Success in stock and options trading requires knowledge, hard work, and discipline. It isn’t easy and it isn’t quick. But success in stock and options trading is quite achievable; you don’t have to be a rocket scientist. You don’t have to know “the secret”.

The pricing of stock and index options is rooted in probability distributions – the classic bell shaped curve. When I buy or sell an option, the price I pay or receive is derived from an estimate of the probability of that option’s worth at a point in the future. One of my favorite options strategies is the iron condor spread. Recently, I established an iron condor spread on the Russell 2000 Index (RUT) with 690/700 call spreads and 560/570 put spreads with the RUT at $633. The probability of the index closing at a value below $690 at expiration was 86% and the probability of RUT closing at a value above $570 at expiration was 91%. This looks like an excellent trade with a high probability of success.

If we were to construct a trade just like this every month, we could expect to achieve our maximum profit of $3,200 about 86% of the time, but take the maximum loss only 14% of the time – so far, so good. We can compute what is known as the “risk adjusted return” or the return we could expect on average over a large number of trades by:

Risk Adjusted Return = [(0.86) x (3200)] – [(0.14) x (16800)] = $400 or 2%

So we would expect to roughly break even or even lose a small amount over time after placing the iron condor spread on the Russell 2000 Index month after month. But this should not be surprising when we consider that the pricing of options is fundamentally rooted in the probability distributions.

So is all of this talk about options trading just a scam? Is it possible to make money trading options? As in many things in life, the answer is “Yes… and no”.

All options strategies, over time and many trades, will lead to the same result: a return close to zero or perhaps even a little negative after commissions and slippage. But it is possible to shift the probabilities in your favor. Assume for a moment that you have discovered a method of adjusting your iron condor spreads so that the maximum loss you take in the months where the index moves against you is limited to an amount equal to our maximum gain in a good month. Now our risk adjusted return equation looks much more promising:

Risk adjusted return = [(0.86) x (3200)] – [(0.14) x (3200)] = $2,304 or 14%

Now we have a trading system that has a probabilistic edge. In fact, this is consistent with the experience of many options traders who started trading the iron condor and thought they had found a wonderful high probability trading strategy. Then the market moved against them for one or two months and they found that they had lost more money than all of their gains to date.

In fact, profitably trading the iron condor, or any options strategy, is quite feasible. But it is only feasible when you have a robust risk management system incorporated into your trading plan. Beware the marketing of the “best” trading strategy that is going to solve all of your problems. That is an illusion.

Of course there is no such thing as a dead cert, and it is this very thing that makes it so exciting. Sport in itself can be an adrenaline roller-coaster ride which when combined with the added excitement of a sports bet can transcend all action on the pitch and spill over into your own armchair as you watch the game unfold from the comfort of your own home.

Baseball is a great example of this type of sport that can gain momentum during a game but continue with the excitement right up to the end. So, whatever your experience of sport or indeed of sports betting, baseball would be a great way to enjoy a sports bet, so long as a few basic principles are adhered to.

1) Bet what you can afford.

The first principle that should always be kept to whatever the circumstances is that you should always bet with an amount of money that you can afford to lose. As with all bets, sporting or not, nothing is a certainty so whilst a win is great, a loss should also not mean the end of the world. After all where is the fun in that.

2) Have patience.

Baseball betting is interesting in that a series can go on for maybe 3 games played on different evenings or perhaps even a double-header where 2 games may be played one after the other. Sometimes depending on the type of bet a sports trade may take place over a period of a few days or maybe even over the period of a few weeks. Therefore, the second thing to learn whilst sports betting, particularly on baseball is to have patience.

3) Use the internet.

Technology has change the way that sports betting has developed over the last ten years and these days the internet is king when it comes to placing a sports bet from the comfort of your own home. You could be anywhere in the world and via your laptop place a bet on a baseball game thousands of miles away. This is a great way to enjoy the excitement of the bet whilst being in total control of your bet and your bank.

4) Know when to stop.

Perhaps the the most important thing to remember when betting on a sports event such as baseball is to enjoy the experience but be prepared to stop if necessary. If your bank is getting low or the results are not going your way then just stop. Take a break from the betting and enjoy the sport. Reassess the betting strategies you are using and maybe adapt or tweak them accordingly.

Some people use specific strategies to bet on baseball and some simply spread bet or go for a hunch. Whichever bet you go for don’t forget that feeling of excitement can only match that of the game itself if you enjoy it sensibly.

There are 5 Greeks involved and we share go through them one by one.

Delta: The speed of the option’s price gain or loss against the gain or loss of the ‘mother’ or underlying asset price is known as the Delta. The Delta is a figure that shows us how fast or slow the option will move relative to its ‘mother’ or underlying asset. A Delta of 1 means the option price is moving at the same speed and direction as the ‘mother’ or underlying asset. A Delta of -1 means the option price is moving in the opposite direction for every point the ‘mother’ or underlying asset moves.

The probability of an option expiring in-the-money is also expressed in the Delta. An at the money call option has a Delta of 0.5; i.e., 50%, meaning a 50% chance of expiring in the money. A deep in the money call will have a Delta of near 1, or 100%, meaning a near 100% chance of expiration in the money. A very out-of-the-money call option will have a Delta of close to zero, meaning a near zero chance of expiring in the money.

*Shanmukha Rao. Padala  **Dr. N. V.S. Suryanarayana

INTRODUCTION:

            The earlier days’ concept is, the managers focused on ‘today’s decisions for today’s business’. However, the rapid change experienced by companies has made the managers to anticipate the future and prepare for it. They have prepared systems, procedures and manuals and evolved budgets and planning and control systems, which included capital budgeting and management by objectives. The inadequacy of these techniques has led to the emergence of long range planning which in turn gives rise to strategic planning and subsequently to strategic management.

            Strategic management deals with decision making and actions which determine an enterprise’s ability to excel survive or die by making the best use of firms’ resources in a dynamic environment. The main purpose of study of strategic management is to examine why some organizations succeed while others fail and yet others completely change. Before going to discussing about strategic management, it is necessary to point out on ‘Strategy’ in this chapter.

            Strategy is the overall plan of a firm deploying its resources to establish a favourable position and compete successfully against its rivals. Strategy describes a framework for charting a course of action. It explicates an approach for the company that build on its strengths and is a good fit with the firm’s external environment. It is basically intended to help firms achieve competitive advantage. Competitive advantage allows a firm to gain an edge over rivals when competing. Competitive advantage comes from a firm’s unique ability to perform activities more distinctively and more effectively than rivals. A firm’s distinctive competence or unique ability here implies, those special capabilities, skills, technologies or resources that enable a firm to distinguish itself from its rivals and create competitive advantage (such as superior quality, design skills, low-cost manufacturing, superior distribution etc.).

            The term ‘terrain’ is highly relevant in explaining the concept of strategy more clearly. From a business sense, terrain refers to markets, segments and products used to win over customers. The essence of strategy is to match strengths and distinctive competence with terrain in such a way that one’s own business enjoys a competitive advantage over rivals competing in the same terrain. The basic premise of strategiy, as things stand now, is that an adversary can defeat a rival- even a large, more powerful one- if it can manoeuvre a battle or engagement on to a terrain favourable to its own capabilities. The term ‘Capability’ refers to the ability or capacity of a bundle of resources deployed by a firm to perform an activity.

The word strategy came from the Greek word ‘strategy’, which means a ‘general’. At that time, strategy literally meant the art and science of directing military forces. Today strategy is used in business to describe how an organization is going to achieve its objectives. Strategic management may be defined as a systematic approach to positioning the business in relation to its environment to ensure continued success and offer security from surprises. While no approach can guarantee continuous success and total security, an integrated approach to strategy formulation, involving all levels of management, can go some way in this direction. In simple words strategy can be defined as ‘Strategy is ideas and actions to conceive secure the ‘Future’.

DEFINING AND EXPLAINING STRATEGY:

            Management is an art as well as science. Many of the concepts used in building management theory have been derived from practice. Unlike the pure sciences which have their foundation in experimental research, management studies draw upon the practical experiences of managers in defining concepts. Business policy is rooted in the practice of management and has passed through different phases before taking its shape in the from strategic management. One of the earliest contributors to this yoiung subject was Alfred D Chandler.

Alfred D Chandler (1962)

            Chandler made a comprehensive analysis of interrelationships among environment, strategy, and organizational structure. He analysed the history of organizational change in 70 manufacturing firms in the US. While doing so, Chandler defined strategy as: “The determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise and the adoption of the course of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals”. Note that Chandler refers to three aspects:

Kenneth Andrews (1965)

            Andrews belongs to the group of professors at Harvard Business School who were responsible for developing the subject of business policy and its dissemination through the case study method. Andrew defines strategy as: “The pattern of objectives, purpose, goals and the policies and plans for achieving these goals stated in such a way so as to define what business the company is in or is to be and the kind of company it is or to be”. This definition refers to the ‘business definition’, which is a way of stating the current and desired future position of company, and the objectives, purposes, goals, major policies and plans required to take the company from where it is to where it wants to be.

Igor Ansoff (1965)

            Professor Ansoff is a well-known authority in the field of strategic management and has been a prolific writer for the last three decades. In one of his earlier books, Corporate Strategy (1965), he explained the concept of strategy as: “The common thread among the organisation’s activities and product-markets….. that defines the essential nature of business that the organization was or planned to be in future”.

            Ansoff has stress on the commonality of approach that exists in diverse organizational activities including the products and markets that define the current and planned nature of business.

William F Glueck (1972)

            Another well-known author in the area of strategic management was Glueck, who was a Distinguished Professor of Management at the University of Georgia till his death in 1980. He defined stragety precisely as: “A unified, comprehensive and integrated plan designed to assure that the basic objectives of the enterprise are achieved”. The three adjectives which Glueck has used to defined a plan make the definition quite adequate. ‘Unified’ means that the plan joins all the parts of an enterprise together, ‘comprehensive’ means it covers all the major aspects of the enterprise, and ‘integrated’ means that all parts of the plan arte compatible with each other.

Henry Mintzberg (1987)

            Mintzberg of McGill University is a noted management thinker and profile writer on strategy. He advocates the idea that strategies are not always the outcome of rational planning. They can emerge from what an organization does without any formal plan. He defines strategy as: “a pattern in a stream of decisions and actions”. Mintzberg distinguishes between intended strategies and emergent strategies. Intended strategies refer to the plans that managers develop, while emergent strategies are the actions that actually take place over a period of time. In this manner, an organization may start with a deliberate design of strategy and end up with another form of strategy that is actually realized.

Michael E Porter (1996)

            Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School has made invaluable contributions to the development of the concept of strategy. His ideas on competitive advantage, the five-forces model,k generic strategies, and value chain are quite popular. He opines that the core of general management is strategy, which he elaborates as: “….. developing and communicating the company’s unique position, making trade-offs, and forging fit among activities”.

            Strategic position is based on customers’ needs, customers’ accessibility, or the variety of a company’s products and services. A company’s unique position relates to choosing activities that are different from those of the rivals, or to performing similar activities in different ways. However, a sustainable strategic position requires a trade-off when the activities that a firm performs are incompatible. Creation of fit among the different activities is done to ensure that they relate to each other.

            It must be noted that the different approaches referred to above to define strategy cover nearly a quarter of a century. This is an indication of what a complex concept strategy is and how various authors have attempted to define it. To put it in another way, there are as many definitions as there are experts. The same authors may change the approach they had earlier adopted. Witness what Ansoff said 19 years later in 1984 (his earlier definition is of 1965): “Basically, a strategy is a set of decision-making rules for the guidance of organizational behaviour”.

ANALYSIS OF DEFINITIONS OF STRATEGY:

The analysis of various definitions of strategy presents the following points:

ELEMENTS OF A STRATEGY:

            Any coherent strategy should have four important elements:

CRITERIA FOR EFFECTIVE STRATEGY:

Although each strategic situation is unique, there are some common criteria that tend to explain an effective strategy. Criteria for effective strategy include:

KEY AREAS IN DEVELOPING A STRATEGY:

The managers have to consider the following key areas in developing a strategy:

BUSINESS ETHICS:

            Ethics is defined as the discipline dealing with good and bad and with moral duty and obligations. Business ethics is concerned with truth, justice and a variety of aspects such as the expectations of society, fair compensation, advertising, public relations, social responsibilities, consumer autonomy and corporate behaviour at home country and abroad. Managers and top management have a responsibility to institutionalize ethics by framing a code of ethics for the organization.

            Fred R. David defined the term business ethics as, “Conduct or actions within organizations that constitute and support human welfare”. Good business ethics is a prerequisite for good strategic management through it is also said that there is no room for ethics in business. However, there is a rising tide of consciousness about the significance of business ethics. Strategies are primarily responsible for assuring that high ethical principles are accepted and practiced in an organization. All strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation decisions have ethical ramifications.

            A business code of ethics can provide a basis on which politics can be guide daily behaviour and decision at the work site. Organizations need to conduct periodic ethics workshops to ensure that all the employees understand them in true spirit and ensure the implementation properly. Code of ethics spell out the standards of behaviour expected of all managers and employees.

            Gelleman offers a piece of advice for martagers: “All managers risk giving too much because of what their companies demand from them. But the same superiors who keep pressing you to do more, or to do it better, or faster, or less expensively, will turn on you should you cross that fuzzy line between right and wrong. They will blame you for exceeding instructions or for ignoring their warnings. The smartest managers already know that the best answer to the question, ‘How far is too far?’ is don’t try to find out”.

            Drucker, offers a piece of advice for managers: “A man (or woman) might know too little, perform poorly, lack judgment and ability, and yet not do too much damage as manager. But, it that person lacks in character, and integrity – no matter how knowledgeable, how brilliant, how successful – he destroys. He destroys people, the most valuable resource of the enterprise. He destroys spirit. And he destroys performance. This is particularly true of the people at the head of an enterprise. For the sprit of an organization is created from the top. If an organization is great in spirit, it is because the spirit of its top people is great. If it decays, it does so because, the top rots; as the proverb has it, “Trees die from the top”. No one should even become a strategist unless he or she is willing to have their character serve as the model for subordinates”.

Gene Laczniak’s fourteen ethical propositions are presented as follows:

10.  The lower the organizational level of a manager, the greater the perceived pressure to act unethically.

11.  Individual managers perceive themselves as more ethical than their colleagues.

12.  Effective codes of ethics should contain meaningful and clearly stated provisions, along with enforced sanctions for noncompliance.

13.  Employees must have a nonpunitive, fall-safe mechanism for reporting ethical abuses in the organization.

14.  Every organization should appoint a top-level manager or director to be responsible for acting as an ethical advocate in the organization.

These propositions enable strategists to deal with the subject of business ethics with confidence. Personal financial gain is an underlying motive for many cases of unethical conduct in organizations.

History has proved that greater the trust and confidence of the people in ethics of an institution or society, the greater its economic strength. Business relationships are mostly built on mutual trust, confidence and reputation. Therefore managers should formulate code of ethic and make themselves sure that these ethics are followed in strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation.

Some people call business ethics an oxymoron- a ceoncept that combines opposite or contradictory ideas. Other people believe the corporate world divided into so-called ethical corporations with “good intentions” and most of the rest of the world. These ‘evil’ corporations are led by businessmen who are ascribed the most selfish motivations to grow their wealth at all costs.

The modern business ethics movement was born the late 1970s, part of the post-Watergate reform movement. Ethics is defined as the consensually accepted standards of behaviour for an occupation, trade, or profession. Business ethics is based on broad principles of integrity and fairness and focuses on internal stakeholder issues such as product quality, customer satisfaction, employee wages and benefits, and local community and environmental responsibilities. These are issues that a company can actually influence.

These, on the face of it seem to be reasonable requirements, yet why are many business people perceived to be acting unethically? Perhaps Mark Twain has provided the answer, he once said, “The secret of success is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake these, you’ve got it made.”

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:

            Social responsibility determines whom the organization should serve, and how the direction and purposes of the organization should be determined. Advocates of corporate social responsibility view the stakeholders in a larger perspective of the organisation’s and argue that business organizations must not only maximize profit but also contribute to the communities in which they operate.

            “We will not either buy from or sell to companies” that do not measure up to Tata Steel’s social responsibility stands, Mr. B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel Ltd, said at the 15th anniversary of The Institute of Directors, recently. In the context of this increasing awareness of corporate responsibility and Tisco’s value systems, it is not surprising that Mr. Muthuraman gave this assurance. But what are these standards of social responsibility?

            At this broadest, the term is used to capture the whole set of values, issues and processes that companies must address in order to minimize any harm resulting from their activities, and to create economic, social and environmental value. This requires that before a corporation decides on an action, it must try to predict which stakeholders will be affected by given actions. The form of the interaction between a corporation and its stakeholders should be such that is a clear understanding of the anticipated effects of the corporation’s actions on those stakeholders.

            For example, Nestle aggressively marketed its infant formula in Eat Africa. Nestle’s failure to anticipate that the lack of availability of clean water lead mothers to dilute it in contaminated water, resulted in the death of thousands of infants. The development of a corporation’s moral imagination, or its ability to “envision the potential help and harm that are likely to result from a given action”, should be informed by scientific and social modes of rationality. In Nestle’s cse, a failure to do so led to tragic results.

            Companies develop strategies where they voluntarily integrate social and environmental concern in their business operation. Organizations that are exemplary within one domain, e.g., environment or employee relations, can exhibit egregious behaviour in another, e.g., community relations or product quality. Corporate practices affect stakeholders and their environment, but no one practice can be said to fully define a company’s responsibly. Making that assessment, even if we all agreed on a definition, always is a judgment call in the face of complexity and dynamism. The question that arises is, ‘Responsible to whom’?

            For example, a business organization may decide to use only recycled materials in its manufacturing processes. This may have a positive effect on environmental groups, but may have a negative effect on the bottom line. Shareholders who depend on dividends from the organization for their survival may be negatively affected.

            It should clear to advocates of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that given the wide range of interests and concerns present in a business organisation’s work environment, one or more groups at any one time will probably be unhappy with the organisation’s activities; even when the organization is trying to be socially responsible. CSR is about putting out a quality product at reasonable prices; treating employees, vendors, franchisees, and investors fairly; acting responsibility towards the local environment and community; and most of all, embracing transparency in operations and accountability to critics, internal and external.

            The critics of CSR should understand the CSR is not about corporations simply “giving away” money which rightly belongs to other people. CSR is about building relationships with customers, about attracting and retaining talented staff, about managing risk, and about assuring reputation. Therefore, before making a strategic decision, management should consider how each option will affect various stakeholder groups. What may initially seem the best option may actually result in the set of consequences.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY:

            Corporate social responsibility is more commonly addressed as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It determines whom should the organization be there to serve, and how the direction and purposes of the organization should be determined. The difference between Corporate Governance and CSR is that CSR is inherently multidimenstional and has a more external focus, or considering a wide range of stakeholders. On addition to its shareholders, an organization also interacts with employees, customers, public authorities, non-governmental organizations, all of which entertain differing, but have a stake in well-being of the organization. Academic thinking about corporate citizenship has made significant progress over the past 35 years or so. So has corporate responsibility – from a company perspective. However, there are different views. Milton Friedman argues against the concept of corporate responsibility. Cutting product prices to prevent inflation, or making expenditures to reduce pollution, or hiring hardcore unemployed, all for social good, according to him, makes the business organization inefficient. Either prices go up to pay for these social costs or new investments and R&D are affected. According to Friedman, “There is one and only one social responsibility of business – to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud”.

            According to Archie Carroll, business organizations have four responsibilities, legal, ethical and discretionary, in order of priority. Carroll defines CSR to include both the ethical and discretionary responsibilities. His position is that to the extent business organizations fail to acknowledge discretionary or ethical responsibilities, society, through Government will act making them legal responsibilities. The risk involved is that it may do so, without regard to the organisation’s economic responsibilities. Therefore, it is important that business organizations self regulate their responsibilities to avoid such a situation and ensure survival.

            Ethical behaviour, he argues, is based on what society values and is yet to be put into law. Discretionary behaviour of today may become ethical requirements of tomorrow. This depends on the changing values of society. For example, traditionally companies have followed a stringent reporting system of its financial position, whereas environmental and social obligations have pushed onto the backburner. But today the triple bottom line way has become a norm with corporate houses worldwide. The term ‘triple bottom line’ is used as a framework for measuring and reporting corporate performance against economic, social and environmental parameters.

            Both Friedman and Carroll argue their positions based on the impact of CSR on the organisation’s profits. While Friedman argue that social responsibilities hurt the business organisation’s efficiency. Carroll proposes that lack of social responsibility reduces the business organisation’s efficiency, by inviting increased government regulations. Friedman’s theory is based on a limited view of who the stakeholder is. He seems to accept that stakeholders are those who have put their capital into the organization, while Carroll ambiguous on this point. It is, therefore, not surprising that research has failed to consistently support either position. There seems to be no clear relationship established between financial performance and social responsibility in the many studies that have been made on this subject.

            However, what is important to understand is that as CSR is not a legal requirement, therefore, it is the strategy of the organization. Organizations adopt CSR because they perceive that it enhances the long term value of its assets and adds to stakeholder confidence.

            There is a realization that increasing industrialization of modern society has led to the emergence of a risk society. In contrast to early industrial society where the hazards were generally limited to their places of origin, the risks generated by advanced industrial society are rarely delimited by space or time. The risks include both global environmental threats such as nuclear radiation, chemical waste, the toxic contamination of air, water, and food, and more generally, the destructive side-effects of industrial processes and products. In addition, other risks to the stakeholders include quality and reasonable prices of products; and more of all the transparency in operations and accountability.

            Economic progress without social development is not sustainable, while social development without economic progress is not feasible. Economic progress brings in a society in a risk society in its wake. The question is whether organizations responsible for these risks should bear the burden or should the Government and civil society bear this burden? It is recognized now that the world’s key challenges cannot be met by Governments, business or civil society alone. There is a need for organizations to recognize that there has to be concerted attempt by all; together, they can find solutions. This implies that business has some corporate responsibility for social development.

            Critics Scoff at the notion that a corporation, driven by profit, might also be interested in helping develop society in which it does business. In the words of one Mongolian analyst, “Robert Friedland is a businessman, not a philanthropist”. But in order to be a businessman today, you must be a philanthropist as well. It is considered a part of corporate responsibility as it can result in greater economic efficiency. There is a growing value people place on corporate social and environmental action. The manifestation of this trend is increasingly found in the choices consumers make. Some benefits that accrue can provide business organizations a competitive advantage:

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORIES:

            The corporate responsibility theories and related approaches are classified into four groups.

               A number of studies have been conducted to determine the correlation between corporate social responsibility and corporate financial performance.

SUMMARY:

               Strategy is a determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals. The strategy should have the following four important elements: goals, scope, competitive advantage and logic. Strategy implementation consists of four steps namely: Designing appropriate organizational structure, Designing control systems, Matching strategy, structure and control and Managing conflicts, politics and change. There are three approaches viz., Rational-analytical, Intuitive emotional and Behavioural-political to strategic decision-making process.

               Ethics is a discipline dealing with good and bad with moral duty and obligations. Business ethics is concerned with trust, justice and a variety of aspects such as the expectations of society for compensation, advertising, public relations, social responsibilities, consumer autonomy and corporate behaviour at home country and abroad. Social responsibility is the capture the whole set of values, issues and processes that companies must address in order to minimize any harmful resulting from their activities, and to create economic, social and environmental values.

1. Understand that there’s always losing a trades.

Losing in forex market is normal; you are unable to resist it but to accept it. Over confidence traders stand to lose more due to their mentally cannot accept losing. Winning in a straight line is called “lucky”. Never assume to win all trades.

2. Never increase lot size in losing positions.

Cut your losses when you realize a losing trade. Accept the lost and start if a new trade. Never increase lot size in losing trade because you will never know the market movement direction. Save your ammo for the new trade.

3. Give instruction to your broker to close losing trade.

All live account will have a broker put in-charge. Instruct them to automatic close the losing trade for you. Remember that all trade must have a stop loss position to prevent from running away. The next you might know is that your account was swipe out while you are sleeping. Normally your broker will alert margin call on your account, which will stop it from preventing it going to negative.

4. Trade carefully

Trade along with the moving trends if you are inexperienced. Never predict the market will go upwards or downwards. Go along with the flow and exit the trade when market begins to turn.

5. Don’t get emotion into trade

If you lose, means you lose. The forex market is as fickler minded as a play boy’s mind. No point having relation on your trade. Remember that market is volatile, always make a decision before entering a trade.

6. Forex is not a get rich scheme…

You might have heard a lot of story on becoming a millionaire on trading forex. It’s true but that come with a tough history. Take your time to study about forex trading and do all research that you need to know. One step by step at a time. I’m sure you will success one day.

7. Make decision by yourself

Making a decision is very important. The decision you make might be a wrong decision but you will learn the lesson. Rather than asking tips from stranger whether the market will be going up or down. Ended up, you will learn nothing at all. Be responsible on what decision you made.

Learn from those who fail and those who success. This will give you a great experience in your future trading journey.

Now I don’t look back and blame the stock market. The fault wasn’t in the London Stock Exchange, but in the way I viewed ‘investing’. That was the problem.

Developing a fundraising strategy is similar in many ways to making a financial investment. Any financial advisor will tell you there are right ways to make an investment and wrong ways. There is also no single, ‘perfect’ way to invest. Ultimately, many investments are a matter of risk assessment and personal choice.

Diversify Risk When you think about fundraising do you think about diversifying your risk? Do you think about investing time and money today to reap rewards years into the future? Or are you just looking for the easy option?

I meet many charity trustees and executives who are looking for a fast and generous return on their fundraising. What’s the big secret they ask? What will make our fundraising successful? In most cases they’re asking me because they’ve been running out of funds – and have been for some time! Sometimes it feels like they’re asking me to cash in a savings account that they haven’t been putting money into!

When thinking about your fundraising strategy, why not treat it like an investment portfolio? What are the current trends? What are your high-risk, high-return options? What’s a safe bet? What are the long term gains?

There are plenty of fundraising options available. I’ve put together a list that will help you see what areas you have covered and what other opportunities you can work on. I’ve also included my own personal overview on each section, though these are meant only as introductions.

A. Institutions

The staple diet of most charities, invaluable for smaller start-ups. Plenty of form-filling here so you’ll need to either get your head down or find someone who’ll do the dirty work for you. If you’re new to this area don’t jump straight in thinking it’s easy. There are ways and means to target institutions and apply for funding. Buying a good directory is just the beginning. Make sure you meet the institutions aims and requirements before applying and be creative. A good mix of emotive writing along with clear and specific plans and you’re on the right track.

B. Events

Events are usually the first thing the general public think of when they think of fundraising. There are plenty of independent event companies you can partner with. Just don’t expect all your event sponsors to turn into long-term commitments.

C. Corporate

Businesses often have their own personal agendas. Big brands usually want a big brand charity to match. It will save you time and effort finding out if your charity’s services fit into their plans before writing a long appeal letter. Local companies will always prefer to support a local charity. There’s lots of information on the web about tax incentives for corporate giving and Give As You Earn. See www.cafonline.org for information on this and other tax incentives.D. Individual Giving

Individual Giving is the big one. For established charities these five disciplines are the bread and butter of their existence. For smaller growing charities this type of fundraising should be your goal. Invest in Individual Giving and reap the future benefits.

E. New Media

As in the name, this area of fundraising is relatively new. Plenty of testing is underway at present – many failures and some successes. Take what new media companies say with a pinch of salt and do your own research. But don’t dismiss this kind of fundraising. With the success of X-factor and Big Brother style voting, responding by text and telephone won’t be going away.

F. Trading & Gaming

Gaming is potentially a great source of fundraising – just make sure you know all about the Gaming Board for Great Britain (now called the Gambling Commission). See www.gbgb.org.uk for more information.

Trading can help build the brand of your charity but remember you’re also competing against the commercial sector as well as other charities. Keep an eye on the rewards versus the effort – you maybe better off putting your resources elsewhere. One last tip if you are trading, whatever you’re selling don’t forget to ask for a donation too! It’s amazing how many charities miss this simple opportunity.

Spread the Risk When constructing your fundraising strategy you will want to weigh all the pros and cons of the disciplines mentioned. Remember, diversification is key. But how you allocate the proportions of your budget will be completely up to you.

Good luck!

© Jon Ireland, Flying Kite, 2009  Jon Ireland has a post-graduate diploma from the Institute of Direct Marketing and the Institute of Copywriting.

Additional credit and thanks to Susan Wilders at Friends of the Earth.

If you are someone who is expecting to become very rich overnight by trading currency, then I am sorry to say you have got it all wrong. You have to take one step at a time. Be prepared to invest a lot of time into studying and understanding this trade before you set out with your money to invest. Just remember, start by absorbing as much knowledge about the market as possible, so as to lay a smoother route towards a successful Forex trading.

It is compulsory for you to at least familiarize with the different kinds of orders so as to open and close trades. Learn to use the tools available to you, like the charts and graphs which can help you to better analyse the market trends and hence, enable you to plan you next move. You have to be swift and know the right time to trade, this is very crucial to your success. So it is apparent to all that if you could make use of the visual tools effectively, you will not be too far away from your preferred destination.

Just as important in learning to use the analyze tools, you are expected to know how the Forex trading software function in the foreign exchange trading system. There is not other more direct way to get use to using the software but to constantly use it and master the way in plotting a course through the process.

Next, getting a reliable Forex broker is another important step. Choose someone who is experienced and honest, he or she could help you a lot in the trading and could actually teach you about the trade along the way. Usually these brokers also provide a demo account, so that you can practice how to trade first before the real investment.

Finally, the most crucial part to succeed in this path is you. You need to have the patience and the self-discipline to make it work. To say it again, this foreign exchange trading will not make you rich overnight. You just have put in more effort in learning and time is an important factor here.