The Essentials of Trading » News & Updates

Update Digest for Week of 2012-02-11

John — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Updates from the past week shared via Facebook and Twitter:

Latest forex volume figures from the NY Fed.
Forex Volume Slows Everywhere But US
Just How Efficient Is The Market?
5 Personality Traits That Lose You Money
I’ve been talking about the lack of retail involvement in the bond market for a long time. Now someone is trying to do something about it… Read on
Media Forex Websites Traffic Survey: Q4 2011

Update Digest for Week of 2012-02-04

John — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Updates from the past week shared via Facebook and Twitter:

Further evidence that the field of Behavioral Finance is gaining traction: An investor’s worst enemy? Their brain
Quite an interesting list of trading/investing observations: Wisdom From Jason Zweig
The post speaks to the point that if you have an edge in the market you should maximize its application. An argument for why not trading much makes no sense
While I tend to agree that US brokers would take a big hit were retail spot forex trading forced to go on-exchange, I’m not convinced it would kill the retail forex business all together. In fact, I could strengthen it…. US Treasury Department reconsiders exempting Forex from OTC Derivatives Regulations
An interesting discussion of the use and implication of limit orders: Limit Orders, on the Crumbling Edge of Behavioral Finance
Penny Stocks or Forex for the new trader
An interesting discussion of what’s happening in market regulation. CFTC – MF Global’s collapse didn’t happen because of a lack of regulation, NFA ponders segregation rules
The estimates put retail forex trading volume at $217bln per day, a bit less than 7% of the $4trln total… Retail Forex Market Volume Q4 2011 – Japan’s decline puts pressure on global volumes
Will Dodd-Frank end up killing the US forex business?
Forex volume infographic.
Just one reason why it behooves us all to understand all the trading vehicles available to us in whatever market… Combining Trend Following and Option Selling Strategies

Update Digest for Week of 2012-01-28

John — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Updates from the past week shared via Facebook and Twitter:

I’ve mentioned attending a Behavioral Finance conference discussion on the use of social media, etc. in trading/investing in the markets. This article is on the same subject…. The Wisdom of Internet Crowds
Visual History of Financial Crises from 1810 to 2010 by HistoryShots
Everybody’s Trading Options
Can ‘Trading on Tweets’ Really Make Money?
This site may be something to keep tabs on for those interested in high frequency trading Thomson Reuters High-Frequency Trading
Added to my reading list for eventual review on the blog: Currency Trading in the Forex and Futures Markets
Let’s talk stops
Where Are All The New Traders Going to Come From?
Further progression toward more/better regulation of the retail spot forex market. NFA finalizes the Price Slippage and Price Requoting rules
The Primary Trade Size Forumla: Position sizing is something that comes up ALL THE TIME in the discussions among… Read on
The first step is to admit you have a problem. Are You Addicted to Trading?

Update Digest for Week of 2012-01-21

John — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Updates from the past week shared via Facebook and Twitter:

Greed is the Flip Side of Fear
What do you trade and why?: A question came up on Trade2Win recently on a new thread. It asked the question of t… Read on
Definitely a list worth reviewing: 5 Fatal Flaws of Trading
If a system works why share it with the world?: A member of the BabyPips forum asked the other day “If a system … Read on
Info graphic with an explanation of one concept of Purchasing Power Parity – The Big Mac Index
Fewer traders, but higher profitability. Interesting. – US forex brokers profitability report for Q4 2011
This post tends to contradict what most would suggest about when to be active in the forex market. When is the Best Time of Day to Trade Forex?
Optimize trading performance by time of day selection: Yesterday I shared a link via Facebook and Twitter to an … Read on
Spotlight starting to shine on the Swiss franc once more
Does Higher Risk Really Lead To Higher Returns?
Some things to think about in terms of your trading environment – Highly influenceable traders

Update Digest for Week of 2012-01-14

John — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Why it always makes sense to understand how the ETFs you trade are backed. Careful with the Dollar ETF
For all you Fedwatchers out there FOMC Voters 2012 Dove Hawk Scale
Trader looking for angel investors: A recent site visitor sent me a question via the contact form. It brings up … Read on
The State of the Dollar’s Correlation
10 Great Tips for Trading Covered Calls
Twenty-four Hour Forex Volume Distribution: The question of volume in the forex market is a common one seeing as… Read On

Update Digest for Week of 2012-01-07

John — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

This week’s postings to Facebook and Twitter.

Top Trading Reads from 2011: In case you have an Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card burning a hole in your pocke… Read on
Trading currency crosses direct or through the legs: The following question came in from one of my newsletter su… Read on
This isn’t strictly about trading, but it does bring up important considerations for anyone thinking about going into full-time trading: The Pros & Cons of Full-Time Self-Employment
Big upside bias to the dollar to start the new year
Has trading ever made you physically ill?: If you’ve been in the markets as long as I’ve been you’re bound to ha… Read on
Forecasting with Internet Search Data
This post takes a look at the confluence of sentiment and automated analysis of social media to identify market patterns: Noise, Sentiment and StockTwits
Lau Tzu Beats Wall Street in 2011
Another good one from Dr. Brett: Why Traders Lose Their Discipline
Successful trading isn’t strictly just about the money: Growing Your Psychological Capital

Update Digest for Week of 2011-12-31

John — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

What didn’t you get that you wanted?: I’ve been thinking about doing some fun stuff with my newsletter subscribe… Read more
Gotta love year-end, thin volume trading. Talk about your big moves coming out of nowhere in sterling and the euro. Read More
Thin holiday markets and new year volume pick-up: The following two questions came in from one of my newsletter … Read more
Are your biased against your trading blind spot? Read More
So, so true! – Nature Abhors a Vacuum — and so do Financial Journalists!Read More
Brace yourself for some wildness in 2012 Read more
The Best of the Essentials of Trading in 2011: The year 2011 is just about over. This will be my last post to th… Reade more

The Best of the Essentials of Trading in 2011

John — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 15:30:29 +0000

The year 2011 is just about over. This will be my last post to the blog, so I figured it would be a good time to look back and see what posts from the year gone by have garnered the most interest and attention. Based on readership, comments, and related factors, here are the top 10:

This is a really interesting list. Definitely some surprises.

In terms of all existing blog posts on the site (going back to 2006), here are the ones that were most read:

Again, some interesting ones on the list. Search traffic certainly has a major impact on this top 10 list, but I know from looking at the numbers that several of these entries would be here if just looking at direct and referral traffic.

And here’s what readers most frequently clicked from the blog:

I’m looking forward to a great 2012, and I hope you are too – well at least until the world comes to an end in December if the Mayan calendar is right.

Update Digest for Week of 2011-12-24

John — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

When Do Trading Frictions Increase Liquidity? – Liberty Street Economics Read here
Knowledge does not equate to being right – which is something traders need to keep in mind as well. Read here
Traders can do what athletes can’t: There’s a post on one of the BabyPips blogs which discusses the comparisons … Read here
I watched the first part of Atlas Shrugged last night (read the book a while back). I couldn’t help but feel a… Read here
Gauging trading performance: There’s a recent post from the SMB blog that brings up an issue a lot of traders ha… Read here
If you’re interested in economics at all, I just finished a book you may find very interesting. Read here
Psy Cycle (Updated) Read here
I have access to forex volume data!: And you don’t!
We’re working on something in the office whereby we get acc… Read here
The voting is in and yours truly came in 3rd Best Trade2Win Forum Contributor. Wow! It’s an honor just to be… Read here
Maximizing Performance with Multi-Dimensional Diversification Read here
Book Review: The Option Trader’s Workbook: I have had The Option Trader’s Workbook by Jeff Augen sitting in my t… Read here
One of the founders of Currensee talks about social networking amoung traders and other industry topics. Read here

Update Digest for Week of 2011-12-17

John — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:00:00 +0000

Forex broker arbitrage: There’s been a new “automatic profits” systems launched recently (and I think you know h… Read more
The Myth Of Cash On The Sidelines – An Update | The Big Picture Read more
There are some very good points made in this post. Read more
Falling market on falling volume: I was taking a look at the monthly chart for the Shanghai Composite Index this… Read more
It’s good to see someone else talking about how correlations between markets can and do change. Read more
Spreading the holiday cheer: Barry Ritholtz posted his holiday shopping list for traders last evening. There are… Read more