In a time when high yield savings accounts require a huge initial investment to provide noticeable returns and certificates of deposit make it impossible for you to access your money without paying a large fee for early withdrawal; many people are looking for a more rapid way to see returns on their investment. The only problem is they don't know how to choose the stocks that are likely to be profitable in the future. Stock market prediction isn't a perfect science, but there are ways that you can make educated guesses about what's going to happen, and minimize your risk at the same time.

It's important to point out that when you get started with investing, you're likely to hear a lot of stock market prediction statements from so-called financial experts and professional traders on the television and internet. While they might have experience with the market, these predictions are often fueled with more emotionalism than facts, and they can get you into a heap of trouble if you throw all your money into a prediction that doesn't pan out. Instead, it's safer to practice your own type of prediction making through technical analysis.

In case you've never heard of technical analysis before, you should know that it is a form of stock market prediction that is based completely on tracking and evaluating past price movements for any given stock, and uses this information to make decisions about what a stock is likely to do in the future. If you can use statistics to help you know whether a stock is likely to increase or decrease in price, you can avoid some costly positions, and focus your money where it's most likely to grow instead.

As a stock market prediction methodology, technical analysis is based on three fairly simple assumptions. First, technical analysis believes that the market is able to adjust itself to account for pressures that might otherwise only been noticed through qualitative research. Second, technical analysis believes that the market is inclined to move in trends, meaning that current activity is a good indication of future activity. Third, technical analysts believe that in the stock market, history is destined to repeat itself. That's why they spend a lot of time looking for the way that patterns of trade have resolved themselves in the past.