Directory Of Trading And Investing Sites

Collection of Sites I find useful for traders and investors alike.  Most of them I use, so I could write review for them.  If you think your site should be included, please leave me a comment.  If I like it, I will be more than happy to put a link to a page reviewing it and a link to the site itself.


News                                           Brokers                                           Forums
Finance Yahoo                             Interactive Brokers                            Trade2Win 
CNBC                                         ACT Brokers 
MarketWatch                               TD Waterhouse
CNNFN                                      E*Trade

Blogs                                           Other
Trade Daily (my own blog)            Forex Factory
                                                    Forex Peace Army

Interactive Brokers Review

I work through Interactive Brokers for over 8 years now, and that alone should tell you how I feel about them.  Yet, you should know what you should expect from them, so that you will not fall victim to your own expectations.

First of all, I like Interactive Broker's pricing on purchasing individual stocks.  I do not think many can match or beat those prices.  Sometimes my commission is half of what other brokers would charge me.  They are also competitive in the area of futures indexes that I also trade through their services.  However, if you are looking to do the scalping in forex arena, this may not be a proper broker for you.

Taking money in and out is no problem with wires (first wire out a month is free of charge) and ACH.  I would prefer they would start issuing debit cards or a possibility to take money out through PayPal.  At least that should not be that difficult.

Also, understand that if you are not seasoned trader and do not have adequate funds, you will not probably appreciate their service as much.  Their opening balance is 10,000 USD which is 2 times as much as some other brokers, and for anyone just starting out, this may present a serious hurdle.  Also, their site can be hard to navigate to fin info you are looking for.

I can not attest to their customer service because in 8 years of doing business with them, I have almost no need for it.  I just never had any issue that customer service would help me solving it.  And that may be the best recommendation of it all.

Canon PIXMA MP495 Review

I needed all-in-one printer solution so to maximize my desk space, so few months ago I got Canon PIXMA MP495.  It is a wireless inkjet model that should effortlessly work across my house with computers stationed in other bedrooms.   But in some ways, it has fallen short of my own goals.

Right away and as soon as you take it out of the box, you will realize it is not going to be as easy as you though.  They have actually provided a whole separate installation and operation manual for anyone who may have trouble with it.  I certainly needed those, and it took me a while to figure out what wireless is really all about.   However, those that do not care about wireless capability can use supplied USB cable to have it directly connected.   

However, one of its pros is that  the printer delivers great looking documents and photos.  Its maximum resolution of 4800 x 1200 DPI permits it to accurately reproduce images of any resolution. It can also create sharp and clear photos that can be made borderless in 4 x 6 inches size.  My pictures never looked that good.  Furthermore, its copying capability is more than sufficient as it can copy black and white or colored documents swiftly and with exceptionally good quality.

On a negative side, this is one of wireless printers which uses a single multi-color cartridge.  So whenever one color runs out, you have to replace the whole cartridge.  And the cost of those cartridges is somewhat more pricier than some of its competitors. Also, it does not have a  small LCD screen for independent configuration that does not require PC input.  Yet another weak point is its wireless scanning feature which is not as straight forward as it should be, and actually takes quite a bit of time to learn how to go about doing it.

Well, that was my own experience and thoughts.