Now you can trade directly from Facebook using Trading Games, a new application launched by gnuTrade, which includes all the features from the classic trading screen with a new, fresh look.
As we know the importance of Social Networking, we have included a few new set of options such as creating competitions among friends and setting a real prize of your choice, as well as fun gifts that will lead you to be the best among your fellow traders.
Install the Trading Games application by clicking on this link http://apps.facebook.com/tradinggames , then use your regular gnuTrade account or create a new account directly from the screen, it's easy and it takes just a couple of steps. Once intalled click on the "Play" button and start playing the markets right away!
For more information please check our help options also available from the Trading Games screen or contact us at support@gnutrade.com
GnuTrade Launches Trading Games, its Trading Application for Facebook!
The gnuTrade Trader Screen has been Renewed!
Hi everyone, after much work we have released the new version of the trader screen with a fresh look and an easy-to-use interface. You may still place out 3 types of bets, keep track of your past and current trades in your statement and enjoy the exciting world of the Financial Markets.
If you need help with any of the new features please check this quick trading guide that includes screenshots of the new trader
http://www.gnutrade.com/platform-quick-start-guide
If you still have queries ask your question in our Helpdesk Chat Room or email us at support@gnutrade.com
You may still access our Classic Trader Screen from the bottom menu of our website. Please notice, however, that the Classic Trader Screen will be still available only for a limited time.
Please contact us if you have questions or any feedback.
Free fantasy trading accounts... What are they?
gnuTrade launches iPhone app
The innovative web app, which is featured on the Apple website, gives iPhone users an instant view of how financial markets are performing, and lets them place simple bets on whether prices will rise or fall. The app complements gnuTrade's acclaimed web-based trading platform (http://www.gnutrade.com), using its signature graphics to show live market price action, but via a handy touch-screen device.Lieven Van Marcke, managing director and founder of gnuTrade, says: "The ground-breaking launch of the gnuTrade iPhone app means customers have greater choice in how they view and trade the global markets. They can bet with play or real money just like gnuTrade online, but now have the ability to trade from practically anywhere, using a convenient mobile platform."
All iPhone players receive a virtual trading currency of 10,000 'gnus', which they can use to bet on real-time, live prices. Markets available include stock indices (e.g. FTSE 100, DOW, NASDAQ), currencies (e.g. GBP, YEN, EURO), commodities (e.g. oil and gold) and bonds (e.g. Bond 30, Bund 10).
New players who sign up through the app can also login to www.gnuTrade.com from any computer to view their complete trading history, try out gnuTrade's full trading platform and different ways to bet, and fund their real money account.
To get the app for free on your iPhone, simply enter http://iphone.gnutrade.com on your iPhone's Safari browser, and add the app to your homescreen.
The gnuTrade Widgets now available for any blog!
Do you want a free display of the latest market action for your own site or blog? The World Markets Widget gives you an easy way to:
- keep up to date with the markets
- display a cool widget to your visitors
- get instant access to your own account
Do you want a free set of educational guides for your own site or blog? The Markets Education Widget gives you an easy way to:
- provide your readers with helpful basic tutorials on financial topics
- display content to assist others in learning about markets and trading
For more information and the codes to get these useful widgets please visit this link
Learn how to trade the financial markets
Why trade the markets?
There are many businesses all over the world which use the financial markets to buy and sell products to meet their needs. At the same, there are masses of individuals and organisations who buy and sell the same financial products purely because they want to make a profit from the changing prices.
If you have cash in a high interest bank account or a managed long-term savings plan, chances are, your money is being used for trading. The money may be pooled into a larger fund which your bank uses to trade the markets and raise more cash (interest) for you, the bank and other investors.
But instead of trading in this ‘passive’ way, more and more people are taking a more active role in helping their money grow, by trading directly on the financial markets themselves. While trading is generally riskier than leaving money in a bank, it does give people the opportunity to earn more money than they would otherwise gain through interest on their savings.
It's not just the 'professionals' who can make money through trading. Anyone, with a little study and practice, can develop trading skills and learn how to minimise their risks. Trading can be a rewarding way for you to make better returns on your cash. But remember that trading could also lead to losses. If you are thinking of giving trading a go, you should learn the basics and first practice trading with play money. When you are ready to trade for real, you should begin with small amounts and only trade with money you can afford to lose.
Stock Markets
What are stock markets?
The basic purpose of a stock market is to enable companies to raise money by selling shares in their ownership. A share, also known as stock or equity, is therefore a small piece of ownership in a company. The price of a share generally reflects what people think the prospects of a company are going to be in the future.
Let’s say the NICE clothing company wants to expand its business and open more branches, but it doesn’t have enough money to do this. The company could borrow money, or, it could choose to give away portions, or shares, of its company in return for the cash it needs by listing on a stock exchange. This means that information about its activities becomes public, and anyone can buy or sell its shares. If many people think the NICE company will do well in the future and they buy shares, this could cause the NICE share price to rise.
There are many stock markets around the world, some of the most famous ones include the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. The combined share prices of the largest companies listed on a certain exchange are sometimes represented by a stock index, like the Dow Jones-30 or the FTSE-100. If the share prices of the big companies in an index go up, so can the value of the index itself.
Precious metals fall; Inflation Concerns Ease as Commodities Drop
Gold and silver fell after a decline in commodity prices reduced demand for precious metals as a hedge against inflation. Other non-metal commodities also dropped.The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities fell as much as 2.3 percent today, led by declines in soybeans, wheat and crude oil. Gold climbed to $1,033.90 an ounce, the highest ever, on March 17. Oil, gasoline, corn, soybeans, wheat and platinum also advanced to records this year.
Gold futures for June delivery dropped $15, or 1.6 percent, to $921.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The metal gained 10 percent this quarter and dropped 5.5 percent in March.
Silver futures for May delivery tumbled 63 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $17.31 an ounce. The metal gained 16 percent this quarter and fell 13 percent this month.
Soybeans fell the maximum allowed by the Chicago Board of Trade, and wheat dropped to a two-month low after a government report showed farmers will plant more to take advantage of record prices. Crude fell as much as 5.1 percent on speculation a slumping U.S. economy will slash fuel demand.
Commodities headed for the first monthly loss in four after reaching records in March. The CRB Index touched 385.41 today, down from the record 422.12 on March 13.
The US recession is affecting not only main indices these days, but also major commodities, currencies and the most popular bonds. Check out the gnuTrade Market Talk Section and its Forums for more information about current market trends.
U.S Fed cut interest rates for third time; Stocks Plunged
The Federal Reserve cut the interest rate today by a quarter of a percentage point, to 4.25 percent, although it was expected to be a bigger cut than this. This had a massive impact on almost all the stocks; however the Treasury bonds prices rose. “A mild recession is now likely, with no growth for the year ahead,” Richard Berner, chief domestic economist at Morgan and Stanley declared in a report to clients this week.
The U.S. Stocks were hit by the rate cuts, the Fed’s move slumped the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index to 2.14 percent. And the S&P 500 Index saw a decline by 38.31 or 2.53 percent, to 1,477.65 at close time.
The U.K‘s benchmark FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.43, to 6,536.90 at 10.00 a.m. in London with the Germany's benchmark stock index the DAX Index declining to 0.3 percent.
The Asian stock market also showed a down slope with the Japanese stocks falling high after the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter points. This disappointed the Asian investors at large. The Nikkei 225 declined by 112.46, or 0.7 percent, to 15,932.26 at the close of trading in Tokyo. Of the index's 225 stocks, 73 rose and 140 declined and 12 were unchanged.
However the fact is very clear that the U.S Fed rate cuts have largely influenced the stocks and any rate cuts further would bring them even down. But the Bond market is flying high with investors showing much interest towards them rather than the stocks. In future may be the Bonds, the Commodities and the currencies will be at higher end than the stocks.
Oil prices fall to $85 after a record of $90 barrel last week
The Oil prices have declined to $85, every day since crude prices rose to a record above $90 a barrel last week. The oil prices went high last week because of the Concerns about a disruption in Iraq. Oil prices dropped further Wednesday ahead of the release of weekly U.S. fuel data expected to show crude stocks rose last week.
Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires on average predict crude inventories rose 300,000 barrels during the week ended. However, estimates vary widely, ranging from an increase of 2 million barrels to a decrease of 2 million barrels. Analysts also predict the EIA report will show refinery utilization rose 0.3 percentage points; gasoline supplies, still near record lows, rose 1.1 million barrels; and distillate stockpiles, which include heating oil and diesel, rose 200,000 barrels.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell 75 cents to settle at $85.27 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. December Brent crude declined 8 cents to $82.77 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange in London. Heating oil futures rose 0.02 cent to $2.30 a gallon while gasoline prices fell 0.04 cent to $2.1085 a gallon. November natural gas fell 13 cents to settle at $6.761 per 1,000 cubic feet. Gasoline supplies, still near record lows, likely rose 1.1 million barrels, and distillate stockpiles, which include heating oil and diesel, likely rose by 200,000 barrels.
Although oil keeps fluctuating, as seen it showed a record high last week and suddenly dropped by Wednesday. If this continues the oil prices will go down to a record level in not more than few days.
Gnutrade Featured on BBC Click!!
Here it's the text from its web page:
Source: "bbcworld.com"
This week Dow Jones hit a record closing on Tuesday with 14,164.53 points, and a record during the session with 14,198.10 points.
At the end of an irregular week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.19%, closing on Friday at 14,093.08 points.
This week Dow Jones hit a record closing on Tuesday with 14,164.53 points, and a record during the session with 14,198.10 points. NASDAQ composite index gained 0.91% with 2,805.68 points for the entire week. Standard and Poor’s 500 added 0,27%, closing on Friday with 1,561.80.
Driven by Dow Jones, SP 500 also registered historical records: 1,565.26 on Tuesday close and 1,576.09 on Thursday close.
Meanwhile, the performance of 10 year bonds advanced 4.687% against 4.640% on Friday, and 30 year bonds advanced 4.905% against 4.871% a week ago.
After this new series of records, financial turbulences over the last months seem to be a thing of the past, although “investors seem nervous about the scale of the recent rise”, says Frederick Dickson, analyst at DA Davidson & Co.
"There is a certain fear that the market has advanced too much in a short period, even before the results from companies”, said Marc Pado, from Cantor Fitzgerald.
Yahoo! and Intel will publish their results on Tuesday, Apple and eBay on Wednesday, and AMD and Google on Thursday.
The banking sector, first victim of the summer, will also show its performance: Citigroup (Monday), JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch (Wednesday), Bank of America (Thursday), and Wachovia (Friday).
Welcome to the GnuTrade Blog
Introducing the new GnuTrade Blog. We will be posting pieces of news related to international stock indexes and markets, like Dow Jones, FTSE, Oil, Gold, etc.
For more information about us, please visit our contact page at our site.
Cheers!