Artifical Intelligence

Top 18 AI/Robot Companies Trading Watchlist

Artifical Intelligence
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Robot and Artificial Intelligence ? takeover is heavily fueled by the pandemic. What can you do about it? See the trend in advance and profit from it. ? As traders we can protect ourselves and our finances better than anyone. 


We believe now is the ⏰ to invest in companies that are at the forefront of AI / Robot research and development so below is a list of which companies to focus on and why.  

Check also ? Best Forex Brokers list ? to choose where to trade these stocks.

#1 Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA)

TESLA – Electric Vehicle manufacturer that is years ahead of the competition with their learning and adapting autonomous driving Ai. If you strip away the comfort, it is essentially a high tech self-driving robot. The advance in large part powered by Ai itself from revolutionary robotics that works hand in hand with human engineers to speed up the manufacturing process to the cars themselves loaded with AI systems to take you from A-Z and make the trip safer than you ever could. While many manufacturers (BMW, VW, Mercedes,etc.) offer electric vehicles(EV) as a side dish, Tesla is solely focusing resources on EV and AI development and unlike traditional manufacturers, Tesla also operates as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Mercedes and Toyota for example are sourcing Tesla components in their EV’s, which already sets Tesla up to have a massive head start over competitors. As the software and hardware get ironed out, self-driving Ai will become a necessity instead of an option for companies heavily relying on human drivers: Uber, Lyft, UPS, FedEx. Self-driving provides no driver lawsuits, fewer accidents, faster delivery times, more efficient route management, halted virus spread, and  24/7 productivity. Naturally hundreds of millions of drivers will lose their job, and this can set the foundation for protests, unrest, increased unemployment if re-qualification to other jobs is not provided.

Your capital is at risk

 

#2 Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)

The parent company to Google needs no introduction. From products to software to create an environment for Ai developers to succeed in almost any domain. Google was relentless in its Ai pursuit right from the beginning in 1998. What started as solving the problem of “searching the web by voice” has now become an $800B Ai infrastructure with hundreds of Ai implementations. The most famous ones: Deepmind whose Ai systems range from diagnosing eye disease to reducing 30% of energy spent on Google data center cooling systems. Waymo – a self-driving project in competition with Tesla but using a different, more expensive add-on solution for vehicles instead of a built-in system. And the consumer-orientated Nest – smart home products, such as self-learning thermostats which can learn user’s habits and save energy, as well as smart security systems, smart locks, smart cameras, and many more. The enormous scale and power of Google, make it a dangerous competitor to every Ai company which is precisely the reason why so many have chosen to join it instead of competing with it.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#3 Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)

Leading the way in cancer research with The Hanover project and provider of Azure Ai – machine learning service with automated machine learning and edge deployment capabilities with industry-leading AI models that are being used today by millions in products such as Office 365, Xbox and Bing. The cloud-powered Azure Ai is extremely beneficial to developers in all areas from desktop applications to data ingestion and preparation, model development, and deployment. Developers also have access to Azure Bot. A bot can be built from the ground up in mere minutes and it can range from customer support and engagement, answering product related questions, and even providing guidance to users in multiple domains. This poses another risk to jobs where customer communication is required: retail, telecommunication, manufacturing, healthcare, and other industries.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#4 Advanced Micro Devices  (NASDAQ: AMD)

Contributes to deep learning and machine learning solutions by delivering high-performance computing power (both CPUs and GPUs) with an open ecosystem for software development. Ai technology relies on computer hardware capable of the highest processing power to manage complex machine learning data sets and AMD is the leading provider of tools that do the job. The hardware is powering data centers and servers with the intent of eliminating traditional server bottlenecks. As the world becomes more and more digitalized, the hardware consumption will adjust accordingly and AMD being the top provider of this hardware will surely make it a contender for years to come.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#5 Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA)

The inventor of the GPU and much like AMD now bringing GPU acceleration to AI. The NVIDIA DGX Systems are the world’s first portfolio of purpose-built Ai supercomputers ranging in various applications – the cloud, data centers, desktops, self-driving cars, and intelligent robotic machines. Also providing deep learning services to Amazon, Google, IBM, Microsoft, and many others. NVIDIA has also been consistently named among the Top 5 Ai companies to work for, along with a few others from this Trading Watchlist. With an established track record and the never-ending competition with AMD for the best CPU/GPU tech, this company will see tremendous competition-driven progress both short term and long term. Their data center revenue just topped $1 Billion for the first time.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#6 Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)

Intel is leading the next evolution of computing with the power of Ai. Today, Intel technologies power some of the most promising AI use cases in business, society, and research. From massive clouds to tiny devices, Intel turns the promise of revolutionary Ai tech into a global-scale reality. If you use a computer of any sort, it is highly likely ( >80%) that it has some Intel components. The previous two, AMD, NVIDIA, and now Intel form the holy trinity of computer hardware manufacturers. They are the benchmark, the industry standard, and all three of them are ramping up their Ai research and development. This will undoubtedly produce massive growth to whichever one out-competes each other and makes the biggest leaps in the industry.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#7 Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)

The company uses Ai to personalize your viewing experience based on your viewing behavior. Thanks to data science and machine learning 75-80% of viewer activity is influenced by Netflix’s recommendation algorithms. The technology is subtly changing and enhancing our preferences for content and how this is achieved is quite complex. Nothing is random when you open up Netflix, from the portfolio of content to each thumbnail, all this is curated specially for you using Ai. And it does not end there, both pre and post-production for Netflix movies are heavily assisted by Ai, this ranges from location scouting, scheduling, the budget calculation to the actual editing of the movies and subtitles. As Netflix continues to deliver exactly what you want, all other means of visual content, iTunes, Hulu, Amazon, even Television are at risk. As of now Netflix has over 180 million subscribers, compared to 80 Million households in America still paying for cable TV. Ai curated content is the vision for the future, and Netflix is already at the epicenter of this.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#8 John Deere (NASDAQ: DE)

The 180-year-old manufacturer of farming and industrial machinery has spent the past decade transforming itself into an AI-driven business. Literally. In 2017 John Deere acquired an Ai company Blue River Technology for $300 Million providing tractors with the ability to understand individual plants in crops like lettuce and corn and nowadays   Its Farm Forward 2.0 vision, is bringing autonomous farming into reality. A central hub – manned from the comfort of a home while automated farm equipment is doing the dirty work. What are the implications for the 23,000-year-old practice of farming? Faster achieved more productive yields, large scale unemployment in the industry, and traditional commercial farming equipment rendered obsolete. If John Deere continues on the same Ai-driven trajectory, this company will be a game-changer both to the industry, and to your wallet as an investor. 

Your capital is at risk – 84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#9 Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK)

This company is making strides toward smart technology that learns and grows over time. Splunk Machine Learning algorithms are reaching a level where they are successfully learning and executing based on the data around them, some of them without the need to be explicitly programmed. From sorting mountains of data to finding useful patterns in it, tedious data-heavy tasks that would take hundreds of hours for a human can now be done in a fraction of time using  Splunk AIOps platform’s algorithms.  Splunk is trusted by 92 companies out of the fortune 100, and you should too. With a portfolio of partnerships with the likes of Porsche, Lenovo, Tesco, Intel, and many more Splunk will surely move the goalposts in Ai industry.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#10 Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) 

The key reason for the success of this company is the principle of making lives easier through technology. Trough the acquisition of more Ai startups than anyone else in the last decade and their in house developments Apple is merging software and hardware to create the best user experience possible. Apple uses artificial intelligence and machine learning in the iPhone, where it enables the FaceID feature, and AirPods, Apple Watch, or HomePod smart speakers, where it enables Siri voice assistant. Apple is also increasing its service offering and is using AI to recommend songs on Apple Music, help you organize files in the iCloud, or navigate you to your destination in Maps. A great company that will continue to provide Ai assisted and fine-tuned devices in the near future! A great buy-and-hold choice!

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#11 Quicklogic (NASDAQ: QUIK)

A semiconductor company that develops low power, multi-core semiconductor platforms, and Artificial Intelligence solutions for smartphones, wearable and hearable devices, tablets, consumer, and industrial good

Your capital is at risk – 84% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#12 Synopsys (NASDAQ: SNPS)

An AI-powered tech company that helps to build chips and software that are smart right from the get-go. It also provides electronic design automation software products used to design and test integrated circuits and other Ai driven products.

 

 

  

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#13 Veritone (NASDAQ: VERI)

 Developer of the aiWARE platform. An operating system that integrates and organizes a range of cognitive engines to reveal multivariate insights from structured and unstructured data, and conducts cognitive workflows based on these insights. The company and its technology serve media and entertainment, legal, and government markets.

 

Your capital is at risk – 84%of retail CFD accounts lose money

#14 Brainchip (NASDAQ: AZKLF)

Offers Akida Development Environment, a machine learning framework for creating, training, and testing spiking neural networks. A part of the company BrainChip Studio helps law enforcement and intelligence organizations to search video footage and identify patterns or faces using Artificial Intelligence algorithms. This and much more.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#15 Salesforce (NASDAQ: CRM)

One of the earliest adopters of AI capabilities and technology and the largest customer relationship management software vendor. Also the developer of  Salesforce Einstein. An Ai technology that uses data gathered on every user action to provide predictive analytics, natural language processing capabilities, and machine learning to Salesforce customers. In short helps you sell more, and reach better results using Ai.

Your capital is at risk

#16 Facebook (NASDAQ: FB)

A company that needs no introduction and implements Ai in more ways than we could write about. Facebook Artificial Intelligence Research (FAIR) work to understand and develop systems with human-level intelligence on a wide spectrum: research, theory, algorithms, applications, software infrastructure, and hardware infrastructure across deep learning, computer vision, natural language processing, speech, and reasoning. The best examples – DeepText and DeepFace, the former an engine that understands and interprets the emotional tone and content of the thousands of posts that are posted to Facebook at any given moment. The latter a facial recognition software that automatically identifies you in any photo posted on the platform, and by the way, way better than a human ever could.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#17 Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)

From warehouse robotics to the smart assistant Alexa, to unbelievable shopping algorithms that deliver products to you, before you even know you need them. The third-largest company in the world by market cap is at the forefront of AI. Amazon Web Services provide access to fast, high-quality AI tools for everyone based on the same technology used to power Amazon’s own businesses such as Amazon Go stores where you go in with your bag, pick what you need, and simply walk out and get charged afterwards by the all-seeing Ai that analyses what you picked up. This company has exploded in the past couple of years, largely thanks to effective Ai implementation and it is highly unlikely that at this point the trend would reverse. Amazon and Ai are inseparable now and this relationship will strengthen in the upcoming years. The retail industry as we know is under threat if Amazon Go advances on a multi-national scale.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

#18 Tencent (NASDAQ: HKD)

In 2016 Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company Tencent opened an AI lab in Shenzhen, China  with a vision to “Make AI Everywhere.” Its main focus is research in machine learning, speech recognition, natural language processing, and computer vision and the development of Ai applications in four areas: content, online games, social, and cloud services. It’s credited with dozens of leading technologies in image, face, and audio analysis, and its quest to become “the most respected internet enterprise” will not take the backseat anytime soon. Tencent has 1 billion users on its app WeChat. The data of 1/7 of the world’s population is readily available for Tencent to interpret, process, and leverage to the company’s advantage.

Your capital is at risk – 76% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Please save this trading watchlist and don’t forget to share it with your fellow traders. ?‍?‍?‍? Naturally we could not list all of the Ai needle-movers that are out there, but we believe the companies that are listed will see the biggest gains boosted directly by their use of Artificial Intelligence!

Whether we like it or not, Ai technology is here and will continue to shape the way we live and interact with the world and if you want to be a part of the process the opportunity is right in front of you: ?

18 companies shaping our future reality – 18 clear as day investing opportunities that you can put your focus on right now as buy and hold investor. ?

You have a choice: be a silent watcher,?‍♂️ or see the trends in advance and find a way to maximize your profit by taking part in the Artificial Intelligence revolution. ?

Highest Paid Forex Broker CEO’s

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Ever wonder what CEOs in the financial industry actually do all day and how much they get paid for it?Financeillustrated CEO money relaxing

Well we’ve done some digging and here’s what we’ve found…


Asaf Elimelech is Chief Executive Officer of Plus500 and has been with the company since 2013. According to Bloomberg, the 36-year old’s base salary last year was a very nice $524,319 and that’s excluding any bonuses he may have received. However, a half a million is a far stretch way from what the brokerage is valued at – a whopping $2.6 billion. Nevertheless, he made a half a million more than most of us last year – not bad eh!

Plus500 shares are trading much higher on the London Stock Exchange than that of its rivals which are also listed on the LSE such as, IG Group and CMC Markets so how are their CEO’s fairing?

 


Peter Hetherington, CEO of IG Group started as a Dealing Desk Manager in 1994. Since then, he worked his way up the ladder and landed the CEO position in 2015. It was noted on Reuters that his base salary was £575,000 in the last fiscal year and he also received a bonus of £876,000, bringing his total earnings to £1,451,000. It has also been reported that he bought £1.1 million worth of shares the company.

So, now you know how to make 1 and a half million – work your socks off in a company for 24 years.  


Peter Cruddas, CEO of CMC Markets received a wage £410,000 last year, according to Reuters.  He also made £3 in bonuses bringing his total to £410,003. Don’t be fooled by this figure though – Peter founded the company in 1989 and his current net worth is a massive £1.025 billion with a capital B.  In 2007, he was the richest man in London according to the Sunday Times.

 

The following two companies are not listed on the stock exchange, however, they both have made names for themselves in the industry; Etoro is the world’s leading social trading and investing network with over 10 million customers and FXCM – well the headlines haven’t been very positive for the brokerage over the last few years. The company waskicked out of the US market for defrauding its customers and because of this, there were a lot of changes in the company.


FXCM is now run from London with Brendan Callahan as the CEO. He writes in his Linkedin Bio that “[he] is an experienced Financial Services executive with a strong track record for growth and turnaround/change management” which is definitely needed for the troubled company. Brendan joined the company as Managing Director of Gobal FX Sales in 2001 and in 2017 when the US branch went bust, he took over as CEO. His salary has not been disclosed, however according to Wikipedia, co-founder and former CEO – Ken Grossman, had a 12 -month deal that would make him 1,600,000 as CEO – a base salary of $600,000 and a bonus of 1,000,000. So, we could probably say the Brendan makes at least a half a million a year and perhaps even much more.

And last but certainty not least – Etoro!


It seems that everyone wants a piece of the pie and Etoro doesn’t discriminate – whether you’re a complete beginner or have been trading for years, the platform lets you track, follow, and even copy other trades made by successful traders.

In 2016, Business insider predicted that the company would one day reach a valuation of $1 billion and according to nocamels.com – they have! It’s unclear how much Yoni Assia, Co-founder and CEO of the Israeli company makes per year but looking at the previous CEO’s base salary, it’s probably safe to say that it’s at least £500,000. Bear in mind that Yoni co-founded the company so one thing is for sure – the 36-year old’s net worth is a lot more than half a million.

 So now you’ve seen HOW MUCH these CEO’s make but what do they actually do all day?

Financeillustrated CEO forex chartsWell, according to a study by Harvard professors, CEO’s work approximately 62.5 hours a week (the average employee works 40 hours a week).

Here’s how they manage their work day:

  • 25% of their work time is spent on people and relationship
  • 25% on functional and business unit reviews
  • 21% on business strategy
  • 16% on company culture
  • 4% on mergers and acquisitions
  • 4% on operating plans
  • Only 3% of their work time is spent on professional development
  • And 1% on crisis management.

The study found that meetings took a huge chuck out of CEO’s day – about ¾ of their day or 9 hours, leaving them just 3 and a half hours to get on with their other duties. 70% of their meetings lasted an hour or more whereas only 30% of meeting were less than 60 minutes.

It’s also worth mentioning that this study was based on CEO of companies with an average annual revenue of $13.1 billion. Our FX CEO’s above might manage their work time differently.

So now you know HOW MUCH money they earn and WHAT they do and – do you want to see what they do in their PRIVATE LIFE?
Off-course you do!

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Yoni – Co-founder and CEO of Etoro is a family man and has 4 gorgeous kids; one girl and three boys.

The newest addition to the family is Alex and although doesn’t understand yet – he’s a Ethereum supporter!

Oh hey, CEO’s kids eat pizza too!

Hmmm, seemed like a good idea at the time but it looks like they regretted it the next day and hit the gym. Got to burn those calories!

Power is measured by the gram – Pablo Escobar

I think there is growing institutional demand and interest of public investors to understand whether they can join the party – Yoni Assia

He’s talking about the Forex broker and Cryptocurrency party – not the illegal substances party! Or is he?

Join Yoni’s other 11.3K followers on Twitter for more fun and financial updates.

Peter – Founder and CEO of CMC Markets is 64 years young and has 4 children –  2 from his first marriage and 2 with his now wife, Fiona.

He was one of the many British that voted in favour of Brexit and was quite pleased when spotted a London Taxi with registration plates supporting the Yes campaign.

Peter enjoys sailing in his own yacht, flying in his private jet, holidaying in places like Dubai and off course playing a round of golf.

Not forgetting his youth, he tweets pictures of his 20 something year old self – now is it just me or is there some similarities there with Paul Kaye from the film, “It’s all gone Pete Tong”.

Or is it literally just all the orange?

On another note, he loves bake-offs in the CMC Markets office and labradoodles.

If you love finance, Brexit and labradoodles, hit Peter up on Twitter.

Life of a CEO ain’t easy! It’s nice to see that Asaf – CEO of Plus500 has days like us where your eyes are ready to pop out of your head with all the work. And look at that, CMC is not the only Forex company who enjoys a bake-off; Plus500 staff have a sweet tooth too.

Asaf is without a doubt a family man and he has two kids. He enjoys a beer now and again and attends football matches – most notably Atletico De Madrid which Plus500 sponsors. He is also a big fan of Mercedes. Asaf has a small circle of friends on facebook – just 500 but there’s no need to add Asaf as a friend just to snoop on his pictures; his profile is public.

Brendan – CEO of FXCM is not very active on social media at all – hence why have very little pictures to show you. But anyway, here is a picture from his Linkedin where he is looking busy on the phone – perhaps this is the phone call from the US office telling him – ‘We’re banned and you’re the new CEO, Good Luck!’

And the only picture we could see from his private facebook page is this one where he’s looking more casual. While we don’t have much information about his private life, he’s got some hands on his shoulders which means he’s got friends.

By now you might already have a favourite CEO but if you are still unsure, take the quiz and find out which Chief Executive Officer style is most like you.

Do you watch Netflix?

Kids?

How would you prefer to roll?

Would you rather...

As a CEO, whould you set your social media to...

You can only choose ONE.

eToro CEO - Yoni Assia

You’re a family guy who likes to have fun, drive fast cars and eat pizza! Check out Yoni’s company here: etoro
CMC Markets CEO – Peter Cruddas

You don’t mind receiving a smaller than usual CEO salary because you know that in the long term you’ll be worth more. You also have a good sense of humour.
FXCM CEO – Brendan Callan

You’re a true business person. You like to keep your head down and accounts private.

Share your Results:

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The big events that shook financial markets in 2017

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As we near the end of the wild ride that was 2017, it seems like a great time to look back on all the biggest events that shaped and shook the markets this year. From the inauguration of America’s first businessman president to Bitcoin’s stratospheric rise, here are the five events that most shaped the market landscape this year.

Trump’s Inauguration 

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Donald J. Trump, a real estate developer turned reality star turned politician, shocked the world when he defeated heavily favorited Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States on November 8, 2016. Even more shocking to most of the public and even seasoned investors was the reaction of the dollar to the news.

The USD/MXN hit an all-time high of 21.9555 on January 19, pushed by the statements by Trump about building a wall on the southern border with Mexico and ripping up the NAFTA trade agreements. Since then it has fallen throughout most of the year, to a current rate of 19.0683. As the rate is falling, it means the peso is now strengthening against the dollar, so a trader would’ve wanted to buy pesos and sell dollars. USD has also fallen over the course of the year, from a high of USD/EUR = 0.96 to USD.EUR= 0.84 currently. Again, in the situation, a trader would want to buy the strengthening currency (the Euro) and sell the weakening one (the dollar).

UK Activates Article 50 

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Perhaps presenting an early sign of the backlash against the so-called “elites” that led the election of Trump in America, on June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom voted to exit the European Union, stunning observers and bookmakers who had projected at least a 70% chance of the “stay” vote in the days leading up to the election. The prime minister of the UK, Theresa May, activated Article 50 the following March, formally entering the process for the UK’s exit of the European Union. Article 50 allows for a two-year negotiation period before a country’s exit from the EU, and if a trade deal is not ratified in that time period, the UK would leave without any substitute trade deal in place (negotiations are ongoing).

Following the “leave” vote, the British Pound plummeted in value, and is still down about 10% from its pre-vote price – learn more about currency rates. The pound hit a 31-year low against the dollar following the Brexit vote, with the GBP/USD hitting 1.33 and GBP/EUR falling 7%. Traders in these situations would have wanted to sell the pound and buy the quote currency (see how to read currency pairs). The reaction of the GBP/USD to the triggering of Article 50 was similar, although less extreme when compared to the Brexit vote. The GBP/USD fell about 0.6%, from 1.2559 to 1.2468.

French Presidential Election 

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The French Presidential Election was held on April 23, 2017. As no candidate received a majority of votes in the first round, a runoff election was then held on May 7 between the two highest vote getters of the first round, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen. Macron ran on a center-left platform, promising economic reforms to jolt the country’s lagging growth rate, while Le Pen ran on a right-wing platform, prioritizing an exit from the Eurozone and a “nationalism” not dissimilar from Trump’s campaign promises in America. Macron handedly won the runoff election with 66.1% of the vote, becoming one of France’s youngest prime ministers and winning the country’s highest office in his first ever political race. Since his election, he has set about attempting to modernize France’s economy, attempting to ease some worker protections that have made companies hesitant to hire employees due to the impossibility of dismissing them. According to the OECD, economic growth will remain “robust at an annual pace of around 1.75%” in 2018, a solid growth rate for France and what would be the highest since 2011.

After it was projected that Macron would win the election, the Euro strengthened against the dollar, rising to 1.1023, which was the first time it rose above $1.10 since Trump’s election. The reason for this was clear: Macron is committed to staying on the Euro, and it strengthened as the uncertainty regarding a potential French exit was eliminated. Prior to the election, analysts had warned that a Le Pen win would’ve spelled disaster for the currency, as France leaving may have been a deathblow for the shared currency. Prior to the election, traders that thought Macron would win should’ve been buying the Euro, while traders thinking Le Pen had a solid chance at winning should have been selling it.

First UK Interest Rate Increase in a Decade 

financeillustrated-economic-events-bank-of-england

On November 2, the UK finally decided to hike their interest rates a quarter percent, raising them from a record low of 0.25% to 0.50%. The move was designed to slow increasing inflation, and the falling value of the pound had hurt consumers increasing the cost of imports. While, generally speaking, higher interest rates benefit savers, the extra quarter-percent won’t amount to a whole lot, and it will also increase the cost of borrowing, including mortgages. Rates were slashed worldwide following the Housing Crisis and recession started in 2007, and rates are only starting to rise, with almost all well below their pre-crisis levels. It sounds truly shocking now, but in 2006 the CD interest rate for a six month term period was 3.45%; now almost all are below 1%.

The GBP/USD plunged following the announcement of the rate hike, a fairly unexpected result, by about 1.306%. This was due to a statement in the minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee, in which they said they were in “no hurry” to raise rates again. Generally speaking, an interest rate hike is “bullish” for a currency (that is, the base currency strengthens against the quote currency), so traders will generally want to buy a currency when the central bank raises rates. This is because the highest return that can be earned attracts foreign investment. However, the reaction of the pound to the news shows the risk in this strategy: there are often a number of factors that affect a currency’s movement.

The Rise of Bitcoin 

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First gaining widespread notoriety in anarticle published on Gizmodo in 2011, the bitcoin hit the mainstream consciousness in 2017, spiking in price and causing a spike in many other, smaller cryptocurrencies. Bitcoins market capitalization shot up to $300B, rougly equal to the current market cap of Nike, Netflix and Honeywell, combined. The price of a single bitcoin has traded above $18,000 this year, and the one year return currently sits at a whopping 17,000%, handing huge returns to even minor investors and minting millionaires (and in the case of the Winklevoss twins of The Social Network fame, billionaires) out of the larger investors.

Bitcoin presents a unique problem for investors, however; with no actual asset backing, there is no derivable intrinsic value (see the biggest bitcoin crashes). Notable investors such as John McAfee and the part-owner of the Golden State Warriors, Chamath Palihapitiya, have said the price of a single bitcoin could hit $1,000,000. On the other side, notables such as Mark Cuban and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon have called the meteoric rise a clear sign of a bubble, warning investors to steer clear unless they are prepared to lose their entire investment. It’s fairly clear that most bitcoin projections for 2018 are simply an educated guess, but, if the bubble were to pop, it seems likely to be considerably less damaging than the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the housing bubble in 2007 due to the more niche market.

Happy holidays and a lot of PIPS in 2018! : )

mazas-ikonas

5 biggest Ethereum crashes: how to profit?

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As fast as bitcoin prices went up, ethereum had kept up the pace as well. Everyone will have somehow heard how bitcoin made many filthy rich this year but ethereum has boosted the finances of lots as well. From the start of 2017 to June 2017, ethereum has went up by 5000% to cross the $400 mark. Ethereum has been the next cheaper alternative for cryptocurrency investment and many believe it has the potential to surpass bitcoin!


Ethereum processes transactions faster than bitcoin and many believe the efficiency of ethereum makes it much easier to use. However, even if Ethereum goes up or goes down, you can still profit from it! Here are 5 ethereum crashes and how you can profit from them!

June ripple, Ethereum falls 29%

On June 2017 after an unsubstantiated rumour that ethereum’s founder had died and also the lost of confidence from bitcoin’s crash days before, ethereum felt the aftershocks. Ethereum was trading above the $300 levels but drop to $215.22 the day after on June 26th. Also if you are new to ethereum trading, you can use one of the Forex trading apps which teaches you all the basics you need to know. Once you understand more about ethereum, head over to the trading simulator and try your hand at real time trading. No real money involved, just unlimited action by using the virtual currency.

Ethereum falls

September ICO hardknock, ethereum down 29%

China had announced a ban on ICOs while South Korea has plans to strengthen punishment for those raising money through ICOs. Ethereum’s blockchain is the top platform to utilise when hosting an ICO. With 2 of the big players pulling off this strong move, Ethereum prices inevitably fell from $390.52 to $268.29. If you are a newbie in forex trading and are interested to do real money trading, it is important to pick a trusted and recommended forex broker. A forex broker should have consistent reliability in their work, charge reasonable fees and have a helpline that provides quality service. They should be well regulated and also have stable day to day operations.

September ICO hardknock, ethereum down 29%

July 2017 correction, ethereum down 22%.

When Initial Coin Offerings was released and become increasingly popular this led to prices of ethereum to soar and even cross the $400 mark. This strong rally from $8 to over $400 in 5 months caused ethereum prices to finally crash in June. Due to the large number of people trying to cash out ethereum from the ICOs, the huge sell orders led ethereum prices to deflate.

Trending 5 biggest ethereum

38% 3 day ethereum slide

During this time in May 2017, bitcoin was undergoing a correction and ethereum was soon to follow suit. On May 25, ethereum prices gradually went down from $205.23 to $126.73 on May 27. With prices falling as fast as some trader’s confidence levels, traders can do social trading instead. Follow what other traders do and once you get back the confidence you can start trading on your own and get others to follow you as well!

Ethereum trading

Heavy selling, 26% dropped in ethereum price

BTC China which was one of China’s largest exchange announced that it will close for good on September 30. Bitcoin and ethereum holders were rushing to sell as much as they could thus causing prices to dip.

Eth_chart

How can we profit from this?

Similar to bitcoin, when a crash happens, it is also a signal from investors to enter. As of October 2017, ethereum prices have been hovering above $300. If investors had purchase ethereum when any of the crashes happened and held it till now, they will have made a decent amount of profit. Ethereum isn’t as big as bitcoin but there are lots to profit from it.
If you wish to trade ethereum but don’t want to risk your own money yet you can try the cryptocurrency trading simulator to master the ways of trading ethereum. Use the virtual currency as much as you want with no pressure at all!

Did I miss the ethereum hype?

There is still loads of room for ethereum to improve and it has made its mark as one of the leading cryptocurrencies in the world. It is possible for ethereum to overtake bitcoin one day and it is not too late to invest in ethereum.

bitcoin crashes

5 biggest bitcoin crashes: how to profit?

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Bitcoin_forex

Eight years ago many wouldn’t have imagined the heights the world’s first cryptocurrency soared to. In 2009, Bitcoin was something many wouldn’t even have heard of or obtaining. As of now, bitcoin is something that many is jumping to have and some even sold everything just to invest in bitcoin! Companies such as Microsoft, Subway, Bloomberg and Steam have even accepted bitcoin as payment.


There has been a debate on whether Bitcoin could be the next gold or eventually pop like a bubble.  Whichever way bitcoin goes, many have profited and even become millionaires because of the success of bitcoin. Here are some of the events that happened and how you can profit from them!

April 2013 meltdown – bitcoin down 52%

On April 10th 2013, Bitcoin lost more than half its value in just 6hours. Bitcoin hasn’t passed the $30 at all before 2013 and media coverage boosted bitcoin prices over $200. Bitcoin took 7 months to recover from this crash. The great thing is that you can profit even if the price of Bitcoin falls. You can do this by shorting the Bitcoin using one of the best forex brokers.

chart1

Big December cut- bitcoin falls 45%

From over $1000 in value down to $584.13, bitcoin took a real beating and it will take years for bitcoin to recover. During November 2013, much hype was created as bitcoin was more accessible for anyone to buy with exchanges such as Coinbase popping out. This led to prices soaring and dropping just as fast.

chart2

How can we profit from this?

As a crash happens, prices falls drastically which means it will be cheap to acquire bitcoin. From the first crash, price of bitcoin dropped to $120. If investors seized this opportunity and purchase bitcoin, he would have made close to 10x till the next crash. Success doesn’t happen instantly, it takes step by step to reach the big goal. Example, before each crash happened, if you had put a stop lost on your trading position you could have automatically closed your position and take profits before bitcoin prices went all the way down. Furthermore, if you wish to trade bitcoin but aren’t ready to risk your own money yet, you can try the  bitcoin simulator to learn and trade bitcoin. Trade with no limitations using the virtual currency and see how you fare!

bitcoin_profit

850,000 bitcoins and 47% in value lost

The infamous theft of Mt. Gox (one of Japan’s bitcoin exchanges) led to 850000 bitcoin mysteriously disappearing in February 2014. After the hacking of this top exchange, the confidence of investors dropped tremendously. People stayed away from bitcoins till 2016. However, this was a great opportunity to profit from this unfortunate event. If you lack the confidence to do trading by yourself, you head on to social trading platform and copy the trades of others.Especially if you are new or a beginner trader, copy trading is an excellent way to profit and learn trading at the same time. There are plenty of traders out there who trade bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. By using social trading, you will be able to see their trading statistics and follow them with a few clicks of the mouse.

bitcoin

2017 35% downswing

At the start of the 2017 year, bitcoin cross the $1000 mark for the first time in years and did not stop climbing. It went up to $3000 before falling to $1900 mark. Core developers did not know how to update the software leaving the market doubtful of its performance in the future. Bitcoin was slow compared to Litecoin and Ethereum and this gave way to the idea of a ‘fork’ for bitcoin.

chart4

China drives Bitcoin 39% down

Bitcoin yet again picked up speed and began racing towards the $5000 mark. However, one big obstacle blocked its path and sent bitcoin bouncing back. China had banned all its cryptocurrency exchanges and this hurt the cryptocurrency market prominently. With the big player out of the game, bitcoin took a hard beating.

chart5

Did I miss the boarding time of the Bitcoin train?


Bitcoin prices as of date are above the $4500 levels reaching $5000. Although prices are high and many think that bitcoin can’t go any further, they are absolutely wrong. Experts are predicting bitcoin to hit $6000 by year end. Another bitcoin split will be happening on the 25th of October. There is still a lot to expect from bitcoin and moreover no matter which way bitcoins goes, everyone can profit from it! It is never too late to board the bitcoin express. 

Greatest traders history

5 Greatest Forex Traders Ever

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Greatest Forex Traders Finance Illustrated

To be the best you’ve got to learn from the best. Forex trading isn’t easy, you need to stand out from the crowd and do things other people aren’t brave enough or disciplined enough to do.  These 5 greatest Forex traders ever have achieved enough to inspire anyone to start trading today.


1. Bill Lipschutz

Armed with a degree in Finance, Bill Lipschutz  started off investing in stocks and promptly turned the $12,000 he inherited from his Grandmother into $250,000. After losing most of the money in a big market shift, Bill shifted his attention towards Forex trading. At his peak he was making $300 million a year for Salomon Brothers investment bank. Bill embodies the mantra of standing apart from the crowd and making trades that are contrary to popular opinion.

Bill Lipschutz Finance Illustrated

The consensus opinion is unlikely to ever make you big money in currency. If you want to make big money in the Forex markets, keep away from the crowds and trade like Bill.

2. George Soros

A native of Hungary, George Soros has shattered many financial records in his career. His most famous achievement was when he made $1 Billion dollars in a single day shorting the British Pound. Besides being a trader and writer, he is also a philanthropist. He has donated over $7 Billion of personal savings to charities and has a net worth of over $25 Billion.

George Soros Finance Illustrated

Soros looks for uncertainty and bets on the least probable outcomes in his trading. He forms strong contrary opinions, much like Lipschutz, attempting to make huge winners while trying to keep his losses small.

3. Bruce Kovner

Bruce Kovner is an American hedge fund manager worth over $5.5 Billion. He believes in strong risk management and knowing exactly where you want to get out of a trade before you get in. Focusing on the fundamentals and trusting his convictions have enabled him to amass a sizeable fortune as his fund has average well into double digit percentage gains throughout its existence.

Bruce Kovner Finance Illustrated

Kovner is famous for having lost a lot of his own money early in his career and using that event to formulate a pragmatic approach to risk.

4. Stanley Druckenmiller

Formerly an oil analyst for the Pittsburgh National Bank, Druckenmiller joined George Soros at Soros’s own Quantum Fund. Aside from being a part of Soro’s mammoth successes, he also managed Duquesne Capital Management which averaged an incredible 30% in gains from it’s inception in the early 1980’s till its closing in 2010.

Stanley Druckenmiller Finance Illustrated

Perhaps the greatest thing to learn from this quote is the need to be open minded and flexible. An idea that was correct last week might not be this week, you must be both decisive yet cautious, a very difficult balance.

5. Paul Tudor Jones

Investor, hedge fund manager and philanthropist Paul Tudor Jones is estimated to be worth $4.7 Billion dollars. He was accepted into Harvard Business School but turned it down citing how they wouldn’t teach him anything he needed to know to be a successful trader. Using a swing trading strategy, he approached Forex trading by catching the market’s tops and bottoms, to make quick low risk profits compared to long term trend followers.

Paul Tudor Jones Finance Illustrated

Paul is a not only a great trader because of his profits but also his longevity. He has been a great trader for many, many years and as a results has given himself the chance to be highly successful as he has always protected his money so well.

Overnight success isn’t just two random words joined together but something proven achievable by many of the top best traders. Although not common, it is still possible. Just one day or one trade can change your life. Here are our favourite Forex trading apps.

Top 3 Currencies icon

Top 3 Currency Pairs To Trade In 2018

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Top Currency Pairs Forex Finance Illustrated

When it comes to winning trades, it’s not about how many winners you have, it’s about how big your winners are. Over-analyzing the markets 24/7 does not mean you will make any more money, effort can often mean nothing. You need to get the market direction right. That’s it.


Imagine that others slave for hours trying to keep up with every currency pair and you have just a handful of pairs you trade for a living with less than an a hour research each day. It seems to easy to be true, but it is a very established tactic most successful traders use. Hence, we’re listing only top 3 currency pars to trade in 2017, that you can try to focus on starting from today.

1. EUR/GBP

Since the UK voted to leave the European Union, the GBP has been dramatically weaker against the Euro. Upcoming Brexit talks promise to generate a huge amount of volatility this year as an undervalued GBP is countered by the rising prospect of higher interest rates in the Eurozone. Plus given the news driven nature of the pair recently you can use social media to stay ahead of the game as the exit negotiations progress. This year there will likely be no greater opportunity for volatility than in EUR/GBP market.

2. USD/JPY

One of the world’s most traded currency pairs, with an extremely narrow spread – USD/JPY is a great barometer for risk sentiment. Recently a tremendous risk-on rally sparked by the French election result has seen the pair rally vigorously. It happened after it had been tracking lower as the “safe haven” Japanese Yen. It had been boosted by rising political tensions around the world. With President Trump in the White House and North Korea continuing to make threats it seems that there are a lot of surprises to come this year. This probably means more trading fireworks in USD/JPY market.

3. EUR/NOK

While not among the major pairs, the Euro/Norwegian Krone is an intriguing prospect. A historically weak Krone has been rising and falling with the Oil price (the major export product of Norway). Throw in the rising chance of some more hawkish policy by the ECB (European Central Bank) and this pair could continue to show the big weekly moves that have characterized it of late. Now that Norway made more money from its wealth fund than from Oil for the first time, should Brent and Crude dictate its future? This year we will find out if the NOK can find its feet again or if there are fresh highs for the Euro to come.


60 min fun binary school

7 Habits Of Highly Successful Forex Traders

60 min fun binary school
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Forex Trading Habits Finance Illustrated

When trading financial markets, there are certain defining habits that all ultra successful traders and investors utilise to build their massive wealth. Find out here if you have them all.


Nothing else than your daily actions and attitude matters. Not what you think, but how you execute. For example, imagine that you can have a regimented, emotionless approach to the markets. That would already set you apart from 90% of smallest and also biggest Forex market players. Soon you will see that repeating great trading habits, day in and day out is the key to building serious profits.

1. Develop  A Stunning Money Management

There is no highly effective trader who doesn’t have this. Understanding how much money to risk, setting appropriate stop losses and taking your profits at the right time are all vital abilities. While you will have varying approach comparing to other traders, the technique has the same overall goal – to preserve your capital at all costs towards building long term wealth.

2. Trade Without Emotion

There is no place for emotion in trading. The more you can treat winners and losers with the same reaction, the more consistently you will be able to execute your trading plan. If you get upset, take a break from trading, nothing good happens when you are trying to play catch-up.

3. Run Your Winners For Maximum Profit

In financial markets many beginners think the best traders are right all the time. It’s a myth. What the best traders know is it’s the size of the winners that count. In fact being correct 50% of the time is considered an incredible strike rate in professional trading. Once you’ve found an asset that you’re good at, simply stick to it and master your craft. Learning to take meaningful profits is the only way you will cover your losses.

4. Cut Your Losses Early

Given how difficult it is to be right in the highly competitive world of financial trading, let your winning trades run and cut the losing ones early. This means when the market moves against you, don’t rely on hope that it will soon come back. Unless there’s a clear market signal it will happen, get out soon and head onto the next, hopefully profitable trade.

5. Repeat Your Strategy, If It Still Works

Trading is a battle to take money out of the market. To do this effectively you need a repeatable strategy that works long term. The changeable nature of markets means it may need to be tweaked once in  while.  You’ll higher your chances of success with eternal market principles like swing trading or trend following.

6. Scale Up When Winning, Back Off When Losing

When you are winning in the markets you need to (sensibly) increase your position sizes as your account balance grows. The same principle applies when you’re losing, as it’s important to cut exposure as your losses mount. Understanding when you are losing touch with the price action is as important as realizing when you have it well tracked.

7. Find Your Unique Trading Edge

In order to sustainably beat the market, you need to find a niche where you have an advantage over other traders. For some this might mean focusing on a single currency pair, others it might mean looking over hundreds of charts for a particular candlestick set-up that gives them a high-probability low risk trade. Who knows, maybe you’re better suited for tactics we teach in options school lessons.

Whatever it is for you, finding an edge you believe in will probably allow you to follow the other habits listed here more easily, essentially doubling your edge over ordinary losing traders. Follow all of these habits of highly effective traders and you too can be a trading rockstar, building a fantastic income from the markets.

5 steps to find the best Traders

5 Steps To Find The Best Traders On Etoro

5 steps to find the best Traders
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eToro is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFD assets.

76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Copying is a skill that anyone can easily specialize in. However, people will only want to copy the good stuff isn’t it? Why copy the wrong answers for a piece of homework and land yourself into trouble? In this article, we’ll bring you 5 essential tips to enhance your copying skills on Etoro. Below are the profile of 2 very different traders. In order to aid you in identifying those types, we have listed down the characteristics of each.

Etoro is the leading copy trading platform with over 4.5million traders in their data base. With that many traders to choose from, let us assist you in filtering the cream of the crop!

1. Traders with consistent profits for at least a year or longer

Traders with consistent profits for at least a year or longer
Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision. This is not investment advice.

Anyone can trade. Whether it is long term and short term it is possible. But, what we will want to look for are traders who are making consistent profits for a longer period of time. With a stroke of luck, anyone can have that short-lived winning streak. It will appear extremely pleasing to the eye on their profile with high profits in a short span of time. However, you have to avoid falling into this trap.

Profits doesn’t essentially equate to being a skilled or good trader. Every trader will inevitably have their ups and downs, therefore do not be too quick to put down anyone when they are on a bad streak. Check each trader’s profile carefully and pick those who have made profit preferably for at least a year or more.  By incurring longer term profits, those traders are definitely more trustworthy.

2. Traders with low historical drawdowns

Traders with low historical drawdowns
Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.

Losses are something everyone should be concerned about. That when drawdowns come in! Drawdowns are represented as a percentage when a trader observes a loss from their current high until their next high. In simple terms, if a trader has a balance of $1000 and it drops to $800, the trader will have lost $200. In drawdown terms, it will be $200/$1000 which is a drawdown of 20%.

By picking traders with low historic drawdowns, it minimizes the investment risk for you. It reflects the trader being able to handle risk well and is unlikely to blow their whole balance at one go. After all, you wouldn’t want an early Halloween when your balance shows zero the next morning.

3. Be cautious of traders with huge percentage gains


Of course everyone will want the quick way to success if they got a choice. If $10 could be multiply to become $100 in an hour why not? But, before you dive head first and get yourself hurt, some investigation needs to be made on the selected trader. You have to check for

  • Investment amount
  • Number of trades
  • Percentage of winning trades

Example: If a trader places 5 trades at $10 each and losses them all, he then places a trade of $200 and makes a profit of $100. With the profit of $100 he easily covers he losses and at the same time brings up his percentage gain by a huge margin. You should be careful of this kind of traders as they lack consistency and have high risk!

4. Low risk score

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5 steps to find the best Traders
Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.

The basic principle is low risk high returns for most investments. That’s something you want to apply when picking the right trader to copy too! Each trader is tagged with a risk score with 1 being the least risky and 10 being the most risky. You will want to pick a trader with the lowest risk score possible and at the same time earn profits. Avoid picking any trader above a 6 risk rating unless you have utmost confidence in that trader!

5. Avoid “young” accounts

Avoid “young” accounts

Just like a premature baby, any trader in the field under 6 months is considered as too new. Any new trader can easily hit a lucky spree and continue to make profit in the short-run. They might not be “qualified” enough to be considered as a good trader. Avoiding these kind of traders will help you to decrease your investment risk too. You might end up investing in them when their lucky streak is over and make big losses instead! Do check in each trader’s profile on their active date!

With these 5 steps, you are well on your way to finding your trading style!

eToro  is a multi-asset platform which offers both investing in stocks and cryptoassets, as well as trading CFDs.

Please note that CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. Trading history presented is less than 5 complete years and may not suffice as basis for investment decision.

Copy trading is a portfolio management service, provided by eToro (Europe) Ltd., which is authorised and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission.

Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in some EU countries and the UK. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.

eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs and makes no representation and assumes no liability as to the accuracy or completeness of the content of this publication, which has been prepared by our partner utilizing publicly available non-entity specific information about eToro.