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Its not all black & white

With 2 weeks to go to the US🇺🇸elections, the markets are buzzing with one steadfast asset continuing to shine 💫 (USD 2,734 at the time of writing).

Commodities being “real assets” react differently to changing environments than “financial assets”, so what could gold traders be looking🤓 forward to as the shiny🌟 metal hits one record high after another?

🧐Economic uncertainty?
🧐Geopolitical tensions?
🧐Central bank excessive buy-and-hoard?
🧐Is another round of inflation post elections just around the corner?

Costco was selling 100-200 million dollar worth of 1-ounce gold bars every month, reporting depletion early in the month (October).

Even with higher 10-year treasuries and a stronger dollar💵 index putting some pressure to gold’s price, we’re yet to see a slowdown in the +30% price increase year to date.

As one of the most⭐️ traded commodities, we dig deep on gold (no pun intended) on our site as well as in our training to see how it interacts in the world of the Capital Markets.

#commodities #training #capitalmarkets #gold

📢EU tariffs on Chinese car imports are now live – is it a BIG deal or a PIG🐷 deal? Let us explain 🤓

EU’s investigation last year on Chinese government subsidies for electric vehicles, concluded that the practice calls for correction due to potential economic injury to the Union’s EV market.

Tariffs on Chinese EV imports were decided, on top of the existing 10% already in place. SAIC Motor gets the bigger hammer with a 35.3% bringing it to 45.3%, while Tesla sits in the lower range of 7.8%.

The question is – will China retaliate?

China did file a lawsuit under the WTO dispute settlement mechanism but is there more?

Measures already taken that affect:

➡️France: Brandy (over 1.7 billion USD imports in 2023)
➡️France, Italy, Denmark, Netherlands: Dairy (over 0.5 billion USD)
➡️Spain, Netherlands, Denmark: Pork (over 2.7 billion USD imports in 2023)

With over 2.7 billion dollar imports, it makes it kind of a pig 🐷 deal!

#tariffs #ev #leanhog #pork #futures #dairy #capitalmarkets #learning #training #eu #china

Proud of your all star⭐️broker team? You should be👏. Let’s see how we can support them even more.

Here’s what to expect from our Capital Markets Training.

-🤓Understand the depth of capital markets and their impact on your product
-👷🏻♀️Build character through interactive sessions
-👌Gain confidence and communicate the capital markets with clients and colleagues

Even if you have all of the above covered, we constantly expand our toolbox🧰 so you don’t stay behind.

We focus on team performance💫, so you can focus on expansion⬆️.

#capitalmarketstraining #learning #growth #performance #allstars #brokers

#Diversification in the last 100 years.

👉 In the 20s, the political system diversified by granting women🤵🏻♀️ the right to vote🗳️, resulting in women becoming a political superpower💪.

👉In the 30s, regulation📑 diversified after the Great Depression, and extended its reach to never leave the financial🏦 sector to its own devices (i.e. banks uncontrollably lending to speculators).

👉In the 40s, the US🇺🇸 diversified its allies in Europe🇪🇺 and marked the beginning of globalization.

👉 In the 50s, Europe🇪🇺 diversified with the Treaty of Rome and formed the ECC, predecessor of the EU, rendering it a superpower 💪.

👉 In the 60s, the stock markets diversified by building the first electronic system for stock price quotations (by 1971, NASDAQ is founded).👩🏻💻

👉 In the 70s, China🇨🇳 diversified by opening its economy, rendering it a superpower💪.

👉 In the 80s, Russia🇷🇺 diversified with Glasnost and Perestroika, ending the Iron Curtain in Europe🇪🇺.

👉 In the 90s, NATO diversified by adding 15 members including 3 ex Soviet states, rendering it a superpower💪.

👉 In the 2000s, the world🌎 diversified due to a series of events that reshaped global security🚨, market regulations📑, and natural disaster responses🆘 (i.e. 9/11, Great Recession, Sumatra tsunami and Katrina).

👉 In the 2010s (aka “the Tenties”, “the 10s” or “the Teens”) Apple diversified its products with the iPad. Emojis😍 became “diverse emojis”, allowing users to express themselves in different skin tones 👍🏻👍🏽👍🏿👍.

👉 In the 2020s (ongoing), the pandemic🦠 called for the world to diversify how we address every aspect of our lives: communication, digitization, medication, logistics and so much more.

💥Traders & investors are encouraged to diversify their portfolios to mitigate risk and capture opportunities as these arise.

Is your brokerage mitigating risks and capturing opportunities? Or are you sticking to the same old script?

Diversify with our Capital Markets Training and make your team a superpower💪.

#capitalmarkets #training #learn #assets #broker #team #superpower

As a (your title/role) in the online trading industry, where do you think you fit in the context of the capital markets? The answer would surprise you.

In the grand scheme of things, you are more important than you give yourself credit for. Equally important is your currently unaware colleague, lead, client, partner, friend, family, neighbor; all of whom exert an impact, however big or small. A drop in a bucket, still makes ripples.

Markets and financial literacy are not just about hot🔥tips and money💸 decisions. They are about awareness, positioning, recognition, resilience and controlling biases, something that we highlight the importance of in our Capital Markets Training.

We believe education should be free, and stand by this by sharing as much as we can on our website, accessible to all. Learn with us as we translate the investment world through interactive chart stations, videos, snippets, visuals, infographics, quizzes and so much more.

New online approach, same offline care.

#capitalmarkets #marketstraining #allfx #learning #training

Although January is typically considered the coldest 🥶 month of the year, it has started with some hot 🔥 topics.

The landscape for Brokerages is always moving, and we need to move with it. In the first 10 days of the year we already see that 2024 will see many brands investing in key elements of their businesses.

These include👇:

1. Localization and what it really means to penetrate a market 📍
2. Diversification and exploring ways to get returns💰without spreading yourself too thin
3. HR; it’s not just about talent acquisition but talent management 🤓
4. The importance of growing🌱your product suite and offered assets
5. Key trends and shifts in 2024 for marketers that will open doors 🚪 today and beyond.

Change and growth are in the air, and we are excited!

Happy New Year 🙂

#2024 #businessinsights #brokers #cfds #derivatives #decisionmaking #fx #fxmarketing #hrinfx #riskmanagement #regulation #localization

🤓Did you know that public speaking, makes it biologically impossible for us to perform?

Yes, you are not alone.

And to go a step further, our biology doesn’t just stop at public speaking🗣️. The same goes for client facing, client calling and cold calling.

🧬Biologically we enter a fight or flight mode, where our body oxygenates to enable us to move faster if we have to, our heart starts racing, we have trouble breathing, we sweat, our mouth dries up, our voice changes, we talk faster, we tremble, we are overall on edge.

Different symptoms, for different people.

We cannot overcome anxiety. But we can manage it by embracing its there, and then treat the symptoms on the go.

Key treatments?

👉Confidence through knowledge
👉Structure through practice
👉SMILE 😁 by being in the present, and accept that doing our best might not resonate with everyone, but it will make a difference to those it will.

Biting the bullet this week Sarah Henry took a seat on one of the panels at Marketing Next – discussing technology and its impact on customer service and trust in Financial Services.

Great moderation and topic insights from Sophia Paraskeva, Stavriana Nathanail, Themis Christou & Richard Shotton

Other phenomenal speakers included Nadia Ivanova, Ruben van Eijk, Marios Anastasiou, Raffaella Vota, Jenni Romaniuk, Vince De Castro ✴️ , Maria Sibirtseva and of course Martin Zarian to name only a few!

If you missed George Sardos or Sarah Henry at the event, a catch up is just a message away 🤗!

Special thanks to Angelos Potamitis and DIMITRIS PAPADOPOULOS and congratulations on smashing it 💫

Black Friday or just another regular Friday? 🤔 Another cultural event is just around the corner next week, powered by extreme consumer behavior. #Traders … does this ring a bell🔔?

As far as stories go, #BlackFriday is said to have its origins in Philadelphia, United States. Now a common sighting across the globe in over 100 countries.

One story says it originated from the Philadelphia Police Department to describe the tourists/shoppers that flew into the city on Friday to watch the football game between the Army and the Navy. All officers where required to work that day to control the chaotic crowd. Hence the term.

Another story refers to the profits of local businesses “moving to black” from red. The term goes back to when accounting books where updated by hand and black ink was used for income, while red ink was used for expenses.

Now a psychologically🧠 driven event, marked by extreme consumer behavior due to the sense of urgency to lock-in limited time deals searching for the “thrill” of a bargain, and driven by FOMO😱.

A social event driven by shoppers discussing their experiences and deals in online gatherings, adding fuel to the thrill and FOMO.

Traders don’t need to wait⏱ for Black Friday, because they go through the same emotions every day, on every trade.

Social interactions fuel the thrill and the fear of missing out on the next great trade.

The emotional roller coaster🎢 of a trader looks a lot like an economic cycle. It has peaks and troughs, it expands and it contracts. It’s constant, repeating and cannot be avoided.

Bill Lipschutz (a legend in forex trading), when referring to his initial experiences is said to have turned his inheritance of $12,000 to a $250,000, then lost it all and started again. It taught him the hard way, that “if most traders would learn to sit on their hands 50 percent of the time, they would make a lot more money.”

#fearandgreed #traderpsychology #riskmanagement #control #trading #fx #forex #onlinetrading #brokers

#COP29 – maybe your portfolio will go nuclear one day 🤔

Obviously climate change is the burning topic (no pun intended) at the COP29 being hosted in Baku, Azerbaijan. With climate patrol sounding alarms that 2024 is the hottest year on record, and is set to breech the 1.5° global warming limit, attention will surely be on how governments and citizens of the world address measures to turn down the burner.

Attention on #nuclear energy with goals of tripling capacity by 2050 *according to the World Nuclear Association, an effort that is supported by 14 major banks and financial institutions.

Did you know that the biggest producer of Uranium is Kazakhstan, followed by Namibia and Canada?

Uranium in its raw state is not fissile – therefore cannot split atoms (fission) to trigger a chain reaction required for energy production. After Uranium is extracted and milled into yellow cake, it is enriched with the necessary isotope and yellow turns black with all the ingredients to fuel a reactor.

How much do you know about nuclear energy? Or Uranium? We’ll venture to say not that much, but shouldn’t you?

We’ve compiled a nice introduction to this #energy #commodity to save you the digging (or mining/leaching for that matter). Who knows, maybe your portfolio will go nuclear one day 🤔.

#learning #diversification #assets #future #globalemissions #trading #investing

💰💰💰Cash holdings at 325.2 billion USD💰💰💰?

Just because…

Just because in various investing periods “cash💵 is king 👑”, it doesn’t mean we only hoard cash. It’s probably a good time to reflect on our holdings💼, take a good look at the current economic 🌎 environment and conduct a better assessment of the future🔮 in the short term.

Berkshire Hathaway’s cash holdings are currently at a record high of 325.2 billion USD. That’s roughly 1,000 times the population👥 of the United States 🇺🇸(currently at +335 million people).

Since we all follow more knowledgeable actionists (always relative to our own portfolios), should we consider this 325.2 billion dollar hoard, a sign to shift from investments📈 into cash💰?

Afterall, cash and cash equivalents, are an asset class as well.

What if Berkshire is hoarding because:

🧐Everything is just too expensive to buy? High valuations across the board.
🧐Preparing for a market crash where there’s many options to buy? Think of 2002-2005 cash hoarding prior to the Great Recession.
🧐Forecasting for higher taxes on realized capital gains and its imaginary👻 friend, the proposed tax on unrealized gains???

Some cash might be king, too much cash might be trash, but who’s cash are we really looking at?

We don’t have a section on our website on cash and cash equivalents, but we do provide FREE educational content on stocks, commodities, bonds, indices, ETFs, crypto, funds and so much more.

#berkshirehathaway #cash #cashisking #cashistrash #portfolio #riskmanagement #learning #capitalmarkets #training

How do we draw attention 🔍 to the potential of investment if we do not understand the basics of MONEY💸?

We’ve all made mistakes, (we know we have), when it comes to Spending🛒 , Saving🔒 and Investing📊. If only we had resources earlier on to understand concepts related to what we do with our hard earned cash. Well, there is tremendous work being done to this effect by CyFLEC (Cyprus Financial Literacy and Education Committee) and the OECD International Network of Financial Education (OECD/INFE).

September learning kick-off with the Central Bank of Cyprus event “Research, Policy, and Practice Session on Empowering Households in Their Financial Behavior” was 💡.

📉 European statistics and research indicate that Financial Literacy levels are very low in many states (Cyprus included), indicating not only are households i.e.: individuals, ill-prepared to handle unforeseen circumstance but they also do not have access or awareness of how to manage their finances in a prudent way, including debt & the options of investing & savings. We saw this reflected in the majority of money being held in banks and cash as opposed to potential investment vehicles, indicating massive risk/loss aversion in combination with multiple other biases.

By understanding key concepts related to how you manage your money, you will be better prepared to make sound decisions for your financial future and become resilient in turbulent times, something that we highlight the importance of in our Capital Markets Training.

Many thanks to the organizers, Central Bank of Cyprus, CEPR – Centre for Economic Policy Research and esteemed speakers including:

– Dr. Christodoulos Patsalides, Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus
– Dr. Magda Bianco, OECD International Network of Financial Education (OECD/INFE)
– Prof. Michael Haliassos, Goethe University Frankfurt, Director of CEPR Network on Household Finance, and Coordinator of KomvosNode ENNOIA initiative
– Dr. Jumana Saleheen, PhD, Chief Economist & Head of Investment Strategy Group, Europe at Vanguard Asset Management
– Ms Diane Thompson, Senior Advisor to the Director of the Consumer Financial protection Bureau and a former executive in the policy division
– Prof. Alex Michaelides, Imperial College London and CEPR

#financialliteracy #capitalmarkets #alwayslearning

Here’s to another 10! 🎉

There’s nothing more satisfying than reaching milestones. And more important, to reach it with a network of individuals and institutions that you’re proud to call FRIENDS.

#milestones #growing #b2b #building #network #partners #education #training #startaforexbrokerage

Who doesn’t know the S&P500? 😏 Nobody! But, do you know it’s little (small cap) brother, the S&P 600?🤔

Why the S&P 600 you ask? This year (Oct 28th) marks 30 years 🎉 on the market and it’s a great opportunity to take a look at this index, which has a total market cap (1.4 trillion USD) larger than the entire equity market of South Korea!*

The S&P 600 is a small cap index with unique characteristics in its construction. If we had to compare it with another index, it would be the Russel 2000 (another small cap benchmark). Although the Russel 2000 is quoted more on daily news outlets, there is a major difference in its construction, that makes the S&P 600 difficult to outperform.

💲Earnings screening – For a company to be added to the S&P 600, it needs to display a history of positive earnings. This gives an added quality to the index, that the Russel 2000 lacks.

It also changes constituents more often than the Russel 2000. On an as-needed basis, the committee adds and removes as required, maintaining its quality in comparison.

ETFs like IJR, SPSM, VIOO track the S&P 600, from Blackrock, State Street and Vanguard respectively.

Index trading/investing is explored in depth on our site, where we explore their history, types, creation, weighting, valuation and so much more.

FREE educational content on stocks, commodities, bonds, indices, ETFs, crypto, funds and other factors that make them tick.

Happy Friday!

#indexinvesting #indices #sandp #investing #trading #smallcap #benchmark

*source: S&PGlobal research

One of the only pictures we have for our kids to relate to one of their great-grandfathers. A quiet man, who never shared much of his time in 1943 on the HMCS Chambly, but who nonetheless took his post.

One of the only pictures we have for our kids to relate to one of their great-grandfathers. A quiet man, who never shared much of his time in 1943 on the HMCS Chambly, but who nonetheless took his post.

As a family business, embracing everything from our past is a big part of forging our future, both the good and the bad. Today especially, to honour the sacrifice of those who stood guard for the freedom of future generations, which at times feels taken for granted.

#lestweforget #lifelessons #rememberance

Test🧐 your knowledge with 8 quizzes on all things markets📈. Gold, stocks, forex, commodities to name but a few.

10 questions in each quiz📝, no winners or losers.

Feel like you want to know more before you take a quiz? We have dedicated pages on all asset classes, how-to guides, trading academy, the biggest investment glossary and additional resources, all available for FREE.

#capitalmarkets #training #learning #challenge #growth #quiz

Did you ever wonder why Batman’s mom and Superman’s mom have the same name?

Martha Wayne was popularized in the 1940s, while Martha Kent in the 1950s.

Maybe the authors didn’t want to “reinvent the wheel”? Maybe it was a coincidence? Or maybe there was something to it? Either way we never thought about it, but we started to dig…

Use our free online resources to dig into the assets and put it all to work with our capital markets training.

Learn with us as we translate the investment world through interactive chart stations, videos, snippets, visuals, infographics, quizzes and so much more.

New online approach, same offline care.

#batman #superman #mom #martha #capitalmarkets #training #assets #digdeeper

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, to explore👀 means – “to think about, talk about, or study something, or to experience it, in order to find out more about it…”

Do you set aside time for your team to explore, i.e. think, talk, study or experience the assets that they represent, and map out a new path for your brokerage?

Use our free online resources as a start and put it all to work with our capital markets training.

Learn with us as we translate the investment world through interactive chart stations, videos, snippets, visuals, infographics, quizzes and so much more.

New online approach, same offline care.

#capitalmarkets #marketliteracy #assetclasses #learning

7 days to go until FEB29, and we took a look at how Leap Day / Year 🌏 and the markets interact📈📉.

Ultimately, when it comes to trading and investing, we should always maintain vigilance. So with an extra 24hrs⏰ coming your way, how will you make the most of them?

#leapyear #markets #planning #learning #fx #cfds #stocks #bonds #derivatives #bonusday

With so many brokers to choose from, how does a brokerage #differentiate itself from the rest of the pack?

– Is it still #pricing 💰with extra low spreads?
– Is it #placement and #niche market targeting📊?
– Is it user #experience🥰, going above and beyond for the customer?
– What about innovation and product🧺 offering?
– Tools 🧰 and quality resources💼?
– Or maybe a reputation ✅ for having a team of confident, trained and highly market aware professionals?

Whatever stage you are at, there are ways to stand out, let’s talk & see where you can shine ✨

Reach out to us by DM or connect (details in the comments) Have a great weekend!

#cfds #brokerage #differentiate #plan #consistency #pricingstrategies #platforms #technology #riskmanagement #marketing #advertising #branding #education #training #ibs #affiliates #whitelabel #scalability

Happy Friday and Welcome December❄:)

A lighted hearted reminder to #remaincalm and as long as you #train and #prepare, you can face it all 🙂

If you need help, we are here! Reach out to learn@allfx-consult.com

#december #planning #preparation #training #learninganddevelopment #warmup #effectivecommunication #marketawareness #fx #equities #fixedincome #indices #etfs #crypto #commodities #derivatives #economics

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