General Comments
We live in a world where most of our basic needs are fulfilled; most of us have food and water, we have a sense of safety and security, a sense of community and belonging, and, most of us most of the time, can work on that oft-elusive "pursuit of
Breakout
I've been writing about this for quite a while, tweeting about it, pointing out the relative strength in smaller cap names, constructive sector flows, volatility compression that could support a strong trend thrust, and a number of other factors--US stock indexes are well set up for an upside
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
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
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
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
Individual Traders
If you are an individual self-directed trader, expect setbacks and failures, especially in the first two years. Expect that your triumphs may be promptly followed by dramatic failures, that you will make mistakes in areas you thought you had mastered, and that any positive P&L may be quickly
Podcast
This episode of MarketLife answers a reader question: As trading is considered a zero sum game(if we forget the broker), and obviously we enter a trade to gain, it stands to reason that someone has to lose. Can trading be justified in terms of the above mentioned paragraph? Kind