What to do when investing in volatile markets

volatile markets

The majority of investors are cognizant that the market goes through bulls and downturns. So, what transpires when the market is volatile?

To make it clear from the beginning, financial market volatility is the measurement of the size and speed of an asset’s price movements. Volatility exists in any asset whose market price fluctuates over time. The broader and more regular these swings are, the higher the volatility, and making a terrible move might wipe out earlier profits and much more.

When investing in turbulent markets, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Diversify

Volatile markets might expose that investments believed to be properly diversified, in fact, are not. If you haven’t recently reviewed your portfolios to ensure that you understand how each asset class is performing and that the mix fits your investing strategy, now would be an excellent time to do so.

Rebalance

Assets that have appreciated in value will make up more of your portfolio over time, while those that have decreased will make up less. Rebalancing entails selling positions that have become overweight in comparison to the rest of your portfolio and reinvesting the profits in underweight ones. It’s a sensible move to repeat this process frequently.

Go for long-term
aiming long-term

Image Credits: towardsdatascience.com

Markets fluctuate, and you’re bound to see multiple major drops throughout your investment journey. When compared to bull markets, even instances when the market plunged by more than 20% have traditionally been quite brief. Because it’s impractical to time the market’s ebbs and flows, all investors should tune out the buzz and fixate on their long-term goals.

Stay the course

If you’re retired or on the verge of retiring, your stance on investing in a volatile market can be a little different. Rather than attempting to chase high gains in the short term, your priority should be on safeguarding the assets you’ve amassed via long-term investment. To keep on track, create a retirement investing framework before you bid goodbye to your monthly paychecks, so you won’t make rash judgments about your assets during market downturns.

Keep day trading at bay

When you day trade, you purchase and sell investments quickly in the hopes of profiting from small price variations. While this may appear to be a simple, low-risk approach to making money, it is complicated and time-consuming. Day traders must build a system to track stocks, keep a constant eye on the markets, and have an uncanny ability to determine when the optimum moment to buy or sell is, which may feel like a full-time job. Day trading can potentially result in significant losses if you aren’t 100% sure what you’re doing.

When stock markets begin to plummet, daily doses of negative updates may seem inescapable. Even the savviest investors might worry, doubt, and make drastic judgments as a result of it. Panic, on the other hand, brings you nowhere. When markets get stormy, it’s critical to stay calm. Don’t be hesitant to speak with a financial professional if you’re concerned about market fluctuations. They can provide expert guidance, review your financial strategy, and assist you in determining the best actions to take.

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Apple Nears the US$3 Trillion Market Cap

Apple, the American tech giant, is inches away from reaching a market capitalization of US$3 trillion dollars just over a year after it surpassed the two-trillion mark. This incredible milestone is as big as the equity markets of the United Kingdom or Germany.

After a decades-long run as one of the world’s best performing stocks, shares of Apple were up at 1.6% at US$174. The company needs to trade at US$182.85 to hit the goal. Nonetheless, the stock risen to about 30% this year on top of an 80% jump in 2020.

Oanda’s Senior Market Analyst Craig Erlam said: “There’s so much still to come from Apple, which makes you wonder what milestone they’ll pass next and how big they can become.”

Back in 2018, Apple reached the US$1 trillion in market capitalization and it took the company two years to double that valuation. Reaching the three-trillion mark will establish a strong rally that has been fueled by investors betting on its brand. Moreover, its peers in the trillion-dollar club include Microsoft, Amazon, and Tesla.

“Apple does seem to be more immune to the ebb and flow of economic forces just because of this really strong brand. Its new product pipeline is pretty strong too,” according to Hargreaves Lansdown’s Senior Investment and Market Analyst Susannah Streeter.

QUICK TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE

Image Credits: pixabay.com

Owing it to the steady stream of products that attracted a loyal following, Apple became the world’s most valuable business. In late 2000, the company had a market value of merely US$4.5 billion and the investors were fleeing the stock. Nowadays, investors cannot get enough of the stock. The stock has breached Wall Street’s median price target by US$4, with most experts and analysts covering the stock rating it buy or higher.

Despite the wobbling status of markets because of higher interest rates and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, investors view Apple as a relatively safe place to keep their money due to its consistent sales growth.

You see, Apple is “kind of in that sweet spot of not being too expensive, having a nice mix of products and services, and being a great innovator across its entire product line,” said Ingalls & Snyder’s Senior Portfolio Strategist Tim Ghriskey.

Sources: 1 & 2

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How Traders Can Improve Their Investment Returns On The moomoo Platform

Traders are always on the lookout for that little factor that will help improve their competitive edge. That is because they trade in high frequency, and may even take on leverage to help upsize their positions. Full-time traders who trade for a living might want to take note – moomoo trading app is the perfect online platform to take your game to the next level.

moomoo is a one-stop investment platform powered by FUTU. In Singapore, products and services on moomoo are offered by Futu Singapore Pte. Ltd. a brokerage and custodian licensed and regulated by the MAS. Here’s how traders can potentially improve their investment returns on the moomoo platform at every step in their investment journeys.

Step 1: Investment Opportunities

At the beginning of a traders’ typical journey, they could already be overwhelmed by the myriad of investment opportunities in the market. Ignoring the market noise and finding a winning investment is akin to finding a needle in the haystack. Here is how moomoo app can help in several ways:

  • Heat Map

moomoo’s Heat Map directly show the ups and downs of each sector in the market through the block size and colour depth. From one image, it gives a quick overview of the lay of the market for that trading day.

  • Star Institutions

There is a saying that “if you can’t beat them, join them”. With the Star Institutions page on the moomoo app, you will very quickly obtain high-value information such as:

  • List of stocks by star institutions such as Warren Buffet, Soros Holdings, Temasek Holdings etc
  • The historical trend of holdings, and the daily transaction information of individual stocks

With the Star Institutions, you will identify the investment targets of star institutions and be able to ride the trend powerfully.

Step 2: Analysis

A key product feature of moomoo app is the availability of Short-Sell Data. Users can view the daily short selling data and ratio of US and HK stocks, as well as the current open positions. To access Short-Sell Data, simply go to Analysis under the individual stock page.

Short-Sell Data is critical in assisting traders to identify long and short sentiments to form an outlook of a specific stock. This will ensure that traders stay with the trend, or at least understand the size of the opponent if they choose to take a contrarian position.

Step 3: Executing The Trade

The time has finally come for the trader to execute their trades. On the moomoo trading platform, users can be assured of efficient trading execution of their strategies to maximise profits.

Desktop users can fully customise their trading windows for a multi-monitor experience and leverage on more than 89 types of drawing tools and indicators. Furthermore, trades are executed as fast as 0.037 seconds and at very competitive pricing.

In addition, users can leverage on moomoo’s AI Monitor function to automatically monitor changes in each market and all stocks of their choice. This will allow them to stay updated on stock fluctuations, increase in trading volumes and seize fleeting investment opportunities.

Sign Up via moomoo App Now for your FUTU SG securities account!

Finally, who can say NO to Welcome Rewards valued at around S$2,000? Here are the steps (not cumulative) to ensure new users receive the Welcome Rewards from moomoo powered by FUTU:

  1. Register for a moomoo ID
  2. Successfully open a FUTU SG Securities
  3. Make a First Deposit of at least S$2,700 and above & immediately you will receive an Apple (AAPL) share and S$40 stock cash coupon, promotion ending on 30 November 2021, 0959 SGT.
  4. Transfer in some shares into the platform and depending on your shares values, you will be rewarded with more Apple (AAPL) shares or even the latest iPhone 13 (limited redemption)!

More terms and conditions of the Welcome Rewards can be found here. Download and sign up for moomoo app using this link today to give yourself a further cutting edge as a trader.

 

 

 

 

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How moomoo App Help Beginner Investors Kickstart Their Investment Journeys

By now, if you still have not heard of moomoo, you might need to get out of your cave! That is because moomoo’s, the trading platfrom, advertisements are splashed across the island, all over MRT platforms, national newspapers as well as social media. Besides its really cute name, you might be wondering what exactly is moomoo?

moomoo is an online trading platform launched by Futu Holdings Limited (FUTU). In Singapore, products and services on moomoo are offered by Futu Singapore Pte. Ltd. (FUTU SG), a wholly-owned subsidiary of FUTU, that is licensed and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). FUTU is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in March 2019 and the moomoo trading platform was launched in Singapore earlier this year in March 2021 with an aim to help beginner investors to kickstart their investment journeys. Here are 5 ways how moomoo app can help them kickstart their investment journeys.

1. A 24/7 Help Centre To Address Your Concerns

 

We all know that taking the first step in investment can be a tentative, or even fearful one. Sometimes, questions can be as simple as not knowing which button to press. When they get too plentiful, these doubts can amount to significant inertia.

Not to worry, moomoo powered by FUTU stands by to help by providing customers service 7 days a week and 24/7 on trading days! No questions are too stupid or silly. Instead, users will find all the support they need online to ensure that all their doubts are thoroughly clarified before making their investments.

2. Start With Paper Trading

To help bolster beginner investors’ confidence further, they can consider trying out with paper trading on the moomoo platform first. This enables them to not only get familiarised with the user experience, but also conquer their fear of trading with real money.

In addition, trading with paper money is a perfect testbed to try out different investment strategies before deciding which suits them best. Within the moomoo app, occasionally, they have paper trading competitions where you can win prizes!

3. A global investment community with latest insights

Sometimes, it can get lonely walking the investment journey alone. Not to worry, there are 16 million others (and counting) globally to cheer you on. Amongst them are moo community influencers who would often share insights and valuable information.

4. Learning Investment on-the-go

If you don’t possess the ability to organise nor process the information but still recognise the importance of investing, why not equip yourself with this knowledge by taking courses on the moomoo mobile app?

With courses such as Investing 101 and Top Tips for New Users, this will provide all beginner investors a strong foundation in their investment journeys. The best part is that the majority of these courses are absolutely FREE. So there is really no reason not to get started on them!

5. Welcome Rewards worth more than SGD$2,000

 

Often times, beginner investors may make more mistakes due to the lack of experience. To reduce the pain of this potential loss, Futu Singapore is giving away Welcome Bundle worth up to $2,000. Here are the steps (not cumulative) to ensure new users receive the Welcome Rewards:

  1. Register for a moomoo ID
  2. Successfully open a FUTU SG Securities
  3. Make a First Deposit of at least S$2,700 and above & immediately you will receive an Apple (AAPL) share and S$40 stock cash coupon, promotion ending on 30 November 2021, 0959 SGT.
  4. Transfer in some shares into the platform and depending on your shares values, you will be rewarded with more Apple (AAPL) shares or even the latest iPhone 13 (limited redemption)!

More terms and conditions of the Welcome Rewards can be found here. With Welcome Rewards of up to S$2,000, this is the valuable headstart that beginner investors probably cannot find on other online brokerage platforms besides moomoo.

Sign Up via moomoo App Now to open your FUTU SG securities account!

This rounds up the 5 ways that moomoo app massively help beginner investors kickstart their investment journeys! Download and sign up for moomoo app using this link today to take the all- important step of investing.

 

 

 

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What On Earth Is A Buyback?

Highlights

  • A buyback occurs when a company purchases its own shares in the stock market.
  • A repurchase reduces the number of shares outstanding. Thus, it inflates earnings per share.
  • A buyback can demonstrate to investors that the business has sufficient money set aside for emergencies.

WHAT IS A BUYBACK?

A stock buyback occurs when a company purchases shares of its own stock. It either retains the stock for resale to the market in the future or permanently removes the stock from the circulation.

This process reduces the total shares of stock outstanding and increases ownership stake that each remaining share of stock represents. It increases the value for the shareholders.

HOW DO BUYBACKS WORK?

Stock buyback plans are usually authorized by the company’s board and proposed by its executives. However, a planned buyback does not always occur. In some cases, the target share price a company chooses may not be met or a tender offer may not be accepted.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BUYBACKS?

The diverse types of buybacks include the on-market and off-market buybacks. The former refers to when a company buys its own shares on an exchange in the ordinary course of trading.

In contrast, the off-market buybacks occur when the company makes its offer directly to the shareholders.

Image Credits: unsplash.com

WHAT IS AN EXAMPLE OF A BUYBACK?

Company XYZ had one million dollars in earnings and one million outstanding shares before the buyback. Thus, it equates to earnings per share of S$1. Trading at a S$20 per share stock price, its P/E ratio is 20.

With all else being equal, one hundred thousand shares would be repurchased and the new earnings per share would be S$1.11. To have the same P/E ratio of 20, shares would need to trade up 11% to S$22.22.

WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES TO BUYBACKS?

Buyback programs have come under scrutiny over the past few years. So, alternatives are important to know when understanding buybacks.

Other options include:

a. Using capital to acquire other companies or securities,
b. Returning cash on hand to investors in the form of dividends, and
c. Re-investing the capital in research and development.

Sources: 1 & 2

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