Nick R

Hi, I would like to know the difference between equity and stocks.

Hi Sam, The advance block refers to a bearish reversal pattern that indicates that a current uptrend is going to change direction. The pattern consists of three candles. The first candle is a white candle that appears as a long line during an uptrend. The first candle can be any of the following - White Candle, Long White Candle, Opening White Marubozu, Closing White Marubozu or White Marubozu. The second line can be both a long or a short line and can be created by any white candle. This candle opens in the range of the first candle body and closes above it. The third candle, just like the second one, can also be short or long and can be represented by any white candle but it opens in the range of the body of the second candle and closes above it. In this pattern, each successive candle body is smaller than the previous one.

Hey, Junk Bond ETFs, also known as High-yield ETFs, offer exposure to the debt of US companies rated below BBB. Junk Bond ETFs are considered high-risk investments that need to deliver large returns to compensate for that risk. iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF is the largest high-yield ETF which holds around $27.79 billion in assets.

Hello Trevor, thanks for coming here. It is expected that Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) will report its April-June earnings next week, with analysts waiting to see how much the shutdown of carmaker’s factory in Silicon Valley has influenced its sales objectives. Tesla reports car deliveries on a quarterly basis which represent the company’s sales as well as the production figures near the end of a quarter, meaning that we can expect the sales report next Thursday. The carmaker’s plant in Freemont, CA halted production during the quarter due to Covid-19 outbreak. The Wall Street expects Tesla to deliver 67,000 vehicles, 59,600 of which would be covered by the Model 3 sedans while the rest would be split between Model S luxury vehicle and Model X SUV, according to the FactSet survey. While the company hasn’t entirely given up on selling over 500,000 vehicles this year, it did say to investors that it had the necessary capacity to deliver more than 500,000 vehicles in 2020 in spite of production halts. In April, Tesla announced that it delivered 88,400 vehicles in Q1, calling it the best-ever first-quarter performance, which was just below the analysts’ estimates. Analysts at investment banking firm Evercore ISI expect Tesla to deliver between 80,000 and 84,000 vehicles in the second quarter, with sales in China compensating for sales drop in the United States and Europe. Analysts at Deutsche Bank, however, have different expectations. “We estimate Tesla was able to produce 34,000 Model 3 units out of the Shanghai (factory) and about 21,000 in Fremont,” they noted. “But we do not believe Tesla was able to reach full Model Y production levels.”

Hi Peter, On June 22, Bitcoin tested the $9,800 mark indicating that the bulls could make a new run and go for the $10,000 resistance area. However, just a few days later, the world’s number one cryptocurrency plunged to $8,800 which means that we still can’t expect a bullish rally for now. Right now, Bitcoin is hovering around $9,000. The area between $8,800 and $9,000 acts as strong support for BTC. This region has been supporting Bitcoin a few times this month, keeping it from plummeting. Still, if bulls don’t maintain the BTC price above $8,800, bears could gain control. Dropping below $8,800 could lay the ground for a sharp decline in BTC price. One of the widely followed analysts on Twitter, Josh Rager, pointed out there’s no reason to worry if Bitcoin drops to $8,500 but in case the lower end of the trading zone in which Bitcoin has been moving since the end of May, “the trend could be predestined for the next few weeks”. “$BTC range is clear. Current support that has been holding the past three weeks is the mid-range. Break down here and price likely to see $8900 followed by $8500 range bottom. Break below $8500 and IMO will make for a long summer for Bitcoin holders,” he said. Order books at Bitfinex could indicate that BTC may be capable of preserving this key level. The cryptocurrency exchange’s order books have been reliable in predicting Bitcoin trends over the past few weeks as many of its uptrends happened after strong buying support from Bitfinex’s order books. Similarly, Bitcoin setbacks at $10,000 happened after big sell orders at the exchange.

Hi Ilija, thanks for asking the question. Back in April during the coronavirus lockdown, Malaysia’s Securities Commission has fully approved crypto exchange to run in the country. The first exchange to earn the approval from the Suruhanjaya Sekuriti Malaysia (the Securities Commission Malaysia) to run a digital asset exchange, was crypto exchange Tokenize Malaysia. The exchange has been welcoming new clients since then. Following the approval, the Chief Executive Officer of Tokenize Malaysia, Hong Qi Yu said: “The digital asset industry is by far one of the best equipped and it is business as usual for us as the industry is used to working and communicating effectively across time zones and managing teams remotely,” according to the Malaysian news agency Bernama. Referring to the developments, Hong Qi Yu said that it was the perfect timing from the SC to give the approvals, pointing out that his exchange saw a great increase in interest in digital assets from clients aged 24-50 years. Apart from Tokenize Malaysia, the other two crypto exchanges that got the approval were operators Luno Malaysia and Sinegy Technologies. Bernama reported that 23 crypto exchanges applied for the license, however, only those three got the approval. Out of those, Leno Malaysia was the first exchange to meet all of the regulatory guidelines. The Securities Commission Malaysia made an announcement in January, listing the requirements for crypto offerings. Operators that didn’t receive the approval at the time were forced to halt all operations. “Entities which have not been approved by the SC, including those which have previously been operating under the transitional period, are required to cease all activities immediately and return all monies and assets collected from investors.”

Hello, thanks for asking the question. In December 2019, Deutsche Bank AG conducted research on this matter. According to the bank, by 2030, we will see a rise in demand for cryptocurrencies which will eventually replace cash. In the research report named “Imagine 2030”, managing director and strategist at Deutsche Bank, Jim Reid, talked about the issues that fiat currencies have been experiencing over the recent years, especially after the birth of digital currencies. He pointed out that the rising demand for dematerialized payment system could drive people away from traditional currencies. However, in order to become mainstream, cryptocurrencies need to overcome certain obstacles. First and foremost, digital assets need to get a proper approval from global authorities and regulators in order to gain price stability and global significance in the payment system. Reid noted that collaboration with major stakeholders such as mobile apps and card issuers could help overcome this hurdle. He also said that once digital assets become mainstream, we can expect new challenges to emerge. Some of the major challenges the crypto-based financial systems will face include dependence on electricity, cyberattacks as well as digital wars. “As that occurs, the line between cryptocurrencies, financial institutions, and public and private sectors may become blurred,” he wrote. Meanwhile, global authorities have been discussing the need to build national digital currencies. Last year, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda noted that there’s still no public demand for developing a national digital currency in the country. Kuroda pointed out that the Bank of Japan has been doing technical and legal research on this subject, however, the demand for cash payments has been increasing. The central bank of France, on the other hand, said it plans out to roll out a Central Bank Digital Currency for financial institutions in 2020.

Hello Trevor, On May 8, shares of Blooming Brands rose 3% to $11.20. Still, the stock of the restaurant holding company is down 49% in 2020 as the restaurant industry took a blow due to the coronavirus pandemic. The company is doubling down on delivery services following a sharp increase in sales during the lockdown, according to the CEO of Blooming Brands, David Deno. The delivery services business tripled as people had to stay at home during the lockdown. “From the time it started until today we’ve tripled our off-premise business, so that means carryout and delivery,” Deno said, following the company’s Q1 earnings report announcement. “That’ll really help us as we go forward in our business.” According to the earnings report, the company’s same-store sales and net revenue plunged over 10% in the first quarter, compared to the same period from a year ago. Revenue of $1.01 billion failed to meet analysts’ estimates as well. Bloomin reported earnings per share of 14 cents, below the consensus estimates of 35 cents a share. The off-premise operations helped the company recover the losses incurred from normal operations, the CEO said. Around 60% of off-premise earnings came from takeout and delivery services, from both its own delivery network or third-party services. Recent investments in the company’s delivery network have made a significant impact and will continue to pay off, said Deno. “We’ve kept our off-premise sales, which is so important because that’s a strong sales base for us as we move forward,” he added. “We’re basically more than ... beating our variable costs as we open back up our restaurants even at 25% [seating capacity] because of our strong off-premise business.”

Hello Sophia, More than $5 trillion is traded on Forex every day. It’s never been easier to access the largest market in the world and because of that, some people are trying to take advantage of Forex through various scams. Whether trading is your full-time job or you’re just trying to make some extra money, everyone should be aware of today’s scams in Forex. Nowadays, a popular type of Forex scammers is the “signal sellers”. Those can be retail companies, pooled asset managers, managed account firms, or individual people that provide “services” and ask for a weekly/monthly payment in return. Signal sellers offer clients insight into favourable times to trade the market that’s based on expert recommendations. Signal sellers often talk about their vast experience in trading and mention success stories where they made people wealthy. If the client falls for it, a signal seller will ask for a certain amount of money in return for trading advice. Another type of common Forex frauds is robot scams. These robots refer to a trading program that uses algorithms or computer codes as an indicator to enter or exit the market. However, you should know that some robots aren’t scammers. For instance, some Forex robots are developed using Expert Advisors (EAs) within the common MetaTrader series of trading platforms. Doing some research online and identifying popular robot scammers could be a good idea. Also, there are some trading systems today that are extremely expensive, up to several thousands of dollars. This is also a type of scam since no one should have to pay more than a few hundred dollars to use a legitimate trading system. Such expensive systems try and justify their prices by guaranteeing to provide excellent results, but don’t fall for that.

Hello Craig, thanks for asking the question. According to the reports from last month, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), is developing a new form of national currency tokenization utilizing blockchain technology. The bank is working on this project with the Polish-British fintech firm, Billon, after a successful collaboration on testing end-to-end digitized national currency transfers. According to an announcement on May 18, Raiffeisen bank and Billon are developing a tokenization platform, known as RBI Coin, currently in its initial stages. If everything goes well, the pilot will be conducted by the end of this year and is developed to facilitate cross-border interbank or intercompany transactions and enhance liquidity management, the companies said. The announcement said that the coin was created by Billon as a part of the first collaboration between the two companies, the Elevator Lab program. The program, which was allegedly concluded March 5, is designed to utilize Billon’s blockchain technology to allow e-money transactions using digitized euro. The companies plan to roll out the pilot in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries of bank’s operation, Raiffeisen said. Those are Belarus, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Ukraine, and others. A bank’s representative said in a report that the RBI is in talks with its subsidiaries to decide what banks would take part in the project. “We believe the first tests would cover money transfers between Austria and an RBI subsidiary in another CEE country,” the representative said. RBI Coin would be pegged 1:1 to the euro or another country’s currency, depending on what country will be participating in the pilot. “Currencies deployed would depend on the countries involved in the pilot, so the platform could include euro and other national currencies as well.” Hope that answered it.

Hi Jane, thanks for being here. Doji refers to a session where the security candlestick pattern features an equal opening and closing price. Doji candle can have a shape of a cross, inverted cross or plus sign. If it’s alone, Doji is a neutral candle, but it can also be a part of other important patterns. Doji takes shape when the opening and closing price of a security are virtually equal over a certain time period. In technical analysis, doji usually indicates a reversal pattern. Its name is derived from a Japanese word "doji" which means blunder or mistake, based on the rarity of cases where the open and close price are the same. While Doji typically indicates indecision among market participants, it can also signify a slowing momentum of the current trend. The pattern is often not very useful to investors as it can worry them. For instance, if the market is currently in an uptrend, the appearance of a Doji star could indicate a slowdown of the bullish momentum, causing traders to exit the market. That’s why it is very important to analyze this pattern in tandem with other technical indicators or your specific exit plan. Investors should exit the market only if they confirm Doji indications with other signals and technical indicators. This is because sometimes investors stay indecisive only for a brief period before continuing to push the market in the same direction. For that reason, performing proper analysis of the market is of utmost importance before exiting a trade. If, however, you decide to make a move, you should always implement a proper risk management strategy to cut losses if the trade doesn’t go your way.