Sunday, April 19, 2009

What is share trading?

Before getting to know share/stock trading you must know what share is. A Share is the smallest unit of ownership in a joint stock company. The ownership of a share gives the owner the right to have a say in the management of the company.Only public limited companies (PLC) can issue shares to the general public. They issue shares in order to raise capital. The first issue is known as Initial Public Offering (IPO).Once people own shares by means of subscribing to IPO, they may need to have a liquidity ie selling these certificates of ownership in order to redeem their money. For this purpose secondary market has been created.
These secondary markets are known as stock market or share markets. This is the place where shares are bought and sold freely which of course is governed by the universal law of supply and demand. The shares that are more in demand goes up in price and those that are low in demand goes down.The investors in the share/stock market make money by the principle of buying low and selling high.
Share Trading Risks in Short Term Stock Trading
Regardless of time scale, a stock's price direction is always determined by supply and demand. Long term supply and demand are driven by fundamentals - company earnings, return on equity, dividends, etc. Short term supply and demand are more readily manipulated. For example a guru in a large circulation newspaper might tip a stock at the weekend. On Monday, propelled by demand from eager newspaper readers, the stock's price rises. A slightly different scenario that experienced investors will be aware of is when the stock's price does not rise on Monday, despite an army of small investors buying shares. It turns out the "guru" was helping friends who wanted to sell large shareholdings. A neat way of doing this without driving the stock's price down was to create artificial demand amongst small investors. It is much easier to artificially influence a stock's price in the short term than the long term. Benjamin Graham once said, "In the short term the stock-market acts like a voting machine, in the long term it's more like a weighing machine." In other words, supply and demand on any given day can be driven by all sorts of factors - some stranger than you might imagine. BUT, taking a long-term view, trivial factors are discarded in favor of the weight of cash the company has delivered to its shareholders and can be reasonably expected to deliver in future. Big market traders play games of bluff and double bluff on an hourly and daily basis. If someone has sufficient funds - and banks and investment houses do have the funds - it's easy to move a stock's price through large-scale buying or short-selling. Having moved the price enough to trigger short-term buy or sell signals to technical analysts, the idea is that these technical analysts will trade in the direction of the technical signals. This generates increased trading in the stock and the price moves even further in the direction that the "big players" intended. The big players then dispose of their position in the stock. The trend comes to an end and the traders who entered it late lose money. The big players, though, have profited handsomely. If you want to trade short-term, your opponents will almost certainly be better equipped, better funded and more experienced than you. 85 to 95 percent of people who try to become short-term traders fail.
Stock trading is done by a wide range of investors and this line of investing consists of individual stock investors, stock trading companies, and all the individuals and companies used to recruit professionals who carry out the trading on behalf of the recruiters. The term stock means shares. Different companies sell a part of their shares in the stock market and the buyers purchase these shares and becomes a partner in the company's profit. This profit making is the main purpose behind buying and selling of stocks. There is another form of investment and profit making which is known as a bond. The stocks and bond market are different, but they are jointly known as the securities market.


Stock exchanges are the places where the stock trading takes place. These places are designed to bring the stock sellers and the stock buyers onto the same platform and boost the business of stock trading. There are different types of stock exchanges like a physical type, a virtual type, etc., and stock trading follows different methods depending upon the market type. In the physical location, the stock is done through a method which is known as 'open outcry'. The trading in this type of exchange is done on the trading floor, and the traders put forward the bids and offers verbally. This method is the traditional method of stock trading, but it is becoming outdated in the modern market. Virtual stock exchanges are much more sophisticated than the traditional physical one. These exchanges use modern technology like computers and other gadgets to carry out the trading. Instead of crying loudly and putting forward rates and offers, the traders in virtual exchange use their computer terminals and the trading is done electronically. Stock trading is like an auction market. In the auction market there are several sellers and at the same time, there are several buyers. The buyer asks a price for the commodity and the seller quotes a price to buy the commodity. When the seller's price and the buyer's price match each other, the deal is confirmed. In the stock exchanges, this kind of selling and buying exists and is done on an early-bird basis.

Share Tips

The share market is a place where fortunes can take turn in just a few seconds. Because of this reason, several people have tried their luck in the market but all of them have not performed well. There are several share tips, which can help ones fortune to take the right turn. An investor should always complete a proper research about the market before he enters the stock market. A proper homework can reduce some amount of risk from the trading process. Before purchasing any share, one should know the history of the respective company.
The movement record of at least 52 weeks of the particular share should also be analyzed. At the same time the financial record of the company is also very essential. For the purpose, one can consult several newspaper, journals and can also check the various portals. There are several situations on which the movements of the share depend. One should understand these properly. The demand of a particular share determines the exact price of the share. When the demand rises, the cost rises and with the fall in the demand, the price also reduces. At the same time if there is any kind of political instability that is also going to influence the share price.
Again, if there is any kind of scam that has taken place in the market, the market is obviously going to decline. There are ample examples of this kind of decline of the market. At the same time, if any nation is involved in any kind of war, that is going to influence the stock market of that particular nation. Some news regarding the merger and change in the management of the respective company may also have an impact on the share movement in either way. These are the primary things, which one is expected to take care if he or she is interested in the stock market. The next thing is to know about the different kind of stocks in the market. There are blue chip shares, technology shares, growth shares, speculative shares, common and preferred shares, etc. All these shares are of different nature and the growth prospects are also different. At the same time the risk factors are also different.
These should be studied well before investing. There are certain methods and strategies of share trading. Among these are the option trading which helps the investor to manage or at least reduce the loss. There are different types of options, which are available in the market. The main factor is that the knowledge of the market is not only needed to make profit but it is also needed to learn to manage the risk factors. If the investor is new in the market, then he or she should take help of a reputed broker. The share brokers are an important factor of the stock market. These people or firm can provide each and every type of information to the investor. At the same time, the brokers are also involved in providing worthy suggestions and assistance to the investors. Share tips are essential for all buyers and sellers operating in the share markets.

Definition of Share

According to financial terminology the share is regarded as a unit of account that can represent several monetary instruments, such as stocks, REITs, mutual funds, or limited partnerships. In Great Britain the term "shares" usually refers to stocks. In the United States, the term stocks are used to refer to the shares or even the stock certificates that may be provided by a particular company. However, as per the conventional use, the term stocks usually refers to shares.
Shareholder
The people who have ownership over a share are called the shareholders. The shareholder could be an individual or an organization.
Dividend
The earning that the holder of a share makes from his or her shares is called the dividend. Dividends are actually part of the profits of the company whose shares may be held by the respective holder. These are non-reinvested profits.
Concept of Share
In practical terms, shares are individual pieces representing an equal stake in the capital of a business organization. The number of shares make the respective holder eligible to receive a certain part of the profits made by that company. The shares also help the respective holders to be able to lay claim to a part of the worth of the specific company. This is applicable, however, only when there is liquidation.
Voting and Non Voting Shares
There are two kinds of shares in operation: voting and non voting shares. The owners of the voting shares are eligible to vote on the board of directors or on corporate policies, while the owners of the non-voting shares may not. Whether shares are voting or non-voting often influences their price. These shares are also called Class A and B shares