Articles

Individuals seeking income and/or the preservation of capital often consider adding bonds to their investment portfolios. Unfortunately, most investors don't realize the potential risks that go along with an investment in a debt instrument. In this article, we'll take a look at some of the more common mistakes made - and issues overlooked - by fixed-income investors. Interest Rate Variability Interest rates and bond prices have an inverse relationship. As rates go up, bond prices decline, and vice versa. This means that in the period prior to a bond's redemption on its maturity date, the price of the issue will vary widely as interest rates fluctuate. Many investors don't realize this. Is there a way to protect against such price...

Ever wonder what makes a winning trader consistent? In my opinion that consistency is due to the trader having his own "edge" over other traders. This "edge" is what each trader must find for himself. Often traders focus on their results so much that they forget that every other trader in the world is doing the same thing: Trying to profit from price action alone. Trading this way can make you money, but what if you had an added edge to your strategy? In Commodity Futures, we have something called Open Interest that just may provide that advantage. What is This Open Interest? Open Interest is the total number of outstanding contracts that are held by market participants at the end of the day. Contracts that are held overnight have...

Without a doubt, more people follow the price of Gold than any other commodity in the world, and with good reason. Gold, that archaic, barbaric, precious metal men and women have coveted since the dawn of mankind, not only presents wonderful opportunities for making money, it also continues to have a major impact on currencies, interest rates and markets across the globe. Four factors that influence Gold While there are many factors that have some impact on this glittery metal the ones that I have found to have the most impact are: The US Dollar Relationship The Seasonal Pattern The Commercials Stockmarket Crashes/ Depressions Let's start by looking at the relationship between gold and dollar index , specifically the United...