Wednesday, October 7, 2009

The PSE and the Pursuit of Happyness – II


This post is a continuation of my previous post about stock trading.

As I’ve mentioned on Part I, I started experimenting on stock trading just a few weeks ago. I had absolutely no prior knowledge about stocks, or any kind of formal investment for that matter. Everything I know, I learned from the web and from this one-time free seminar conducted by CitisecOnline. My primary motivation isn’t really to make a lot of money (that would be great though), but to learn how the system works. Considering the minuscule amount of money I’ve invested, I don’t think there really is much to gain besides experience.

The plan is very simple:

“Learn as much as you can without losing too much, and by the time you do have enough money to get serious, you’ve already learned enough not to lose a lot”.

- A Friend of Mine, on trading stocks (paraphrased)

Swing Trading

There are different types of stock traders in the market. I’ve decided early on that to keep it simple, a single strategy would be best. Having too many considerations when making a decision is a great way to get confused and find yourself in deep shit. These are just a couple of styles you can choose from (lifted from swing-trade-stocks.com):

  1. Position Trader - These are usually institutions, or large investing bodies that hold on to a stock for a very long time. I takes a lot of money to be a position trader and also a lot of patience since your money will be frozen for a very long time.
  2. Momentum Trader – These are short-term investors that start investing when a stock is showing momentum (i.e. going up and going fast). Once they see the momentum is running out, they sell immediately and therefore make only a little profit. To compensate, they do this a lot of times, even within a single trading day.
  3. Swing Trader – This is my preferred strategy since it involves less time and effort than momentum trader. I can’t really devote too much time on this, because I’m also trying to finish grad school and teaching at the same time. To explain what swing trading is, I think it’s best to give an actual true-to-life example. Here is my very first (hopefully successful) swing trade:

Philex Mining

Philex Mining Recent Trend

About a week ago, I bought a few Philex Mining Stocks (Stock Code : PX). It was showing a decent amount of up trend and I decided to hop on board.

The key to swing trading is to look for uptrending stocks similar to PX. I drew a makeshift trend-line (blue) to illustrate my point. After you find an uptrend stock, you don’t go ahead and buy! (I was stupid enough to commit that mistake very early and I’ve learned my lesson now, thank you very much)

What you do instead, is to wait for a pullback. This is when the stock price starts to fall during an uptrend. There is very high probability that when it starts to climb up again it will try to stick to the previous uptrend. It’s amazingly simple really. You buy it at a low price (therefore lower risk) and you buy it during an uptrend (higher chance of success).

Of course you can’t be 100% sure that it will indeed go up again. For the keen observers out there, you probably saw on the graph that just a few days ago, I was looking at a potential loss if I decided to sell, since PX was falling until the end of the week. If everything goes as planned, this lowered price would attract demand and therefore possibly pull back the price next week. Fingers crossed.

CitisecOnline Features

The plotting software I used in the graph above is just one of the many nifty features of CitisecOnline (my online broker). It’s a java applet that can run on any properly enabled browser. I use Firefox 3 in Ubuntu Linux and everything works great.

Some of the other very useful features include:

  1. Regular Reports - There’s a ton of news clips and other information right at your finger tips that could potentially guide you on which stocks to avoid and which ones to buy.
  2. Investment Guide – The site ranks various stocks as either good or bad and offer a recommendation on whether to buy or not. I think this is probably more useful to Position Traders and not short term traders like me.
  3. Technical Guide – Now this is what you’d want to look at if your a swing trader. It’s a list of active stocks and whether their in an uptrend, downtrend, or sideways trend. There’s a lot more information there including support, resistance, etc. (You can learn about these terms on any swing trading site).
  4. Forums - Discuss with fellow traders about your opinions regarding market stuff.
  5. There’s a lot lot more, so just go over to the CitisecOnline site and get a free trial password.

The Real Deal

So far, I’ve been very positive about trying out the stock market. I just like to end this post with a warning. You can, and will, lose money when you trade stocks. I’ve only been at it for a few weeks and I’ve already lost some (albeit, a very small amount). So don’t come running back here and blaming me for encouraging you to try it out. Remember, any good investment has its risks and its corresponding rewards. The more potential rewards, the more risk there is.

My suggestion to the reader, would be to learn as much as you can before putting in any money. There’s a lot of stuff lying around that could get you up and started. There are even simulated stock markets. These are online games (not as flashy as Ragnarok though), where you can start to trade on the PSE using fake money. Head on over to the PSE Stock Trading Game or CitisecOnline’s Virtual Tycoon if you want to give it a go.

Good luck! See you on the trading floor.

(just drop a line if you have any questions)

The PSE and the Pursuit of Happyness – I


It’s simply amazing how easy it is today to start trading stocks in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and how very little money it takes to start investing. Just a month ago I had absolutely zero knowledge about the stock market. Except maybe for the fact that a lot of people make money on it and even more people end up losing their shirts. Through a series of serendipitous events (or maybe just a series of coincidences, depending on how you look at it), I found myself learning more and more about stock trading. Now, I’m sitting on top of a few stocks in my portfolio and writing a little about how I started.

The Pursuit of Happyness

This might sound lame, but the spark that started it all was this movie with Will Smith and his kid. It’s funny since it’s not even new and I just happened to catch a screening of it in HBO. The Pursuit of Happyness is a movie based on the true story of Chris Gardner, who basically went from rags to riches and now has his own brokerage firm. It’s a really great movie, both touching and inspiring.

Poster: The Pursuit of Happyness

After having seen it for the second time (I happen to catch it again and couldn’t resist), I thought, “Hmmm.. I could do that… I’m good with numbers!”. So I Googled “Philippine Stock Exchange” and started reading about what it actually takes to trade stocks. There’s so much about it on the net, but I found the following particularly useful:

  1. Philippine Stock Exchange – This is the website of the only stock market in the Philippines and there’s enough information here to get you started.
  2. How I Started My Online Stock Trading Activities – This Multiply Blog describes how you can start trading with minimal capital using BPITrade (more about that later).
  3. PinoyMoneyTalk.com – Learn the basics of the stock market. What is a stock? How do people make money? Or even more important, how do they lose money?
  4. Swing-Trade-Stocks.com – Probably my favorite site about stocks. It details one strategy that offers low risk with reasonably good returns (Swing Trading). The author writes very clearly and is very easy to understand. I recommend that you read this if you want to start with stocks.

CitisecOnline

The first thing you do after deciding you want to get into the stock market is to choose a broker. A broker (like Will Smith’s character) is a person (usually a whole bunch of them) who will file your buy and sell orders for you. These are the guys you’ve seen in movies shouting and waving at each other on the market floor. It’s a bit expensive to hire a live broker (an actual person) to trade for you. Especially for guys like me with only a little money to start with. The Internet to the rescue!

I decided that an online broker is more to my liking. You just need a computer and a connection to start filing your orders. After reading #2 on my links, I though I should open an account with BPITrade since I already have a BPI bank account and the starting money (5000Php) is so small. After a little more research, I quickly discovered that a lot of people don’t like BPITrade and besides the small starting capital, there really isn’t any reason to choose this broker. I also tried their test account and the user interface is archaic html or something. It sucked.

Just a few days after that, a friend of mine texted me if I wanted to go to this free seminar by CitisecOnline about starting in the stock market. He had absolutely no knowledge of my sudden interest on the market and I guess the timing was pure coincidence. He basically heard it from a friend, who also heard it from a friend. So we went to the seminar which is housed in the same building as the PSE in Ortigas. The seminar is FREE and there is no obligation to start an account. Plus, they give you free drinks (C2) and Dewberry biscuits.

Citisec Banner

After the seminar, we opened a free 7-day trial account to test out their services. You can go ahead and do that by heading on to their website and clicking the trial account button in the login page. Their site is so much better than BPITrade and considering that this is where you’ll be doing most of your trades, user-friendliness is definitely a priority.

Once the 7-day trial was over, my friend and I decided that it was time to start with real money. It takes 25,000Php to start an account with them. Note that this is usable capital. It’s what you use to buy stocks. It isn’t payment, so you still own that money.

But wait!!! They also have a student discount (if your a student in a university or something, even gradschool), wherein you can start with just 5,000Php! How’s that for small capital?! Good thing we already went to the seminar so we had application forms and everything. We just had to file our requirements and come up with the money.

Click here to read Part II of this post.

(If you have questions, just post a comment)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Paypal runs safe payment site?




Friday, September 18, 2009

Paypal runs safe payment site?

I just sent in this query to paypal customer support. As usual, I know they wont answer, or would provide some 'stock' answer that doesnt answer my question at all.

I just got this email about subscription payment I created on August 18, 2009. Note there is no transaction ID mentioned so I could refer to it.
-----------------------------------
Payment Details
-----------------------------------
Subscription name: L MOHAN ARUN
Transaction date: Sep 18, 2009
Transaction time: 05:10:18 PDT
Funding source: Credit Card
Subscription number: S-9X709443WG8575057

Now it says Funding source: Credit card. Now I want it to take funding from my paypal balance, not from credit card, and there is no option seemingly to change from where the subscription is taking funding from, in thesubscription details screen. Also note that "MY ACCOUNT" screen that appears after I log in to Paypal is NOT showing this subscription payment made! (that is, $5 made on 18 sep 2009) isnt this subscription payment part of 'recent activity' and it should show in my 'all account activity'?

A few months ago, I sent another query to paypal about I am not getting payment received email when one particular person sends me money. Always. I didnt receive any response to that till date.

After these kind of experiences with Paypal, I conclude that Paypal is not good at handling ecommerce and safe payments if they are so lax about not providing meticulous details about everything and anything when it comes to money matters.

Maximum ATM Cash Withdrawal Amount per Day in Philippine ATM/Cash Machine

http://paetechie.blogspot.com/2008/07/maximum-atm-cash-withdrawal-amount-per.html

I usually get queries on why i advocate using your own bank's ATM for cash withdrawals and other transactions to avoid transaction charges. This time, I read about a complaint from a foreigner complaining about the P4k limit on ATM withdrawals. Note that since he's withdrawing from his account held in a foreign bank, he'll incur more charges if he needs more than P4k. I suggest he use BancNet ATMs that allow at least P10k per transaction that costs one third transaction fees (you need to transact three times in ATMs of Megalink and ExpressNet thereby incurring three times more charges.

For local bank accounts, you can withdraw your money from the ATM with the following limits:

Allied Bank 20K
Asia United Bank 100K
Banco de Oro
Banco Filipino 20K or 5x withdrawal
Banco San Juan 20K
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) P20K
Centennial Bank 20K
China Bank 20K (combined w/ POS & IBFT)
Chinatrust Bank 50K
Citibank 150K
Citibank Savings Bank 150K
Citystate Savings Bank 20K
East West Bank 50K (combined w/ IBFT)
Export Bank 40K
Green Bank 20K
Malayan Bank 20K
Metrobank Regular - 30K Special - 50K
NationLink 20K
OMB 20K
PBCom 20K
Philippine National Bank (PNB)
Philtrust Bank 20K
Postal Bank 20K
PSBank Gold - 50K Regular - 30K
QCRB 20K
RCBC 50K (combined w/ IBFT)
RCBC Savings Bank 50K (combined w/ POS & IBFT)
Real Bank 20K
Security Bank Reg. Card - 40K (combined w/ IBFT)
Cashlink - 40K (combined w/ IBFT)
Sterling Bank 40K
Standard Chartered Bank 100K
Tong Yang Bank 50K
Union Bank
World Partners Bank 20K

Notes:

Data on other banks to follow once available

POS = Point-of-Sale

For BPI, you need to withdraw the P20k at the ATM before withdrawing over the counter.

Limits are imposed by the card issuing bank (where the account is)

BancNet currently allows at least P10k per transaction for member banks. Megalink and ExpressNet lowered this to P4k.

Should you need to withdraw more than P4k, transact at your own bank's ATM, BancNet then Megalink/ExpressNet, in that order of preference (particularly for those using VISA and Mastercard cash advances and Plus, Cirrus, Maestro ATM cash withdrawals from US or foreign banks.


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6 Comments:

At July 28, 2008 7:40 AM, Blogger JayAshKal said...

I have long ago stopped withdrawing cash from ATM account. not that I don't have anymore cash to withdraw (that's partly the reason! hehehee.). I just use my credit card whenever I can, I do get points BUT one has to be really discipline (I am not!) to pay the balance as you go along, otherwise this will negate the benefits of paying via credit cards. At the end of the month or by visiting my online account I know and can see a running total of what I've been spending on. Obviously it's not that you can always pay via credit all the time. Great post!

At July 28, 2008 10:04 PM, Blogger tutubi said...

jayashkal, credit is good if you can handle it. not for all people though and not all merchants accept cards

At August 3, 2008 2:31 PM, Anonymous juler said...

they are implementing withdrawal limit to insure their(bank) cash position will not be prejudice.

This way they can have time to invest the extra money to investments which ROI is greater than the bank interest rates. Pretty smart isn't it?

btw, i just added your blog..

keep on blogging and good day.

At August 3, 2008 2:49 PM, Blogger tutubi said...

juler, it's alsopart of risk assessments. my contact mostly from Audit group was the one adamant on the P20k limit without even thinking of inflation :(

At February 27, 2009 8:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi all... Can somebody help me??? I need to know if Allied Bank accepts Maestro card as I am thinking to send my maestro card to my mum in philippines. It is so expensive to send money via Western union. Thanks!!!

At March 1, 2009 11:20 AM, Anonymous paetechie said...

anonymous, afaik, Allied bank does not accept maestro. i've only seen the maestro logo on Metrobank and BPI atms. not sure about the others for i always transact at my own banks' atms (chinabank and BPI)

ATM Charges in the Philippines: BancNet, Megalink, Expressnet, Mastercard, Cirrus, Maestro, Visa, Plus, JCB, China Union Pay


Updated ATM charges per transaction in the Philippines:

Balance Inquiry Transaction Fee:

On-us/proprietary: Free
Interbank (switched by BancNet: P1
Megalink: P1 (see note below)
ExpressNet: None
Cirrus/Maestro: $1
Plus: $1

Banks who charge P2 balance inquiry fee: PNB, UnionBank, Bank of Commerce, One Network Bank, Equitable PCI Bank, Equitable Savings Bank, LBC Bank

ATM Cash Withdrawal Transaction Fee

On-us/proprietary: Free
Interbank (BancNet, Megalink, Expressnet): P8 to P12.50

Banks with highest charges: OMB (P12.50), UnionBank (P12), UCPB (P11), Bank of Commerce (P11), PNB (P11), UCPB (P11)

Banks with no charge: Citibank, Citibank Savings, HSBC

Cirrus/Maestro: $3.5
Plus: $3.0
(these rates apply also to ATM transactions abroad)

ENCASH ATM Cash Withdrawal: add P25 or P45 convenience fees on top of normal transaction charge (there is a warning screen for this)

Nationlink ATM Cash Withdrawal: add P20 convenience fees on top of normaltransaction charge (there is a warning screen for this)

Note there is a maximum amount per withdrawal for switched transactions of P10,000.00 via BancNet or Megalink. BPI recently lowered this to P5,000.00. For on-us/proprietary transactions, the issuing bank's set amount is applied.

Fund Transfers via ATM Fee

On-us/Proprietary (if available): Free
Interbank (BancNet) : P25 (real time credit)
Interbank (Megalink): P25 (next day credit)


* called IBFT by BancNet, short for Interbank Funds Transfer

Bills Payment via ATM Fee

This service is free to all cardholders. It's the biller institution who pays the processor the fees per transaction.

Cash Advance Fees

Using credit cards to withdraw cash on ATMs (funds subject also to interest rates)
VISA, Mastercard: P300 or 3% of amount whichever is higher
American Express (AMEX): 5% of cash advance or P500 whichever is higher
Diner's Club: 5% of cash advance amount or P250 whichever is higher

Many ATMs in the Philippines eg.g BPI (Bank of the Philippine Islands), Metrobank and PSBank accept VISA/VISA Electron/Plus, Mastercard/Cirrus/Maestro where their logos are displayed

American Express is accepted at BPI ATMs

China Union Pay (CUP) cardholders can inquire balance and withdraw funds from BancNet ATMs plus shop using BancNet Point-of-Sale (POS) which is similar to BPI EPS and ECN. No information yet on the charges.

No update yet whether Japan's JCB will interconnect with a local ATM consortium.
Cirrus and Maestro are affiliated with MasterCard; Plus is a VISA affiliate.

Using your Philippine-issued ATM card abroad is only possible for Cirrus, Maestro, and Plus affiliated banks (e.g. BPI International for Cirrus/Maestro). Inquire at your own bank for details.

How to avoid ATM transaction Charges in the Philippines:

1. Transact only at your own bank's ATMs
2. Open an account at Citibank, Citibank Savings or other banks that do not charge ATM withdrawals and account balance inquiries to their cardholders.
3. Open an account at a bank with an ATM near your place.
4. Do not put your money in the bank, invest it some place else :P

Note that transaction charges can be thought of as convenience fees; you pay the charges instead of wasting your time and spending money on fares/gas going to your own bank's ATMs.

ExpressNet Member Banks (5):
Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), BPI Family Bank, Land Bank of the Philippines (Landbank, LBP), Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (HSBC), HSBC Savings

BancNet Member Banks (31):
Allied Bank, Asia United Bank (AUB), Banco Filipino, Banco San Juan, CentennialSavings Bank, China Banking Corporation (Chinabank), Chinatrust Bank, Citibank, N.A., Citibank Savings Bank, Citystate Savings Bank, East West Bank, Export and Industry Bank (Exportbank), Green Bank of Caraga, Malayan Bank, Manila Bank, Merchants Bank, Metrobank, Opportunity Microfinance Bank, Philtrust Bank, Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCOM), Postal Bank, PSBank, Quezon Capital Rural Bank (QCRB), Real Bank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), RCBC Savings Bank, Security Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sterling Bank of Asia, Tong Yang Savings Bank, World Partners Bank

Megalink Member Banks:
AsiaTrust Bank, Banco de Oro (BDO), Pacific Ace Bank, Bank of Commerce, Philam Savings Bank, Development Bank of the Philippines, Philippine National Bank (PNB), Equitable PCI Bank, Philippine Veterans Bank, Equitable Savings Bank, Premiere Development Bank, Insular Savings Bank, Prudential Bank, International Exchange Bank (iBank, now part of Unionbank), Queen City Development Bank, Keppel Bank Philippines, Robinsons Savings Bank, LBC Bank, Union Bank of the Philippines, Maybank Philippines, United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB), Pacific Ace Savings Bank

Nationlink Member Banks (A member of BancNet):
National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), Kaunlaran Bank, Kaunlaran Rural Bank of Manaoag, Optimum Development Bank, Malasiqui Rural Bank, Community Rural Bank of Dapitan, Metro Ormoc Community Cooperative (OCCCI)

ENCASH Member Banks(A member of Megalink):
Rural Bank of FloridaBlanca, GM Bank, Bangko Kabayan, Rural Bank of Tiaong, Progressive Rural Bank, Rural Bank of Puerto Galera, Cantillan Bank, First Valley Bank, Rural Bank of Calasiao, Balai Isabel, GM Bank, Jose Panganiban Rural Bank,
Rural Bank of Nabua, G7 Bank

You may visit your bank's website for ATM locator service to know where to find ATMs in the Philippines. For example, in Boracay, there are ATMs by Metrobank, Allied Bank and BPI.

eBay: Do's and Don'ts for Beginning eBayers, 2009 8 of 8

http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/ebay101/ss/ebay_dos_donts_8.htm

eBay Don't #4: Don't Bid Over Your Head.

(continued from previous page)

Shopping online can be a lot of fun, providing it doesn’t get you in financial hot water. eBay, in particular, comes with all the convenience of finding just about anything you can think of without having to physically travel the world for it.

Bidding, like gambling, can become addictive. Whether it’s one large bid, or several small ones, the total can quickly add up. Remember, you are also expected to pay for any and all shipping, handling, and insurance costs associated with winning an auction. Unless “money is no object”, don’t spend your next month’s mortgage payment on that cute Prada just because it’s here now. “Buyer’s remorse” doesn’t work on eBay!

So the biggest Don't of all: be brutally truthful to yourself about how much money you can afford to spend on that eBay item!

eBay: Do's and Don'ts for Beginning eBayers, 2009 7 of 8

http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/ebay101/ss/ebay_dos_donts_7.htm

eBay Don't #3: Don't Rush to Negative Feedback.

(continued from previous page)

The vast majority of eBay sellers want your buying experience to be a happy one, but sometimes, things go awry.
Shipping delays are the most common issue, especially if your item is mailed to you from very far away. Cross-border inspections are also about everyone’s safety, and not just to inconvenience you.

The more borders to cross, the longer it may take before you receive your goodies. Many new eBayers fail to recognize this and rush in to leave a negative Feedback for the seller only to regret it the next day when their purchase arrives. Although the actual Feedback message can be mutually withdrawn, the statistics will show there was an unfavorable Feedback left before. These statistics can make any future sales, or purchases, very difficult.

Again, Feedback is forever, and a little patience goes a long way. If you believe there is an undue delay in receiving your goods, contact the seller. If your package is indeed lost, many sellers will offer to replace the item, or issue a refund.