What Do BRIC and MINT Mean in Financial Trading?

Have you ever heard the terms BRIC or more recently MINT countries? If you’re looking to get into the financial trading game, you just might need to know what they are and how they work. Why are they important?

BRIC Countries

So let’s start with the BRIC countries, since they’re the ones that have seen the most interest from those in the financial trading game over the past decade. The BRIC countries first came to the attention of the financial trading community in 2001; the term was coined by celebrated economist Jim O’Neill

BRIC is in fact an acronym for four countries. These countries are Brazil, Russia, India and of course China. So why did O’Neill decide to bring so much attention to these emerging economies back in 2011.

Because they were emerging. Back in 2001 these countries were all enjoying favourable (and similar) economic climates. At the time it indicated a global shift in economic power due to population growth, eligibility to work, economic strength and availability to natural resources.

These are the factors that provided them with room for economic growth. They had more materials and a growing population to turn these materials into products that westerners would want to buy in their droves.

They basically had more potential than the western G7 countries, which were seen as the most economically wealthy in the world, because they had more room to grow. The G7 countries had already been growing and had less potential room for more growth.

This is why they were and somewhat continue to be important to know about in financial trading. The next decade saw the BRIC countries (especially Chia) grow leaps and bounds economically. Today they occupy a significant place on the global economic stage and you have to watch what happens with these countries to truly capitalise in financial trading opportunities.

The economic power of these nations is now somewhat waning. They still have power, but a decade of unprecedented growth has now been confronted by the reality of growing your economy. It has consequences. China last year experienced its slowest rate of growth in 14 years and Russia and India have recently been plagued with financial issues.

MINT Countries

So now we turn our attention to the MINT countries. Again an acronym, the four countries in question are: Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey. These are the new emerging economic powers to watch as we enter the second half of the decade.

There are two reasons O’Neill has turned his attention to the MINT countries. Firstly, they all have a positive ratio of people eligible to work against people not working over the next two decades. More workers mean more products to export, fostering more opportunities meaning greater scope for growth.

However these countries are also often seen as strong contenders for economic growth because of their geographical location. Take Mexico. It has capitalized on emerging US interest in its capabilities but is also in a great position to take advantage of rising Latin American economic activity.

This is why the Academy of Financial Trading suggests that you be watching both the BRC and MINT countries right now. They have more potential than G7 nations and are likely to keep on expanding. There’s money to be made in these countries.

LINKS TO INFO: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25548060, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/10580108/How-to-invest-in-the-Mint-emerging-markets.html

Why is the US Stimulus Such A Big Deal for Financial Trading?

You cannot even open a financial newspaper these days without hearing about the withdrawal of the US stimulus package and what it means for emerging markets. This is why the Academy of Financial Trading wants to clear up just why the US stimulus is a big deal for online trading.

The US Stimulus Scheme is a monthly bond buying programme set in place by the US Federal Reserve; the US’ key organisation when it comes to national financial policy. The scheme was put in place in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, which hit the US particularly hard. It was designed to shore up their flailing economy.

However the US wasn’t the only country affected positively by the scheme. The nature of government bond buying, which is where governments borrow money from investors for projects and activities it needs to finance, meant that emerging economies were boosted to. This was because the scheme facilitated a greater flow of cash to said economies.

However we are not living in 2009 anymore. Last year saw several signs that indicate that the US economy is in recovery, US job creation was stronger than it’s been in a while, their housing market had finally started growing again etc.

This news prompted speculation that the stimulus would be withdrawn; after all what’s the point of borrowing money to fund government projects when you don’t need it? This had a very real effect on developing markets. Prices plummeted and currencies in countries such as Mexico, Brazil and India were all affected. This was only because of speculation and expectation.

Now the stimulus package has been somewhat withdrawn; the US has reduced the amount that it spends on bond buying on a monthly basis. Despite the gentle tapering back of the scheme, it will have a knock on effect on emerging markets and you need to know about it if you’re ever dealing with one of these markets.

It’s such a big deal because it affects how much money is coming into and going out of these countries. If there’s less money flowing means less to invest and less to spend. Less money means less growth, less opportunity. What you need to take away from this is that the withdrawal of the stimulus is something you need to know about if you hope to be successful at the moment in financial trading.

LINK TO INFO: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bond.asp

An Education on the Emerging Power: China

When it comes to financial trading there are certain rules that you must abide by. You must always do your research; know what you’re getting into. This is one of the key rules. At the Academy of Financial Trading we believe that knowledge is power. You have to know about the company that you are investing in. You have to know about the commodity itself. Only then can you make an informed decision. Only then can you make a wise assessment. However you also need to know about the outside influences.

Markets aren’t just influenced by companies. They’re influenced by real world events. If something catastrophic happens, it will affect prices. Just look at the US government shutdown. Not only did it shave billions off the American economy, it drove prices down. It affected currency values. You need to be aware of the world around you. That is why you have to know about China.

Whilst the US is still the world’s largest economy, it isn’t the world’s fastest growing. That label belongs to the world’s second largest economy, China. Once upon a time China was seen as a nation stuck in the communist revolution of Chairman Mao. No longer. Ever since Mao’s successor opened up the nation to the west in the 1970’s, it has changed drastically. The ensuing decades saw the Chinese economy expand rapidly. It’s a juggernaut. These days you can’t walk down the street without seeing a product made in China. Chinese companies are investing more and more every day in international markets.

However they’ve always been somewhat restricted by their token adherence to communist principles, this is no longer the case. China has gradually been moving in the direction of free market economic principles. These are the principles we trade by in the west. This change was solidified this November. This came with the Third Plenum. This is the meeting where a new Chinese leader will announce the social and economic reforms that will mark their reign. This Third Plenum saw the announcement of sweeping free market reforms.

The key here is to watch China with an eye to the future. They are the world’s largest growing economy. They have just announced free market reforms. This suggests that this rate of growth is only going to increase.  Chinese companies are already coming to dominate industries. Chinese events are already affecting share prices across the board. It is likely that this role will only grow as the years pass. You have to know what happens in China. Your stock prices just may depend on it. 

Internet Education: We Identify Why Online Platforms Facilitate Effective Online Trading Education

The Academy of Financial Trading has committed itself to teaching budding financial traders the world over how to effectively engage in financial trading. Our educational platforms have proved invaluable to the customers who have taken our courses; they have gone on to play the financial trading game with knowledge, expertise and success. When talking of our educational platforms we have to talk about the fact they are online educational platforms; the Academy of Financial Trading capitalises on the latest online platforms to bring out knowledge to you.

But why online? Why have we moved away from traditional methods of financial education? We have done this for several reasons. Firstly we have done it because of availability. Online platforms allow us to bring industry knowledge to people who would otherwise have no access to it. The internet allows a greater interconnectivity than ever before and we capitalise on that for your convenience.

However we also engage in online educational platforms because of the versatility of the medium. Standard education can prove rigid in the forms it takes; traditionally through literature, lecturing and discussion. Whilst these are fine staples to build education on, they can somewhat alienate a student who is less suited to the class room environment. By focusing our courses online we remove the pressure created by the classroom environment and this versatility, this bringing of the course into the comfort of a location you choose, facilitates a more positive atmosphere in which you can learn at your pace.

We see this through our ‘webinar’ system. Webinars are online seminars on the subject of financial trading that you can access through the comfort of your own personal computer as part of the course. They are based on a number of key elements of financial trading. When talking of the webinar versus the traditional seminar we see that the webinar is a clear example of how online platforms facilitate learning. Mentally they allow you to take in the information at your own pace. If you don’t understand something, you can stop and play it back. If you need clarification you can look it up online, not raise your hand in front of a group of strangers to ask a question. The online element allows you to go at your own pace.

This is the key point to take away from this article; our online platforms allow you to learn about financial trading at a pace that you are comfortable with. The greater flow of information, coupled with the ability to use technological tools you can use to take in information at your own pace create a more productive learning environment. Furthermore the availability of a range of online tools in the course means that you can choose the method of education most suited to your style of learning. Online really is the future. Come join us in the future why don’t you?

How Did Online Learning Become the Cultural Phenomenon That It Is?

It used to be, back in the age of antiquity (also known as the pre-internet era) that education was the province of the schools, colleges and universities. This promoted a somewhat elitist attitude throughout the world of education, as ordinary people were barred from the major educational institutions of the world. In this way education is like financial trading, as it was also once elitist; the territory of the stock brokers and the mega rich. We’ve talked numerous times about how the internet has opened up financial trading to the wider public; today we want to explore how the internet opened up education to the wider public to such an extent that now it is seen as a hallmark of the post-modern age.

When the internet was in its infancy it was hard to imagine that sophisticated educational models such as the one practised by the Academy of Financial Trading would become the province of the internet. Back in 1990 when the internet was first conceptualised it was hard to imagine the heights it would grow to. However over the decade the internet slowly began to take shape into what it would eventually come to be in 2013. Sites were set up, video sharing began, the first stages of what we would come to know as social media cropped up, blogging began and so on and so forth.

We can pinpoint this as the beginning of the ‘web education’ phenomenon. Although there were no official channels of online education at that point, the internet rose to prominence as a tool of information sharing and the early webhosters and most importantly bloggers, who educated the masses through their need to connect with people online, created the beginnings of what would one day become a global method of education; sharing and learning online.

The dawn of a new millennium saw the first official steps to mass online education programmes emerge, as the phenomenon of open universities appeared, and grew to have an increasing amount of recognition and respect in the professional sectors of the world. The phenomenon of the open university began in 2001 when MIT announced it would release its learning materials online, which it then proceeded to do. Since then not only has open university education become amazingly wide spread, it has come to be seen as a valid alternative qualification by businesses across the world. Open universities have opened up first rate education to those who couldn’t otherwise afford it.

In conjunction with this the tools that online education programmes use have rapidly improved and diversified. Video sharing became a widespread reality, social media has fostered a greater flow of information and streaming services have made live online lessons a reality. This has culminated in a culture that allows sophisticated educational platforms such as the Academy of Financial Trading, which utilises the most up to date internet technologies to bring a range of financial trading courses to the public on a mass scale, to flourish

The internet has transformed so many areas of life that it naturally makes sense that education is one of  them. It is the early pioneers of internet education;  those who used rudimentary online tools in the pursuit of knowledge, who gave rise to the building of entire educational platforms that have the capability to bring that pursuit of knowledge to so many. As one of those educational platforms the Academy of Financial Trading is grateful to those early pioneers. 

A Few Simple Techniques Any Can Use to Predict Stock Trajectory

When it comes to the financial trading game, it’s important to note that there are no methods that you can use to perfectly predict which way stocks may go; whether they are going to rise or fall. Stocks can be somewhat volatile in nature and with a whole host of concerns adding to the rise and fall of stock values, there are too many variables to take them all into consideration. However, that isn’t to say that it’s impossible to make an educated guess in predicting stock trajectory.  In fact, with a little bit of know-how and just a dash of modern technology, you can use current trends to predict whether a stock is ripe for the picking.

It used to be that this sort of educated guess work in the game of financial trading used to be the province of the professionals; the stock brokers and the financial titans. However, just as modern technology has opened up availability of financial trading to the general public, it has also provided the ways and means you can employ to come to an educated guess on future stock value. These methods aren’t perfect by any measure, but if you want to start financial trading, then they’re certainly helpful tools to have around. Here are the Academy of Financial Trading’s top tips to utilizing modern technology to engage in educated guesswork in financial trading.

Twitter: Believe it or not there are certain ways in which you can use twitter to predict how a certain stock is going to do; this method is even coming to be used by certain industry experts and is our top method on this list. Experts say that you can analyse the Twitter ‘firehose’ (all the tweets on a particular topic) to determine how a particular stock may perform. This is because you can see what people and companies are saying and if it’s trending positive or negative. Experts say that they can use this method up to six days in advance.

Google Rankings: Google Rankings are used by SEO companies the world over to assess whether an online reputation is positive or negative, as they are a reflection of what users are searching for and reading, and the same can be done for stocks. This is because if it company has positive content atop the rankings, it’s likely their stock will go up and vice versa.

News Sites: These days every news site in existence has two elements that will help you in your financial trading endeavor. A business section and a stock market section. You can use these in combination to help predict which way a stock might go. You can use the stock market section, along with the commentary from experts that often comes along with it, to assess both the market as it stands and how it came to be that way. You can use the business section to check the latest news on the company of interest, whether it is gaining publicity that will encourage investment or not. Then combine this knowledge to make an informed decision.

Apps: In the modern world of smartphone technology there are a whole host of apps out there ready and waiting to do the work for you. These apps don’t just tell you what’s going on in the market, they analyse it for you and provide all the information you can ever need to know. A particularly popular app is the Scutify app, now available on the Android and IPhone. 

Academy of Financial Trading Open Office in Finance Capital New York City

Ever since the first establishment of the New York Stock Exchange in the late 18^th Century, the US’ most famous city has played a pivotal role in the forming and advancement of the practice of financial  trading. It is the city that gave birth to the rise of the international global economy, the city that established the premier international index of commercially viable companies, it is the city that fostered the practice of financial trading, evolving it from a practice only engaged in by the one percent into an investment opportunity for the masses. New York was the center of the now infamous Wall Street crash and it has since come to play host to the world’s major financial trading services. Those services have now come to include the Academy of Financial Trading.

The Academy of Financial Trading, which has already established an EU Headquarters in the thriving metropolis of Dublin, Ireland, can officially announce the opening of its new US Headquarters in financial capital New York City. The premises are in fact in the heart of the financial district at 48 Wall Street, 11^th Floor, New York City, New York State. Wall Street is a prime location which brings us as close to the action as it is possible to get, as not only the Stock Exchange itself, but a large portion of the biggest investment firms in the business,  call Wall Street home. We really are in good company.

This is our chance to draw on the service, expertise and atmosphere of Wall Street to enrich our service and make it more valuable than ever to our customers. For those who haven’t yet heard, the Academy of Financial Trading is the world’s most trusted financial trading academy and was established by traders, for traders, with the founders starting out their careers in some of the largest global retail financial brokerages and breaking out into online financial trading for many years before deciding to open the Academy. The Academy offers several financial trading courses, one for each level of experience, which teach you how to break into the financial trading game with all the knowledge you need to know to turn a profit.

We have had over 25,000 traders take up one of our specific courses and leave with the skills they need to find their way in this volatile market. These students had the chance to learn the truth about the financial trading markets, gain access to free weekly trading videos, get support from the Academy’s expert traders, gain lifetime access to the trader’s community and get free trading software, trading resources and much more.  With the opening off this new office, we will get the chance to bring all of this and much more to even more budding financial traders!