What Are Currency Pairs?
Currency pairs combine the currencies of two countries. Each currency has a value and the relationship of those values contributes to the price of the pairs. So does trader interest.

Currencies are always traded in pairs because when you buy or sell one currency, you automatically sell or buy another. (E.g., think about paying U.S. dollars when buying foreign currency for a trip abroad.)

In every currency pair, there is a base currency and a quote currency. The base currency is the first currency shown, on the left. The quote currency is the second currency, on the right.

The price for a currency pair is the amount of the quoted currency required to purchase one unit of the base currency.

So, for example, with the EUR/USD currency pair, EUR is the base currency and USD is the quote currency. A currency pair price of 1.2000 means that 1.20 U.S. dollars are needed to buy one euro, or one euro is worth 1.20 U.S. dollars.
https://stockstrategy.net/
Stock Strategy


Stock trading Strategy


KEY TAKEAWAYS
The Bank for International Settlements publishes rankings of the most highly traded currency pairs every three years.
Currencies are always traded in pairs, with one currency being the base currency and the other the quote currency.
The euro and U.S. dollar (EUR/USD) are the most popular currency pair.
The six currency pairs listed offer traders good liquidity and tight spreads.
Factors such as trade relationships, a nation's economic health, and interest rate changes can affect the pricing of currency pairs.
Forex Trades 24 Hours a Day, 5 Days a Week
Foreign exchange (forex) traders have the luxury of more highly leveraged trading with lower margin requirements compared to traders in equity markets. But before you jump headfirst into the fast-paced world of forex, you'll want to know about the currency pairs that trade most often.

Here's a look at six of the most traded currency pairs in forex, with rankings based on the 2022 triennial survey by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).1


1. EUR/USD: Trading the "Fiber"
euro dollar
YinYang/Getty Images
The most traded currency pair is the EUR/USD, most likely because of the global prominence of the economies of the European single market and the United States. It made up 22.7% of overall market share, as of the latest BIS survey. That's down from 24% market share in the previous 2019 survey. The high daily volume and liquidity of this pair ensure tight spreads for traders.2

The EUR/USD tends to have a negative correlation with the U.S. dollar and Swiss franc (USD/CHF) and a positive correlation with the British pound/U.S. dollar (GBP/USD). This is due to the positive correlation of the euro, the British pound, and the Swiss franc.

2. USD/JPY: Trading the "Gopher"
Top 3 Japanese Yen (JPY) ETFs
The next most actively traded pair was the USD/JPY, with high liquidity and a market share of 13.5%, slightly higher than its prior 13.2%.2 This pair has been sensitive to political sentiment between the United States and the Far East.

It tends to be positively correlated to the USD/CHF and the U.S. dollar/Canadian dollar (USD/CAD) currency pairs. This relationship is due to the U.S. dollar being the base currency in all three pairs. USD/JPY also responds to changes made to interest rates by the Bank of Japan and the effect on the yen relative to the U.S. dollar.

3. GBP/USD: Trading the "Cable"
british-pounds.jpg
Maurice van der Velden/E+
Trading in the GBP/USD currency pair represented 9.5% of forex market share, a small decrease from the prior survey in 2019.2 Again, the popularity and volume of trading in this pair reflect the strength of the British and U.S. economies.

The GBP/USD tends to have a negative correlation with the USD/CHF and a positive correlation with the EUR/USD. This is due to the positive correlation between the British pound sterling, the Swiss franc, and the euro.

4. USD/CNY: Trading the Yuan
Image of Chinese yuan
The USD/CNY currency pair represents the relationship between the U.S. dollar and the Chinese renminbi, more commonly known as the yuan. Its market share grew to 6.6% from its previous 4.1% of market share in daily forex trades.2

The U.S.-China trade relationship has been a volatile one, providing USD/CNY traders with plenty of speculative trading opportunities. Those interested in the USD/CNY should maintain awareness of developments in that relationship, as they could affect the pricing of the pair.

5. USD/CAD: Trading the "Loonie"
https://stockstrategy.net/
Stock Strategy


Stock trading Strategy


Canadian money
Greg Biss/Getty Images
Market share for the USD/CAD currency pair increased to 5.5% from 4.4% in the previous survey three years ago.2 Interest rates in the U.S. and Canada will affect the price of this pair, reflecting the effects on the individual currencies. In addition, as oil is a major economic driver for Canada, its price will affect the price of Canadian currency. This in turn can have an impact on the currency pair.

The USD/CAD tends to be negatively correlated with the AUD/USD, GBP/USD, and EUR/USD pairs due t

The Top 25 Stocks in the S&P 500
By NATHAN REIFF Updated July 07, 2023
Reviewed by CHIP STAPLETON
Fact checked by VIKKI VELASQUEZ
The S&P 500 consists of 500 companies that issue a total of 503 stocks as of July 31, 2023, as some companies, such as Alphabet, have issued multiple classes of shares. The top 10 largest holdings are listed on the official S&P Global website. An S&P 500 company must meet specific requirements to be included as a constituent within the index.
1

However, S&P does not currently provide the total list of holdings, at least not for free. Subscribers to S&P's research unit, Capital IQ, can get access to the entire list. S&P 500 companies represent the top companies within their industries and are a gauge of U.S. economic activity.
2
https://stockstrategy.net/
Stock Strategy

Stock trading Strategy

KEY TAKEAWAYS
The S&P 500 includes some of the top companies that are leaders within their industries and represent a gauge of the U.S. economy.
Companies must meet certain requirement criteria, which are determined by the publishers of the index before being added to the S&P.
The S&P 500 index is market capitalization-weighted, where it gives a higher percentage allocation to companies with the largest market cap.
To join the S&P 500, a stock must meet certain criteria, including a total market cap of $14.5 billion.
3
Companies may be removed from the S&P 500 if they deviate substantially from these standards.
Practice trading with virtual money
Find out what a hypothetical investment would be worth today.

SELECT A STOCK

TSLA
TESLA INC

AAPL
APPLE INC

NKE
NIKE INC

AMZN
AMAZON.COM, INC

WMT
WALMART INC
SELECT INVESTMENT AMOUNT
$
1000
SELECT A PURCHASE DATE

5 years ago
CALCULATE
S&P 500 Inclusion Criteria
The S&P 500 was created in 1957 and is one of the most widely quoted stock market indexes. S&P 500 stocks represent the largest publicly-traded companies in the U.S. The S&P 500 focuses on the U.S. market's large-cap sector.
4

An S&P 500 company must meet a broad set of criteria to be added to the index, including the following:

A total market capitalization of at least $14.5 billion
Must be a U.S. company
A float-adjusted liquidity ratio (FALR) greater than or equal to 0.75
A positive sum of the most recent four consecutive quarters of trailing earnings
Positive earnings for its most recent quarter
Must meet certain liquidity requirements
3
4

Companies may be removed from the S&P 500 if they deviate substantially from these standards.
5

$40.3 Trillion
The total combined market cap of the 503 constituents in the S&P 500 as of July 31, 2023.
6

S&P 500 Calculation
The S&P 500 is a free-float market capitalization-weighted index. Market capitalization represents the total dollar market value of a company's outstanding equity shares. Market cap is calculated by multiplying the total number of outstanding shares of stock by the company's current stock price. For example, a company with 20 million shares outstanding in which its stock is selling for $100 per share would have a market cap of $2 billion.

As a result, the more valuable an individual company's stock becomes, the more it contributes to the S&P 500's overall return. It is not uncommon for three-quarters of the index's return to be linked to only 50 to 75 stocks.

Therefore, the addition or subtraction of smaller companies from the index will not have a noticeable impact on the overall return of the index; however, the removal or addition of even just one of the largest stocks can have a major impact.

S&P 500 Sector Breakdown
Below are the top sectors and their weightings within the S&P 500 index as of July 31, 2023.
8

S&P 500 Sector Weighting
 Sector   Index Weighting
Information Technology   28.1%
Healthcare    13.1%
Financials   12.6%
Consumer Discretionary   10.6%
Communication Services   8.7%
Industrials   8.5%
Consumer Staples    6.6%
Energy   4.3%
Utilities   2.6%
Materials   2.5%
Real Estate   2.5%
Source: S&P Dow Jones Indices
Being aware of the S&P's sector weighting is important because sectors with a smaller weighting may not have a material impact on the value of the overall index—even if they're outperforming or underperforming the market.
https://stockstrategy.net/
Stock Strategy

Stock trading Strategy


For example, if oil prices are rising, leading to increased profits for the energy sector, those stocks represent only 4.5% of the S&P 500. As a result, oil stocks may not lead to a higher S&P if, for example, the more heavily weighted information technology sector is underperforming.

 S&P 500 components are weighted by free-float market capitalization, which means that larger companies can affect the value of the index to a greater degree.
9
Top 25 Components by Market Cap
Because the exact weightings of the top 25 components are not available from S&P directly, the weightings below are from the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY). SPY is the oldest exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the S&P 500 and holds $403.8 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of Aug. 25, 2023, and is highly traded.

Human Rights in Islam


     The issue of human rights is crucial in the contemporary world as it is related to several areas at the same time. Although the term reflects a political, social and economic concept, the philosophical dimension of the term cannot be overlooked, which makes it significantly intersecting with religious-based ideologies. The question that arises here, therefore is: does Islam believe in humans rights? If yes, why we lack much reference to the term in classical works of Islam?
In fact, Muslims believe that Islam is a comprehensive religion that covers all affairs of life under the umbrella of the term ʿAqīdah wa Sharīʿah (creed and law). With this in mind, there must be an interaction between Islam and the concept of human rights. In fact Islam considers Man a specially dignified creature as the Qur’an states clearly, “Indeed, We have honoured the children of Adam, carried them on land and sea, provided good sustenance for them and favoured them specially above many of those We have created.” (The Qur’an 17: 70) In addition, the first verses revealed from the Qur’an clearly indicate that Man is the focus of the Qur’an, as the Qur’an states, “Read! In the name of your Lord who created; (1) He created man from a clinging form. (2) Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful, (3) Who taught by [means of] the pen; (4) Who taught man what he did not know. (5)” (The Qurʾan, 96: 1-5)
Thus, the first communication of the Qur’an addresses Man directly, indicating that the message of Islam is all about Man and how to leads to happiness in the life and the Afterlife. It is not conceivable then to claim that Islam neglects human rights or it does not believe in them.
History of the Concept of Human rights
Stock Strategy


Stock trading Strategy

The concept of human rights in Western thought reflects a long history of intellectual interaction, and it can be said that this interaction has gone through two paths: first, political experiences that aimed at opposing absolute rule, whether from kings or the Church; second, the theories set by Western philosophers and thinkers. As a result of this integrated interaction, many human rights conventions and charters have emerged, including:
▪   Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (La Déclaration des droits de l'Homme et du citoyen), France’s National Constituent Assembly in 1789.
▪   The United States Bill of Rights, approved in 1791.
However, after World War II, there was an urgent need for a document to prevent such bloody events. The United Nations was established, and in 1948 it issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which included 30 articles, all of which revolve around human rights. With the Western pressure to promote the idea of human rights on the one hand, and as a result of the intellectual and political situation of the Muslim world in the 20th century, Muslim intellectuals found themselves bound to examine the concept of human rights in Islamic law.
Human rights in Islam
After the issuance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Muslim organizations started thinking about the concept and how it relates to Islam. In fact, human rights as a term was not that common term in Islamic literature, but the implications and manifestations of the term were common and known in Islam. Actually, the issue of terminology is contextual one and it can never be taken as a justification for denying that Islam supports and encourages human rights. The efforts of Muslim scholars and researchers on the idea of human rights in Islam resulted in the issuance of various documents in the modern time include:
1   The Declaration of Human Rights and Duties in Islam, issued by the Muslim World League in Mecca.
2   Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam in 1990.
When reviewing the basic texts of Islamic Sharia, one can easily realize that Islam approves and supports human rights. The core of these rights rests on the idea of human dignity in Islam as the Qur’an clearly stets, “We have honored the children of Adam.”
Dignity is the foundation upon which human rights rests in Islam. It can never be claimed that Islam proclaims that humans are honored above other creatures but its neglect human rights.  Also, the Qur’an is rich with verses that support human rights, including:
“You who believe, be steadfast in your devotion to God and bear witness impartially: do not let hatred of others lead you away from justice, but adhere to justice, for that is closer to righteousness. And be mindful of Allah. Surely Allah is All-Aware of what you do.” (The Qur’an 5:
“We decreed to the Children of Israel that if anyone kills a person- unless in retribution for murder or spreading corruption in the land- it is as if he kills all mankind, while if any saves a life it is as if he saves the lives of all mankind.” (The Qur’an 5: 32)
“Allah does not forbid you to deal kindly and justly with anyone who has not fought you for your faith or driven you out of your homes: Allah loves those who are fair.” (The Qur’an 60:
Why the term human rights is lacking in Islamic Scholarly literature?
The term “human rights” is not found in the Islamic classical books, but this can never be used as an argument that Islam does recognize these rights because the issue of terminology is contextual one as stated above. In fact the Islamic culture paid much attention to the term “duties” and these rights are discussed in Islam from the perspective of being obligations imposed by Allah, the Almighty. For example, if we say that a wife has rights to be fulfilled by her husband, it equals to say that a husband has duties towards his wife. Similarly to say that children has the right to education it equals that parents have duties towards educating their children, and the state has a duty towards educating its young people.
The sources of human rights in Islam
In fact there are two main documents in Islam which can be viewed as the foundations of the Islamic concept of human rights. The first is the Constitution of Medina, and the second is the Farewell Sermon of the Prophet (PBUH). From these two documents and the other instructions mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah, Muslim Jurists produced a theory called the Higher Objectives of Sharia, and these objectives represent the foundation of Human rights in Islam. The next episode of this article will elaborate on this theory.

National psychology

refers to the (real or alleged) distinctive psychological make-up of particular nations, ethnic groups or peoples, and to the comparative study of those characteristics in social psychology, sociology, political science and anthropology.

The assumption of national psychology is that different ethnic groups, or the people living in a national territory, are characterized by a distinctive "mix" of human attitudes, values, emotions, motivation and abilities which is culturally reinforced by language, the family, schooling, the state and the media.

As a scientific discipline
According to the German pioneer psychologist Wilhelm Wundt, the attempt to theorize scientifically about national psychology dates from the mid-19th century [2]. In post-1871 Germany, but especially during the Third Reich, some German professors of linguistics and literature tried to influence English studies with a politically motivated "cultural science", which Ernst Leisi called the "Nationalpsychologische Methode."[1] This paradigm presented a new view of contemporary and past English, on the basis of analogies drawn between specific linguistic traits, practices and constituents of the English (and German) national character. But in reality it amounted to little more than a repetition of preconceived notions of otherness.[2] Around 1900, national psychology had become an accepted topic of study in the social sciences, at universities in Europe and North America.

Best Stock Strategy

Stock trading Strategy

Use
National psychology plays a role in politics via the ideology of nationalism. Politicians will appeal e.g. to "the French people", "the American people", the "Russian people", the idea being that members of a nation have a common national identity, are part of a national community, and share common interests (the "national interest"). Politicians must try to unify and integrate people to work together for common goals, and appealing to their common national characteristics is often part of that.

Closely related is the idea of the national character which refers to the values, norms and customs which people of a nation typically hold, their typical emotional responses, and what they regard as virtue and vice – all factors which determine how they will habitually respond to situations.

Nationalism aims to unite people as members of a nation, and for that purpose, the belief that they really have common national characteristics is obviously useful, even if those common characteristics cannot be proved beyond a shared language and a similar physical appearance. Friendly rivalry between national sports teams is often used to symbolize national identity, or to express patriotism. For example, in South Africa sport is "the national religion. Transcending race, politics or language group, sport unites the country – and not just the male half of it."

National psychology has sometimes been used to explain why economic development occurred in a different way in different countries, or why a particular turn of political events happened as it did.

Reference is sometimes made to the "national psyche" or the "soul" of a nation, to explain why some public events can trigger a commotion or uproar in a country, or why a particular nation gets particularly enthusiastic or obsessed with a sport or cultural practice.

The idea is that a nation shares a specific cultural mentality, morality or mindset, embedded in its language and institutions, which causes it to react much more strongly, or much less strongly, to particular situations than people of other nations would, and that people from different nations have different problem-solving strategies.

Stock Strategy




Criticism of the concept
However, the validity of the idea of a "national psychology" has been strongly criticized, for political, moral and scientific reasons.

Part of the problem is also that researchers usually interpret another culture from the point of view of the culture they are used to (regarded as "normal"). Even if many people in a country share a common psychological or biological characteristic, other people in that country may not share that characteristic at all. The important ways in which people differ may outweigh the common characteristics which they can all be proved to share.

Psychologists have found in research that when subjects are asked to identify the ethnicity or nationality of individuals by observing a line-up of different people, they cannot accurately recognize what their ethnicity or nationality is. Marketing and Media experts have found that at most people can identify a representative stereotype, archetype or caricature which symbolises a particular ethnic group, or characteristic ways of relating which a nation has.

Some additional complications are, that:

the mentality of a nation may change over time, through shared experiences, and therefore that the characteristics which are thought to be "typical" of a nation may change over time. In modern society,