Monday, January 20, 2014

5 Penny Stocks to Consider in 2014: CHTP, PLUG, ABIO, DRYS, ZIXI

Making the right penny stock picks can score investors triple-digit gains in a matter of weeks — or days.
Chelsea Therapeutics International Ltd (Nasdaq: CHTP) gained as much as 120% Jan. 15 when it got drug approval from an FDA advisory panel. That brings the drug one step closer to FDA approval.
Then there are the penny stock picks that over years can return more than 1,000%.
Look at BJ’s Restaurants Inc. (Nasdaq: BJRI). It traded as low as $1.50 per share in 2000, climbed over $5.00 per share in 2002, and now trades around $29. That’s a 14-year gain of 1,833%. The gains don’t come without a rocky ride. As we explained in our article What Are Penny Stocks?, some penny stocks are volatile, illiquid, or vulnerable to scams.
But the right penny stock picks can lead to big gains in short time frames.
Following are five penny stock picks worth a look today.  (more)

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Speculative Buying Underlies Strength In Silver

I just cannot emphasize how much I like the silver chart, to me it looks ready to pop in what could be a 20% rally in as little as 4 weeks.  We know silver is capable of such moves and I see the current coiling action being extremely similar to the move which occurred over the summer of 2012 (see chart below).  We have a good pickup in speculative buying (COT) while the underlying technical strength of this Cycle looks great.  The Cycle count is very favorable and we have what looks to be a massive double bottom triangle breakout coming!
1-18 Silver Weekly
Platinum is getting some love too; it’s breaking-out of its own bear market decline.  Up $130 in just the first 4 weeks, it shows that the entire sector is attracting interest.  It is overbought, but with a double bottom in place it appears to be in the early stages of a new trend.
1-18 Platinum Weekly

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Hospira, Inc. (NYSE: HSP)

Hospira, Inc. provides injectable drugs and infusion technologies to develop, manufacture, distribute, and markets products worldwide. The company offers specialty injectable pharmaceuticals, which include approximately 200 injectable generic drugs in multiple dosages and formulations; proprietary specialty injectables, including Precedex, a proprietary drug for sedation; and Biosimilars that comprise Retacrit, a biosimilar erythropoietin, which is primarily used in the treatment of anemia in dialysis and in certain oncology applications, as well as Nivestim, a biosimilar filgrastim used for the treatment of low white blood cells in patients who have received a chemotherapeutic agent. It also provides intravenous solutions and nutritional products; and contract manufacturing services. The company serves hospitals, clinics, home healthcare providers, and long-term care facilities. It has collaborative arrangements with Bioceuticals Arzneimittel AG to license and market Retacrit; and Q Core Medical, Ltd to market and distribute Sapphire, a multi-therapy infusion system.
To review Hospira’s stock, please take a look at the 1-year chart of HSP (Hospira, Inc) below with my added notations:
1-year chart of HSP (Hospira, Inc)
Since July HSP has essentially been trading sideways while forming a common pattern known as a rectangle. A minimum of (2) successful tests of the support and (2) successful tests of the resistance will give you the pattern. HSP’s rectangle pattern has formed a $42.50 resistance (red) and a $38 support (blue). A break above $42.50 would also be a new 52-week high.

The Tale of the Tape: HSP is trading within a rectangle pattern. The possible long positions on the stock would be either on a pullback to $38, or on a breakout above $42.50. The ideal short opportunity would be on a break below $38.
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Chart of the Day - LPL Investment Holdings (LPLA)

The Barchart Chart of the Day is LPL Investment Holdings (LPLA).  I found the stock by sorting the New High List for frequency in the last month, eliminated the stock that didn't have positive gains in the last week and month and used the Flipchart feature to review the charts.  Since the Trend Spotter signaled a buy on 11/11 the stock gained 27.42%.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. is engaged in providing an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at financial institutions in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, general securities, alternative investments, retirement plans, fixed income, and insurance offerings.

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How to Make Money Trading Bitcoin

Buying Bitcoins can be a very frustrating process as there are not too many reputable Bitcoin Exchanges and funding your account takes time and is limited to wire transfers in most cases. Since Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, the exchanges will not accept deposits using Credit Cards, PayPal or any other reversible ways of sending money in order to avoid the risks of chargebacks.

The good news is there is another way to profit from the Bitcoin frenzy. It’s more accessible, requires smaller investments and can generate higher profits. Now you can trade Bitcoins through a professional CFD broker.

What is a CFD Broker?
CFD stands for “Contract For Difference”. When buying a CFD on a specific asset through a broker you are required to have enough funds in your account to cover for the potential difference in the asset price in case the asset you purchase will lose value. The broker will offer you leverage and allow you to buy contracts that are higher in size compared to your total account value. Contract For Difference can also be ‘shorted’ or sold. This means that you can sell an asset without even owning it if you think the value will decrease in time.

One of the high profile brokers is now offering CFD’s on Bitcoins. The broker is Ava Trade.

How to trade Bitcoins with Ava Trade?
Trading Bitcoins with Ava Trade is very easy. After opening an account and making your first deposit you are ready to trade Bitcoins. At Ava Trade you can deposit as low as $100 and they accept a wide range of funding methods including credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, Moneybookers (Skrill), Neteller, Webmoney and more offers a leverage of 10:1 for Bitcoins, since the digital currency is considered a very volatile asset. The leverage of 10:1 works in the following way: if the Bitcoin’s market price is $1,000 and you have $1,000 in your Ava Trade account, you are able to buy or sell a contract of maximum 10 Bitcoins (the contract is worth $10,000). This way you have a purchasing power of five times your bankroll. In a regular Bitcoin Exchange you are able to buy only one Bitcoin with $1,000, but at Ava Trade you can buy a contract for 10 Bitcoins with the same amount.

There are both advantages and disadvantages of leveraged trading. If you correctly predict the direction of the price you will make much higher profits when using leverage. The downside is that the risk is also higher. If the price moves against you, your loss is higher, and you can even lose your entire investment and be forced to close your position by a margin call. The broker reserves the right to automatically sell your contract if the loss equals the amount of money you have in your account. We recommend the use of leverage only for people who are very well aware of how these instruments work and have experience in forex or CFD trading.

If you have difficulties in understanding how leverage works or if you prefer to take smaller risks, you can still buy contracts equal in value to your bankroll. This way you don’t risk a forced sell if the value crushes and you’re able to keep your Bitcoins as long as you want.

Considering the initial example of $1,000 for one Bitcoin and the account size of $1,000 you can simply buy a contract for only one Bitcoin. This way you cannot risk to have your position closed in case the Bitcoin falls in value for a while.

If you think the Bitcoin is going to lose value because it has already risen too much in a very short time, you can sell Bitcoins without even owning them. You can simply sell the CFD contract and you will make profits from the decrease in value. This is called ‘short selling’ in financial jargon and is often used by investment funds when the markets are falling.
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US Weekly Economic Calendar

time (et) report period Actual CONSENSUS
forecast
previous
MONDAY, JAN. 20
  Martin Luther King Jr. Day
None scheduled
       
TUESDAY, JAN. 21
  None scheduled        
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22
  None scheduled        
THURSDAY, JAN. 23
8:30 am Weekly jobless claims 1/18
330,000  N/A
9 am Markit "flash" PMI Jan.   -- 55.0
9 am FHFA home prices Nov.   -- 8.2% y-o-y
10 am Existing home sales Dec.   4.90 mln 4.90 mln
10 am Leading indicators Dec.   -- 0.8%
FRIDAY, JAN. 24
  None scheduled        
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