Sunday, June 27, 2010

Blogger Site For On-line Store

It is found that some people use a blog as an on-line store. The first time we see an on-line store created from a blogger site is a WordPress blog site selling security systems. It appears to be a licensed business and the web-site may be a promotional means to augment company business.

Following are some sample sites. They demonstrate how an on-line store can be created from a blogger.

http://www.banhup.com
This WordPress web-site is about photography.

http://www.blogonlineshop.com
This is another WordPress web-site. This site sells a variety of products and also provides some interesting news.

Many people are setting up on-line stores from blogger site. Using a blog can save the monthly hosting fee. Recent development in relevant technology enables more features to be implemented in a blog and it appears that the trend is more and more individuals are setting up their own blog for eCommerce.

From the start of our on-line storefront, html was used to build the web-site. Later the hosting company provided tools for users to build their web-site without html. The tools are being constantly improved for better user experience.

The proliferation of blogger site threatens in some extent the business of web hosting companies, especially those with a large base of individuals as customer. The social networking capability of blogger site is an added advantage over a traditional web store.

Currently we will maintain the two web-sites of on-line storefront. This blog will occasionally help to promote the store.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Opportunity in Equity Market Trading

Investment market as a game has two scenarios, namely zero-sum game and non-zero sum game. As a corporate participant, the game is usually a non-zero sum game as the equity is a long term investment or hedge against business operational consumption. As a conservative managed fund or individual investment, the game is usually stock trading as a long term investment seeking equity appreciation. These two categories of trader are looking for profit from equity appreciation in stock market or hedging risk in foreign currency fluctuation.

The third category of trader is speculative day trader who is seeking profit from trading arbitration. This is a high risk game since the movement of stock market is highly unpredictable in a relatively short time interval. The use of leverage will magnify the gain or loss in trading. The scenario looks more like a casino gaming with random occurrence of events.

However, stock market is not a completely random event. There are factors that render it some degree of predictability which can be exploited by participants of the game to take advantage over others. Firstly, stocks are driven by news and economic condition. There are many sources of information. The trader have to identify the sources and filter the information for accuracy. Secondly, the stock market has a long term uptrend. The intermediate term movement can be estimated with investor sentiment and market indicators. There is still plenty of uncertainty. But a well analyzed estimate will increase the probability of profit over loss. The short term movement is where the profit or loss of a speculative day trader comes from. It is a highly unpredictable event and the trader makes the trading decision based on intuition. Although it is difficult to predict the outcome, the game is played among people and thus the behaviour of people on market movement will have effect on the outcome. If such emotional behaviour can be estimated correctly to certain extent, the chance of beating the market will increase.

If above analysis of stock market mechanism is not significantly deviated from truth, then an individual trader that can exploit the competitive edge over the counter parties can make appreciable return from speculative stock trading. And this scenario appears to match with the objective of equity trading mentioned earlier. Thus the attempt to develop a trading strategy will be for speculative stock trading in later discussion.

Web-sites on Stock Trading

There are many web-sites with discussion or opinion on stock trading. Following are two interesting web-sites to share with readers.

http://www.lamstocks.weebly.com
This web-site is first found about a year ago. It appears that it has remained idle since September '09. The author is likely a retail investor who has found some luck in the stock market initially. Indeed most people during that time should have made a fortune in the stock market. After September, the stock market is starting to lose momentum. Therefore it would be more difficult to make profit from stock trading.

The author of the web-site is typical of opportunistic retail investors. When the market does not show a bullish uptrend, they will lose interest in stock trading. And those people are usually benefited from the wealth creation process of equity appreciation. They can stay away from loss due to greed. Although this kind of investment approach is safe, it may not be aggressive enough for an objective of recovering a massive loss after a financial crisis. Nevertheless it serves as a reminder for risk taking.

http://www.louieshum.com
The information in this web-site seems not up-to-date. Nevertheless the author is still very active in mass media such as newspaper, radio and television broadcast, etc. His analysis is quite logical and his prediction appears to be quite accurate.

He is a very experienced trader and has many followers. His strategy on stock trading appeals to us as retail investors thriving to make a small fortune in a swamp of crocodiles. Therefore during the process of trading strategy development, his thought on the equity market would be given appropriate attention.

Many other web-sites give suggestions, tips, or education on equity trading. It may seem obvious that to follow what most people is doing should be a safe bet. Wisdom of the crowd is a guarantee for success. This is definitely right for a long term investment scenario. However, as previously stated, the trading strategy is for speculative stock trading. The return for an average investor is limited on current market condition. Higher risk is taken to pursue a higher return. An important criteria in the trading strategy is to limit the exposure to destructive impact on the portfolio.

Blog For On-Line Store Promotion & Stock Trading Strategy Development

The purpose of setting up this blog is to promote the on-line retail store and to track and record the process in an effort to develop a strategy for speculative stock trading.

The viewing traffic of the web-site is low since first implementation in 1998. In the following years, there is tremendous improvement in web-hosting technology. Users can select from a wide variety of convenient tools to build their web-site. The hosting company of the on-line store has since then grown from a garage startup to a company that is hosting for hundreds of thousands of small enterprises and individuals. The increase in the number of web-sites on the Internet means more competition from others. Although there is enough confidence in the quality of the merchandise, the marketing and sales strategy is inferior to competitors. As a result, the on-line store is struggling to survive. Efforts to improve the operating condition continues.

The first attempt to take risk in stock market trading dated back to 2005. The first stock purchase was held for over a year to wait to recover loss. But it was finally liquidated with loss. In the year 2007, the stock market became bullish and the idea of stock trading came back. This time profit was made along with luck. At the peak of profit taken, it amounted to significant double digit gain in initial investment. Evidently this may drive many amateur traders for more greed. The collapse of the financial market starting in late 2007 reverted the profit and finally led to significant loss, much more than the peak of vanished profit.

In early 2009, the stock market miraculously turned back from falling. In a desperate effort, some loss were hoped to be recovered. It was successful in terms of percentage gain but from the perspective of absolute monetary value, only a minor amount of previous loss was recovered. The portfolio value at the trough was merely a few percent of the portfolio at the peak.

In order to fully recover the loss in the initial investment, the portfolio have to grow by an order. This appears difficult but the reverse has already happened in 2008, i.e. shrank by an order (actually larger because a small portion of loss has already been recovered). The leverage and thus greed played an important role in the fast deterioration of portfolio value in a downturn market and the difficulty for catchup in an upturn market. The stock market mechanism has changed from wild swing to a tug-of-war among market participants. Swift profit or loss will occur less frequently.

In the coming posts, it will be discussed the attitude and strategy towards stock trading from the perspective of an individual speculative trader thriving to make profit to recover loss and to compete with the counter parties that have defeated many others in the game.