A Systematic Trader's Journal

Seems like we can avoid another scene like that in AIA Singapore again.  No rate cut was made. The Federal Reserve is readying a loan of $85B to AIG, in exchange for an 80% stake in the insurer. Barclays is buying some of Lehman's assets, where the US bankruptcy judge approves "automatic stay" status for JP Morgan to continue providing trade-clearing advances to Lehman's broker-dealer unit. WAMU is also up 16% due to talks of fresh interest from a large institution.  Thus, has all these events salvaged the turbulence in Asia, and create a positive spur of sentiment for the international markets? Let's take a quick snapshot in early Asia and US closing markets in the morning. All Ordinaries  Australia 4,843.4 8:28AM SGT  43.600 (0.91%) Nikkei 225 Japan 11,830.34 8:28AM SGT     220.62 (1.90%) KOSPI  Korea 1,425.59 8:48 AM SGT   37.84 (2.73%) S&P 500 US 1,213.59 20.89 (1.75%) DJIA 11,059.02  141.51 (1.30%) Nasdaq 100 1,724.08   18.62...

Due to some technical error, I am posting this events in GMT time manually.   Date Time $€£¥ Event Per. Prev. Fore. Act. Imp. 09/16 12:30 CAD Manufacturing Shipments m/m 2.1% 1.0% - 12:30 USD Core CPI m/m 0.3% 0.2% - 12:30 USD CPI 0.8% 0.0% - 13:00 USD TIC Net Long-Term Transactions 53.4B 55.0B - 14:00 USD Treasury Sec Paulson Speaks * * * 15:00 CHF Gov Board Member Hildebrand Speaks * * * 17:00 USD NAHB Housing Market Index 16 17 - 17:30 USD Treasury Sec Paulson Speaks * * * 18:15 USD FOMC Statement * * * 18:15 USD Federal Funds Rate 2.00% 2.00% -

Today's events have indeed been a thrilling experience experience for the international markets. As I am writing this, the China Central Banks has just cut its key interest rate again by 27 basis points to spur growth, Lehman (est. 1844) has filed for Chapter 11 (Bankruptcy) , there are rounds of ECB having an emergency rate cut, UBS sneaking in to declare another $5B of writedowns, AIG seeking help from the Fed with a request of a $40B bridge loan after rejecting an offer by Flower to prevent themselves from joining the slaughterhouse where their CDs are currently gapping outwards, and it seems that the only few pieces of good news are probably that Merril had a merger with BOA, as well as a consortium of global banks have put together a $70B fund to facilitate liduidity and an orderly resolution between Lehman and their counterparties. ECB also joined in with $30B to curb liquidity woes as well.  In my opinion, it seems like an obvious trend that all Fed Governors are challenged ...

Continuing from my previous blog, how did I fair in the market as a trader today, after the market has adopted to the tight spreads and no commission trading environment? I made money, that is my humble answer. Is it a lot? Is it that simple? Some may ask, but the answer is no. It was never easy. Simply, what is the difference between trading on the current environment versus an environment that requires you to make back wide spreads and huge commissions from the market? Well, in my opinion, the difference is just that other than being able to allow you to exit at a price that could end you up with lesser losses, if not it will end you up with a small profit. But if you relook at it again, do you think the market has also became less trendy over the years? If time allow, it would be excellent if you could take a close look at the Average Daily Range data on some of your favourite currency pair that you trade on frequently. You will discover that right after when trading became more e...