Is It Worthwhile for Investors to Join Paid Signal Groups?

When you start investing in forex, stock or cryptocurrency markets, it’s natural for you to search for various sources to learn more about the financial markets. It is also essential to understand all the sectors you have invested money in because even a small tip could help finalize a trading decision. The urge to find more sources of information related to investment leads some investors to even dubious methods in the market. When you browse through social media platforms, you understand that several groups of investors claim to provide crucial information on investment decisions. There are specific groups in social media apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal that claim to provide information related to investments. When you enter such groups, you realize that the group admins would post messages claiming that so many of their members have benefited from their tips by joining their paid groups. So, naturally, you will incline to join their paid sites. In most such groups, you will lose money as their expert tips would not be of any use in investment. Instead of experts, they are mere scammers.

Luring New Traders

The main target of such scammers is new and young investors because the group experts know that it is challenging to lure experienced traders with gimmicks. Such paid groups would claim that they have professional experts in trading, and once you join their paid classes, it is easy to make good profits from investments. They will also post examples of screenshots, claiming that many of their members have benefited from their expert advice. In reality, most such screenshots are fake and created by the scammers themselves to cheat people. When you see the screenshots of profitable trading, you will pay money, hoping that you can also make quick money.

Is It Worthwhile for Investors to Join Paid Signal Groups?_1

Systematic Way of Trading

So, what’s the best option for getting profits from investments? It’s only through hard work. If you are serious about investing in financial markets, you should look to understand all the peculiarities of trading, trends, strategies, etc. In short, there are no shortcuts to making money, and you won’t be able to make quick bucks by joining some groups on social media. You can be a successful trader by following some easy steps. Let’s understand which are those specific steps.

Studying the Market

As a first step, you should understand the market first. For example, if you are investing in the forex market, you have to study the forex sector thoroughly. You can do that by following all the news developments related to the forex market. You can follow and read reliable websites like FastBull to get all information and updates about forex trading. It has specific analysis, expert views, columns and other news updates related to the sector. If you are interested in investing in the stock markets or cryptocurrencies, you have specific sections for that. So, as a beginning, you can look to follow the news updates related to the sector and understand the specialities of that industry.

Starting with Demo Account

Before investing directly in the market, you can start a demo account and practice trading. Once you learn more about the market by using the demo account, you can create a live account for trading.

Build Your Trading Strategy

All investors need to follow a trading strategy. FastBull, through its various articles and expert analysis, will provide you with different tips related to investment. You can go through such reports every day and understand the current scenario and strength of the market. The price of a currency, coin or stock will go up or down depending on various factors. When you read the experts’ pieces, you know the current context and whether it would be safe to buy, sell or hold your investments. With all experts having sound financial knowledge and experience in the sectors, it will be safe for any investor to follow their guidelines

In-depth Analysis

If you are a forex trader, you can go through the expert analysis by FastBull experts on the strength, weaknesses and future performance of all major currency pairs. You can read such expert analysis. When you read such expert analysis, it will give you a proper idea of the strength of a particular currency, its likely performance and the current context of the market. It will help you arrive at a suitable decision related to trading in the market.

If you don’t have time to read all articles on a laptop, you also opt for FastBull’s free Telegram group. You can then view all expert analysis and news developments in various investment sectors on your mobile. You can find all information related to FastBull’s free community, Breaking Financial News, Fundamental Analysis & Technical Indicators, and Trading Signals.

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

You understand and acknowledge that there is a high degree of risk involved in trading. Following any strategies or investment methods may lead to potential losses. The content on the site is provided by our contributors and analysts for information purposes only. You are solely responsible for determining whether any trading assets, securities, strategy, or any other product is suitable for investing based on your own investment objectives and financial situation.

Comments

Add to Favorites

Devin

Authorities in Jordan and Israel are considering setting up a joint regional stockpile for food and wheat reserves against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, according to Israeli media reports.

The KAN TV channel reported that King Abdullah of Jordan proposed the project during his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Amman in late March. It is still in the early planning stages, the channel added, but Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority could be part of it and any country suffering from food shortages would be able to draw from the stockpile.

However, some observers have warned that the Palestinian Territories might benefit little from such an arrangement because they do not have the proper infrastructure required for storing wheat flour.

Wheat flour reserves in the Occupied Territories could be exhausted within three weeks, according to the charity Oxfam, and the cost of the food staple has soared by nearly 25 percent as a result of the war in Ukraine.

"Palestinian households are being hit hard by rising global food prices and many are struggling to meet their basic needs," said Shane Stevenson, Oxfam's country director in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.

"The reliance on imports and the constraints forced upon them by Israel's continuing military occupation, settler violence and land grabs are compounding the food crisis."

The Palestinian Authority has to import 95 percent of its wheat but owns no food-storage infrastructure and so is forced to rely instead on the Palestinian private sector and Israeli facilities. Meanwhile, Israel imports half of its grain and cereals from Ukraine.

According to the World Food Program, the Ukraine crisis has resulted in increased prices for grain and other food items in the Palestinian Territories. It said that the cost of wheat flour has risen by 23.6 percent, corn oil by 26.3 percent, lentils by 17.6 percent, and table salt by 30 percent, all of which is having a significant effect on Palestinians' purchasing power.

The organization said that most families in Gaza are buying food on credit and eating lower-quality food in smaller quantities. As prices have risenthey have cut back on purchases of more expensive food such as fruit, meat and chicken, which are essential components of a healthy diet.

Meanwhile, an increase in feed prices of about 60 percent has added to the burden on Palestinian livestock breeders, who already face other challenges such as diseases affecting their animals, increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinian pastoral lands, and forced relocation due to Israeli annexation and expansion policies in the West Bank. Breeders have appealed to the Palestinian Authority to abolish the value-added tax on feed to offset rising prices.

Mazen Sinokrot, regional director of the Federation of Arab Food Industries, said that Palestine cannot rely on Israeli food reserves in times of crises.

Samir Hulileh, a Palestinian former deputy minister of economy, told Arab News: "The PA does not import wheat directly from Ukraine because the import is carried out in large quantities. Therefore, the import is carried out through Israel, which makes the price higher and gives major Israeli importers the ability to control the price.

"And since Palestine does not have ports or suitable storage warehouses for grain, establishing warehouses near the crossings with Israel was proposed to store wheat and all kinds of grain but the project has not been implemented so far."

He added: "What is stated in the Oxfam report is correct, as wheat and flour that is available for Palestinians is what is there in the stores of Palestinian merchants. As long as there is a stock of grain in Israel, the Palestinians who import from Israel and depend on it will not suffer. But if Israel faced a problem importing wheat and grains, the PA will inevitably suffer."

Hulileh expressed concern about the Jordanian-Israeli regional stockpile proposal because it refers to the Palestinian Authority as a subordinate to Israel rather than an independent entity. He said it should be a tripartite agreement, not a bilateral deal, because the needs of the Palestinian Authority sometimes differ from the requirements of Israel.

"We must be an independent party to any agreement and not an affiliated party," he told Arab News.

He urged the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture to encourage Palestinian farmers to grow grain in Area C, which constitutes about 60 percent of the land in the West Bank, to meet at least part of the Palestinian demand at a reasonable price. He also suggested that the ministry buy crops from the farmers at a suitable price.

"The moment that Israel faces a crisis in importing wheat and grain, we will definitely face a crisis in the Palestinian territories," Hulileh warned.

Oxfam has called on the international community to urgently adopt a joint, coordinated economic and diplomatic position that challenges Israel's restrictive policies and allows Palestinians to invest in local food production and infrastructure development.

Abbas Melhem, the head of the Palestinian Farmers Union, said the livestock sector is being destroyed and needs support before it collapses entirely. The union has called on Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh to take urgent action to save the sector.

Source: ARAB News

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Comments

Add to Favorites

Owen Li

Central Bank

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised interest rates by a hefty 50 basis points to 1.5% on Wednesday, its fourth hike in a row as it seeks to reduce the second-round effects of sharply rising inflation.

All 21 economists in a Reuters poll had expected the RBNZ to hike the official cash rate, but only six had forecast a 50 basis-point move. The rest had expected a 25 basis point increase, while financial markets were fully priced for the larger hike.

The central bank said in a statement that its biggest rate increase in more than 20 years was intended to take the cash rate to a more neutral stance and reduce the risk of rising inflation expectations.

"A larger move now also provides more policy flexibility ahead in light of the highly uncertain global economic environment," the statement said.

The RBNZ has been one of the most aggressive central banks in rolling back stimulus as policymakers sought to get on top of a red-hot housing market and soaring inflation. However, the South Pacific island nation is only now facing the worst of the COVID pandemic, as the Omicron cases sweep through the population amid a relaxation of rules.

The minutes of the central bank meeting said the board members agreed that their policy "path of least regret" is to increase the OCR by more now, rather than later, to head off rising inflation expectations and minimize any unnecessary volatility in output, interest rates, and the exchange rate in the future.

The members were also of the view that the cash rate was still stimulatory at its current level.

Imre Speizer, head of NZ markets strategy at Westpac, said it was not an overly hawkish outcome given what the market had been pricing.

"The key point is that they have signaled that the OCR track remains about the same. This is only moderately hawkish, the currency can go up a little bit," he said.

Following the RBNZ decision, the kiwi dollar added 0.5% to $0.6885, but remained well short of its recent five-month high of $0.7034.

The central bank is facing opposing challenges. House prices are falling and business and consumer confidence is taking a hammering. Yet at the same time inflation is high and the employment rate is low.

There are also other challenges for New Zealand as omicron cases remain high and the Ukraine war threatens to undermine global growth while further heightening inflationary pressures.

Source: Reuters.

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Comments

Add to Favorites

Devin

Brent crude futures was down 34 cents, or 0.3%, to $104.30 a barrel at 0501 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell by 46 cents, or 0.5%, to $100.14 a barrel. Both contracts had surged more than 6% in the previous session.

China's crude oil imports slipped 14% from a year earlier, extending a two-month slide, as strict measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 impacted demand in the world's top crude importer.

The world's top crude oil buyer imported 42.71 million tonnes last month, equivalent to 10.06 million barrels per day, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday.

Oil prices had rebounded on Tuesday as reports of partial easing of some of China's tight COVID-19 lockdowns helped stoke bullish sentiment among market players.

However, Asia remains less bullish about China's COVID situation than overseas markets, said OANDA senior market analyst Jeffrey Halley.

The Chinese city of Shanghai warned on Wednesday that anyone who violates strict COVID-19 lockdown rules will be dealt with strictly, while also rallying people to defend their city as its tally of new cases rebounded to more than 25,000.

On Wednesday, Japan reported its biggest monthly fall in core machinery orders in nearly two years in February, dragged down by a steep drop in demand from IT and other service firms.

Still, oil prices are underpinned by falling Russian oil and gas condensate production while OPEC has warned it would be impossible to replace potential supply losses from Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blamed Ukraine for derailing peace talks, and said Moscow would not let up on what it calls a "special operation" to disarm its western neighbour.

"Statements from Vladimir Putin that negotiations with Ukraine had reached a dead end, and comments from President Biden accusing Russia of genocide are reinforcing that the Ukraine Russia situation will not be deescalating anytime soon - another reason to expect that the downside for oil prices is limited," Halley said.

In the United States, crude stocks rose sharply last week while distillate and gasoline inventories dipped, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday.

The 7.8-million-barrel rise in crude stocks for the week ended April 8 reported by API is more than the 900,000 barrels increase estimated in a Reuters poll.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will release weekly data at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.

Source: Reuters

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Comments

Add to Favorites

Kevin Du

An Ethereum developer, Virgil Griffith, has been sentenced to five years and three months in U.S. prison after he pleaded guilty to a charge brought on by speaking at a crypto conference in North Korea.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), his presentation provided the Kim Jong Un regime with "technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions."

Ethereum Developer Virgil Griffith Going to Prison for Violating North Korean Sanctions

Virgil Griffith, an Ethereum developer, was sentenced to 63 months in prison Tuesday by U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan.

Griffith pleaded guilty in September last year to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). The charge carries a maximum term of 20 years in prison. However, in a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to seek no more than six and a half years.

The Ethereum developer was arrested in November 2019 in Los Angeles. He is charged with violating the IEEPA "by traveling to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) in order to deliver a presentation and technical advice on using cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to evade sanctions," the DOJ said.

The crypto enthusiast has been in federal custody since July last year following his second arrest when Judge Castel revoked his bail. According to the federal judge, a surge in the value of his cryptocurrency holdings gave him the means and incentive to flee. He was reportedly arrested when logging into his Coinbase account.

Inner City Press quoted Judge Castel as saying Tuesday: "Some says Mr. Griffith is being persecuted for promoting crypto. But that's not what this case is about. He pled guilty the day before trial. It was an intentional violation of sanctions, which are intended to avoid military conflict."

The judge concluded:" Virgil Griffith has no ideology. He'll play off both sides, as long as he is at the center. I sentence him to 63 months in prison and a fine of $100,000."

The 'US vs. Virgil Griffith' Court Case

The case followed Griffith's visit to North Korea in order to attend the "Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference" or "the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference" in April 2019, the DOJ explained.

The court document details:" Despite that the U.S. Department of State had denied Griffith permission to travel to the DPRK, Griffith presented at the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference, knowing that doing so violated sanctions against the DPRK."

The DOJ noted that at no time did Griffith, a U.S. citizen living in Singapore, obtain permission from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) "to provide goods, services, or technology to the DPRK."

The Department of Justice further added that "Griffith and other attendees discussed how the DPRK could use blockchain and cryptocurrency technology to launder money and evade sanctions" at the conference. There were approximately 100 other attendees.

Source: Butcion.com

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Comments

Add to Favorites

Owen Li

The mood among Alberta government officials this week bordered on cheerful as they played host to Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia and long-standing ally of the energy industry.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney took Manchin on a tour of oilsands facilities near Fort McMurray on April 11, and then the senator attended an energy roundtable on April 12 with diplomats and business leaders from Canadian energy and pipeline companies.

The collegial visit from Manchin is a stark contrast with other headline-grabbing oilsands tours of recent years from celebrity activists, including Jane Fonda, who visited in 2017, or dignitaries such as South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who called for a boycott of fossil fuel producers ahead of his trip in 2014.

Manchin’s junket comes at a unique moment, as the U.S. government is scrambling to find ways to ease an oil market supply crisis that has been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In January, Canada exported almost 4.6 million barrels per day of oil and other petroleum products into the United States, about 56 per cent of all imports. Officials on both sides of the border have said they’re looking for ways to boost those numbers to help the U.S. and its allies fulfil their energy needs.

At a press conference Tuesday, Manchin said the United States needs Canadian energy. Manchin, who chairs the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, called for a North American energy alliance to promote the movement of energy and critical minerals across the continent — particularly in the face of Russian aggression and a growing threat from China.

“North America could be the energy leaders of the world,” Manchin said. “It really could be (leaders) of the cleanest energy production in the world.

“I’m doing everything I can. I intend to have Premier (Kenney) and a delegation come down to the United States to the Capitol (and) basically testify on what you do, how you do it and how well you do it and how much we need each other and how much we depend on each other.”

Manchin was a vocal proponent of the now-defunct Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried Canadian crude from Edmonton to Nebraska — a TC Energy Corp. project in which Alberta’s United Conservative government invested more than $1 billion only to see it cancelled by President Joe Biden last year.

More recently, Manchin has called on the U.S. president to restore Keystone XL as a means to boosting domestic oil supply as gasoline prices in that country continue to rise. A call he renewed on Tuesday:

“The (Keystone) XL pipeline is something we should’ve never abandoned,” Manchin said, acknowledging that while the Keystone XL brand is “probably gone,” the project could potentially be reconfigured or rerouted in some form.

“I can’t guarantee that there’s a company up here that wants to reinvest again, or if the administration is going to entertain that, but it would be foolish not to.”

Manchin was invited to visit by Alberta’s premier and Energy Minister Sonya Savage after all three attended a major energy conference in Houston last month — though efforts had been made previously to bring the senator up north for a visit.

Manchin is known for staking out relatively conservative positions on issues from climate change to voting rights, placing him at odds with most Democratic lawmakers, not to mention the Biden administration. Yet he currently wields a sort of veto power in Congress, since runoff races last January resulted in a 50-50 power split between the Democratic and the Republican lawmakers in the Senate.

“He’s probably the most influential member of the legislative branch of the United States, so the discussions we are having here are very important to us,” Kenney said Tuesday.

The UCP government is hoping a delegation from Alberta could appear before the U.S. Senate energy committee to talk about greater cooperation between Canada and the U.S. on energy security before the fall midterm elections.

“I think just the opportunity to raise the profile is hugely important,” Kenney said. “I think (Sen. Manchin) and I are agreed that most of his colleagues do not know that Alberta is a far larger source of their energy imports than OPEC, for example. So we have some basic education to do to make our friends in Washington more aware of the critical role that Canada and Alberta play in U.S. energy security and hopefully from that understanding we can get the ball rolling on more infrastructure like future pipelines.”

Alberta’s energy minister, who previously worked for Enbridge and the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA), said Manchin’s visit is the most successful such visit she has seen in her 15 years of working in the sector.

“When you hear those words: ‘the United States needs Canada’ – I think that’s the most successful trip, the most successful dialogue that I’ve heard to date,” Savage said.

The U.S. senator also met with federal Associate Minister of Finance Randy Boissonnault in Calgary ahead of his oilsands tour this week and the pair spoke for an hour about geopolitical events and a continental energy strategy for North America.

Source: Financial Post

Risk Warnings and Disclaimers

Comments

Add to Favorites

FastBull Featured

Remarks of Officials

Federal Reserve governor Lael Brainard spoke on the U.S. economy on April 12.

Inflation

Brainard believes that reducing inflation is the most important task for the Fed at the moment.

Brainard said the inflation data for March largely reflects the spike in commodity prices, especially energy, following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Commodity price shocks are driving inflation higher.

Core commodity inflation excluding volatile energy and food prices rose 0.3% in March, down from a 0.5% increase in February, which is a positive signal, Brainard noted. At the same time, the core CPI rose at a slower rate than estimated, suggesting that price pressures in this area have eased. But it remains to be seen whether this can be maintained in the coming months. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is committed to getting inflation back to the target of 2%.

Labor Market

Brainard said that demand in both the labor market and the overall economy is very strong. The labor force participation rate has been rebounding and also has room for improvement, according to the employment reports of the last few months. It is expected to continue to improve on the supply side.

According to Brainard, the withdrawal of fiscal stimulus, slower growth overseas, and tighter financial conditions should begin to reduce the demand and the number of open positions, and labor supply is expected to continue to accelerate.

Monetary Policy

Brainard said interest rates are likely to be at all-time lows and the Fed will act "quickly" to raise rates to a neutral level. She believes the Fed has the ability to cool inflation without damaging the labor market.

Brainard expected that raising interest rates to the neutral level while simultaneously starting balance sheet runoff can depress inflation. Demand may cool down when supply is pushed up. By reducing the number of vacancies rather than significant layoffs, there is room for a significant slowdown in corporate demand for labor.

Brainard pointed out that the Fed is methodically tightening monetary policy to achieve its goals. It will carry out a series of interest rate hikes and start the balance sheet reduction. The balance sheet decision could come as soon as May and start in June.

Brainard thought the balance sheet would play an important role in the withdrawal from accommodative monetary policy. Shrinkage in the balance sheet a time may amount to two to three additional rate hikes throughout the policy tightening process. At the same time, there is still a need to keep an eye on the shape of the yield curve, and the forward part of the yield curve does not signal anything of concern.

But Brainard did not note how much to raise rates. She simply said the Fed is committed to keeping inflation at 2%. It's hard to say how long that will take. The monetary policy stance will quickly shift to neutral rates later this year.