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Is there such a thing as the “NFL effect?”
The “NFL Effect” suggests that the outcome of the Super Bowl can foretell market behavior. Some market statisticians have analyzed the correlation between the behavior of the stock market and the winner of the Super Bowl, and suggest that the DJIA will go up or down depending on whether the winner was from the AFC conference or the NFC conference. While the Super Bowl indicator has been right 33 times out of 41, to serious investors, this correlation does not imply causality. You can find lots of other time-series which are also strongly correlated to the stock market performance, such as the number of sunny days in the previous year. Continue reading...
How Do You Accept Bitcoin Payments for Your Store?
Several services make it easy to accept bitcoin payments, or a programmer can help you set up your own node. The most convenient way to accept bitcoin payments as a merchant is to use the services made available by exchanges like Coinbase and Bitpay, who make it simple enough to add a button to your website and to accept payments in person via NFC and QR codes. These exchanges have established what is called Full Nodes on the blockchain, which are slightly more efficient than using regular client software on the blockchain, and have optimized them for merchant services. Continue reading...
What is the House Price Index (HPI)?
The House Price Index (HPI) tracks average prices of homes using data from sales and refinancing, tracking the data for the same residential properties over many years. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) publishes it quarterly and relies on data from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The HPI is an important index for the real estate and mortgage industry, as well as the economy as a whole. It uses information from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac about home sale prices and the refinancing value of homes, tracking the sales and refinancing prices of homes in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac databases, all the way back to 1978. They do this using a weighted repeat-sales method. It is published quarterly by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Continue reading...
What is a commodity pool?
Commodity pools are like the REITs of the commodity world, and some of them can be categorized as hedge funds or managed futures accounts (MFAs). Accredited investors, who meet qualifying requirements regarding income and total net worth, pool their money to be managed by a commodity pool operator (CPO) or commodity trading advisor (CTA) for the purpose of investing in commodities and commodity derivative instruments. Continue reading...
Who is a commodity trading advisor (CTA)?
A Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) is registered with the National Futures Association (NFA) to manage client funds in a managed futures account (MFA) or other pooled investment such as a hedge fund or commodity pool in which the primary instruments being used are commodity futures, swaps, and other commodities derivatives. CTAs are a particular type of money manager specializing in commodities. Commodities Trading Advisors (CTAs) are licensed to manage commodity pools, managed futures accounts, and commodity-based hedge funds on behalf of clients. Continue reading...
What is the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant?
The Federal Government will give college students who have filled out a FAFSA and are found to be in dire financial need a grant of up to $4,000 a year. The grant does not have to be repaid. The Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant provides funding for educational expenses to students with expected family contributions (EFCs). The maximum annual amount that can be received in a SEOG is $4,000 per student. Continue reading...
Who is a commodity trader?
Commodity traders must at least pass the FINRA Series 3 exam, which focuses on the commodities market exclusively. The term “trader” is often used in reference to the people at an investment firm who work on the actual trading desk, sometimes executing trade orders from the front office but also trading for the account of the firm and sometimes giving investment advice. Traders often have a role to seek out and engage in trades that will improve the portfolio of the firm at which they are employed and benefit the clients of the firm. Commodity traders could work for a commodity pool or they could be a commodity specialist at a firm focused on a wider variety of investing. Continue reading...
What Is Form 1099-NEC?
Form 1099-NEC, the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) designated form for reporting nonemployee compensation, plays a vital role in the financial landscape of businesses and independent workers alike. This article aims to demystify this crucial form, explaining its purpose, key features, and how to navigate it efficiently. Form 1099-NEC is the IRS's solution to the confusion surrounding income and compensation reporting. Before 2020, all nonemployee compensation was reported in box 7 of Form 1099-MISC, causing headaches for many payers who faced dual-filing deadlines. Continue reading...
What Are Non-Fungible Tokens(NFT) and Why Are They Important?
Dive Deep into the World of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)! Discover how these unique digital assets are transforming the very fabric of digital and real-world ownership. From revolutionizing art and gaming to democratizing high-value assets, NFTs are at the forefront of a digital revolution. Join us as we explore the vast potential, challenges, and future of NFTs in an interconnected digital age. Embrace the future, where ownership is not just a concept but a tangible, digital reality! Continue reading...
What Is the National Futures Association (NFA)?
The National Futures Association (NFA) is an independent, self-regulatory organization for the U.S. futures and derivatives markets. Designated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a registered futures association, the NFA's mandate is to safeguard the integrity of the derivatives markets, protect investors, and ensure that members fulfill their regulatory obligations. The NFA operates at no cost to the taxpayer and is primarily financed by membership dues, fees, and assessments paid by members and other users of the derivatives markets. Continue reading...
How Does Ethereum Work?
Ethereum uses a blockchain that looks very similar to Bitcoin’s until you get into the details. Ethereum is a platform on which transactions can be made using Ether or other tokens which have been made using the protocol, and smart contracts and decentralized applications (Ðapps) can be executed using the distributed computing power of what’s called the Ethereum Virtual Machine. When viewed from different angles, Ethereum is an open-source coding environment, a market upon which to distribute new blockchain-based applications, and a distributed computing machine that processes functions of the blockchain applications across a broad network. Distributed computing itself is not that new, but distributed computing on a blockchain is. Continue reading...
What Is a Payment Gateway?
At its core, a payment gateway is the technological bridge that enables businesses to accept payments from customers, primarily via debit or credit cards. This umbrella term encompasses the physical card-reading devices commonly seen in physical retail stores and the digital portals that facilitate online transactions. Moreover, as technology continues to advance, payment gateways now encompass innovative methods such as phone-based payments using QR codes or Near Field Communication (NFC) technology in physical stores. Continue reading...
Who Created Ethereum?
Who would have thought that a 19-year-old from Toronto could write a whitepaper nearly as influential as Satoshi Nakamoto’s (Bitcoin founder)? A few years after Bitcoin’s launch, a young programmer and student of blockchain technology named Vitalik Buterin wrote a whitepaper imagining the Ethereum platform. While Bitcoin’s blockchain was primarily designed to handle transaction information, Ethereum is designed to offer a blockchain protocol for anything that can be programmed, which includes wh... Continue reading...
How Does Capital Gains Tax Work? A Comprehensive Deep Dive
Unlock the mysteries of capital gains tax: How does it impact your investments, and what's the difference between short-term and long-term rates? Dive in to make informed financial decisions and optimize your investment strategy Continue reading...
How Do Odds Work in Betting?
If you're stepping into the world of betting, whether it's at a casino, in sports, or anywhere else, understanding odds is crucial. Smart betting requires a solid grasp of the main betting odds types and the ability to interpret their different formats. In this article, we'll explore the three primary betting odds formats: British (fractional), European (decimal), and American (money line). Continue reading...
Is there such a thing as the “pre-holiday effect?”
Pre-Holiday price fluctuations have been observed in many instances, but there a difference of opinion as to whether the markets are higher or lower just before holiday. Pre-Holiday Seasonality is the idea that prices will rise or fall before a holiday weekend in which the market will be closed for a day. When researching this phenomenon you may find colloquial wisdom stating that prices always rise before a holiday, but in actuality most of the evidence points the opposite direction: prices are most likely to close lower the day or two before a holiday weekend, and may remain low the day after the holiday, but this provides a possible opportunity to ride the upswing. Continue reading...
What Can a Blockchain Do?
Blockchain technology is already being used and developed for many important and impressive applications, and much more is yet to be discovered. Blockchains use distributed work to obtain consensus for changes to a distributed ledger. Because of their nature, blockchains are incredibly powerful tools that can be used in many realms and applications. They offer security in that they are almost unhackable; any attempted unauthorized changes to the system are immediately obvious to the entire system because it is built on agreement and consensus among its many nodes. Because this structure gives each addition to the ledger, and the record in the ledger, a high degree of integrity and security, future applications of blockchains are being researched in various fields around the world. Continue reading...
What is Form 1099-MISC?
IRS Link to Form — Found Here The 1099-MISC form is filed by the payer, which is the business (whether for-profit or not-for-profit) making the distributions or payments to an individual who is operating in a non-employee capacity as independent contractor. This form is also used to report rental income, royalties, and Indian gaming profits. Independent contractors are often used by businesses for various kinds of labor. These arrangements might be temporary or long-standing, but the business and worker have agreed that the contractor is not an employee, and does not have employee benefits. Continue reading...
Is there such a thing as a “presidential election cycle” impact on stocks?
Some analysts have popularized the notion that the 4-year presidential election cycle holds secrets to bear and bull markets. Found in publications such as the Stock Traders Almanac, The Presidential Election Cycle is the theory that different phases of the presidential term are correlated to broad market conditions. As will many such theories, it may not hold up under a lot of scrutiny, but there are some correlations to be found. Continue reading...