When picking the right stocks in which to invest, you should conduct a bit of research into the history of the stocks you are considering. Understanding how the company works and the services they offer, as well as their stated business goals will better help you understand the direction the company is likely to take in the future. With your inner understanding of how the company works and their business plans, you will be able to better understand and apply stock valuation techniques to reap the benefits of early stock purchasing.

Since researching stocks is the key, you need to be sure you are researching properly. Understanding the company inside and out is a good start, since it will help you decide whether or not you wish to purchase stock in the company. One of the best ways many people use to form opinions on a company and the stock is by following a stock investing checklist. Understanding information given in press releases, quarterly reports, and industry reports will help you determine the quality of a stock. Another great way to gain an understanding of industry analysis is to follow this simple checklist:

* Find a broker with minimal fees, such as maintenance an inactivity fees.
* Be sure your leverage is kept at a minimum. You don’t want to feed your profits to your broker or bank.
* Insure your account. You can’t afford to go with a broker who will go under and take your money with it.
* See if your broker has a free trial before you invest any large amounts of money with them.
* Understand tax laws. Taxes are the biggest bite when it comes to investing, so understanding what you are allowed to deduct and what kind of records you need to keep is essential.
* Always account for inflation. By investing in stocks that provide equal return when considering inflation, you are covering yourself in the future.
* Always keep in mind there are really no risk free investments.

Following this stock analysis checklist will keep you ahead of your game in many different situations. Since no company and stock investing option is the same, you will need to apply your general knowledge to the situation to determine whether the risk will be worth the reward. Always remember that federal savings bonds are about as close as you can get to a risk-free investment, so keep this in mind when you begin studying the market.

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Stock market is all about guts and risk taking ability and confidence in stock research the way you think about the stock. Read this here at best stock investments advice

Before you start your journey as a stock market for beginners advice I would tell you that you ask yourself a few questions. These questions are

1) Are you in the stock market for long term

2) How risk can you take?

3) Do you know all about the stock market terminology?

4) Have you ever traded online?

There is a lot of information provided everywhere the main aim that you should have is to go for the information in structured manner then apply these strategies to use in your trading account. Yes the first step to learn all about the stock picking and that is done by these two important things

Fundamental Analysis of stocks – Your learn all about stocks, industry segments and the macro economy

Technical analysis – it is all bout trends and making money by catching the trends early.

Then the next step is to read the philosophy of a lot many stock market gurus and get some insight into various theories like the value investing or the momentum stock investing or day trading.

Once that is done then go in for a opening up a discount brokerage account with an online stock broker. Make sure you compare the stock broker before investing. Again the best thing to do is to make sure that you have the best trading platform available to start the investing.

Define your trading strategy – Armed with all this knowledge define your trading style and also build a diversified portfolio.

Once you have all the stock market tips then I would say that now you can begin making money on the stock market however make sure that you are not greedy. Also try to make intelligent decisions rather than rash decisions. Always have some cash available to you for investing just in case you find good opportunity.

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These blue chip mutual funds are the funds which consist solely of blue chip companies.

The best among them is the Fidelity Blue Chip Growth (FBGRX). They have very aptly said that this investment seeks growth of your money over the longer term. They also say that they will invest in well known established companies.

This is consistent with what is meant as bleu chip companies and as I said earlier that the best thing to look is the investing in the blue chip companies for long term as that is how your money will grow as these companies tend become more larger and well manage over the longer term and in short term they may not be able to get you good returns.

The term originated from the game of poker where the blue chips are the highest value stocks. That said there have been various definitions of blue chip but the best blue chip stocks are the Dow Jones blue chip stock index companies.

Now again different mutual fund managers may have different strategies and they may also have a different connotation of what is a blue chip fund but in general they are large caps as all other investors have been buying these stocks.

An example is T. Rowe Price Growth Stock Fund (PRGFX) and this fund has the best of the best stocks in it. Another good blue chip fund is Reynolds Blue Chip Growth(RBCGX).

Some examples of blue chip companies are the

Intel (INTC)

Wal-mart (WMT)

Research in Motion (RIMM)

Again the industry segments may vary and can range from consumer services to industrial materials to hardware to energy stocks.

Always go for the no load mutual funds but if you absolutely have to invest in the mutual funds which are the loaded ones then you for a systematic investment plan.

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What is stock screening?

Stock screening is a process of searching the companies which satisfy a given financial criteria. It can be used to do technical analysis of stocks. These criteria is different for each investor therefore it is impossible to set one set of rules to search the potential companies. Stock screeners use a search engine which will take the criteria provided by the investor, then it will search the database having all financial data for all listed companies. Then it will throw out a list of companies which match the given criteria. It is very useful for the investors since most of their research work is done and now they can concentrate on only a few companies to do further research.

The stock screener search engine can take any parameter from the financial terms. For example, you can give criteria like – a large cap company having P/E ratio less than 15 which is at its all high high currently. This is just an example and you can give any number of parameters.

The stock screeners can be used to shortlist companies based on any tangible variables like market capitalization, revenue, volatility and profit margins, as well as performance ratios such as the P/E ratio or debt-to-equity ratio. It cannot be used for non-tangible or debatable criteria like best services or best products.

Most Popular Stock Screeners

There are various stock screeners available over the internet. But there are 3 websites which are most popular in providing this service. These websites are Yahoo Finance, MSN Money and Morning Star. And the best part is that all these websites provide this service for free.

All these websites provide a basic stock screener as well as a advanced stock screener. Basic stock screener has some pre-determined set of parameters which can be used to shortlist the stocks. This screener is not customizable. Most of the time this screener is sufficient for the analysis of a beginner stock investor. The advanced stock screener is very customizable therefore it asks for more data to be fed from the user. It will basically ask for 3 things – the criterion (the variable), the value and the condition.

Analysis using stock screeners is very helpful when you know your criteria for choosing the company stock but you don’t have time to research all companies in that sector/market cap.

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The technical analysis of stock trends can be done by combining the three main tools which can give a larger picture to the investors. These indicators can give the investors the edge over non informed investors to make profitable trades. Let us look at all the tree tools and see how to make use of them together.

Volume – Volume of a stock says a lot about the current situation of a stock. Volume is defined by the number of shares of a particular stock which are being traded within a period like an hour, week or a month. The volume of a stock is generally low when the share price is not moving much and it moves in a near straight line. The stock volume is generally much higher when the stock moves upwards or downwards. Usually, sudden high volume indicates a new trend which may be upwards or downwards. By using volume in conjunction with movements in the stock you can spot the right areas to get into a trade.

Aroon Indicator – Aroon indicator was developed by Tushar Chande in 1995 to determine the trend direction and the strength of the stock. This indicator tells the investors when a long term trend is ending. Aroon indicator is calculated as below:

Bullish – [(# of periods) - (# of periods since highest high)] / (# of periods)] x 100

Bearish – [(# of periods) - (# of periods since lowest low)] / (# of periods)] x 100

The investors look for a move below or above the zero level mark to see the trend of the stock.

Fibonacci Analysis – Fibonacci numbers are the numbers in a series in which the following number is the sum of previous two numbers. The series start with 1, 1 2, 5, 8, 13, 21 and so on. Fibonacci series as a trading tool has been used by traders for a long time and it is still hugely popular. There are five types of trading tools that are based on Fibonacci’s discovery: arcs, fans, retracements, extensions and time zones. The lines created by these Fibonacci studies are believed to signal changes in trends as the prices draw near them. This theory assumes that a stock will usually retrace to a certain percentage after moving up or down to a level of a support or resistance.

Putting volume, Aroon and Fibonacci together – When investors put these three indicators together, they can pinpoint the trend of a stock. The volume will denote the fear or enthusiasm of investors in that stock, Aroon will denote whether the stock is beginning to move from an existing trend and Fibonacci will tell whether the stock has hit its level of resistance or support. Technical analysis of stock trends make much more sense if the investors put these indicators together to get the direction of the stock movement.

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That is not to say that this one share of stock cannot be bought using the discount stock broker. Let us say that you want to buy the stock of Google(Goog) or Berkshire Hathway Investments then you can definitely buy one share using your stock broker. Then you can get a certificate mailed to you if you wish to but with no framing and stuff.

This company called oneshare.com has almost all the companies listed for buying and then you can select the message as well the frame for the share certificate.

Here are the top ten single share certificates that were shown as the top 10 requests on the oneshare.com website.

Disney(DIS)

Dream Works

Harley(HOG)

Wal-mart(WMT)

Tiffany(TIF)

Microsoft(MSFT)

Coca Cola(KO)

Mcdonald’s(MCD)

Ford(F)

Then another company lists the most popular as

Home Depot (HD)

Anheuser Busch(ABI)

Ebay(EBAY)

General Mills(GIS)

Hershey(HSY)

Target(TGT)

The one look at the stocks tells you that are all companies symbolize the true entrepreneurial spirit of America and are true American brands. Buying 1 share of stock is definitely easily.

You will need to know the social security of the person for whom you are buying the gift and otherwise you will not be able to get the certificate legally registered in his or her name. These companies no doubt charge a huge amount of money which is the transfer fees and the shipping and handling fees. So check which option is better for buying one share of stock. And in case you have just opened an account for long term stock market investing then you can buy one share free as most companies will give first 10 or 20 trades.

People generally ask that whether these are real shares and the answer is yes these are real one share of stock.

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As a stock market for beginners guide on investing it is my endeavor here to present you all the relevant information so that you can invest safely in the stocks with all the necessary research done by yourself and not done by buying expensive the stock market research reports unless of course you are a professional mutual fund manager. Well then if you are one of those then I am sure that you will not be reading my blog! 

Ok back to my dummies guide and here are some of the basic things that you should know and primary among them is my guide on the stock market for dummiesBefore you even ask the question about how to buy stocks online  you should be able to understand various stock market charts as well as financial information given in all the financial dailies. If you pick up any stock market daily like Wall street Journal or the Investors business daily you will see that there are stocks that are listed in the alphabetical order and the you will have a couple of things like the 

52 week high – which tell about the highest price at which the stock was sold in the past 52 weeks? 

The symbol of the company is as defined by the NYSE or NASDAQ. 

Yield – This will tell which company gives out dividend and how much 

Volume – This is trading volume for the previous day. Of course because you will be reading the financial daily the next day. 

P/E ratio – This is the price to earnings ratio and the details are here for the understanding the p/e ratio and eps are here. 

Close price – This tells you about the stock price at the end of the trading session. But that said there are other trading which happens and that trading will happen at the pre market trading session. 

Net price change – this is the percentage up or the down the stock was as compared to the previous day. 

If you need to know more about the quantitative analysis of the stocks then you need to read about MACD technical analysis  and candlestick analysis

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1. White candlestick – White candlesticks or hollow candlesticks signal uptrend movement. These occur in different lengths; the longer the body, the more significant the price increase.
2. Black candlestick – Black candlesticks or filled candlesticks signal downtrend movement. These occur in different lengths; the longer the body, the more significant the price decrease.
3. Long lower shadow – Long lower shadow gives a bullish signal. The lower wick must be at least the body’s size; the longer the lower wick, the more reliable the signal.
4. Long upper shadow – Long upper shadow gives a bearish signal. The upper wick must be at least the body’s size; the longer the upper wick, the more reliable the signal.
5. Hammer – A hammer shows a bullish pattern during a downtrend. The hammer has long lower wick and small or no body. Shaven head hammer shows a bullish pattern during a downtrend & a bearish pattern during an uptrend since it has no upper wick. The Hanging man hammer candlestick shows bearish pattern during an uptrend. It has long lower wick, small or no body; wick has the multiple length of the body.
6. Inverted hammer – Inverted hammer signals bottom reversal; however confirmation must be obtained from next trade. It may be either a white or black body. Shaven bottom inverted hammer signals bottom reversal, however confirmation must be obtained from next trade. It has no lower wick. Shooting star inverted hammer shows a bearish pattern during an uptrend. It has small body, long upper wick, small or no lower wick.
7. Spinning top white – Spinning top white gives a neutral pattern. It gives a normal view until seen with respect to the other candlestick patterns
8. Spinning top black – Similar to spinning top white pattern and gives neutral pattern but in black candlestick. Again becomes meaningful when sees in combination with other candlestick patterns
9. Doji – Doji is a neutral pattern with no body and only shadows, meaningful in combination with other candlestick patterns
10. Long legged doji – This is a type of DOJI but have long shadows. It signals a top reversal
11. Dragonfly doji – As in a normal Doji, there is no body and a Dragonfly Doji signals trend reversal since it has no upper wick and long lower wick.
12. Gravestone doji – Opposite to Dragonfly doji and signals trend reversal. It has no lower wick and long upper wick
13. Marubozu white – Marubozu denotes dominant bullish trades and continued bullish trend. It has no upper or no lower wick.
14. Marubozu black – Marubozu black denotes dominant bearish trades and continued bearish trend. It has no upper or no lower wick.

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Candlestick stock analysis technique has become very popular among the traders and analysts. Since this is just a short term analysis tool it covers the stock for only 8 – 10 trading sessions. Candlestick charts are often very complex and pretty difficult to understand. We will have a series of articles on candlestick techniques and we will try to cover as much as we can about this technique.

Components of a candlestick:

Candlestick looks somewhat similar to a bar in bar chart but that’s where the similarity ends. Sometimes the people who study bar charts get confused when they look at a candlestick chart since candlesticks look like bars but the charted in a different way. A candlestick has 3 parts; there is a wide part which is called real body of the candlestick and then there are two lines on either side of the real body which are called shadows. The real body represents the range between the open and close of that day’s trading. When the real body is filled in or black, it means the close was lower than the open. If the real body is empty, it means the opposite: the close was higher than the open. The shadows are sometimes called the wicks of the candle. The high is marked by the top of the upper shadow and the low by the bottom of the lower shadow. Real bodies can be either long or short and either black or white. Shadows can also be either long or short.

Candlestick components

How do candle charts compare with bar charting?

The biggest difference between a candlestick chart and a bar chart is that a candle stick chart give information about the opening price as well as closing price of a stock on the same trading day while the bar charts only charts the closing prices between yesterday and today. The reason is that Americans put more emphasis on the closing price of a stock while Japanese think it is important to consider both opening as well as closing price on the same day.

If you see a candlestick chart and a bar chart of a same stock for the same period, you will notice the vast amount of difference in information between these two charts.

Candlestick vs Bar chart compare

In following articles we would cover about:

• Candlestick chart patterns
• Candlestick pattern analysis
• Candlestick support and resistance

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These websites are a great way to see historic information going back to several years. And the best thing is that they are available online so that you don’t have to buy books or go to library. You can do analysis on any stock, read expert reviews, and see whether the institutions are buying or selling the stock which you are researching. Not only the financial details about the company, these websites also have recommendations from experts regarding buy, sell or hold on that particular stock.

You can see which stocks are at their peak and which are currently at their lows. The news about the companies is also displayed for easier access for the readers. For example, if you go to one of these websites and search on YHOO, you will get every possible detail about Yahoo including their financial details, its financial ratios like P/E ratio, its holdings with different mutual funds, their competitors, historical charts, news about YHOO etc.

People have their favorites and we have ours. Here is a list of some of the best stock analysis websites which many people refer to while doing stock market analysis.

Value Line
Morningstar
MSN Money
Yahoo! Finance
Motley Fool
Dividend Achievers
Seeking Alpha
CNN Money
Reuters
DRIP Investing
Dividend Growth
Financial Webring Forum
WikInvest
StockPickr
Zack’s Investment Research
Big Charts
The Street
Marketwatch
Gummy Stuff
RiskGrades
ValuePro
Yahoo! Industry Center
GuruFocus
Kiplinger

These are some of the best stock analysis websites which we have been following over the last couple of years. All of them are very reliable and keep data up to date thereby making it easier for the investors to research the stocks.

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