Earnings per share (EPS); An important fundamental indicator used in stock market

 

 Earnings per share (EPS) is a fundamental indicator used in financial markets, which measures the earnings value of each outstanding share of Company's common stock. It is considered as an indicator of company's profitability. It is calculated by dividing net income (net profit) by the number of outstanding common shares. You can find the EPS of the companies in their consolidated results and income statement. By multiplying EPS with outstanding shares you will get the company's income.

Earnings per share (EPS) Formula

Basic earnings per share can be calculated by using the following formula



 For example, If the net profit of the company 'XXXX' For the financial year 2013 is 100,000,000,000 and the average number of common shares of the company is 33,000,000,000, then EPS can be calculated as
EPS= 100000000000 / 33000000000= 3.03 = 3

There is not much difference between net profit and net income. So some people use this formula as

   Earnings Per Share (Weighted) Calculation

Weighed earnings per share is more reliable than basic earnings per share. It is calculated by making some changes. It excludes the amount of dividend paid by the Company to its share holders.

Now the formula becomes,

 For example, If the net income of the company 'XXXX' For the financial year 2013 is 100,000,000,000 dollars, the average outstanding number of shares of the company is 33,000,000,000 and the dividend paid to its share holders is 11,000,000,000, Then weighed EPS can be calculated as
EPS= 100000000000-11000000000 / 33000000000= 2.69 = 2.7

Uses of Earnings Per Share (EPS)

Like other fundamental indicators, Earnings per share is also considered very important while buying securities. It must be considered with other indicators such as Price-to-Earings ratio, market capital, share prices, dividends, liquidity and the company's long term financial outlook. Among them the first priority goes to EPS, because it gives us an idea of profitability of the company. Higher EPS indicates higher profitability. But we can't say above or below a fixed range of EPS a security is a buy or sell. It depends upon market condition and sentiments. So a trader or investor must consider the EPS of other companies of the same sector before considering a buy.

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Price-to-earnings ratio or PE; An equity evaluation tool for stock market investors

 The price-to-earnings ratio, which is commonly known to us as P/E ratio, often called P-E ratio or PE is used to calculate the value of equities through relative evaluation. In other words it is an equity valuation multiple and the valuation ratio of a company's current share price compared to its earnings per share (net profit). It is the most simplest and common method used for valuation.
It can be calculated by using the following formula




 Suppose, the shares of the company 'XXXX' is trading at 975 Rupees (per share) and the earnings over last one year was 45 Rupees then PE ratio is 21.7
 Different methods are used to calculate PE depending upon the type of earnings.
 'Trailing PE' or 'historical PE' is calculated by using the net income for the most recent one year (last four quarters or two half years) divided by the weight-age average of common shares in issue during this period. It is the most common form of PE.
 'Trailing PE from continued operations' uses operating earnings only to calculate PE. That means earnings from discontinued operations and extra ordinary items are excluded from calculation.
 Another form of PE is called 'forward PE' or 'projected PE' or 'prospective PE', in this method estimated net earnings (published by a selected group of analysts) over next one year is used to calculate PE.

Features of PE

 Higher PE ratio indicates that the company may get higher growth in earnings compared to the companies with lower PE.
 As I said above it is an equity valuation multiple. For example, If the PE ratio of a security is 25, it means that people are willing to pay 2500 RS for a company whose earnings per share is 100 Rupees.
A security with an average PE of 20-25 is considered as a good one. Above that the stock is not advisable.
 Comparing the PE ratio of the companies in the same sectors are useful. The PE ratio of its sector and the whole index may also help investors to identify whether the security is expensive.
 The companies which bear losses do not have a PE ratio.

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Relative strength index in Stock market; Importance and calculation of RSI

 Like MACD, Relative strength index (RSI) is also a technical indicator used in financial markets. It was introduced in 1970's by Welles Wilder. It is a momentum oscillator which measures the speed and change of price movements. RSI also determines the strength or weakness of a security. It compares the magnitude of gains to losses in a specific period of time. By using this we can identify or confirm over bought and oversold conditions in securities.
 According to Wilder's theory when the price increases very rapidly, at some point it is considered as over bought and when the price decreases, at some point it is considered over sold. At this point a reversal is possible. Wilder suggested a smoothing period of 14.
 In stock market graph RSI moves between 'zero' and 'hundred'. RSI indicator has an upline at 70, a down line at 30 and a midline at 50.Above 70 line the security or financial instrument is over bought and below thirty line it is over sold. The midline 50 shows that there is no trend.
 Wilder also described the divergence in RSI. According to him a bullish divergence happens when price makes a newer low and RSI makes higher low. A bearish divergence happens when price makes a higher high and RSI makes lower high.
 Andrew Cardwell added some new interpretations of RSI which helps us to determine the up and down trends. According to him in up trends RSI usually moving between 40 and 80 and in down trend it moves between 20 and 60. He also observed that when the trend changes in financial instruments, that is from up trend to down trend or from down trend to up trend RSI will pass through a 'range shift'.
 Cardwell also described the positive and negative reversals in the RSI. According to him Reversals are the opposite of divergence. A positive reversal happens when price correction results in a higher low and RSI results in a lower low compared to the prior correction in an uptrend . A negative reversal happens when price correction results in a lower high and RSI makes a higher high compared to the prior rally in down trend.

                          100
    RSI = 100 -  --------
                         1 + RS
    RS = Average of up closes of 'n' days / Average of down closes of 'n' days.

 An example for RSI calculation is given below

Date	Close	Change	Gain	Loss	Average Gain	Average Loss	RS	RSI (14)
01-Jul-13	120.2
02-Jul-13	125.4	5.2	5.2
03-Jul-13	124.8	-0.58		0.58
04-Jul-13	128.4	3.53	3.53
05-Jul-13	129.3	0.92	0.92
08-Jul-13	128.5	-0.82		0.82
09-Jul-13	132.5	4.05	4.05
10-Jul-13	134.2	1.7	1.7
11-Jul-13	133.3	-0.9		0.9
12-Jul-13	135	1.7	1.7
15-Jul-13	136.5	1.5	1.5
16-Jul-13	135.5	-1		1
17-Jul-13	137	1.5	1.5
18-Jul-13	135	-2		2
19-Jul-13	132.5	-2.5		2.5	1.44	0.56	2.58	72.04
22-Jul-13	131	-1.5		1.5	1.33	0.62	2.13	68.10
23-Jul-13	132	1	1		1.31	0.58	2.26	69.31
24-Jul-13	132.7	0.7	0.7		1.27	0.54	2.35	70.16
25-Jul-13	133.4	0.7	0.7		1.23	0.50	2.45	71.02
26-Jul-13	134.2	0.8	0.8		1.20	0.46	2.57	72.02
29-Jul-13	133.7	-0.5		-0.5	1.11	0.40	2.81	73.73
30-Jul-13	135	1.3	1.3		1.12	0.37	3.06	75.37
31-Jul-13	136.1	1.1	1.1		1.12	0.34	3.29	76.69
01-Aug-13	137	0.9	0.9		1.11	0.32	3.49	77.74
02-Aug-13	137.7	0.7	0.7		1.08	0.29	3.66	78.55
05-Aug-13	138.6	0.9	0.9		1.06	0.27	3.90	79.59
06-Aug-13	137	-1.6		1.6	0.99	0.37	2.69	72.88
07-Aug-13	137.5	0.5	0.5		0.95	0.34	2.79	73.63
08-Aug-13	136.3	-1.2		1.2	0.89	0.40	2.20	68.73
09-Aug-13	134.7	-1.6		1.6	0.82	0.49	1.68	62.73
12-Aug-13	135	0.3	0.3		0.78	0.45	1.73	63.38
13-Aug-13	135.9	0.9	0.9		0.79	0.42	1.88	65.32
14-Aug-13	136.5	0.6	0.6		0.78	0.39	1.99	66.59
15-Aug-13	137.8	1.3	1.3		0.82	0.36	2.25	69.22
16-Aug-13	138.5	0.7	0.7		0.81	0.34	2.40	70.56
19-Aug-13	139	0.5	0.5		0.79	0.31	2.51	71.52
20-Aug-13	138	-1		1	0.73	0.36	2.02	66.84
21-Aug-13	138.5	0.5	0.5		0.71	0.34	2.12	67.97
22-Aug-13	139.7	1.15	1.15		0.74	0.31	2.38	70.46

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Moving averages and moving average convergence divergence

  Moving averages is one of the most popular and reliable tool used in stock market technical analysis. In statistics it is also known as rolling average or running average. Some people call this as moving mean or rolling mean. Moving average is the average price of a stock over time. It is calculated by averaging the initial fixed subset of number series or data points.
 In stock market moving average (MA) is used to determine the trend of the market or a security. Upward trend is confirmed when short term moving average crosses above a longer term moving average and downward trend is recognized when short term moving average breaches below longer term moving average. For example if 50 MA crosses above 100 MA it is considered as up trend. If 50 MA falls below 100 MA trend is bearish.
 Simple moving average (SMA), Cumulative moving average (CMA), Weighted moving average (WMA) and Exponential moving average (EMA) are important  types of Moving averages.Modified moving average (MMA) or Running moving average (RMA), or Smoothed moving average is also considered as a moving average.
 As I said above Moving averages allow traders to recognize and confirm the trend. Thus by identifying the trend he can achieve success in his trade.

Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD)
MACD or moving average convergence divergence was developed by Gerald Appel in late 1970's. It is also a simplest and useful technical indicator used in stock market. It is based on exponential moving average. In a chart it is a collection of three signals namely MACD line, Signal line and the divergence (difference) line. These signals are calculated from historical prices of a financial instrument (indice or stock).Most people use closing prices to calculate MACD.
 The first signal 'MACD line' is the difference between a short term (fast) exponential moving average , and a longer term (slow) exponential moving average. In a chart MACD line is changing over time along with 'signal line'. MACD histogram time series is an oscillator which shows the divergence between MACD line and Signal line.
 The standard setting for MACD used in stock market is 12,26 and 9. MACD 3,10,16 is also used by some traders.

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Exponential moving average and how to calculate EMA

Exponential Moving Average (EMA)
 Exponential moving average or EMA is also known as exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA). It gives more weight to recent prices in other words the weight of old prices decreases exponentially.
 A seven day EMA applies 25 per cent weighting Calculation of EMA is a complicated one. Stock market traders can get EMA from almost all technical charts.
In order to calculate EMA, first calculate SMA.
SMA = Mean or average of previous n days= Sum of n days / n
For eg, 7 SMA= Sum of Seven days closing price / 7
Then you have to find smoothing factor.
Smoothing factor = (2 / (Time periods + 1) ) = (2 / (7 + 1) ) = 0.25 (25 per cent weighting; ie 0.25*100)
Then calculate EMA by applying the following formula.

EMA= [Close - EMA(Yesterday)] x Smoothing Factor + EMA(Yesterday).

Note that Some people use current price instead of close.

If you know the per cent and want to get time period you can use the following formula.

Time period= (2/Smoothing Factor)-1
Here smoothing factor is per cent divided by 100.
For eg;- If the per cent is 25, smoothing factor is 25/100= 0.25
Then time period= (2/0.25)-1= 7; so seven is the time period.

An example of EMA calculation on a sheet is given below

Day	Close	7 SMA	Smoothing Factor	EMA 7
1	87.50
2	86.00
3	85.00
4	86.20
5	87.00
6	85.00
7	85.70	86.06		86.06
8	86.70	85.94	0.2500	86.22
9	87.20	86.11	0.2500	86.47
10	87.50	86.47	0.2500	86.72
11	87.70	86.69	0.2500	86.97
12	88.00	86.83	0.2500	87.23
13	88.80	87.37	0.2500	87.62
14	89.20	87.87	0.2500	88.01
15	90.20	88.37	0.2500	88.56
16	91.20	88.94	0.2500	89.22
17	91.70	89.54	0.2500	89.84
18	91.90	90.14	0.2500	90.36
19	92.50	90.79	0.2500	90.89
20	93.00	91.39	0.2500	91.42
21	93.50	92.00	0.2500	91.94
22	93.20	92.43	0.2500	92.25
23	92.70	92.64	0.2500	92.37
24	90.50	92.47	0.2500	91.90
25	91.70	92.44	0.2500	91.85
26	92.30	92.41	0.2500	91.96
27	93.80	92.53	0.2500	92.42
28	94.50	92.67	0.2500	92.94
29	94.80	92.90	0.2500	93.41
30	95.50	93.30	0.2500	93.93

EMA 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 are very common in stock market trading

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What is Simple moving average: How to calculate SMA

As the name indicates Simple moving average (SMA) is the simplest form of all the moving averages. It is the unweighted mean of the previous 'n' data points.
 In stock market SMA is simply calculated by taking the mean (average) of a security over a specified number of days. One can calculate moving averages from open, high, low or close prices. But in most cases, close prices are used to calculate SMA.
 If you want to calculate a seven day simple moving average of a security, add the previous seven day closing prices and divide it by seven (mean or average of last seven days). You can't calculate simple moving average if you don't have last seven days closing price.
 An example of a seven day moving average is given below
 

Day	Close	7 Day SMA
1	58
2	64
3	62
4	60
5	63
6	65
7	65	62.43
8	67	63.71
9	68	64.29
10	67	65.00
11	66	65.86
12	64	66.00
13	65	66.00
14	67	66.29
15	69	66.57
16	70	66.86
17	67	66.86
18	65	66.71
19	62	66.43
20	63	66.14
21	66	66.00
22	68	65.86
23	71	66.00
24	69	66.29
25	70	67.00

 You can also calculate simple moving average of 'n' days using the following formula.

 Suppose  previous 'n' day closing prices are 

 Then Simple moving average



In order to calculate simple moving average in a row (for successive values) use the following formula

  

For short term trading most people use 5, 10, 20 and 50 SMA. For long term 100, 200 SMA's are considered as important.

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Stock market trading; How to be a successful trader

If you are a stock market trader, it is advisable that you must follow some basic principles. By doing these you can achieve success in day and delivery trading.

1. Virtual stock market trading

It is important that before entering and investing money to stock market, spend some time  on virtual stock market trading or paper trading or on stock market trading games. By doing this you will get some trading experience before entering in market. Many brokerages offer virtual stock trading.    

2. Put small amount of money first time

If you are trading for the first time or you are not an experienced trader put small amount of money in to market. Then increase the amount very slowly.

3. Make a trading plan
If you want to become a successful trader you must keep a trading plan. You have to do some home work before trading. This include study of chart patterns.

4. Identify the trend of market
It is very important that you identify the right trend of  the market before trading or investing. Also try to understand strong and weak sectors.

5. Pick right trading or investing stock for you
Before trading a security, try to pick the right stock for you. It depends upon your trade (intraday or short term)

6. Research about the stock before investing

Now a days it is found that investors are going behind brokerage research and calls. Before following brokerage calls it is strictly advised to do your own research.

7. Keep an eye on important trading levels
Before trading it is important to keep an eye on technical levels like pivot points, camarilla levels, fibonacci retracement levels, wave and Gann levels.

8. Book profits or loss in right time
Keep targets and stop loss for every trade. Book partial profit on all targets. If your trade hits stop loss avoid repeated trade in that direction.

9. Never try to buy a security on a new low
If a security make a new low don't try to buy that security. There may be reasons behind the new decline. Try to buy the stock only on a clear indication of reversal (Rising in  price to a specific level).

10. Never try to sell a security on a new high
If a security make a new high don't try to sell that security. There may be reasons behind the new price increase. Try to sell the stock only on a clear indication of reversal(Falling in  price to a specific level).

11. Avoid over trading

If you want to be a successful trader you must avoid over trading. It is the best solution to avoid huge losses.

12. Avoid impulsive trading

Traders must avoid impulsive trading. It will result in the loss of large amount of money. If you believe that you made a bad trade you must exit from the trade or keep a strict stop loss to keep the losses small.

13. Alertness is required for day trading
Day trading requires alertness. So  is advisable to watch movement of market and scrip from terminal or visual media.

14. Keep a positive attitude

A trader must look on getting profits. But if a particular plan not works for you you must reduce or close positions and watch what is happening. If a trade fails on a day, there is no need to become mood out. Participate in other activities to keep your right mood.

 By applying these principles one can easily trade on stock market.

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Market order and Limit order in stock markets

In stock markets, trades occurs when orders are placed. When one trader places buy order and another trader places sell order at the same price trade occurs.
 One can place buy order or sell order in order to enter or exit the trade in stock markets. If some body enters to trade by placing a buy order he can exit from that trade by placing a sell order. If some one enters to a trade by placing a sell order he can exit from that trade by placing a buy order.

Market order

Market order is an order placed with a brokerage to buy or sell shares in the current market place. In market order trader tells the number of shares he or she want to buy or sell. Market order will be executed immediately. If you place a market order to get some shares of a company you will get the shares at a price somewhere between the ask and bid price. In high volume markets, market orders are comparatively safe. Market order guarantee the execution subjected to the liquidity of that scrip, but does not guarantee the price.
 For example a security is trading at 500 RS and you place an order for 100 shares, 100 shares of that security would be bought for you at the price of 500 RS per share.

Limit Order

Limit order is a conditional order, which can be defined as the order placed to buy when the market price of the stock comes to the limit price you set. Limit orders are some times classified as buy limit orders and sell limit orders. Limit order guarantee the price, but does not guarantee the execution.

For example if you place an order for 100 shares of a security at 500 RS, which is trading at 550 RS, your order would be executed when the price come down to 500 RS.

Buy Limit Order

If you think that the price of a security will decrease in short term and then rebound to a higher price you can place an order to buy the security at lower levels.
For example A security is trading at 100 RS. If you think the price of that security will decline to 80 RS, you can place a buy order at RS 80. Only if the price come down to 80 RS, your trade will be executed.

Sell Limit Order

If you own a security, and think the price will go higher in short term. Then you can place a sell order at a higher price. If the price reaches that higher level your limit order will be executed.
For example A security is trading at 100 RS. If you think the price of that security will increase to 120 RS, you can place a sell order at RS 120. Only if the price go higher to 120 RS, your trade will be executed.

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What is Initial Public Offering (IPO); Definition and importance

The term Initial public offering (IPO) refers to the first issue (sale) of the shares of a private company to general public on a securities exchange. It is the stock market launch of the company. IPO's are issued by the companies to expand their capital, equity base, prestige and public image. Along with smaller, younger companies large private companies also issues IPO's. By this process a private company transforms to a public company.
 The company which sell shares not require to repay the capital to public investors. When the shares trade in open market, money passes through public investors.
The company which sells shares, only can make primary offering or Initial public offering.The conductors of IPO's are usually investment banks.
 According to the Securities act of 1933, the process of IPO starts when the company files a registration statement with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Then after proper investigation Securities and Exchange Commission approves the disclosure. After getting approval from Securities and Exchange Commission, price and date of IPO are fixing.
 Investment in an Initial public offering is risky. It is mainly because the prediction of initial day's trade is very difficult.  As it is speculative, only Speculators with risk tolerance are advised to buy IPO's.

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Long position in stock market

In finance, the term 'Long position' or 'Long' is used to describe the ownership of a stock, security, contract,commodity or another financial instrument.In other words the buying of a financial instrument with the expectation of rise in price is called  Long.It is the opposite of the 'short position' or  'short'. If one person or entity is long on a security, it means that the holder owns the security or financial instrument. He will get profit if the price rises. The 'long position' (long) is established by placing a buy order.
 If an investor is long on 100 shares of SBIN, it means he owns 100 shares of SBIN.
 A trader can go long on underlying instrument by buying call options or writing put options.The call seller can be long on an underlying if he has the shares on hand.If the number of contracts bought exceeds the number of contracts sold, he is said to be long.If you want to close a long position, you must sell an equal amount of the same security to reduce your long position to zero.
 If a trader on investor is long on a security, the risk factors are less compared to short on that scrip.But it does not mean that there is no risk. Bull markets are better to go long on a stock. One must keep stop loss to avoid heavy losses while trading.

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Short selling in Stock, Commodity and Forex markets

In finance We can define short selling as the practice of selling securities (stocks, commodities, currencies or other financial instruments) which are not currently owned by the seller. When a trader or investor anticipating a decrease in share price, goes short but it is promised to be delivered. Shot selling is also known as shorting or going short.
 The purchasing of the stock after short selling is called 'Short Covering', 'covering the short' or 'covering the position'. If the price of the scrip declines at the time of short covering, the short seller will get profit as the cost of repurchase is less than the price of selling.If the price of a scrip increases prior to repurchase the short seller will incur a loss. The risk in short selling is that the potential loss of a short sale is unlimited. The short seller requires to keep a minimum margin to cover losses and keep the position. If the trader fails to keep the margin the broker or counter party may liquidate the position.
 On speculative markets traders uses the fluctuations to short a scrip to quickly make big profits.It is like gambling and in some cases it may result in heavy losses and as I mentioned above the loss of a short is theoretically unlimited.So one must keep strict stop loss to restrict the losses.
  In short selling, when you sell a financial instrument the broker will lend it to you from their own account or from some body else account (who is a customer of the firm) or from another brokerage to you.That is, you are borrowing the scrip and selling to some body else.You can hold the short as long as you want by keeping the margin. Some times interest may be charged to margin accounts. If the lender wants the stock back you borrowed from him you may either have to cover the short or borrow from another lender.
 In short, You are not the owner of the financial instruments you have sold. You must have to pay the dividends* or rights declared during the period of short to the  lender. In case of a stock split you must have to return the increased number of shares at lower price. That is if the stock splits in a ratio 2:1 you have to return twice the number of shares at half the price.
 Short selling plays a big role in day trading and it safer than short term short selling as the over nigh risk is not present. Hedge funds and large institutions also uses short selling to make some money. Some wealthy investors also uses short selling to make profit. How ever a short trader must be a dedicated person and he must be aware of the market condition and general conditions to avoid possible losses.
*The actual dividend paid by the company goes to the new buyer. The lender of the financial instrument who holds the shares in margin account also expects dividend (He is unlikely to be aware that his shares are lent out for short selling). There fore the short seller have to pay the dividend amount to compensate.

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PAN Card; its importance and how to get a PAN card

Permanent Account Number (PAN) is an unique alphanumeric combination consists of ten characters (6 letters and four numbers) issued to all juristic entities identifiable under the Indian Income Tax Act 1961.It is almost equivalent to a national identification number. One can not open demat account with out PAN card.So it is necessary for trading in Stock Market.
 PAN is issued in the form of a laminated card, by the Income-tax department under the auspices of the Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT). One person can apply and obtain only for one PAN. Obtaining or possessing more than one Permanent Account Number is against the law.

 How to get a PAN card?
  You can get PAN card by applying at UTI website or NSDL website.
In order to apply for a PAN one must fill in one of the following forms.
If you are an Indian citizen, you have to submit your ‘Application for allotment of new PAN’ in Form 49A and if you are a foreign citizen you will have to submit your ‘Application for allotment of new PAN’ in Form 49AA.

Uses of PAN
It is used as an important Identity proof.PAN is Mandatory for financial transactions such as opening bank account, to file income tax returns and to purchase assets above specified limits.The primary aim of PAN is to bring a universal identification key factor for all financial transactions.It indirectly prevent tax evasion by keeping a track of monetary transactions of high net worth individuals.

Features
PAN is unique and permanent.Address change inside the country will not affect PAN.

The other areas where PANCARD is useful
 Earlier I have mentioned in this post PANCARD is must for trading in Stock markets.There are many other areas where Pan Card is mandatory or useful.
1. Pan card is necessary for filing Income tax return online (E-Filing).
2.Pan Card is useful for bank transactions.If you have a fixed deposit on a Bank that exceeds RS 50,000, a copy of PAN card needs to be given. If you are not submitting a copy of PAN card, the bank will deduct TDS of 20% or at the prevailing rate (whichever is higher).
3. It is useful in the purchase of real estate and vehicles.
4. In hotels, restaurants and travel agencies if your bill exceeds RS 25,000 you may have to produce a copy of PAN Card.
5. Jewellery Purchase- For Higher value jewellery purchasing Pan Card is essential.
For tele phone installation, Visa and other credit cards, and in some purchasing Pan card is necessary.
 To invest and file tax returns in India NRI's also need PAN Cards.

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Demat account, its importance and how to open

 Demat is the short form of dematerialization.It is defined as the movement from the use of physical certificate into an electronic form.In demat the securities are held electronically instead of physical possession of certificates.
 If you want to save money on a bank a savings account is must.You need to open a demat account to buy or sell stocks.Unlike savings account no minimum shares are required to maintain a DP account.But there is an annual account maintenance fee, which may vary on different DP's.
 Demat account is used to keep all kind of financial assets and instruments like stocks, debentures, bonds, debt and NSC in a dematerialized form.The demat number is quoted When a trade or transaction take place in electronic mode.
 If you have 1000 shares of JP Associates, 100 shares of Reliance Industries and 10 shares of MRF, all your shares are listed on your demat account.If you buy or sell shares they will be adjusted in your account.
The features of Demat system
 Demat system was started in India on 1996 with the introduction of Depository Act.After that the purchasing and transfer of shares become easier because electronic sharing eliminates problems like signature mismatch, postal delays, risk of forgery and certificate damage.
Benefits of demat account
1. It is the easiest way to hold securities
2.One can immediately transfer securities using demat account (Fast)
3.Unlike Physical format it does not require stamp duty for transactions
4.No need to keep papers shares.So it is safe.
5.Paper works are very rare.
6.Transaction cost is very low compared to physical shares.
7.One can sell even if he has only one share.
8.Address change is very easy.Needed only once for all shares in case of change in residence.
9.No need to report the transaction to company.It is done by DP.
10.Only a single demat account is needed to hold all investments.
11.Account holder can do transactions from anywhere.
The difference between the broker and DP
A broker is a member of Stock exchange. They can buy or sell shares either on their own behalf or on behalf of their clients.
DP just provides a safe place to hold the shares bought by the clients.
How to open a demat account-
You have to approach a DP (Depository Participant) to open demat account.Most banks, brokers and other financial institutions are depository participants.You can choose the DP you like.
Complete list of depository participants are available on NSDL and CDSL Websites.

Essential documents required to open a demat account

Identity proof 
PAN CARD
Voters ID Card
Passport
Driver's license
ID card with photo of the applicant, issued by Central or State government and departments, statutory or regulatory authorities, public sector undertakings scheduled commercial banks, public financial institutions
Photo ID card issued by colleges affiliated to universities to their students, professional bodies such as ICAI, ICWAI, ICSI or Bar council to their members
Credit card or Debit cards
IT Returns/Electricity Bill/Land Phone Bill
Bank Pass Book

Address Proof
Ration Card
Passport
Voter ID Card
Driving licence
Bank Passbook
Electricity Bills (Verified copy only; not more than two months old)
Telephone Bills (Verified copy only; not more than two months old)
Verified copy of leave and license agreement
Verified copy of agreement for sale.
Identity card/ document with address (Issued by Central or State government, statutory or  regulatory bodies, public sector undertakings or scheduled banks
Identity card issued by public financial institutions or professional bodies like ICAI, ICWAI, Bar council etc to their members
Identity card issued by Colleges (affiliated to Universities) to students (Valid till the period of study)

Passport size photograph
Copy of PAN Card
You must have to produce original documents for verification at DP.

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Short term, Mid term and Long term stock trading

Short term

 Short term trading is an integral part of delivery trading.Trading of shares done from three days to six months is called short term.It depends upon Company news, reports, consumer’s attitudes and results.It is very risky and unpredictable due to the volatility of stock markets.
It is possible on future and options also in which the time duration is a few days to weeks.
 The trend of the stock is very important in short term trading.Chart pattern, Exponential Moving Average (EMA), Simple Moving Average (SMA), Moving Average Convergence-Divergence (MACD) and Relative Strength Index (RSI) have important role in short term trading.Pivot points, Camarilla levels, fibonacci retracement levels, fibonacci pivot levels, wave levels are also used to predict the short term trend.After realizing the trend one can buy or sell stocks. 

Mid term

 Mid term or medium term indicates intermediate investment.Analysts and traders have different opinion about the period of mid term.One intraday trader who holds the stocks for three to four weeks may consider this period as mid term.One long term trader who hold the stock for one to three years may consider this period as mid term.Most analysts and traders are of the view that share trading done from six months to less than one year is mid-term.Mid-term trading is also based on news and company performance.One may do the medium term stock selection on the basis of momentum and the fundamentals of the stocks.One may enter the trade after a break out above resistance or a break down below support according to his own trading system.As on Short term trading Chart patterns, Moving averages like EMA and SMA, MACD, RSI and other technical levels affect the trend.

Long-term

 Usually share trading done after one year is called long term trading or long term investing.Company's fundamentals, performance, news and market conditions affect long term trading.Buying under priced stocks with strong fundamentals (Value investing) work in long term trading.In long term trading small-cap and mid-cap stocks offer high profits than large-cap stocks.It is because small cap and med cap stocks earnings can grow easily than large caps.Growth rate and estimated returns are great concern while purchasing shares on a long term basis.

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Share trader, share trading and important types of stock trading

 The individuals or corporations who are engaging in the trading of securities is called 'stock trader' (share trader).The stock traders are mainly stock speculators.It is very acceptable to public, because the capital needed for stock trading is very less compared to stock market investing.They usually try to get profit from short-term price volatility.It is very risky as the market direction is unpredictable. On the other hand stock investors put money to buy securities which offer returns (such as interests, income or capital gains) for an extended period of time .It may be several months or years.The fundemendals of the stock is very important in investing.
 Buying or selling of shares in stock market (share market) is known as share trading (stock trading).
 There are two important types of share trading.Day trading and Delivery trading.

Day trading
Purchase and sale of the same scrip/indice on the same trading day is called day trading.It is also called as 'intra-day trading' and 'daylight trading'. All positions usually closed before the market close.That is One must sell stocks before 3.30,that he bought on the day and buy scrips that he sold on the day.Selling before buying is possible on delivery trading.But you must buy the scrip before market close.It depends on speculations.It is safe compared to short term trading, because there is no over night risk.Holding stocks which bought on intraday basis is some times risky.
 With the advantage of electronic trading and margin trading, day trading has become very popular among home traders.Stocks, Stock options, commodity futures, currencies, future contracts, equity index futures, and interest rate futures are some financial instruments available for intraday trading.
 The main risk factor of intraday trading is it can be either extremely profitable or extremely unprofitable.So it is important to keep stop loss on intraday trading.It is possible to make heavy profits on the day in day trading.So intraday traders are sometimes portrayed as 'gamblers' by investors.

Delivery trading
According to some analysts and traders, delivery trading is secure compared to day trading.Delivery means the legal transfer and receipt of ownership rights.You have to take the delivery of shares.There is a one plus two settlement (One trading day and two other days) for delivery trading.After getting scrips into your demat account you can sell them at any time.Normally it will take up to three days.You should have sufficient money to buy shares on delivery basis.Selling before buying is not possible on delivery trading.
 There are some advantages and disadvantages of Delivery Trading.The main advantage is that, the Loss of Fear of Money is very less compared to Intraday Trading. Even if the market price of your stock reduces, you can still wait for more days to get your expected price.Another advantage is that you can get dividend from your investments.The split of shares, amalgamations and bonus issues may also profitable to you.The disadvantage of Delivery Trading is the brokerage charges for Delivery Trading is high compared to day trading.Another disadvantage is that market crashes and some other factors may affect delivery trading.

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What does 'Share' and 'Share holder' mean in Stock market

What is share?
 For raising capital the companies divide its ownership into small parts and issuing to individuals or organizations.Each part is called a share.Shares of Corporations, mutual funds and Organizations are available.
 In financial markets, such as stock markets and commodities markets share is considered as an unit of account.The share holders of the company will get income from shares, which is known as 'dividend'.

Share Holder
 A share holder is a person or an institution who carries share in a company.Thus he is the owner of a part of that company.A person holding maximum shares in a company has maximum ownership.They will be the directors or Chairman in the company.
 A share holder is also known as 'stock holder' or a 'stake holder'. He can purchase the shares of public or private corporations.He has the right to sell his share any time.He is also eligible to nominate directors or vote for the directors nominated by the board.He will get all dividends declared by the company and also he can purchase new shares issued by the company at any time.
 A share holder purchases shares from an institution called Stock or commodity or currency market.The purchase process is going through a broker.
 One can buy shares from Primary market through initial public offerings (ipo) or bonds.They provides capital directly to the company.How ever the majority of share holders purchase shares from secondary market, in this case the share holder not directly providing capital to the company.

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