FXCM Forex Capital Markets provides 24 hour online currency trading service.  The online company professes to have over 100,000 live accounts.  FXCM also states on its online website that it is one of the largest and well-capitalized brokers.

Warning for Potential Investors

It is critically important to state clearly that investors dealing in trading in currencies take high risks with their investments.  Therefore professional advice should be taken before experimenting with any such investment tools.

FXCM Service Offerings

FXCM 24 hour online currency trading service offers the following:

• Trading accounts
• Investment programs
• Spreads and margins
• Trading Platform
• Charts and news
• Micro accounts

Each of these high risk offerings is discussed below.  It is important to seek independent professional investor advice before taking out such an investment.

FXCM 24 Hour Online Currency Trading Offering

Trading Accounts

The Trading Accounts offered by FXCM are numerous and are designed to meet a broad diversity of global currency investor needs.  They include the micro account, the mini account, the euro and pound account, CAD (Canadian Dollar) account, JPY (Japanese Yen) account, AUD (Australian Dollar) account, NZD (New Zealand Dollar) mini accounts & managed accounts.

Investment Programs

This series of webpage online currency trading offerings opens with a disclaimer.  This should emphasize how risky this type of investment is and thus how critical it is to seek professional independent advice.  This series of online trading currency offerings is a more boutique type high risk offering.

Spreads & Margins

This online section offers a typical offering of currency spreads and currency margins.  The trading currency offerings available cross a large selection of currencies.

Trading Platform

The online organization FXCM purports to offer a strong platform.  This area of the website is where you will find the free trading section game, as detailed in this article.

Charts & News

The charting options available via the chart and news section of FXCM’s online website appear to be significant.  This is complemented by a facility to bring the latest news to the investor.

Micro Accounts

The FXCM Micro Account offering is made by a division of FXCM which specializes in serving those investors who prefer to make slightly smaller sized investments.

FXCM offers free $50,000 practice trading account

If you have wanted to experiment with forex capital market trading, but understandably have not wanted to take the leap (due to the very substantial monetary risks involved with any form of currency trading) then this may be the answer.  The FSCM Forex Capital Markets 24 hour online currency trading service has a facility to play the currency markets with no risk (& no reward) via a computer online simulation.

Investing in Technology by Doctor Steve Bone is offers sound advice on how the technology business investor should invest in the technology market. Investing in Technology is a practical guide to the financial questioning techniques that technology investors should consider.

Doctor Bone’s 4 Key Questions for Making Technology Investments

Doctor Bone raises the following four key questions which a business must think about and answer before progressing with a technology investment:

1. Is it technically feasible?
2. What is the true value?
3. Does it fit with our technology strategy?
4. Can it be implemented by our firm

Doctor Bone’s 1st Question: Is it Technically Feasible?

Doctor Bone emphasises that it is important to ask the basic technology questions. For example the business investor should verify that the technology does not have any technological mistakes that have not been identified or addressed.

Doctor Bone’s 2nd question: What is the true value?

This question from Doctor Bone explores the value of the successful technology in a market place. The business investor should be able to assess this using various benchmarks and assumptions.

Doctor Bone’s 3rd question: Does it fit with our technology strategy?

This angle from Doctor Bone’s investing in technology book is all about alignment, namely would the addition of this technology investment to the existing business enhance it or destroy it. Simplistically you could view this as “1+1=3?” or “1+1=1?”.

Doctor Bone’s 4th question: Can it be implemented by our firm

This question by Doctor Bone is important for the investor to assess, since it is the implementation that often causes acquisitions to fail. It is therefore key to have a clear investment review of the technology roadmap of the business and how this acquisition would assist the business investor.

How to Read the Financial Pages by Michael Brett is one of the best books on how to understand the investment jargon contained within the financial pages.  The book is a practical guide to the financial jargon and explains some of the pitfalls in taking the financials at face value.

Focus on the London Stock Exchange

The investment book is focused on helping to explain and unravel the financial jargon in the British market at the London Stock Exchange.  The insights and knowledge that it provides are however applicable to most global stock exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange.

A Simple Guide to the Way Money Works… and the Jargon

The book’s strap line phrase is “A simple guide to the way money works and the jargon”.  The book does exactly this: it helps to tear away the mystery from the financial accounts and helps to explain to the investor reader what everything really means.

Putting the Financial Situation into an Historical Perspective

The book also acts as a type of history book for the investor.  It does this by putting major events of the British stock market into perspective.  This long-term view is valuable to the investor, since it can help individual investors knowing indications for good times to sell or buy shares.

Reading Between the Lines

The section on creative accounting in How to Read the Financial Pages is extremely insightful and helps provide the investor with a streetwise knowledge of the financials which are provided to the various stock markets around the globe.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

A Random Walk down Wall Street by Burton G. Malkiel is a highly informative book about the facts of investing.   As the strap phrase states, it provides a “time-tested strategy for successful investing”.  It is worth noting to the investor readers at the beginning that the Random Walk quote refers to the often irrational short-term stock price changes that occur in Wall Street.

Main Message to the Stock Market Investor

The main message to the investor readers is that almost anybody can make money from the stock market, as long as you follow the guidance in this book.  It also emphasises the importance of not

Other Key Investing Messages from A Random Walk Down Wall Street

• A Random Walk down Wall Street gives a theoretical background on “firm foundation theory”and “castle-in-the-air-theory”.  It then provides many examples of how investors often act irrationally and create market investment bubbles.  The key thing for the investor is to know when to get out of the bubble.
• Be wary of the numerous investor techniques that are sold to investors.  The book challenges many of these theories and investment techniques.  It creates some interesting investor reading for such theories as “the Super-Bowl indicator”; “January effect”; “Momentum investing”; “Dogs of the Dow” and “Hemline indicator”.
• Be wary of what the numbers or people tell you.  For example investors cannot tell when there has been creative accounting.  There is also the risk to investors that the investment advice being provided is being produced by incompetent sources.
• Fundamental investment techniques are useful, but try and also follow the approach of “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket”.  In the investors world this advice can be translated to “invest in index funds” and thus spread your investment risk.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

The Only Three Questions That Count is a great books about the technique of questioning yourself before committing to investments.

The Only Three Questions That Count

The main message to investor readers is that before you invest make sure you answer the only three questions that count. These are:

1. Which of my beliefs are false?
2. What can I understand that others cannot understand?
3. What cognitive illusions are fooling me now?

Each of these key 3 questioning techniques for the investor to make are covered below.

Question 1: Which of My Beliefs are False?

This investor questioning technique is designed to challenged our false underlying investor assumptions.  For example P/E ratios and financial accounts are not as clear cut as they may appear to investors.  There are many other examples of false investor assumptions, such as rising oil prices are bad for the economy and therefore the investor.  This is compulsive investor reading.

Question 2: What Can I Understand that Others Cannot Understand?

This investor questioning technique is designed to make the investor think outside of the investor box.  Its main message to the investor is that to beat the investment market the individual investor must have and use information which the rest of the investment market does not have.  The book acknowledges that it is difficult for the individual investor to spot what the crowd misses.

Question 3: What Cognitive Illusions are Fooling Me Now?

This investor questioning technique is designed to build on the old investor phrase “buy low & sell high”.  It is worth noting however that investors in investment markets often do exactly the opposite.

How to Make the Three Questions Investor Technique Work

The Only Three Questions That Count tries to emphasise that to make the three investor questions work an individual investor must always base their investment decisions on some fact.  It also emphasises how important investor discipline, investor benchmarking and many investment ratio techniques are all required to help the investor be successful in the investment markets.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

by C.F. Bergsten, B. Gill, N.R. Lardy & D. Mitchell

What Does the World Need to Know Now About the Emerging Superpower?

From an investor’s viewpoint, “China: The Balance Sheet” is a great book providing information on how to understand China.

“China; The Balance Sheet” provides ample viewpoints on China: it emphasises the complexities of China, and helps to unravel them. “China; The Balance Sheet”is essential reading for any investor thinking about investments in China.

Fundamental Investment Ideas that Changed Investor Viewpoints

Bernstein does a wonderful job of telling the story of how fundamental ideas about China have evolved in the mid twentieth century by explaining to the investor:

• Investors shouldn’t view China as a single entity (view China like Europe).
• Investors should be aware of the complex China – US relationship.
• Investors need to understand the economic facts (don’t believe the hype).

Each of these investment ideas is briefly covered below.

Investors Should Not View China as a Single Entity (View China Like Europe)

“China; The Balance Sheet“ emphasises how important it is not to view China as a single entity. China is a huge land mass with enormous differences across different regions. An investor would never treat Europe as a single entity, since each country is so different. China deserves a similar treatment from the investor.

Investors Should Be Aware of the Complex China – USA Relationship

Investors in China need to be aware of the economic relationship between China and USA. There are many economic dependencies between the two superpowers; these include debt, investments, balance of trade to name but a few. This book helps unravel this complex situation, which is important for potential investors to understand.

Investors Need to Understand the Economic Facts (i.e. Don’t Believe the Hype)

There is so much hype in the media about China that the investor needs to carefully understand the reality from the fantasy. This book helps unravel the economic situation from an investors point of view. The book certainly does not give the investor the “silver bullet”, but it does provide different viewpoints and an in-depth analysis.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The ACM tool is an online trading service in currencies & precious metals. This web based investor tool states that online users will benefit from a technologically advanced, secure and integrated trading platform.

Investor Warning

It is extremely important to emphasize that investors trading in currencies and precious metals take high risks with their investments. It is critical that professional advice is taking before experimenting with any such investment tools.

ACM Investor Conditions

ACM (Advanced Currency Markets) offers the following conditions to its investors:

• 1-2 pip spreads
• 1 click dealing
• no commission
• fully Islamic conditions
• Real Time profit and loss margins and data statements
• Real Time charts, news and analysis
• Guaranteed WYCIWIG fills
• 100 to 1 leverage
• Ability to trade in 14 languages

Advanced Currency Market Investor Offerings

Advanced Currency Markets (ACM) purports to be the global leader of online trading of currencies and precious metals. The Advanced Currency Markets organization offers four main offerings:

• ACM Advanced Trader
• ACM Advanced Web Trader
• ACM Advanced Flash Trader
• ACM Advanced Mobile Trader

Each of these trading facilities carries significant risk to the investor, professional independent advice is therefore critical before any decisions are taken. Each of the four investor offerings is briefly discussed below.

ACM Advanced Trader

This enables the investor to trade in currencies and commodities online. It is apparently based on professional software. ACM claims that the software features have been enhanced with extra analysis and investor charting tools. ACM claim that the information charts have all been developed with the investor in mind.

ACM Advanced Web Trader

ACM claim this version provides the user with enhanced flexibility. It enables the investor to trade online from a basic internet browser. It claims that no download is needed and that the platform allegedly even performs through a firewall.

ACM Advanced Flash Trader

This has been developed by ACM for the investor who seeks enhanced usability. The “Rich Internet Application” provides the investor with apparently top of the range technical features.

ACM Advanced Mobile Trader

For the investor who seeks extra mobility ACM have developed this version. It enables the investor to trade using WAP enabled mobile phones.

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is in our opinion one of the best books on the principles of value investing techniques. This book has been written by a person who was born at the end of the nineteenth century, yet many of his principles are still valid today. Benjamin Graham’s techniques and principles have also been used by the famous investor Warren Buffett.

Principal Message from the Intelligent Investor

The main message to the value investor reader is as true today in the twenty first century as it was to the investors of the twentieth century, namely:

• Do your investment homework! Do thorough research and investor analysis.
• Don’t follow the investor crowd! Sell when everyone is buying (& buy when everyone is selling).
• Be in for the long investment game, since short-term speculation seldom creates investor profits.

Be a Long-Term Intelligent Investor and Not a Short-Term Speculator

Benjamin Graham explains how investors come in two flavors. The first type of investor is the defensive type, who is a risk adverse investor. The second type is the enterprising (aggressive) investor type who is looking for an investment bargain.

Key Investing Messages from The Intelligent Investor

• Intelligent investors follow the market movements.
• Intelligent investors have clear portfolio strategies: defensive, aggressive or enterprising.
• Intelligent investors follow the investor rules for appraising investments.
• Intelligent investors need to assess shareholders and organisational management.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Common Sense on Mutual Funds by John C. Bogle is in our opinion one of the best books on techniques for long-term personal investment growth. The book is a practical guide for the personal investor on what constitutes common sense for long-term investment strategies.

Key common sense techniques for the Mutual Fund investor

The main message to the common sense investor readers are relating to the following investor techniques:-

• Common sense investors start investing early (and never stop investing)
• Common sense investors invest in mutual funds (especially index fund)
• Common sense investors do not need to invest in foreign markets
• Common sense investors know many mutual funds have marketing obsessions
• Common sense investors understand their own investor risk tolerance
• Common sense investors know to look at Mutual Fund costs

Each of these is briefly covered below.

Common Sense Investors Start Investing early (and Never Stop Investing)

To take long-term investment strategy seriously the investor needs to see investment as something an investor starts but never stops doing.

Common Sense Investors Invest in Mutual Funds (Especially Index Funds)

It is argued that it is a misconception that individual investments can beat the market in the long-term. Bogle argues that low-cost index funds are the best for the investor. It is worth noting however of Bogle’s involvement in low-cost index funds.

Common Sense Investors Do Not Need to Invest in Foreign Markets

The common sense American investor can benefit from growth in global markets by investing in global companies, which are quoted on the New York Stock Exchange. The same can be argued for British investors investing in the London Stock Exchange etcetera.

Common Sense Investors Know Many Mutual Funds Have Marketing Obsessions

It is argued that many Mutual Funds have become overly focused on promoting star fund managers. This approach is taken to often try and increase sales to investors, but is not necessarily in the interest of the investor.

Common Sense Investors Understand Their Own Investor Risk Tolerance

The common sense investor needs to understand their own investor risk profile (tolerance). This will then enable the common sense investor to invest in an appropriate mix of stocks (maximise returns); bonds (generating income) or cash (reduce risk).

Common Sense Investors Know to Look at Mutual Fund Costs

The common sense investor understands that it is important to look at the cost burden that mutual funds put back to investors (therefore decreasing overall investment returns).

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This book is in our opinion one of the best books on how to understand the five fundamental investment ideas for the modern era investor.

Capital Ideas Evolving by Peter L. Bernstein helps explain how the five fundamental investments ideas from the mid-twentieth century have shaped how we view investments. The ideas have withstood scrutiny and derision and have actually been enhanced by the numerous challenges they have faced, most notably by the behavioralists of the late twentieth century.

5 Fundamental Investment Ideas that Changed Investor Viewpoints

Bernstein does a wonderful job of telling the story of how the five fundamental investment ideas evolved in the mid twentieth century. He very eloquently explains to the investor reader how each of the human players developed the various five fundamental ideas (some of whom won Nobel Prizes for their work). It cannot be overstated how radical these five investment ideas were at the time.

The 5 fundamental investment ideas are:

1. Harry Markowitz - Portfolio Selection Theory based on risk
2. Modigliani & Miller - Theory of Capital Structure
3. Bill Sharpe - Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)
4. Eugene Fama - Efficient Market Hypothesis
5. Merton-Black-Scholes - Theory of Option Pricing

Each of these 5 fundamental investment ideas is briefly discussed below.

Harry Markowitz - Portfolio Selection Theory based on risk

Harry Markowitz’s radical investment approach of the day changed the fundamental assumptions made by investors. The Portfolio Theory emphasised the importance of risk in the portfolio of investments made by an investor.

Modigliani & Miller - Theory of Capital Structure

Nobel winners Franco Modigliani and Merton Miller again challenged conventional ideas of the time by the assumption that it did not matter how a company was financed. Modigliani and Miller believe that the value of the company is the same if it is valued by debt (borrowings) or equity (shareholder investment).

Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM)

Nobel winner Bill Sharpe’s Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) emphasised that capital prices do in fact reflect investment risk. CAPM explains how some types of risk are investment specific and can be diversified away by the investor. This is referred to in the theory as “alpha”. The other type of risk “beta” is based on the whole investment and cannot be diversified away.

Eugene Fama - Efficient Market Hypothesis

Eugene Fama’s idea on the efficient market hypothesis assumes that the price of an investment is already based on all known knowledge. It therefore implies investors will not be able to beat the market (since if the investor knows something, that knowledge is already priced into the stock value).

Merton-Black-Scholes - Theory of Option Pricing

Fischer Black, Myron Scholes and Robert Merton created the theory of option pricing, which enabled the market to have a theoretical basis for creating more complicated derivatives.

Summary Review of Capital Ideas Evolving

Capital Ideas Evolving manages to deliver its informative and educational messages in a very clear and concise way. As a consequence Peter L. Bernstein has delivered essential investor reading.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars