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Artificial Intelligence (AI), as it develops capabilities far beyond ‘program trading’ has the potential to greatly impact the world of investing in the stock market. In the past decade, technology has advanced greatly, leading to its use in a wide range of industries, including finance. While there is still some uncertainty about how AI will impact the stock market, it is generally believed that it will bring about significant changes in the near future.

One of the biggest benefits of AI in investing is the speed and accuracy of decision-making. With the ability to process large amounts of data quickly, AI algorithms can analyze market trends and identify profitable investments much faster than human traders. In addition, AI algorithms can be programmed to avoid psychological biases that can negatively impact human traders’ decision-making. This could result in more rational and profitable investment decisions.

Another potential benefit of AI in investing is the ability to identify patterns in data that humans might miss. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, including financial data, news articles, and social media, to gain a comprehensive understanding of a company and its potential for growth. This can provide investors with a more accurate picture of a company’s financial health and future prospects, allowing them to make better investment decisions.

On June 30, 2021, FINRA ordered an approximately $70 Million financial penalty against Robinhood Financial LLC, the highest such penalty ever levied by the regulatory organization.[1] Through its investigation of the firm, FINRA charged Robinhood with numerous violations which had resulted in significant losses to their customers. While Robinhood neither confirmed nor denied the validity of FINRA’s charges, they ultimately agreed to settle with these massive sanctions. [1]

FINRA noted three major violations from its investigation into Robinhood’s conduct and operations as a stock-trading app, each of which merited its own penalties.

First, FINRA found that Robinhood has pervasively and negligently provided false or misleading information to its customers. [1] This false information was circulated in spite of Robinhood’s core mission to “de-mystify finance for all” and “democratize finance,” and ranged from misrepresenting customer account balances and buying power, to erroneous communication about customers facing margin calls. [2]

Did you know that Bernie Madoff stole $20 billion dollars before he was caught?

How did he do it? Well, people gave it to him.

Madoff was the leader of an elaborate Ponzi scheme that allowed him to take people’s life savings and destroy them for his gain. Unfortunately, most of the people who gave Madoff money have still not received it back.

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Investing in international assets is a great way to diversify and strengthen your portfolio. A healthy assortment of international security assets can set you up for long term success and aid your investments in weathering market volatility. Investing in internationally-based assets is made possible through the use of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs).

An ADR is a security that represents shares of non-U.S. companies that are held by a U.S. depositary bank outside the United States. They allow you to invest in non-U.S. companies as well as provide non-U.S. companies easier access to the U.S. capital markets. Currently, there are more than 2,000 ADRs available which represent shares of companies in more than 70 countries.

While ADRs present new avenues and opportunities available to you, they – as with any security – are not without risks. As an investor, you need to perform the necessary research and due diligence on an ADR-represented security prior to investing.

This year has seen some major ups-and-downs in the stock market. While fluctuations have been relatively small, their repetitive nature is significant.

For instance: you may not have noticed on the average day if the S&P 500 ended 1% below its intraday high or 1% above its intraday high, but now consider that it has fluctuated between the two over 70 times in 2018, and those minor shifts start to take on a lot more weight (this intraday fluctuation was recorded six times in 2017).

While the stock market maintains a seemingly placid overall performance on the surface, growing uncertainty over external and domestic economic factors are causing unease among investors, and exposing underlying volatility in the marketplace.

While the stock market has been booming in recent years, 84% of stocks are held by 10% of the population. Despite this fact, there are millions of Americans that hold on to stocks and are no less susceptible to stock fraud than anyone else. Stock fraud can hit investors of all types, most especially those that aren’t as well versed in the world of trading.

Here are six signs that you might have been a victim of stock fraud that you need to look out for.

1. Brokers Trading Without Your Authorization

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You trusted your stockbroker with your hard-earned money. And it seemed like a great arrangement…at first.

Now, you’re worried that your stockbroker is committing fraud with your investments.

You’re not alone. In 2017, 66,873 cases of securities fraud and theft were reported to the United States Sentencing Commission.

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As an investor, you want someone to protect you and maintain a fair and orderly stock market, right? That’s the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission or the SEC.

Whether it be your retirement savings, accounts to pay for college tuition, or investments just to build wealth, the SEC is there to make sure that investors are protected and that the market is fair.

Keep reading to learn more about the history of the SEC, their role, and why they are important. After reading this article, you’ll undoubtedly be able to answer the question “what does the SEC do?”.

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Understanding Index Funds

There’s a lot of ways you can get involved in securities investing. Some of the most popular methods are through the use of what are called index funds. An index fund is a type of mutual fund that tracks the performance and returns of a market index.

You are probably familiar with stock and security market indexes like the S&P 500 or Russell 2000 index. Because a market index essentially acts as a barometer to track and project returns for a collection of similar securities, you are not able to directly invest in them. However, since index funds seek to track the returns of market indexes, you are able to use them as a sort of indirect investment channel.

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