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If you are looking for flexible investment vehicles that you manipulate within your portfolio such as stocks, bonds, futures you should pay close attention to ETF’s. By definition ETF stands for exchange traded fund, an ETF holds assets such as bonds and stocks and its net worth is equivalent to that of the negotiable instrument it holds; an ETF can also be thought of as an investment portfolio that holds stocks and bonds or other negotiable instruments that are traded on a stock exchange which is very similar to the way that stocks are traded.

The main difference between stocks and ETF’s (besides that an ETF is a portfolio of bonds or stocks) is that an exchange traded fund tracks and index hence the reason why they’re called index funds. There are many indexes that can be tracked through ETF’s, an investor may choose to track and index for it to Dow Jones, NASDAQ, a specific industry such as the manufacturing industry where they may choose to track and index of an emerging market, these markets can be in different countries so much like stocks and investor can also buy an ETF which tracks a particular index of an industry which thrives in different countries across the world.

The whole ETF concept has been around for about 15 years and the first to hit the market did it in 1993 and was better known as “spiders” — ETF symbol was SPDRs, this ETF in particular tracked the Standard and Poor’s 500 index of large-company stocks. During the early 1990s when there is investment vehicle was introduced to the market the most popular type of ETF’s were those which track the index of the technology sector because of obvious reasons, today there is a huge variety of ETF’s that operate in different countries and it can be said that the amount of ETF’s its equivalent to the number of industries that are being traded in the stock exchange.

Benefits of ETFs

One of the most obvious benefits when it comes to ETF’s is their low operating costs; let’s illustrate this point, the Vanguard total Stock market VIPER which is an ETF that tracks the index for the entire US stock market carries an annual operating cost of 0.07% of the total assets, that is equivalent of saying that a $10,000 investment would have an annual operating fee of seven dollars.

Another great benefit of dealing with an ETF is that such trading vehicle is structured for tax efficiency this is because an ETF itself doesn’t have to buy or sell securities so this means that there are not any taxable gains to be passed on. And ETF can generate taxable gains but, an exchange traded fund is often sold as a stock will be sold in the stock market, they are not redeemed by the holders so in order for an investor to realize capital gains he would have to sell the shares or trade the ETF in order to reflect changes in the underlying index.

Last (but not least) ETFs are very flexible when they are compared against other investment instrument such as mutual funds, in other words a mutual fund is often priced once and this usually happens at the end of the trading day, ETFs on the other hand can be bought or sold exactly as you would with stocks and similarly to stocks you could also buy on margin (using other people’s money) and you can also sell short when the market conditions are appropriate.

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Observing the movement of stock prices in Japanese Candlestick format and in real-time depiction is somewhat akin to watching the printout of an electrocardiogram in motion. One is seeing at first hand the story of an unfolding investor psychology. The first practitioner of Candlestick price representation, so many centuries ago in Japan, was no doubt seeking to develop a strategy or a system of tactics which would deliver to him a trading advantage which would assist him in planning his next moves. The technique of price recordation which he developed was based on the principle of expanding the “line,” or “bar,” on a chart representing the range of prices for a given time period so as to create a fattened-out line, or cylinder, in which the opening price and the closing price for that time period would be the upper and lower limits of the cylinder. If the closing price of the day were higher than the opening price, then the cylinder would not be filled in, or would be left “white;” whereas if the closing price of the day were lower than the opening price, then the cylinder would be filled in, or made “black.”

This style of price display presented a visual picture which was instantly recognized by the eye. It was easy to discern the mood of the rice traders which was in effect during that session; and, depending on the relationship of that particular Candle bar’s relationship to adjacent and nearby bars, the operator had a basis for making a prediction of the direction of prices for the next day.

Furthermore, when interpreted properly in the light of human judgment, the shape of a bar, especially when considered in conjunction with adjacent or nearby bars, was found to possess an ability to forecast a reversal of major trend.

After long and expensive historical research and translation of old records into English, the Candlestick approach to price charting was brought to the Occidental world about 25 years ago. In the early years, the Candles developed a following only very slowly. More recently, however, professional traders and investors, as well as those who do not trade or invest for a living, have begun to appreciate the advantages of the Candlesticks, to the point at which it seems reasonable to predict that they will be the standard within the foreseeable future.

What is so unusual about the Candles? In short, they form patterns which have meaning in terms of revealing traders’ theretofore-hidden investment rationale, and also in terms of allowing forecasts to be made regarding the future course of price action. Some of these visual formations or images are useful in foretelling the end of a trend and a possible topping out and rollover to the downside (if the major trend has been one of increasing prices) or of bottoming out and rolling to the upside (if the major trend has been one of declining prices).

At the top of an extended rising market, one of the more dependable reversal patterns is the “Evening Star,” a three-bar pattern in which the first bar is a tall white bar; the middle bar is a small “Star” which usually sits higher than the first bar; and the third bar is a tall black candle which usually sits lower than the Star. This formation is bearish in its implications; and the implication is strengthened if the Star is a “Shooting Star,” which looks like its namesake. At the end of an extended declining market, the inverse pattern can also appear; and, perhaps not unexpectedly, its name is the “Morning Star.”

The opposite of the Shooting Star is the “Hammer,” which appears only at the end of an extend downtrend. The Hammer is considered to be one of the more reliable predictors of a possible change of trend to the upside, especially when the next day’s closing price is higher than the closing price of the Hammer.

A “Doji” is a price bar in which the opening price and the closing price are the same. It is considered to be an indicator of a reining-up - of indecision - and of a possible change of trend, when it appears at the end of an extended move in either direction. A Star whose opening price and closing price are the same is called a “Doji Star.” A “Bearish Engulfing” pattern occurs at the top of an uptrend, and is marked by the “real body” (i.e., the cylinder in the price bar) engulfing the real bodies of one or more previous bars. The “Bearish Engulfing” formation is, quite naturally, bearish. Its converse is the Bullish Engulfing pattern, which occurs at the bottom of a downtrend; and, obviously, carries a bullish signal.

In Candlestick parlance, gaps (”windows”) are celebrated as being generators of support and resistance. Often, a comparison of price action before and following a gap clearly reveals the power of a gap to repel prices which venture within it.

The Candles are useful in any time frame, including day trading. Although they are valuable in foretelling reversals, they do not predict the extent of a move. They are perfectly compatible with all “Western” Indicators, and the synergy which often results from the Candles and the Western Indicators used together can be remarkable. Furthermore, the Candles are equally adaptable to use in every financial market, including stocks, indexes, commodities, and Forex.

Technical analysis of Japanese Candlestick price imaging is founded on the hypothesis that price action in the financial markets is not random or mechanical; rather, that it is patterned (if the practitioner is following Elliott Wave theory), and that it is the result of human emotion in action.

There are many practitioners of Candlestick analytics who make their services available to the investing public. Some of them publish investment advisory newsletters (alternatively called “investment newsletters” or “market letters” or permutations thereof); some offer instructional and training seminars, forums, and chat rooms; some publish books; and some of them offer multiple services and products. Their observation of the Candlestick world sometimes leads to a critique of the common wisdom as propounded by the media, and to explicit review of, and commentary on, the state of the markets. Expostulation of the Candlestick analytical technique is not commonly a part of financial news programs, either in the popular printed media or on television; nor are the particulars of Candle theory often the subject of study, research, investigation, or illustration for the benefit of the investing public.

This is unfortunate, because the information which flows from these concepts could often open up new possibilities for investors and be of value to them in their decision making process.

http://www.candlewave.com