The Book
I want to take a few moments and share some information on the new little book I have released. First, it is exactly what the title says: it is a primer, or first steps, in applying quantitative tools to market data. If you have a rigorous quantitative background, there might
Podcast
In this episode: Tony C asks: How to tune out negativity and fear from the media? * Understand the nature of media-driven information: It's constant and emotionally charged. The media has leveled the playing field and made the world a better place, but we need to understand the information
Breakout
Group-think is a problem in markets; so many smart people look at the same (pretty limited) set of information, so it's easy to understand why many people come to similar conclusions. Sometimes, it pays to step back and get out of the noise and information flow, and to
General Comments
To trade or invest successfully, we have to think one step ahead of the market, but we have to discipline ourselves not to act early. We also must strike a balance between having a big picture perspective and being flexible as new information arrives--it helps to have a roadmap, but
Risk Management
Sometimes, the thing you're afraid of turns out to be not so bad. Slippage is one of those things: as system developers, we know it will eat into our backtested performance, as daytraders we know that bad slippage can make a winning trade a loss, and swing traders
Individual Traders
Most people think about where to get into and out of positions. Most traders know how important it is to follow their rules, and most traders are always working toward being more disciplined. These are important pieces of a successful investment strategy, and most traders work on these things. But
Breakout
I thought it might be useful to step back and take a look at gold from a much longer-term perspective. First, the monthly chart (difference back-adjusted continuous futures): The first thing we see on the long-term chart is a big pattern of up then down. Keep in mind, this is
Podcast
The second part of a two-part miniseries on what to expect when you're learning how to trade. Highlights from this episode include: What do you need to give yourself the best chance of success? * Most importantly: realistic expectations. * Knowledge * Trading isn't about knowledge, but background knowledge
Psychology
One of the age-old questions is "why should any pattern work?" In this case, we're not simply talking about patterns on charts, but we could ask the same question of any fundamental, technical, or quantitative pattern: why should there be a seasonal effect? Why should low
Anti
Just a quick followup to this post, in which I suggested the US Dollar might be set for a fakeout rally (that has happened) that might fail into a sharp selloff (this could be setting up.) Let's look at what has developed since I published that post a
General Comments
Just a short note here as we head into the holiday weekend. I want to share a few updates and tell you about about some exciting new things that are coming very soon. * I will be launching a series of short publications soon--whitepaper and mini-book formats. The idea will be
Individual Traders
So you're a trader, huh? (Or investor... if you think of yourself as an investor, just read "invest" instead of "trade"; this message is for you too!) If you are a trader, what do you do? What is your job? It's too