Why Amazon Paid An Astronomical Sum For Twitch

A typical retail display (in Geneva, Switzerland) with a large selection of games for several major consoles (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Twitch was purchased by Amazon for more than $1.1 billion, a price that includes $970 million in cash.  So what did all of this money buy?

Amazon got two things:  They're going to get a video audience that is deeply engaged and a media company that is currently generating cash in an unconventional fashion.

In terms of viewers, Amazon understands that there is a massive and growing audience for live-streaming video games.  In 2013, Twitch viewers watched video for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes on a daily basis.

Amazon currently spends more than a billion dollars annually on video content, but Twitch gets all of its content for free.  It is clearly interesting that Twitch is already making a nice profit.  Our estimates suggest that Twitch is presently earning above $72 million on its run rate.

While the current revenue for this company has not been disclosed by Twitch or even how the revenue is broken down, a close source has said that active subscribers number around 600,000 and that this would bring in about $36 million annually.  When factoring in advertising revenue, however, which is the largest part of Twitch revenue overall, the total would come to at least $72 million.

So what's the driving force behind this amazing growth?  Subscriptions are not what drive Twitch viewing, but a lot of Twitch viewers show their support by getting subscriptions.  They offer support for Speedrunner, MANvsGAME, Cosmo Wright and other popular broadcasters as a show of appreciation.

After all, these broadcasters often produce many days of viewing content every month.

This is quite different from the videos that are supplied by Amazon.  There is some video provided by Amazon's Prime Instant Video, but this comes bundled with a subscription for Amazon Prime which runs about $100 annually.  Video can be sold or rented at premium prices.

Twitch was initially poised for purchase by YouTube.  Now, however, with the purchase of Twitch, Amazon has a platform that is a lot like YouTube.

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Is SureTrader Good For Online Investments?

Is Suretrader Good?

Thanks to the Internet, stock trading has never been easier for the average person. Unfortunately, may Internet investors mistakenly think they are getting into an easy scheme for getting rich quick. Lack of investor experience results in millions of lost dollars every year. This investor need for professional advice in web-based trading has lead to the creation of brokerage sites like Sure Trader.

SureTrader, part of Swiss American Securities, Ltd, was founded in 2008 by businessman Guy Gentile. Its location in the Bahamas is one reason people choose SureTrader: It is regulated by the Bahamas Securities and Exchange Commission and not the US Securities and Exchange Commission. This means that investors are not bound by the Pacific Day Trader rule, or PDT, which limits investors with less than $25,000 on account to three days of trading per rolling period. In other words, SureTrader investing does not require as much cash for starting each trading day, answering the question for many people, Is SureTrader good? with a resounding, 'Yes!'

SureTrader has competitive pricing, but the web-site is somewhat outdated and can be hard to navigate. They do provide live customer support which is easy to use by just clicking on a link in the corner of the screen.
Signing up for SureTrader involves scanning in a couple of IDs as well as a current utility bill. After that, it takes a day or two for the account to be activated.

SureTrader has three different investment platforms and users can manage their account wherever they can get an Internet connection.

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Stock Carnival Ecstasy - December 19, 2013

Image via CrunchBase

Welcome to the December 19, 2013 edition of Stock Carnival Ecstasy. Bill Smith from FastSwings.com has an opinion on Facebook and Yelp as longer term investments. Steve Alexander has some small cap value stocks that you should take a look at. And finally Bryan Chau has investment trends for the coming year for you to consider. Hope you like the articles, bookmark, share on Facebook, tweet, and come back soon.

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John Schmoll presents And You Wonder Why We Have Financial Problems… posted at Frugal Rules, saying, "Recent studies show, and not really surprisingly, that much more money is being spent to market financial products as opposed to teaching about them. While this may seem like an impossible problem to solve, teaching financial literacy can help stem the tide. Teaching financial literacy will help individuals begin to make wiser financial decisions like saving for retirement and living within their means."

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Bill Smith presents Facebook And Yelp Remain A Good Bet Despite Recent Price Tumbles - FastSwings.com posted at FastSwings, saying, "Facebook shares have taken a tumble recently along with a number of other of the so-called momentum stocks including Yelp (-6%), Twitter (-4%), LinkedIn and Trulia."

Steve Alexander presents 5 Growing Small Cap Value Stocks With No Debt posted at MagicDiligence - Optimizing Joel Greenblatts Value Stock Strategy, saying, "List of 5 small cap stocks with over 15% revenue growth, below market valuation, and zero debt."

Bryan Chau presents Investment Trends For 2014 - Secure Your Future - SuccessPenPal | SuccessPenPal posted at Success Pen Pal, saying, "investing, trends, future, opportunities, 2014, goals, lifestyle, profits."

Mark Hanna presents Dividend Champions List Review – December 2013 posted at Debt, Dividends, & Diversions, saying, "In this series we look at the December edition of the U.S. Dividend Champions sheet, compress down the data into a few simple metrics, and attempt to find the best valued dividend stocks based on a combination of yield, P/E, and dividend growth rate."

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Bryan presents 5 Reasons You Are Still Unemployed posted at Gajizmo.

Bill Smith presents How Secured Loans Can Help posted at Debt Consolidation, saying, "Consumers who need to rebuild their credit histories can take secured loans to start the process. A secured loan is an advance that a lender gives to a person who is willing to offer some type of collateral."

May presents Google as a Penny Stock Research Tool posted at Messy Money, saying, "Google can be a wonderful tool for researching potential penny stock investments. Penny stocks are small, unproven companies that tend to trade outside the major exchanges and at a low share price, usually under $5."

Bryan presents Whole Life Insurance As An Investment posted at MyLifeInsurance101, saying, "The New Year is coming and you are likely considering how best to protect your financial dependents. You hear about term and whole life insurance, but which is better? Are you wondering if whole life insurance is a good investment? Read our guide to get insight into why whole life is a bad investment option and you should just buy term life and invest the difference."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of stock carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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The Entrepreneur Peter Jones

Cover of Tycoon: How to Be REALLY Rich

For the past couple of decades, one of the most electrifying and successful entrepreneurs in all of Europe has been Peter Jones.  The Peter Jones entrepreneur biography is a very impressive list of all of the businesses that he has created and turned into international success stories.

Like many great entrepreneurs, Jones has seen plenty of ups and downs during this career.  His career started when he was still a very young man.  At this point he started a computer business, which was initially very successful, but ultimately failed, which forced him to sell off his home and most of his personal assets.  At the same time he also started a bar, which he eventually sold at a big loss.

The first true success that Jones had professionally came soon afterwards.  In 1998 he started a company called Phones International Group.  Within a year his company was earning over 14 million pounds per year.  Within about five years after that, revenues went up almost ten fold.

Since creating that company, Jones has also created, established, and invested in a wide range of other businesses in several different industries.  His large number of successful businesses has helped him to gain international fame.  Jones used his personal and professional fame to enter the field of entertainment.  Jones has been involved in many different reality television programs, each of which have revolved around helping aspiring entrepreneurs to develop their own businesses and expand on their own ideas.  These have included Dragon's Den, Tycoon, and American Inventor.

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Stock Carnival Ecstasy - April 23, 2013

Kevin Marks, author of the weblog Epeus Epigone, software engineer and principal engineer for Technorati. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Welcome to the April 23, 2013 edition of Stock Carnival Ecstasy.In this edition of the carnival we start with an article by Bill Smith on checking your tax refund status online with the IRS. John Schmoll has a great Scottrade review on his blog Frugal Rules. Vytas looks at making a fortune when the trends change. Hope you like all the articles, bookmark, share on Facebook, Tweet on Twitter and come back next time.

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Bill Smith presents Checking Your Tax Refund Status After Using TurboTax 2013 posted at 2010Taxes, saying, "After filing your taxes with TurboTax 2013, you’ll immediately begin wondering about the status of your refund."

Bill Smith presents TurboTax Fights Filing Reform posted at 2011 Tax, saying, "TurboTax 2013 would have suffered a clear loss of revenue by implementation of this plan."

John Schmoll presents Online Brokerages I Use: Scottrade Review posted at Frugal Rules, saying, "There are many outlets for your choosing if you want to invest in the stock market. They all have their features that set them apart. Find the one that fits your needs for overall investing as well as investing for your retirement needs."

Bill Smith presents United Way Offers Free Tax Preparation To Qualified Earners posted at 2012 Tax - Free Tax Filing Options, saying, "It is that time of year again; time to get out your tax documents, records, and W2s and do your taxes."

Bill Smith presents The Benefits Of Using TurboTax 2013 To File Your Taxes posted at 2012 Taxes - Free Tax Filing Options, saying, "If you have never used Turbo Tax before, you need to consider filing your taxes with this computer program this year."

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Vytas presents Fortunes are made when trends change posted at Trend, saying, "Markets present a lot of opportunities for short term, intermediate term and long term traders when specific market conditions appear for those who use appropriate trading system for specific market conditions. It is of uttermost importance for those who monitor market swings and trends to capture a change in the trend at the very inception of it, enter position or line of positions and then take a good bite off the move which follows."

Bill Smith presents Top Tax Scams To Avoid With Turbo Tax 2013 posted at 2014 Taxes, saying, "Using Turbo Tax 2013 is a good way to avoid tax scams in the first place, seeing as how you can e-file your paperwork with confidence that it will go directly to the IRS."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of stock carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Stock Carnival Ecstasy - March 28, 2013

Pedal car collection (Photo credit: Hugo90)

Welcome to the March 28, 2013 edition of Stock Carnival Ecstasy.In this edition we have an article from Frugal Rules written by John Schmoll asking if it is time to get out of the stock market with the S&P 500 reaching a new high. Bill Smith has a number of tax articles including one of TaxCaster, a Turbo Tax mobile application that helps you to estimate your taxes for the year. We  finish with a nice post from the site BobbyFinance on wisely investing your money. Hope you enjoy the articles, bookmark, share, tweet, like on Facebook and come back real soon.

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John Schmoll presents Is it Time to Get Out of the Stock Market? posted at Frugal Rules, saying, "There has been a lot of talk lately about the stock market with its “historic” highs and what investors should do. This is a great time to remember to stick t.o your investment plan and not give in to fear."

Bill Smith presents Turbo Tax Television Ads Will Continue posted at 2011 Tax, saying, "H&R Block has failed its lawsuit and injunction attempts two times against Intuit’s TurboTax."

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Bill Smith presents How Your Kids Can Boost Your IRS Refund posted at 2014 Taxes, saying, "A considerable amount of tax can greatly help with your tax return upon declaring your legal dependent."

Bill Smith presents Estimate Your Tax Refund With The Free TurboTax Taxcaster posted at 2013 Taxes, saying, "Tax time is drawing near and like most other Americans, you need to file and prepare your taxes to avoid penalties and late fees from the Internal Revenue."

Bill Smith presents Innovations For Turbo Tax 2013 posted at 2013 Taxes, saying, "Professional accounting can help business owners save time and resources, and the Turbo Tax 2013 CPA Select edition by Intuit may be the ideal solution for tax filing season."

Bill Smith presents Most Taxpayers Dont Cheat posted at 2008 Taxes, saying, "If you are racing to get your taxes done by the April 15 deadline, you are not alone. Millions of Americans will file their taxes this year, and more than ever will file taxes online."

Bill Smith presents Tips For Maximizing Your Return posted at 2009 Tax, saying, "When you use free Turbo Tax 2013follow, it is important to make sure that you maximize your return."

Bill Smith presents Easy Online Tax Filing With Free Turbo Tax 2013 Software posted at 2009 Taxes, saying, "Having expert tax assistance can be the best way to avoid financial penalties, complete your filing on time, and maximize your refund."

Bill Smith presents The Turbo Tax 2013 Advertisement Controversy posted at 2010Taxes, saying, "The Turbo Tax 2013 advertisements were undoubtedly memorable and those who have seen them will not soon forget them."

Bill Smith presents TurboTax Helps Users Get More Accurate Tax Returns posted at 2010 Tax, saying, "Each year, Americans are forced to go through last year’s financial information and prepare a tax return."

Bill Smith presents An Overview Of The Turbo Tax Military Edition posted at 2011 Taxes, saying, "Preparing and filing your taxes on time and to your best advantage may be difficult at any point in your life, but being in the military may pose additional challenges."

Bill Smith presents The Benefits Of Using TurboTax 2013 To File Your Taxes posted at 2012 Taxes - Free Tax Filing Options, saying, "If you have never used Turbo Tax before, you need to consider filing your taxes with this computer program this year."

tutorial

gmeinna presents Investing Your Money Wisely (Part 1/2) posted at BobbyFinance.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of stock carnival ecstasy using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Forex Exchange Trading History

Global foreign exchange market turnover2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The foreign exchange market is an exchange for the global decentralized trading of international money. It gives people the options trading in the foreign market. The market determines the values of different currencies.

The exchange market helps those who want to international trade and investments by helping with currency conversion. It is also the carry trade. In a typical transaction, the group buys a quantity of one currency by paying a quantity of another currency.

Some of the reasons why the foreign exchange market is different is because of its geographical dispersion, the low margins of profit compared with other fixed income markets, and the leverage to enhance profit and loss margins.

As for the forex history, the modern foreign exchange market began to form in the 1970s after decades of government restrictions on foreign exchange transactions. In the 1980s trading grew more and the greatest proportion of trades was within the United Kingdom and the United States was second in trading. The top currency traders as of today are Deutsche Bank, Citi, Barclays Investment Bank, UBS AG, HSBC, JPMorgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs. Also, the most traded currencies by value today are United States dollar, Euro, Japanese yen, Pound sterling, Australian dollar, Swiss franc, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Swedish krona, and New Zealand dollar.

So, as you can see the market is a good place to do trading with different currencies.

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Commodity Trading Tips

The floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, a major commodities exchange in the United States. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Curious about dabbling in the commodity markets? Here are some top tips to help you avoid losing your shirt.

Understand Your Psychology

When you are making commodity trading decisions you are involved in a delicate balancing act. On the one hand you have to act swiftly to profit from the opportunities that arise, whereas on the other you have to be very cool and analytical to make the right calls.

Getting an understanding of your own psychology is very important for all successful trading. Often the worst decisions are made due to emotions interfering with the thought process. If your mind is clouded by strong emotions it is easy to make poor decisions.

Don’t follow the crowd

The chances are when everyone is talking about a trend it will be too late to jump on it. This especially goes for any kind of ‘hot tips’ that you get on the internet and through social media. You can’t bet on a race that has already been run.

It is important to be able to have the courage of your own convictions. Making money is commodities investing is a matter of being right when others are wrong. This can mean buying precisely when others are desperate to sell.

Be genuinely informed

There are all kinds of information that you can have access to that will be able to give you an insight into the state of the market. Commodity traders will keep a very close eye on the news and will be able to read between the lines in order to extrapolate likely trends.

Don’t ever buy something that you do not understand. If you are contemplating sinking funds into a raw material, do your homework first. Make sure that you know what a product is, what it is used for and how it is produced.

Make sure that you keep yourself abreast of the world political situation and current events. War, revolution and natural disasters can all have an impact on commodity prices. Technological developments and changing social trends will also play their part.

Get expert help

It is not always going to be possible for you to have all the information you need as an individual to make successful commodity trades. This is where buying into funds that are invested in this area makes sense.

Just as particular foods are only good for you as part of a balanced diet, any given investment is only wise as part of a balanced portfolio. This is why many individuals consider it worthwhile to pay the premium demanded by a wealth management company who understand how to balance risk against reward.

Ultimately all investments can go down as well up. The big advantage of commodities though is that they are real things, with real uses and real demands.

Simon Grant produced this guide in association with Adam & Co., who offer their clients bespoke wealth management. 

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What Christmas Shoppers and Retailers Might Expect

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With the holiday season just around the corner, retailers in the United states are getting ready for a shopping season that is filled with uncertainty due to conflicting consumer financial reports and the changing patterns of American shoppers.

Recent reports from the National Retail Federation aren't exactly encouraging. While there will likely be an increase in holiday sales compared to last year's season, the increase will only be around 2.8 percent. Last year's holiday shopping season managed to produce a respectable and surprising 5.2 percent from the year before. Retailers that expected a similar performance this year may be in for a disappointment.

To make matters worse, holiday shoppers may also get a bit of a “sticker shock” this year. In 2008 and 2009, shoppers were treated to great prices due to high inventories once carried by hopeful retailers. During the last couple of years, stores have been forced to sell off large portions of their inventories at sharply reduced prices. Retailers have learned the lessons of the Great Recession, and they are now keeping lean inventories.

The lackluster American economy is also to blame for the grim forecast. The high unemployment and the weak demand from employers to hire new workers are two factors exacerbating the situation. A weak US dollar could also bring pain to clothing retailers this year, as expensive textiles may cause fashion stores to push their prices higher just in time for the holidays.

An annual consumer holiday shopping study released by Accenture, a respected global consulting firm, indicates that some consumers will be in a better position this year. High income shoppers will be the most benefited as stores are forced to reduce prices on high-ticket items.

Discount stores will now have to compete against traditional retailers in terms of pricing. Department stores have mostly refrained from offering price promotions this year, as many are waiting for the holiday shopping season to begin.

This year shoppers are expected to be more careful, controlled and fastidious over their holiday purchases. Shoppers are now more inclined to significantly research their potential purchases before heading off to the shopping malls or placing their online orders. Accenture believes that more shoppers are planning to use their smartphones to do price research and comparison shopping while physically at the stores.

As expected, the number of shoppers who plan to make more than half of their holiday purchases online has increased. After all, online social media platforms are already getting busy with pre-holiday season buzz. But the Accenture survey report has also uncovered an interesting fact surrounding holiday shopping: Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year, may be losing its charm.

The predawn madness at American shopping malls and big-box retailers has become a staple of consumer culture. But as much as customers want to save money, they may be growing weary of the theatrics that tend to go hand-in-hand with Black Friday. Less than half of the shoppers surveyed by Accenture plan to leave their homes at midnight to go shopping fore a large flat-screen television this year. Shoppers are now more likely to find bargains and free delivery offers than in previous years.

Post by Holly Adams, a writer for CouponCroc.co.uk, the best place to find discounts and savings on all of your online holiday shopping this year.

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Forex Broker Choosing: My Tips on How Not to be Scammed

The other day, I was on a popular Forex trading thread on an online forum, when someone interrupted the flow of trading ideas and strategies we had enjoyed for three days straight to spit out a heart-rending story of how he had been ripped off by a Forex broker based in Seychelles (he only found out the broker’s location after the incident; how naive could traders get?).

The poor fellow had apparently been taught the rudiments of Forex trading and by all accounts, he was doing well for a first timer (probably ticked off the scam market maker broker he was using). Then from out of the blue, he got an email from his broker, accusing him of using a third party access to trade his account (supposedly against their rules). He was branded a cheat and as punishment, his account was suspended and his funds seized. Now the broker could have their own rules regarding account access, but if you have a problem with a trader, why not at least return the trader’s original capital instead of using some cheap excuse to brazenly steal the trader’s money? The community of traders is presently contemplating sending representatives to Seychelles to take legal action, a process that will cost a lot of money without a guarantee of success. All this could have prevented if the trader had done his homework. In the next few sentences, I will briefly outline what I would have done from the get-go after coming across the broker’s web page, which had lured the unfortunate trader in with a 100% bonus.

Step by Step Process of Conducting Due Diligence of a Forex Broker

The first thing I would do on coming across this broker is to find out the true location of the broker. Some unscrupulous brokers maintain bank accounts in countries that have strong regulation, maintain a skeletal office there but site their main office somewhere else. It gets worse; the main office could be the cellar of a building in some far flung island on the earth, or some country with very lax financial and banking rules. This system of structured deceit is difficult to unravel. For this information, I would head over to some popular Forex review sites to check the broker out. This serves many purposes. Not only are you likely to get the actual location of these guys (and therefore their true regulatory status), you could stumble on some precious information. More often than not, you will get reviews of such a broker from others who have used their services. The bad ones do not hide.

If I visit the forum of a group like ForexPeaceArmy, there is a structured review system that tracks the complaints against any broker and how the brokers respond to the complaints. Complaints range from withdrawal issues to trading practices such as stop hunting. It is not unusual to see scam brokers paying off people or using multiple IDs to write good reviews about themselves. It is not long before they are caught. If you see this, you are better off running away from such a broker.

My next stop would be the websites of the regulatory agencies. This is assuming the broker in question passes the location test. Find out the status of each broker. Regulated brokers are assigned specific registration numbers and it is not hard to find out if a broker is a scam broker.

Usually, these steps are enough to fish out scam brokers. You can also add some good old commonsense to the mix. Personally, I do not use brokers that offer bonuses. That 100% bonus may just be a sign that the broker is getting desperate for money to steal or settle other clients in an elaborate Ponzi scheme.

Article provided by Alexander Collins. To learn more about smart ways to choose a Forex broker and unethical practices scam brokerages use, visit Alexander Collins blog.

Happy Trading!

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Spreadbetting on Stocks and Shares: A Brief Overview

Image by RambergMediaImages via Flickr

Financial spread betting on stocks and shares provides many of the same benefits as purchasing actual shares, but without the stamp duty, commissions, and large sums of capital needed to realize a good return. By utilizing the services of spread betting companies, traders are able to speculate on the performance of individual stocks and shares, without ever taking ownership of the specific instruments involved. Rather, spreadbetting speculates on the rise or fall of stocks and shares over the course of a day, month or other period.

Spreadbetting on stocks and shares is a popular trading vehicle that permits traders the same exposure to a stock as a traditional investor, but at only a percentage of the capital. Add in the benefit of tax savings, since spreadbetting is not subject to capital gains or income tax in the UK, and traders have the opportunity to retain more of their returns (of course tax rules in any country are subject to change). The process is rather simple and the deposits required are minimal.

To illustrate how financial spread betting works in terms of stocks and shares, consider the following example. Company A is expected to announce quarterly income results in just a few days. According to news reports, the company is not realizing the level of profits it anticipated earlier in the year. Coupled with rising raw materials prices, a trader believes that stock prices for Company A will fall after the quarterly statements become public. As such, the trader decides to go short, or open a sell bet on Company A.

Spread betting companies list the spread price on Company A as 180p-183p. The trader places a bet at 10p per point at the sell price of 180p. He chooses a rolling daily bet, meaning the bet rolls over automatically to the next trading day, and each subsequent day, until he places a bet in the opposite direction. The first day of the announcement, stock prices fall to 175p, then fall again to 172p the following day. At this point in the process, the trader has realized a change of 8p at 10p per point. His total returns are 80 pounds.

The trader now believes the prices have dropped as much as they are going to, so he places an open buy bet according to the most recent spread price and waits for the stocks to begin climbing again. A new spread price of 172p-175p is issued, so he places an open buy bet, called going long, for 10p per point, starting at 175p. This time, however, the trader chooses to only bet on the current day's trading. At the close of the market, stocks in Company A have risen to 176p. He realizes a gain of only 1 point or 10p, for a total gain of 90 pounds tax-free over three days of trading.

Spreadbetting, like any other trading vehicles, presents a risk to traders. While spreadbetting offers traders the possibility of solid returns for little capital outlay, it also poses risks should the market move in the opposite direction of a trader's bet. It is possible for a trader to lose his entire deposit or considerably more, owing to the rate of exposure.

Michael Brooks is passionate about spread betting. Whether it is stocks, exchange traded funds, cfds or indices, Michael keeps his finger on the pulse of the industry.

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The Bearish Case For Gold

Image via WikipediaMany are seasoned to believe that now is the time to start piling all of their money into gold. The world hears the terrible financial news that seems to be coming out of Wall Street each and every day. It is not like things like this can be ignored forever. Individuals feel that they need to be making smart moves in order to preserve and make money in a market like this. One of the classical thoughts is to put money into gold.

Gold has always been thought of as a safe haven investment during turbulent times. It often trades paradoxically to the value of the dollar. The value of the dollar often falls during periods of economic turmoil. Therefore, one would assume that gold should be trading up during times like this. The fact of the matter is that it has. In fact, gold has increased in value during the last 10 years more than almost any time in history. This is the very reason why it is not a great investment now.

We all know that no investment can continue to rise in value forever. The ones that rise the fastest in a short amount of time are often the ones that fall the sharpest when the party is over. Therefore, it is probably not a great idea to put a lot of money to work in gold. However, there is more than just a rapid rise in price that should worry gold investors.

The gold markets are seemingly unstoppable at the moment. They are pricing in a worldwide recession the likes of which could be nearly impossible to climb out of. There are many things that indicate that the price of gold could climb even higher at some point in the future. However, the price right now is already somewhere that it shouldn't be at. It has become the popular trade on Wall Street, and that means that it has climbed even beyond the wildest dreams of those who think that the market is going to decline rapidly.

There has actually been some good economic indicators that have been coming out of Wall Street. These include signs that the employment market is starting to become a little stronger. It is also true that companies are beginning to report stronger revenue. These are just the early signs of a recovery of course, but they point to the idea that the economy may be starting to heal. It will likely be a long time before there is significant sustainable growth, but the early signs are there. With this, the price of gold may well decline as the market gets healthier and more investors decide to take on more risk. There is a significant likelihood that this could be the case in the next 3-5 years.

Gold is simply not the best play to make at a time like this. There are other options available to those who are serious about making a profit in this choppy market. Perhaps even purchasing stocks themselves would be a better move at the moment.

Petrusia Kowal is a commodities trader in Toronto, as well as a music teacher. People often pay attention to one end of the situation, and forget about the other. Be aware of the countless opportunities in a sluggish market. This is the likely the perfect time to refinance your auto insurance. Other financial products like credit cards and mortgage rates also often get quite competitive in such markets. Visit Kanetix to do some comparison shopping, and determine if you're getting the value that you deserve.

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Consumers Guide to Commodity Trading

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Taking a practical approach to trading commodities can be really difficult for some who have preconceived notions that are inaccurate, or really make a negative impact on their morale.

Commodities are unique in that they are (almost always) tangible goods that are bought and sold, there can be price discrepancies on these goods that make them profitable to trade. Such a fact is not lost on the various commodities traders out there who make assumptions about futures and other financial instruments in an effort to bring about successful commodity trading. Unfortunately this can often result in losses if the trader is not experienced enough to make the right call, so it is important that one consider the chances of loss before moving forward with their trade.

Commodities trading often involve the use of equities (stocks) as a type of representation of what a rising or falling commodities price means to their particular profitability. A logging company for instance will greatly benefit from a rising cost in wood, while a company that specializes in electronics that feature precious metals will benefit in a drop of the cost of those metals.

It is these relationships that make commodities trading a natural pairing to occur with the equities market, and indeed it is this pairing that makes it possible for many traders to make a good deal of money. While it might seem like no big deal, this relationship is the beginning of how most private traders make their living from home involving commodities. In order to deal with commodities futures, derivatives, futures contracts, and other instruments you must either become a professional trader or pay someone else such as a CTA to act on your behalf.

If you are going to have another company act on commodity prices for you it is important that you trust this company or individual with your life, since they will be in charge of your money. One wrong move or misinterpreted order and you could find yourself losing a good deal of money, making the effort to avoid this sort of thing should be paramount on your to do list if you are going to employ the use of a third party.

If you want to take on the commodities market on your own it is important to realize that the single best way to do this is through the equities markets. Trading commodities futures online is another way to utilize commodities for trading, but it is a very complicated financial instrument that should never be used by anyone that does not understand what they are doing.

If you are interested in commodities futures you should take it upon yourself to understand this instrument inside and out, it is not nearly as simple as the spot market and if you do not make the right call you will quickly find yourself in some trouble. Taking the time to properly learn your craft before beginning is something that is extremely important, and you need to keep that in mind at all times.

Mark James is an intersted author in the world of commodity trading and investment in order to help investors make the most of their money.If you are interested in reading more about commodity trading and Gold investment, then please visit the following sites:QIA Commodities.com, Gold investment.com and Thisis money.com

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