How to Use Gold Markings to Help Sell Your Gold

With the current historic highs for the prices of precious metals, many people are looking into selling their unwanted jewelry and other items made from gold, silver and platinum. By learning about the gold markings or hallmarks as they are known in the trade, you will be better equipped to sell your gold. Like everything else, when it comes to precious metals, it is a good idea to know what you have before you try to sell it.

Most jewelry is marked or “stamped” with a hallmark telling the purity of the material. The key word here is most. Some custom made pieces may be signed or not and may or may not have the karat or purity of the material on the piece. Also, sometimes when a ring has been resized or a piece has been repaired, the markings will be removed in the finishing process and not reapplied. So do not assume that because it is not marked it is not precious metal.

Precious metals are bought and sold based on purity and weight. Jewelry is typically made from and marked 9k or .375, 10k or .417, 14k or .585, 18k or .750 or 22k or .917. This will tell you the purity of you piece with 9k being the lowest and 24k being pure gold. Where you find these markings depends on the type of piece you are looking at. Rings are normally marked on the inside of the shank or portion that attaches to the body or head of the ring. Bracelets, necklaces and chains will typically be marked somewhere on or around the clasp area. You will have to look carefully, open the clasp and look at the “male” end that inserts. Earrings are tough because the markings are normally very small, but look on the stem or post. Pendants and charms will be marked on the back or bail (that is the part that the chain goes through)

Whoever you sell your gold to will first look it over for gold markings to determine purity, and then they will weigh the piece. With the spot price of gold and these other two pieces of information, they can calculate the price you can sell your gold for.

Gold comes in many colors, the most common are yellow, rose and white; sometimes you will see all three in a single piece, it is referred to as “Black Hills” or “Tri-Color” gold.

Just because your item is white or silver colored does not mean it is gold. If it is marked.928 or sterling then it is Sterling Silver and if it is marked PLAT or IRD it is platinum. Both of which are precious metals and have value.

So look for those gold markings or hallmarks and remember the higher the number the more you will be able to get when you sell your gold.

Source by Lee Heavener

The post How to Use Gold Markings to Help Sell Your Gold appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/how-to-use-gold-markings-to-help-sell-your-gold/

The Oldest Trading Strategy is the Best Trading Strategy

Price action is the oldest strategy in the world of forex trading. It’s a trading method is of the technical analysis type. It seems ridiculous that the old strategy going is unknown to so many. Ask some of today’s new traders what price action is and they’ll look at you blankly. A few may have heard of it, but you can practically guarantee that no one will know how it works.

Todays modern forex market is basically run by robots. Indicators are used which tell you when to buy and sell, with stunning unreliability. The trading community has definitely become lazy.

The principal of this method is very simple. It tells you the current trends and predicts the way the prices will move in the near future. When the stock exchange first opened its doors, all traders used this method to buy and sell. Jesse Livermore was a legendary trader at the beginning of the twentieth century, and the only system he ever used was price action.

Why have things changed so drastically? By bringing indicators into mainstream trading, the whole thing has been made way more complicated than it should be. Traders seem to have actually forgotten how to analyze markets.

The new traders entering the market are brainwashed by these wonderful inventions that make your money for you. They will have never heard of it, but when their banks accounts are empty thanks to their mechanical friends, they will wish that they had.

So dump the indicators, learn price action and become a real trader.

Source by Anu Bhatia

The post The Oldest Trading Strategy is the Best Trading Strategy appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/the-oldest-trading-strategy-is-the-best-trading-strategy/

Is There Any Form of Formal Education for Forex Traders?

As far as I know, there is no formal degree which is Forex specific. However there is a certification program, which measures your proficiency in many aspects of finance which correlates to a lot of things involved in Forex trading. I am referring to the Chartered Financial Analyst, or CFA for short. The curriculum of most CFA programs covers subjects such as ethics, quantitative methods, economics, corporate finance, financial reporting and analysis, security analysis and portfolio management.

You need bachelors degree in order to be eligible for CFA certification. There are many schools on and off the Internet which offer study materials for the CFA exam.

While this would go a long way in helping you understand the mechanics of Forex trading, it is by no means exhaustive, and neither does it cover everything that a good trader needs to know. However many Forex related companies would look favorably at candidates who possess a CFA certification. That perhaps is where it makes the most sense, if you are planning to work for a Forex broker or some other Forex related business.

Many experienced traders however would recommend Forex specific courses which don’t come with a certification but they do call for much more ground with respect to Forex trading and analysis. One excellent program that has received many positive reviews is Peter Bains Forex Mentor program, which you might want to check out. In fact even if you do decide to go for CFA certification, it might be a good idea to go on the Forex Mentor program concurrently with your CFA studies. Since the CFA program covers more ground, it ends up being a more general view of the different elements involved in financial analysis. On the other hand the Forex Mentor program, and other similar Forex training programs, are specific to Forex trading and studying them concurrently, while trading demo accounts would provide a much higher caliber of education and training compared to studying either one of them by themselves.

Never underestimate the value of using demo accounts in your Forex education. In Forex, what is important is the real world trading. There are so many different ways of analyzing the market and while it’s good to know most if not all of them, eventually you will need to focus on just a couple of analysis tools because the use of too many tools will slow down your trading and will result in missed opportunities due to overanalysis. So the Forex specific programs will show you the fundamentals of the different tools for analysis. The CFA on the other hand will provide you with the knowledge necessary to analyze fundamentals effectively. Taken together, you will be equipped with a fundamental and technical tools needed to chart your Forex trading direction. Then by using the demo account you are able to select and fine-tune your analysis tools of choice until you’re able to come up with your own personalized, and effective trading system.

Forex trading does involve quite a bit of studying, but the great thing about it is that you are able to get instant gratification in the sense that you are able to see the connection between what you are studying in what you’re doing, or intend to do trading wise.

You can also look into a coach, mentor or advisor. here is a cool article I found online that looks into the advantages of having someone help you (hope it is OK to copy and paste here…)

Why Have a Mentor When Using Forex

Forex has enabled beginners to catapult themselves into the exciting world of foreign exchange trading, but currency exchange is not a guessing game, and novices aren’t generally successful right off the bat. Like anything else Forex trading requires training and know-how. Consider the following reasons why you should consider using a Forex mentor, tutor or platinum training solution to improve your trading abilities:

Understand the Unknown

When trading currencies, or any commodity, you will undoubtedly encounter alien looking charts and figures. Platinum Trading Solutions says that without formal training you will not be able to properly interpret daily information feeds, which will harm your ability to do informed trading.

Know your Resources

When trading Forex you will need to regularly consult a list of critical resources. If you do not feel comfortable using: the law of the charts, probabilities, Investopedia, Forex news, Daily FX, Forex blogs, the Forex Symbol Table, historical currency exchange rates, and more.

Learn Patience and Timing

The most important, and difficult, aspect of trading is knowing when to buy and sell. Novice buyers often sell out of excitement and anticipation, regardless of correct timing. A Forex mentor from Platinum Trading Solutions can teach you the patience you need, and show you how to recognize the right time to buy and sell. Remember that this is an art form and being precise is critical.

Frustrations

As a novice trader, you are going to get frustrated. Nobody is successful on Forex overnight and there are many hurdles you must get past in order to be successful. A mentor, tutor from platinum training solution can help you get through the tough times and ensure you make it to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Save Time

For those eager to make it rich on Forex quickly, save yourself the time and effort of learning the hard way. When you go it alone on Forex you will undoubtedly make a lot of mistakes on your way to success, and this is ok, but it will cost you precious time. A mentor or platinum training solution will carry you over those hurdles by glossing over the mistakes (and the costs associated with them).

Source by Winno Fee

The post Is There Any Form of Formal Education for Forex Traders? appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/is-there-any-form-of-formal-education-for-forex-traders/

How and When to Use the ADMI Forex Indicator to Maximize Profit

Forex trade is a very risky business if you don’t know what you are doing, some people just trade based on signals from their friends, why not know how to generate these signals yourself? You can first practice with a combination of three or more indicators, now I will explain how to use some of them. First the ADMI, this simply means average directional movement index, this is a technical tool that can be used to read the market of a currency pair in forex trading. The ADMI consists of three different tools, the DI+, the DI- and the trend line, the trend line can be seen when you click on the third from last icon at the top of your Meta 4 platform and open the ADMI and then click on parameters, set it from a range of from 0 to 100. The DI- and DI+ can be seen from clicking on colors on the ADMI software. You can change the colors for each to your desired colors. You can decide to make the DI- blue and the DI+ yellow, note this color, and make sure you memorize it.

The trend line is used to determine the strength of the market, if the trend line is below 20, then it means that the market is slow, the market being slow can affect your trade negatively most of the times because it will take a longer time for the market to follow a signal, but if it is between 20 and 40 then it is ok, but above 45 is bad except you take your trade towards the end of a candle stick if it has gone against the signal and the signal is still right. Usually it is advisable to use a 1 hour chart, so after 45 minutes on a candle stick formulation, and the trend line is high, also the market has gone against its signal, there is a higher tendency for it to retrace.

The DI+(positive line) and DI-(negative line) are used to read the market or determine its signal, when ever the positive line cuts the negative line from beneath, a strong buy signal has been established and when the negative line cuts the positive line from beneath then a strong sell signal has been established. Also when the positive live goes up, it means that the market is buying or there is an upward trend and also when the negative line points upwards there is a downward trend, if you are using a one hour chart, ensure to study and enter all your trades at most 40 minutes into the formulation of a new candle stick.

With the above you can study the market well, but to be sure you can add other indicators like RSI, Stochastic, Zigzag and others, first practice with them so you can understand how they work. Now the best time to go with a signal generated from a technical indicator is in the morning before 9am London time and in the evening after 8pm London time, during this period there won’t be any news that will affect the trend negatively.

Source by Osakue Aimufua

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source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/how-and-when-to-use-the-admi-forex-indicator-to-maximize-profit/

How Do CFD Providers Make Their Money?

There are two types of CFD models, Market Maker and Direct Market Access. Each type has its own advantages and drawbacks and each CFD provider makes money in a very different way. It is important to understand how CFD brokers make money when you trade. In this article we will focus on Direct Market Access or DMA CFD providers only.

Direct Market Access CFDs are the most transparent type of CFD available, the reason for this is simply because DMA CFD brokers hedge every order they receive from their clients in the underlying market. When trading DMA CFDs you will actually see the CFD providers hedge order in the order book of the share listed on the underlying exchange on which the CFD is based.

In order to hedge in a cost efficient manner and enable the DMA CFD broker to offer CFDs on overseas exchanges the DMA CFD provider will utilise the execution services of a global investment bank that has exchange memberships globally. Having a relationship with one execution provider also allows the DMA CFD provider to achieve economies of scale resulting in lower execution and financing costs for the provider and ultimately the end client.

The global investment banks providing the DMA execution into the underlying exchange on behalf of the CFD provider also provide the financing on the positions, this execution and financing service combined works much like a CFD but on a much larger scale. The CFD brokers hedge transactions with the investment bank are known as SWAP transactions and the service offered by the bank is known as prime broking.

A DMA CFD provider model is simple, aggregate as many client orders and positions as possible in order to achieve reduced execution and financing rates on the SWAP contracts offered by their prime broker.

CFD providers make money much like any business where the business owner buys from the wholesaler and then sells the product in stores to retail customers.

The formula is simple, if your CFD broker is charged 0.01% commission on their SWAP trade and pay a financing rate of 0.50% above or below the RBA rate any they charge you 0.10% commission on the trade and 3.00% above or below the RBA rate they will make money. In addition to making money on commission and financing DMA CFD brokers also receive the benefit of netting all client positions against each other. Put simply netting means that if a long position offsets a short position the CFD broker has no position, however, as the client who is long is paying interest and the client who is short is being paid interest less a small haircut, the CFD provider profits from the difference between the two interest rates.

It is important to note that prime brokers will not deal with retail clients themselves and will typically only deal with large hedge funds and CFD brokers as such CFDs are a great way of achieving access to global markets in much the same way as the global investment banks themselves and hedge funds do.

Source by Marcus Portland

The post How Do CFD Providers Make Their Money? appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/how-do-cfd-providers-make-their-money/

10 Fascinating Facts About Engelhard 10 Oz Silver Bars

The Engelhard brand name carries an absolute flawless reputation for high quality along with the overall purity of its silver bullion bars. Silver buffs absolutely adore this brand since they know that they have the power to sell or buy them with complete assurance, irrespective of where either they or the buyer may reside.

As you may know, Engelhard silver bars can be purchased in several different sizes: 1-oz, 10-oz or 100-oz. Here, I would like to concentrate on the Engelhard 10 oz silver bars and present some little known facts that you will be sure to find fascinating!

1. All (or at least the majority of them!) 10 oz Engelhard silver bars are marked with a unique serial number.

2. Engelhard uses ‘P’ prefix in front of its serial numbers to signify poured bars.

3. The company uses the ‘C” prefix before its serial numbers to indicate stamped or cast bars

4. The poured bars were issued before the stamped ones.

5.. A six digit version with no prefix were the first bars that were issued.

6. There were two varieties of bars: A portrait or tall vertical variety and a landscape or wide horizontal version.

7. The portrait version features the Engelhard large “E” logo and the Eagle-Flag logo with a triangle.

8. The landscape version features the Engelhard logo in a rectangle, along with a ‘Bull Logo.’ or just the plain Engelhard logo surrounded by a rectangle.

9. All of Engelhard bars are stamped with the bar’s weight and silver purity. Many different spellings and variations including:

• “999+” “10.000” with just a tiny amount of space between the two words.
• “999+” “10.000” with large amounts of space between the two words.
• 10 T.OZ
• 99 9+FINE SILVER 10TR.OZ
• 10 TROY OZ. 999+ FINE SILVER
• 10 TROY OUNCES FINE SILVER 999+
• 999+ Fine SILVER 10 Troy Ounces

10. Around 1.5 to 1.7 million Engelhard 10 oz Silver Bars were minted. Sadly, many of these have been melted.

In conclusion, as you can see, an Engelhard silver ingot isn’t just your run-of-the-mill ordinary silver bar. Its interesting mint history and dedication to quality make this a 10 oz silver bar worth buying!

Source by Christina Goldman

The post 10 Fascinating Facts About Engelhard 10 Oz Silver Bars appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/10-fascinating-facts-about-engelhard-10-oz-silver-bars/

Should You Invest In Generic Or Name-Brand 10 Oz Silver Bars?

You’ve decided to invest in 10 oz silver bars – good for you! These silver bars are a great investment for several reasons:

They can be easily stored in a safety deposit box a safe at home because of their lovely flat, uniform size.

They are still very affordable, even with silver trading around $30 an oz these days.

Best of all, they are super handy for emergency bartering purposes.

When shopping for silver bars, you’ll have the choice of buying either a name brand such as Engelhard or unknown generic brand. Which one should you choose?

As I mentioned previously, a name-brand silver bullion bar is one that is produced by well-known, established companies such as Johnson-Matthey or Engelhard. These are the top-tier manufacturers followed by 2nd tier producers such as Silvertowne, Sunshine Minting, and the Wall Street Mint.

On the other hand, a generic bar is one that is produced by a company that is not very well-known or no longer in business.

Certainly, there are advantages to buying both. Let’s take a look, first, at the reasons why someone might choose to invest in name-brand silver bullion bars.

Although you can expect to pay more for a bar from one of the top-tier producers, typically they will command a higher selling premium than the lesser or unknown brands. In simple terms, when you approach your local coin dealer to sell an Engelhard Silver Bar, you can expect to be offered more money then had you been selling a generic variety.

So if you are investing in these 10 oz silver bars for profit and wealth-building reasons, I would suggest you stick with one of the name brands.

Now let’s take a look at why someone might choose to invest in a generic silver bullion bar.

The biggest advantage these bars have over their name-brand counterparts is price. Typically, you can buy these bars starting around $.69 over spot, at the current time, compared with up to $2.00 over spot for a Johnson-Matthey silver bar.

If you’re simply investing in silver in order to preserve the purchasing power of your money or for emergency bartering purposes, go with a generic bar.

Just remember no matter what 10 oz silver bar you choose, silver has been looked at as a store of value and form of money for over 4000 years. Compare that with the history of paper money!

Source by Christina Goldman

The post Should You Invest In Generic Or Name-Brand 10 Oz Silver Bars? appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/should-you-invest-in-generic-or-name-brand-10-oz-silver-bars/

How to Spot Fake Chinese Silver Panda Coins on eBay

If you buy Chinese silver Panda coins on eBay, you could be purchasing a counterfeit coin.Many Panda coins listed on eBay are fake. Nearly half are suspicious looking.

I rarely encounter fake rare American coins on eBay, but fake Pandas are common.

I bought some counterfeit pandas directly from China a few years ago and now know what to look for in a fake. They’re easy to spot when you know what to look for.

The fakes are so well done, I’d swear the China Mint has a night shift going specifically producing fake versions of their own highly regarded silver coins. My coins were in capsules and even mint plastic envelopes. They looked for all the world like they were real.

I’m not sure what made me test one for authenticity, but I got a wild hair and proceeded to remove the capsule from the plastic pouch and then the coin from the capsule.

The first thing I did was give it the ring test. That’s where you balance the coin on the tip of your finger and tap the edge with a Paper Mate pen. It should give a high pitched, sustained tinggg. This one didn’t. It just went thud.

I got out another panda coin I know to be real and gave it the ring test. It rang pleasingly. Then I compared the two coins and noticed the suspect coin was probably 20% thicker than the real version.

The final convicting test was to cut it in half with a hack saw. The interior metal was a dark grey with a silver plating over it. I tried to contact the China distributor, but they ignored my request for a refund.

What makes me think the China Mint might be producing the fakes as well as the real version of their panda coin? The fakes resemble the real ones in every detail except one: the capsule that protects them.

Remember, I said the fake pandas are thicker than their real counterpart? In order for them to weigh the same amount, and have the same outer case dimensions, there must be some extra room in the mint capsule for a thicker coin. And there is!

You see, the genuine Chinese panda case has three tiny nibs on the capsule to support the thinner coin. The fake coins don’t have these three little nibs. Want to see how many fakes are on eBay? Look for the three little nibs on the capsule.

When I’m interested in a silver panda coin where I don’t see the nibs, I contact the seller and ask them to check the coin with the ring test. I almost invariably get a response like “I know the coin is real. I’m not going to test it for you.” Or, I get no answer at all.

I feel like buying the coins and doing the test myself and then reporting it to eBay, if they turn out to be fake. Suddenly reality hits me. It’s a losing battle. It’s my word against the seller’s.

The seller can always claim I switched their real coin for a fake, just so I could accuse them of selling counterfeit coins on eBay. Selling counterfeit coins on eBay is strictly against eBay policy and will get you banned from ever selling on eBay again.

I can’t single handedly stop the sale of fake coins on eBay, but I can educate potential buyers who will listen, and not bid on counterfeit coins. I rarely encounter a counterfeit Morgan or Peace dollar on eBay, but there’s a profusion of fake pandas for sale there.

While getting out fake and real Panda coins to photograph, I also noticed counterfeit Pandas don’t age as well as their real counterparts. For photographs of these coins graphically showing the difference between real and fake, go to: http://heritagecoingallery.com/2014/07/20/are-you-aware-of-the-profusion-of-fake-1-oz-chinese-silver-panda-coins-on-ebay/

Source by Paul St. Julien

The post How to Spot Fake Chinese Silver Panda Coins on eBay appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/how-to-spot-fake-chinese-silver-panda-coins-on-ebay/

How to Quickly and Confidently Spot a Fake 1893-S Morgan Silver Dollar

1893-S Morgan silver dollars are so renowned, that more exist today than were originally minted. Most Counterfeit 1893-S Morgans consist of altered versions of existing genuine Morgan dollars.

The majority of 1893-S Morgan silver dollars are certified, so why would I need to know how to tell a fake one when I see it? Hasn’t NGC and PCGS already done that for me?

I’ve seen fake 1893-S Morgans both graded and raw. I have to assume PCGS and NGC graders both know how to spot a fake 1893-S Morgan, so when I see an example of a counterfeit slabbed in a legitimate looking holder, I have to figure the holder is as fake as the coin.

I also run across fake coin denial. Owners of these coins don’t want to admit they were fooled into buying a counterfeit coin. That’s a hard pill to swallow, especially when the owner paid top dollar for a graded coin with the confidence of it being blessed from a major third party grader.

The 1893-S date/mintmark is the most valuable of the Morgan designed dollars. Because of this, most counterfeit versions have been made by altering either the date, or the mintmark.

Learning to tell a fake 1893-S Morgan is simple, because ALL 100,000 coins were made from the same obverse die and two reverse dies. That makes the diagnostic really easy.

They all have the same obverse characteristics and not terribly different reverse characteristics. Any coin that doesn’t possess the telltale diagnostic characteristics is a fake. Learn what to look for, and you can spot a fake raw coin AND a fake graded coin.

The date is probably the easiest thing to pick out. Unlike other dies from the S, O, or P mints, the date has a flaw and a certain characteristic the altered coins won’t possess.

First, look closely at the 1. Does it line up exactly with the dentil directly under it? Can you draw a line right through the center of both?

Next, study the last numeral. As the date progresses, it slopes upward to the right, in relation to the edge. The 3 is noticeably higher than the 1 at the beginning. This is the easiest way to quickly spot a fake.

There are things to check in the “T” and “R” on LIBERTY, but they would need a microscope to detect. There’s a tiny die scratch in the “T” and a detail that resembles “rabbit ears” in the base of the “R”. ALL genuine 1893-S Morgans have this detail, if you happen to have a microscope check out this diagnostic detail.

You don’t really need to turn the coin over to make any more diagnostics on it.

Further diagnostics will only tell you how the alteration was made. The genuine “S” mintmark is clear and rounded. It isn’t a mushy blob. The top serif on the “S” is a vertical line, while the bottom serif is more like a triangle.

The next mintmark giveaway is the alignment of the “S”. It should be perfectly aligned. I’ve seen the “S” mintmark noticeably slanted, and it shouldn’t be. Also, the “S” is slightly filled in between the upper curve and the slant of the “S” as well as the lower curve and the slant.

Since most counterfeit 1893-S dollars are altered, continue to study the coin with a 10X glass. Rotate the coin and look for tooling marks around the 9 or 3 for signs of a date alteration on the obverse. Altered coins are usually the 1898-S, 1883-S, or 1893-P.

As collector values continue to increase with the 1893-S, the fakes will get even better. With emerging technologies, counterfeits will become almost perfect replicas of the original. My hope is that as technologies to accurately copy a coin advance, technologies to detect such copies will also keep up.

Source by Paul St. Julien

The post How to Quickly and Confidently Spot a Fake 1893-S Morgan Silver Dollar appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/how-to-quickly-and-confidently-spot-a-fake-1893-s-morgan-silver-dollar/

What Are The Advantages of Investing In Platinum Coins?

As a pure precious metal, platinum is whitish in color and malleable. For many years, platinum has been used in emission controlling devices, jewelry and in electronics. As a precious metal, platinum can be both collected and invested in. The rarest of the precious metals, platinum has a much shorter history in the financial sector in contrast with gold and silver. Platinum is steadily becoming one of the most proficient hedges against inflation in the marketplace. Platinum metal investing comes in a variety of types including coins, exchange traded products on the New York Mercantile Exchange and Swiss Bank accounts that offer the investor immediate buying and selling of platinum as a form of currency. Platinum coins have become more popular in recent years over its gold and silver counterparts. While platinum is one of the scarcer precious metals and comes in many different forms, there are some advantages of investing in platinum coins and owning them.

1. Combination – platinum coins provide a prosperous avenue to platinum commodity market participation and owning a collectible coin as well. Platinum is now eligible to be included in IRA retirement accounts as well for the investor seeking to have stable retirement. By investing in platinum coins, you gain a smart way to build both short and long-term wealth, as well as own something that is collectible. Platinum coins are a solid and financially unwavering investment.

2. Short and long-term benefits – with platinum coins, an investor can see a quick return on their investment along with a long-term investment potential. Platinum volatility is what drives this particular advantage. While platinum will diversify your portfolio or collection of precious metals, investing in it can be expensive. The cost of platinum coins, while on the high-end of the precious metal spectrum, can be a lucrative investment. Despite the high spot price that platinum has and the fact that is more unpredictable than gold or silver, platinum can provide rapid profitability for the investor seeking a sound pecuniary investment.

3. Market fluctuations – while gold and silver do not fluctuate as much, platinum is considered to be profitable due to its market fluctuation. Platinum prices can significantly ebb and flow. This will ultimately affect the spot price. Since platinum coins are considered to be one of the more expensive types of precious metals investments, knowing the spot price before purchase can save a lot of pitfalls and problems later on.

4. The Strong Demand – in rising markets, platinum develops a noteworthy fiscal premium over other precious metal. Since this precious metal is used in many consumer goods, demand for it rose significantly making it a worthwhile investment.

5. Rarity – more rare than gold or silver, platinum, maintains its rare qualities such as costly fees, and differences with every type of platinum coin. Platinum coins are truly precious as over 90% of the platinum used comes from countries such as Russia and South Africa. Platinum is also an eco-friendly metal, which is a driving catalyst in its rarity.

Source by Kayla McBride

The post What Are The Advantages of Investing In Platinum Coins? appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/what-are-the-advantages-of-investing-in-platinum-coins/

Indian Currency Shift From Print to Digital

The end of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 announcement by Narendra Modi has led to rise in digital payments thereby helping India move towards Digital India. In the last few days it has been seen that the difficulties among the people to purchase goods for their livelihood post banning Indian currency notes like Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/-, looks like the nation that comprised of over a billion people have realized the advantage of digital currency.

Looking over the Google Trends page, it seems like “buy Bitcoin” is rapidly gaining popularity. Bitcoins are a digital currency, made by computers, whose prices are validated through a public ledger. Like any digital money, this money can be used to pay for goods and services, such as buying coffee, a food packet at a restaurant or even clothes.

Although digital currency is yet to mature, it has the power to play a key role in the future of financial services. As bitcoin and other related technologies grow in adoption, our financial system is going to rely heavily on a large centralized institutions that has a globally distributed network. With the proliferation of the internet, we have witnessed the industries such as media; software and communications were transformed and invigorated. Sooner or later we will experience a similar revolution in financial services, where digital currency permanently substitutes our age old, costly, and time-consuming systems and arises a brand new structure that facilitates payments, streamlines accounting processes, and enforces contracts with ease and scalability. In this fast developing landscape, digital currency can emerge as the valuable trade that empowers the “internet of money.”

“There’s no doubt that digital currency is going to play an important role going forward.”

– John Donahoe, President & CEO of eBay

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts remain hopeful Bitcoin will oust cash sooner or later.

Millions of Indian people have limited or no access to financial services through traditional means. This means Bitcoin can fill a need, should that ever arise. Benson Samuel, one of the most popular names in Indian bitcoin community and the co-founder of Coinsecure, welcomes the decision. He states, “This is very good for digital currencies in India, as people will now be forced to look into alternatives to store value. Decentralised digital currencies will play a vital role in maintaining a variety of options for people who need to use the same.”

“People are getting remittances in bitcoins, instead of Paypal. They are able to liquidate them by paying just 1% transaction fee,” said Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO and co-founder, Unocoin.

Governments all around the world have recently announced that they are investigating their own plans for digital currencies.

The Manila-based bitcoin wallet service provides consumers with direct access to basic financial services such as sending and receiving money, bill payments, remittances, and mobile top-up from within a Coins account. Customers with or without a bank account has access to online shopping at over 63,000 merchants who accept the digital currency.

Bitcoin and Digital Currency are going to the future of financial system, however the main challenge is developing on emerging technologies and providing innovations for consumers and businesses across the globe. Also technologies should be as safe and easy to use as possible, and working with governments to find out how to allow these innovations mapped with law.

What about your careers and businesses?

The emerging digital tools can enable organizations to focus not only on finding talent, but also on managing, retaining, and developing employees. Digital employee portals will get integrated with these tools helping companies to expand their employee database, refine their recruiting and screening methods, and deploy their employees more effectively. Such platforms can help put the right person in the right job, find gaps in skills, help employees as they achieve new capabilities, chart career paths, and drive the development of the next generation of leaders.

Two million-plus people may already be employed in the creative and digital sectors, contributing £137 billion to the country, yet a report published by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) in June 2015 revealed that there are more vacancies in these sectors than across the rest of the UK economy. It also predicted that 1.2 million web development and programming jobs will need to be filled by 2022. Web developers and programmers are therefore in high demand, as fewer graduates are choosing to enter the sector.

Customers are better connected, as data is connecting everything allowing competitors and start-ups outperform established players. Those who adapt their business model around the customer will win in the growing digital age. Businesses need to become more innovative and agile to be able to adapt to customer demands and market changes. This will allow them to increase customer engagement, grow employees and become more profitable. Ultimately, they need a business strategy for the digital age.

Learn how to sell in Digital Age.

Selling in the Digital Age will help your sales people maximize the power of the Digital Marketing, stay ahead of the competition. The digital age is providing online platforms, channels and systems that business owners & digital marketers use to optimise their online businesses. The business owners need to understand the current digital landscape and how it can drive success and growth for their business. Majorly they need to understand the core functions & principles of digital marketing analytics and what makes an effective brand strategy. Effectively use the power of the Digital Marketing to identify prospects with social networks, search engines, directories, blogs and Twitter. Find and develop qualified prospects into customers using the vast resources of the Internet. Interact with and retain current customers. Build ongoing customer relationships.

One can get the most out of Search Engines

Social Networks can help you sell.

Make the most with LinkedIn, a business networking juggernaut.

Use Twitter to sell and become more knowledgeable about your industry.

Use Directories to find the right people and information, fast.

Use E-mail Campaigns to help your customers buy.

Write Blogs to become known as an industry expert.

Build Your Personal Brand online that generates inbound business.

Source by Chandrakant Yadav

The post Indian Currency Shift From Print to Digital appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/indian-currency-shift-from-print-to-digital/

What Is the DXY Dollar Index?

The DXY is an indicator that many market watchers and commentators reference and quote. So what is the DXY or US Dollar index?

The DXY is a geometrically weighted index of some of the major trading partners of the United States. The composition if the DXY Index is heavily weighted towards the Euro and European countries that have not joined the European common market. The components of the DXY Index are (by weighting): Euro (57.6%), Japanese Yen (13.6%), Great Britain- Pounds Sterling (11.9%), Canadian Dollar (9.1%), Swedish Krona (4.2%), and Swiss Franc (3.6%). Because of the composition of the DXY, it is sometimes referred to as the Anti-Euro Index.

The DXY is a convenient index to use as a simple method for referencing strength and weakness of the US Dollar (USD). But its ubiquity disguises the fact that it does not reflect the value of the dollar against a broad enough basket of currencies. The DXY was created by JP Morgan in 1973, and it has only been updated once, for the introduction of the Euro currency.

The DXY is heavily weighted towards European currencies, it underweight’s the Canadian Dollar, as a proportion of US trade, and it largely ignores important Asian and Pacific trading partners, including Korea, Australia, Taiwan and necessarily China. Even if one were interested in including the Chinese Renminbi (Yuan) it would be both difficult and of questionable informational value to include the Renminbi because China keeps their currency pegged to a range that is based on the dollar.

A more accurate basket of currencies to track the relative value of the USD would be to value the dollar against the top US trading partners. The top 6 US trading partners, from high to low are: Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, Germany and the UK. It’s hard to say why JP Morgan created this index and how it came into such prominence. One odd thing about this index is you cannot trade it. There is no market that you can go to and buy the DXY. The closest you can get are futures and options contracts traded on the InterContinental Exchange (ICE).

If it’s so inaccurate, then why is it so widely quoted? While there are more accurate ways to benchmark the USD, absolute precision is not always important for an indicator. Many traders and institutions likely have their own indices that they use to track the USD, but for the sake of comparison, it is very convenient to have a common index. The DXY is also highly correlated to a trade-weighted index most of the time. Relative strength or weakness moves by the USD represents huge flows of money. As I’ve written previously, the recent +10% move by the DXY represents more than $1 trillion of nominal wealth destruction. Moves of this magnitude do not happen in a vacuum and the relative weakness of the DXY is mirrored by corresponding weakness in the trade-weighted index.

While there are shortcomings, the DXY does serve as a reliable indicator of USD strength and weakness and can be used as such, as long as one keeps in mind that it will occasionally be skewed if there are large currency moves that occur in the Euro.

Source by Christian Koch

The post What Is the DXY Dollar Index? appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/what-is-the-dxy-dollar-index/

Types of Foreign Currency Hedging Vehicles

The following are some of the most common types of foreign currency hedging vehicles used in today’s markets as a foreign currency hedge. While retail forex traders typically use foreign currency options as a hedging vehicle. Banks and commercials are more likely to use options, swaps, swaptions and other more complex derivatives to meet their specific hedging needs.

Spot Contracts – A foreign currency contract to buy or sell at the current foreign currency rate, requiring settlement within two days.

As a foreign currency hedging vehicle, due to the short-term settlement date, spot contracts are not appropriate for many foreign currency hedging and trading strategies. Foreign currency spot contracts are more commonly used in combination with other types of foreign currency hedging vehicles when implementing a foreign currency hedging strategy.

For retail investors, in particular, the spot contract and its associated risk are often the underlying reason that a foreign currency hedge must be placed. The spot contract is more often a part of the reason to hedge foreign currency risk exposure rather than the foreign currency hedging solution.

Forward Contracts – A foreign currency contract to buy or sell a foreign currency at a fixed rate for delivery on a specified future date or period.

Foreign currency forward contracts are used as a foreign currency hedge when an investor has an obligation to either make or take a foreign currency payment at some point in the future. If the date of the foreign currency payment and the last trading date of the foreign currency forwards contract are matched up, the investor has in effect “locked in” the exchange rate payment amount.

* Important: Please note that forwards contracts are different than futures contracts. Foreign currency futures contracts have standard contract sizes, time periods, settlement procedures and are traded on regulated exchanges throughout the world. Foreign currency forwards contracts may have different contract sizes, time periods and settlement procedures than futures contracts. Foreign currency forwards contracts are considered over-the-counter (OTC) due to the fact that there is no centralized trading location and transactions are conducted directly between parties via telephone and online trading platforms at thousands of locations worldwide.

Foreign Currency Options – A financial foreign currency contract giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase or sell a specific foreign currency contract (the underlying) at a specific price (the strike price) on or before a specific date (the expiration date). The amount the foreign currency option buyer pays to the foreign currency option seller for the foreign currency option contract rights is called the option “premium.”

A foreign currency option can be used as a foreign currency hedge for an open position in the foreign currency spot market. Foreign currency options can also be used in combination with other foreign currency spot and options contracts to create more complex foreign currency hedging strategies. There are many different foreign currency option strategies available to both commercial and retail investors.

Interest Rate Options – A financial interest rate contract giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase or sell a specific interest rate contract (the underlying) at a specific price (the strike price) on or before a specific date (the expiration date). The amount the interest rate option buyer pays to the interest rate option seller for the foreign currency option contract rights is called the option “premium.” Interest rate option contracts are more often used by interest rate speculators, commercials and banks rather than by retail forex traders as a foreign currency hedging vehicle.

Foreign Currency Swaps – A financial foreign currency contract whereby the buyer and seller exchange equal initial principal amounts of two different currencies at the spot rate. The buyer and seller exchange fixed or floating rate interest payments in their respective swapped currencies over the term of the contract. At maturity, the principal amount is effectively re-swapped at a predetermined exchange rate so that the parties end up with their original currencies. Foreign currency swaps are more often used by commercials as a foreign currency hedging vehicle rather than by retail forex traders.

Interest Rate Swaps – A financial interest rate contracts whereby the buyer and seller swap interest rate exposure over the term of the contract. The most common swap contract is the fixed-to-float swap whereby the swap buyer receives a floating rate from the swap seller, and the swap seller receives a fixed rate from the swap buyer. Other types of swap include fixed-to-fixed and float-to-float. Interest rate swaps are more often utilized by commercials to re-allocate interest rate risk exposure.

Source by John Nobile

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source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/types-of-foreign-currency-hedging-vehicles/

What Are The Cheapest Gold Bullion Coins? Learn How To Calculate Gold Coin Premiums

With the price of gold hitting record highs (almost on a daily basis!) it’s more important than ever to be a smart gold bullion shopper.

Arguably, the most popular gold bullion coin is the American Gold Eagle. The coin has its ownership advantages such as liquidity, worldwide recognition, and a U.S. Government guarantee, for example.

But is it the cheapest gold coin to buy now? Does it have the lowest premium over other popular gold bullion coins?

Read on and find out…

In a gold bull market, your ultimate goal is to own as many units as possible at the peak of the bull market.

In order to do so, you want to purchase the most gold for your money at any given time.

To achieve this goal, you will want to buy the gold coins with the lowest premium (cheapest!) at the time you are making your purchase.

With the large variety of gold bullion coins available for sale, how do you determine which is the cheapest one to buy?

Here’s how you calculate the premiums on gold coins:

1. First you’ll need the current spot price of gold (the bid price). I like to use an online source such as Kitco. Most bullion dealers will also have the current spot price list on their website.
2. Next, you’ll need to find out how much each gold coin is selling for over the spot price of gold. Most gold dealers will have this listed on the specific coin page. For example, my favorite bullion dealer is currently quoting a $97.99 over spot for a random date 1 oz American Gold Eagle
3. Now, calculate the percentage each coin is selling for over spot using the following formula:

Amount Coin Is Selling For Over Spot / (Current Gold Spot Price + Amount Coin Is Selling For Over Spot)

Let’s use the 1 oz American Gold Eagle as an example:

$97.99 / ($1891.60 + $97.99) = 4.9% premium over spot!

The premiums will vary according to the amount of coins purchased and by individual dealers. Right now, the coin with the lowest premium is the South African Gold Krugerrand.

Calculating the formula for each coin on a daily or regular basis can be tedious. You can simplify this by setting up a basic spreadsheet with the formula, listing each coin of interest. Then, you will just need to change the spot price of gold and the individual coin pricing numbers as needed.

If you don’t want to calculate the gold coin premiums yourself but would still like to know what the cheapest gold coins are, on a regular basis, I’ve done the hard work for you!

Source by Chrissie Goldman

The post What Are The Cheapest Gold Bullion Coins? Learn How To Calculate Gold Coin Premiums appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/what-are-the-cheapest-gold-bullion-coins-learn-how-to-calculate-gold-coin-premiums/

The Difference Between Gold Filled and Gold Plated

Beyond just simple purity hallmarks (i.e. 10k, 14k, 18k, etc.) there are some other types of markings that jewelers also use when hallmarking gold jewelry which include letters such as GF, EP, and KP. Below is an explanation of a few of the most common that you may come across which would have a direct effect on the market value of your items.

GF – stands for “Gold Filled”, also known as “Rolled Gold” or “Rolled Gold Plate” and is composed of a solid layer of Au (or a gold alloy) bonded with heat and pressure to a base metal such as brass. Most high quality gold filled pieces have the same appearance as 14 karat (58%) gold. In the U.S. the quality of gold filled is defined by the Federal Trade Commission. If the gold layer is 10k fineness the minimum layer of karat gold in an item stamped GF must equal at least 1/10 the total weight of the item. If the gold layer is 12k or higher the minimum layer of karat gold in an item stamped GF must equal at least 1/20 the total weight of the item. 1/20 12k GF and 1/20 14k GF are the most common stamps found on gold-filled jewelry, 1/10 10k is also fairly common.

“Double clad” gold filled sheet is produced with 1/2 the thickness of gold on each side. 1/20 14kt double clad gold-filled has a layer on each side of 1/40th 14k, making the total content of gold 1/20 of the total weight of the item. The thinner layer on each side does not wear as well as single clad gold-filled.

The Federal Trade Commission allows the use of “Rolled Gold Plate” or “R.G.P.” on items with a lower thickness of gold than are required for “gold-filled.” 1/60 12k RGP designates a 12k gold layer that is 1/60 of the total weight of the item. This lower quality does not wear as well as gold-filled items.

Gold-filled items, even with daily wear, can last 5 to 30 years but will eventually wear through. The gold layer on gold-plated jewelry varies greatly depending on the manufacturer, so there is no single, simple comparison. Gold-filled items are 50 to 100,000 times thicker than regular gold plating, and 17 to 25,000 times thicker than heavy gold electroplate (sometimes stamped HGE or HGP which is commonly found on items such as flashy cubic zirconia “cocktail rings”).

EP – stands for “electroplating” and is used to make items out of non-precious metals which are then coated in a very thin layer of pure gold by the process of electroplating. Federal standards require items that are stamped “EP” to have a thickness of at least 7 millionths of an inch of at least 10K gold. Gold electroplated items will have a much smaller amount of actual gold content as compared to “gold filled” items and therefore have a much lower value (in regards to pure gold content).

KP – stands for “karat plumb” that’s “plumb” as in “straight” or “exact”, so 14kp gold is exactly 58.555% gold. This marking relates to some odd, and now obsolete US laws. 14 karat means that an item is 14/24 gold with the remainder being other metals. The problem comes with the rounding. 13.88/24 would be rounded to 14k under the old US law and 13k under matching British law. Obviously, this could cause some confusion, especially for US manufacturers who want to sell in Europe. European customers simply didn’t believe the marks were accurate. They started using the mark 14kp to mean that it is at least 14.00/24 parts gold. The rules have actually changed to where US manufacturers are using the same rules as the rest of the world but the 14kp system of naming still lives on. For new pieces, 14k and 14kp both mean that it’s at least 14.00/24 parts gold. In older pieces 14k might contain as little as 13.51/24.

“KP” is often mistakenly believed by people to mean “karat PLATE.” If the gold item is only “plated” it will typically be marked with the purity of the gold alloy that it is plated with followed by the letters GP (gold plate), GF (gold filled), or EP (electroplated). Example: 14k GP or 1/20 14k GF.

Source by Chris L. Rossi

The post The Difference Between Gold Filled and Gold Plated appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/the-difference-between-gold-filled-and-gold-plated/

Learn How To Detect A Fake Krugerrand Gold Coin

If you are thinking of buying some gold Krugerrands, South Africa’s official gold bullion coins, then it’d be a good idea to become familiar with this unique coin. Essentially, you really should develop the skills to determine if a Krugerrand is fake. Hopefully, you’ll never need this skill, but it is good to have nonetheless and it’s relatively easy to learn.

The easiest way to avoid purchasing a fake Krugerrand will be to deal only with a reputable vendor, particularly a coin seller who specializes in or has extensive experience with Krugerrand coins. These dealers will have been dealing with these coins for some time, and they should easily be able to notice when a coin doesn’t feel right. What’s more, reputable coin vendors will be concerned about their reputations, so they’ll truly have an incentive to ensure that they only offer genuine gold coins.

While that is one step you can take, remember that it’s also relatively easy to verify the authenticity of a Krugerrand on your own. Standards for these coins are published by the South African Mint and publicly available, so you can compare the coin you are thinking of buying with these standards. In addition, you should be aware that gold has some special characteristics that make it unique. Specifically, it has a very high density, higher than the other easily available metals. If someone does decide to create a fake Krugerrand fashioned out of one of these other, lesser metals, the weight differential should really be entirely noticeable if you know what it is you should be looking for. And you should be aware that the metals that are as dense as gold are either very difficult to acquire, very steeply-priced, or pretty brittle. All of this is in your advantage when attempting to spot a fake.

In terms of physical characteristics, this is what you should be looking for: a 1 ounce Krugerrand has a weight of 33.930g, a diameter of 32.77mm, a thickness of 2.84m, and 160 serrations around the edge. A half-ounce Krugerrand has a weight of 16.965g, a diameter of 27.07mm, a thickness of 2.215mm, and 185 serrations. A quarter-ounce Krugerrand carries a weight of 8.482g, a diameter of 22.06mm, a thickness of 1.888mm, and 150 serrations. And finally, a 1/10 ounce Krugerrand carries a weight of 3.393g, a diameter of 16.55mm, a thickness of 1.35mm, and 115 serrations.

In order to carry out these tests, you will want fine-grained ruler that has millimeter markings plus an accurate scale that can weigh in grams. As a substitute, there is also a very useful gadget known as the Fisch Tester that can test all of these things for you. It comes with a coin-shaped recess used for checking shape, a slot for checking a coin’s thickness and diameter, and a fulcrum to check a coin’s weight. The Fisch Tester will save you time and effort and can make it much easier for you to spot a phony. At the same time, you should be careful about buying a Fisch Tester on eBay because, in a twist of irony, there have been some reports of imitation Fisch Testers being offered there. To be safe, you may want to buy directly from Fisch.

Armed with this new knowledge, you should now have the capability to detect a phony Krugerrand on your own. Best of luck in your adventures in the gold market!

Source by Scott H Thompson

The post Learn How To Detect A Fake Krugerrand Gold Coin appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/learn-how-to-detect-a-fake-krugerrand-gold-coin/

Renko Charts – Which Box Size Is Best for Trading Forex?

The most frequently asked question I field about Renko Charts is: what box size should I use? In this article I’ll explain why the only honest answer I can give is “it depends.”

But first, just to ensure this article will make sense, let me briefly explain how Renko charts work. Renko charts use a “flexible” candle or box size, which you determine when you load the indicator onto your charts.

As price moves up your designated number of pips, a new blue (bullish) candle will form. However, if a new candle opens (let’s say the Box size is 10 pips) and then price falls 20 pips, a new red (bearish) candle will close. This is because price must move 10 pips either above the last close or below the last opening in order for a new box to appear and close on your charts.

This is what makes Renko charting so attractive to so many traders…the lack of wicks and the lack of numerous candles that fail to go anywhere but which cause your various indicators to give off a mixed variety of Buy and Sell signals, none of which have any validity.

Understanding how Renko candles form and close then gives rise to our FAQ: which box size works best when trading the Renko charts?

As mentioned above, the only honest answer is “it depends” and what it depends upon is what kind of forex trader is using Renko charting.

Some traders are best suited to be long-term traders. They tend to focus on hourly or 4 hour charts and watch for new trends to develop, jumping in once said trend is spotted and hanging in as long as they can to bank a maximum number of pips.

These types of traders should use larger box settings, such as 25 or 30 pips. If price moves up 25 pips and forms a new box, it must move DOWN by 50 pips in order to open a new box in the opposite direction. If you are familiar with trading pairs like the EUR/USD or the GBP/USD, you realize that large price reversals such as these don’t take place all that often. Once a trend is established in one direction, that trend will normally continue for 100-200 pips. Using a large box setting like 25 or 30 will eliminate those counter signals you might get using a 1 hour or 4 hour chart (those signals that cause you to exit a trade early, before another big move in your direction).

Other traders are more attracted to scalping and the kind of quick profits you can make on a 5-20 pip move. By using a 3 or 4 pip box size setting, these traders are in prime position to see every mini-trend as it forms and are able to buy and sell numerous times in any given hour during the London and NY trading sessions, banking 5-20 pips in profit each time.

When I respond to the question “which box size should I use?” my response will always ask the trader to perform a little self-analysis and determine whether they are a long-term trader or a scalper. Once I know the answer to that question, I can give them a more specific answer than “it depends.”

Source by Jeffrey Glenellis

The post Renko Charts – Which Box Size Is Best for Trading Forex? appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/renko-charts-which-box-size-is-best-for-trading-forex/

What Is the Single Best Day Trading Indicator? – Shift Theory Ratios Overview and Why They Work!

As a new or seasoned trader you are likely looking for a statistical edge to give you the upper hand when trading the markets. There are hundreds of indicators on the market but the truth is only a couple indicators really work. Just about every indicator fails when it comes to back testing and analyzing price data in real-time. Obviously this is something few people are willing to talk about because there were no alternatives just a few months ago.

Most indicators simply don’t work because of the way they are designed. There are two issues most technical analysis techniques have today:

1. Signal Noise
2. Signal Delays or Lag

Signal noise is one of the biggest issues with most indicators. The reason is that they are mostly based on the closing price. The closing price changes every time a symbol has an uptick or down tick. As an example of how noisy an indicator like the moving average or the RSI is. If you take a 60 minute bar on an actively traded symbol you can easily have a couple of thousand false signals in a single bar. That is a major issue that technical analysis needs to overcome.

Signal delay is the other big issue. Most indicators need looking back at least a couple of bars but that means relying in old data. The further you look back for signal stability the more out of touch the indicator is with the current price. One of the other issues that signal lag is caused by is the solution for signal noise. Most indicators allow to only calculating the indicator after a bar closes. This cleans up signal noise but then the signal has extreme lag issues.

The solution to most of the issues technical analysis issues comes from a new class of technical analysis and indicators. These are called Shift Theory Ratios. What they do is focus on the data that counts and is responsible for creating trends. Some examples of the data that counts are:

• Up trending markets typically a series of higher highs and higher lows.
• Down trending typically markets have lower lows and lower highs.
• Choppy markets have a high percentage of bars overlapping each other.

Most trends have a certain price characteristics and no where does the current closing price dictate trends. For a market to go up it must make new highs. For a market to go down it needs to make lows. Meanwhile the majority of the closing price data is producing noise.

In the end the Shift Theory Ratios are the best indicators for day trading because they only focus on the data that counts. Shift Ratios are not only accurate but they have very little noise. The price indication only reacts to bars making highs, lows and percentage of overlay. All of this data is broken down into easy to read lines that are color coded as follows.

• Green = Measures up trend strength.
• Red = Measures down trend strength
• Yellow = Measures choppiness by the percentage of bars overlapping.

Source by David Zielinski

The post What Is the Single Best Day Trading Indicator? – Shift Theory Ratios Overview and Why They Work! appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/what-is-the-single-best-day-trading-indicator-shift-theory-ratios-overview-and-why-they-work/

The Disadvantages to Owning or Buying Gold or Silver Bullion

What are some disadvantages to owning or buying gold or silver bullion, or are there any? This question needs to be answered before investing so as to make the best choice possible. Though some say there are none, or almost none, there are a few. If an informed investment is to be had, then all aspects of the decision need to be considered.

In a vacillating economy, many people think that precious metals are the ideal investment. Well, this may be, but there are still some negative considerations. One such consideration is that of deflation. During deflation, the dollar increases in value. This makes it more desirable, and people typically cash in other investments for the dollar. The attempt to cash in gold and silver in mass quantities will lower their value, and make them harder to sell because there will be fewer customers.

For silver, a big disadvantage is that of having such a small market to start with. Thus, it seems the ups and downs are more severe. One must have the intestinal fortitude to weather these ups and downs with a sense of doom about each decrease in price.

One disadvantage to owning or buying gold or silver bullion is the costs associated with storing, and insuring security of the bullion. Other types of investments don’t have the same disadvantages.

Bullion is both bulky and heavy, meaning a problem with handling. Just 1000 oz of bullion requires a huge space and the ability to handle that much weight. This adds to problems with storage and security.

Other disadvantages include the volatility of these metals. Prices go up and down frequently. You also don’t earn interest or dividends with them. This must be taken into consideration before making your decision to buy.

Over the last four decades, the economy has shown a big growth. Companies such as Microsoft and Wal-Mart have made great gains. This is reflected at the same time by a huge growth in gold and silver. This tends to make investors overlook the trend and think that they are getting a better bargain than they really are. Historically, these metals have had a lower rate of growth than other investments, which is seen as a disadvantage to them.

The purity of the bullion that is bought and the likelihood of getting less than the percentage expected is another disadvantage to owning or buying gold or silver bullion. An added cost when either buying or selling bullion is that of assessing the percentage of purity. This decreases the amount of profit in a sale, and increases the cost when buying. Therefore, your investment doesn’t yield as much as it otherwise might.

Though these metals are good investments, they are not without certain risks. When deciding on whether or not to invest in them, all the pros and cons should be considered. They are good investments if all the advantages and disadvantages are considered, but not so if either is ignored. Like all things in life, there are risks involved. Overriding these risks, though, might well be the satisfaction of owning these precious metals.

Source by Stephen Huston

The post The Disadvantages to Owning or Buying Gold or Silver Bullion appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/the-disadvantages-to-owning-or-buying-gold-or-silver-bullion/

Why Is Gold So Important? Significance of This Precious Metal

For centuries, gold has been considered to be the foundation of our monetary system and always had massive significance to our lives. The question about why gold is so important has been asked since the beginning of the monetary/economic system. Gold is viewed as a symbol of prosperity, wealth and power. It has fascinated many cultures around the globe and the desire for gold has led to the progressive development for many cultures, but unfortunately has also caused destruction to others.

Gold is not just precious because it can be used for any kind of jewellery. Gold itself has the equivalent of money. Thus, putting your money into gold investment is indeed a wise decision. Whether the economy gets into a bad light, gold will never affected. It therefore shows that gold products can save you from any form of crisis since they can be easily converted to money. At times, its value appreciates rather than depreciates.

Different Uses as Gold’s Importance

Many centuries have gone by and many important uses for gold have emerged aside from its common use as decorative and symbolic jewellery. Our technology has evolved and one of the components that made us reach this far is with the help of gold. The importance of gold is as precious as its value, and with its many uses, investing in precious metals is one good way of securing your finances.

The largest industry where gold is used is in electronics. Most of our gadgets and equipment have gold components that are commonly found on terminals, plating contacts, semiconductor systems, and printed circuits. This is due to the anti-corrosive properties of gold. Gold and precious metals are also used in heat insulation for automobiles. It is also formed into thread and used in traditional or modern embroidery.

When not investing, gold is being used for a variety of things. Gold as a form of award is also given to top performers in honours and competitions for their excellence and may be considered part of the elite class of their field. It is malleable and ductile that it can be drawn from thin wire and can also be beaten down to very thin sheets. In religion, it is considered to be a sacred metal by many Christians. Ceremonial chalices and cups are made of gold since gold is considered to be the only metal that is pure.

Even in dentistry, this precious metal manifests its usefulness since gold alloys are being used in tooth restorations such as permanent bridges and crowns. While in photography, gold toners are being used in shifting the colour of silver bromide from black and white prints to blue or brown tones and also increase their stability. It is also used in high-end compact discs as a reflective layer.

Start Your Gold Investment Now

The value of gold hugely influences who sells, who buys, and its uses in that particular time. Although it has been a form of payment in the previous years, it is now being used for collection and investment due to the invention of paper money that came after it. Through centuries of turmoil in the world, gold was able to maintain a steady investment making it worth so much and considered a very popular item in the world of e-commerce and investing.

There are many uses for precious metals but these are just a few of the things that answers the never ending question “why is gold so important.” The list goes on as our world changes, society and technology evolves. Creating different and new applications for it to be more useful in our life with many of our changing needs. Investment in gold will still be able to provide higher returns with fewer risks because of its qualities and different uses and with the urge to search for answers to make our lives better.

Source by Aaron Kutchinsky

The post Why Is Gold So Important? Significance of This Precious Metal appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/why-is-gold-so-important-significance-of-this-precious-metal/

What Is Gold Standard and Its 3 Different Types

Many countries have been defining gold standard as a monetary system whereby the currency used is based on a fixed amount of (Au). In this monetary system, cash and deposits in the bank can be exchanged into gold and the price is fixed. Up to now there are 3 common types of standard and they’ve been practised since the 1700s. These are known as the gold specie, gold bullion standards and gold exchange. To know a bit more about these three different standards a brief explanation is included below:

1. Gold Specie. In this particular gold standard option, the currency unit has a direct connection with the circulated gold coins. In other words, the unit of currency is connected to the unit of value of each different gold coin. Secondary coinage with lower value than gold uses the same rules as well. The presence of gold specie standard was detected in the era of medieval empires. The Byzant (Greek) and the British West Indies are some of the gold standard examples. However, this type of standard is rather an applied system as it’s not formally established. It origins from Spain and it’s known as the doubloon. In 1873, the U.S. legally adopted the system and American Gold Eagle is used as unit.

2. Gold Exchange. This particular gold standard only involves the circulation of coins valued less than gold, for instance silver. The authorities tend to impose a fixed rate for gold exchange on countries that are using the gold standard. Many countries choose to peg their currency units to the gold standard in the U.S. and U.K. For instance, the Japanese, Mexican and Filipino choose to exchange their silver to USD at the price of $0.50 per unit.

3. Gold Bullion. This type of gold standard sells gold bullion via fixed prices based on demand. This method of trading was first carried out by the Parliament of the British in 1925 whereby it resulted in the voidance of the gold specie standard. In 1931, the U.K. government made a decision to banish the gold bullion standard on a temporary basis to curb the excessive flow of gold way past the Atlantic Ocean. The same year witnessed the ending of the gold standard.

The utilization of gold standard has brought about several advantages. One of them is that the power of determining the occurrence of inflation within the country is not totally given to the government. In other words, inflation can be curbed by preventing the issuance of excessive paper currency done by the government. At the same time, the exchange rates will develop a fixed pattern whereby global economic uncertainties can be reduced at a great level. However, just like many other monetary systems, gold bullion standard has its own set of disadvantages as well. It’s believed that it might not be able to stabilize the economy during depressive financial condition as it might cause the monetary policy to become ineffective. The belief makes sense, and a lot of economists are afraid that their theory would come true. In gold standard the availability of ( Au ) is the sole determinant to the availability of money.

Source by Arto L

The post What Is Gold Standard and Its 3 Different Types appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/what-is-gold-standard-and-its-3-different-types/

Scope of Offshore Banking For Expatriates

An expatriate is a person who resides temporarily or permanently in a different country and culture other than his/her own legal residence and place of upbringing. When it comes to offshore banking, this class of people is the privileged class. ‘Why so?’ is a question that we need to answer. This is because they are free to choose the best option from the global financial market.

Depending on the tax structure of the home country, certain facilities may however be limited. During the entire period when they stay abroad, they can use the facilities of an offshore bank along with the tax and investment benefits! They do not have to seek the permission of the offshore jurisdiction to enjoy the advantages of the offshore banking system. It is so because, there are certain countries which allow tax breaks, investment opportunities and several other banking advantages which are not available to the regular citizens of the country.

Offshore banks provide the following advantages to the expatriates irrespective of the financial well being of an expat:

• Tax efficiency
• Secrecy
• Flexibility and High accessibility

It is not that you need to hold an account for saving or depositing only. The offshore banks give an added advantage to the expats. If you want an account only for receiving money then also, you can have an offshore bank account. On top of that, any interest accrued on the received money will be free of tax liabilities even though it is an income! These banks offer you to choose among a wide range of accounts. If you go for a current account, you can have instant access account or a cash/debit/credit card access account. If you are looking for a savings account then, you can have one with notice account and term deposit. You can also choose to have an account with various interest rates that you need to pay. The interest rates, however, depend on the restrictions imposed on the accounts. Remember, you should be an expatriate!

When the question comes to accessibility, you can have internet access, telephone access, direct debit and even standing order. Amazingly, the choice of currency for the account lies with you. The offshore banks also provide secured and unsecured credit cards. You can also have an offshore debit card which acts in an identical fashion to that of a regular debit card.

Among these numerous facilities, you still have a small glitch. You just have to choose an offshore jurisdiction with proper regulation and avoid unethical activities. ‘Happy Banking’!

Source by Mike Freije

The post Scope of Offshore Banking For Expatriates appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/scope-of-offshore-banking-for-expatriates/

Spying Software and the IMEI Code: Protect Your Phone

If you suspect your cell phone has spy software on it, the first thing you should do is have it removed. After it is removed, there are some precautions you can take to protect your privacy and make it difficult to reinstall the spyware.

Removing Spy Software

Spy software is easy to remove, simply go to your service provider and have them erase the phone’s memory and restore the factory defaults. Some providers will even walk you through the procedure over the phone. Make sure you have a hard copy of any information you need to keep.

Protecting Your Phone

Spy software is easy to remove and it is just as easy for someone to reinstall – if you are not very careful. Some of the things you should do to protect your phone:

• Lock your keypad with a password. This will prevent anyone who does not know the password from installing the software.
• Use antivirus software on your phone to detect and remove spyware and viruses.
• Do not give your cell number to anyone you would not share all your information with. Some very sophisticated software can be installed from a remote location using only the phone number and sometimes the IMEI code (International Mobile Equipment Identity number). The IMEI code is not confidential. It is possible to find it in 3 different places
  
  1. From the phone contract. It was on my iPhone 4 contract.
  2. From the battery case. It was in my iPhone 4 battery case.
  3. By simply dialing #06# on your phone. This worked on my iPhone 4.

It is chilling to think that all a spy needs is the IMEI code and the phone number to start spying

Remember that the spyware is not easy to detect and it may have been reinstalled without your knowledge. If you are in a confidential meeting – be aware that nearby conversations can be recorded even if the phone is off. Consider removing the battery for the duration of the meeting.

Unless you know what to look for, the software is undetectable. Privacy laws and their enforcement have not caught up with what is happening in the marketplace today. This means that each person should be aware that anyone could be spying on his or her phone for any reason. The technology is not going to go away and the best protection is information. There are many ways to deal with this problem. Three that are manageable are:

1. Be careful what you text and say on a mobile phone. You may not have spyware on your phone, but the person who you are communicating with may have it on theirs.
2. Be aware that if your phone has this software, the spy may be able to hear your nearby conversations even when you are not speaking on the phone. If you are in a confidential business meeting you might want to take steps to ensure that it is not being recorded covertly.
3. Protect access to your cell phone as if it is the key to your life – it is!

Source by Matthew T Barker

The post Spying Software and the IMEI Code: Protect Your Phone appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/spying-software-and-the-imei-code-protect-your-phone/

Rare American Coins and the 1981 US Assay Silver Dollar

The US Assay Commission was formed by the Mint Act of 1792 and continued to function until 1971, when precious metals were no longer used in American circulated coinage.

In 1977, no members were appointed to the commission. Then in 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed legislation to abolish the Assay Commission completely.

These 1981 Assay one ounce silver dollars have become rare American coins, not produced by the US Mint.

The Assay Commission’s function was to supervise the annual testing of the gold, silver, and in its final year’s base metal coins produced by the United States Mint to ensure that they met specifications. Beginning in 1797, it met in most years at the Philadelphia Mint.

In the late 1960s, the Defense Logistics Agency had over 165 million ounces of silver in its stockpile. The Federal Government sold much of this silver on the open market in 1980 and 1981.

After the US Mint stopped using silver in circulating coinage, the US government felt compelled to sell portions of its reserves to the public in order to stabilize the high silver market partially created by the Hunt brothers hoarding large quantities of silver.

The Continental Coin Company of California purchased a great deal of this silver from the U.S. government Treasury reserves. They proceeded to mint 1oz rounds, as well as 10 oz and 100 oz bars in 1981.

They made sure that everyone knew it was made from silver that had been stored at the San Francisco Assay Office by boldly stating MINTED FROM US STOCKPILE SILVER and Formerly Stored at US ASSAY OFFICE SAN FRANCISCO. Many people who buy these bullion products continue to think they were minted by the U.S. Mint in San Francisco for the Assay Office.

The CC on the reverse stands for Continental Coin rather than Carson City, further adding to the confusion. These bullion rounds are even represented by sellers as being minted by the US Government for the purpose of public distribution.

The obverse features an American Bald Eagle flying in front of the U.S. flag. The legend above the eagle says “One Troy Ounce 31.1 Grams” and the legend below says “.999 Fine Silver Trade Unit” with olive branches between the words around the rim. The design is reminiscent of US Mint coins, but not as detailed.

The center of the reverse states “Formerly Stored at U.S. Assay Office San Francisco” with the CC logo beneath. The legend “Minted From U.S. Strategic Stockpile Silver” is around the border, and the date 1981 is flanked by 3 stars on each side.

These are only slightly more difficult to find than Engelhard Prospectors or other bullion silver rounds, but they aren’t exactly rare American coins. They are an example of American precious metal bullion history that preceded the Prospector by a year.

The 10 oz and 100 oz silver bullion bars have similar details stamped in them, but aren’t so easily confused for actual US Mint products. They look like standard bullion bars.

Source by Paul St. Julien

The post Rare American Coins and the 1981 US Assay Silver Dollar appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/rare-american-coins-and-the-1981-us-assay-silver-dollar/

Forex Cheat (How You Can Cheat Forex Safely and Legally With Autopilot Software)

The global forex market is the largest financial market in the world. The daily transaction in the market totals up to 3.5 trillion USD. There are some popular myths about forex trading. The first one is the process is extremely difficult and complex, and you need to have mathematical and analytical brain to earn some profit from your investment. The second is you need to personally attend the trades to maximize your chances of profit. All these advise you can simply ignore if you have a forex autopilot software like Forex Tracer, Forex Raptor, or Forex Killer with you. These forex robots can be expressed as your legitimate and completely ethical means to earn money from forex.

Before going into the details of earning we must know how these forex autopilots work and why the profit you earn using them is legally safe. These autopilots in most of the cases are designed by forex consultants and experts who have years of experience and exclusive personalized trade secrets for their forex trading. With slightest of the market movement or a tiniest dip in the currency analysis curve they can sniff what is coming up. After a while, they become experts in predicting and speculating market trends that come true in majority of the incidents. Their experience when combined with software programs turn out to be the deadly combination, which works behind the forex autopilots. So, when you buy the software you trade just like the expert trader who designed the system and therefore there is nothing unlawful about its use.

As the systems are highly mechanical in nature, they can repeat the trades again and again without feeling tired like a human trader. The software cannot take wrong decision as well, if not forced to do so. It can take on multiple trades in the same market or in more than one trading markets. You can set the software work as a day trader or a scalper, or a carry-on trader in the forex spot market. In other words, your forex autopilot software is free to take independent decision as you ask it to do. You need to keep the software running and attend your own preoccupations. The automatic program will select the trade to enter, when to enter, when to exit, and how to place the stop-loss limits. Depending on the setting the software will freely review the market situation to locate upcoming trends to alter the strategy.

The situation is even more in your favor if you have previous trading experience. Then you can ask your autopilot how you want it to trade, and it does it, mechanically, without ever failing because of human psychological factors. The more you stay away from your terminal the better the chances are for you. You can test different parameters like different currency pairs and trading strategies to finalize the winning combination and lawfully earn huge profit from your forex trading.

Source by Logan Daily

The post Forex Cheat (How You Can Cheat Forex Safely and Legally With Autopilot Software) appeared first on Big Financial BLOG.

source http://blog.bigfinancial.co.uk/forex-cheat-how-you-can-cheat-forex-safely-and-legally-with-autopilot-software/