Quiet turns to noise.
Calm leads to turmoil.
Moods and attitudes change fast and suddenly "I want it now" is the prevailing cry.
For stay-at-home moms, it's all in a day's work.
But I'm not talking about child rearing.
Trading financial markets is today's topic.
Mom's get it.
They know nothing stays the same very long.
They are used to making adjustments.
And they have developed a deep well of patience and intuition.
In short, they have the perfect temperament for day trading the mini-Dow Jones while holding positions and/or long-term trades in the U.
S.
Treasury bond futures and options market.
When I was a commodities broker, I could never understand why more women didn't trade the financial markets.
They were sensible, practical, and not afraid to ask for help from a support group.
In fact, if I had it to do over again, I'd help moms form trading clubs in their neighborhoods, so that while they were sharing child chores, they could also master a market and make some money.
All moms have the potential to be financial market mania experts simply because children are the perfect training ground for handling chaos, illogical behavior and lots of noise.
Stay-at-home-moms who may want another stream of income, should begin by studying one market only.
Preferably, a market that offers a lot of action each day.
The more action, the faster you learn.
That's why I mention the mini-size Dow Jones futures contract.
This popular, global market moves quickly, often changes direction throughout the trading day, and has the potential to make a winning move early and fast so that moms can close down their trading activity and get breakfast on the table.
Or if day trading the mini-Dow sounds too frantic, mastering the U.
S.
Treasury bond options market is ideal.
Many aspects of the economy move this market - the very concerns most moms share: price of food, clothes, automobiles; and interest rates, which affect home mortgages and credit cards.
Mastering the T-bond keeps moms in touch with the economy.
In some cases, by developing a new stream of income using options (the safest way for beginners to trade), moms can help pay down mortgages faster than the 20- or 30-year plan.
As a result, they'll save their families thousands of dollars.
And by the way, focusing on the Dow and T-bonds is a great way to learn, because 80 percent of the time those markets act like a teeter totter: when one market is up, the other is down.
Moms don't need to spend a lot of money learning a market.
Free tutorials and inexpensive guidebooks are available online.
The biggest investment at first should be time.
If moms are lured into buying a $3,000 trading program before they know the ropes, they are already in the hole.
Avoid this common mistake.
To learn, set aside about 20 minutes per business day.
This is hard to do for moms with young children.
But some of the early research can be done with a child in your lap.
Since you'll focus on one market only at first, you'll simply get online to see what the market did that day.
Free charts and resources are available at the exchanges, such as the Chicago Board of Exchange for the Dow and T-bonds, and various other websites, such as Futuresource.
Learn to save charts in your pictures file.
And if you're learning T-bond options, cut and paste daily option data into a desktop file.
This data will prove invaluable when you compare price changes with actual market moves.
The market is the best teacher, and it is practically free (monthly internet hookup is a standard household expense these days) to watch.
Finally, if you're a mom ready to open an account, do business with a firm that offers online trading but has a full staff of technicians who answer the telephone during the trading day.
Keeping fees down is important in the long run.
But in the beginning, you want to make sure you have a support team that is ready to assist.
Mistakes happen, milk spills.
You'll want some help cleaning up the mess.
Copyright 2008