The site, which was born in a dorm room eight years ago and has grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people, is making the most talked-about stock market debut in years.

Here’s some of what Associated Press reporters are finding. Check back all day for updates. All times EDT.

___

4:16 p.m.

CHECKING BACK IN WITH AN EARLY INVESTOR

Alper Aydinoglu, the student at DePaul University in Chicago who got 50 shares via Etrade at $38, said that he was “disappointed with the first day of trading.”

His gain on paper: $11.50.

Before Etrade’s standard commission of $9.99.

He called it an excellent learning opportunity, though. Plus this: “On top of everything, I now have the bragging rights that I participated in one of the most popular IPOs of all time.”

? Pallavi Gogoi, AP Business Writer

___

4:09 p.m.

ZUCK: PLAY ALONG AT HOME II

The closing stock price of $38.23, multiplied by a holding of 503,601,850 shares, gives CEO Mark Zuckerberg a stake worth $19,252,698,725.

And 50 cents.

___

4:02 p.m.

‘LIKE KISSING YOUR SISTER’

There’s the close on Facebook: $38.23.

All that excitement for a gain of ? 23 cents. And it took a rush of buyers in the final minutes to achieve even that. Facebook was hugging the $38 mark for much of the final hour of trading.

In theory, closing near the IPO price is good. It means that the banks that took the company public judged demand almost perfectly, and got the most money possible for selling stockholders.

But in practice, it’s bad: The institutions that buy from the sellers ? typically big investors like hedge funds, mutual funds and pension funds ? have come to expect big profits on the first day.

“This is like kissing your sister,” said John Fitzgibbon, founder of IPO Scoop, a research firm. “With all the drumbeats and hype, I don’t think there’ll be bar room bragging tonight.”

? Bernard Condon, AP Business Writer

___

3:46 p.m.

ZUCK: PLAY ALONG AT HOME

If you want to figure up Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth at the end of the trading day, here’s the math: He still holds 503,601,850 shares of Facebook after the initial public offering.

If the stock closes at $38 ? and it is hovering just pennies above that level with about 15 minutes of trading left ? that would make Zuckerberg’s stake worth about $19.1 billion.

? Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer

___

3:30 p.m.

TEACHABLE MOMENT

The Associated Press spoke earlier with Ann Sherman, an IPO expert and associate finance professor at DePaul University, and asked her to check back in with her thoughts at the end of the trading day.

With Facebook almost back to its offering price of $38 per share, she said that even the best stocks can be over-hyped.

Sherman added: “From now on, I’ll be able to use Facebook as the perfect example of what I tell the students in my IPO and venture capital class ? that even apparently hot IPOs can be risky to price, and that no company can perfectly control the timing of their offering.”

? Pallavi Gogoi, AP Business Writer

___

3:23 p.m.

MAD MONEY

Earlier this week, Mad magazine imagined a Facebook stock certificate, complete with a photo of Mark Zuckerberg smiling from inside an oval, like George Washington on the dollar bill.

“Thank you for funding our ongoing effort to collect and control every single piece of personal information on the Internet,” the certificate says. “Every photograph, every song, every social cause, every event listing, every opinion, every breathless description of a recently eaten pulled-pork sandwich.”

Facebook is drifting back toward its offering price of $38. It’s up just 10 cents for the day now as volume nears half a billion shares.

___

3:11 p.m.

TILL THURSDAY

Bruno del Ama, the CEO of asset management firm Global X Funds, said that he will wait five full trading days, until after the market closes Thursday, to get in on Facebook.

“On the first day you see a tremendous amount of volatility,” he said. By the fifth day, investors should see more stability, he said.

He believes Facebook is here to stay: “Once companies have built a network, it’s really difficult to displace them,” he said. He added that while massive companies such as Google are trying to compete with Facebook, and may even have better technology, “we care about where our friends are.”

? Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer

___

3:02 p.m.

AN HOUR TO GO

Facebook stock is trading at $39.02, up a little more than a buck. Volume just passed 450 million shares.

It’s another bleak day for the rest of the market, by the way. The Dow Jones industrial average appears headed for its 12th loss in the past 13 trading days. The Nasdaq composite, representing Facebook’s stock exchange, is down 1 percent.

___

2:54 p.m.

BUT SERIOUSLY, FOLKS

Twitter users are joking about the Facebook IPO.

From Conan O’Brien: “Today, Facebook went public, just as MySpace’s last user went private.”

And from the Twitter feed of the website Someecards: “My favorite Facebook public offerings are still your beach photos.”

? Peter Svensson, AP Technology Writer

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2:29 p.m.

WE ARE THE ONE-QUARTER PERCENT

Conversations about the Facebook IPO accounted for 0.25 percent of all online discussion during the first part of the workday, according to NM Incite, a company that tracks social media traffic.

That may sound small, but it’s an increase of 5,000 percent compared with the buzz about the Facebook IPO a month ago. It is also four times greater than the chatter for the LinkedIn IPO and 10 times greater than the Groupon IPO.

? Scott Mayerowitz, AP Business Writer

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2:18 p.m.

POP CULTURE

Francis Gaskins, president of IPOdesktop, a market research company, said that it wasn’t a bad thing that Facebook didn’t get a “pop” on its first day, similar to what happened during the 1990s dot-com frenzy.

He said that most tech companies going public want a big rise in their debut to show they’re “strong, dynamic companies standing out in the crowd” but that Facebook already has that image, and so may not care.

Gaskins said that the banks taking Facebook public have learned from the IPOs of social media companies in the past year and are better able to gauge demand and supply for a new stock.

He said a rise of 5 percent to 8 percent in this “tough market” is a success.

Facebook stock is up 5.5 percent as volume approaches 400 million shares.

? Bernard Condon, AP Business Writer

___

2:13 p.m.

ZUCK ON WHAT TODAY MEANS

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking before he symbolically rang the opening bell for the Nasdaq from Menlo Park, Calif.:

“Right now this all seems like a big deal. Going public is an important milestone in our history. But here’s the thing: Our mission isn’t to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. In the past eight years, all of you out there have built the largest community in the history of the world. You’ve done amazing things that we never would have dreamed of, and I can’t wait to see what you guys all do going forward.”

___

2:05 p.m.

VITAL SIGNS

With two hours to go in the trading day, Facebook is at $40.50, or $2.50 higher than its offering price. Volume has just passed 380 million shares.

By comparison, Bank of America, frequently the most active stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index, has traded only 155 million shares today. The next most active stock in the S&P, JPMorgan Chase, is at 59 million.

___

1:57 p.m.

THE RUSH FROM SMALL INVESTORS

TD Ameritrade, the online brokerage, reports that in the first 45 minutes that Facebook was trading, it accounted for a record 24 percent of trades executed by its customers.

By comparison, on its first day back on the stock market, in November 2010, General Motors represented 7 percent of overall trades on TD Ameritrade. For the LinkedIn IPO, in May 2011, the figure was 5 percent.

Steve Quirk, who oversees trading strategy at TD Ameritrade, said that about 60,000 orders were lined up before Facebook opened.

“The volume has been unbelievable even though the stock hasn’t moved dramatically,” Quirk said. “It’s a hot topic in our chat rooms, and most people expected to see the stock move more than it has.”

? Pallavi Gogoi, AP Business Writer

___

1:47 p.m.

UPDATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA STOCKS

Facebook stock is trading at about $41.25, a healthy gain of more than $3, but the gain is not translating to other social media companies, especially those with ties to Facebook.

LinkedIn is down 3.3 percent, Groupon is down 6 percent, and Zynga, which is trading again, is down more than 8 percent.

? Bree Fowler, AP Business Writer

___

1:23 p.m.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING

Gov. Jerry Brown of California must not have seen “The Social Network.”

In an appearance on “CBS This Morning,” Brown said that his state is the land of innovation and that it was where Facebook was invented. He added: “Not in Texas, not in Arizona, not in Manhattan and certainly not, you know, under the White House or the Congress.”

But interviewer Charlie Rose pointed out that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others developed the site at Harvard University, all the way across the country in Cambridge, Mass.

Brown responded that the Facebook inventors quickly came to California, “where all the other innovative people are.”

? Juliet Williams, AP Sacramento bureau

___

1:16 p.m.

EXPERIENCING THE FACEBOOK IPO ON FACEBOOK

Facebook’s IPO has Wall Street abuzz. But what about Facebook’s 900 million users?

Some were debating whether they should get in on the buying frenzy. Others were guessing the closing price. Several were lamenting that they hadn’t thought to invent the social media site themselves.

A few treated even the company like a person, congratulating it on the public offering as they might a friend on the birth of a child.

“Hey Facebook! Have a good first day on the stock market,” a swimming pool maintenance and repairman from Petaluma, Calif., wrote from a mobile device. Within two hours, eight other Facebook users had “liked” the post.

Not all Facebook users were obsessed with the company’s entrance to the stock market. The went along with their everyday lives, posting photos of drunken debauchery that they might one day regret, weighting in on the presidential election, celebrating Haitian flag day or just welcoming the start of the weekend.

? Scott Mayerowitz, AP Business Writer

___

1:05 p.m.

NASDAQ ON THE DELAY

Seconds before noon, with demand for Facebook stock overwhelming, Nasdaq issued a message on one of its websites saying that it was “investigating an issue in delivering trade execution messages” from the Facebook IPO.

Nasdaq initially planned the first trades of Facebook stock for 11 a.m., then 11:05 a.m. The stock opened at about 11:30.

Facebook is trading at about $41, or $3 higher than its offering price. Volume is approaching 320 million shares traded.

? Tali Arbel, AP Business Writer

___

12:55 p.m.

A FUND MANAGER WEIGHS IN

Chris Brown, manager of the Pax World Balanced mutual fund, made a roughly $14 million investment when his $1.9 billion fund acquired private shares of Facebook on a secondary market before the IPO.

As shares traded publicly for around $40 at midday Friday, Brown said the rise from the stock’s $38 opening price was unsurprising.

“Going into the IPO, there has been a lot of skepticism from investors, in particular institutional investors, questioning anything from whether the price of the stock is fair, to whether Facebook can successfully monetize and sell ads,” he said.

“We’re long-term investors. It’s nice to have the stock up for one day, but it’s only one day. It’s hard to extrapolate much as to the future of the company.”

In coming days, Brown expects plenty of ups and downs for the stock, as investors assess a company whose prospects are hard to pin down because of its evolving business model.

“You’re going to see obviously an extreme amount of volatility over the next week as people evaluate the stock,” Brown said.

? Mark Jewell, AP Personal Finance Writer

___

12:50 p.m.

THE OUTSIDER’S VIEW

“I’m part of the 99 percent. I don’t buy stock shares,” Jerry Urban said as he waited for a bus in Baltimore. “I wish them good luck. Tell them to stop selling my information.”

Facebook stock is at about $40.50, or $2.50 higher than its offering price.

? Alex Dominguez, AP Baltimore bureau

___

12:24 p.m.

SHOULD YOU BUY? A VIEW FROM ONE BANKER

Facebook stock is up about 6 percent from its offering price. More than a quarter-billion shares have been traded.

Blessing Oguguam of Nashville, Tenn., a vice president in business banking for Wells Fargo who has worked in commercial lending for 15 years, said he was not comfortable buying Facebook stock:

“I’m thinking it’s great for now. But 10 years from now, is that crave still going to be there? So if I go ahead and invest now, I know Facebook is not producing any product. It’s just a social media site. So in 10 years to come, if this hype dies down, then what happens to my investment?”

? Lucas L. Johnson II, AP Nashville bureau

___

12:19 p.m.

WATCHING OTHER SOCIAL STOCKS

Some recent quotes from other social media stocks:

LinkedIn: Down 2.2 percent.

Groupon: Down 6 percent.

Zynga: Down 13 percent, and apparently halted. Its last trade was about 40 minutes ago.

___

12:17 p.m.

ELSEWHERE IN TECH LAND

It’s a good day for some other big-name technology stocks.

Stock in Yahoo is up more than 5 percent after a report from All Things D, a website devoted to technology news, that Yahoo was close to selling part of its valuable stake in the Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group.

Apple, which has fallen more than $100 per share from its all-time intraday high of $644 on April 10, is up 1.3 percent at $537. Google is up 0.3 percent at $624 per share.

Meanwhile, Facebook has nudged back over the $40 level, and volume has surpassed 250 million shares traded.

___

12:02 p.m.

BACK UP FOR THE DAY

Facebook stock has climbed back to about $40 as trading volume surpasses 220 million shares. The stock had opened at $42.05 and sunk back to $38, its offering price, but did not cross below that level. That indicates heavy buying interest in the stock at $38.

___

11:50 a.m.

DRIFTING BACK TOWARD $38

Facebook stock, which opened with a gain of about $4 over its offering price of $38, has steadily drifted lower in the first half-hour of trading. It is hovering now at about $38. Trading volume is closing in on 200 million shares.

___

11:47 a.m.

150 MILLION SHARES

Facebook’s trading volume is surging. It passed 150 million shares traded about 15 minutes after its debut on the Nasdaq. The price has drifted back toward the offering price and is now at about $39, a rise of $1.

The stock of another Internet company, Zynga, responsible for the popular FarmVille game on Facebook, appears to be halted for trading after it plunged minutes into the Facebook debut. There is no immediate word on why.

___

11:38 a.m.

BIG VOLUME

Facebook topped 100 million shares traded in the first four minutes after its debut on the Nasdaq. By comparison, Amazon.com has traded about 2.2 million shares today and Google about 2 million.

Seven minutes after its first trade, the stock was hovering at about $40, a $2 gain over its offering price.

___

11:32 a.m.

FACEBOOK STOCK OPENS

More than 80 million shares have traded in the first minute at the Nasdaq. The stock opened with a jump of about 11 percent, at $42.05, or $4.05 higher than the listing price.

? Seth Sutel, AP Business Writer

___

11:28 a.m.

REPORT OF DELAY AT NASDAQ

The Wall Street Journal reports that traders are experiencing problems changing and canceling their orders for Facebook stock ahead of the debut. There is no immediate comment from Nasdaq.

___

11:19 a.m.

SNAGGING SOME SHARES

Alper Aydinoglu, a student at DePaul University in Chicago, said that he got 50 shares via an Etrade account that he opened specifically to buy Facebook shares.

“It’s my first IPO experience,” Aydinoglu said.

He added: “I bought the stock for a couple of reasons. No. 1, there’s so much hype about Facebook and everybody is going to be getting in on it, so there will likely be a huge pop in the stock today. Another reason is that Facebook is a great company. Mark Zuckerberg created something huge.”

He said that if the stock rises 15 percent to 50 percent, he may sell half and keep the rest. If the stock drops, he said, he plans to get out altogether.

? Pallavi Gogoi, AP Business Writer

___

11:07 a.m.

WAITING IN TIMES SQUARE

People are huddled outside the windows of the Nasdaq site in Times Square, waiting for the stock to open. People are holding up cell phones and cameras pointed at the Nasdaq board, waiting to get a picture of the first price change.

? Joseph Pisani, AP Business Writer

___

11:02 a.m.

A WARNING FROM GERMANY

A German data protection official has warned Facebook investors that the site’s $38 starting share price is based on practices that may breach European privacy rules.

Thilo Weichert, data protection commissioner for the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, said shareholders should be aware that if European privacy authorities have their way, “Facebook’s business model will implode.”

Weichert was quoted by German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Friday saying Facebook could be ordered to stop transferring user information to the United States.

Facebook’s IPO prospectus warns investors that its business is subject to “complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, and other matters” that could harm its business.

___

10:52 a.m.

THE ARGUMENT AGAINST JUMPING IN

The banks helping take Facebook public want us to value this 8-year-old upstart at as much as $104 billion, more than Disney or Kraft Foods, though those companies earn three and four times more. That top valuation is also more than 100 times Facebook’s earnings last year, versus 13 times for the average company.

At such a high price, it will take years for this so-called earnings multiple to fall to a more reasonable level, and that’s assuming the company can maintain its torrid earnings growth.

To make money in Facebook, you’re betting that other buyers will be just as willing as you to hold their nose at the valuation, and keep doing so for years.

Facebook grew its earnings 65 percent last year, faster than at most companies, so you should pay more for it than you would the typical company. But how much more? Profits at Apple grew 85 percent last year. Its stock is trading at 13 times earnings per share.

? Bernard Condon, AP Business Writer

___

10:47 a.m.

THE REACTION ONLINE

Facebook’s IPO was trending on Twitter, but it wasn’t the No. 1 item. God, a retiring Chicago Cubs pitcher, Kanye West’s new film and Haitian Flag Day all were trending higher in the U.S. at 10:30 a.m.

Down at No. 9 was “$FB,” a tag used to talk about the offering. At the top of the list? The hashtag “ThingsWeAskGod2helpUsWith,” along with news about the possible retirement of Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood and “Cruel Summer,” the name of Kanye West’s short file that will debut at the Cannes Film Festival.

The IPO was No. 2 in trending Google searches, right after the death of disco queen Donna Summer.

? Scott Mayerowitz, AP Business Writer

___

10:40 a.m.

AT INTRADE, BETTING ON A BIG FIRST-DAY GAIN

Intrade, the online betting market, is getting in on the early Facebook action. Its top item for bidding is a wager on Facebook’s share price at the close of the first day of trading.

Based on its orders to date, Intrade said that the market is predicting a 77 percent chance that the close is $45 or higher. A closing price of $45 would represent a first-day gain of 18 percent for the stock.

The odds that the price would close at $60 or higher were only 15 percent. But there was a widespread assumption the stock would finish up for the day. Intrade put the odds of a close of $40 or higher at 92 percent.

To bet on a prediction, you need to open and fund an account at Intrade.com.

? Dave Carpenter, AP Personal Finance Writer

___

10:33 a.m.

ONE ARGUMENT FOR BUYING

Facebook will sell on the open market for 20 times the company’s projected 2012 revenue, based on its IPO price of $38. Google, by comparison, is trading at about six times its projected revenue for this year.

But Facebook hasn’t been as aggressive as it could have been about selling ads or finding other ways to make money where its visitors, on average, dwell for an average of 6? hours per month, according to comScore Inc.

Instead of ramping up revenue, Facebook has concentrated on attracting users ? an emphasis that is bound to pay off.

Facebook also has a big personnel advantage: Sheryl Sandberg, hired as the company’s chief operating officer in 2008. She played a key role in expanding Google’s advertising system during its first few years as a publicly held company, a period when the company’s stock hit its peak so far.

? Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer

___

10:24 a.m.

THE RIPPLE EFFECT: OTHER IPOs?

Ann Sherman, an expert on initial public offerings and an assistant professor in the department of finance at the DePaul University, said that the IPO will lead other technology companies to go public.

“Facebook is unique in so many ways, but its IPO will certainly inspire other companies to try an IPO if they are already thinking of it,” she said.

But other companies won’t get a reception anything like Facebook’s, she said. They will face much more muted investor demand, like that for Groupon and Linkedin, she said.

? Pallavi Gogoi, AP Business Writer

___

10:15 a.m.

A POP FOR THE NASDAQ

The stock market is flat so far, but it’s a good day for one stock in particular ? Nasdaq OMX Group, which operates the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Facebook announced in April that it would list its shares there, under the stock ticker symbol “FB.” The Nasdaq is also home to Google and Microsoft.

Stock in Nasdaq OMX Group is up 1.7 percent for the day. The Nasdaq composite index is up just 0.06 percent.

___

10:04 a.m.

MORE FROM THE NASDAQ SITE

In Times Square, people walking by are taking pictures of the giant Nasdaq billboard, which today features the Facebook logo. Some are “checking in” to the Nasdaq on Facebook.

Frederick Nolde, 31, of Richmond, Va., is in New York for meetings. He said that he bought 100 shares of Facebook through E(asterisk)Trade. He thinks the company is worth $100 billion, but he said the real question is how Facebook performs with mobile users.

“If they can figure that out, they’ll do well,” he said.

? Joseph Pisani, AP Business Writer

___

9:56 a.m.

STATUS UPDATE

On Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page, under recent activity, was this, posted shortly after 9:30 a.m. EDT:

“Mark listed FB on NASDAQ.”

___

9:52 a.m.

VIEW FROM THE NASDAQ

At Nasdaq’s streetfront location in Times Square, Dennis Hitchings, a retiree from Columbus, Ohio, was peering through the window at Nasdaq’s board of constantly changing stock prices.

He said that he doesn’t think Facebook is worth $100 billion ? “They don’t have the revenue” ? but he did say he would buy the stock at $38.

? Joseph Pisani, AP Business Writer

___

9:39 a.m.

TALE OF THE TAPE

How Facebook stands up against one of its Internet rivals, Google, based on the most recent available data:

Annual revenue ? Google $38 billion, Facebook $3.7 billion.

Advertising revenue ? Google $36.5 billion, Facebook $3.2 billion.

Annual net income ? Google $9.7 billion, Facebook $668 million.

Employees ? Google 33,100, Facebook 3,500.

___

9:33 a.m.

THE OPENING BELL

Wearing his trademark hoodie and standing before a huge crowd in Menlo Park, Calif., CEO Mark Zuckerberg symbolically opened trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Facebook stock won’t begin trading until later in the morning. The broader market opened slightly higher, with the Nasdaq composite index up about 10 points, or 0.3 percent.

___

9:27 a.m.

SOME PERSPECTIVE ON MARKET VALUE

The IPO price values Facebook at $104 billion. By comparison, here are the top five companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index by market value, based on Thursday’s closing stock prices:

Apple, $496 billion

Exxon Mobil, $383 billion

Microsoft, $250 billion

IBM, $229 billion

Wal-Mart Stores, $210 billion

? Seth Sutel, AP Business Writer

___

9:15 a.m.

FLASHBACK: GOOGLE’S DEBUT

The last technology stock to go public with this level of attention was Google, which made its debut Aug. 19, 2004. Here’s how The Associated Press covered it:

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? In the most highly anticipated Wall Street debut since the heady days of the dot-com boom, shares of Google surged nearly 20 percent on their first day of public trading Thursday as the quirky Internet company completed its much-hyped initial stock offering.

Despite the first-day jump, the debut generated much less money than the company envisioned after it launched an unorthodox auction designed to open the stock beyond large investors who typically get first crack at new stock issues.

Google shares finished the day at $100.34, up 18 percent, and the stock offering raised $1.67 billion. The company originally hoped to open at between $108 and $135, generating as much as $3.6 billion and making the company worth up to $36 billion.

___

8:54 a.m.

THE RIPPLE EFFECT: CALIFORNIA CASH

Besides minting Internet billionaires, the Facebook IPO should provide a little help for the cash-starved state of California.

The state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says the IPO will generate $1.6 billion to $2.6 billion for the state through the middle of next year as shareholders cash in their stock.

California badly needs the money: Gov. Jerry Brown said over the weekend that the projected state deficit has swelled to $15.7 billion for the coming fiscal year. In January, it was projected at $9.2 billion.

___

8:48 a.m.

POP AND DROP

Several of last year’s must-have IPO stocks aren’t exactly must-haves anymore.

Pandora, an Internet radio company, went public June 15 at $20 a share. You could have bought the stock during the day for $26. It’s now trading under $11.

Groupon, the online daily deal company, priced its stock at $20 a share on Nov. 4. It traded above $31 the first day and is now under $13.

And LinkedIn, a social network for professionals, more than doubled from its $45 offer price within minutes of hitting the market last May 19. It reached $122.70 on the first day before closing at $94.25. It’s back to about $105.

? Dave Carpenter, Personal Finance Writer

___

8:41 a.m.

THE KID BILLIONAIRE

CEO Mark Zuckerberg is selling about 30 million shares of Facebook as part of the initial public offering. At $38 each, he pockets $1.15 billion. He will remain Facebook’s largest shareholder, will more than 32 percent of Facebook’s total shares. At the $38 share price, his stake in the company is worth $19.1 billion.

Zuckerberg will control the company with 56 percent of its voting stock as a result of agreements he has with other shareholders who promise to vote his way.

Here’s his bio:

AGE: 28. Born May 14, 1984.

RESIDENCE: Palo Alto, Calif. Grew up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

EDUCATION: Philips Exeter Academy, class of 2002. Studied computer science at Harvard University before dropping out.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER: Co-founded Facebook in his Harvard dorm room in 2004. Has served as CEO since.

FAMILY: Mother, Karen; father, Edward; sisters Arielle, Donna and Randi Zuckerberg.

___

8:30 a.m.

NEXT STOP: 1 BILLION

Have a look at how explosively Facebook has grown. According to the company, this is when the site passed milestones for its number of active users, defined as someone who logs on at least once a month:

1 million ? End of 2004.

5.5 million ? End of 2005.

12 million ? End of 2006.

20 million ? April 2007.

50 million ? October 2007.

100 million ? August 2008.

150 million ? January 2009.

175 million ? February 2009.

200 million ? April 2009.

250 million ? July 2009.

300 million ? September 2009.

350 million ? End of 2009.

400 million ? February 2010.

500 million ? July 2010.

608 million ? End of 2010.

750 million ? July 2011.

800 million ? September 2011.

845 million ? End of 2011.

901 million ? March 2012.

___

HEDGE FUND VIEW: HE’S IN

Andrew Schneider, a hedge fund adviser and CEO of San Francisco-based Schneider Family Office, was busy selling shares of Apple and LinkedIn on Thursday to free up cash for buying Facebook.

He planned to spend at least $20 million, or 8 percent of his firm’s liquid assets.

“You’ve got 900 million users, and you’ve got real solid revenue, and the company is earning money,” Schneider said.

He’s not concerned about plowing such a large proportion into one company: “We feel very strongly and very comfortably about this.” Nor is he rattled by General Motors’ announcement that it would stop buying display ads on Facebook. He calls that “a very, very small amount.”

Schneider pointed out that there were naysayers when Google went public in 2004, priced at $85 a share. It closed Thursday at $630.

“A lot of people went on the short side of Google when it opened,” said Schneider, who is also CEO of Global Hedge Fund Advisors. “And boy, were they wrong.”

?Christina Rexrode, AP Business Writer

___

HEDGE FUND VIEW: STEERING CLEAR

Whitney Tilson said that his hedge fund, T2 Partners, avoids newly public companies as a rule because companies tend to go public only when things are going well.

T2 Partners prefers to look for battered stocks that it can scoop up cheaply. It bought more stock in JCPenney this week. Tilson admits, though, that avoiding initial public offerings doesn’t always work. Google, he says, “turned out to be a great deal.”

Tilson said he expects Facebook’s stock will rise over the long term. Facebook, he says, “does look and smell a lot like Google.”

? Christina Rexrode, AP Business Writer

___

INSTEAD OF A RED CARPET, RED INK

Facebook isn’t getting much of a welcome to the neighborhood.

Thursday was one of the worst days of the year for stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 156 points and has fallen 11 of the past 12 days, mostly because investors are nervous about turmoil in debt-burdened Greece.

The Nasdaq composite, representing the stock exchange where Facebook will trade, fell 2 percent on Thursday. The composite was up almost 20 percent for the year at the end of March, but that gain has withered to 8 percent.

? Erin McClam, Financial Markets Editor

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Obama will have the ear of key players on both issues during back-to-back G-8 and NATO summits. Discussion will be aimed directly and indirectly at Russia, a sometime protector of both Iran and Syria and the chief blockade to such U.S. goals as an arms embargo on Syria.

The gatherings come in the shadow of the eurozone debt crisis and plummeting public support for the war in Afghanistan. Political and economic chaos in Greece and Spain underscored just how fragile Europe’s economy remains after an eviscerating austerity regime. Germany’s finance minister predicted Friday that the crisis could last up to another two years.

Most of the leaders are part of overlapping international coalitions formed to address the Iranian nuclear problem and the newer crisis in Syria, where an estimated 9,000 people have died in more than a year of violence that arose from the pro-democracy Arab uprisings.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will be part of a discussion focused on Syria and Iran on Friday evening among the G-8 industrial nations. Faced with implacable Russian opposition to significant new United Nations punishments on the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials are trying to get consensus among other allies about ways to promote Assad’s ouster.

A senior U.S. official said one goal of Friday’s closed-door discussion at the secluded presidential retreat in Camp David, Md., was to impress on Medvedev that other nations that share Russia’s usual role at the forefront of international diplomacy are seeking ways to address the Syria debacle without Russian help.

Obama greeted each leader by name, calling Medvedev “my friend,” before the group went inside for dinner.

The United States wants to avoid escalating a confrontation with Moscow over Syria, the official said, but wants Medvedev to hear the depth of international outrage. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal diplomacy.

Russia is a partner with the United States and European nations in containing Iran’s nuclear program, although with China it has blocked the most severe penalties the United Nations Security Council might impose. A U.N.-affiliated negotiating group including Russia will meet with Iranian officials next week in Baghdad, Iraq.

White House national security adviser Tom Donilon predicted ready consensus among the leaders that tough economic sanctions must continue even while a once-dormant diplomatic process shows new life. U.S. officials say the economic pressure of sanctions is key to drawing Iran back to the bargaining table this spring after a long hiatus.

“Each member of the G-8 is a core member of this sanctions effort,” Donilon said Thursday. “Each member has been absolutely essential to really putting in place what has been an extraordinarily effective and, I think most people would say, surprisingly effective sanctions effort.”

The G-8 gathering is expected to produce a statement by the leaders on Iran, which would reinforce the diplomatic effort to prevent Iran’s nuclear work from progressing to the point of a bomb. Iran denies it is seeking a bomb. A possible deal could allow Iran to enrich uranium at a lower level than needed to build weapons, with sanctions easing as Iran shows it is scaling back more troublesome work.

Iran says it is enriching only to create nuclear fuel. Its refusal to halt enrichment has provoked U.N. and other sanctions, including U.S. and European Union penalties meant to cripple its oil exports ? its main revenue source ? that are to fully take effect in a few weeks.

“The message will be that the Iranians should seize this opportunity” for talks, Donilon said. “And while this goes on, in parallel, the sanctions and pressure effort will continue, led by the United States and the others who will be at the table on Friday evening.”

Syria is a much harder case, in part because Russia and China oppose U.N. action that could set a precedent for outside interference in internal ethnic or human rights matters, and partly because there is no international appetite for a military confrontation with Assad.

Syrian forces on Friday fired on protesters holding the largest opposition marches yet in Aleppo, a sign of rising anti-regime sentiment in the country’s biggest city, which has largely remained supportive of President Bashar Assad throughout the 15-month uprising.

The head of the U.N. observer mission in Syria warned that neither his team nor armed action could solve the country’s crisis, and called on all sides to discuss a solution. But the regime kept up its assaults on opposition areas and protests, while the head of Syria’s largest exile opposition group dismissed the U.N.’s plan as unrealistic.

The White House abruptly moved the G-8 session to Camp David earlier this spring, after months of planning for a Chicago venue. A desire for seclusion and intimacy was one reason and a gesture to Russia was another.

Russia is opposed to a NATO plan for a missile defense shield in Europe that will be detailed at the NATO summit Sunday in Chicago, causing Russian President Vladimir Putin to let NATO know he did not want to be invited to the alliance meeting.

Separating the two sessions was supposed to make it easier for Putin to attend one and not the other. But Putin made his own abrupt change, telling Obama last week that he would skip the gathering and send Medvedev in his place.

The administration denied speculation that the sessions were moved for security reasons. Past G-8 meetings have seen large and sometimes violent protests by activists opposed to the increasing globalization of world economies. Street violence overshadowed the 2001 summit in Genoa, Italy. Critics have accused the G-8 of representing the interests of an elite group of industrialized nations to the detriment of the needs of the wider world. Since Genoa, the meetings have been held in increasingly isolated locations to shield leaders from protests, playing into criticism of the G-8′s closed-door image.

Obama, an infrequent visitor to Camp David, is putting the presidential hideaway on full display for the G-8, the largest gathering of foreign leaders ever to assemble there. The leaders will stroll leafy paths to rustic meetings halls and bed down in the 11 residential cabins. Four African leaders will join them for lunch Saturday.

The G-8 is made up of the leaders of the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and Russia. The meetings began in 1975 at a forum instigated by France, where leaders of the six largest economic powers agreed to annual meetings. Canada joined a year later, making it the G-7. Russia was brought into the organization in 1997, six years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The European Union is represented but is not granted the power to act as host of the annual sessions or to serve as the rotating leader.

Obama holds the chairmanship this year.

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Spring 2012 is really heating up in the Dane & Rock County Wisconsin?real estate markets! You?ve probably heard about it, whether on the news, in the paper, online, or even from a neighbor. Wisconsin home buyers are out in force! The real estate market is starting to feel like 2006-2007 again.

Good homes are being snapped up fast! Home sellers are listing their properties at great prices. Banks are still offering fantastic deals on foreclosure homes and short sales. Best of all, rates are still sub 4%! That?s close to the rate of inflation. People are starting to realize that this is almost like borrowing free money!

At Rock Realty, we currently have 10 fantastic listings from Janesville to Madison and further West in Deerfield and Marshall. Of these ten homes listed, 6 currently have accepted offers!

Have you been considering listing your home now that the market has bottomed? We would be happy to use our extensive online marketing campaign to help sell your home too! Call us at 877-774-7625 or email at info@rockrealtywi.com today.

Are you a home buyer that has been waiting on the fence? Have you heard about Rock Realty?s 1 percent home buyer rebate? We would love to show you any home in Dane or Rock County. Browse through the listings below too!

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This is one of those stories that tells you something wonderful about young people and the faith, and also something not so wonderful:

The wonderful: This 21 year-old mother was advised to abort her second child in order to begin chemotherapy for cancer; she refused and got the ?win-win? ? a healthy baby and full recovery:

When Daniella Jackson was diagnosed with cancer at five months pregnant her doctors quickly advised her to have an abortion . . But the 21-year-old, who is a devout Roman Catholic, refused, saying she felt too close to her unborn child. A year on, she is the proud mother of Rennae ? her second child ? and has been told that she is free of cancer . . . Aborting her child was never an option because of her strong faith, Miss Jackson insisted.

Heroic and inspirational. God bless Daniella and her babies, and her partner of 5 years, Andrew. They made a tough decision ? one many people would not understand or support, and called it a no-brainer, to boot. It takes guts and trust; it often takes guts to trust.

But did you note the part about her ?partner of 5 years??

Yeah, that?s the thing to not feel great about, as a church. Andrew and Daniella are clearly committed to each other and are raising two children together. Daniella says her religion informed her thinking:

Abortion is not part of my belief as a Catholic. Religion was part of my decision. I wanted to fight for my baby.?

Again, that?s so heartening. And yet religion has not, apparently, informed her decision as to marriage, and one has to ask why that is? Clearly, young people Europe and in America are moving away from marriage. In the U.S., Catholic marriages have dropped from 415,487 in 1972 to only 179,000 in 2010. That same year fewer than 8,500 Catholic marriages were performed in all of England and Wales, compared to 44,931 in 1968.

Why do young Catholics feel no need to marry? I agree with Emily Stimpson, here, when she writes that part of it is rooted in our culture of no-fault divorce, and that part of it is a failure on the part of the church to teach the sacramental nature of marriage, or why marriage matters at all.

Writes Stimpson:

When it comes to showing the culture how marriage is supposed to work?the beauty, the glory, and the meaning of it all?we kind of stink . . . Roughly 25 percent of Catholic marriages end in divorce. Most Catholic couples married in the last decade cohabitated before marriage. Few unmarried Catholics remain chaste. And more than 5.5 million Catholics have divorced and remarried without an annulment.

She gives a worthy exhortation to her fellow Catholics:

Priests can speak out more on the nature of marriage from the pulpit and challenge parishioners personally when we?re not at least striving to live what the Church believes. They can offer marriages in crisis help, not a wink, a nod, and directions to the nearest tribunal. And they can give young couples preparing for marriage a heck of a lot more than a weekend retreat and an indulgent attitude towards their pre-marital living arrangements.

Us lay folks can do the same, chipping in to help build better Pre-Cana and marriage support programs in our parishes and dioceses. More importantly, we can take a serious look at our marriages, dating relationships, and sex lives and bring them back into line with the Church.

All true; also true is that if every Catholic couple suddenly pulled into line with the church, it would still take decades to effect a change in attitude and understand as to the nature and import of marriage. I don?t know if we can wait that long, or even if we need to. Must it take decades to teach? We can?t simply say it?s ?commitment? or its ?covenant.? Or even, ?it?s an Office.?

At its heart, marriage is a mystery ? it is a constant encounter with otherness and a reliance upon grace. People like a mystery, but how do we teach that? Why was it so understandable before, but not now?

?The mystery of the Incarnation, in which God draws near to us, also shows us the incomparable dignity of every human life. In his loving plan, from the beginning of creation, God has entrusted to the family founded on matrimony the most lofty mission of being the fundamental cell of society and an authentic domestic church. With this certainty, you, dear husbands and wives, are called to be, especially for your children, a real and visible sign of the love of Christ for the Church.?
? Pope Benedict XVI, Homily in Santiago de Cuba during Pope Benedict?s Apostolic Journey to Mexico and Cuba (March 26, 2012)

They?re very old, now, the young people who met-and-married in a matter of weeks or months during World War II or the Korean War. They barely knew each other, and often they ?didn?t have a pot to p*ss in or a window to throw it out of? and yet their marriages endured.

My in-laws were poor as church mice when they married; they?ve been together for 55 years and both of their siblings have been married even longer; they?ve raised five boys, lost one a few years ago, which broke their hearts. They?ve worked hard, cried together, fought, loved. They still walk to Mass together every Sunday ? every day, during Lent ? getting their early to light candles and say a prayer or two, and to pat a friend hello as they pass in the pew. Theirs has been a great example of a mighty marriage ? I don?t know two people who more profoundly embody the idea of service toward each other ? and yet only three of their sons managed to marry successfully.

Yeah, marriage is a mystery. Perhaps marriages worked 50-60 years ago because that was a different generation, a more obedient, less stiff-necked generation. But I am not sure about that. There?s Daniella holding her baby, and she and Andrew appear to have ?the right stuff? to forge a marriage that can endure all of that mystery, all of the challenges. One suspects she might be bothering with marriage if someone was just bothering to tell her why it?s any different from just living together with a partner.

The Incarnate Word did not have to come to us as a baby, raised within a family unit, with a mother and a father. He could have materialized fully-grown; or he could have come to Mary, alone ? or, for that matter, to Joseph, alone. It matters that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us in a commonality we recognize; not as a lofty king, but as a boy in a family, with a mom and a dad. Would he have bothered, if it didn?t matter?

It?s worth pondering.

Related: Dwelling in the possibilities of a ?win-win?

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Ron, a former mayor of our city now in his eighties, had a difficult time after his wife, Molly, died. He reflected on his experience in the days that followed:

?After my wife died, I really thought my life was over. People kept telling me how I had to go on for the sake of my kids and grandchildren, but, frankly, as much as I love them, I just couldn?t see how I could live without Molly. But, one evening, I read the book you sent me. It made some sense, so with some trepidation I decided to come to your support program.

I was amazed to learn that these overwhelming feelings of grief were in fact normal. Just realizing that was a big relief. I just needed someone to tell me that this overwhelming pain would end someday. I will always be grateful to you for your aftercare program. You have given me back my life.?

Ron benefited from the aftercare program offered by the funeral home that had taken care of his wife?s arrangements, and, as a true politician, was not shy about letting everyone know how he felt about it! But disposing of the sadness and the countless ?reminders of absence? that assail a grieving person is never as easily or neatly achieved as simply making funeral arrangements.

When a death occurs, the spotlight is on the deceased.? However, shortly after the funeral the focus shifts to the living, whose shock, grief and long process of readjustment ought to have at least equal care and attention to that given to the person who died. People need and deserve aftercare!

I think we need to more clearly define what we mean by ?aftercare?, for the term is broadly used to describe many varied services. These range from providing a booklet or information on understanding grief to conducting a support program or providing counseling services for grieving people. In a recent survey of Funeral Homes in North America, 91% said they provided some manner of written material to assist with bereavement, and 47.5% reported that support programs were offered or available to their clients and community.

Admittedly, the need for grief aftercare is unique to this current generation. As social mobility has increased, families and friends no longer live together in the same communities, so social support is often absent or at a distance. As life expectancy increases and medical technology ensures that people live longer with their diseases, people today tend to die in institutions such as hospitals surrounded by high-tech machines. Death for many people has become a long distance phone call in the middle of the night. Current social realities mean people can no longer turn to family, friends or community for the support they once took for granted. In that vacuum, people today look to professionals to assist them through life crises. That may or may not be a good thing, but it is an unarguable reality.

The question becomes, ?Whose responsibility is it to provide aftercare??

Where do people receive support and help after a loss? Should aftercare be the job of the funeral director? I have heard various opinions, from an emphatic ?Yes? to an equally forceful ?No?, and many positions in between. Perhaps we should leave it to the church, to hospitals or hospice, to the mental health professionals, or to family and friends? We may think we know who should offer grief support, but ?is it happening?? is the key question.

As I see it, there are three points of service at which funeral directors connect with clients and community.

1. Service at the Point of ?At Need?
As a funeral director, your beginning point of service is when you receive a call from a family that ?Dad has died?. You leap into action to do what you do best. The ?at need? component of the circle begins when you get the call, and ends when you have delivered the registry book or documents. So the ?at need? period could run from a few days to a couple of weeks.

However, think about this: From the time you complete the ?at need? call that ?Dad has died?, statistics show that on average it will be 7.7 years or almost 3000 days until you get another call to say ?MOM has died?. (Life expectancy shows women on average live 5.2 years longer than males and on average are 2.5 years younger than their husbands.)

But how can you guarantee you will actually GET that call, especially when the family has had 3000 days to FORGET the wonderful service you provided, or be lured by a ?cheaper? option? Businesses that hope to survive in the future should look at a circle of service that goes beyond ?at need? to ensure the next call will actually come, however many days later.

2. Service at the Point of ?Aftercare?
Aftercare happens when we offer to guide someone through the necessary adjustments to ?life without the deceased? following the funeral. One level of aftercare helps people to understand and live with grief. This could be information sent to the bereaved shortly after the funeral; birthday, Christmas or anniversary cards; booklets, websites, or DVD?s encouraging people in their grief process; or a community grief support program. Aftercare reaches out to immediate family, friends and community who have been touched by this death.

Aftercare also helps people learn to do things for the first time by themselves. It addresses practical issues like financial planning and management, the re-doing of wills and estate settlement, and even issues such as helping a widower learn to cook for the first time or helping Mom get the car repaired, or even learn to drive.? It helps the person coping with the loneliness of sleeping alone for the first time in fifty years, a major yet often overlooked issue. Aftercare helps the survivors know what to do, and then assists them in finding the confidence to know they can do it by themselves.

Every time you promote an aftercare program like a support group, or assist the community with bereavement issues, you promote your business. If possible, hold initiatives right in the funeral home itself, because one of your goals should be to have people come to your facilities at other times than a funeral.

Open your program to the community. Certainly, some of the people who will benefit may have been served by a competitor, but if you assist them after their bereavement, guess who they will call next time they come round to another ?at need? situation?

Besides, thanks to your aftercare program, they are now ?patterned? to come to your facility which they have seen and hopefully have been impressed with. In short, people will learn that they can be safe and comfortable at your funeral home. So think, who are they going to call next time they have a need?

3. Service at the Point of Preneed
The final point of contact is Preneed. In my view, a crucial preneed opportunity presents itself when, after adjusting to life after their loss, the survivors begin to focus on their own life decisions. There is, of course, no quantifiable timetable to measure when each individual gets there, which means you need to create an atmosphere in which, when the opportunity arises, there is only one place to turn.

It has always been my contention that by serving people well at the time of need, and then by showing a consistent ongoing concern for them in your aftercare program, they will be receptive to the message you communicate ? that YOU are the experts on death, dying and grief support. Where else than to you would they then turn for information on pre-arrangements?which of course you have found ways to bring to their attention!

So I believe funeral directors are in a unique position to offer aftercare support to people, for the following reasons:

?? The funeral director has earned the trust of the client, and has developed a rapport with the individual or family

?? People ?connect? the funeral director with the person who died, and are more likely to return to talk to them, especially when they felt sympathy and concern.

?? An aftercare program gives ongoing contact with families, which enhances client loyalty.

?? An aftercare program shows families and the community that you care, even after the business is completed.

?? An aftercare program allows the funeral director to give something back to the community.

The basic need of grieving people is to be guided through their grief journey without getting bogged down, or ?stuck?. All of us would like to see our clients and friends emerge as whole and restored persons rather than as diminished or damaged individuals. The rewards include good public relations, client loyalty and community awareness. And what business could not benefit from a reputation like that?

Dr. Bill Webster is the Founder and Executive Director of the Center for the Grief Journey. In addition to his grief support groups, Dr. Bill conducts many professional seminars and educational programs on the topics of grief both in North America and in Britain.? He has published eight books at last count, and has a 3 DVD series entitled ?Grief Matters? He has developed a training program on how to organize and facilitate community grief support groups, and a innovative website at www.griefjourney.com. He has recently developed a brand new concept in grief support on a web portal and is pioneering a new concept in bringing grief support to a new generation on Facebook.

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“It’s been extremely frustrating for me. I don’t think the negotiations should have been this difficult,” Brees said on WWL radio in New Orleans. “What’s been a little frustrating on my end, or disappointing, is the lack of communication. We’ve reached out on quite a few occasions and at times I know I’ve been frustrated with the lack of response.”

While Brees said he wants to return to the team as soon as possible, he raised the possibility of missing minicamp and even training camp if he does not reach a long-term extension that he believes is appropriate. Brees has missed several weeks of voluntary offseason training with the club, and New Orleans holds its first offseason practices, called organized team activities, next week.

Brees said the Saints cannot pretend that the NFL’s bounty investigation and resulting punishment ? including the suspension of head coach Sean Payton for the whole 2012 season ? has not been a huge distraction that makes the remainder of the Saints’ offseason work “very important.”

“This is a big time for our team, especially when you look at what has happened this offseason,” he said.

Given his leadership role and his performance during his past six seasons, Brees said he would hope the Saints would make his next contract a top priority.

“There should be a sense of urgency and it just seems like there’s not,” Brees said.

The Saints did not immediately respond to Brees’ comments. However, general manager Mickey Loomis said last month he understands that he has never worked on a more important deal than Brees’ extension, and he wants to come up with a deal that makes his star quarterback happy.

The Saints this season will attempt to make the playoffs for a fourth straight time. If they do so, they’ll be in the running to become the first team to play the Super Bowl on its home field next February in the Superdome.

New Orleans has most of the top players back from an offense that set numerous NFL records last season, when Brees passed for an NFL single-season record 5,474 yards, smashing Dan Marino’s mark of 5,084, which had stood since 1984. The Saints have placed the exclusive franchise tag on Brees, meaning he won’t be playing anywhere else next season. However, Brees does not have to report and has said he has no intention of playing under a one-year franchise tag that does not give him any long-term security.

“I feel like our position is very reasonable and certainly appropriate for the situation that I’m in, which is having played the full extent of my (previous) six-year contract,” Brees said. “I knew exactly what I was signing up for and over the last few years I have not said a peep about wanting a new contract or not being happy with my current contract. … Certainly, I took on a lot of risk last year by playing the last year of my contract without anything guaranteed for the future.”

Brees said he still wants to finish his career in New Orleans and has a plan to be as prepared as possible when he does eventually report.

“If that means missing OTAs, minicamp, training camp, I will be as ready as can possibly be,” Brees said. “There’s no way you can simulate those things anywhere else other than being on the field with your team, but I have a plan, so I’ll execute that plan as I need to.”

Associated Press

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If your new to the Day trading business, let me be the first to welcome you to this complex and intricate world. Because this is a 101 course(beginners) article, I will not go into any in depth detail about certain subjects. This article is strictly for introduction purposes only. Let me start off by giving you some background information on investing and investments.

Investing

Investing has two separate meaning depending which field of business(Economic or Finance) your are interested in. In a more general sense investing is related to saving and is used in everything from business management to household expenses. Lets start with Finance Investing and work our way to Economic.

Finance

Money is always a touchy subject so I will do my best to make this as painless as possible. In Finance its is a commiment or lending into a centralized ,secured institution. Investments are usually made through banks, credit unions, lenders, brokers as well as insurance companies.

Economic

In an economic sense investing is the amount purchased per unit of time on any good(service). They are not consumed immediately, but saved for later on.

Now that you have been briefed on some basics, lets move onto the good stuff.

This particular type of trading refers to the practice of buying and selling(stocks and bonds..etc) within the same day before the market close for the trading day.

Different Types of Trading

Trend Following- the belief that stocks that rise will continue in that fashion and the same for falling stocks. The buyer can buy into one that is rising, or short sell one that is falling. Just because something trends in a certain direction does not mean it will be consistent.

Scalping- also known as spread trading involves establishing and liquidating(turning into cash) a position very quickly(within minutes or even seconds).

Price Action- Simplicity in an complex world. There are certain traders who prefer to keep their trading simple by relying on technical analysis as well as price movement, volume, and other raw market data. The benefit of this is it simple, than down side is the amount of experience and background knowledge of how markets work.

Contrarian(reverse of Trend following)- the belief that rising stocks will eventually begin to fall after a some time has passed and the opposite is true.

Profits and Risks

The nature of this type of trading is highly(and I mean highly) volatile. It can either be extremely profitable or extremely damaging. You could think of this as high-stakes gambling(and you just put one-hundred thousand dollars down on red). Buying on margin- Using borrowed funds increases the riskiness of the trade.

I personally do not have the knowledge nor the attention span to be a high risk trader, but if you love risk(and risking other people’s money) this could be the job for you. In the end though is not all life, but a gamble. “Hey you win some, you lose some, but you live, you live to fight another day.”-John Witherspoon

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