i cant help but wonder why nobody in NL talks about global stocks trading. If its more safer and easier to trade than forex, why dont people talk about it. Please if you know about it, share your ideas cos i wana learn. Ideas like strategies, trading platforms that accept Nigerians, etc and all those basic info. Thanks.

*databoy:

i cant help but wonder why nobody in NL talks about global stocks trading. If its more safer and easier to trade than forex, why dont people talk about it. Please if you know about it, share your ideas cos i wana learn. Ideas like strategies, trading platforms that accept Nigerians, etc and all those basic info. Thanks.

Trading in global stocks is safer than forex and a lot easier to understand the dynamics of the market. With spread betting i benefit from the upward and downward movements in the prices of equities on the international markets. i deal in equities on the FT-SE 100, CAC 40, DAX, NIKKEI 225, DOW, NASDAQ, HANG SENG etc

I use the IG index platform with it i can deal in a wide range of markets in equities, commodities etc.

The sell and buy price (they are always quoted in this order) are normally called the Bid/Offer price. the difference between the two is the size of the spread. you sell at the bid or buy at the offer.
Another important feature of every quoted price is the period. the period denotes a general indication of the maximum length for which the trade can run. A period could be just for that day, for a specified month or for the end of the year.

Thanks for coming in. Please whats, the difference between equities, commodities and stocks or shares. Sometimes its really hard picking the difference as they are confusing.

Equities means the ownership of a unit of a company. Equities, shares and stock mean the same thing. For example First Bank shares, Nigerian Breweries shares, Dangote Sugar shares are equities quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. On the FT-SE 100 in the United Kingdom there are equities like Barclays, Tesco, Royal Bank of Scotland, Marks and Spencer, Royal Dutch Shell, Prudential, Vodafone etc. On the Dow there are equities like American Express, AT&T, Boeing, Citigroup, Exxon Mobil etc

Commodities means items traded on commodity markets, they can be subdivided into Precious metals, industrial metals, livestock and meat and agricultural. precious metals are traded on commodity exchanges mainly NYMEX. Precious metals include Gold, Silver, Platinum etc. Industrial metals are mainly traded on the London Metal Exchange. Livestock and Meat are mainly traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

However with a good internet trading platform you can trade on all equities and commodities on the same platform from anywhere in the world.

I really appreciate this lecture. Why do you actually bet on these equities instead of buying and selling. I feel betting makes it look like forex (gambling). Also, which platform do you use in studying the markets. Do you study company reports or just listen to CNN and CNBC?

i used to engage in actual buying of equities on the FT-SE 100 but i found out that it was expensive. below are the reasons why i now bet on equities instead of buying and selling.

reason one - the broker charges 12 GBP per transaction when i was buying or selling. so i could not take advantage of infinitesimal changes in prices because even when there is a little profit the brokers charge of 12 GBP wipes out or substantially reduces the profits for small scale investors like me. when i discovered that the brokers fee was comparatively expensive and discovered spread betting and that entry and exit was relatively cheap i decided to engage in spread betting.

reason two - i also wanted to be in a position where i could enter a position at 8am when the market opens and exit at 8.15am when there is a profit, but with actual buying of shares even if there is a profit by 8.15am the brokers fee wipes it off or makes it insignificant unless there is a big movement in the price of the shares in my favour.

reason three - with actual buying of shares you must buy low and sell high to make a profit, you cant make a profit when share prices are falling but with spread betting you can make money when share prices are falling if you made a 'Sell' position earlier.

reason four - also most companies in the western world dont pay dividends as frequently as Nigerian firms do, even when they declare billions of dollars of profits they may still decide not to pay dividends to their shareholders, rather they stack up billions of dollars in their reserves. Firms like Apple, Microsoft and several big American firms have tens of billions of dollars in their reserves made from huge profits over the years. Emphasis over there is placed on capital appreciation or appreciation of the share price rather than dividends. it is not uncommon to see firms in the western world declare dividends once in five years even when huge profits were declared throughout the five years. Microsoft for example went public in 1986 but paid an annual dividend for the first time in 2003 (after 17 years). so as a result there is no motivation for investors to buy actual shares to benefit from dividend payment, if for any reason shares are bought so that they could be sold later when the prices appreciate.

the definition of gambling is in the eye of the beholder. if you consider taking advantage of upward and downward positions of equities gambling it means that buying equities at a low price to sell later at a higher price is also gambling because you could make either a profit or a loss.

For studying the markets i use Yahoo Finance and http://www.lse.co.uk/share-prices.asp there i study graphs for intra day, the past week, the past one month, the past one year etc. there i also read chats from other investors because there is a chat room where investors chat with each other and share their experiences. i also watch bloomberg and cnbc and read the UK Financial Times.

For a free ebook on stock trading, Visit my blog @ www.mylibertytrading..com

Thanks bro for your explanations. Alot of people would want to exploit me for this information.

benefited too thanks realvenc

You guys are welcome. Feel free to ask any questions you may on this or related issues and i will do my best to answer and guide you as much as i can.
Global Stock trading can be  nice, cool wealth creation business if you play with good  knowledge and safe techniques.

Hi, please i would like to know more about Contract For Difference (CFD) in stock trading. I want to understand it from a Nigerian's perspective. Thanks.

This is really educative

Yea its educative, thats why we need the pros here.