Forex Cafe Online

Investing in Technology Stocks

The infra structure of technology has not quite reached puberty. The very best is yet to come. In particular I am referencing Internet technology and mobile access to the world wide market place of information and support system that enables total remote access. Additionally, the use of technology in the field of medicine, health care and other related services.

The list of products and services in the pipeline of small, medium and large companies is astounding.
Within the field of technology is the corner stone of all the products is security software and services. The talk on Wall Street is that technology stocks are ripe for investing in todays market. This piece of information is noteworthy, but having watched the exuberance of gross gains in the last decade go blow , not all technology stocks are the same.

The specific areas that appear in my opinion to be situated well for future growth are in health care related stocks, multi-media and graphic software, security software, networking and communication devices and specialized areas of electronics. There are other categories, but these areas of technology are poised for future gains in my opinion.

Health Care Related Stocks:

Imagine the future of delivering health care services. The physician practicing in a remote town in Alaska who can consult with a specialist located at John Hopkins Medical Center. In real time the rural doctor can send and receive vital radiological and metabolic tests and results. Imagine medical scientists, physicians and university medical centers consulting on their data enable mobile phone devices. Some of these technologies exist today, but the future is going to be fantastic.

In the small cap arena several health care delivery stocks are generating interest. Mediware Information Systems is a $7 stock that will likely double in the foreseeable future. It trades under the stock symbol MEDW on the NASDAQ stock exchange. This relatively small company has a huge presence in the hospital services area. MEDW has three components in its software applications all that aid hospitals and physicians to track and modify drug orders, blood management and perioperative functions. These tools are used extensively in the United States and their application is being applied in other countries including African nations.

Another interesting low cost health care information technology stock is HLTH Corp. it trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker HLTH. The way most consumers recognize this health technology stock is by its subsidiary WebMD. HLTH Corp. is the data management behind WebMD. The company is diversified in that it has public services as well as private accounts for paid customers like Blue Cross Blue Shield. It also supports a payee and bill service for health care providers. The company is valued at 2.6 billion dollars and employs over 2200 employees. Its current price is $14.60 and the growth potential is solid.

Multi-Media & Graphic Stocks:

The name Konami may not be familiar to most people, but it is the underpinning to virtually all of the video games utilized on all platforms. Konami trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker KNM. Its primary function is the development, distribution, publishing and marketing of video games around the world. It is based in Tokyo and has been virtually unscathed by fluctuations in the Tokyo Exchange.

Recently it announced the development of a mobile platform for its most popular games that will be available on September 8, 2007 through AT& T and other mobile phone carriers. The video game industry is only going to get better. The stock sells for approximately $24 a share. Another stock to watch is Electronic Arts that trades under the ticker ERTS.

There are various ways to invest in the technology area. Some brokerage houses do offer technology index funds that include a cross section of technology companies. The other method is simply to pick stocks from the technology sector that offer sustained growth, good value and potential for the future.

Ask (Offer) - price of the offer, the price you buy for.

Bank Rate - the percentage rate at which central bank of a country lends money to the country’s commercial banks.

Bid - price of the demand, the price you sell for.

Broker - the market participating body which serves as the middleman between retail traders and larger commercial institutions.

Cable - a Forex traders slang word GBP/USD currency pair.

Carry Trade - in Forex, holding a position with a positive overnight interest return in hope of gaining profits, without closing the position, just for the central banks interest rates difference.

CFD - a Contract for Difference - special trading instrument that allows financial speculation on stocks, commodities and other instruments without actually buying.

Commission - broker commissions for operation handling.

CPI - consumer price index the statistical measure of inflation based upon changes of prices of a specified set of goods.

EA (Expert Advisor) - an automated script which is used by the trading platform software to manage positions and orders automatically without (or with little) manual control.

ECN Broker - a type of Forex brokerage firm that provide its clients direct access to other Forex market participants. ECN brokers don’t discourage scalping, don’t trade against the client, don’t charge spread (low spread is defined by current market prices) but charge commissions for every order.

ECB (European Central Bank) - the main regulatory body of the European Union financial system.

Fed (Federal Reserve) - the main regulatory body of the United States of America financial system, which division - FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) - regulates, among other things, federal interest rates.

Fibonacci Retracements - the levels with a high probability of trend break or bounce, calculated as the 23.6%, 32.8%, 50% and 61.8% of the trend range.

Flat (Square) - neutral state when all your positions are closed.

Fundamental Analysis - the analysis based only on news, economic indicators and global events.

GTC (Good Till Cancelled) - order to buy or sell of a currency with a fixed price or worse. The order is alive (good) until execution or cancellation.

Hedging - maintaining a market position which secures the existing open positions in the opposite direction.

Jobber - a slang word for a trader which is aimed toward fast but small and short-term profit from an intra-day trading. Jobber rarely leaves open positions overnight.

Limit Order - order for a broker to buy the lot for fixed or lesser price or sell the lot for fixed or better price. Such price is called limit price.

Liquidity - the measure of markets which describes relationship between the trading volume and the price change.

Long - the position which is in a Buy direction. In Forex, the primary currency when bought is long and another is short.

Loss - the loss from closing long position at lower rate than opening or short position with higher rate than opening, or if the profit from a position closing was lower than broker commission on it.

Lot - definite amount of units or amount of money accepted for operations handling (usually it is a multiple of 100).

Margin - money, the investor needs to keep at broker account to execute trades. It supplies the possible losses which may occur in margin trading.

Margin Account - account which is used to hold investor’s deposited money for FOREX trading.

Margin Call - demand of a broker to deposit more margin money to the margin account when the amount in it falls below certain minimum.

Market Order - order to buy or sell a lot for a current market price.

Market Price - the current price for which the currency is traded for on the market.

Offer (Ask) - price of the offer, the price you buy for.

Open Position (Trade) - position on buying (long) or selling (short) for a currency pair.

Order - order for a broker to buy or sell the currency with a certain rate.

Pivot Point - the primary support/resistance point calculated basing on the previous trend’s High, Low and Close prices.

Pip (Point) - the last digit in the rate (e.g. for EUR/USD 1 point = 0.0001).

Profit (Gain) - positive amount of money gained for closing the position.

Principal Value - the initial amount of money of the invested.

Realized Profit/Loss - gain/loss for already closed positions.

Resistance - price level for which the intensive selling can lead to price increasing (up-trend)

Settled (Closed) Position - closed positions for which all needed transactions has been made.

Slippage - execution of order for a price different than expected (ordered), main reasons for slippage are - “fast” market, low liquidity and low broker’s ability to execute orders.

Spread - difference between ask and bid prices for a currency pair.

Stop-Limit Order - order to sell or buy a lot when the market reaches certain price. Usually is a combination of stop-order and limit-order.

Stop-Loss Order - order to sell or buy a lot for a certain price or worse. It is used to avoid extra losses when market moves in the opposite direction.

Support - price level for which intensive buying can lead to the price decreasing (down-trend).

Technical Analysis - the analysis based only on the technical market data (quotes) with the help of various technical indicators.

Trend - direction of market which has been established with influence of different factors.

Unrealized (Floating) Profit/Loss - a profit/loss for your non-closed positions.

Useable Margin - amount of money in the account that can be used for trading.

Used Margin - amount of money in the account already used to hold open positions open.

Volatility - a statistical measure of the number of price changes for a given currency pair in a given period of time.