Category: Reddit Post

First Merge, Then Acquire

The year 2021 turned out to be a record-breaking year in the history of mergers and acquisitions. Worldwide, deals worth a total of $5.7 trillion were concluded. The most high-profile acquisitions included Microsoft’s purchase of video game developer Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion and Broadcom’s acquisition of cloud solutions developer VMware for $61 billion (including debt, which at the time amounted to $8 billion). Elon Musk also made headlines with his $44 billion purchase of Twitter. Additionally, Amgen bought pharmaceutical manufacturer Horizon Therapeutics, ProLogis acquired warehouse operator Duke Realty, and many other smaller deals – ten billion here, twenty there. What’s the gist? Both the number and volume of these deals are significant. Partly, the amounts are increasing due to inflation, but such deals are generally a sign that even huge companies are confirming the trend of merging and becoming even larger. The consolidation of corporate power into monopolies drives up prices and reduces quality. So why is no one fighting against this? submitted by /u/XGramatik [link] [comments]

A Day In The Life Of A Forex Trader

Hi guys! Today, I’m excited to take you through a typical day in my life as a Forex trader. If you’re new to trading or have had a rocky experience in the past, I hope my story can shed some light on what it’s really like to trade Forex. Morning Routine: Success Mindset My day starts early at 6 AM. The first thing I do is grab a cup of coffee and check the latest market news. I follow several financial news websites to get a sense of the market sentiment and any overnight developments that might affect my trading strategy. For instance, on March 1, 2024, I came across news that geopolitical tensions and ongoing robust central bank purchases provided strong foundational support for the gold rally. Central banks, including India’s Reserve Bank, continued to add to their gold reserves. Knowing this, I immediately pulled up the XAU/USD chart at my Intertrader MT5 account to analyze the potential market movements. The chart from that morning showed a consolidation pattern, indicating that traders were waiting for more information before making any major moves. By 7 AM, I’m at my desk, reviewing these charts and analyzing trends. Here’s what I saw: Support and Resistance Levels: The chart showed a strong resistance level at $2,055. The contributing factor was a surge in technical buying. Gold broke through several psychological and technical resistance levels, which spurred additional investment from traders covering short positions and those seeking to capitalize on the upward momentum. Candlestick Patterns: I also noticed a series of doji candles forming near the resistance level in previous days. This often precedes a breakout or a reversal, making it a critical point to watch. Simple Moving Averages: The price remained above 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day averages, thus indicating an uptrend, suggesting bullish sentiment in the market. Volume Indicators: There was an increase in trading volume during the Asian trading session, coinciding with the news of the potential interest rate hike. Higher volume often confirms the strength of a price movement, whether it’s up or down. Economic Calendar: A weak ISM manufacturing report in the U.S. could become a crucial trigger but given the unpredictable nature of such events, it was essential to carefully calculate the associated risks. Based on these signals, I anticipated that the market would experience prevailing bullish sentiment. This analysis helped me prepare my trading strategy for the day. Trading Session: The Heart of the Day By 8 AM, I’m ready to start trading. My focus is on XAU/USD. With the news on the growing geopolitical tensions in mind, I placed a few strategic long positions on gold, anticipating a rise in its price. Risk management is a crucial part of my trading strategy. Before placing any trade, I ensure that I’m not risking more than 1-2% of my total account balance on a single trade. For this example, let’s say I have an account with $30,000. I decided to risk 1% of my account, which is $300. Given the leverage available, I was able to open a long position on XAU/USD. Here are the trades I made throughout the day: 1. • Position size: 10 ounces • Entry price: $2,056 per ounce • Exit price: $2,071 per ounce • Profit per ounce: $15 • Total profit: $150 2. • Position size: 5 ounces • Entry price: $2,055 per ounce • Exit price: $2,053 per ounce • Loss per ounce: $2 • Total loss: $10 3. • Position size: 15 ounces • Entry price: $2,058 per ounce • Exit price: $2,072 per ounce • Profit per ounce: $14 • Total profit: $210 4. • Position size: 10 ounces • Entry price: $2,060 per ounce • Exit price: $2,078 per ounce • Profit per ounce: $18 • Total profit: $180 By the end of the day, my trades had yielded a total profit of $530. Here’s the breakdown of the profits and losses: Trade 1: $150 profit Trade 2: $10 loss Trade 3: $210 profit Trade 4: $180 profit Afternoon Routine: Reflect and Plan Ahead Around 2 PM, I take a break to have lunch and clear my mind. Trading can be intense, so it’s essential to step away and recharge. After lunch, I reviewed the trades I had made. The broker I use provides detailed reports and analytics, which help me understand my performance and areas for improvement. This data is invaluable for refining my strategies and becoming a better trader. By 4 PM, I start winding down my trading activities. I close out any remaining positions and review the day’s performance. This is also the time when I plan for the next day, setting up alerts and preparing for potential market movements. Evening Routine: Balancing Work and Life Evenings are my time to relax and unwind. I usually spend time with family, read a book, or watch a movie. It’s important to have a balanced life, especially in the fast-paced world of Forex trading. 8 Things You Need to Know About Choosing a Broker Choosing the right broker is one of the most critical decisions you’ll make as a Forex trader. Here are some essential factors to consider: Ensure your broker is regulated by a reputable financial authority. Regulation ensures that the broker adheres to strict financial standards and practices, protecting your investments. A reliable trading platform is crucial for executing trades efficiently. Look for brokers that offer robust, user-friendly platforms with advanced charting tools, real-time data, and automated trading capabilities. MetaTrader 4 (MT4) and MetaTrader 5 (MT5) are popular choices among traders. Consider the transaction costs associated with trading, including spreads, commissions, and overnight fees. Lower transaction costs can significantly impact your overall profitability, especially if you trade frequently. Leverage allows you to control a larger position with a smaller amount of capital. While leverage can amplify profits, it also increases the potential for losses. Choose a broker that offers reasonable leverage options and provides clear information about the risks involved. Effective customer support is essential,… Continue reading A Day In The Life Of A Forex Trader

The Ugly Truth About Trading

I believe if you’re serious about learning, you will find a lot of ways of getting knowledge, by yourself for free or at the courses for some money, but earlier or later you will face a vital question – which Broker to choose to start trading with? Most probably, you will google for Broker reviews and/or Top Broker listings. Worth to keep in mind here that Top Broker listing places are sold. You did not know? Well, it’s not a top secret actually. You may request the advertising and media kit and check the pricing yourself – forexlive, forex-rating, fxsteet etc. 500 – 3000 EUR/per month (as per my check several years ago) and your Broker will be added to Top 10. The only way to make a choice avoiding “conflict of interest” situation is to do it yourself. Are you a 100% newbie? Here are the questions to ask/check: TRADING CONDITIONS. But please be realistic – you will never be given great trading conditions if you plan to start trading with 100-500 USD balance. Ask the right questions and compare: leverage provided, floating or fixed spreads, market or instant execution, avg. spread on EURUSD (or whatever asset you trade) on standard account, minimal deposit, method of deposit/ withdrawal, terms of withdrawal (it must be automatic from your Client Zone without any Broker representative’s involvement). REGULATION – your main protection from non-trading risks. BE READY TO SACRIFICE SOMETHING. In CySEC jurisdiction, for eg, regulated CFD Brokers offer leverage of up to 30:1 for retail clients and up to 500:1 for professional clients. This means for every $1 that you have in your trading account, you can trade $30 as a retail client or $500 as a professional. Need the highest funds protection? Check the stated Regulation properly. Do not believe in words – check. The license number of a certain Regulatory Authority is always indicated on the official website. RED FLAGS TO PAY ATTENTION TO: Absence of the license number with one of the known and trusted regulators on the website, only the company registration number (=NO REGULATION). High leverage that is not correlated with the regulation stated. Non-licensed asset management, algo trading with guaranteed profitability. submitted by /u/FXgram_ [link] [comments]

Pepperstone, Chris Weston: A Traders’ Week Ahead Playbook – Hanging in by a thread

Authored by Chris Weston In the week ahead the main scheduled event risks to navigate will be central bank meetings in Australia (rates firmly on hold), the UK (firm hold), Switzerland (a coin toss), Norway (firm hold), China (likely hold), and Chile (likely 25bp cut). We also see key inflation prints in the UK, Europe (a final revision) and Japan. At the same time, we see retail sales in the US, PMIs in Europe, the UK and the US, and China home prices, and property investment. For those who really want to get deep into the weeds, we hear 16 Fed speeches, 13 ECB speakers, as well as speeches from the SNB, and RBNZ. I wouldn’t be overly concerned with holding exposures over any of the respective dialogues. French election angst to persist this week The evolving theme in French politics continues to see market players attempting to price risk and uncertainty around the future French fiscal position and what this could mean for France’s credit rating, and the cost to fund a wider deficit. The CAC40 (and EUStoxx50) is in freefall, led by the banks, with traders being guided on perceived risk through the aggressive widening of yield premium seen in the French 10-year bond yield over the German 10-year bund – which has blown out 29bp since 7 June. EURCHF has been another guide on political/fiscal risk, with the pair in a strong bear trend and eyeing a move into 0.9500. We wrote about trading the French election in depth here, but with the left-wing parties forging an alliance, this just adds a new level of uncertainty into the mix and increases the chance of an outcome that could see a move away from the agreed €20b spending cuts, with increases to the deficit that adds uncertainty in French and peripheral EU bond markets. With traders wanting certainty, this may not come until after the second-round vote (7 July), so the prospect of further downside in French and EU markets is real. The SNB meeting a line ball call The uncertainty in Europe suggests the Swiss National Bank (SNB) meeting (Thursday at 17:30 AEST) is a lineball call on whether the SNB cut rates by a further 25bp. I would have sat in the camp that the SNB hold rates this week, but with the market seeing safe-haven demand for the CHF – as is the way when the macro concerns centre on Europe – the recent bout of CHF strength sways the odds modestly in favour of a cut. Still, the SNB can cut rates, but if the FRA-GE yield spread continues to blow out, then CHF safe-haven demand will likely trump a possible SNB rate cut. Another factor being discussed is whether traders are warming to gold as a hedge against French and (to a lesser extent) German political concerns. Certainly, being long XAUEUR has caught attention, with traders looking at the 10 June highs of €2191 as a big pivot to take out for a possible trend move to play out. A close above $2341.6 in XAUUSD would be an obvious positive for long positions, which would suggest the yellow metal could squeeze towards $2375 – a level we should see cap the weekly range highs unless EU volatility really comes live. US equity hanging in – US2000 shorts preferred Price action and the technical set-up in US equity indices will also be front and centre. If it hadn’t been for the rise and rise of Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple, then the US500 and NAS100 would have attracted far greater rewards for those positioned short. Market breadth in the S&P500 is clearly deteriorating, and the index is hanging in by a thread, and that is throwing up greater short opportunities in single stock names, but such is the influence these three behemoth names have on both indices. For those wanting to express a more bearish short-term view, then Europe is where to look, or in the US, the Russell 2000 (US2000) is the vehicle of choice, with the index not getting the same support seen from these mega-cap names, with the small-cap index printing lower highs and lows. US data this week needs to hit the sweet spot, with the bulls wanting to see improvement in retail sales (consensus 0.3%), jobless claims and S&P Global manufacturing and services PMIs (consensus – 51.0 & 53.4 respectively). Weakness in these data points may negatively impact sentiment, and I would also consider expressing this through long NAS100 / short US2000 exposures. The RBA to leave rates unchanged The RBA meeting will almost certainly see rates on hold at 4.35% and we should see the statement largely unchanged. AUDUSD may be good for -/+20-30 pips through the meeting but should quickly revert to following other external factors such as equity risk and commodity markets. On the week I’d be playing a 0.6680 to 0.6550 range, and leaning into these levels for a possible reversal, should they get there. GBP eyeing the UK CPI print In the UK the highlight of the week will be the May CPI print (Wednesday at 16:00 AEST), with UK core CPI expected to fall to 3.5% y/y (from 3.9%), and headline CPI to 2% y/y (2.3%). Core services inflation is eyed to fall to 5.5% (from 5.9%), still high in absolute terms, but well off the levels of 7.4% seen in May 2023. The BoE will then leave rates on hold at 5.25%, but a downside surprise in the CPI print could influence the tone of the BoE meeting statement, potentially showing some increased appetite for a 25bp cut in the August meeting. For now, GBPUSD holds the 1.2800 to 1.2690 range lows, where a downside break could see the pair targeting 1.2580. The final say…. The markets evolve as always, and it pays to know the market sensitivities and the news flow which could feed the beast. The risk in markets does seem to be building, and I see an increased conviction… Continue reading Pepperstone, Chris Weston: A Traders’ Week Ahead Playbook – Hanging in by a thread

Most Talkable Assets Of The Week

🚀 TSLA – Elon Musk wins Tesla shareholder battle to keep his record-breaking pay of $56B 👀 SMCI – The high-performance server specialist’s stock is now up more than 200% year to date 💊LGVN – Looks like the company will be able to help parents desperate for a treatment of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome ⬆️ S&P500 – 5400 level is broken and this is without Magnificent Seven, just with the Magnificent One… 🥇GOLD vs 💰BTC – which wins the inflation hedge race? Quote of the week: ‘As long as you are measuring value in fiat currency (dollars, yen, euros), you are food.’ – X user Invester_y7 Is there anything missing? Anyway, have a great weekend everybody. submitted by /u/FXgram_ [link] [comments]

USD-backed stablecoin continues to dominate the crypto market.

Nearly 90% of all crypto transactions are executed using USD-backed stablecoins relative to the USD. Their average weekly volume in 2024 was $270bn which is 70 times higher than their EU counterparts. In contrast, just 1.1% of all transactions are done using Euro-backed stablecoins. However, it is notable that this share has increased from near zero in 2020 and is currently at an all-time high. https://preview.redd.it/dozy7qaksi6d1.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=ff3afc97e954aafc9e947e09534eb8597456a670 submitted by /u/Lor1al [link] [comments]

Demo Trading – more harm than good?

There are two opposite points of view: The 1st one is known as: “Don’t waste your time on demo. It will not bring you money. You’ll miss the unique opportunity that market gives you TODAY. It will make you more harm etc.” It usually comes from the parties vitally interested in your start of real trading. And it’s not always a broker (though it’s vividly not beneficial to provide you with the free demo services) but all sorts of money making campaigns (all those ‘profitable’ strategy and/or signal offers) – in most cases they are against any demo testing as it will prove the offered product and/or service insolvency. The 2nd one sounds as: “Don’t start real trading until you are fully confident. Take your time. Spend 2-3-6-month testing your strategy on demo first.” Two contentious points here to keep in mind – Demo trading will not show you the live execution simply because your demo trades cannot be executed at the real market (it’s just a kind of demonstration of the assets & trading conditions provided); Long demo testing may bring the opposite effect, i.e. to decrease your confidence, to give birth to fear of real trading. Besides, it will not answer the main question: Is that really appropriate for me? Demo risks and even losses won’t make your heart beating faster, will they? So, what is better to do? The right answer is somewhere in the middle I believe. If we’re talking about the new knowledge and/or strategy – test first on demo, at least to obtain some understanding, the principle. Only after – try real with the investment amount you’re ready “to pay for knowledge”, i.e. to loose, without a serious negative impact to your life. Cannot find a free DEMO to test on, without any obligation to make a deposit? Check this out – actually all globally regulated Brokers offer this option for free, with the trading platform immediate access granted. submitted by /u/FXgram_ [link] [comments]