fundamental analysis
Understanding stock markets can be difficult. Which index should we look at? There are many ways to slice stocks: by market cap, by proprietary index methodology, by geography, by valuation, by sector, by industry, by looking at individual stocks... the choices can quickly spiral out of control. Though there'
Institutional Managers/Traders
Here's a look at history and the stats behind the fluctuations in the US Treasury Yield Curve.
Individual Traders
1. It is not just that risk is hard to understand--some risks may be impossible to understand. Your risk management plan has to leave room for the unknown and the unknowable. This is why advice from great traders always includes a reminder to "stay humble" or to avoid
Individual Traders
Traders talk about and think about risk all the time, and for good reason: this is a risky business! A lot of things can go wrong, and some of those things can be very dangerous--a single mistake can effectively put a trader out of business, often in a matter of
Individual Traders
I spent an hour a week ago talking with a very experienced stock trader. This guy has made a lot of money, but he's made it while fighting a strongly bearish bias--he's been almost exactly wrong, for a long time. He's been wrong, and
General Comments
Successful trading and investing is largely about asking the right questions. Many of the most serious mistakes we make come from blindly accepting our ideas and perceptions at face value. I would like to offer you a short checklist of questions that will challenge you to think more deeply and
Individual Traders
This could, perhaps, be the shortest blog post ever. I could simply answer the question with: follow your rules. Get out. But let's dig a little deeper. Before we really begin, it's important to remind ourselves that there are many ways to trade and invest successfully.
Individual Traders
The marketplace is constantly evolving. One of the biggest changes over the past decade is the proliferation of Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) that allow stock traders to trade commodities (and other financial instruments) in a stock account. Much of the traded universe of financial products is now available just by
Individual Traders
I've been asked a few variations of the same interesting question recently. Here are a few examples: The one thing I keep struggling with is finding an edge I can use in a disciplined and consistent way. How do you define an edge? To me an edge can’
Individual Traders
I f you read much of my work, you will begin to see that applying technical tools takes work; it takes a lot of time and experience to know how to apply them correctly, even if we are using relatively simple tools with a statistical edge. (Beware: most technical tools
Individual Traders
The open, in many ways, is the most important price of the day; action off the open can often define the character of the entire session and even have implications for following days. Even if you are a longer-term trader, there are elements of short term price behavior you should
General Comments
This post continues the discussion on finding the Art in technical analysis. Read that first, and also this post, on bringing broad intuition into your experience. For quantitatively-inclined traders (such as myself), discretion can be a problem. First, many system rules are slightly counter-intuitive (which may be why they work)