Trading assistants are responsible for much of the day-to-day operations of brokerages and they perform numerous tasks with a wide range of responsibilities. Many of these tasks involve recording data pertaining to securities transactions. Trading assistants may contact customers, take orders, and provide limited help with investing to clients. Some of these responsibilities only require a high school diploma, while others are considered entry-level positions requiring a bachelor’s degree. Trading assistants often work in the operations departments of securities firms, on the stock market trading floors, and in branch offices. Trading assistants are also known as margin clerks, dividend clerks and transfer clerks.

Sometimes called a sales assistant, this is the most common type of clerical worker in a brokerage firm. These workers are usually assigned to two brokers. They will take calls from clients, input order tickets, open and close accounts, record client purchases and sales, and inform clients of changes to their accounts. Trading assistants must understand various investment options so that they can communicate clearly with clients. Those with a “Series 7” license can offer stock market tips to clients at the instruction of the broker. Possessing this license allows them to provide advice on securities to the public.

Trading assistants in the operations areas of securities firms may have many more duties relating to stocks, bonds, and commodities trading. Trading assistants produce the necessary records of all transactions that take place in their area of the business. Job titles for them can vary depending on the type of work they do:

• Purchase-and-sale clerks – These trading assistants match stock orders to buy with orders to sell.
  
  
• Dividend clerks – These trading assistants ensure timely payments of cash or stock dividends to clients of a particular brokerage firm.
  
  
• Transfer clerks – This is a group of trading assistants that execute customer requests for changes to security registration and examine stock certificates to make sure that they adhere basic stock information.
  
  
• Receive-and-deliver clerks – This type of trading assistant facilitate the receipt and delivery of securities to fulfill stock orders.
  
  
• Margin clerks – These assistants record and monitor activity in customers’ accounts.

Changing The Nature of Business
Computer technology has been influential in changing the nature of many of these jobs. A significant and growing number of brokerage clerks use stock market investing software to process transactions more quickly. In most cases, only a few customized accounts are still handled manually. In addition, the rapid expansion of online stock market trading greatly reduces the amount of paperwork because brokerage clerks are able to make trades electronically.

An Important Position
Whether helping commodity brokers or stock brokers, trading assistants hold many important positions. Whether they are directly assisting clients or learning the profession from the brokers that they will one day join in trading and investing, trading assistants are valuable and important parts of any successful brokerage firm. Many times possessing college degrees and being a visible part of the firm’s contact with investors, trading assistants provide a valuable service to both the brokers and the customers alike. Sometimes we need a little help from our friends and in the brokerage houses that help many times comes from those who work as trading assistants.

Market Direction:

On one of the chat rooms, somebody was accounting for the stock moves that were greater than 10%of the past month or so. The question was asked "what program can quantify the big price-move potentials?" Identifying a big price move after it has occurred does not do much good, the cow out of the barn syndrome. It was interesting to note that a large percentage of the big price-move positions were ones that had been participated in by members of our chat room. There may not be any programs that can be predictive for these big price moves but candlestick analysis can identify where the potential moves should occur.

This is not anything magical. The basic premise of candlestick analysis is identifying, in a graphic form, the build up of investor sentiment. Technical analysis is the utilization of price patterns that have worked in the past. The definition of "worked" is positive statistical results occurring often enough to make a pattern recognizable. The benefit produced by candlestick analysis is being able to identify price patterns that have an extremely high probability of reoccurring. Candlesticks are formed by investor sentiment creating a specific formation. That could be a one day candle or a three-month price pattern. In either case, the candlestick investor has a tremendous advantage by understanding what the results should be from that signal or pattern.

When you understand what makes prices move, you now control your investment capabilities. Learning candlestick analysis greatly improves an investors understanding of what makes prices move up or down. This knowledge alone can greatly improve investment returns for a portfolio. Obviously, candlestick signals or combinations of candlestick signals, in the proper conditions, produce high probability reversal situations. The evaluation of a price trend, as far as when to exit or when to continue to hold, is dramatically improved when understanding if the candlestick formations have revealed a true reversal or just a profit-taking pullback in an uptrend. This information, utilized with simple visual confirming indicators, allows for an investor to put the probabilities of being in the right direction at the right time dramatically in your favor.

However, there are some 'additional' powerful elements built into candlestick analysis. Profits can be easily made when identifying which direction a general market trend is moving. Buying long positions in an up trending market and an up trending sector is a logical trading program. But candlestick analysis can even be more fine tuned for finding the big price moves, the positions that will move 3%, 5%, 12%, 30%, or greater the next day. This information is very important for the day trader as well as a longer term swing trader. Ricky Wayne has discovered a number of technical indicators that identify the potential of a big price-move breakout. Steve Bigalow utilizes the combination of candlestick signals and price patterns to identify almost to the day when a price breakout should occur.

PHRM

SNIC

Whether day trading or longer term investing, wouldn't you like to be able to establish a position that immediately creates big profits? Exiting a trade becomes much easier when you've already entered a position that has produced good profit padding. The Candlestick Forum is providing a special eight week online trading program that concentrates on identifying the price moves. This involves eight Wednesday nights with either Mr. Bigalow or Ricky Wayne demonstrating techniques that culminate the identification of inordinately strong price move potential. The information provided in these training sessions brings the cumulative knowledge of candlestick analysis and other technical indicators to a refined specialized view for finding the explosion of buying or selling sentiment. Do not miss this opportunity to pinpoint the most pertinent aspects of investment analysis. These training sessions are structured so that everybody can ask as many questions as they need to get full understanding of the successful trading techniques. Ask your questions directly to traders that are using the technique successfully every day. Click here for more information on the Candlestick Forum online training program

The NASDAQ is now moving into a territory that makes testing the recent highs very likely. This uptrend started with a very powerful reversal signal, a Doji/Hammer, followed by a gap up in price. It should be noted that the uptrend, ever since the breakout from the 50 day moving average, has moved steadily and consistently although the stochastics showed being in the overbought condition. Keep in mind, a trend will continue until there is a definite change of investor sentiment. Candlestick signals reveal when that change occurs.

NAS

Chat session tonight at 8 p.m. ET open everybody. Please come join us. Click here for instructions