My latest pick is LDK Solar (LDK). Accurate to my stock trading made simple style, this stock pick is quite straight forward.

I heard about this stock through Scottrade Research Center which mentioned the S&P upgrade that occurred with this stock on August 5 2010.

Simply the S&P raised their earnings per share and one year target from $8 a share to $9 a share.

The most significant change over the solar energy horizon may be the fast business expansion of Chinese corporations. Trina Solar plans a 25% improvement in wafer-making capacity this year. Yingli Green Energy is growing 66%. LDK Solar (LDK) plans a 200% expansion.

China’s solar firms have access to low-cost capital and state bonuses.

“We believe it is the intention of the central government to help develop national champions in China by having a aim of taking over the manufacturing side of the industry,” RBC Capital analyst Bush said.

LDK Solar Co Ltd said it signed a deal to produce 50 megawatt of solar modules for a unit of Italy’s biggest utility, Enel SpA (ENEI.MI).

LDK said it will produce 30 MW of modules to Enel.Si S.r.l. in the current quarter, and that it had an option to provide an extra 20 MW for the fourth quarter.

Investors which range from banks and funds to families and fancy car maker Ferrari have rushed into Italy’s solar market, Europe’s third largest, attracted by a nice bonus system unveiled in 2007.

The offer comes only a week after LDK said it won a contract from Swiss engineer ABB’s (ABBN.VX) Italian unit to provide 13 MW of modules in the third quarter.

Lazard Capital expert Sanjay Shrestha increased his outlook for the solar sector. He now predicts global installations of 12 GW this coming year, up from the previous estimate of 11.5 GW; for 2011, he goes to 14.5 GW, from 13 GW, and for 2012, he now sees 17.5 GW, up from 15.8 GW.

“We expect higher installation volumes in Germany in 2010, and increased installation volumes in the U.S., Italy, China and Japan through 2012,” he writes in a research note.

For LDK he states, “LDK should benefit from a tight wafer supply environment in 2010 and 2011, with revenue upside from the strategic initiative to grow into the module business and cost benefit from higher internal silicon production in 2011.” He raises his 2010 EPS prediction for the company to 70 cents, from 65 cents

Inside the video clip below, I evaluate the stock chart of LDK and also the break of the 200 day moving average the other day on growing volume.

OMG! Yeah, that’s what I said. What company, in this wicked recession, can do a $1 billion stock repurchase plan?

If that doesn’t peak your interest, then what if I tell you the stock trades for less than $12 a share?

Interested yet?

The company is Activision (ATVI) and some big money making news has just been released creating lots of bullish buzz around this stock.

On March 30th, 2010, Call of Duty(R): Modern Warfare(R) 2 Stimulus Package is coming to the Xbox LIVE.

This is the first new multiplayer maps from the biggest entertainment launch in history.

How big? Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 made an estimated $155 million just on opening day!

All of these Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 2 gamers are going to want these new multiplayer maps. Cha-Ching!

If that isn’t enough, Activision (ATVI) has a new agreement with Anchor Bay Entertainment to release 10 Minute Solution, a video game for Wii based on the popular exercise DVDs. Coming this Spring, 10 Minute Solution will bring focused exercise activities to fitness fans with busy schedules, in an affordable and fun way. Cha-Ching!

In July of 2008, Activision (ATVI) was trading for over $18 a share. It now trades at $11.53 a share. Traders began to price in declining game sales in a recession a couple of years ago. Just last month, sales of game software declined by 15% for the month to $624.4 million. It is precisely because of this bad news that you can buy Activision (ATVI) for so cheap.

If you follow me on Twitter you know that I’m long Activision (ATVI) as of March 15th, 2010.

Back on July 25th, 2009, I recommended Apple (APPL) at $142. You can see that original article here http://www.guerillastocktrading.com/stock-trading/making-big-money-in-apple-aapl. We have surfed Apple all the way up to $205. Let’s take our 44% profit Monday.

Remember, in and out is our trading style. This was a longer hold than our average play.

Bulls make money, bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered. Do not be greedy. Almost 44% in 3 months is a great gain.

BOOYAH!

The first step is to identify the type of trade into which we will enter. It all depends on your trading strategies. What matters most to a trader or an investor is how to create a positive cash flow.

It all depends on the profit targets that you want to achieve. Once we acknowledge what our goals and objective are than we can narrow our expectations. Is it a day trade? Is it a swing trade or is it a long term positions trade? Day trading has a different profit potential than swing trading. Both are different trading styles. Day trading requires a lot of active participation on your part. In swing trading, when you set up your trade, you can monitor it once a day.

Suppose I am a day trader. My expectations are for X amount of a given range. I will expect that if I miss 20% of the bottom and 20% of the top then I can expect to capture 60% of the average daily range. I will generally be able to identify what the average range for the day is.

For that I will have to structure my computer and charts to a format that is conducive to day trading. Day trading can be stressful for some people. You need to know all these things before you decide on a trading style for a trade. So how do I start? How many pips you want to make in a specific time frame like eight to six bars from entry? Say 30 pips or 40 pips! This is what you should expect in day trading. In swing trading the profit targets can be higher but the time frame is also much longer.

In day trading you should use two time frames; 5 minutes and 15 minutes time frames to look at the market! Use the 5 minute time frame to exit a position in day trading. Use the 5 minute time frame as a shorter time frame trigger to go with the 15 minute signal. Use the 15 minute time frame for the dominant trend if you trade Euro, Yen or Pound, then for day trading.

The key to remember is when the 15 minute time period is in the buy mode, take the 5 minute buy signals. Similarly when the 15 minute time period is in sell mode, take the 5 minute sell signals.

As a day trader you can watch the 60 minute time period, but if you are in a trade based on the 15 minute and the 5 minute time, these are the time frames you need to monitor for that specific trade.

Keep in mind your profit targets and where you are in the range. Keeping an eye on the 60 minute time period will help you identify the current trend and a potential change in the trend if a moving average crossover occurs.

Suppose you are trading EUR/USD currency pair. Suppose the Euro is already down 50 pips when a sell signal is triggered, the odds are that your profit potential is in the range of suppose 30 pips or less if the average true range (ATR) is 80 pips based on the past 14 trading days. How do you calculate these things?

Using good forex charting software will help you automatically calculate all the daily, weekly, monthly pivot points as well as the daily range, support and resistance, S-1, R-1 and other stuff.

You should learn how to calculate pivot points. Using pivot points in day trading can give you an edge. For day trading use the 60 minute time period for calculating the monthly pivot points, 15 minutes time frame for calculating the weekly pivot points and the 5 minute time frame for calculating the daily pivot points.

Before we get into different types of securities it is important to know the very basic definition of investment securities. Investment securities are form of certificate or documents that shows that you have invested in a company or a business or a government entity. The two key types of securities are equity securities and debt securities.

Some basic securities types are as follows:

Bond: This follows in the debt security type wherein the issues of the bond pay interest at a predetermined rate. Bonds are issues by companies, public authorities, government and at times credit institutions. The method used for bond issuing is known as underwriting. The issuer keeps paying interest at regular intervals and pays the principal amount at a later date. Some of the different types of bonds are as follows:

Treasury bonds, Bearer and registered bonds, Participation bonds , and Convertible bonds

Derivatives: These are indirect financial instruments that are depended on direct securities such as bonds, equities. They are also known as hedging instruments. Some of the different types are as follows:

Futures Swaps, Index options, Covered and uncovered calls

Equities: These are the most common type of investment securities. They are in the form of stock or shares that gives the ownership in the company. General public has the option of becoming a shareholder in a large company. Some of the different options are as below:

Common stock, Preferred stock Dividends, Book value, Par value, and Depository receipts

Another unusual form of security is the contract to buy and sell commodity such as tea, coffee, wheat irrespective of the change in its quality. This is also one form of security that involves a contract.

If you wish to find out more valuable information about online investing then check out the best site with all of the needed content on online investing today.

Stock index futures like the Dow Futures or the S&P 500 Futures are traded for speculation as well as hedging purposes. Stock-index futures are by far the largest category of futures contracts traded as a percentage of the total number of futures contracts traded. The dominance of index futures clearly speaks of the major role that stock-index futures play in risk management for the entire stock market.

There are many advantages of trading stock index futures like the Dow Futures. Stock index futures like the Dow futures are a better option than trading individual stocks. Some of these advantages are gains in the futures markets are taxed at a lower rate than the stock market capital gains.

Globex is a 24 hour electronic trading system for a wide variety of futures contract. If something happens on the stock market overnight when it is closed and you want to hedge your risk, you can trade Dow Futures on Globex. Many futures brokerages offer lower commission rates as compared to stocks.

You are betting on the direction of the Dow Futures contract value, in this case DJIA and not on the individual stocks that make up the index when you trade Dow Futures or for that matter any other stock index futures.

In a sense by focusing on the value and the general trend of the stocks as a group, you are blocking out a good deal of the noise that is often associated with the daily gyrations in the prices of the individual stocks.

Aside from hedging, you can simply speculate with the futures contract like the Dow Futures just by using technical and fundamental analysis. Stock index futures like the Dow Futures are guaranteed to move in response to the economic indicators. You can setup positions with both futures and options as you wait for the news to hit the wire.

Any information that moves the stock indexes can be used to make profit by investing in stock index futures. Stock indexes move when economic news of fundamental nature is released. For the past many years, the monthly NFP employment report which is issued the first Friday of every month at 8:30 AM EST has been an excellent mover for stock index futures like the Dow Futures.

You don’t need to trade every major index contract in the world to be successful; you just need to find one or two with which you’re comfortable -the ones that enable you to implement your strategies.

The better off you are, the more you know about a particular type of a contract. So the best way to trade futures contracts is to become a specialist in one type of the contract like the Dow Futures or the S&P 500 Futures or NASDAQ-100 Futures.

You can use your knowledge of technical analysis to figure out how many days the Dow Futures contract tends to spend rising or falling using Bollinger Bands or Moving Averages. You can get an idea when the Dow Futures contract is likely to turn around. So by becoming a specialist in trading Dow Futures you can make a lot of profit daily for the daily movements in DJIA. This way you can become a Dow Futures swing trader. Every time profiting from a turn in the DJIA!

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Trade Dow Futures. Learn Swing Trading!

Low interest rates – including mortgages are sticking around for a while. We are being told there is money everywhere. There is plenty of welfare for corporations.

It sure sounds like cash is everywhere. So why are so many individuals, businesses, and corporate giants going broke? And American home foreclosures just keep rising.

Billions of dollars – borrowed and printed – have been injected then bottled up behind a dam that is weakening and ready to burst. The people in charge do not seem able to figure out how to regulate the flow as in a proper dam. The obligation for future generations is astonishing. Dams cannot hold higher levels that their design though. When the hole finally breaks through the result is – inflation that rivals 3rd world countries.

Though some money is starting to trickle out it still seems to dry up before it gets to producers, workers, and spenders. So capitalism as we like it is just plain anemic. Underemployed folks, like Tom Persinger who now makes 24k/yr as a nurses aid, have have pulled significant power from the economy. He used to make 60k/yr for GM before they got bailed out. He is relatively lucky though. Just under one out of ten Americans have no job at all so they cannot contribute earnings so that others have jobs. But the government is also manipulating statistics. Prior to the Clinton administration that 10% would have been closer to 21% unemployment which certainly echoes the Great Depression.

Every state government and most large cities are struggling to stay afloat. Temporary shutdowns, IOU’s, and tax hikes – which as you know is counter productive in a recession are rampant. Even the security of working for the government at any level except the federal, is no longer the cushy job it once was.

It seems that it does not matter where you put your money. Though the free fall of real estate appears to have braked, homebuyers are still having a tough time getting mortgage money. And the equities market is still a roller coaster ride that is just too thrilling for many investors.

A delicious irony is apparent when you consider that the economies of Germany and France my be recovering faster than America. By any measure they have long been tipping to left with socialism being way more acceptible, for now at least, than the USA. And those cynical professional bond traders are saying that the Fed is ensuring low interest rates by cranking out more money to meet our mind boggling present and future political obligations.

Bankers have decisions to make. Up until now the very large ones have chosen to keep the money you and I gave them to stimulate the economy as they work out their mergers and take overs. They are acting like bankers. Cannot really blame them because they know that during a recession assets take a while to appreciate and there are a lot of people out of work.

The tragic consequence of all of this gross mismanagement is what third world countries usually experience – very, very high inflation. The government has borrowed to oblivion and the money is being printed with abandon. The banks must eventually let that money go. When is does we will be paying dearly.

My Market Friend is Paul Kluskowskis’s blog. It is chock-a-block with up-to-date financial, economic, and market news. He is a managing financial advisorat T/R Financial Management Group. He has been in the business for over 10 years and writes extensively with many articles and three ebooks to his credit. Paul also manages the PINGP Work Control Center Mgr at Xcel Energy. You can sign up for his financial advice and newletter at My Market Friend

When you have identified the triangle formation on either the daily or weekly chart, get ready for a breakout. Each triangle type has its own directional bias. When you trade triangle breakouts, ignore any first breakout attempts whether it is to the upside or the downside. There can be three possibilities when you try to trade the decreased volatility breakout strategy.

Possible Case No 1: Suppose the second breakout attempt is in the downside direction for the descending triangle. Similarly it is in the upside direction for an ascending triangle. In simple words, the second breakout attempt is in the direction expected of the triangle type. This breakout could signal either the continuation of the existing trend or the trend reversal. You should not forget to ignore the first breakout.

Place a stop buy order at least 10 pips above the horizontal resistance level to capture the potential upside breakout in case of an ascending triangle. Set profit target according to your time frame. Place a stop loss order 10 pips below the horizontal level of the triangle to protect against false breakout. You should make sure each side of the triangle gets touched two times at least.

For a descending triangle, place a stop sell order 10 pips below the horizontal support level to capture the potential downside breakout. Place a stop loss order 10 pips above the horizontal support level. Again make sure the triangle is touched two times before the breakout.

Possible Case No 2: The second breakout is to the upside in case of the descending triangle. Similarly it is in the downside in case of an ascending triangle. Again ignore the first breakout attempt. In other words, the second breakout attempt is in the opposite direction of the expected triangle type breakout direction.

In case of an ascending triangle, ignore the first breakout attempt and make sure the triangle is touched at least two times. Since the breakout direction is opposite to the most expected direction, cut the position size to half for this trade in order to reduce risk. Set stop sell order at least 10 pips below the upward sloping trendline in order to capture the expected downside breakout. Place the stop loss 10 pips below the breakout point.

In order to capture the potential upside breakout in case of a descending triangle, place a stop buy entry order at least 10 pips above the downward sloping trendline. Set your profit target in accordance with your time frame. Again reduce the position size to half in order to reduce risk. Place stop loss 10 pips below the breaking point.

Possibility #3: In case of symmetrical triangles, there is an equal possibility of upside as well as the downside breakout. Just follow the above guidelines and place stop buy entry order or the stop sell entry order 10 pips above the downward sloping trendline or 10 pips below the upward sloping trendline. Similarly set your stop loss orders.

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Develop your own Forex Trading System. Learn Forex Trading !