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Trading & Investing

Can I really trade stocks for free with a broker like Firstrade? Is it a legit trading service?

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At the moment, most U.S. stock brokers will charge investors a commission for trading stocks, and only a few of them, such as Robinhood, allows investors to trade stocks for free (i.e., zero fee or commission). But now you can add another online broker to the commission-free camp: Firstrade.

You heard it right, Firstrade, like Robinhood, offers a zero-commission free stock trading service to its customers. In fact, not only U.S. stocks, but U.S. ETFs, options, and mutual funds are also traded free with Firstrade.

That’s pretty huge!

Because not every one of the stock brokers can achieve this, including those famous big companies like Interactive Brokers, E*Trade, or TD Ameritrade. Some Internet based emerging stock brokers like Tiger Brokers, Snowball security have already drastically reduced stock trading commission to 1 or 2 dollars, but even these brokers don’t offer zero commission service.

If you are interested in a free stock trading broker, you should definitely check out Firstrade’s official website (see reference link (1)) for more details.

Reference link:

(1) https://www.firstrade.com

(2) https://toptradereviews.com/firstrade-review/

(3) https://www.robinhood.com

What is WTI crude oil & where is it produced: A quick explanation

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Crude oil is one of the most important commodities and trading instruments in the world. Currently, there are two major crude oil types in the market, i.e., Brent oil and WTI oil. In this article, we’ll take a quick look at what WTI crude oil is and where exactly it is produced.

WTI stands for West Texas Intermediate. It is also often called Texas Light Sweet. It is a grade of crude oil used as a benchmark in oil pricing. Here “light” means low density, while “sweet” means low sulfur content (around 0.24%) in this kind of crude oil.

While Brent crude oil is produced in the North Sea area, WTI is produced in North America and is the benchmark of North America’s crude oil pricing. WTI is produced in several states of the United States (including Texas, North Dakota, etc.). It is mainly refined in the Midwest and Gulf Coast regions. WTI’s main trading hub is Cushing, Oklahoma, which is also the delivery site for WTI crude oil contracts.

WTI is especially suitable for refining into gasoline and diesel. It is the underlying commodity of the New York Mercantile Exchange’s oil futures contracts. Currently (As of May 15th, 2019), WTI is trading around $61 per barrel.

related links：

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Texas_Intermediate

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wti.asp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Crude

https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/45

What is the VIX index? How do I trade and profit from VIX? (a simple guide)

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For many U.S. investors, VIX is a quite familiar term, and many of them can even make profits by trading VIX. But for those who are new to VIX and want to know more about it, this article is for you. So what exactly is VIX? What does it mean and what role does it play? How do ordinary investors make profits through VIX? Here’s a brief intro.

VIX is a well-known U.S. stock volatility index. Its full name is Volatility Index (the letter V is the initials of volatility in English), also known as “fear index, or investor fear gauge”. The index is compiled and published by CBOE (Chicago Options Exchange).

VIX represents market expectations for volatility over the next 30 days. When the VIX index rises (and exceeds 30), it shows that the market is in decline and the market is full of pessimism. When the VIX index declines (and is below 20), investors are optimistic about the future market and are bullish. The value of VIX is calculated by a specific algorithm based on the options associated with the S&P 500 index, which is not detailed here because of its relative complexity.

There are three main ways to invest VIX, which include: ETF (ETN), options and futures. The relatively simple and viable method for individual investors is through buying and selling ETF/ETN. Some of the most traded ETFs/ETNs are: VXX, VXZ, etc.

Reference Links:

Https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/vix.asp

Https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-invest-in-VIX

Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VIX

How to invest in the FTSE China A50 index through US ETFs?

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Many investors are interested in investing in the Chinese stock market, but to achieve this goal, you don’t have to buy Chinese companies’ shares. Actually, buying the FTSE China A50 index is a great way to tap into the growth potential of the Chinese stock market. So, the questions are: do I need to open an account to invest in China A50 index? Can I invest in the A50 index with a small amount of money? What are some easy ways to invest in the FTSE A50?

Let’s take a look at the answers to the above questions: since the ftse A50 is an index, direct investment in an index typically requires more capital from investors and usually means you have to open a futures trading account. However, for investors with a small amount of fund, they can consider investing in the FTSE A50 through an ETF on the US stock market. One ETF that tracks the A50 index is AFTY. If investors already have an existing account for trading U.S. stocks, they can trade AFTY directly without opening additional accounts, making it easy to invest indirectly in the A50 index.

Since ETFs trade like stocks, you can go long on AFTY, or you can also go the other way and short the ETF. You can find AFTY ETF on almost every stock brokers’ trading system, including: TD Ameritrade, IB, E*TRADE, Snowball Securities, Tiger Brokers and Firstrade.

Reference link:

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AFTY

https://www.etf.com/AFTY#overview

http://www.usstockwatcher.com/what-is-china-a50-index/

What are the highest and lowest prices of silver (XAGUSD) in history?

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Silver (forex trading symbol: XAGUSD) is one of the more actively traded precious metals, and if you’re interested in silver trading, you might want to know what the all-time highs and lows are for silver. Let’s take a quick look at the answer.

From the historical price chart (July 1982 to 2019), the all-time low of silver (XAGUSD) was around February 1993, when the lowest price was $3.50. The highest price was about $48 in April 2011. However, silver prices have been falling since hitting an all-time high in 2011 and are currently trading around $14.97 on April 18, 2019.