What is “contango?”
Contango is when the price of a futures contract is higher than the current spot price of a commodity, and the expected future spot price. Some contango falls within the normal range, but too much is generally unfavorable. Contango means that the price of a futures contract has become inflated beyond the expected price range of a commodity. Backwardation is the word for the opposite of contango, in which futures contracts are being sold for less than the current spot price and below the probable future spot price. Some backwardation and contango is part of life and considered normal, but contango markets can have a particularly negative impact on some ETFs. Continue reading...
What is FOREX?
Forex is the common name for the Foreign Exchange market, an international network of currency trading that is active 24/7. Forex is by far the most active and highest-volume market in the world, because it involves large trades between international institutions in an effort to diversify or consolidate their exposure to various currencies. Individual traders can also participate, usually by trading nano-lots, which are 100-unit increments of currency. Continue reading...
What are the contribution limits for my Roth 401(k)?
Roth 401(k) contributions have the same limits as regular 401(k) contributions. The contribution limits for your Roth 401(k) are the same as the contribution limits for a traditional 401(k), which, in 2016, is $18,000, but these limits are adjusted upwards to account for inflation. If you’re over 50, you can add a catch-up contribution of $6,000 on top of the $18,000 for a total contribution of $24,000. Continue reading...
What’s the Difference between a Defined Benefit Plan and a Defined Contribution Plan?
Defined Benefit plans and Defined Contribution plans can sometimes look similar, but the main difference is what is certain and defined. In a Defined Benefit Plan, your employer guarantees you a certain fixed monthly payment for the rest of your life, so the benefit is said to be defined. A Defined Contribution Plan’s only certainty is the amount that went into the employee account, so the contributions are defined. Continue reading...
What does Ticker Mean?
A ticker symbol is an abbreviation used to uniquely identify publicly traded shares of a particular stock or security on whatever market it trades on. Stocks are usually represented by a combination of letters (typically 3-4), ETFs are generally identified with 3 letters, and mutual funds often have 5-letter combinations that end in the letter “X”, but they can also be alphanumeric. A ticker can consist of a combination of letters, numbers, and sometimes (but not often) both. Continue reading...
What is Mortgage Insurance?
Mortgage insurance may refer to a few kinds of insurance that protects the lender in a mortgage loan. It might be mortgage life insurance, mortgage title insurance, private mortgage insurance (PMI), or another form of protection. Usually the borrower will pay the premiums for such insurances. Mortgage insurance protects the bank or lending institution from various risks that might prevent them from being repaid for their loan. This might include the risk that a borrower will default on payments or that the borrower might die. Continue reading...
What is the Price to Book Ratio (P/B Ratio)?
The price to book ratio compares a company’s current stock market price to its book value (which is generally speaking a company’s net assets). To calculate, an analyst need only divide a company’s latest market price by it book value, which is calculated by taking ‘Total Assets minus Intangible Assets and Liabilities.’ The P/B ratio gives some idea of what premium an investor is paying if the company went bankrupt immediately. Continue reading...
What is Insider Trading?
Simply put, insider trading is the crime of trading in a company’s stock based on information not available to the general public. According to the efficient market theory, any publicly available information is immediately "priced-in" to a stock, so any article you might find in a news publication is not going to give you a competitive advantage for a stock's future price movements. Insider trading tips give an unfair advantage to the holder of the information, since the market has not had a chance to react to it yet. Of course, insider trading is illegal and several notorious cases have been well-publicized, like that of Martha Stewart. She was jailed. Continue reading...
Channel Down (Bearish)
A Channel Down pattern shows a clearly defined downtrend and describes the behavior of the price contained between downward sloping parallel lines. Lower lows and lower highs characterize this price pattern. This pattern is created via a lower trendline connecting the swing lows (1, 3, 5), and an upper channel line that joins the swing highs (2, 4, 6). A breakdown below a descending channel’s resistance line points to a continuation of the decline momentum, while a break out above the channel’s resistance line can show a possible trend change. Continue reading...
What are Pivot Points?
Pivot points are quick-reference tools used in intra-day trading that give the trader benchmarks and perspective while short-term price movements happen. Pivot points are set by taking the high, low, and close price levels of a stock market index or individual security for the previous day or week and basing support and resistance levels from there by multiplying those numbers by simple factors. These multiple might be very simple, such as 2x or 3x, or using Fibonacci numbers, which is still a simple calculation if you have the Fibonacci numbers. These are meant to be very quickly generated on a piece of scratch paper, and because of their simplicity, they were a favorite among floor traders. Continue reading...