Vikas Singhania, CEO, TradeSmart says "The beginning of the new financial year is when most companies and businesses start looking at the year ahead and plan for the same. If you have missed making financial resolutions at the beginning of the year, the start of this Financial Year is another chance to etch a plan and get your investments for the year sorted." This is how you can get started: Make a Budget Discipline is the corner stone of any successful investment journey. An important part of this is making a budget. Your financial success rest on having a budget in place.
The journey of this year's Dalal street debutants started on a bumpy road and looks set for more breakers ahead, thanks to multiple exogenous factors souring the sentiment for the primary markets. The rising inflationary pressure, meltdown in expensive IPO counters, increasing inflation rate, FII selling and the war crisis have weighed heavily on the Indian IPO markets. Interestingly, out of 50 companies, listed in the first half of 2022, only 24 of them are trading above their their issue price. The remaining 26 players have disappointed investors in the ongoing calendar. Adding more to it, Vijay Singhania, Chairman, TradeSmart, said that if equity markets do not revive, promoters would likely be skeptical to tap the markets for fear of finding investors to participate in their company's issue. Market participants said that the majority of the companies failed to deliver a listing pop or positive return due to higher inflation. Central banks may keep raising interest rates to tame the rising prices, which is negative for equities. Read more at:
As the world bid adieu to the iconic browser on June 15, four Marketers who grew up with it share their fond memories of using Internet Explorer before moving on to faster options. While they will miss it, they are also thankful and look forward to a better future to browse the internet. Vidisha Debsarkar, Head - Growth Marketing, TradeSmart expresses "Internet Explorer closing down after 27 years is a nostalgic moment as it was one of the primary browsing site being used when I was introduced to the world of internet. It is in fact a time to look back at for every Marketer. This space is expected to be captured by Microsoft Edge. Being a modern and new age browsing platform, it is expected to provide a secure experience to the new age population in the future."
A father is considered as the backbone of a family, who toils to earn money to meet financial requirements and fulfill the dreams of his family members by sacrificing even his own dreams many times. While mothers directly take care of the family members, fathers silently do their duties to ensure smooth functioning of households. Whatever we have become today is the result of the relentless efforts by our parents. So, we are heavily indebted to them. One can’t repay the debt of his/her parents. But on this Fathers’ Day, you may at least express your gratitude towards your father and make efforts to make his life secure during the golden days after his retirement.
On the occasion of Father's Day what do you plan to gift your father this year? A new shirt, tie, or a family lunch or dinner, perhaps? Why not financial freedom instead? Of course, supplementing that with lunch and dinner would be a good idea. Gifting something that can help improve his financials would surely be a nice surprise. From a top-up health insurance policy to a mutual fund investment, there are various ways to enhance the financial stability of fathers and their independence on the day dedicated to dads.
Many parents and students dream of moving abroad for higher studies but seldom do many of them fail to gather enough funds to give wings to the dream. Most top colleges overseas require a huge amount for a student’s entry into a top university, unless he or she manages to get a scholarship, but the high living cost still remains a concern. Foreign education is fast becoming a common thing with even the middle class. "While meritorious students do not have so much of an issue going abroad as their education is normally sponsored by way of scholarships, those who cannot make it need their parents to provide for it," said Vikas Singhania, CEO, TradeSmart.
There are various ways in which traders try to make money from the market. The strategies the successful traders' use aligns with their psychology. One theme that opportunistic traders like to follow is the momentum strategy. Here they like to take advantage of a short and sharp rise in the market. Momentum strategies, as the name suggests, is getting in stocks when they are picking up speed either in the upward or downward direction. Just like a driver looks at the speedometer to gauge the speed of his vehicle a trader looks at certain indicators to judge the speed of the underlying stock or indices. These indicators are clubbed under the category of Momentum Indicators. There are various types of momentum indicators that are constructed using different styles. Some indicators are constructed using a single reference point and measuring the speed of the market from that reference point, like the Rate of Change (ROC) indicator, Relative Strength Index (RSI), and Stochastics. Others like Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) and Average Directional Index (ADX) that are constructed using the directional movement of the market. Lets look at some of the popular Momentum Indicators.
Sky is the limit for someone with a solid plan and the motivation to work for it. This applies for personal finance also. If you can make a financial plan well and execute it sincerely, there is no financial goal that you cannot achieve. Becoming a Crorepati and retiring early from the rigorous work-life to pursue own hobbies is one of the dreams of many youngsters entering the job market today. Interestingly, the circumstances are more favourable for them now than their elders. All the necessary investment tools and required financial education is easily accessible these days. Moreover, someone entering the job market in his/her 20s, has access to more cash due to higher salaries and generally less family responsibilities. They can use their surplus cash to achieve financial freedom (retire early and rich) at a very early stage of their lives.
India plays the T20 World Cup later this year. Some of the leading and established players should not or may not make the squad in their current form. The dilemma here is whether to trust the often quoted saying in cricket “Form is temporary and class is permanent” and give them another run or look elsewhere. We would have to wait and see how this pans out on the cricket field and how the team is built. As investors, we are also faced with a similar dilemma. So, what it essentially means is that look for quality while picking stocks in these turbulent times. Here are some golden rules to follow.
TradeSmart, one of India’s leading new-age online discount brokerage companies released its latest trading report of FY21-22 and announces a 57 per cent rise in its customer base. The report highlighted exciting growth trends and insights from four cities: Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana. TradeSmart witnessed an uptick in female traders in most of the Indian cities – Delhi (5 per cent), Maharashtra (4 per cent), Karnataka (3.5 per cent) and Telangana (3 per cent). Millennials and GenZ formed a significant part of growth in the trading platform. Delhi recorded the highest percentage of millennials and Gen Z at 70 per cent, followed by Maharashtra at 68 per cent then Karnataka and Telangana at 65 per cent. In addition, the survey also revealed an insight of increasing number of traders in the age group of 51-60 years. Apart from this, maximum number of trades were executed under NSE, with Karnataka topping the charts at 97 per cent. The remaining three cities recorded 96 per cent trades under NSE on the TradeSmart platform. TradeSmart spokesperson Vikas Singhania, CEO, TradeSmart said, “The number of traders and trading volumes are increasing exponentially on our platform every year. We are happy to share that millennials and Gen Z are leading this growth trend, which can be attributed to the extreme bull and bear market cycles in the last two years due to the pandemic. Other reasons are rise in usage of smart phones, growing awareness around trading, and the availability of user-friendly and discount trading platforms like TradeSmart simplifying the stock trading process.”
Amid the sharp recovery in the secondary market, two companies - Delhivery and Venus Pipes & Tubes are all set to make their debut at Dalal Street on Tuesday. Vijay Singhania, Chairman, TradeSmart, said that Indian markets have recovered over the last couple of days, providing some relief to traders and investors. He expects the recovery in the secondary market to support the upcoming issues. "With a poor listing and subsequent fall of LIC post listing, market participants were skeptical about the listing of other issues," he added.
Capital markets regulator Sebi has tweaked peak margin rules which will bring huge relief to traders and brokerage houses that have been incurring high margin penalties so far, experts said on Wednesday. Under the new framework, the beginning of the day margin will be considered as peak margin. This is only in respect of the collection of upfront margin. The new framework will come into effect from August 1.Welcoming Sebi’s move, Vijay Singhania, Chairman, TradeSmart said it will remove several anomalies and confusion. “Peak margin introduced by Sebi was creating a big problem for investors and traders. Sometimes due to an increase in volatility the margin used to increase without any change in portfolio,” he added.
After facing job loss and salary cuts during the pandemic period, it’s time for a salary hike. Following a steady normalisation of the COVID-19 situation – after the withdrawal of salary cuts and improvement in job market – companies are giving due appraisals to their employees again. “One of the best moments in the life of a salaried employee is when he gets a salary hike. Normally, the younger generation likes to celebrate the occasion with their friends. Nothing wrong with getting momentary gratification for a year of hard work, but it is always prudent to rejig your investment portfolio with every increment,” said Vijay Singhania, Chairman, TradeSmart.
Professional traders monitor two ratios very closely to track their performance. One is the Win to Loss ratio and secondly, the Average Win to Average Loss ratio. The tracking is done on every strategy they trade. There are some strategies, like momentum strategies, which have a relatively higher win-loss ratio and a high average win to average loss ratio. Trend following trading strategies, on the other hand, have more losses than wins but a much higher average win to average average win to average loss. One cannot trade both strategies with the same amount of rupee risk. Trading the trend-following system with the same risk per trade as a momentum strategy would wipe out the trader’s account faster.
TradeSmart, an Indian brokerage firm has entered into a partnership with KEEV, an algorithm trading platform to make consumers' trading journeys convenient by offering automated trading strategies that require no technical expertise. Through this development, TradeSmart users can now backtest, visualise, evaluate and build the right trading strategies to avoid market volatility and turbulences. The platform shares customized strategies to generate good returns using KEEV’s algorithm, according to the official statement. Vikas Singhania, CEO, TradeSmart said, "We recognise that each trader has unique requirements. We’re continuously looking for new ways to provide more value to our customers. TradeSmart’s partnership with KEEV will further strengthen our commitment to providing our clients with essential tools and insights to enhance their trading journey with the right knowledge and trading prompts as per their age and portfolio value."
Fundraising through emerging investment instruments -- REITs and InvITs -- plunged 59 per cent to Rs 22,145 crore in 2021-22 primarily on account of uncertainty around the world and volatility in the stock market. In comparison, Rs 54,731 crore was raised in 2020-21. Prior to that, Rs 11,496 crore was mobilised through these avenues in 2019-20, data with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) showed. Vijay Singhania, Chairman, TradeSmart is of the view that money should be raised when it is easily available and not when you need it. Fiscal year 2020-21 saw world economies floating in money with negative interest rates in advanced countries.Taking advantage of this scenario, REITs and InvITs raised Rs 54,761 crore. "But as interest started rising and investors had other avenues to park their funds, these investment trusts decided to slow down on their fundraising plan and raised only Rs 22,145 crore in FY 2021-22.Though the number of issuances increased, the ticket size was smaller as the real estate market picked up speed, leaving few opportunities for these trusts to invest in," he said.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained net sellers for seven months to March 2022, withdrawing a massive net amount of Rs 1.65 lakh crore from equities. These were largely on the back of anticipation of a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve and due to the deteriorating geopolitical environment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to Vijay Singhania, Chairman, TradeSmart, inflation rates have been a major reason for pulling out from equities in April. Another reason is a hike in US Fed rates upto 2.87 per cent. Apart from equities, FPIs withdrew a net Rs 4,439 crore from the debt markets during the period under review.
Experts take: LIC IPO opens today, May 4 and closes on Monday, May 9. So, should you subscribe to the IPO in the Indian stock market? Here is what experts have to say on the mega issue. Mr. Vijay Singhania shares his viewpoints on the IPO subscription in the video interview.
Akshaya Tritiya in India is considered an auspicious day to buy and add gold to one’s investment portfolio, and with the day being just in the corner investors are looking to get hold of the precious metal. In the traditional Indian household, gold is still one of the best and safest investment to make, and for them physical gold is always the go-to option. However, there are other ways one can make a gold purchase this Akshaya Tritiya, for example gold bonds, gold ETFs or digital gold. Digital Gold Tax “In the case of digital gold, there are no taxes for a holding of less than 3 years, in other words, there is no short term tax on digital gold," said Vijay Singhania, Chairman at TradeSmart.
Physical gold is the most popular way of owning gold, either in the form of jewellery or gold coins. Gold price in India is showing an uptick. Akshaya Tritiya is considered an auspicious day for any new beginning, from shopping to marriage. It is celebrated as a day when people purchase gold. So, let's take a look at the gold buying options in India, this Akshaya Tritiya.Physical gold is the most popular way of owning gold, either in the form of jewellery or gold coins. Investment in Gold ETFs vs Gold Futures Vijay Singhania, Chairman, TradeSmart explains the difference between Gold ETFs and Gold Futures In Gold ETFs, investors get an opportunity to invest in gold back assets. However, investors have to bear the management fees, pay Demat fee and transaction charges on buying and selling both. Long-term investors may also have to bear high tax burden. On the other hand, there is no management fee in case of Gold Futures. Though brokerage and charges for extension of contracts have to be paid. The tax structure in futures is quite complex. For those starting their gold investment journey, Gold ETF is the ideal instrument since it’s less risky and highly liquid. For those who comprehend the nuance of gold market can opt for Gold Futures since the returns are as high as the risk. In case of Gold Futures, investor gets the opportunity to leverage. That is, even a short-of-cash investor can pay a small percentage of contract amount and place the bet. However, in case of Gold ETFs, investor has to pay the entire amount for the number of units he is buying. Gold futures are more volatile, thus end up with high returns and high losses. The rollover facility adds to the volatility. Compared to Futures, Gold ETFs are less volatile and returns are very high."
