My best guess is "RealTick"

cool

thanks

Quick options question:

If I'm opening a bullish vertical call spread, can I get assigned the call I'm selling, or is the spread the actual position?

Example
I buy a $4 Citi call for .25, I sell a $5 Citi call for .05
Citi shoots to $6.
Is it possible for the counter party to my $5 call could execute it, and I'm on the hook for however many shares at $6 a share?
Obviously I can fall back on my $4 Citi call, to cover it, but I'm just wondering how the mechanics would play out.

You hope they do And yes they can but you offset it with the call you are long and make max value on the spread.

Anyone know where I can find a premade spreadsheet just to keep track of my transactions... I suck so bad at excel... thanks!

Personal budget transactions?

No more like equities transaction. Actions, bonds, etc...

Hey guys,

Awesome thread. Here's my situation:

I have $4,600 for this summer and senior year (I'm a junior in college). I currently have $4,500 in savings and will make 8k this summer after I pay taxes and for housing. So that's $12.5k I'll have to invest by the end of the summer.

Now, I'm 21 and won't touch this for a long time (30+ years). It seems like starting a Roth IRA would be a good call cuz I can withdraw tax-free. Any advice on this?

Also, I'm a bit lost about where to put the money. Seems like Vanguard's Target Retirement 2050 fits the bill...

Any advice would be awesome.

Thanks a lot,
Mariogs

If you have Gmail, Google finance will let you setup a portfolio where you hypothetically buy equities, bonds (small range) etc and then you can press a button to 'download the spreadsheet' or just come back and check your portfolio at any time and see your results.

poe

When people talk about the relationship between bond price/value and the interest rate, what interest rate are they referring to? Are we just talking about the interest rates that banks charge one another (the FED funds rate), the interest rates paid on checking/savings accounts, the interest rates paid on CDs, etc? It confuses me when someone says "the" interest rate, because in reality there are several different interest rates out there. So what exactly does one mean when they say "the" interest rate? What are they referring to here?

Check out www.finviz.com

'they' are probably talking about the interest rate applicable to that specific bond (the yield of that bond). that link just shows you the 5 components of an interest rate. when you are talking about US govt securities, you are basically talking about the risk free rate + expected inflation.

liquid corporate securities then bring credit ratings into account which brings default rate into the interest rate calculation.

liquidity premium is the rate you must be paid to be compensated for not being able to unload the position quickly or for the limited availability of the security.

Barron

So what about when people talk about the inverse relationship between bond prices and interest rates? Are they talking about the FED funds rate, CD interest rates, saving/checking accounts, etc? Or are they talking about yields? If they are talking about yields, are they talking about yields for the bond market as a whole, newly issued bonds for other companies/organizations/governments, or just newly issued bonds for the specific entity/organization in question?

u need to do alot of reading/studying on this.

the "interest rates" above that i bolded is almost surely the fed funds rate. when the fed raises interest rates, bond prices should fall in response...however, there are of course instances when bond prices wouldn't fall at all and may even rise. as an exercise, you should be able to think of at least 1 solid example of each ;-)

Barron

I will definitely do that. However, I think I understand the general idea. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but here's my understanding of it. The amount of money you get from a traditional bond never changes (meaning that once you specify the maturity date, frequency of payouts, and coupon, we know exactly how much money it will give us). It pays you a fixed amount every so often (usually 6 months), and gives you a fixed amount at maturity. However, that doesn't mean that the value of the bond stays fixed. Even if we could hold the inflation rate constant, the bond price/value would still fluctuate, since the opportunity cost of investing changes. Suppose we have a bond that pays 10% annually, and that the current "interest rate" is 5%. Now suppose the interest rate changes to 3%. This will make the bond more attractive than before, since the interest rate decreased, the returns from investing in the bond is greater than before (when compared to the alternative). Therefore, the price of the bond will likely be driven up.

Is this because the FED funds rate will change a lot of other interest rates in the economy? For example, does a change in the FED funds rate change the interest rate that CDs pay, mortgage interest rates, etc?

Will do.

Can someone explain to me the difference between Yuan and Renminbi? I read the wikipedia pages for both and I don't think that I quite understand it.

6 of one, half dozen the other.

They are the same. it just has two names.

just like you can call the currency in England "pounds" or "sterling" ... both the same thing.

"In what is sure to become a landmark case for genomics, a US District Court Judge in New York (Robert Sweet) has ruled that patents on human genes held by Myriad Genetics are invalid. These patents, on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, were issued more than a decade ago and gave Myriad exclusive rights to examine those sections of DNA. Mutations in BRCA 1 and 2 carry important links to breast and ovarian cancer, and Myriad’s BRAC Analysis (Be Ready Against Cancer) genetic screening is used to provide patients with a better understanding of their risk for the diseases. The court decision effectively eliminates Myriad’s rights to solely market tests on the BRCA genes, which may lower costs (previously up to $3000) for those interested in the tests . The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lead the attack against the Myriad patents which it shares equally with the University of Utah Research Foundation. This case has wide ranging implications for the entire genomics community. 20% of human genes are patented, often along with the process of identifying the genes, and these patents are now drawn into question. It is almost certain that this ruling will be appealed and eventually reach the US Supreme Court. It may take years before a final decision is made, but for now it seems like the human genome may no longer be up for grabs as intellectual property. Thank goodness.


Biotech intellectual property rights are big business. We’ve seen company stock prices surge with the grant of a new patent. Myriad’s price (NASDAQ: MYGN) had a rough drop since the announcement of the court ruling. Investors, not just in Myriad but in all firms with genetic patents, must be asking themselves how far reaching this decision may be."


Ummm.... anyone know of other stocks that have patents on human genes... and whose business is like solely based on them?

just gonna start reading up on spread betting, i use ig index , all i wanna know really is whats the best thing to bet on, ( currency, indices,ftse, etc) im gonna do tons of research so if there anytihng else to bet on thats better (more profitable really cause im gonna put tons of time into it) any suggestions be great thanks.

Looking over California munis. Of course do your due diligence but from a macro perspective many bonds rated A and above look like good bets to me. Of course these are only suitable for an after tax account. Yeah I know about California fiscal troubles but I expect the Feds to bail them out if need be.

I'm trying to get my ducks in a row since I graduated and pretty much have my first job. I'm going to law school in the fall so I think it is important to have all these things situated before I take out a ****load of loans. I currently have $0 in debt and a 744 credit score. But I also have no money really (as of right now, but I will). If I had to take a shot in the dark at how much money I will make from now until the end of July, I'd say $6000 after taxes. I live at home and pretty much have no bills. Anyways...
My accounts
I have $1000 in some random stocks on Zecco.
I have a checking account with my local BB&T.
I have one credit card with capital one, it is a Visa Platinum with a $1000 credit limit.
I have one savings account, it is an ING direct orange account with a 1.10% APY, 1.095% interest compounded monthly.



1. What is the optimal amount of credit cards to have, and does a higher credit limit raise your credit score? Will Capital One just give me a higher limit if I ask most likely? Should I just get as high of one as they will give me? It's not like I will ever go anywhere near it though.

2. I do not like my ING savings account. Does anyone have any good suggestions? I can't meet a minimum deposit requirement or anything. I was looking at the capital one high yield money market account. They have free checks and free ATM and all that jazz, plus the interface is very pleasant, unlike ING. I'm certainly open to other suggestions. Should I even have a savings account, or should I just put all my savings somewhere else since it is such a little amount? Is there any downside to having multiple savings/checking accounts?

3. I'm mainly going to use this savings account, at least for now, to accrue $3000 to put in a vanguard mutual fund. Is this a good idea? I didn't make enough money in 2009 to start an roth IRA. I really just want to get some investments rolling in a few different areas, and then I can build up some spending money and reserve funds in my checking and savings accounts and invest anything extra that I save. What proportion of money do smart investors usually keep in their savings account compared to other investments?

4. I have never really messed with taxes before, they always took them out of my check and then I got a refund or whatever, I don't even think I've ever made more than $5000 in a year before. At my current job I get 1099'd so I guess I have to record everything myself and report it right? Can someone explain the tax year to me? I started this job the first week of January. I have not made $5000 so far this year, someone mentioned April to me, I may or may not have made $5000 from last April to this April. I can find out for sure how much I've made this year, but last year I don't think so. Obviously I do not know what I'm doing.

Continuation from above, 1 more question (I was out of edits).
I'll probably need about $25000 a year in student loans for school (tuition is only 10k a year). School lasts 3 years. Do they give me money monthly or 25k a year or 75k all at once or what? I'm assuming if they give me anything like a lump sum I should put everything besides tuition in a savings account right?

It depends but most likely: yes.

Hey, I got a (stupid perhaps) question. What books would you recommend to a newbie investor? I saw this list of investor guide books and I wonder what to start from? Or maybe I should start with something else?