Alternative Investment Opportunities Available In The Market

 Traditional ways of investing would be going to shares, bonds, mainstream property, cash, and other traditional asset classes. But there are more unusual, yet highly rewarding opportunities called Alternative investment, usually embarked on by smart investors because of the risks involved in it.

Here are alternative investment ideas ranked from safest to riskiest, that are available in market:

1. Structured products

This is basically a contract with a financial institution to pay you a defined return at a defined time depending on the performance of the stock market. It's the safest of all the other alternative investments. The only way you could lose money is when the stock market is performing catastrophically badly.

2. Bridging finance

These are short-term loans used by property buyers who are expecting to get a mortgage from the bank but cannot wait for the approval. For private investors, you can invest in funds that pool bridging loans, in order to spread the risk across several borrowers. The loan is secured against the property.

3. Peer-to-peer lending

Investors meet with individuals or businesses who want to borrow money. Borrowers can get lower rates than they would be charged by a bank, while lenders can earn more money on their savings than they could from a cash account. It can be quite risky for the investors because the individual or the small business might default or become bankrupt.

4. Forestry

Returns from investing in woodland come from any increase in the value of the land and the trees on it, and any income produced by felling trees for timber. But increase in the value of the land is only good if you can also sell the forest. There are some excellent tax breaks in the market, with no income or capital gains tax to pay and exemption from inheritance tax if you hold your investment for two years.

5. Buy-to-let property

The property will form a large part of your overall wealth. You need to have at least 25% of the value of the property to use as a deposit, plus extra to cover any refurbishments and legal fees. Investors will likely face competition from professional landlords and may have to deal with rogue tenants and maintenance issues.

6. Stamps

Rare stamps will have value as long as there are stamp collectors. The most valuable can fetch six- or even seven-figure sums. Stamp values can keep on going higher, and you can search for offers for private investors.

7. Coins

Rare coins are best bought through a reputable auction house, which will provide a money-back guarantee should the coin turn out to be a forgery. As with stamps, the value is underpinned by the popularity of coin collecting as a hobby.

8. Winery

The traditional way to invest is through established wine merchants. You must have knowledge on fine wine and their exact records. More recently, wine funds have been launched which offer an alternative way to access the market. Some of these qualify for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).

9. Business Angels

When you become an angel, you invest in smaller companies that are not quoted on the stock market. Typically, you won't see any return until the business is sold or floats on the stock market. It could take years, and you could either lose all your invested money, or reap triple returns.

10. Equity crowdfunding

This is very similar to business angels, but managed wholly online. Investors can either deal directly with the company and get your name on the shares, or let the crowdfunding website deal on behalf of hundreds or thousands of investors. However, if the business you invested in does well, a bigger investor may buy it.

11. Diamonds

Gemstone-grade diamonds have increased nearly tenfold in value since the 1960s. The diamond price is much less volatile than the price of gold. But it may be difficult to access for investors because diamonds are valued subjectively by experts.

12. Carbon credits

A carbon credit is essentially a permit to release one tonne of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Companies that exceed their allowances are supposed to buy more credits, according to global cooperation. Private investors have been targeted by firms trying to sell them carbon credits. This is a highly specialist market and best left to professional traders.

13. Land banking

Land banking companies take a piece of land, parcel it up and sell it off to investors; hoping that once the land is earmarked for development, it will soar in value. However, there is often no development and investors are left holding a useless piece of land either in the market or overseas. 

How to Use the Long-Shot Strategy in Binary Options Trading

 The long-shot strategy in binary options trading is linked to increase in risk levels and high payout ratios. Traders make use of this strategy to place a trade as it enables them to get impressive results with just a few trades. It can also help safeguard the investments that have been made by the trader. It can be used successfully using any of the underlying assets that the broker supports.

• Trades that have predetermined target prices are executed and placed in such a way that they are some distance away from the opening value.
• The distance between the opening and target prices is proportionate to the pay offs you get from using this strategy.
• The risk of the trade increases substantially when the target price goes far off from the opening price.
• The chance that the position may expire out of the money increases substantially when the price goes further away from the target before expiry period.
• The trader needs to generate a number of small wins, so that they can get a good profit.

Trading long shot

• Traders can choose to use this strategy when the market conditions are volatile, as it ensures huge price surges.
• Many binary options traders consider applying this after the release of a major economic data or news that has a significant impact on the market. Although most major economic data is released on specific dates of the year there are some that may be announced suddenly by the government agencies or banks.
• As the underlying asset may not have been priced for such events, you may see investors making some quick trades so that they are able to adjust their portfolios depending on the changing market conditions.
• The markets may see spikes in the price of assets that are been traded. The sudden increase in prices provides an ideal situation for the trader to use this strategy.
• The trader can choose to initiate such a technique after they have identified a target level price that the underlying asset may have to touch at least once before expiry period.
• The size of payout ratio is the distance between the opening value and the target level of the binary option.
• The returns on the investment may increase in proportion to the length of the distance that has been specified.
• Technical analysis can be used by the trader to determine the target price and expiry times.

When you compare this strategy with others that are used for trading in binary options, you may find that it is risky but the payoffs can get very high. You can make use of the touch option to place a trade. Depending on the size of your investment, you can choose the put option. The long-shot strategy terminates at the time of expiry.