Cryptocurrency - An Overview

A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency designed to work as a medium of exchange. It uses cryptography to secure and verify transactions as well as to control the creation of new units of a particular cryptocurrency. Essentially, cryptocurrencies are limited entries in a database that no one can change unless specific conditions are fulfilled.

here have been many attempts at creating a digital currency during the 90s tech boom, with systems like Flooz, Beenz and DigiCash emerging on the market but inevitably failing. There were many different reasons for their failures, such as fraud, financial problems and even frictions between companies’ employees and their bosses.

Notably, all of those systems utilized a Trusted Third Party approach, meaning that the companies behind them verified and facilitated the transactions. Due to the failures of these companies, the creation of a digital cash system was seen as a lost cause for a long while.

Then, in early 2009, an anonymous programmer or a group of programmers under an alias Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin.
Satoshi described it as a ‘peer-to-peer electronic cash system.’ It is completely decentralized, meaning there are no servers involved and no central controlling authority. The concept closely resembles peer-to-peer networks for file sharing.

One of the most important problems that any payment network has to solve is double-spending. It is a fraudulent technique of spending the same amount twice. The traditional solution was a trusted third party - a central server - that kept records of the balances and transactions. However, this method always entailed an authority basically in control of your funds and with all your personal details on hand.

In a decentralized network like Bitcoin, every single participant needs to do this job. This is done via the Blockchain - a public ledger of all transaction that ever happened within the network, available to everyone. Therefore, everyone in the network can see every account’s balance.

Every transaction is a file that consists of the sender’s and recipient’s public keys (wallet addresses) and the amount of coins transferred. The transaction also needs to be signed off by the sender with their private key. All of this is just basic cryptography. Eventually, the transaction is broadcasted in the network, but it needs to be confirmed first.

Day Trading - How It Works

Day trading is  defined in simple terms as the buying and selling of a security in a single trading day.

When you purchase a specific number of shares at the start of trading, you will have sold your position by the end of the trading day, and then start all over again the following morning.

Day trading is done by using trading strategies to take advantage of the small price movements in high liquid stocks or currencies.

It is interesting to note that in a country with a population of over 1.2 billion, there exists millions of active trading accounts in India.

As we find traders that continue to make millions of rupees each year, day trading in India is on the rise. 

In order to join the increasing numbers of switched on traders, you need an accurate and comprehensive resource to turn to and one needs to follow an expert guide to making money on day trading in India.

Beginners who are still learning the basics should read tutorials and watch how-to videos to get practical trading tips. 

Experienced day traders can explore more advanced topics such as automated trading and how to make a living on the financial markets.

When you want to trade, you use a broker who will execute the trade on the market and it is important to note that the broker you choose is an important investment decision.

India currently has around 70 brokers to choose between and there are numerous top global brokers you can turn to. 

You will find that due to the high number of trades that take place on any given day, speed of execution should play a factor.

Another important factor is the lower the fees and commission rates, the more profit you take home, and many will reduce their commission the more you trade.

One needs to make sure that the broker is regulated as they are legally obliged to protect your financial interests.

Whatever maybe the day trading strategy that you follow, you will need assistance at some point, so look for online brokers that have quick response times and strong customer support.

As a day trader you have to demand competitive spreads so find brokers with profitable spreads in order to get the money in the bank.

Reward Points - How They Work

In general, you earn a certain number or percentage of rewards for every dollar you charge on your credit card. Some cards reward you more for spending in certain areas or may only give you rewards on certain purchases

eward points are an incentive for customers to use their cards as much as they can. Banks gain from the interchange fee from merchant outlets, which in turn gain from higher sales. The user of a card, especially a credit card, benefits only if he uses it judiciously.

Do you know why reward points earned on credit/debit card transactionsexpire if not redeemed on time? Is it a significant loss? Why would a card company deduct the reward points if not redeemed? And, of course, why do card companies give reward points for using their cards in the first place?

When a bank offers you a credit/debit card, it talks at length about reward points. It is difficult to make sense of such talk, but for credit card companies, reward/loyalty programmes are an important element of their sales pitch.

Are reward points useful for card holders? Why are they important for card companies? The answer lies in the economics of reward points that we try to explain here.

Every time you use your credit/debit card for a transaction, the card company earns an 'interchange' fee from the merchant outlet. It can vary from 1% to 2.5%. The outlet can negotiate a lower fee if its volumes are high.

Apart from the 'interchange' fee, the card company makes money from the annual fee it charges from card holders and interest earned on rolling over unpaid bills. They share a part of earnings (mostly from interchange fee) with the card holder in the form of reward points to encourage him/her to use it more frequently.

Diners Club International

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We are all familiar and have used Visa, MasterCard or Amex but most of us do not pay attention to Diners Club credit cards exists in India. 

It is difficult to compare them as each has its own unique features and it depends on what you are looking for from a credit card and where you plan to use it. 

Apart from that, there are also differences in how these businesses operate.

Visa & Mastercard are networks that process the payments and charge a fee for that where banks pay them for their global network coverage with thousands of ATM’s and merchant terminals

They are not a bank with a physical presence and they do not have the money that you hold on the credit/debit card, neither liable for any dispute. 

They operate as the ones who are responsible for processing the payment for the banks and merchants and when it comes to Diners Club Credit cards are issued by Diners Club themselves and process the payments on their own network.

 They are known for being better at dispute handling and becomes easy for them to save you from any legit issue with merchants.

You will find that Diners charges higher transaction fees to the merchants because its their primary source of income. 

Diners also affiliated with banks to issue co-branded cards which aim to increase its number of cards that are available in the market.

Diners Club also has better offers as compared to others when it is used at restaurants and hotels across the globe.

Visa, Mastercard has the biggest network in the world and Diners stands nowhere near to it when it comes to global reach.

You must keep in mind that if you hold Amex or Diners card, you need to have a Visa or Mastercard as Diners Cards are accepted only in big cities and major locations. 

Diners cards are known for giving cashback offers and rewards points because they charge higher transaction fee to merchants which in turn given back to regular customers. 

Diners has hundreds of affiliated lounges across the world with t he higher end cards like that gives you unlimited access to these lounges worldwide. 

You will find others that are known for charging high annual fees and giving back equivalent or more amount of reward points and welcome bonus. Most visa/MC cards don’t have welcome bonus, except the top variants.

The thing to keep in mind is the strong buyer protection that almost always favors the customer when there is a dispute. While Visa/Mastercard don’t have that level of buyer protection.

Only it serves as a status symbol because its generally given to HNI customers in India with income in that range.