash in U.S. History
Although this is the shortest market crash observed, it was a deadly one. Investors saw almost half their money disappear in just two months. This crash started the "Great Depression."
Date Started: 9/3/1929
Date Ended: 11/13/1929

Total Days: 71
Starting DJIA: 381.17
Ending DJIA: 198.69
Total Loss: -47.9%






3rd Worst Stock Market Crash (1906 – 1907):
This crash was called the "Panic of 1907." The U.S. Treasury department bought 36 million dollars worth of government bonds to offset the decline
Date Started: 1/19/1906
Date Ended: 11/15/1907

Total Days: 665
Starting DJIA: 75.45
Ending DJIA: 38.83
Total Loss: -48.5%

2nd Worst Stock Market Crash (1937 – 1938):
Just when investors thought the market was finally good again, following a recovery of almost half of the great depression losses, the market plunged again due to war scare and Wall street scandals.
Date Started: 3/10/1937
Date Ended: 3/31/1938

Total Days: 386
Starting DJIA: 194.40
Ending DJIA: 98.95
Total Loss: -49.1%

Worst Stock Market Crash Ever:
1932 Stock Market Crash:
Investors lost 86% of their money over this 813 day beast. This market crash combined with the 1929 crash, made up the great depression. The full recovery didn't take place until 1954.
Date Started: 4/17/1930
Date Ended: 7/8/1932

Total Days: 813
Starting DJIA: 294.07
Ending DJIA: 41.22
Total Loss: -86.0%

Stock Market Information

What do you generally need when you plan to invest in stocks? What you need is information. You don’t want to put your money in investment that will have high risk of losses and little amount of return. What you need is to learn if these risks of losses are high and that there are little potential of earning. When the information is available, you can now evaluate. Will the particular company worth your money? What are the potential returns if you buy shares of stock in the company? How much my stock is worth in the future? These and more questions need to be answered before you even buy the stocks at hand. Stock market information then is essential in stock trades and investment.

Stock market information can be taken in various resources. It could be in the television, newspapers, and Internet. The most used form of today is the Internet because it is not limited to news only. There are sites that provide stock market information in all angles. It could be about the company, the market, the industry, the events, and all others. You could even trade directly online with various online stock trades. But then again the initial step in all these is to be equipped with stock market information for all possibilities. If it seems that the condition is favorable, then you can invest in the stocks of the particular company you are eyeing.

Small Caps in Stock Market

Ironically, there are investors who target small caps in the stock market. Small cap stocks come from companies that have small market capitalization. By definition, market capitalization is the product of price of shares by the number of shares outstanding. In essence, the small caps are those shares that come from smaller companies. Big caps are labeled to large companies who correspondingly have big market capitalization. With these definitions, we understand that small cap have low valuation of shares but can have the potential to grow into big companies.

Small caps generally have limited volumes traders. This is because generally, a small company has the potential to lose easily unlike that of big companies. This goes to say that small cap have higher risks of losses than the large ones. However, this does not always follow. We all know that large companies are not faced with risks to close down. Likewise, small companies have the potential to grow into something big. Again what investors need to do is to get stock market information if small cap are his target investment. Those that have the potential to grow based on the given information can be a good investment.

However, because small cap have only few traders, it is not given too much attention in the stock market. There is little information that one can get about companies in small cap. But if you really want to invest in small cap you can get stock market information in the unlimited resources of the World Wide Web. Unlike before that information is limited to the television and newspapers, today you can already get access to information limitlessly.

To start with you can get small cap stock picks in the Featured Profiles. All best stock picks can be seen in this site. Resources can access in this starting point. And indeed, you will get the stock market information that you need from these resources.