On the World Wide Web, domain names are the equivalent of real estate. Owning a domain name lets you stake you claim to your piece of the Internet. For several years, many people from all over the world have been making a good living from the comfort of their own home through the power of domain names. Many domain names have sold for thousands of dollars, and some have sold for hundreds of thousands or even millions. For example, one of the names I registered recently was appraised at a value of $6,000!

Contrary to popular belief, the 'dot com crash' has not spoiled the domain name market. There is still a very strong demand for quality domain names. The biggest sales have all come in recent years, as the market continues to grow. Selling names remains one of the easiest and least expensive internet businessesavailable. It requires a minimum of time and little or no initial investment. It is an ethical, no-nonsense business which avoids the most common pitfalls of otherwork-at-home ideas.

There are a lot of technical details about how domain names work, but it is not necessary to know these details in order to profit from the names. There are many kinds of domain names, but for the purpose of making money, only 'Top Level Domains' (TLDs) are important. The best TLD extensions for making money are listed here:

* .com
* .net
* .org
* .biz
* .info

Making money with domain names can be one of the easiest businesses around. There are really only four steps involved:

1. Search for names.
2. Register the names.
3. Sell the names.
4. Collect easy money!

Let's go through each step in more detail...

Step 1: Search for names.

The first step in making money with domain names is to search for available names. Your goal is to find high-quality names that have not yet been registered. This is not as difficult as some people may lead you to believe. I do it all the time, and so can you. There are still plenty of valuable, high-quality names available for the taking.

To search for names, you need to use a domain name registrar. At my site, Domain Doctors, we offer a availability check and registration service. On any other registrar's website, you should see a similar search box that allows you to type in a name and find out if it is still available. Doing this is as simple as typing in the name you want to search for and clicking a button. You will see the results of your search in a few seconds. Checking for availability is completely free.

When you are looking for names to register and re-sell, there are a few simple guidelines to keep in mind:

1. Shorter is almost always better. The fewer letters a name contains, the more valuable it is likely to be.
2. Similarly, the less words the better.
3. You want to pick names that target markets which are both large and specific.
4. Stay away from hyphens, dashes, numbers that replace words, intentional misspellings, and all other gimmicks.
5. Don't try to be too clever, and don't try to 'invent companies by registering names.'
6. Finally, watch out for trademarks. Don't register names that infringe on the trademarks of established companies.

If you are having trouble thinking of names to re-sell, Domain Doctors offers an inexpensive suggestion service. We guarantee that every name we suggest will appraise for at least ten times what you pay us, or you get your money back. I do not know of any similar services available elsewhere, although you can always use Google to research other options to help you find good names.

Step 2: Register your names.

After you have some names you think will be valuable, the next step is to register them. Most names will cost you $15-35 each to register. You may find a few places that offer registration for less, but you should keep in mind that as with anything in life, you get what you pay for. Domain Doctors registers names for $19.95. Other reputable services should be in a similar price range.

Step 3: Sell the names.

Once you've registered your names, you can list them for sale immediately. There are two ways to do this -- through listing sites and through brokers.

If you want a faster sale, go through a broker. Because they make money from the sale, brokers will list your name, promote it, and attempt to get you the best possible price. In exchange for those services, they will deduct a percentage of the sale price when the transaction is complete. 10% is a typical broker's fee.

If you are willing to potentially wait a bit longer for a sale in order to avoid paying a broker's commission, you can list you names for sale at a listing site. To find brokers and listing sites, you can type 'selling domain names' into Google, or you can find them at the Domain Doctors site. Also try Free Link Submission Directory

Step 4: Collect easy money!

After a name sells through a broker, you get paid the sale price minus the broker's fee. If it is a private sale through a non-broker listing, you get whatever price you and the buyer agree on. Unless you invested in a huge number of names, a single sale could easily repay all of your initial costs and leave you some money besides. If you like, you can use part of this money to register more names, and keep building your business this way.

Taking Action:

You should now have everything you need to get started. As you make progress and do more research, you will learn many tips and tricks to increase your success, but the most important action step for newbies is to jump in and get some good names listed for sale as soon as you can. Again, be sensible and don't spend a fortune on registering names before you get some experience, but do get a few names on your plate as soon as you can and use them to learn the ropes.

I think you'll find that speculating on domain names is a fun and rewarding business. It is not a get-rich quick scheme, but with a good eye for names, you can make a comfortable income without leaving home. Remember, if you like the idea of the business but you aren't sure you have an eye for names, Domain Doctors can help. We guarantee that every name we suggest will appraise for at least ten times what you pay us, or you get your money back. We also offer domain name registration and appraisal services. A version of this article with a lot of additional tips and informative content is available at our website, through the link below.

Best of luck, and please do drop me a line if you make a good sale or get a name listed for a good asking price! For more information on Asia Market Research andStrategic Market Research, contact Spire Research and Consulting.

Understanding Forex Quotes

Reading a foreign exchange quote is simple if you remember two things:

1. The first currency listed is the base currency
2. The value of the base currency is always 1.

As the centerpiece of the forex market, the US dollar is usually considered the base currency for quotes. When the base currency is USD, think of the quote as telling you what a US dollar is worth in that other currency.

When USD is the base currency and the quote goes up, that means USD has strengthened in value and the other currency has weakened. Rising quotes mean a US dollar can now buy more of the other currency than before.

Majors not based on the US dollar

The three exceptions to this rule are the British pound (GBP), the Australian dollar (AUD) and the Euro (EUR). For these pairs, where USD is not the base currency, a rising quote means the US dollar is weakening and buys less of the other currency than before.

In other words, if a currency quote goes higher, the base currency is getting stronger. A lower quote means the base currency is weakening.

Cross currencies

Currency pairs that don't involve USD at all are called cross currencies, but the premise is the same.

Bids, asks and the spread

Just like other markets, forex quotes consist of two sides, the bid and the ask:

The BID is the price at which you can SELL base currency.
The ASK is the price at which you can BUY base currency.

What's a pip?

Forex prices are often so liquid, they're quoted in tiny increments called pips, or "percentage in point". A pip refers to the fourth decimal point out, or 1/100th of 1%.

For Japanese yen, pips refer to the second decimal point. This is the only exception among the major currencies.

Trading in the Forex market online is growing in popularity. With more people getting rich trading this market, the number of people who want to invest is compounding annually. Trading Forex online has been touted for the ability to make millionaires almost overnight. You should use caution when investing in any market, especially Forex because of its volatility. However, if you learn how to exploit the volatility in the market, you can make some very successful trades. All it takes is a little calculated risk.

If you can teach yourself to look for volatility in the Forex market, you can base many of your trades on this volatility. This is not something for the faint at heart. There is a tremendous amount of risk involved with this type of trading. There is also a tremendous amount of money to be made or lost if you don't do it properly. The key is to trade based on carefully calculated risk. You don't want to jump in on every glitch that appears in the market. This method is best played out by following the news that created the glitch and going only with the ones that stand a chance for some endurance.

To further profit on this type of play, you want to have stops in place, but they should be beyond the traditional low stop losses. The reason for this is because the market will take out the lower stops quickly in almost every trade. If the trade is a result of something you feel will last a while, you don't want to be taken out of the trade too early.

You are in this to win so you need to take the time to learn how the market responds to certain events. This can take a while but it is a discovery step that you can't afford to skip. You will be making your trading decisions based on that knowledge. A word of warning, you get your profit and get out. In a volatile market, odds are that the market will correct its self sooner or later. Often it will over correct faster than you can blink causing a loss. Trading based on volatility in the Forex market is not the place to get greedy. Plan your strategy and stick with it.

This type of trading can be made easier with the use of trading software. You can use it to watch for jumps in the market and follow up with your own research into the reason for the jump. You want to make sure there is a good reason to make the trade. Sometimes the market will make a temporary jump from a news broadcast, but if that news just isn't important enough to sustain change in the market, then the trade is not worth it. This is where you have to be careful and use your ability to make calculated risks.

There are many methods for trading any market. This is just one example of how to spot profitable trades using Forex software.

The Power of Suggestion
Forex TradingsA forex signal or alert is a communication to you indicating when it’s time to buy a particular currency pair and at what price. Best generated by professional forex signal providers, trained individuals or companies who devote their time aiding in buy/sell decisions, forex traders rely on the advice of these so-called experts when it comes to investing in the forex market.

The credentials and reliability of a signal provider can run the gamut. From just enough forex knowledge to be dangerous to more forex knowledge than is needed, choosing a qualified forex signal provider is no joking matter.

Forex signal providers make investing in the forex market as easy as possible. Depending on the system you choose, forex signals can be either manual or automated and provide entry/exit points for major or pre-selected currency pairs. With manual, the forex signal simply generates a buy alert from the signal provider. With automated, the forex signal both alerts you when it’s time to buy and makes the purchase for you by working together with your bank or broker.

When I first started trading forex, alerts came in the form of telephone calls and facsimiles. Now, with advanced digital technology, forex alerts come in the form of e-mails, SMS (Short Message Service, a way of sending text messages to mobile devices), or desktop software. With so much at stake, signal providers are very good at quickly getting alerts to traders. Simultaneous transmissions enable dozens of private clients, whose investments may vary by millions of dollars, to receive forex signals that pertain to the same currency pairs and price purchase points. This levels out the playing field and affords the small-time investor the same opportunities as the heavyweight.

Forex traders invest at varying frequencies. Day traders buy and sell on the basis of small short-term price movements that happen within a 24-hour period, and must act quickly to keep up with market volatility. Swing traders buy and sell within a one-to-four day period and use trends and patterns to judge the overall intrinsic value of currency pairs. Long-term forex investors, who hold a position for five or more days, study historical behaviors before making a buy/sell decision.

Regardless of how frequently you trade forex and in what quantities, the role of the signal provider cannot be underestimated. Many signal providers lean on forex software systems for advice before generating forex alerts. Others are fortunately positioned to gather directional guidance from the largest banking institutions and brokerage desks – often trading against the all-too charitable trading public. It is no secret that the vast majority of retail forex traders actually lose money and, as a result, there is a breed of signal providers that feeds on this. They gather data from these various organizations, weigh the direction of where the retail trading public is headed, and intentionally provide counter-intuitive signals, accordingly.

Forex charting is another tool that is either used by signal providers or available directly to forex traders for further analysis before a buy/sell decision is made. Live streaming data-feeds, detailed trade analytics, and purported profit-boosting features count among the numerous ways that aid you and your signal provider to invest your money.

When it comes to forex signal providing, the old saying, “You can’t judge a book by its cover” has real meaning. I have visited many forex websites filled with fancy Flash animation and dazzling features that provided unreliable signal advice and practiced unscrupulous trading tactics. As a general rule of thumb, the simpler and more straightforward the site is, the better. Forex Justice is one of the most trusted sites on the Web to learn about traders’ troubles, brokers’ behaviors, and fx currency trading.

I hope that our forex signal reviews provide a safe haven where visitors can get eye-opening information without feeling overwhelmed.

As a result of this new phenominon, start-up firms now compete directly with financial institutions to serve investors in the new technologically driven economy, and the clear winner is the customer. The competition between the brick and mortar institutions and the Internet-based companies has dramatically lowered the costs of investing, and empowered the individual investor to take control of their own investment strategy in Forex trading.We know Forex trading is direct access trading of currencies. In the past, foreign exchange trading was limited to large banks and institutional traders but recent advancements in technology have allowed small traders to take advantage of the many benefits of Forex trading using online trading platforms to trade. Virtually Forex trading is done 24 hours day and almost 5 ? days of a week. In the recent times, online trading has revolutionized the currency markets by making it accessible to the small and medium sized investor.

The Forex trading is perhaps the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average turnover of approximately $1.5 trillion. Foreign Exchange is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. The world's currencies are on a floating exchange rate and are always traded in pairs, for example EUR/USD or USD/JPY or USD/INR etc.

In the new millennium, the Forex trading has become accessible for an individual investor or small group of investors. In the current scenario, investors reap many benefits from Forex trading than stock market, e-mini futures and such other trading. Today mostly traders are choosing Forex trading than stock trading because there are approximately 4,500 stocks listed on the New York Stock exchange. Another 3,500 are listed on the NASDAQ. In spot Forex trading, you have 4 major markets, 24 hours a day 5.5 days a week. If you are so inclined, you have approximately 34 second-tier currencies to look at in your spare time. You can concentrate on the major forex and can find your trade. When you are investing in forex you can spend your afternoon on the golf course or with your spouse watching movie or celebrating holidays-in short it is easy and hassle free than stock/future market.

Not only is it an accessible, easy and less capital-intensive business opportunity, but it is much more cost efficient too to invest in the Forex market, in terms of both commissions and transaction fees. Generally, commissions for stock trades range from a low of $7.95-$29.95 per trade with on-line brokers to over $100 per trade with traditional brokers. Opposite to that, typically stock commissions are directly related to the level of service offered by the broker. At the high end, traditional brokers offer full access to research, analyst stock recommendations, etc. In contrast, on-line Forex brokers charge significantly lower commission and transaction fees.

* Dollar index drops as low as 78.111, lowest this year

* Aussie climbes to 10-mth high and sterling hits 9-mth peak

* Euro reverses gains to 2-month high

* Market awaits a slew of U.S. economic data

By Satomi Noguchi

TOKYO, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The dollar hovered near its lowest point this year against a basket of currencies on Monday after higher oil prices, steady global stock markets and U.S. GDP data boosted investments in riskier assets.

In early Asian trade, the greenback hit its lowest level since December against the currency basket while the commodity-linked Australian dollar rose to a 10-month high versus the dollar, helped partly by oil prices holding firm around $70 a barrel after jumping nearly 4 percent late last week.

Commodity prices rose on Friday as data showing U.S. gross domestic product for the second quarter fell at a 1.0 percent annual rate, below analysts' expectations for a 1.5 percent drop, raising hopes that fuel demand would recover.

The dollar's slide was driven largely by technical factors such as stop-loss buying in sterling, which hit its highest level in nine months, traders said.

But once the dollar's sell-off had run its course, investors took a wait-and-see approach before a batch of U.S. economic data due out this week, starting with the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for July later in the day.

"Ahead of many events this week such as economic data in the U.S. and earnings from major companies in Europe and Japan, investors largely stayed on the sidelines," said Yuji Saito, head of the forex sales department at Societe Generale.

"As long as the market will be able to cope with those economic events, it will likely keep its risk-taking stance," he said.

The biggest market focus will be Friday's U.S. job reports as the U.S. economy appears to be picking up steam even without its strongest engine -- consumer spending.

Masafumi Yamamoto, head of FX strategy for Japan at Royal Bank of Scotland, said the Aussie would rise further against the dollar and the yen this week if the U.S. data adds to hopes for an economic recovery.

But Yamamoto also said in his note to clients that further gains in the euro were hard to see with caution ahead of more earning reports from European banks this week.

The euro quickly reversed earlier gains to a two-month peak against the dollar in choppy trade as Japanese exporters sold the euro to repatriate overseas earnings, traders said.

HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, and Barclays are scheduled to report half-year results later in the day followed by Standard Chartered on Tuesday and Lloyds Banking Group on Wednesday.

Results from major European banks are expected to be buoyant after a strong recovery in capital markets activity this year, but losses on mortgages and commercial loans will weigh on the retail parts of the businesses, analysts predict.

The dollar index, a gauge of the U.S. currency's performance against six other major currencies, fell as low as 78.111, the lowest since mid-December, before recovering to trade at 78.352, near flat from late New York trade on Friday.

The Australian dollar climbed as high as $0.8394 on the Reuters dealing system, the highest since late September.

Traders said the Aussie was being supported by expectations that the Reserve Bank of Australia may drop a key reference on monetary easing at its policy meeting on Tuesday while keeping the cash rate unchanged at 3 percent.

The euro fell 0.1 percent to $1.4248 after rising as high as $1.4310 on trading platform EBS, its highest since early June.

Sterling jumped as high as $1.6780, its highest in nine months, before stabilising at $1.6730, up 0.1 percent on the day.

Against the yen, the euro was down 0.2 percent at 134.88 yen after falling as low as 134.78 on EBS from the day's high of 135.44 yen. The dollar was also unchanged at 94.75 yen. (Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano, Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher)