While the early results of earnings season may not be giving investors much to cheer about, it is a nice diversion to the stock market’s May-June sell-off.

And like a much needed summer holiday, it may be just the break penny stock investor’s need before heading into the autumn trading season. But until then, we must weather a turbulent earnings season.

Now, I’m not sure if your favorite penny stock company has announced their quarterly results yet, but I have noticed that there seems to be something missing at the end of (some of) the reports. And it’s making my ability to predict the future that much more difficult.

Typically, at the end of an earnings report, a company will finish off teasingly with a “forecast” or an “outlook” for the next quarter and sometimes the remainder of the year. Something that will make us stick by their side through thick and thin.

Unfortunately, market volatility and ever growing geopolitical tensions are making it tougher for companies to predict what’s going on quarter-to-quarter.
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Investing in penny stocks provides traders with the opportunity to dramatically increase their profits, however, it also provides an equal opportunity to lose your trading capital quickly. These 5 tips will help you lower the risk of one of the riskiest investment vehicles.

1. Penny Stocks are a penny for a reason.
While we all dream about investing in the next Microsoft or the next Home Depot, the truth is, the odds of you finding that once in a decade success story are slim. These companies are either starting out and purchased a shell company because it was cheaper than an IPO, or they simply do not have a business plan compelling enough to justify investment banker’s money for an IPO. This doesn’t make them a bad investment, but it should make you be realistic about the kind of company that you are investing in.

2. Trading Volumes
Look for a consistent high volume of shares being traded. Looking at the average volume can be misleading. If ABC trades 1 million shares today, and doesn’t trade for the rest of the week, the daily average will appear to be 200 000 shares. In order to get in and out at an acceptable rate of return, you need consistent volume. Also look at the number of trades per day. Is it 1 insider selling or buying? Liquidity should be the first thing to look at. If there is no volume, you will end up holding “dead money”, where the only way of selling shares is to dump at the bid, which will put more selling pressure, resulting in an even lower sell price.

3. Does the company know how to make a profit?
While its not unusual to see a start up company run at a loss, its important to look at why they are losing money. Is it manageable? Will they have to seek further financing (resulting in dilution of your shares) or will they have to seek a joint partnership that favors the other company?

If your company knows how to make a profit, the company can use that money to grow their business, which increases shareholder value. You have to do some research to find these companies, but when you do, you lower the risk of a loss of your capital, and increase the odds of a much higher return.
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Copyright 2006 Equitrend, Inc.

Many investors still don’t know about Exchange Traded Funds (or ETFs) and their advantages over traditional mutual funds.  In this article, we’ll examine Exchange Traded Funds, their history, performance and advantages and why you should never buy a mutual fund again.

ETF 101

Exchange Traded Funds can most accurately be described as the happy marriage of a stock with a mutual fund.

Like mutual funds, when an investor buys an ETF, he is buying a pool of securities at one time.  For instance, an ETF known as DIA, or “Diamonds.” allows the investor to take a position in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Like a stock, an ETF can be purchased through a brokerage account, can be traded throughout the day, can be bought on margin and offers stock-like trading features such as limit orders, stop orders and short selling

ETFs come in many different flavors.  They track all the major indexes like the Dow, S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, Russell 2000 and others.  They’re also available for investors who want to trade sectors like energy, technology, precious metals, financial, health care, emerging markets, interest rates and many more.
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We all know the saying, “work smarter, not harder”, but could it actually be possible to work THAT much smarter? Working only minutes a day and replacing, Exceeding your current Income? Don’t worry, Its perfectly legal and people are doing it right this very second around the world!

Its FOREX Trading, and what you don’t know, could be costing thousands of dollars.

Forex stands for Foreign Currency Exchange Market, commonly referred to as FOREX, FX, and 4X. You may be familiar with the stock market, but there are a few reasons Currency Trading can blow Stock Trading right out of the water!

There are 3 Major reasons why Currency Trading can out preform the stock market any day!

There Is a Very low Investment of only $300 dollars needed to start. This is a lower investment when compared to the investment you would make with stocks, futures, or day trading. Of course you can start with something more than $300, but just start where you are, whatever that is and it will grow.

Forex is the most liquid market in the world so it offers a leverage of up to 100:1. The Stock Market offers 1:1 and and Futures 15:1. This gives your money awesome room to grow and gain even more leverage!

The Forex Market Open 24 hours a day and has a trading volume of almost 2 Trillion dollars a day. This makes the market trend well and technical analysis works pretty well too. You can focus your attention and analysis on one or two pairs of currency instead of the 40,000+ stocks in the Stock Market.

The Forex market is open 24 hours, can be accessed anywhere in the world with an internet connection, and can be the ultimate tool for building wealth. Make money working 10 minutes a day, or a few hours a day. Work day or night, and make money while the market is up or down. The Forex is flexible and can fit around anyones schedule!

Not sure you want to risk that $300? Gain the experience you need by playing around with a free demo account, then when you feel ready open your first account and start building your wealth! What do you have to lose ?
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