Determined to show the world she’s come a long way since her debut as television’s Lizzie McGuire, actress Hilary Duff is posted up in a series of seductive poses for the January 2009 issue of Maxim Magazine.
The 20-year-old joins Vanessa Hudgens, Scarlett Johansson, and Rihanna on the men’s mag’s list of hottest stars of the new year.
Got your first paycheck and can't wait to buy your first lot of shares?
Hold on!
Before you start investing in the stock market, you have to get certain basics in place.
Follow this checklist to ensure you are on track.
1. Get a broker
People like you and me cannot just go to a stock exchange and buy and sell shares.Only the members of the stock exchange can. These members are called brokers and they buy and sell shares on our behalf.
So, if you want to start investing in shares, you can do it only through a broker.
Every stockbroker has to be registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which is the stock market regulator.
You can either choose a broker (who is directly registered with SEBI) or a sub-broker (people licensed by brokers to work under them).
The Bombay Stock Exchange directory or the National Stock Exchange Web site will give you a list of brokers affiliated to them. Most of them entertain retail clients.
If you want an online broker, you can start by looking at the Web sites of some well-known online players: Sharekhan, Kotak Securities, ICICI Direct, 5paise and India Bulls.
2. Get a demat account
Gone are the days when shares were held as physical certificates.
Today, they are held in an electronic form in demat accounts.
Demat refers to a dematerialised account.
Let's say your portfolio of shares looks like this: 40 shares of Infosys [Get Quote], 25 of Wipro [Get Quote], 45 of HLL [Get Quote] and 100 of ACC.
They will show in your demat account. You don't have to possess any physical certificates showing you own these shares. They are all held electronically in your account.
Periodically, you will get a demat statement telling you what shares you have in your demat account.
How to get a demat account
To get a demat account, you will have to approach a Depository Participant.
A depository is a place where an investor's stocks are held in electronic form.
There are only two depositories in India -- the National Securities Depository Ltd and the Central Depository Services Ltd.
The depository has agents who are called Depository Participants. In India, there are over a hundred DPs.
Think of it like a bank. The head office, where all the technology rests and the details of all the accounts are held, is like the depository. The DPs are like the branches of banks that cater to individuals.
A broker, however, is not similar to a DP. A broker is a member of the stock exchange and he buys and sells shares for his clients and for himself. A DP, on the other hand, gives you an account where you can hold those shares.
To get a list of the registered DPs, visit the NSDL and CDSL Web sites.
3. Get a PAN
The taxman demands that you get yourself a Permanent Account Number.
This is a unique 10-digit alphanumeric number (AABPS1205E, for example) that identifies and tracks an individual in the taxman's database.
Almost every money transaction demands the use of a PAN. These include:
~ When you get a job
~ When you file an income tax return
~ When you open a bank account
~ When you deposit cash of Rs 50,000 or more in a bank
~ When you open a bank fixed deposit of Rs 50,000 or more
~ When you open a post office deposit of Rs 50,000 or more
~ When you buy/ sell shares and mutual funds
~ When you buy/ sell property
~ When you buy a vehicle
~ When you take a loan: home/ personal/ other
~ When you install a telephone (or buy a cell phone)
~ When you pay in cash to hotels and restaurants against bills for an amount exceeding Rs 25,000 at a time
~ You also need to mention it in every transaction you have with the tax officials.
If you are going through a tax consultant, you need not worry. He will supply you with Form 49A (the application form for the PAN number) and give you a list of the documents he needs.
However, if you believe in doing things on your own, the process is really not that tedious.
You could visit the official Web sites of the Income Tax department or UTI Investor Services Ltd or National Securities Depository Limited.
Download Form 49A from any of these sites and follow the instructions.
You should get your PAN in the form of a laminated card within a month.
4. Check if you need a UIN
This depends on how much you plan to invest.
The Unique Identification Number is the identification an investor needs to buy and sell shares or mutual fund units.
It is part of the Security and Exchange Board of India's attempt to create a database of all Market Participants and Investors, called MAPIN.
Who needs a UIN?
An investor who is involved in a single transaction of Rs 1,00,000 or more will have to quote his/ her UIN.
If you plan to be a prominent stock market player or a mutual fund investor and expect to deal with such huge amounts in the near future, you should get a UIN.
SEBI has appointed the National Securities Depositories Ltd that, in turn, has appointed Points Of Service agents. The NSDL Web site has a list of the POS agents.
Visit the office of a POS agent. Make sure you take an appointment before you go. As part of the application process, your fingerprints will be scanned and a photograph taken.
All you have to do is fill and submit an application form (there are separate forms for corporates and individuals). You can also download the form for an individual at the NSDL Web site.
Incidentally, the UIN is totally different from a PAN. The Permanent Account Number is an identification number for filing your income tax returns.
John A. Taxiarchos is a seasoned professional investor/trader with over 10 years of experience in the equities, futures and FOREX markets. John started his career as a registered representative for a Top Ten Investment Bank. As trading technology advanced, John shifted focus on trading strategies in the Forex market. He is currently a Market Analyst for Traders Choice FX at traderschoicefx.com.
| Symbol | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| SPY | 82.75 | 0.00 |
 | ||
Using "Automated Trading Robots" or "Expert Advisors" or simply "EA", is easily done on the Metatrader 4 platform, but did you know you can have multiple expert advisors running at the same time on one platform?
For purposes of this article, I will use the forex Metatrader trading platform as an example, since it is a very user-friendly platform and can easily run expert advisors.
Assuming you have already opened a live Metatrader trading account with your preferred Forex Broker, go to the file menu in the top left corner to open a new chart. Click on "New Chart" and then choose the currency pair you wish to trade. You can also simply click on the Chart icon in the top left corner of the screen to save yourself an extra step. The chart will be shown in one of the tabs below, as the line in red indicates at the bottom of the screen on Exhibit "A". Follow the same steps to open your second chart, if you wish to trade the same currency pair with another EA. You must do this if you are to trade multiple EA's on the same currency pair, since you will not be able to trade multiple EA's on one chart.
Exhibit A
If you already had your first chart with the correct currency pair in the first tab, once the second chart is created, it will automatically go to the last tab of any other charts already there.
For convenience, you can move the chart you just created closer to your first chart, so you can easily toggle between the two charts. Click and hold on the chart you just created, then drag and drop on the tab next to your first chart and it will replace whatever chart was there. You can see in Exhibit "B" below that we have moved the second EUR/USD M15 chart next to the first one. Alternatively, you can minimize your chart and view them all on one screen, as shown below.
Exhibit B
Make sure the chart you want is identified on your screen, as indicated in Exhibit "C". You must choose the correct time frame at the top of your screen. You can see how the time frame can be adjusted by clicking on the different tabs, "M" for minutes, "H" for hours, "D" for days, "W" for weeks and "MN" for months. In this example, we have indicated a chart for EUR/USD on the "M15" or 15 minute time frame.
Exhibit C
If you have already downloaded your expert advisor, you are ready to begin the process of running it on the software in your own account. Begin by clicking on the (+) sign of the "Expert Advisor" tab under the "Navigator" section within Metatrader, as shown in Exhibit "D" below. Once the Expert Advisor tab expands, you should see the name of your newly downloaded expert advisor. If it is not there, try installing it again by following the instructions provided by your EA Developer.
Exhibit D
To start using your expert advisor, click and hold on the appropriate EA on the left hand side in the Navigator screen, then drag and drop the EA onto your chart. See Exhibit "E" below.
Exhibit E
Once you have dropped the EA onto your chart, a popup screen will be shown. Under the "Common" tab, you need to make sure that the "Allow live trading" box is checked, as well as the "Allow DLL imports" box in order for your EA to work properly. See Exhibit "F" below.
Exhibit F
Then click on the Inputs tab. You will need to verify that the "Value" settings are in accordance with the EA you are running. You should carefully read the instruction manual for the optimum settings given by the product developer.
IMPORTANT NOTE! You will want to make sure that the MagicNumber of one EA is different from the other. Otherwise, you may have a conflict when the EA's are trading multiple positions. They may not be able to differentiate one order from another. You can randomly assign a number of your choosing as well, by double clicking on the Value box. If the particular EA's you are using do not have a MagicNumber field, you will either need to write in the code or have someone do it for you. Another option is to put something in the comments section of the account history to help you differentiate, but that is only a temporary solution. Once you have verified the settings, click "Okay". See Exhibit "G" below.
Exhibit G
If you have checked the right settings and inputted the correct values, you will see the name of the EA and a happy face "J" in the top right corner of your screen. If you have not entered the information and values properly, you will see a sad face "L" instead. If you believe that the parameters have been set properly, make sure that your "Expert Advisors" tab at the top of the screen is clicked on. You should see a green arrow in the box. See Exhibit "H" below.
Exhibit H
Once the first chart is set up, you can go to the next chart by clicking on the correct tab at the bottom of the screen and going through the same process to properly install the next EA. You can do this on as many charts as you like with as many EA's as you like, but I would not recommend more than three EA's running at once. See Exhibit "I" below.
Exhibit I
Once you have properly installed your EA's on the different charts, you will want to verify that all of the information is correct and then you can just sit back and watch the EA's go! This one already made a trade, as indicated in the middle of the screen below on Exhibit "J".
Exhibit J
Should you have any questions about the performance, bandwidth or parameters of your expert advisor, you should consult your EA product developer.
| Subject: | Union Bank of India announces Q3 results |
| Announcement: | Union Bank of India has announced the following Unaudited results for the quarter ended December 31, 2008: The results for the Quarter ended December 31, 2008 The Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 6717.40 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 as compared to Rs 3650.20 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007. Total Income has increased from Rs 28060.40 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2007 to Rs 36537.90 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2008 |
Do you want to know what is in store for you in 2009?
Let your worries take a backseat as Divya Chugh provides a free reading based on your Sunsign for the year 2009 with the help of Tarot cards. She will give you a glimpse of your personal 12-month future forecast with the help of the Tarot cards.
The images on the cards act as mirrors which offer a reflection of unsuspected knowledge buried deep within the unconscious mind.This reading gives you an insight into the year ahead. You will get a clear understanding of your health, wealth, career, and relationships and lot more.
What will you get?
- Sunsign based Tarot reading for 2009
- Overview on Career, Finance, Romance, Health
- Your Lucky Number,Day,Color & Date
- Do's and Dont's for the year.
 |
 |
