Trading is a Business

I have been a trader in stock Market for the past 10 years. Whenever I introduce myself as a stock market trader to any new people, they just blink at me and look at me somewhat skeptical at me. The reason is simple. If you are a trader in a speculative market, people look at you as gambler.

Gambling is different from speculation. Playing cards and betting on horses is a gamble. In this two, you are betting on a thing whose performance is not in your command. You are betting on a performance, not on any asset.

But in trading, you are putting money on an asset i.e. stock. The money you have invested in market is backed by the fundamentals of the company. More over you would have invested in that stock after analyzing the performance of the stock fundamentally and technically.

So, here the outcome is predictable. But in gambling the outcome is not predictable. So if the outcome is predictable, then how can we say it is gambling if we trade in stocks.

Every business is risky. The same risk is associated with trading in stocks also. Then why some body say it as gambling. So, stock trading is also a business as some other business.

Has the Gold prices topped out?

Ever since gold made a high around 1220 USD, it is declining from that level and recently it touched a low around 1050. Is this the high for another 5 years? or will it rally again above 1220 to make a new high in coming months? This is a million dollar question right now?

Almost all the fund managers and Analyst are bullish on gold and they are advising their clients to buy gold as investments. The consumption of Gold by China has exceeded the consumption of India. And it is being stated as one reason for the rise in Gold. And also it is been said by Market pundits that many central Banks would also start buying Gold for hedging purposes.

Irrespective of this, what does Technical Analysis say about future price of Gold. Technical Analysis would really predict the future course of the Gold Market. We have seen in many Markets, the top would be formed, when everybody is bullish. So once everybody has invested in Gold, surely the prices are going to decline. No market would continue to rally or decline forever. The markets need to consolidate while rallying or declining.

As the same case, the Gold market has to top out somewhere now or then. But going by the technical analysis, it says a top is already formed. So, in the future, Gold is unlikely to move above 1220 at least for another5 years. From here, it is going to decline further towards 800 USD in coming years.

Be careful when it comes to investing in Gold.

Why is Building a Brand Important?

 

The main aim of any small business or a corporate company is to build a brand. Building a brand is of prime importance than making money in the business. Of course, everybody in the business is here to take profit from the business. But before taking a profit one should build the brand for their products. Without building a brand, taking out the profits will surely sustain for short term.

If you want to be in the business for long term, first build the brand and get the confidence and loyalty of the customers. Coco Cola and Pepsi, when they entered the Indian Market, for the first five years they spent lot of money in building the brand image. They never broke even for the first five years. Think of a Company which invested lot of money in one company and they never get paid for the investments for the first five years.

It may look ridiculous initially, but they have built a brand image in every household in India. From urban population to rural population in India, everybody knows these two brands. Initially, they started with their core business of beverages. But after having built the brand name, they have started introducing other food products also.

They have slowly entered the snacks market in India. First they penetrated the urban market and they slowly penetrated rural market also. Now the traditional snacks in india is being replaced by these snacks. Such was their brand image, which could even change the way of life in one country.

What Coke and Pepsi did in India is brand building. They did for the first five years and now they are reaping the benefit of brand building. You too, if you are interested in starting business, build the brand first, and then make profit out of it.

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Gender Bias in Workspace

Gender bias is a problem faced mainly by the fairer sex in all countries. It is felt less in developed countries like north American Countries and European Countries. But this disparity is much felt in Asian and African countries. In Asian countries, mostly in Muslim countries it is being witnessed much more. This is because of religious and Political reasons. But as the years go by, this disparity is started shrinking in all asian countries.

It is particularly improved in India for the last one decade. The statistics released by the Government of India says it has steadily been improving for the past ten years. The two parameters for the development of Women, Gender development index and Gender Empowerment Measurement have been increasing for the past five years.

This increase in the index shows the improvement of Women in the fields of Politics, Health, literacy, decision making and standard of living. After the boom in IT and Telecom Industry in India, the women participation in this Industry has started increasing. This gives them an opportunity to get salaries as equal as their male counterpart.

Women have occupied some of the top most posts in some of the leading companies in India. The previous records of harassment and sexual violence against women have started declining. Though, it was not completely eradicated, but for sure it is in declining path.

Some of the top posts like president of India, Chairperson of the Lower House, Leader of the ruling Alliance are all occupied by women in India. Though China is little bit advanced in Economic Growth and Military Growth, women disparity has not declined as much as in India. In this area, India is much developed than China.

We hope this disparity would soon be completely disappearing in all Asian Countries.

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Why is Market cyclical in nature?

Many would know that all the free markets, like Stock Market, Commodities Market, Bond Market and etc, behave cyclically. ‘Cyclical’ here means the upside and downside movement of the Market rhythmically between a particular period. We have seen Gold markets move up during the time Stock Markets come down. This is one type of cycle in the Market when one comes down, one goes up. When Stock Markets move up, the interest rates would go up.

Why are these cycles occurring in the Markets? Let me explain the internal dynamics of these cycles. We all know that any Market exists because of the demand and supply for that asset. Let us start from a bear Market bottom of an asset. Let us assume here that the asset being Stocks. During the bottoms the demand for that particular asset would be less and the supply for the asset would be high. Since supply is more than demand, the stock price would continue its downtrend.

At one particular stage, the supply will be completely observed by the Market. Here, the stocks transfer from the people of weak hands to strong hands. Once again here is a small explanation for weak and strong hands. Those who are well informed about the company with strong financial strength can be termed as strong hand, because he wouldn’t sell the stock even if it comes down further. On the other hand, a weak hand is an Investor, who is not financially strong and not well informed about a company would sell his holdings if the prices decline further.

At this stage, stocks transfer from weak hands to strong hands. The floating stocks of a company would be held by strong hands. So slowly supply stops and demand picks up at a lower price. Now the price difference also plays a crucial role. Since the prices are low now, automatically demand picks up in that stock. At one stage, supply will be overwhelmed by the demand and the prices of the stocks start picking up. This process always takes a time to complete. That is why a cycle is created in the market. This may be of Intraday, or weekly or yearly or decades cycles.

The same process takes place during the bull market peak vice versa to create a cycle. Proper understanding of cycles is very essential for successful investing.

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