A Systematic Trader's Journal

Hi all, If you can spare about 30min of your time today, this link below is an interesting discussion, where in my opinion, is a useful video for both experienced and beginner traders, and I am sure it is useful for everyone from all levels. The video was taken from a webinar by the CME Group (A Chicago Mercantile Exchange/ Chicago Board of Trade Company). To access the video, click here

Hi mates, Just received this in the morning. It is a short interlude of the Elliott Wave course. If you are a serious trader, and would like to have a roadmap to the markets, I would suggest you take a good look at this, this has worked for me. Enjoy... Watch this full $79 course, FREE. Click Here!

Hi all, The illustration above show the total trading account balance after a month plus's trading. The total ytd from end Sept till now is 14.71%, with a starting account balance of US$10,000. As I reviewed my posts in Oct, there were some trades at the early part of Oct where it was not posted, as these trades could have been made while I was outdoors, that could likely have caused the omission. I hope my series of profits could continue, and I hope the posts I have made, could be helpful to you in the very near future. The last 6 weeks have indeed been really tough for me, as I had to juggle between making contents for the blog, making trades, studying market sentiment, and between personal time, I have found posting market calls consistently to be a challenge for me. Therefore, I went into a dilemma as to whether this is meaningful for me to pursue further. Thus over the past few days, I came up with a solution to these dilemmas.  As my trading strategy has been short term to m...

Here are some details of the severe repercussions should AIG fall, take this to reference on the impact of the LEH collapse: Sept 17 (Reuters) - (The following statement was released by the ratings agency) Sept 17 - Moody's Investors Service announced today that is has placed its ratings of certain credit derivative transactions listed below (the "Transactions") that have exposure to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ("LBHI") and certain UK Lehman companies, including Lehman Brothers International (Europe) ("LB-UK" and collectively with LBHI, the "LBHI Entities"), on watch for possible downgrade. Additionally, certain other Transactions were downgraded and left under review for further possible downgrade. Moody's explained that its rating action is based upon LBHI seeking protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and LB-UK being placed into administration, a procedure governed by the Insolvency Act of 1986, on September 15, 2008...

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...

Today has also been one very interesting day for the financial markets.  With time running out for AIG's vault, it seems like all eyes are looking at the Fed to provide a bridging loan to lend the company a helping hand. Additionally, if rumours are right, WAMU may soon get off the radar screen if JPM has interest in them. Looking at the market on the macro level, we have witnessed the more than $600B in share value that got worthless or disappeared in the financial and banking sector, and historically, equity markets on average drops 26% during a recession, where now S&P 500 has already reached 23%. In addition, current dividend yield of some stocks have begun to surpass yields from Treasury Bills products. One more evidence is taken from Thomas J. Lee, JPM Chief US Equity Strategist in New York, net cash balances in margin accounts at NYSE member firms are highest in at least 50 years, citing $932B has poured into money fund since Aug 2007. So do you think this could be a pos...

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...