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The crippling financial crisis being felt globally…and conveniently being blamed on the Bush administration is actually Democrat initiated and Democrat supported. The whole issue is in truth and in fact solely triggered by the sub prime lending woes – the mechanics of which are seemingly too complicated for an ordinary citizen to even try to comprehend and understand … an issue which is now conveniently exploited by the Democrats to their political advantage in this presidential elections. The Democrats knew they can easily hoodwink the ordinary suffering citizen into believing that the Republicans should be faulted for all the misery. The sorry and miserable plight of the citizenry makes them susceptible to calls for changes and this is exactly what the Democrats are doing – exploiting the miseries of their fellow Americans!

Let us try to understand the root causes and beginnings of this financial crisis.

Everything that we are encountering now a days,,,, widespread foreclosures, paralyzing credit crunch, bankruptcies, and the over-all slack in the economy, are all solely triggered by one problem …the problems with sub prime mortgage industry’s?

Just what are these subprime woes and how did they come about?

Normally to spur economic growth, the Fed would entice industries to grow their businesses by making available credit facilities at low lending rates through the banks. The Fed started cutting rates in 2001 at the time when the country was in a recession. The lowest point the Fed rates reached was at 1% in 2004 which after inflation, actually yields negative interest rates. As a result of this, mortgage rates also went into all time lows. This was normally followed by an increase in borrowing and lending because people are apt to take advantage of the low interet rates .

Meanwhile, the real estate boom started in 2000 with property values rising as much as 50%. The cut in Fed rates from to 2001 to 2004 coincided with the boom further fueling increases in new real estate projects. Low interest loans had to be extended by banks and new housing projects have to be sold.

The rise of the housing industry into a bubble (where the prices of real estate properties are higher than their actual intrinsic values) is actually a regular economic cycle occurrence. What made it irregular is the fact that at the onset of the boom in the housing industry sector, sub prime lending was also being done with careless abandon by the banks. (Sub prime lending are mortgages extended to individuals deemed as “sub prime” or high risk individuals – people who have little or no capacity to pay.)

It must be remembered that In 1995, it was President Clinton who mandated new regulations that coerced banks to make significantly more subprime loans to inner-city residents previously viewed as unqualified buyers in high-risk areas. Banks were even rated on how well they complied and faced big fines if they didn’t do what government regulators wanted.Image via Wikipedia

To make matters worst, the Democrat dominated legislature after Clinton’s term allowed the two big giant mortgage companies Fannie and Freddie to package the risky sub prime loans together with regular prime mortgage loans into mortgage backed securities which were passed off to investors as safe investments since both Fannie and Freddie were government sponsored. These mortgage backed securities were gobbled up by both local and international investors. The inflow of capital from these securities made Freddie and Fannie buy more and more of the risky sub prime loans as the demand for their mortgage backed securities also increased. Banks on the other hand also aggressively extended more and more loans to high risk individuals since they can always sell them back to Fannie and Freddie. And when the inevitable happened… when sub prime mortgage defaults started to mount and mortgage foreclosures started to rise, the mortgage backed securities of Freddie and Fannie lost their luster. Banks started tightening by 2007 and the ensuing credit crunch was simply paralyzing.

And what was government doing all these time? After Clinton, the Republicans took over. What have the Republicans done? Or,did they do anything at all?

Today, very few people remember the fact that it was President Clinton (a Democrat) who mandated that sub prime lending to be offered extensively by banks in 1995.Image by robertodevido via Flickr

Very few people knew the fact that with the predominantly Democrat legislature after Clinton, Freddie and Fannie were practically allowed to perpetrate this pyramiding scam on the American people. Many even try to forget the fact that Freddie and Fannie were major campaign contributors to the political campaign kitty of known Democrats who have been their patrons in the government, the list of which includes Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Barack Obama. It’s quite ironic that now with the unexpected dismal turn-out of their own political follies, and with a likelihood of a financial meltdown staring us in the eye, the Democrats are still able to throw blame on President Bush and the Republicans.

I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, but I find it abhoring to hear the double talk in Obama’s political campaigns blaming Bush and the Republicans for the economic ills they themselves perpetrated!

Take a look at this chronology of events leading up to current crisis and decide for yourself who should be blamed for this crisis: (- from the Investor’s Business Daily Editorial)

• April 2001: The Bush administration’s fiscal budget stated that the size of Fannie and Freddie was “potential problem because financial trouble of a large Government-Sponsored Enterprise could cause repercussions in financial markets, affecting federally insured entities and economic activity.”

• May 2002: The Office of Management and Budget wanted disclosure and governance principles in Bush’s 10-point plan for corporate responsibility to apply to Fannie and Freddie.

• February 2003: A federal housing oversight report warned that unexpected problems at Fannie Mae could immediately spread into financial sectors.

• September 2003: Treasury Secretary John Snow, in testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, recommended that Congress enact legislation to create new agency to regulate and supervise financial activities of housing-related government entities to set prudent and appropriate minimum capital requirements.

Rep. Frank, the committee’s ranking member, strongly disagreed, saying: “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not facing any kind of financial crisis . . . . The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we’ll see in terms of affordable housing.”

• February 2004: The president’s new budget again highlighted risks of the explosive growth of these government enterprises and the then-low levels of required capital. It also called for the creation of a world class regulator. The administration determined that housing regulators of government agencies lacked the power and stature to meet their responsibilities and should be replaced with a strong new third regulator.

• February 2004: Greg Mankiw, chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, cautioned Congress against taking the strength of financial markets for granted. He too called for reducing the risk by ensuring that housing GSEs are overseen by an effective regulator.

• April 2004: Rep. Frank ignored warnings, accusing the administration of creating an “artificial issue.” “People pay their mortgages,” he told a group of mortgage bankers. “I don’t think we are in any remote danger here. This focus on receivership, I think, is intended to create fears that aren’t there.”

From 2004 to 2008 the Bush administration made 12 more attempts to get Congress to pass legislation to have safer, sounder regulatory oversight of Fannie and Freddie and capital rules. You can see them for yourself on the White House Web site. But here are a couple of examples that show how Democrats resisted:

• July 2005: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid rejected legislation on reforming Fannie and Freddie. “While I favor improving oversight by our federal housing regulators to ensure safety and soundness, we cannot pass legislation that would limit Americans from owning homes and harm our economy in the process,” he said.

• August 2007: Sen. Dodd, another Democrat, ignored President Bush’s emphatic calls for Congress to pass Fannie and Freddie reform legislation and called for him to immediately reconsider his ill-advised position.

Wake up America, Indeed!

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What a way to start the week! I got an e-mail from entrecard saying my accounts have been deleted for multiple violations. At first I panicked! 45% of my daily site hits come from entrecard members dropping ec’s on my site! I frantically tried to contact support to try to appeal the case. One of the reasons they deleted my account was for having a pop-up advertisement that plays audio on openning. Actually I wasn’t aware of such an ad but I do know I have a linkword ad with Linkworth which was just recently approved. I received an email saying the ads will be coming out soon. I never really see the ads. I presume the ads are one of those that pops up only for selected ip addresses. Other than this, I don’t know of any applications or widgets or posts in my sites that plays automatic audio. I tried posting a video from Floglo one time but when I noticed it affected the loading time of the site, I deleted the post. The other reason they gave me is for copying content from another site (plagiarism?). In one of my posts (THE BILL AYERS FACTOR IN THE COMING ELECTIONS!), I quoted sections from Wikipedia but I was careful enough to cite the source and even put a link to the site. But, ahh, they still considered this as plagiarism. (I thought Wikipedia is public domain and you are free to cite data and information sources from it?). The other reason they gave me is for not having original content….for plagiarising myself! I have two mirror sites for Swirling Thoughts and they are deleting my EC account for posting similar contents on all three. (I would have gladly deleted my mirror sites had they asked me!) My intention was to nurse all three sites until I am able to generate sufficient readership for each one of them for me to decide to spin them off with their own unique content and identity. And it’s kind of funny that EC had to do this to me after that controversial post on Bill Ayers and his links to Obama when I have had my EC account for the past two months..

Anyway, after a while of pondering and sulking for a while, I went to my site analytics and saw that there is still the other 55% non-entrecard visits. My hopes surged once more. A close look at the stats showed that these are unique visits – Mostly coming from my Blog Catalog and Mybloglog communities. These visits are real visits…with purpose…to look at the site that attracted them on the onset from the dashboards of the two social networks.

This made me realize that EC is not a great loss after all. In fact, EC provides artificial website traffic since 90% of the visits are for EC dropping only and the droppers would be in your site only for a few seconds and that’s it! To me, this defeats the purpose of blogging. So, I am now back to basics….which is to keep on writing good posts that are relevant and would rouse the interest of site visitors. I believe there is no better way than this because people visit a site a second and a third time (even subscribe to its feed) because they like the content.

I did some SEO work on all three sites and subscribed to Google analytics. I also decided that this will be my last common post on all three sites. I will start creating a unique identity for each of my sites. Swirling Thoughts (http://bigdaddyrichard.blogspot.com/) will be about my random thoughts on life and will delved on general topics of interest to all – sort of a personal journal. Traders Hub (http://bigdaddyrichard-swirlingthoughts.blogspot.com/) shall have contents solely about online investing, foreign currency trading, and forex scam. Big Daddy’s Trunkated Ideas (http://bigdaddyrichard.wordpress.com/) will deal on general business topics and political insights.

So for those who have been following my blogs and my topics you may need to visit all three sites after this post to get all of Big Daddy’s ideas (LOL)! But ahh, I will install my content widgets on all three sites so that if there is any post that may interest you from myother sites you can just click on the link!

I wish to thank all those who have supported my blogs for the past two months and hope that you will continue visiting my sites. I will strive harder to bring you contents which will be useful and of interest to all of you.

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I am barely two months now as a blogger. And like any other upstart blogger, I want to improve traffic to my site and at the same time improve my ranking with such sites as Technorati, Alexa, Google, etc. (You guessed it right! I also want to monetize my blog.) My membership with Entrecard (with their “U drop I follow promo) is helping my daily traffic a lot up to now. (A million thanks to all of my regular EC droppers!) My Mybloglog and Blogcatalog memberships are also doing me a lot of good in accumulating quality readers, gaining good friends and establishing new contacts. To help myself and other upstart bloggers just like me who visits this site, I thought of adopting a “Banner Exchange” program of my own and make the visit worth your while. I found out about this from being a co-sponsor to a blogger friend’s blog contest (Help Children – Win EC credits – see the post below with the same title). When the contest got underway and banners and linkages were posted, my ranking improved a lot. For my Trader’s Hub Site, from an Alexa ranking of 1,036,00, it improved to 782,000 while my Technorati Authority jumped from 4 to 14!

It is simple and it will do wonders for your blogs. We exchange banners and our links become more permanent and more visible to Search Engines. (I noticed that subscription to rss feeds is not really helping much to boost our ranking.) All you need to do is reserve a section in your side bar or your footer and post my banner code there. I will even make it easier for you by making the banner for you – I will make the banner for you using a screenshot of your site ( or your EC banner if you have one!) Here’s what you need to do:

1. Copy the code of any of my banners below and paste it in your site.
2. Click the pen icon at the end of this post and post a comment indicating whether you want a new banner or if you want me to use your EC banner ( if you have any). Please post your URL and email address too.
3. Post a message in my shoutbox (at the sidebar) after you’ve done steps 1 & 2 and you are done.

Every time a new member subscribes to our exchange, I will be sending all of you an updated code so you can update your own. For this site, I placed the banner exchange at the sidebar!

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HAPPY BLOGGING!

What a nasty situation U.S. congressmen are finding themselves in courtesy of the $700M financial bail-out plan. The U.S. senate has now passed on the ball to the U.S. Congress after approving a sweetened version of EESA to force another showdown at the lower house. Lobbying is being done around the clock to insure the passage of the bill. Concessions from both parties are being offered and accepted without hesitation or second thoughts. And why not, everyone was a given a terrifying preview of what might happen again if approval of the modified Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 is once more derailed. The 778 points Dow dive last Monday after Congress failed to pass the bill, sent a terrifying reminder to everyone concerned. The spill off effect in other bourses worldwide was just as unnerving.

A lot of finger pointing ensued in the aftermath of the failed passage of the bill. Had the congressmen simply done their jobs clean without the unnecessary political grand standing and uncalled for fire brand speeches aimed at gaining political advantage over the issue, the Dow would not have dropped that much. The current scenario is a chilling reminder of the stock market crash of 1929. Stocks started to nose dive on October 24, 1929 – Black Thursday. Leading Wall Street Bankers tried to remedy the situation by pooling their resources together. Their efforts failed resulting into the now infamous Black Tuesday Stock Market Crash of October 29, 1929. This pulled down the country into the era of the Great Depression.

We may really see a repeat of 1929 , and, what a friend and fellow blogger aptly termed as “The Collapse of The House of Card.” The effect will be felt in all corners of the globe and will be long lasting. Recovery will be slow and painful.

The congress men who will once again shoot down this bill come Friday will be praised by the growing number of their discontented constituency. But, will they be willing to put in their hands the blame for not doing anything to prevent another Black Friday scenario in the U.S. I doubt it. On the other hand if they choose to support the bill and pass it, they may prevent a world wide financial crisis but they risk the chance of not being voted back into office by their disgruntled constituents.

DAMNED IF YOU DO, DAMNED IF YOU DON’T INDEED!

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It’s truly amazing how politics can stifle efforts to plug the bleeding U.S. economy. To the surprise of many, the much anticipated approval of the $700B Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 didn’t happen. An agreement was not reached contrary to the much publicized forecasts made by both political parties over the weekend. Each of them wants to prevent the other from taking credit for this bold move to prevent a meltdown of the U.S.financial markets. With the presidential elections just around the corner, this is politics at play!

Both the Democrats and the Republicans know that a bail-out is necessary. The country has been bleeding for along time now from the bubble burst effect triggered by the mortgage industry subprime crisis. A government intervention in the form of a bail out is long overdue. The situation has placed the Democrats and Republicans alike in a classic “damn if you do and damn if you don’t” type of a situation.

Could it be that the Republicans really waited this long before solving the crisis so they can use the issue as a political propaganda to boost the sagging popularity of their candidate?

Could it be that the Democrats intentionally remained passive about the issue since the Mortgage Industry’s “bubble burst” happened earlier on so they can pin the blame on the Republicans and wrest control of the white house?

We may never really know. What I do know is that both parties are aware of the fact that something must be done to correct the country’s financial woes immediately, because if nothing is done right now it will send the U.S. economy into a tailspin which will send the country and the the rest of the whole world into a long drawn recession. I believe the Democrats realize too that such a scenario will not be to their advantage even if they wrest control of the white house by November because by then the job of reviving the economy will be a herculean job and their white house residency may be short lived if they fall short of expectations.

I am sure by now both parties are trying to map out their own strategies to resolve the impasse. I even believe a solution will be had before the week ends. Each of them just want to make sure that the other will not unduly gain politically from the passage of EESA 2008. Already the stock market made the steepest dive since the last depression! Further delays may cause long lasting damage to the U.S. economy and ultimately the rest of the world.

Below is a short summary of EESA 2008 which amazingly, had to come from Xinhua, China’s People’s Daily Online (http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90778/90858/90864/6508590.html):

The following is the summary of U.S. financial bailout bill draft, which will authorize the U.S. government the largest financial intervention since the Great Depression.

I. Stabilizing the Economy

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) provides up to 700 billion dollars to the Secretary of the Treasury to buy mortgages and other assets that are clogging the balance sheets of financial institutions and making it difficult for working families, small businesses, and other companies to access credit, which is vital to a strong and stable economy. EESA also establishes a program that would allow companies to insure their troubled assets.

II. Homeownership Preservation

EESA requires the Treasury to modify troubled loans many the result of predatory lending practices wherever possible to help American families keep their homes. It also directs other federal agencies to modify loans that they own or control. Finally, it improves the HOPE for Homeowners program by expanding eligibility and increasing the tools available to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help more families keep their homes.

III. Taxpayer Protection

Taxpayers should not be expected to pay for Wall Street’s mistakes. The legislation requires companies that sell some of their bad assets to the government to provide warrants so that taxpayers will benefit from any future growth these companies may experience as a result of participation in this program. The legislation also requires the President to submit legislation that would cover any losses to taxpayers resulting from this program by charging a small, broad-based fee on all financial institutions.

IV. No Windfalls for Executives

Executives who made bad decisions should not be allowed to dump their bad assets on the government, and then walk away with millions of dollars in bonuses. In order to participate in this program, companies will lose certain tax benefits and, in some cases, must limit executive pay. In addition, the bill limits “golden parachutes” and requires that unearned bonuses be returned.

V. Strong Oversight

Rather than giving the Treasury all the funds at once, the legislation gives the Treasury 250 billion dollars immediately, then requires the President to certify that additional funds are needed (100 billion dollars, then 350 billion dollars subject to Congressional disapproval). The Treasury must report on the use of the funds and the progress in addressing the crisis. EESA also establishes an Oversight Board so that the Treasury cannot act in an arbitrary manner. It also establishes a special inspector general to protect against waste, fraud and abuse.

• 1. Thou must first know thy self and thy market well.

Trading stocks, currencies gold, or commodity futures, or any other securities(fast moving markets) via the internet can be terribly taxing! Before you decide to plunge into it you must know offhand if you are ready to lose a lot of good night sleep for just monitoring the markets; or if you have the stomach to take frequent roller coaster rides during peak market activities (like watching your investment tremendously grow within seconds just to see it melt down in the next)! You must know first if you have the discipline to be able to maintain your cool during wild and wide price swings and still be able to call the shots objectively according to your pre-determined trading objectives. This means you should not to let fear overshadow you when the market moves against your position, nor allow greed to take the better of you when the market is in your favor. Remember always that markets are frequently unpredictable and that you must learn to adapt to its peculiarities fast otherwise it will eat you up alive.

• 2. Thou must deal only with registered brokers.

Make sure the broker is registered! If the broker is based in the U.S., contact the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and also check with your state securities regulator as well. You can research the investment online using the SEC’s EDGAR database at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml. To contact your state regulator call the North American Securities Administrator’s Association (NASAA) at (202) 737-0900 or online at http://www.nasaa.org/home/index.cfm. You may also contact the Commodity Futures Trading Association (CFTC) at http://www.cftc.gov/ and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) at http://www.finra.org/index.htm. The rule of the thumb you must use here is “avoid the unregistered and junk the brokers with recorded complaints.”

For non-US based brokers, you must demand verifiable documentations from the broker regarding their affiliations and representations. Some online brokers are merely introducing brokers (IB), meaning they act as marketing representatives for a bigger broker, in which case you must demand to see the IB contracts and investigate the affiliation of the principal broker. Other brokers “white label” for their principals. Their websites may appear and have the looks of a big broker when in fact they are mere affiliates of other brokers. Don’t deal with white labelers if they don’t publish their principals. White labelers make money through an additional spread of a pip or two built in into their price quotes. While I don’t have anything against white labelers who are affiliated with established brokers of good standings, I would advise you to avoid them unless they have incorporated more add-on features or services other than those offered by their principals to justify the additional cost to you.

Big Daddy’s suggestion that you deal only with registered brokers is not being biased against overseas brokers. It’s just that online investors must always be provided with a forum or a venue to file any claims they may have against their online brokers in the future. And at this point in time,only U.S. based brokers can provide us with this safety net.

• 3. Thou shall shall not invest money you can not afford to lose!

One of the major pre-placement considerations an investor must make is determining the amount of capital he will be using. There is not set rule for this. In fact, everything is left to the discretion of the investor. However, one must understand that every investment involves a certain amount of risk. Placing an investment (online or otherwise) is in reality a form of risk-taking with the hope that the placement will generate a certain amount of profit after a while. However, the presence of the entailing risks also tells us that there is a possibility of losses. In fact, in fast moving markets the likelihood of losing all of your investment is all too real. This is the very reason why you must not invest more than your ‘risk capital’. Risk capital is that part of your liquid assets or your wealth which if lost will not affect your lifestyle or your family’s way of life. Never ever invest money meant for your your family’s daily subsistence. Doing so will make an emotional wreck out of you. You will turn out to be an emotional trader; setting aside fundamentals; trading out of fear of losing the money on which you and your family depends on; holding on too long to losing positions hoping the market will finally turn into his favor. Once you become emotional trader you start trading on false hopes which ultimately lead you to disaster and the total loss of your investment.

• 4. Thou shall not use unprotected computers!

Never use computers, whether at an airport, library or an office when accessing your financial accounts or records. Make sure you only enter confidential information on websites with the “locked padlock” icon in the browser frames (must have https at the beginning of the web address) Avoid using public wi-fi facilities in accessing your account or executing your online trades. Hackers are everywhere nowadays. It is advisable to do your online transactions only at the comforts and confidentiality of your abode. Turn off and unplug the computer you are using for trading when you are not on trade.

• 5. Thou shall not trade without a plan!

Never attempt to trade without a trading plan. A good money manager does not buy or sell out of whims and intuitions. No matter how long his experiences have been in trading a particular market, the successful investor/trader always prepare a plan before taking a plunge, so to speak. His every action stems from a careful study of a particular security, commodity, or currency contract. He always has a sound fundamental basis (underlying economic data) and/or a reliable technical view for the following trading decision parameters:

o the choice of item/market to trade, (which security, commodity, or currency)
o the specific position to take (whether to buy or to sell)
o the specific price range on which the position will be executed (entry point)
o the targeted price objective or exit point on which the trade must be closed

All these trading decision parameters must be clearly defined and set before executing any trade. Never attempt to trade fast moving markets online in the same manner and with the same do or die spirit as in p lacing bets on online gambling sites. Every trading decision must be based on a trading plan and every trading plan must be followed to the letter.

• 6. Thou shall not execute orders without trading stops!

Every trading plan must incorporate trading stops which shall act as a safety nets to limit your losses in case the market moves unfavorably against your established positions. There is no set or fast rule for creating your stops. However, in establishing your initial position you need to set your initial stop with a wider range – taking into account the highs and lows of the trading range established for the day, the proximity of your entry price to historical turn points (chart supports and resistance levels), and your tolerance level as dictated by your initial equity. (Make it a point that your initial stop must not be beyond the price level where it will eat up more than 20% of your equity). When the market starts to move in your favor, adjust your initial stop turning it into a trailing stop in the direction of the price movement. You must adjust your trailing stops tighter and tighter (closer to the spot price) as prices approach historical turn points or significant technical price levels (such as those established using the Fibonacci theory).
Stops are vital to your becoming a disciplined investor. They help you decide without hesitation when to cut a losing or winning trade. They prevent you from becoming an emotional trader and a perpetual loser. But most important of all,trading stops limit your actual loses. I have seen people lose all their investments in one single session because they adamantly held on to losing positions in the hope that the price will soon make a turn-around. I have also seen people who have reached their profit objectives but out of greed, held on to their positions. And when the market whipsawed they ended up losing everything.

• 7. THOU SHALL NOT TRADE ON MARGINS BEYOND 250:1 RATIO.

One of the main attractions of trading on line is the fact that most brokerage houses offer trading opportunities on margin basis (where you are allowed to put up only a fraction of the cost of the contracts you are buying or selling). This ratio may vary from broker to broker. While this is an advantage to the investors since it allows them to maximize the returns on their investments, it can also work against them because high margin ratios can also wipe out their equity fast in very volatile markets. For the more experienced traders who are incorporating strict money management strategies into their trading plans, the margin ratio may be a non-issue. However, for the ‘newbies’, trading with a lower margin ratio (between 50:1 and 250:1 ratio) will keep them in on volatile markets and allow them ample time to react to rapid price changes in the market place. At the same time, the lower margin ratios allow investors to avoid margin calls because it provides them elbow room to make the necessary adjustments on their positions (like temporarily freezing their positions by executing an opposite trade) thus temporarily avoiding actualizing losses. Investors must remember that brokers are not required to issue margin calls when an account falls below the required maintenance margins. They can just go ahead and cut your positions at a loss. Investors need to read, remember, and understand the fine lines in the brokers’ agreement regarding margins and margin calls.

• 8. THOU MUST ‘DEMO’ TRADE FIRST BEFORE ACTUAL TRADING.

Most online brokers offer demo trading on their sites which allows you to open demo accounts and trade live markets using only virtual money. This is a good chance for you to hone up your trading skills in real live market situations without risking your own money. You may do demo trades for as long as necessary (although some online brokers allow you only a maximum of 30 days to use their platform). Never open a real account unless you already feel comfortable with yourself, your trading plan, the broker’s trading platform, and the volatility of the market you are trading. If you are not yet satisfied with the outcome of your initial demo account, then go ahead and request for an extension of the demo account or, better still, open other demo accounts with other online brokers. Do not forget that trading volatile markets requires a large amount of self-restraint and discipline so never rush to a decision at all times.

• 9. THOU MUST KEEP YOURSELF WELL INFORMED AT ALL TIMES.

You must update yourself with everything that is going on in the financial marketplace. The internet has plenty of sources for real-time financial news updates, commentaries, and forecasts and projections. You must find time to go through the more important items which are relevant to the market you are trading. Do not look only or limit your search to information favoring your current position in the market. You must also be sensitive to contrary news, opinions, and forecasts. Use favorable factual data and information as your basis for initiating your trades. On the other hand, use any contradicting information, opinion or forecast as your basis for setting your trading stops (whether they should be tighter or wider). Subscribe to newsletters from as many online brokers as are available. Most important of all, you must sharpen your skills at digesting all of the available information you happen to go through and be able to create an informed and calculated trading decision from the same as fast as the need arises.

• 10. THOU MUST ALWAYS INSURE AN UNINTERUPTED COMMUNICATIONS WITH YOUR BROKER.

Online investments depend a lot on your uninterrupted internet connections with your broker. Your trading could be adversely affected if for example your internet connection is down at the time the market makes a major move. You can lose a big opportunity to cash in on that market movement, or lose an opportunity to cut your loss if you happen to be on the other side of that market movement. There may also be instances where even the broker’s system breaks down due to heavy traffic, or computer glitches, or other natural calamities which may prevent orders from being filled. The online investors must be prepared for such contingencies. They must be familiar with the broker’s alternative options in case they cannot access their accounts online. And this should include automated telephone trading, fax orders, and direct phone dealing arrangements. All these alternative trading options must be arranged with your brokers prior to instituting your initial trades.