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

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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

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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

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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/