The average person believes that the Stock Market is rigged because of events such as Ponzi schemes, stock market crashes and Madoff.
It is true that the large institutions have a huge advantage and access to more information but you have to realize that the large financial firms also lost a ton of money to things like the Madoff Ponzi scheme, the scams at Enron, Nortel, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.
Every financial loss provides us with a few life lessons and my personal specialty is to turn those losses into trading lessons.
Today we will learn how to easily to spot a Ponzi scheme.
According to Wikipedia, a Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money rather than from profit earned by the organization running the operation.
Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Interactive Brokers Group Inc (IBKR)
Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. (IBG, Inc.) is a holding company. The Company is an automated global electronic broker and market maker specializing in routing orders and executing and processing trades in securities, futures, foreign exchange instruments, bonds and mutual funds on more than 100 electronic exchanges and trading venues worldwide. In the United States, it conducts its business in Greenwich, Connecticut, Chicago, Illinois and Jersey City, New Jersey. Abroad, the Company conducts business through offices located in Canada, England, Switzerland, Hong Kong, India, Australia and Japan. It operates in two segments: electronic brokerage and market making. As of December 31, 2011, the Company owned 11.5% in IBG LLC, the holding company for its businesses. The Company is the sole managing member of IBG LLC.
As a direct market access broker, the Company serves the customers of both traditional brokers and prime brokers. It provides its customers with order management, trade execution and portfolio management platform. Its customers can simultaneously access different financial markets worldwide and trade across multiple asset classes (stocks, options, futures, foreign exchange (forex), bonds and mutual funds) denominated in 17 different currencies, on one screen, from a single account based in any currency. Its bank and broker-dealer customers may white label its trading interface (make its trading interface available to their customers without referencing its name), or can select from among its modular functionalities, such as order routing, trade reporting or clearing on specific products or exchanges. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company introduced the Interactive Brokers Information System (IBIS). IBIS is a market information workspace, which provides subscribers with real-time market data, research, analytics, stock scanners, charts and alerts. As a market maker, the Company provides continuous bid and offer quotations on over 867,000 securities and futures produ! cts listed on electronic exchanges worldwide.
Electronic Brokerage-Interactive Brokers
During 2011, Electronic brokerage represented 50% of net revenues from electronic brokerage and market making combined. It conducts its electronic brokerage business through its Interactive Brokers (IB) subsidiaries. As an electronic broker, it executes, clears and settles trades worldwide for both institutional and individual customers.
The Company competes with TD Ameritrade, The Charles Schwab Corporation, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.
Market Making-Timber Hill
During 2011, Market making represented 50% of net revenues from electronic brokerage and market making combined. The Company conducts its market making business through its Timber Hill (TH) subsidiaries. It provides liquidity by offering bid/offer spreads over a base of over 867,000 tradable, exchange-listed products, including equity derivative products, equity index derivative products, equity securities and futures. Together with its electronic brokerage customers, in 2011 it accounted for approximately 9.9% of exchange-listed equity options traded worldwide and approximately 10.1% of exchange-listed equity options volume traded on those markets in which it actively trades. The Company�� United States market making activities are conducted through Timber Hill LLC (TH LLC), a securities broker-dealer that conducts market making in equity derivative products, equity index derivative products and equity securities.
TH LLC is a member of the Boston Options Exchange, BATS exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade, International Securities Exchange, NYSE AMEX Options Exchange, NYSE Arca, OneChicago, NASDAQ OMX PHLX and the New York Mercantile Exchange. TH LLC also conducts market making activities in Mexico at the MEXDER and the Mexican Stock Exchange and in Brazil! at the S! ao Paulo Stock Exchange and the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange. The Company conducts market making activities in Canada through its Canadian subsidiary, Timber Hill Canada Company (THC) at the Toronto Stock Exchange and Montreal Exchange. In addition, it participates in stock trading at the Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs) in both the United States and Canada.
The Company�� European, Asian, and Australian market making subsidiaries, primarily Timber Hill Europe AG (THE), conducts operations in 20 countries, comprising the securities markets in these regions. Its other European operations are conducted on the London Stock Exchange; the Weiner Borse AG; the Copenhagen Stock Exchange; the Helsinki Stock Exchange; the NYSE Euronext exchanges in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels and London; NASDAQ OMX Nordic in Sweden, Finland and Denmark; the Swedish Stock Exchange; the MEFF and Bolsa de Valores Madrid in Spain; the IDEM and Borsa Valori de Milano in Milan, and the OTOB in Vienna.
The Company competes with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citadel, Susquehanna, Wolverine Trading, Group One Trading, Peak6 and Getco.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Steve Sears]
Thomas Peterffy, the founder and chief of Interactive Brokers (IBKR), was around at the creation of the modern market. He was one of the first people on Wall Street to use computers to price stocks and options.
APAs one of the architects of the modern securities market, we reached out to him for insights into what can be done to make the securities markets more stable a day after problems at the Nasdaq Stock Market essentially shuttered the U.S. stock and options markets for about three hours. Nasdaq�� (NDAQ) chief, Bob Greifeld, told a reporter that Nasdaq�� systems, and those of the securities industry, need to be more robust.
There will be problems along the way, however.
��e should all recognize that computer systems are inherently complex and subject to failure,��Peterffy wrote in an email. ��his has always been plainly obvious to computer programmers but not so to the general public.��/p>
In an email, Peterffy offered what he called a few simple steps that could be taken to greatly reduce the vulnerability of the system:
1. Exchanges should examine and reject each order the execution of which would result in an invalid trade. But they do not want to do this because it would slow up trading and exchanges could possibly lose revenue.
2. Eliminate potential single points of failure. Broker/dealers and exchanges should have individual connections for all messages, so if any B/D or exchange fails the system continues to function.
3. Before Nasdaq was given the authority to consolidate and charge for quotations, B/Ds had built their own quote consolidation systems. Had that remained in place, yesterday’s issue would not have arisen. Nasdaq would have stopped trading but all other venues that list those stocks could have continued transmitting their prices and quotes to all their participants.
Shares of Nasdaq OMX Group have gained 0.4% to $30.58 today, while CME Group (CME) has fallen 1.1
- [By John Udovich]
If you have found yourself trading more as the markets�become more volatile or struggling to come to terms with low interest rates, small caps like Interactive Brokers Group, Inc (NASDAQ: IBKR), MarketAxess Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: MKTX), Indo Global Exchanges PteLtd (OTCMKTS: IGEX) which are in the electronic brokerage or trading platform business would be well worth taking a closer look at. Here is what you need to know about all three:
- [By Monica Gerson]
Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ: IBKR) is projected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.34 per share on revenue of $336.48 million.
Joe's Jeans (NASDAQ: JOEZ) is estimated to post its Q3 earnings at $0.02 per share on revenue of $33.37 million.
- [By Matt Koppenheffer]
For Vanguard, the top-ranked online broker in the world according to this report, that's good news -- a happy customer is a loyal customer. It's likewise good news for competitors like TD AMERITRADE� (NYSE: AMTD ) -- which ranked No. 2 for its thinkorswim service and No. 8 for its main platform -- Charles Schwab� (NYSE: SCHW ) (No. 3), and�Interactive Brokers� (NASDAQ: IBKR ) (No. 4 for its U.S. operations, No. 5 for its offering in Germany).
Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Horace Mann Educators Corporation(HMN)
Horace Mann Educators Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a multiline insurance company in the United States. The company underwrites and markets personal lines of property and casualty insurance, retirement annuity, and life insurance products. Its products include private passenger automobile and homeowner?s insurance coverage; tax-qualified individual and group annuities in fixed account and combination contracts; and individual and joint whole and term life insurance products. The company offers its products primarily to K-12 teachers, school administrators, education support personnel, and other employees of public schools and their families. It markets its products through its sales force, as well as through independent agents. Horace Mann Educators Corporation was founded in 1945 and is based in Springfield, Illinois.
Hot Oil Companies For 2014: Mediolanum(MED.MI)
Mediolanum S.p.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides a range of financial services in Italy. It offers personalized current accounts that are interest-bearing and includes checks, ATM card, and credit card services. The company also provides a range of payment cards, including credit cards, debit cards, and rechargeable cards; mortgages and loans; pension schemes; managed savings, including mutual funds and managed accounts, and index and unit linked products; and life insurance products. In addition, it provides financial brokerage, asset management and advice, fund management, real estate brokerage, and education and training services, as well as engages in the production of audio, film, and television programs. The company operates in Spain, Germany, Ireland, and Luxemburg. Mediolanum S.p.A. was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Basiglio, Italy.
Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: City Holding Company(CHCO)
City Holding Company operates as the bank holding company for City National Bank of West Virginia that provides various financial products and services. It offers demand deposits, such as interest and noninterest-bearing checking, regular savings, and other money market demand accounts. The company also provides various loans, such as commercial and industrial loans consisting of loans to corporate borrowers primarily in small and mid-size industrial and commercial companies and automobile dealers, as well as service, retail, and wholesale merchants; and commercial real estate loans comprising commercial mortgages. Its loan portfolio also includes residential mortgage loans, home equity loans and lines-of-credit, consumer loans, and previously securitized loans. In addition, the company offers trust and investment management services, as well as various insurance products and services. It operates through a network of 68 banking offices, including 57 offices in West Virgin ia, 8 offices in Kentucky, and 3 offices in Ohio, as well as through ATMs, check cards, interactive voice response systems, and Internet technology. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Charleston, West Virginia.
Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Citizens Inc (CIA)
Citizens, Inc. (Citizens), incorporated on November 8, 1977, is an insurance holding company serving the life insurance needs of individuals in the United States. The Company operates in three segments: Life Insurance, Home Service and Other Non-insurance Enterprises. Its core insurance operations include issuing and servicing the United States Dollar-denominated ordinary whole life insurance and endowment policies predominantly to high net worth, high income foreign residents, principally in Latin America and the Pacific Rim, through independent marketing consultants; ordinary whole life insurance policies to middle income households concentrated in the midwest and southern United States through independent marketing consultants, and final expense and limited liability property policies to middle and lower income households in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi through employee and independent agents in its home service distribution channel.
Life Insurance
The Company�� Life Insurance segment issues ordinary whole life insurance domestically and in United States Dollar-denominated amounts to foreign residents. These contracts are designed to provide a fixed amount of insurance coverage over the life of the insured. Additionally, endowment contracts are issued by the Company, which are principally accumulation contracts that incorporate an element of life insurance protection. The Company operates the segment through its subsidiaries: CICA Life Insurance Company of America (CICA) and Citizens National Life Insurance Company (CNLIC).
The Company offers several ordinary whole life insurance and endowment products designed to meet the needs of its non-United States policy owners. Its domestic life insurance products focus primarily on living needs and provide benefits focused toward accumulating money for the policyowner. The Company�� life insurance products are principally designed to address the insured�� concern about outliving his or her monthly income,! while at the same time providing death benefits. The primary purpose of its product portfolio is to help the insured create capital for needs, such as retirement income, children's higher education funds, business opportunities, emergencies and health care needs.
Home Service Insurance
The Company operates in the Home Service market through its subsidiaries Security Plan Life Insurance Company (SPLIC) and Security Plan Fire Insurance Company (SPFIC), and focus on the life insurance needs of the middle and lower income markets, primarily in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Its home service insurance products consist primarily of small face amount ordinary whole life and pre-need policies, which are designed to fund final expenses for the insured, primarily consisting of funeral and burial costs.
Other Non-Insurance Enterprises
Other Non-insurance Enterprises includes Computing Technology, Inc., which provides data processing services to the Company, and Insurance Investors, Inc., which provides aviation transportation to the Company. This segment also includes the results of Citizens, Inc., the parent Company.
Hot Financial Companies To Own In Right Now: Liberte Investors Inc. (FAC)
First Acceptance Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in retailing, servicing, and underwriting non-standard personal automobile insurance and related products. Its primary business involves issuing automobile insurance policies to individuals who are categorized as non-standard based primarily on their inability or unwillingness to obtain insurance coverage from standard carriers due to various factors, including their payment history or need for monthly payment plans, and failure to maintain continuous insurance coverage or driving record. The company also offers optional products that provide ancillary reimbursements and benefits in the event of an automobile accident; and underwrites a tenant homeowner policy that provides contents and liability coverage to renters. In addition, it engages in activities related to the disposition of real estate held for sale. The company distributes its products through retail locations. As of March 31, 2012, it leased and op erated 378 retail locations. First Acceptance Corporation was founded in 1969 and is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By John Udovich]
Auto sales continue to rise and that is good news for small cap auto insurers Infinity Property and Casualty Corp (NASDAQ: IPCC), First Acceptance Corporation (NYSE: FAC) and Atlas Financial Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: AFH) which are focused on niche auto insurance markets.�A Yahoo! Autos blog post�recently noted that in August, automakers sold 1.5 million new vehicles for the highest rate in years. Moreover,�most industry forecasters expect sales to�return to the level they hit before the 2008 recession of 16 million vehicles a year. The blog post then went on to note the three forces driving auto sales:
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