Gold is up 3% in 2014

Even though the stock market has been in turmoil lately there are some traders who are still rejoicing. Gold investors are very excited about the 3% gain so far in 2014. Congressman Ron Paul seems very optimistic about the yellow metal saying that gold is still a safe haven.

Ron Paul says that the 2013 decrease in golds value was just a blip on the screen. "I don't see gold so much in short-term because I see it in over a 100-year period," says Paul. "Long-term, it will always go up so long as we have a Fed printing money. But, on the short-term, the traders have a lot to say about this. A correction like we just had last year – one year out of 13 – that's not a big correction. That doesn't destroy a so-called bull market."

Ron goes on to say that investors will always flock to gold because its been a safe haven for 6,000 years! At the time of this writing gold is up 2.07% on the NasdaqGS.

This is a brief look at Futures.

What are futures? Futures are financial contracts obligating the buyer to buy an asset, or the seller to sell an asset either as a physical commodity or financial instrument, at a pre-determined future date and time.

This definition brings out some key points. There must be two parties to a futures contract; a buyer and a seller. There must be a commodity or asset to be exchanged, either physically or in the form of financial settlement. There is an expiration date and time when it is expected that all transactions must be settled, and the futures contract is usually standardized so that no party to the transaction is short-changed.

As mentioned before, futures are standardized, and this enables them to be traded on futures exchanges. Futures exchanges were setup to provide a level marketplace where parties to the contracts could interact, cut deals and exchange the assets in question. There are several futures exchanges, which cater to futures transactions. There is the COMEX (commodity exchange), a division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), and other similar exchanges in Europe and Asia such as the National Stock Exchange of India which provides stock futures trading, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) which is Europe’s leading energy futures exchange and the JSE Limited.

Forex is a huge market with a lot of distinctive elements that differentiate it from other form of businesses. However, when it comes to elements that can help newcomers to learn more about this market, there are three most important.
 

Here's Some Solid Advice from Ollie

I did a silly thing. A thing I wouldn't necessarily advise others to do, but a thing that worked out for me nevertheless. I was in my first year at University, having just finished my first round of projects, when my eagerly anticipated student loan came in. Over the next few weeks everything would change for me and it was all thanks to me discovering how to trade binary options. A friend of mine sent me a link to check out. He was interested in trying out this new form of online trading and wanted my opinion on a certain website, just to double check it and to let him know if I thought it was legit.

I did this for him, but in all that reviewing I ended up catching the bug as well and deposited a chunk of my student loan into a trading account. Thankfully this is a positive testimonial and not a horror story. I didn't lose my money, I didn't get hooked and blow everything I have, I did however learn to trade binary options profitably and managed to pay off my first two years at university, living expenses and all, in about two months of pretty intense trading.

Why is Apple Doing So Poorly?

Apple was considered to be the hottest growth stock in the world until this year. In the year 2013, Apple's profit was only 8%. This is staggering in comparison to 2012's 33% growth and 2011's 58% growth. While iPads and Macintosh computers are still selling very well for Apple it is apparent that the company is not doing as well as it was. In fact, it seems that their forward momentum has come to a complete stop. Even though the companies not doing well now, no one thinks that Apple is doomed. The company is worth half a trillion dollars which is more than any other stock. There are a few reasons why Apples pace has been slowed.

The smartphone market has reached saturation

With the saturation of the smartphone market Apple has seen a significant drop in iPhone sales. They sold 59% less than in 2011! Apple has been holding off on reducing the cost of the iPhone for fear that they would cut their profits. It's now clear that the price of the smartphone will need to be reduced to keep consumer spending up.

Apples retail strategy needs some work

Apple retail stores also have noticed a reduction in their sales from 121 million customers to 114 million. While some work definitely needs to be done, Apple's retail stores still have a significant advantage on Sony and Samsung who depend completely on carriers and Best Buy.

Euro (EUR)

The euro fell slightly against the U.S Dollar. Technically, and according to the 1-hour chart, the EUR/USD is trading in a channel between the resistance level at 1.3700 and the support level at 1.3650. The pair has been trading like this for a week. Should the price cross below the support level, it may continue falling to around 1.3600. If it fails to do so and breaches the resistance level, it may rise to around 1.3750. Today, the ECOFIN meeting in Brussels may create some volatility in Euro-zone markets.

Market Overview

Wall Street finished the trading day in the red with the fear of the crisis in emerging markets and the continued reduction of quantitative easing affecting investment. The S&P 500 fell by 0.49%, the Dow Jones by 0.26%, and the NASDAQ lost 0.92% from its value. Technically, the Dow Jones has a strong support level at 15,745, which has created a double bottom pattern on the 1-hour chart. Should the index maintain this support, it may reach the resistance level of 15,900. The RSI indicator also supports the bullish trend.

Why Wouldn't You Want to Go GOLD?

At IntelliTraders we offer our traders one free trade alert per day. This means we give you alerts on what trades are most likely to win. You can think of these a freebies!

One free trade is definitely nice, but wouldn't it be better to get an expert traders advice every time you went to trade? Well thankfully, you can now get expert trade alerts for becoming a GOLD member. This makes your chance of gaining profits dramatically increase.

Being a GOLD Member practically takes the risk out of trading!

Best Traders to Copy in January

You are allowed to copy up to 5 traders on your eToro CopyTrader account. We have done the dirty work for you. Below you will find a healthy mix of traders with a wide variety of risk tolerance, leverage usage, trading frequency, and returns. We recommend picking 5 of these traders to follow for the next month for your portfolio:

Making Money Has Never Been Easier!

During the last 7 days our traders have made some really good money. Below, I've included one trade that resulted in 5 profit! These profits could be your profits! Simply sign up for our IT: Expert Trade Alerts and watch the money start pouring in.

Upgrade to GOLD status now and receive ALL IT Expert Alerts free for 3 months. You can't afford to miss out!

Euro (EUR)

After recent rally and subsequent retracement (correction of the bullish trend) the pair continues to consolidate. Support is at 1.3660. If it holds, we are likely to see a resumption of the prior trend.

Market Overview

By results of last week American currency weakened against its main counterparts. In the first half of the week the European currency was under pressure against the background of weak data on ZEW index. Bears tried hard, but their attempts to push didn't succeed. On Thursday we saw an abrupt rally of the Euro up to the level of 1.3697 after publication of positive reports on PMI index in manufacturing sector of Germany and France. Nevertheless, investors reacted too emotionally on publication of PMI releases, and at the last trading day after a short growth of EU currency we saw profit fixation on long positions, and the trading week ended at 1.3677.

British currency has strengthened against the US currency following the Euro pattern. Wednesday was the biggest strike for the Pound. At that day protocols of the BoE were issued along with report on the labor market. Unemployment in November declined to 7.1%, what suggests the recovery of the labor market in the UK. The Pound has appreciated against such positive background, overcoming few resistance levels at once.