Forex Power Trading Course

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Stocks - Buying With Cash Or Margin

By Richard Moran

The initial cause of the Great Depression and stock collapse of October 1929 was all the stock that had been purchased on margin. When the stock prices fell many of the people who had purchased on margin could not cover the margin calls and went bust. That of course was before the financial controls imposed by the government in today's market and theoretically that situation could never happen again although many of those who lost money in the past year may disagree. You can still buy stock by putting only a portion of the cost in hard cash down with the balance being covered by your credit standing and therefore on margin.

Just Pay For the Stock You Buy

Cash is still the best way to purchase any investment. Buying stock on margins will necessitate the price of the stock rising enough to not only cover your cost and fees, but enough to cover the interest charges imposed by the stock firm offering the margin purchase. Unless your crystal ball is a good one, and your stock picks take off, that is a lot of pressure for the stocks price to rise. Of course if the price falls you are still responsible for that loss plus any interest due on the original purchase price. You may owe quite a bit more than the stock is worth when you sell.

You Know It's a Sure Thing and Want 10,000 shares rather than 1,000

When you borrow money to buy a car you pay back what you borrowed, plus an interest charge. This is the same with marginal stock. You are borrowing part (usually around 80%) of the stock price from the broker. For this service the broker will charge you interest. If you buy a $100 stock you give the broker $20 and borrow $80. You then pay interest on that $80 until you sell. So theoretically, If the stock goes up to $150 you must give the broker back their $80 plus the interest for the time you held the stock. The great part in using margin (if the stock goes up) is making a $20 investment you have gotten your $20 back plus a $50 profit minus whatever interest is due. Many day traders use this method to make a lot of money by buying and selling stocks quickly - sometimes buying in the morning and selling in the afternoon - hence day trading.

Knowing the Stocks you Buy

If your interested in margins the best advice is to know your stocks. One bad bet can cost a lost of money. Conversely, it can make you a bundle. History can help with a stocks' rises and falls but circumstances of a particular day can affect a solid stock to a great extent. Think what would happen to the health insurance provider's stock if the government announced universal health care for the citizens of the United States. Everything affects the stock prices - politics, weather, the moods of the people. When a few of the banks borrowed from the government most bank stock whet down, even if they were not borrowers from the fed.

Margin/Cash - so which is the best way?

Making an investment in the stock market with someone elses money is not recommended, unless you can ensure that the stocks you buy are going to go up in value. Of course we all know this is impossible to do because of the nature of the market. Outright purchasing of stocks is the optimal way to invest. Buying them outright puts all the profits in your pocket and then allows you to reinvest those profits into other stocks. - 23310

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