Mga ka-Investa! We’re excited to announce our latest website upgrades! Araw-araw naming pinag-sisikapang pagandahin ang ating platform to make it effective, more informative and easier to use para sa inyong lahat.
But first, maraming salamat sa inyong lahat for your continued support and encouragement, for all your feedback and suggestions and for letting us know how much you love our free trading tools and features na ginagamit ninyo kasabay ng trading journey ninyo.
It really inspires all of us!
Today we present to you our newest upgrades:
1. Number of Trades and Market Cap are now being shown in InvestaChart page with real time updates
2. All Stock List is now available in InvestaChart page
3. View Historical Number of Trades, Market Cap and Outstanding Shares via the InvestaChart Indicator (just search Trades, Market Cap or Outstanding Shares or Fundamentals). See sample below on ‘Trades’ history:
4. vTrade – Change the ‘Sell’ confirmation button to Color Red
5. InvestaJournal – added “Edit Trade” button from the dashboard
We hope you like all the changes!
At dahil malapit ng magtapos ang 2018, we won’t open the new year without a BANG — stay tuned as we announce all-new and highly anticipated upgrades SOON!
When it comes to Technical Analysis, we’ve most likely encountered or heard the term Moving Averages (MA). To break it down very simply, all Moving Averages are as exactly as they sound – it is the average movement of a price over a given period of time. It is one of the most popular technical indicators used to gauge the direction of a trend.
In layman’s term, think of it as your basic math in elementary days where you compute for your average grade. (Addition and Division):
Here’s an example:
Grades in different subjects: 75, 80, 85, 90, 95
To get the average: (75 + 80 + 85 + 90 + 95) / 5
Average grade score = 85
Calculation also applies the same in stocks i.e.:
5 MA = average price for the last 5 days
10 MA = average price or the last 10 days
and so on
If the current price of your stock is 3, and in the last 5 days it goes from
(Day 1) 1, (Day 2) 3, (Day 3) 2, (Day 4) 4, (Day 5) 5
Then the average price of your stock now is 3 based on the computed average: (1 + 3 + 2 + 4 + 5) / 5
Chart-1. Simple Moving Averages
Moving Averages follows the stock’s price movement. It tells you where the stock price is heading. So if you want to get the 20 MA of a stock, then you need to add up the past 20 days from the closing price and then divide the result by 20 days, same goes with 50, or even 100 days of the price movement.
Two Common Types of Moving Averages
1. Simple Moving Average (SMA): The simplest form of MA where a set of prices are added together and divided by the number of prices in the set. Each average of SMA is connected to the next stock price creating the singular flowing line (sample as discussed above). 2. Exponential Moving Average (EMA): A bit more complex as it gives more weighted average to the latest stock prices to make it more responsive.
Chart-2. SMA vs EMA
Difference between Simple Moving Averages versus Exponential Moving Averages
SMA moves a little bit slower than EMA. As EMA moves faster, you’ll notice that it gives more emphasis on the recent data points making it more significant to a weighted average. Most traders leverage EMA as part of day trades. For SMA, it tends to be more applicable to swing or position trades.
You can explore the differences of these two by changing the chart’s time frames. You can also adjust it from 5 day MA to 10, to 20, to 50, 100 and many other averages depending on what kind of system you would want to trade.
How to Use a Moving Average when Trading
In this article, we will use the Simple Moving Average to find out the direction of a moving average of a stock to get the basic idea of how the price will move on the chart.
The Crossovers
Chart-3. Price Crossover
If you see that the price is currently above or below the moving average, then it is a signal to a potential change in trend.
Chart-4. MA Crossover
Another strategy is when your short term MA (i.e. 20 MA shown above) is crosses above your long term MA (i.e. 50 MA), then it is a buy signal and the stock is uptrend. If the price of your 50 MA goes above 20 MA, then it’s a sell signal and indicates downtrend.
So there, we can now identify which stocks is on an uptrend and downward movement, but did you know that aside from identifying the trends, we can also use MA as dynamic support and resistance? Here it goes:
Moving Averages as Support and Resistance
Let’s take a look at the example from Chart-5 below for $TEL, the prices have gone up and down but the 100 MA is steadily moving up. You may notice that the stock price of $TEL comes near the 100 MA and then bounces back up and rejecting the trend to reverse its signal. In this case, this moving average is always the strong area of support. At the retracements near MA, buying opportunities are presented because the moving average acts as a support of a the stock.
Chart-5. MA as Support
Similarly, look at the price of $TECH as the price of chart tells the same story. When in a downtrend, the 100 MA acts as a resistance and gives selling opportunities nearer to one’s average price. This would result into a chance for people to breakeven as they have a chance to sell near their average price.
Chart-6. MA as Resistance
To wrap it up, Moving Averages are customizable indicators where you can choose whatever time frame you want to use when creating the average and if you want to know the confirmation of these MAs, you can use other indicators to support your validation.
Some traders use Moving Averages as the only indicator in their charts, for whatever reasons that they may have–whether for its simplicity or even to save up time as it is less time consuming in identifying trends, entry and exit, support and resistance and many more. With these MAs, they can now determine how the stock acted in the past and gives them idea how it would behave in the future.
While there are many other uses of Moving Averages aside from what has been discussed above, the important thing is you learn how to apply these simple MA strategies and then use it as part of your trading system for a profitable trading.
Remember those days when you’re starting your journey in the world of stock market? I do.
Madaming nagtatanong, “Why do you invest in stocks?”, “Ano ang makukuha mo diyan compared sa bank savings?”, “Does it really work?”
Dahil ganyan madalas ang mga tanong sa atin, praktisado na tayo sa mga sagot natin like “escaping the rat race”, “attaining financial freedom”, “to achive worry-free life when it comes to money”, “avoid living from paycheck to paycheck” at madami pang iba.
And over the past 14 years of my trading experience from being an employee to a full-time trader, I’ve had my share of failures and successes. May mga oras na I earn huge gains and it can be a way of ensuring I have a ‘nest-egg’ for the future, meron din namang wrong moves, and to save my bets in a particular stock, I practice cut-loss most of the time. This is the reality in trading – those with skills, patience, and determination can make careers out of investing. What successful traders made them who they are today is not only those characteristics that I mentioned above but this particular behaviour – to know when NOT TO TAKE A TRADE. They have this edge among everyone and this is what others missed out.
So how do we know when exactly not to trade?
1. When it doesn’t fit your trading style.
Isipin natin na we are playing the latest mobile game and we thought that our player profile is very much prepared for this battle. You’re fully armed and confident that you’ll win over your opponent. But then here comes the greatest conqueror you didn’t consider in giving a fight dahil akala mo nung una small players lang ang kalaban. Hindi ka nga nakapagdagdag ng emblems set-up o booster for your character dahil na rin sa sobrang bilib mo sa sarili mo. Pero hayan, akala lang pala ang lahat at ilang beses kang na-whipsaw ng kalaban. Game over dito game over diyan. Uulit ka pa ba kahit wala nang laban? Would you take this one again and again knowing that the energy you’ll be pouring towards him would only makes you lose dahil he is 20x more stronger than you, has levelled up to a top player equipment gears and may kasama pang squad? Of course not! Magpapalakas ka muna ng character mo, at paghahandaan ang muli ninyong pagkikita, hindi ba? That’s the right thing to do.
This scenario applies in trading too. There will always be trades out there, some outperforming and in 52 weeks high while some are illiquid and some are just like falling knives, waiting to strike the floor. But that doesn’t mean that you should give ’em all a try. It’s like pulling off the trigger that is not meant to hit the spot. If it doesn’t match your personality and doesn’t fit your trading style, then don’t take that trade. If the chart you are seeing is meant for bounce players pero momentum trader ka, then by all means, don’t do it. Hintayin mo yung tamang chart at set-up na posible mong pasukan uli. Ganun ka-simple.
2. When it’s not carefully planned.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin
Successful trader knows that before entering a trade, we must develop a profitable trading approach. Kung handa na yung trading set-up mo, alamin mo naman yung selling price at yung cut loss point mo before you hit that ‘buy’ button.
Ask yourself these questions – “What will I do if this trade fail?”, “Would I pull out all my positions?”, “What if it continues to went up along the way and what if it doesn’t?”, “At what trailing stops would I lock my gains?”, “Should I add more?”
Having these in mind is what you should consider first. Paghandaan mo, bago sumabak sa giyera.
3. When you’re not emotionally stable.
Still have that problem with your boss a few days ago? Kinda ruined a relationship and having a hard to make it up to your partner? Had an argument with family members and you don’t know how to deal with them?
If you can’t get bad situations out of your mind, oras na para tigilan mo muna ang mundo ng trading at gawin ang lahat kung paano magiging maayos ang sitwasyon at mag-aim kung paano maka-achieve ng balanced and focused mindset this time. Kung kinakailangang magsimula ka uli, okay lang, do some activities that you enjoy besides trading and settle whatever issues you have bago ka uli sumabak sa industriyang ito.
A well-balanced trader will usually win more than a cloudy trader because he is more relaxed and less susceptible to negative emotions like fear and greed.
Ilan lang yan sa mga dahilan kung bakit minsan, mas kailangan nating magpahinga at alisin ang sistema ng stock market sa isip natin.
Remember, trading is not gambling.
Pera mo yan na gagamitin mo at kapag hindi ka ready, you might lose whatever you have. It can make or break you. Be always prepared in this battle and when you are adjusted, then by all means, trade to win!
Marami mang rason kung bakit tayo nagti-trade, madami ding dahilan kung bakit hindi tayo dapat magmadali o huwag ituloy ang trading. You can think any but never ever forget this one – T R A D E W H E N R E A D Y .
Stock trading is never easy, but it is simple. By far the biggest hurdle faced by traders is we tend to make everything complicated and that’s one of the reasons why most traders fail. If you want to succeed in trading, you need to be brave enough and have the courage to stand any test that comes with your trading journey. We don’t have any perfect roadmaps, but the ability to have the following attitude could make a difference:
Be at peace with MONEY
A trader asked me: what did you do to get used to trading big amounts?
My Answer: Train yourself to have no emotional attachment to money.
The more you are chasing money, the more you’ll have a hard time trading objectively and at your best state. Often, traders are affected by each tick, each up, each down, and that leads them to trading errors. Our emotions get the best of us if we are focused on the absolute amounts.
You need to put yourself into a position where you just execute and focus on “trading best”. I think you will only reach your true potential if you are in a ZEN like flow.
Let the market come to you and your system, don’t chase it. Have no emotional attachment to money.
You have to remember that “money” is just a by-product, the result of your actions. Focus on your strategy and your trade, you will see that money will just naturally follow.
Be brave enough to have the right MINDSET.
While its true that one of the reasons why we wanted to do stock trading is to take profit from investing, there’s still an entire world from it beyond the prison of money or revenue streams. The ability to follow your trading system will help you digest the trading process and it helps you to intertwine and accept a variety of rules for different market conditions.
Having the right mindset is when you don’t let your emotions eat you. Winnings and losses are normal and part of trading. Having a plan for success trades and readjusting goals when negative portfolio hits you is highly important. Here are the essential rules to cultivating your trading growth mindset to help you achieve success:
Journal everything
Pick your trades like you would your life partner
Keep refining your strategy and make it work for you
Be your harshest critic
Take what works for you and ignore what doesn’t
Be brave enough to LEARN from your mistakes.
When was the last time that you put everything in your journal? Not just the winning trades, but also the losing ones. Sometimes we’re too focused on winning, that we forgot the essence of losing. Profits are just confirmation of the right thing you do. Losses, on the other hand, unleashed the best trader in you. It’s when you lose that you start to learn something. It’s in that losses that make you feel, “I don’t want to happen this again.” “How can I make myself a better trader? What’s wrong? What do I need to change/improve in my system?” “How can I prevent from making the mistake I made?”
Instead of seeing it as a failure, why not treat this trade as a stepping stone for you to become a better trader? Failures aren’t failures at all. You have to see the good in them because it’s what will lead you to success.
Experience will always be the best teacher! It’s those hardships that will make you stronger.
Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. ~ Thomas A. Edison
We are afraid to get out of our comfort zone. We’re too contented living inside our shells that we just wondered what it is like to be in the real battle?
When you got that exciting feeling you can’t seem to explain, or understand why such thing happens? Don’t think otherwise. You are now prepared for the battle. When you start to have that boiling blood running in your veins and at the same time you feel afraid. This is your signal! Go for whatever it is!
Enough of that reading materials and seminars, enough of that strategy you tested a couple of times ago. Enough of that backtesting and paper trades. Enough of procrastination, this is where you should go. You’ve prepared, and you’re not born to be that way. Take that action and trade the real way. The game must start now and this is where you’ll be bolder. You’ll never know what you’re capable of until it happened. You’ll never know if you’re good enough if you won’t going to apply it to yourself.
When things go wrong and everything just seems to go against your world, take a moment and try to separate yourself. Respect that sometimes, good things don’t always happen. There will be bad trades; there will be bad day. There will be bad companies and there will be a ‘bad’ you. So respect yourself and accept that you’re a just a human. Respect that you also get tired. Physically, emotionally and mentally. You’re not a clock tickling day and night. Respect what’s your inner you is telling you. Spend time with your loved ones, there will always be a next time. You can always make it right. Just not now, maybe soon you will.
I want you all to be brave enough in everything.
Only the strong ones last in trading.
If you’re going to succeed in life, then don’t give up.
According to Pew Research Centre, Millennials are people who are born between 1981 and 1996, and they’re the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. Millennials, in simplest form, are diverse, confident, multicultural, socially conscious and ambitious but the one characteristic that is very common in this demographic cohort is their aggressiveness in every situation.
This aggressive behavior engulfed them to apply FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) on the latest trends and this harbor a range of complexities in their personalities. They are very eager to achieve what they want and see the straight line towards their goal which produces better outcomes. On the other note, being aggressive seems scary as they tend to take more risks and this may not include the right planning and decision-making sometimes.
ADVANTAGES OF BEING A MILLENNIAL IN THE STOCK MARKET
TIME
When it comes to investing, being a millennial is an advantage as time, and their youthfulness, is on their side. They may experience highs and lows of the stock market, but the potential to grow their investment is enormous as they will have so much time to invest. Potential growth in equities works wonders when you are young and have started early in the market.
LIFE VIEW
Many millennials envision themselves to be working in a lifelong career – not because they are tied up to commit to saving up for retirement but because of their dedicated passion in what they do. Their career trajectories are in a long-term as they want to pursue ambitions far different from what it used to be where people’s goal was to experience working in a big company and then, later on, retire and enjoy lives. These millennials are now looking for a work/life balance status quo while pursuing their dreams and this kind of thinking will play a big part in the future of investing as they tend to be more proactive in decision making and implementation.
FINTECH
Lucky enough for them to experience trading in this era where enormous resources like FinTech tools are already available online as they could use it as an advantage to improve their ability and knowledge to trade in equities while they are young. These FinTech adoption can help millennials identify their profile investing risk and strategies to play well in the market and meet their financial goals.
“If you are 50 or younger or have 10 years before taking money out, and do not have 100% in equities, you are crazy.” ~ John Buckingham, editor of the Prudent Speculator
As a new breed of investors, millennials are changing the world of stock market as they have an incredible uptake on sharing and experience economy with an emphasis on mechanisms of equity, sustainability and capitalism. They are not only concerned of their own financial situation but of quality of life that surrounds them that are aligned with their values and how they see these opportunities ignite by radical solutions and market evolutions.
Although the 2008 global crisis brought the fate of the first gen of millennials in a shaky condition where job markets are dim, high prices of commodities risen too fast and their parents’ retirement funds were shrunken down, they were smart enough to treat this as an opportunity for them to be more aware of the volatility of the global market and its uncertainties and apply these learning experience towards the next bull runs of their lives.
The stock market is one of the many possible ways to invest your hard-earned money and could offer the most potential growth. It is often risky, but if you manage it right, you can take advantage of the market to secure financial position and your future.
But how do you actually start?
One of the issues that many newbies in the stock market find themselves confused with is their investment strategy. Knowing one’s logical and emotional capacity also helps in determining their investing style preference – whether they are good at investing or trading. It is essential for you to know which one is the right fit for you based on your financial goals.
THE STOCK INVESTOR
“I will tell you how to become rich. Close the doors. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.” – Warren Buffett
In its simplest term, an investor is someone who believes in fundamentals of valuation over a long-term period. They often enhance their profits through compounding or reinvesting any profits and dividends into additional shares of stock.
Investing is suitable for individuals who aim to build wealth steadily over a period of time through buying and holding of investment instruments. It comes from studying the company’s fundamental background and a belief that the company will perform well in the future.
THE STOCK TRADER
The goal of a successful trader is to make the best trades. Money is secondary.” – Alexander Elder
Trading, on the other hand, is done by buying and selling of shares in a more often manner. Stock traders choose to buy and sell stocks in multiple transactions and in quick succession. They are much more concerned with the stock itself rather than the company’s growth and future plans. In trading, one must know that there are several types that comes with it, including position trader, swing, scalp, and a day trader:
Scalpers: This is a type of a trader who holds a stock for a few seconds to minutes at the most. They buy and sell many times in a day with the objective of grabbing small consistent profits out of the market. They are the busiest ones and those who have the focused time to monitor the market.
Day Traders: These traders do not hold a stock overnight. They usually buy stocks at the beginning of the market and sell it off at the end of the day. They are also not included in the ‘busy ones’ as they have the time to monitor the market throughout the day.
Swing Traders: The Tradable asset is held between one and several days by these traders in an effort to take profit from price actions or ‘swings’. Those who swing can’t monitor the charts during market time so they tend to buy first and then dedicate their free time to analyze the market and target sell conditions.
Position Traders: They are the ones who trade for the long-term that last for weeks, months, and even years. They do not trade actively and they based their trading decisions on a combination of fundamental and technical analysis.
SO HOW DO YOU KNOW WHICH ONE SUITS YOU?
We need first to assess yourself. It’s like getting prepared before you enter the battles. Here’s how it goes:
TIME
Are you here to invest in the long haul or just finding quick punts in the short term?
Time is important in determining whether you’ll go trading or investing. A trader usually allots time more frequently in the market. They have time to monitor the market movements and try to make a profit from it in a short period of time. Sometimes weeks, days, hours or even minutes.
An investor, on the other hand, prefers a longer period of time. After picking well-established companies to invest in, they’ll put their money there and hold it til the profits run. They don’t usually check the market because they are not affected by the market volatility. Ups and down are just normal.
RISK
As we all know, both have an accompanying risk. Just like when you go into the gym, you know and you expect that you’ll have to sweat many times before you achieve that fit body you are aiming for. The same goes with investing and trading.
Since an investor’s thinking is more is into fundamentals of the company, they then to think that holding a stock for a longer time is quite safe as it works on buy and hold principle. Investor tends to feel comfortable with low risk and low returns in a short period of time but might deliver higher returns through compounding interests and/or dividends if the chosen stock is held for a longer period of time.
Now let’s look at the case of a trader. A trader is expected to be exposed in market’s day to day fluctuations. They have higher risk and higher potential returns as the price might go high or low in a short while. There’s underlying risk for every trade that they execute as the more they participate in the market, the higher the chance of gaining or losing the capital that they are betting in.
PERSONALITY
This one’s you. You’re personality says a lot about how you are likely to invest and could even determine the investment type you are likely to make. Whether you are the aggressive, anxious, conservative, passive or the speculative one, you have to take a step aside and make sure that you acknowledge your investor profile adapt your investment strategy accordingly.
Conclusion
Wrapping up, investing and trading are entirely different methods but both depends on one common goal – that is to generate profit from the market and it is entirely up to you on what choice of strategy to use based on your time, risk management and personality.
No matter what the difference can make between these two, the most important thing is to have is your focus.
Few days ago, the most awaited Ultralotto Jackpot which made aspiring billionaires Filipino hyped for quite several weeks was won by two lucky individuals. And just like that, PCSO announced that the game was over. “May nanalo na!” so we ended up to “Uwian na”. Do you know how much is the jackpot? Well, it’s a whooping Php 1.18 billion and it is the it is the biggest prize in lotto history! Imagine having that huge amount of money, puwede ka nang bumili ng maraming house and lot with cars, create new businesses or put your money in different kinds of investments. You name it! Or kung gusto mo din mag-YOLO, you can travel anytime, anywhere or buy the things that you wanted, kahit ano! No wonder many Filipinos spent much time waiting in the lottery outlet and betting their hard-earned money just to try their luck. Sino nga bang hindi madadala sa possible once in a lifetime opportunity, right?
But did you know that over the past years, marami rami na din ang Pilipino ang nanalo ng milyones sa Lotto and some might think that these people are now living their lives like a king and queen themselves. But little did we know that only 30 percent of them gets successful in life? According to studies, 7 out of 10 lottery winners ends up going broke and filing for bankruptcy. So what happened?
Kung tutuusin, hindi lang sa dami ng pera yan, but on how you control yourself and the temptations around you. Imagine the life of Jesse Lauriston Livermore, an American Investor who was popularly known in the world of stock market where he acquired his great fortune during the market crash of 1929 and actually lost everything and filed for bankruptcy in 1934 – his world turned upside down and even committed suicide in 1940 because he couldn’t make it any longer. Devastating story.
I know a lot people who are earning a lot – hundred thousands digits a month but still, it’s not enough for them, depende pa din sa lifestyle nila yan. As a regular Filipino na may saktong sahod buwan buwan, I would say “tiba tiba na ako don!”. Pero bakit kaya madami pa din ang naghihirap ngayon?
Ang sagot? LACK OF FINANCIAL LITERACY!
Yan ang pinakamalaking problemang kinakaharap ng mga Pilipino ngayon, lalo na yung medyo mga nakaka-angat o may kaya sa buhay, some of them don’t really plan for their future until dumating na mismo sa harap nila ang problema. They don’t have the discipline to work things out when it comes to financial budgeting and to do it regularly.
Alam ninyo ba na ang countries like United States of America, United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan alongside with their goverment organizations, prioritizes the teaching of financial literacy to their people of all age, most especially to young people so that they will grow up with a good grasp on financial matters. And that’s something that we still lack in the Philippines.
Let’s take this as an example.
You have an instant Php100,000 pesos – hindi mo yan pinaghirapan, hindi rin galing sa trabaho o kahit kanino pa man na kamag-anak o kaibigan, bigla na lang siyang dumating.
Imagine youself in this situation. Anong gagawin mo?
What are the chances that you will save that money?
Spend or invest it? How would an average person would suddenly think about their future kung may biyaya na dumating at makakaisip na siyang bilhin yung mga bagay na sa panaginip niya lang?
We’re living in world where everyone wants INSTANT and practically speaking, people will spend first before they save/invest. Usually whats left (if there is) after all the splurges are those that we just set aside, pampalubag loob na may mai-save. Its natural, at ito ang mga bagay kung bakit kailangan ng bawat Filipino ang maging Financial Literate. Ang dami kasi nating alam pano gumastos pero kokonti lang ang taong marunong mag-invest – 1% nga lang sa Pilipinas ang marunong mag stock market.
Filipinos may still be miles away from achieving this dream, but having financial freedom is something that we can achieve. Be financially educated! It’s never too late. It is still possible to reverse the adverse effects of bad money habits. Financial literacy may require Filipinos to learn, unlearn, and relearn a lot about personal finance, savings, and money management and there is no more opportunity time to learn about this, than today.
Learning and Application. These two matters.
Useless ang mga seminars and workshop if you don’t know how to apply it to yourself and the people around you. Yes, kasama sila na dapat matuto to save and invest at an early point in time dahil the earlier you and your family are able to forgo all unnecessary spending, the more you save and invest over time. Kasama mo sila sa pagbuo ng pangarap mo.
Sabi nga ni Robert Kiyosaki, “money without intelligence is money soon gone”.
Learn how to make money work for you, and the people around you.
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