www.Scottrade Ranks as Top Online Brokerage for Customer Loyalty

www.Scottrade is a leading branch-supported online investing firm, has been named a top firm in the 2011 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index for a seventh time. The index asked customers from seven online brokerage firms to determine how they perceive each brand, compare offerings and ultimately make a buying decision.

“For more than 30 years, Scottrade has offered the tools, investment education and support to help investors make better online investing decisions,” said Scottrade Chief Marketing Officer Kim Wells. “Ranking as a top online brokerage firm for customer loyalty for the seventh time points directly to our investors’ appreciation, which includes local stock brokers they know and trust, as well as our consistently low commissions and variety of products that make Scottrade a reliable resource to help them trade and invest with confidence.”

Investors can visit any of Scottrade’s more than 500 branch offices throughout the country to learn more about investing for retirement or online stock trading. They can also attend one of Scottrade’s Branch Seminars or watch a Live Webinar on the online Knowledge Center to learn how Scottrade’s products can help them make better-informed decisions.

In addition to the Brand Keys recognition, Scottrade recently was named one of FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America for the fourth consecutive year and has been chosen three times as one of the Best Places to Work in IT by Computerworld.

The 2011 Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index asked customers to rate their relationships with hundreds of brands in more than 75 categories, which ranged from the airline industry to banks to online travel companies.

About Scottrade
Investors who enjoy online stock trading will find value and personalized customer service at online investing firm Scottrade. Founded in 1980, Scottrade enables customers to learn about online trading tools, stock market research and how to buy stocks online, many at just $7 per trade. With more than 500 nationwide branch offices, Scottrade has the largest branch network among online brokerage firms. To learn more about one of FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For,” visit about.scottrade.com orwww.scottrade.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Member FINRA/SIPC.

Scottrade Review

Scottrade is one of the more established discount stock brokers in the industry, but I have to give them another praise after what happened since I wrote a review about them. This article outlines why Scottrade brings customer service to the next level, and what the brokerage firm offers.
What are the Commission Rates

Scottrade has always advertised its pricing of $7 per trade, while options are $7 per trade plus $1.25 per contract. Compared with its direct competitors who offer similar services, they are clearly the heapest option. However, on a strict per trade level, there are others out there.
 

Scottrade’s Different Trading Platforms

Like many of the premium brokers, Scottrade offers multiple platforms that all have their unique advantages. Here’s a brief description of each:
Scottrade Trading Website – The web platform is great if you are paranoid about installing anything on your computer. It’s also comparable to most discount broker platforms and offers the majority of investors’ needs.
Scottrade Mobile – A special mobile application that simplifies the clutter to allow for faster trading on a mobile device. I will never know why you need to make trades on the go, but this option is there if you need it.
Scottrate Elite – The full blown trading application that rivals the hardcore trading platforms of other brokerages. Streaming quotes, customizable and savable sessions as well real time news that is

• 
  pushed to you.
  Scottrade Knowledge Center
  
  In order to help investors, Scottrade put together one of the most comprehensive investment resources online. With nearly 2,000 educational articles and interactive tools, investors can learn about everything from the basics of options to what the yield curve of a bond is.

Scottrade Branches and Customer Service

There are actually more than 400 Scottrade branch offices nationwide, so you can get your questions answered either on the phone or in person. The company is one of the top 100 companies to work for (according to Forbes) and it shows in the attitude of the employees. Everyone I spoke with were genuinely helpful and happy.

Why I’m Seriously Considering Scottrade

I’m beginning to become a Scottrade convert. I wrote a review about two weeks ago, and not only did the company tweeted about it, the PR spokesman of the company also personally emailed me to clarify my concern on their physical locations and offered to answer any questions I had.

At the time of the review, I noted that the local branches didn’t provide much more than what a phone conversation would do. As it turns out, each Scottrade representative can walk you through the whole trading platform in person as well as make trades for you (if you choose, or if the website goes down for whatever reason).

I also learned that within the branches, they are hosting live seminars to teach Scottrade customers how to better invest in these times. This is what they have to say about the seminars.

I’ve repeated said that while it’s better to have good customer support than bad, I seldom use it and therefore it’s low on my list of priorities when looking at a new broker option. However, Scottrade seems to take customer service to the next level (the helpfulness and positive attitude of the employees were very apparent once I spoke with them). In fact, I’m so impressed that I’m thinking of moving my funds over to a Scottrade account. While there are cheaper solutions out there, I’m sure that the customer reps would be glad to help me if problems were to arise.

Is Scottrade Right for You

At the end of the day, this is a personal choice that you have to make. Compared with any other broker that has all the higher end services of Scottrade, this broker is the cheapest (and probably the best). However, there are less expensive alternatives out there if you are looking strictly at per trade cost. Is the few dollars a trade worth the piece of mind of knowing you are in the perfect hands? It’s entirely up to you.

If you decide to go with Scottrade though , click here to get started.

Scottrade

Scottrade is a privately owned American discount retail brokerage firm headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its Founder, President and CEO is Rodger O. Riney. Scottrade has 500 branch offices around the U.S. Scottrade has no international branch offices but does offer special services to its Asian-Pacific customers with a Chinese service center staffing Chinese-speaking stockbrokers.

Scottrade renders both online and branch office services including brokerage services, advisment services, investment education, and offers award-winning online trading platforms, including the Scottrade Trading Web Site, ScottradeELITE Advanced Trading Platform, Scottrader Streaming Quotes, Scottrade OptionsFirst and Scottrade Mobile.
The Scottrade Trading Web Site is Scottrade's standard trading platform with stock screeners; quotes and research; real-time quotes and charting; account monitoring and a knowledge center.

Scottrader Streaming Quotes provides real-time market data and news within a trading platform accessible via the Scottrade Trading Web Site.
ScottradeELITE is an advanced trading platform including news columns from both Comtex and Dow Jones, advanced charts, level two and TotalView quotes, and stock screeners.
OptionsFirst, designed by OptionsHouse in 2008, is a platform allowing complex multi-leg options orders, margin accounts with low minimum deposits, and multiple accounts to the same user. All regular common stock and ETF orders are allowed excluding OTCBB and Pink Sheets.
Scottrade Mobile, launched in 2009, is a trading website accessible from any internet-enabled mobile device.

Competitors in the discount brokerage industry include: E*TRADE, TD Ameritrade, Fidelity Investments, Charles Schwab, Firstrade, and TradeKing.

In 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company with making fraudulent misrepresentations to clients. The company settled the dispute by paying a $950,000 fine.

Computer Trade In Program

Looking for a computer trade in program to finally upgrade your PC or laptop to get the most from your online surfing or high speed gaming? Computer trade in programs can be your cash for clunkers program for your computer that is older and less responsive. You need to make the most in any purchase you make, especially in tough economic times, this could be a great new means of bargaining for what you want and getting it at a price you set yourself.

A trade in program for computers, iPods, laptops, cameras can be a great green day project to get the proper disposal of older unused electronics. Several big name electronic and PC specific companies are offering computer trade in programs, so you can actually pit one against another to further your bargaining power.

If you are an online gamer or are wanting to get your own high speed computer to avoid paying to rent time at a local gaming computer shop, then this could be a way to trade in an old computer and get the best price possible for the right PC. Shopping for a computer vendor offering a trade in program is a tool that you can game to your advantage.

Trade your laptop now while offers are available. The value you will get in merely upgrading your older model will more than justify the cost.

Gone is the cash for clunkers program, so will the computer trade in program offers as well, so timing is everything. As soon as you find a trade offer, pursue it quickly and get the deal you're looking for.

Several computer trade in programs are really designed to merely upgrade with a specific brand and you want to know this in advance before you spend time pursuing a trade in proposal with a computer vendor.

To learn more about computer trade in program offers in your area or with which brands are available to trade in or upgrade your old computer for a newer model

Markets trade in a tight range

The Sensex continues to trade in a close range of 50 points with the index paring some of its initial gains. The BSE benchmark index is up 25 points ta 18,321  while the Nifty is trading flat at 5,478.

In the broader markets, the smallcap up 0.5%  and the midcap indices gaining 0.2% too have shed some of its early gains but continues to ouperform the Sensex which is trading flat.

On the sectoral charts, Realty continues to lead with a 0.7% gain. Metal and Oil & gas adding 0.4% each are the other gainers. It down nearly 1% continues to languish at the bottom of the chart. COnsumer Durables, Bankex, Health Care and FMCG too are trading in the negative.

Reliance Infrastructure up 8%, HDFC, Sterlite, Hero Honda, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications gaining 1% -2% are the top gainers among the Sensex-30 stocks.

SBI, Infosys, Tat Power, ICICI Bank, ITC and Bajaj Auto down 1% each are the major losers on the Sensex.

The market breadth is positive. 1360  stocks have advanced while 1105  have declined.

Tips on How You Can Learn to Trade Forex

Learning to trade Forex can be a good start in making financial freedom a reality. When you learn to trade Forex, a great financial opportunity is open for you even if you are a seasoned investor or a complete beginner. However, beginners should learn to trade Forex properly and acquire trading skills first before deciding to risk huge amounts of cash. Learn to trade foreign currencies with determination and patience and success will become easier.

Forex trading is simply the exchange or trade of currencies in pairs. People who learn to trade the foreign currency exchange participate in the trade by buying and selling certain currency pairs in the same way as people who invest in stocks. This is the reason why stock traders easily get the feel of the trading even though they are compete beginners. To participate in the financial game, one needs to have a trading account, which can be created easily on the Internet in many FX Trading websites.

Learn to trade by using a forex demo account first. A demo account is similar to that of a real account, but it does not involve real money. Therefore, losing in a demo trade does not have any financial impact on the user. Since the set-up is fake, it provides the user with the ability to learn to trade forex easily and applying it without fear of losing cash.

When you learn to trade in foreign currency, using a demo account provides you with the experience of trading online. Learn to trade currency by understanding how the system works. There are training courses that are provided for free along with the forex demo account. When you are learning to trade in foreign currency, it is best to take advantage of free online courses to save money. When you are well-informed with the basics, keep learning with further training by participating in several workshops, webinars, and forums online and offline. If interested, purchase a professional guide and use it to gain better understanding of the strategies used in successful trades.

When you are confident enough, open a real trading account and start trading with real cash. However, do not trade in large amounts yet until you learn to trade successfully. As long as you learn to trade foreign currencies properly along with its strategies and tactics, then you will definitely taste success eventually.

Some people are sometimes fortunate enough to profit from their trades at the start, but keep in mind that no strategy will ensure successful trades all the time. Take note that in some instances, you will loss. When you learn to exchange currency, keep your losses at minimum while you keep your wins at maximum.

Do not rely heavily on Forex trading software though. Keep in mind that the trends in the market are very unpredictable so make it a point to learn to trade forex including how to interpret the rise and fall of a currency. Buy a currency while it is low and sell it while it is high. Not all strategies work for everybody so it is recommended that you learn to trade currency using other strategies as well.

World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member governments and ratified by their parliaments.[4][5] Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (1986–1994).
The organization is currently endeavoring to persist with a trade negotiation called the Doha Development Agenda (or Doha Round), which was launched in 2001 to enhance equitable participation of poorer countries which represent a majority of the world's population. However, the negotiation has been dogged by "disagreement between exporters of agricultural bulk commodities and countries with large numbers of subsistence farmers on the precise terms of a 'special safeguard measure' to protect farmers from surges in imports. At this time, the future of the Doha Round is uncertain."[6]
The WTO has 153 members,[7] representing more than 97% of total world trade[8] and 30 observers, most seeking membership. The WTO is governed by a ministerial conference, meeting every two years; a general council, which implements the conference's policy decisions and is responsible for day-to-day administration; and a director-general, who is appointed by the ministerial conference. The WTO's headquarters is at the Centre William Rappard, Geneva, Switzerland.

It's Die for world trade or Doha

This adds immensely to the pressure to revive, in one last desperate bid, the World Trade Organisation's Doha round.

THE great hope for a new world economic order to emerge from the rubble after the global financial crisis -- the G20 -- is crumbling already.

Peter Sutherland, who was the first director-general of the World Trade Organisation and is now chairman at Goldman Sachs, told The Australian that Canberra, led by Trade Minister Craig Emerson, had a vital role.

"Australia has always played a strong part in world trade, and has never been afraid to voice strong opinions, and now is the time to do it. You can't rely on regionalism as an answer to Aussie prayers," the Irishman said.

"We badly need Australia to speak up, to take the gloves off, and I hear very good things of Trade Minister Emerson."

If the global rules-based system collapses, "the smaller boys -- and that, for this purpose, includes Australia -- will get bounced by the big players".

The top agenda item for last weekend's G20 finance ministers meeting in Paris was to move decisively, in a concerted way, to address the global imbalances that had triggered the crisis and are hampering a full recovery.

Instead, the meeting lamely cobbled together the following paragraph, intended to cover its core priority -- to decide which policies will be outlawed for deepening the imbalances:

"While not targets, these indicative guidelines will be used to assess the following indicators: (i) public debt and fiscal deficits; and private savings rate and private debt (ii) and the external imbalance composed of the trade balance and net investment income flows and transfers, taking due consideration of exchange rate, fiscal, monetary and other policies."

The "indicative guidelines" themselves were left on the table for the next meeting, in Washington in April. The last G20 leaders' meeting, in Seoul, was largely a flop.

But China, the world's second-largest economy and Australia's biggest trading partner, is not about to be browbeaten into conceding anything that may soften the rapid growth that remains crucial to its ruling Communist Party's legitimacy.

Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, underlining this, said in Paris: "External pressure has never been an important factor of consideration, and we have never paid special attention to it."

Such statements do not rule out aligning policies with international requirements -- they just create a distance from the perception of responding to pressure.

Leading economist Peter Drysdale, at the Australian National University, said: "Something has to give. Not all countries can have export-led growth, if that is defined to mean a faster growth rate of exports over imports in all major economies.

"This is what has made the focus on the need for currency re-alignment, and on China as the country that needs to lift its exchange rate, so intense."

Sutherland said the Doha round, which was tantalisingly close to completion, would unleash a fresh wave of international growth. World leaders had to become better informed about the deal, he said.

"Most see it as a quagmire they don't understand. But it's not too complicated. They have to engage," he said. "Failure to reach agreement on the core issues by July at the latest would damage very seriously the whole multilateral trading system, that is already under considerable stress."

Business, he said, had largely switched off the process as it has dragged on for more than 10 years, so "the countervailing lobby to the protectionists is weakening".

At the same time, the alternative, bilateral and regional trade agreements have also failed to produce the gains for which the corporate world had hoped.

"The whole thing has become farcical," he said. "Everyone is fed up to the back teeth with it."

Sutherland has recently written, with leading Indian economist Jagdish Bhagwati, a report on Doha commissioned by the leaders of Germany, Britain, Indonesia and Turkey, on "setting a deadline, defining a final deal".

The report says that the deal, if clinched, "would lock in the liberalisation of the global economy over the last 10 years and lay the framework for another decade of liberalisation".

Sutherland said it was now down to the political leadership of the US, China, India and Brazil.

"I don't see Europe as a major culprit," he said.

In all the previous eight rounds of global trade deals, "nothing was concluded without American leadership", he said.

Is Barack Obama going to seize the day this time? "I simply don't know the answer."

The US President failed even to appoint a WTO representative during the first half of his presidential term -- but has just made an appointment.

The key, Sutherland said, was for the main players "to ask for enough, but not too much". The US had to move away from supporting its agricultural exports, China had to avoid letting its broader arm wrestle with the US "taint" the Doha deal, India had to cut its industry protection, "which is really a tax on developing industry", and Brazil -- the biggest winner from the deal so far -- had to give ground on non-agricultural market access.

"China will be the huge loser if multilateralism doesn't survive", warned Sutherland. That prospect is looming even as the former anti-globalisation forces that drove anti-WTO riots in Seattle are fading.

Nathan Backhouse, director of international trade and investment at Western Australia's Department of State Development, said European trade officials told him on a recent visit that if the financial crisis had been predicted, "everyone would have signed up to Doha".

He said the increase in the membership of the WTO was another factor making agreement harder. Domestically, he said, Australia, including industry, had failed to engender support for Doha because it had not sufficiently quantified, in bottom-line terms, the economic benefits.

Backhouse said industry had also often failed to take advantage of the bilateral and regional trade deals that had been signed since the Doha round languished -- in part because of the complexity of the rules of origin, which Australia policed scrupulously for its own exporters but lacked the resources to scrutinise compliance by imports.

And the big free-trade agreements with Australia's top two trading partners, China and Japan, continue to languish dispiritingly after five years of negotiations.

Most small and medium businesses also lacked the resources, he said, to tap in to the benefits from deals such as the FTA with ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

The main benefit has been in the "head turning effect" of having the government imprimatur for building business relationships with certain countries.

But Emerson said on a visit to India last month: "Global prosperity and security can only be based on a global trading system and a global market.

"Just as was the case in Australia's great reforms of the 1980s and India's of the 1990s, the case for reform is made clearest in the context of a crisis. Once we stare into an abyss, the difficulties of changing our ways seem manageable.

"It is now the time to brush off this complacency, and to get down to the business of finally concluding this next phase of trade liberalisation. It is time we made history once again."

How Top Traders Think

You cannot be a successful trader if you are not willing to have both profits and losses… “It’s like only wanting to breathe in and not wanting to breathe out.” Both are a significant part of the trading process… The other half of the equation is also important (and equally puzzling). You can’t put too much importance in gains. People who value profits too highly, tend to take them quickly. Why? Because if they don’t take them, they are afraid they will get away.
this quate you have to always remember to b a good trader

It’s true that if you continue to work hard on the market, you’d eventually achieve constant survival that you dream of.
Last week, my GBPJPYUSDCAD Hedging strategy experienced some tolerable drawdown – something that would be recovered soon. In addition, I saw about 7 gap trading setups on Monday and I traded accordingly. On Friday, I closed all open positions with roughly 500-pip profit. Yes my clients’ appetite is being whetted in advanced, since they’re ready to become beneficiaries of this effective trading methodology.
Last week, I was again invited by another former trainee of mine. As a financial expert, he served in the federal civil service for 35 years. After retirement, he dabbled into agriculture without expert knowledge – only to lose a lot of money. Can you now see that trading isn’t the only business that entails serious challenges? However, he was lucky enough to have started Forex training on the right path. He practiced rigorously for almost 3 years before deciding to play the market with real money.
When I saw the account he was managing, I was amazed. He’d made over 2600 pips in 4 months! I saw 500+ pips as open profits and they increased to almost 700 pips before I left. I was extremely glad that he’d stuck to the risk management parameters I recommended to him. He was able to survive December and January as well, plus he suffered occasional drawdowns which were recovered eventually. If you feel that 26% returns in 4 months are a small profit, then it’s high time you did something else.
He and the engineer I visited earlier had something in common. This thing would soon be revealed to my clients. Yes my trainees and clients are the direct beneficiaries of my trading methodologies.
How Top Traders Think

Top traders believe in their trading systems (systems that have positive expectancy) and their own ability to remain calm whatever happens on the market. They know that trading is a game of probabilities.
They know that all trading strategies in the world would have periods of losses each, and therefore survival is all about limiting your risk and giving away as little portion of a trading portfolio as possible. Whenever a strategy experiences a drawdown, they know it’s just part of the game – for the strategy would recover in due course. It’s only a matter of time. They know that they don’t need to expect every trade they take to win: what they need to do is trading according to their entry criteria and managing each trade according to their predefined rules. They don’t ignore a trading signal merely out of fear, nor do they increase their risk because of overconfidence. Their main goal is to be more effective in trading, not struggling to force out higher hit rates.
Dr. Van, quoted above, says further: “Most people… want to be right all the time. They want to make money on every trade. Yet that will not happen because losses are a part of the trading process. When you understand the relationship, however, you can come to terms with losses and make them okay. A natural part of the trading process is to have a point at which you must unload a position or trade at a loss in order to preserve your capital. Those losses will happen to most people about half of the time or more. And you must make them okay or neutral. If a loss is not okay, you will not take it. When you’re not willing to take a loss, it usually gets a little bigger. When it rains, it pours. As a result, it becomes even harder to take—much more painful. If you didn’t take it the first time, as it becomes bigger you will be even less likely to take it. What’s likely to happen? It probably will become even bigger. The cycle typically continues until the loss becomes so big that you have to take it. This typically occurs when you get a margin call from your broker.”

For certain people, it may take many years to develop a normal trading mindset; for others, they speed up their personal evolution as traders and survive their learning curve more quickly than imagined. If you can cultivate the kind of the mindset discussed here, you’ll soon see the seed of trading genius germinating within you. The team here at Fxinstructor.com is doing everything in their capacity to help you become the best trader you can be. You’ll do yourself a great favor by capitalizing on the services they offer.