Trading stocks is a difficult process with both potential losses and gains. Many people make money on the stock market, but most lose money due to a poor understanding of stock trading strategies. Although there is no guarantees, becoming familiar with effective strategies can greatly increase your chances of making a profit.

There are three things I believe you must first grasp when it comes to beginner investing are these stock trading basics. In fact if you don’t take these concepts and apply them I believe it will be almost impossible to become a master stock trader.

1)Be a Contrarian Who Takes Money from the Crowd

If you want to make money trading stocks than you need to know that it is going to take more than just opening up an account with Ameritrade, Tdwaterhouse, Scottrade, or Etrade and just think that money is going to fall out of the sky.

Hey, I’m Mike Swanson I’ve been a professional stock trading investor for over ten years now and started out with $15,000 to go on to manage millions of dollars in a hedge fund. However, the strategies that I used to manage millions of dollars are the same strategies that I used to first build my personal investing account and the ones you can use to do the same.

We just put together our second quarter stock market forecast. In the first quarter forecast we released around New Years we warned of a correction at the beginning of the year that would come with January earnings season.

Last week the market pretty much ended the week where it started as the S&P 500 closed on Friday down two points for the week. Gold though continued its torrid rise despite more premature calls by various talking heads and Wall Street experts for a major bottom in the dollar.

Once again the opinions of the majority have been proven wrong.

In a rare interview on CNBC Wall Street veteran Joe Granville said we are in a bull market that he thinks will last for two years. He also talked about when he thinks it is best to sell and what you should do as an investor. He also said is out of gold, but will buy back in if it goes through 1000 - which I think it can really do.

Any investor who has done some research is well aware of the advice diversify your investment portfolio to minimize your risk. It makes sense; we as cautious humans quickly understand the old proverb "Don't put all your eggs in one basket".

There are precious metal markets that also sell gold as a commodity, and of course, people invest in gold to try to make profits. Some people enjoy investing for short-term goal profits, and others enjoy holding onto it for a longer period of time to make a bigger profit.

A former assistant treasury secretary made some interesting comments about the bank bailout and who Geithner really works for:

Craig Roberts: Bank bailout was a fraud and it won't succeed. Don't know what sort of stupidity the Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve will resort to next.

Max Keiser: Quick question. What should the Treasury Secretary be doing?