Stock Market Analysis

The return that a stock can provide is often predicted with the help of technical analysis. Stock market trading tips are based on technical analysis of various parameters.

Stock market analysis is science of examining stock data and predicting their future moves on the stock market. Investors who use this style of analysis are often unconcerned about the nature or value of the companies they trade stocks in. Their holdings are usually short-term - once their projected profit is reached they drop the stock.

The basis for stock market analysis is the belief that stock prices move in predictable patterns. All the factors that influence price movement - company performance, the general state of the economy, natural disasters - are supposedly reflected in the stock market with great efficiency. This efficiency, coupled with historical trends produces movements that can be analyzed and applied to future stock market movements.

Stock market analysis is not intended for long-term investments because fundamental information concerning a company's potential for growth is not taken into account. Trades must be entered and exited at precise times, so technical analysts need to spend a great deal of time watching market movements. Most stock tips and recommendations are based on stock analysis methods.

Investors can take advantage of these stock analysis methods to track both upswings and downswings in price by deciding whether to go long or short on their portfolios. Stop-loss orders limit losses in the event that the market does not move as expected.

There are many tools available for stock market technical analysis. Hundreds of stock patterns have been developed over time. Most of them, however, rely on the basic stock analysis methods of 'support' and 'resistance'. Support is the level that downward prices are expected to rise from, and Resistance is the level that upward prices are expected to reach before falling again. In other words, prices tend to bounce once they have hit support or resistance levels.

Stock Analysis Charts & Patterns

Stock market analysis relies heavily on charts for tracking market movements. Bar charts are the most commonly used. They consist of vertical bars representing a particular time period - weekly, daily, hourly, or even by the minute. The top of each bar shows the highest price for the period, the bottom is the lowest price, and the small bar to the right is the opening price and the small bar to the left is the closing price. A great deal of information can be seen in glancing at bar charts. Long bars indicate a large price spread and the position of the side bars shows whether the price rose or dropped and also the spread between opening and closing prices.

A variation on the bar chart is the candlestick chart. These charts use solid bodies to indicate the variation between opening and closing prices and the lines (shadows) that extend above and below the body indicate the highest and lowest prices respectively. Candlestick bodies are coloured black or red if the closing price was lower than the previous period or white or green if the price closed higher. Candlesticks form various shapes that can indicate market movement. A green body with short shadows is bullish - the stock opened near its low and closed near its high. Conversely, a red body with short shadows is bearish - the stock opened near the high and closed near the low. These are only two of the more than 20 patterns that can be formed by candlesticks.

When glancing at charts the untrained eye may simply see random movements from one day to the next. Trained analysts, however, see patterns that are used to predict future movements of stock prices. There are hundreds of different indicators and patterns that can be applied. There is no one single reliable indicator, but these stock analysis methods when taken into consideration with others, investors can be quite successful in predicting price movements.

One of the most popular patterns is Cup and Handle. Prices start out relatively high then dip and come back up (the cup). They finally level out for a period (handle) before making a breakout - a sudden rise in price. Investors who buy on the handle can make good profits.

Another popular pattern is Head and Shoulders. This is formed by a peak (first shoulder) followed by a dip and then a higher peak (the head) followed again by a dip and a rise (the second shoulder). This is taken to be a bearish pattern with prices to fall substantially after the second shoulder.

Other Stock Market Analysis Methods

Moving Average - The most popular indicator is the moving average. This shows the average price over a period of time. For a 30 day moving average you add the closing prices for each of the 30 days and divide by 30. The most common averages are 20, 30, 50, 100, and 200 days. Longer time spans are less affected by daily price fluctuations. A moving average is plotted as a line on a graph of price changes. When prices fall below the moving average they have a tendency to keep on falling. Conversely, when prices rise above the moving average they tend to keep on rising.

Relative Strength Index (RSI) - This indicator compares the number of days a stock finishes up with the number of days it finishes down. It is calculated for a certain time span - usually between 9 and 15 days. The average number of up days is divided by the average number of down days. This number is added to one and the result is used to divide 100. This number is subtracted from 100. The RSI has a range between 0 and 100. A RSI of 70 or above can indicate a stock which is overbought and due for a fall in price. When the RSI falls below 30 the stock may be oversold and is a good time to buy. These numbers are not absolute - they can vary depending on whether the market is bullish or bearish. RSI charted over longer periods tend to show less extremes of movement. Looking at historical charts over a period of a year or so can give a good indicator of how a stock price moves in relation to its RSI.

Money Flow Index (MFI) - The RSI is calculated by following stock prices, but the Money Flow Index (MFI) takes into account the number of shares traded as well as the price. The range is from 0 to 100 and just like the RSI, an MFI of 70 is an indicator to sell and an MFI of 30 is an indicator to buy. Also like the RSI, when charted over longer periods of time the MFI can be more accurate as an indicator.

Bollinger Bands - This indicator is plotted as a grouping of 3 lines. The upper and lower lines are plotted according to market volatility. When the market is volatile the space between these lines widens and during times of less volatility the lines come closer together. The middle line is the simple moving average between the two outer lines (bands). As prices move closer to the lower band the stronger the indication is that the stock is oversold - the price should soon rise. As prices rise to the higher band the stock becomes more overbought meaning prices should fall. Bollinger bands are often used by investors to confirm other indicators. The wise technical analyst will always use a number of indicators before making a decision to trade a particular stock.

Hunter Crowell is a researcher, marketer, and an avid investor. He is also the creator of Stock Market Trading, a web site setup to help investors find useful and accurate information related to investing in stocks. Visit his site at www.stock-trading-explained.com

Web Design in 2010-2011 - Analysis

As we're coming to the middle of this year, everyone is trying to analyze the recent trends in web designing and web development. However, in this article, we'll see what web designers and developers are trying to utilize with the new features to create impressive designs. We will also try to look into the factors that are driving this change.

1. The days of static design visuals are dead

With the online technology that is available today, web designers are coding websites more creatively than using simple images and html/css. Clients have come to expect a higher level of functionality and interactivity as they visit more and more websites that utilize things like Ajax, and JavaScript. Whilst CSS3/HTML5 has started to step on the toes of JavaScript, JavaScript itself has started to inch into the territory of Flash. JavaScript has just finished a major revision of its specifications for the language. Once browser companies adopt these standards, web developers will be provided with more tools to improve their capabilities in creating web applications.

2. Grid-based designs, Mobile Designs, Retro Designs are gaining popularity as well.

But Grid based is used mostly in portfolios, product pages and big blogs; they almost never appear on corporate websites or in online shops. With the huge amount of data present, classifying information based on context rather than content will be paramount for companies which handle large amount of data (financial, social, etc).

3. Print Design influence

Traditional techniques from print design are increasingly being applied to the Web, be they layout techniques or rich versatile typography. Web Designers are taking layout and design inspiration from print. This includes lots of whitespace, large type,use of a grid and clear hierarchy of elements. The layouts of these websites often resemble those of print magazines or posters, with striking headlines, multi-column text, highlighted quotations, indented text, supporting imagery, side notes and footnotes.

4. Faster and better Web browsers

Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera has offered more choices to web users. But, well, it is part of a web designer's job to make sure that texts are easy and nice to read on all major browsers and platforms. With browser wars is in full force, Techniques for progressive enhancement are more commonplace than before, giving users of modern web browsers a better web experience than those who will not or cannot use them. This has surely drive competition in web designing.

5. Growth of community-oriented Platforms

In many ways, the growth of platforms such as Twitter and Facebook has led the web to be much more community-oriented. Along with these changes will come increased focus in getting information in real-time. Twitter is one of the examples that give immediate and breaking information on the sites. With more and more growth of such social media platforms and more people participating in the creation of information on the web, the way in which we obtain information has shift from being from a singular source, into a more community-created source.

6. Interactive Designs

Web designers of Web applications are paying significantly more attention to the way in which functionality is presented and are trying to improve the user experience with more interactive and responsive solutions. There's a lot more emphasis now on site usability and creating sites that are minimalist in design and easy to navigate (perfect use of CSS and a grid based layout). Horizontal scroll bars have been out there for a decade, but today it feels that they are gaining a new context. The move to horizontal scroll bars is probably an attempt among some designers to provide a more distinct user experience. One way to make websites more responsive is through "keypress navigation," which hasn't been widely adopted so far. But lately we've observed more designs implementing this effectively. Web designers of Web applications are paying significantly more attention to the way in which functionality is presented and are trying to improve the user experience with more interactive and responsive solutions.

7. Slab Typefaces

These are relatively new as in the past logos and headers were smaller and more understated by web designers. However, combined with the trend toward larger headers, slab typefaces demand the reader to take notice.

8. Rich and strong Typography

It has played a major role in Web design for years now. Bold, strong, heavy headlines can effectively convey the purpose of an e-commerce website or portfolio, while subtler headings help structure content and improve legibility. Obviously, the big change we're seeing today is richer, more versatile typography. Oversized logos on an equally oversized header and Footer. We've further noticed that Web designers are extending their font stacks, adding increasingly more fall-back fonts in case a specified font is not available.

9. Recent trends

like embossing, PNG transparency, rich user Interfaces, Font replacement, Huge Images, Modal boxes(A modal box is like the pop-up's more sophisticated They serve as a user-friendly alternative to classic JavaScript windows), Media blocks, The magazine look, Carousels (slideshow navigations, in which the content rotates vertically or horizontally), Introduction blocks(place the most important message of the website right there and thus make sure that readers get the message as quickly as possible.) will continue to grow in this year.

10. More Personalization

As web designers look for more ways of attracting users and prospects to their websites and generating business online, personalization is emerging as an important component of managing the web experience for site visitors - and delivering business value. Be simple, invisible complexity, big and bold, art and creativity, bigger picture. Web Typography is going to reach some new heights in 2010-2011. JQuery, Mootools as well as CSS3 are evolving and reaching new levels of quality and 'interactivity'. Everything seems to be moving forward to larger elements which focus the attention.

If you haven't checked out CSS3 and HTML5 websites yet ( like http://www.12thi.com ), you should really look into it because they will change the way you design and code. You can take advantage of the new features to create cleaner and more efficient layout.

It is possible that we have missed some other great trends and factors. Why don't you contribute some interesting information here? Please don't hesitate to share it with us in comments.

Maryam Naqvi
(Journalist and Freelance Writer)

Web Design Vs GUI Design - A Comparative Analysis

Only a decade ago, user interfaces tended to be simpler and minimal in nature. They were imposed by a lot of restrictions and challenges that could not be addressed at that time. As the time passed, these restrictions have been lessened. Now, some of the key restrictions (including bandwidth and internet speed) have become soft.

Let's have a look at how web design and GUI design stand against each other.

Standard GUI Elements

Talking about a desktop application, we immediately think of menus, toolbars and other standard user interface elements. Almost all desktop applications have these elements in them. But things change a bit when we look at web applications & websites. In case of web design, there is more freedom given to designers and therefore, web design tends to be more diverse and non-standardized in nature.

Early Exit

Web design should be attractive! After all, a user can find tons of other alternates to the same functionality. So it becomes even more important to keep the user 'glued' to the web site by providing an attractive design. In case of desktop application however, even the design is not so good; people stick to it and try to call support for help in getting things done.

User Experience

Web design and GUI both vary greatly in terms of user experience. As said earlier, web designs tend to be more attractive and face greater challenges in terms of keeping the user loyal to the web site. A user must therefore, feel comfort and should remain focused to the actual task. Too much of animations or ads can easily distract user from what he is trying to do.

Resource Utilization

A desktop application is permitted to utilize more resources, thus they can have more heavy design elements in contrast to a website or a web application. Although high speed internet is now becoming more and more common yet a lot of web users are unable to avail this facility. Therefore, web designers have to be more careful about resource utilizations provided they want to make their web site accessible to most users.

Learning Curve

Web users have less time to waste. That means web designs should be simpler and intuitive in nature. A user should know what he is doing and from where he came to access a particular page. Or he might user the competitor's website. This is something (as usual) different in desktop GUI environment where users have the facility to get trained by the vendor or there are lots of other options available.

Unified Nature

Desktop GUI design greatly depends upon the underlying operating system and they try to go in line with the look and feel of underlying operating system. Same is not true in case of web design. Web site & applications are encouraged to have more diversity in their style and look and feel.

Resolution Independent Design

Web designers have to pay a great deal of effort while handling a resolution independent design. Things are even worse when you need to support multiple web browsers (which in most of the cases is required). Desktop design is relatively easy to make resolution independent by making use of different helping routines provided by the underlying operating system.

Current Trends in Web & GUI Design

AJAX, a combination of different technologies, helps in making a web design more interactive than it was ever before. Different Rich Internet Application (RIA) frameworks provide lots of pre-built web user interface elements with the help of which attractive user interface design can be made in no time. These frameworks not only provide rich elements, but also blur the line between web design and desktop UI design.

Microsoft has come up with a brilliant idea by introducing Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). With the help of WPF, same application design can be used in both web as well as desktop environments. Therefore diminishing the effort as well as cost required for separate designers.

Future Challenges

Rumors are well spread that soon there will be 'Web Operating Systems' and users will need only an internet connection with a dumb machine. Their data as well as applications will be accessible via internet. This will not only wipe out the line between Desktop and Web Design but it will also open new challenges for designers.

Nick Martyn, Project Manager at http://www.bitwords.com.