The market forces a swing in the direction of stock prices every day – it’s simply the law of supply and demand that creates the fluxes. Yet, there is more to it than the exchange of products and services.
But we’re not here to discuss the simple basics of the stock market.
The hyper-reality that dictates much of the global transaction can be attributed current events.
It’s the reason why a simple tweet from President Trump can drop Toyota stock, losing them $1.2 billion on their market cap. It’s the reason why Nintendo stock can drop 7 percent even after revealing their new console, the Switch. Or even how ‘fake news’ has created rumors and disruption on Wall Street.
It’s safe to say that investors are fickle.
The general consumer base could be enthusiastic about a product or service launch but if investors are on the fence then stock can go either direction. It makes or break for the publicly offered company.
The market goes through a turbulent time whenever there are big changes:
· World events
· Economies
· Hype
· Scandals
· Natural disasters
· Politics
Speculation being the mother of them all. Trends following suit.
Who would have thought how the market would react after the most recent election of Trump?
There are ways to keep ahead. These are tidbits of information that can send you soaring into tremendous returns on your investment or bottom you out faster than you can hit cancel on the trades.
It’s a Wall Street bet and you’re ready to play the game.
Here are some ways to keep your pulse on the speculation and trends:
· Stay on the beat – You don’t have the multi-million dollars’ worth of revenue to pay analysts and players to monitor the action compared to large firms. Good, you don’t have to. Save your money. Instead, follow today’s stock upgrades by tapping into data aggregation sites such as MarketBeat.com to see the best picks from respected brokerage firms. Read into the data, check the rating and suggestions, and you’re already ahead in the game.
· Follow China – There’s no beating around the bush that China is, perhaps, the dominant player in the global market. Globalization is here to stay and much of what China plans will dictate the entirety of the market. Do yourself a favor and subscribe or follow ShanghaiDaily.com, Reuters & CNBC’s ‘China’ section, or go as far as learning basic, conversational Chinese to talk with other brokers in the actual region.
· Data Scraping (Twitter Style) – Twitter may limit the conversation to 140 characters but it doesn’t mean it can’t have a substantial impact on the market. We’ve already covered how a tweet from Trump (and other influential individuals) can shape stock but you can go one deeper. Services such as Dataminr provide advanced analytics to scrape and report on trends found within social platforms (especially Twitter) which can be used for projections and reinforcing speculations. You now know how the market is reacting to news and trends in real-time through the clever use of data scraping and mining.
The Web has been an incredible game-changer for improving your investing. You can certainly take the time to keep journals, be logical, and keeping calm but when you’re ready to bet big – you’ll want to tap into the big data that’s available.
So, keep up with the trends, follow the global leaders, and roll up those sleeves to try online services to gain an edge in the marketplace.
Your turn: What process do you take to capitalize on trends that will affect the stock market?