Category Archives: Market Psychology

The Power of Leverage

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Apart from the D-word, the Street’s got the L-word too.

This L stands for L-E-V-E-R-A-G-E.

So, how much leverage do you enjoy from your spouse?

Or, do you have any leverage on politician so-and-so?

Or, bank so-and-so or brokerage so-and-so is offering a 10:1 or a 16:1 leverage on derivatives.

Just racking up the various uses of the L-word.

In colloquial terms, the amount of leeway your spouse allows you in your marriage is called leverage. Also, the amount of dirt you have on a politician to coerce him into following your wishes – that’s called leverage too. But for now, let’s get back to the Street.

On the Street, The L-word gives the D-word its power to destroy big.

Do you remember what the D-word was? D-E-R-I-V-A-T-I-V-E-S.

A derivative is a stink normal trade without the power of leverage. When brokerages start offering you leverage like 16:1, the stink normal derivative becomes lethal. Then, small amounts of volatility can wipe out the principal put up by you. If a down-turn continues, your loss can become many times your principal. People can go bankrupt like this.

You see, for every market move, your profit or loss is the move times the leverage. On a 5% move, a 16:1 leverage can result in 80% profit or loss. Leverage works on the upside as well as the downside.

The problem arises when the player doesn’t know how to play either side. Most players don’t know.

Leverage can be used to one’s advantage only when the down-side is protected with a stop. Most people don’t use a stop while deploying leverage. That’s why they lose, and lose big.

This singular characteristic of the average market player of not knowing how to use stops results in a spiralling bomb during market down-turns. As losses pile up, selling pressure increases due to dejection or the like as the market heads even lower. What if they’d taken a 2% or a 5% or even an 8% hit when a stop was hit? They’d be out and the market could stabilize near the stop level because of lack of further selling pressure.

Leverage is something that must not be used if one doesn’t fully understand how to use it. Unfortunately, almost everyone consumes leverage as if it were a bar of Snickers. Leverage is served to customers on a platter. Even a loan, or debt on the credit card is leverage.

Leverage is the driving force of consumerism and the modern industrialized world.

A Hedge is a Hedge is a Hedge

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U guessed it, this is again about Gold.

Why do I keep harping on Gold?

Situations crop up, questions arise, people ask stuff…whatever.

I’ve always treated Gold as a hedge. Luckily, I don’t suffer from any Midas affliction.

There’ll be a time in one’s investing timeline, when there’s no need to hedge. As of now, there is a need to hedge, seeing the uncertainty around us. This does not mean, under any circumstances, that you go around picking up your Gold for hedging at these rates. A hedge is best picked up cheap. Curretly, Gold is 2 or maybe 3 multiplied by cheap.

So, if Gold is your hedge of choice, this is not the time to pick it up. There is absolutely no margin of safety at these levels.

Once you’ve picked up your hedge cheaply, you can turn it into a double whammy and sell it really expensively. That option will always be with you.

You also have the option of not buying your hedge, whatever hedge it might be, if you don’t get a cheap enough price.

Exercise your options. Mrs. Market gives you lots of freedom till you act. Once you do act, you have to bear the consequences, whatever they are.

Don’ be in a hurry to act, especially if you are an investor. For the investor, the entry is of prime importance. Entry is the investor’s singular weapon.

And please, for heaven’s sake, treat Gold as a hedge. In good economic times, it’s going right back where it came from. The 100 year return on Gold has been 1% per annum compounded.

Whenever one gets into any underlying, one needs to be clear about what one is getting into.

Do you buy your car without doing the appropriate due diligence? No, right?

By the same right, investing demands proper due diligence too.

Just 40 $ Away…

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The first signs of greed can be sensed.

We’re talking about Gold.

A few months ago, serious players in Gold had identified Rs. 28,000 / 10 grams as their target for Gold.

This target has been achieved for a while now. Nobody’s booked their Gold.

Instead, the target has been revised to Rs. 30,000 / 10 grams, which is just another 40 $ an ounce away.

Please don’t tell me that nobody is going to book (meaning sell, as in booking profits) their Gold @ Rs. 30,000 / 10 grams. I’ve got this nagging feeling that they’re not.

Hmmm, greed is setting in. Nothing unusual. That’s how a bubble progresses.

Yesterday, an update from Reliance alerted me to the hypothesis that Rs. 40,000 / 10 grams was a real possibility in Gold.

Maybe, maybe not. As of now, Reliance is sounding like that fellow who predicted a Dow level of 36,000 some years ago. Today, 36k on the Dow seems impossible, even in one’s dreams.

Does it matter to you how high Gold can go? Or is your target more important? Both are valid questions.

If your target has been achieved, here’s one scenario. Book the Gold and put the released funds into debt. Debt in India is safe, and is giving excellent returns, especially to the retail investor.

If your stomach is full, do you dream about more food?

Seriously people, playing this by targets is a serious option.

It’s also ok if you wanna play it in a “let’s see how high this can go” manner. That’s just another way of playing it. Fine. In this case, you need to set trailing stops, and you need to stick to these if they get hit.

Either way, identify a booking strategy for Gold and stick to it.

Take greed out of the equation. There’s no room for greed in the career of a market player. There’s no room for fear either.

We’ll talk about taking fear out of the equation some other day, if and when unprecedented gloom and doom abounds.

One-Pointedness Finds its Niche

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At a certain stage in our market careers, the words “sounds like a plan” echo within the walls of our minds.

To reach this stage, individuals need to cross activation-barriers and pass tests. How many depends upon the individual.

These words are for those of you who have reached this point, or are in the process of doing so.

So, after suffering many losses and learning many lessons, suddenly, our market strategy becomes clear to ourselves.

And then, once one’s path has been painstakingly chalked out, one needs to follow it one-pointedly.

From this point onwards, all that’s required is sheer one-pointedness.

This focus of energy would be a waste if attuned to implement a faulty and immature strategy, and would lead to insolvency.

On the other hand, if this focus and burst of energy is utilized to push through a mature plan which is in sync with one’s risk-profile, then, dear friend, you are staring at financial independence in the face.

All the best!

Endgame

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There, I’ve done it again.

Done what?

Endgame, you know, Samuel Beckett, theatre of the absurd, blah blah blah, siphoned off the title in typical UN style.

I don’t think Beckett was absurd at all. Rather, the absurd mask was absurd, but perhaps absurdly necessary.

Well, isn’t this the Endgame? Physically, politically, and, last but not least, financially.

For me, it is.

If it’s not the Endgame for you, please wake up. Which world are you living in? I mean, are you blind?

Play it like you’d play an Endgame. Give it all you’ve got. If you don’t do justice to this mother of all Endgames, my friend, you really are wasting your incarnation.

And, if Beckett wouldn’t mind that I’ve siphoned off his title, well, neither should you.

What are We, Really?

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One bout of torrential rainfall and our infrastructure comes to a stand-still.

What are we, really?

Is India a golden investment?

Not with the current state of governance.

Is India an investment?

Yes, but only at single-digit price to earnings ratios.

Why?

Because while investing in India, one needs to factor in very bad governance, terrorism, and fragile infrastructure. That’s why the margin of safety required is huge.

Is India a good trade?

Yes.

Why?

Because of the pull and push between the shining private sector versus the apathetic government sector. This contrast causes big moves, both up and down. Ideal for trading.

So how should one play India?

Again, up to you. Invest in it at single digit PEs. Cash out when PEs hit the early 20s. Or, just sheer trade it. Suit yourself.

Bumping into the Law of Conservation of Energy

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Back in the ’90s, I used to analyze spectra in the Chemistry lab. A spectrum is a piece of scientific information plotted in 2, 3 or perhaps more dimensions. In a nutshell here, one is trying to analyze a chart in an attempt to understand the underlying chemical structure, or the results of an experiment.

In the new millenium, I moved on to Astrology charts. Here, the underlying were human beings, and one was trying to understand their destinies plotted versus time. Again it boiled down to analyzing charts.

Over the last eight years, I’ve been analyzing market charts. As in, you know, the price of an underlying equity scrip, or of a commodity, or a currency pair, plotted versus time.

Over the years, it has been pointed out to me many times (by lesser minds) that I “wasted” a good part of my professional life in the wrong line.

To be really honest, the chart-reading acumen that started developing in the Chemistry lab only became stronger with the shift to Astrology, and grows from strength to strength with its current shift to the markets. Nothing has been lost. The law of conservation of energy has proven itself to me.

I’m writing this piece for traders who are suffering or have suffered a big loss.

Your first big loss consumes you. Let it do so for a bit, but then you need to pick yourself up.

Why do I say “let it do so”?

You need to know what a big loss feels and tastes like, preferably early in your career with the stakes still small.

At this stage, believe me, nothing is lost in the loss, because there is a tremendous learning experience. Open yourself to learn from the loss. Fine-tune your emotional sensors to detect the onset of loss-triggering emotions when they happen again, so that you can take early evasive action next time around.

If you learn from your loss, you will save yourself when the stakes are high. You might even go on to make a killing for all you know, because early evasive action boosts your confidence tremendously.

The law of conservation of energy bumps into every trader, even you. It’s telling you to start viewing your big loss as a learning experience, and to take it from there. How about listening to what it is saying?

And Gold Overshoots Platinum

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For me, this is a pivotal event.

It signals to me the beginning of the last stage of the bubble in Gold.

The last stages of bubbles are the most eventful.

The basic message being broadcast here is that the ornamental value of the yellow metal is no longer a consideration during its purchase. The whole-hearted focus of Gold-purchase now is its safe-haven value. There is absolutely no question about it anymore.

For the sticklers, I believe we are well on our way to reaching the pinnacle of Wave 3 with the last burst to come in the coming weeks. Wave 3s are normally followed by a correcting Wave 4, and then those who missed Wave 3 latch on to make Wave 5. I also believe that it will be a subdued Wave 4, with perhaps a 23.6% or a 38.2% Fibonacci level correction, before Wave 5 takes over.

For heaven’s sake, if you are entering Gold now, do so only to trade. There is no question of investing in Gold at this level. Where are you seeing the margin of safety to be making such an investment decision?

So, it’s passing the hot-plate from this level onwards. The last donkey standing with the hot-plate still in hand will get burnt, whenever that happens. Just forget about time-frames and focus on the tape.

As someone said, the “devil takes the hind-most”.

Doofenschmirz Evil Incorporated Finds No Takers

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The Government of India has been just about getting everything wrong. It’s been a long time since they did anything right. Have they gotten anything right since coming to power? Don’t remember.

Confidence in India as an investment is sinking, perhaps temporarily. My gut feel says that fund managers worldwide are dumping India for the time being, till some semblance of sanity returns to stay on the political front.

Today, there is danger of riots and looting breaking out, if Doofenshmirz Evil Incorporated (the Government of India has earned that name, hasn’t it?) doesn’t tackle the current impasse properly.

To say the Rahul G was off the mark is an understatement. Apart from that, the husky delivery of his words added to the ridiculousness of the situation. He might as well have delivered his words in Doofenschmirz’s German accent.

I don’t think this is the right time to buy India. Of course I might be wrong.

Going by the goofy deeds of Doofenschmirz Evil Incorporated, there might be a huge buying opportunity setting up in the weeks to come.

Crowds Eventually Start Behaving in a Deluded Manner

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We’re human beings.

The majority of us likes forming a crowd.

Our crowd-behaviour eventually goes warped. History has shown this time and again.

In the market-place, I make it a point to identify crowds. The biggest money is to be made by capitalizing upon the folly of a crowd. That’s why.

So first let’s gauge very broadly, what the main aspects of market-study are, and then let’s see where crowd-behaviour fits in.

Market-study encompasses three broad areas. These are:

1). Fundamentals,
2). Technicals and
3). Sentiment.

You guessed it, crowd behaviour falls under “Sentiment”. Well, sentiment can knock the living daylights out of the best of “Fundamentals”. And, sentiment makes “Technicals”. Thus, for me, the most important factor while understanding market moves is sentiment.

A stock can exhibit the choiciest of fundamentals. Yet, if a crowd goes delusional, it can drive down the price of even such a stock for longer than we can remain solvent. Let’s write this across our foreheads: Delusional Crowds can Maraude Fundamentals.

Since we are now writing on our foreheads, let’s write another thing: Delusional Crowds can cause Over-Bought or Over-Sold conditions to Exist for longer than we can remain Solvent. There go the technicals.

A crowd thinks in a collective. All that’s required is a virus to infect the collective. A virus doesn’t have to be something physical. It can even be an idea. The space that we exist in is laden with disease-causing energies. Once a crowd latches on to a virus-like idea, its behaviour goes delusional.

Here are some examples of such behaviour. At the peak of the dot-com boom, in March 2000, a crowd of rich farmers from the surrounding villages walks into a friend’s office. They are carrying bags of cash. They tell my friend that they want to buy something called “shares”. They ask where these can be purchased, and if they are heavy (!). Since they are carrying their life-savings with them in cash, and plan to spend everything on this purchase of “shares”, they want to also effetively organize the transport of the “shares” to their homes in the villages. Thus they want to know if “shares” are heavy to transport!

In the aftermath of the dot-com bust, Pentasoft is down more than 90% from its peak. I think this legend is from 2001. A crowd of rich businessmen collects the equivalent of 20 million USD and buys the down-trodden shares with all of the money. The scrip goes down to zilch and today, one’s not even able to find a quote for it.

In the 17th century, people actually spend more than the price of a house for the purchase of one TULIP, for God’s sake.

You get the drift.

The current crowd is building around Gold. It’s behaviour as of now is still rational. In due course, it has high chances of going irrational.

Whenever that happens, we’ll definitely be able to see the signs, because both our eyes are OPEN.

And what was Mr. Fibonacci thinking?

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0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377… , … , …

What’s this?

A random set of numbers?

Nope.

It’s the Fibonacci series.

How is it derived?

Start with 0 and 1, and just keep adding a number to the one on its right to get the next number, and so on and so forth.

What’s so peculiar about this series?

As we keep moving from left to right, the result of dividing any number by the one on it’s immediate right starts converging towards 0.62.

Also, as we keep moving from left to right, the result of dividing any number by the second number on its right starts converging towards 0.38.

The series starts with a 0.

Another number to note is 0.5.

So, in a nutshell, these are the important figures to note, which this series generates: 0, 0.38, 0.5, 0.62. There are more, but these are the most important ones.

I’ve always wondered why the 0.5 is important. Actually, “half-way” is big with mankind.

What’s the significance of this series?

In any activity involving a large number of units, these Fibonacci ratios are said to be observed.

It is said that crowds behave as per these ratios.

It is said, that for example when many leaves fall from a tree over a long period of time, a Fibonacci pattern can be determined in their falling.

It is said that these ratios are ingrained in nature.

True or false?

Don’t know.

What I do know is that the trading fraternity has taken these numbers to heart, and looks for Fibonacci levels in anything and everything. Most commonly, entry into a sizzling stock is planned after the stock has corrected past a Fibonacci level and has once again started to rise.

In simpler terms, aggressive traders who buy on dips will look for a 38% correction of pivot to peak before entering.

Less aggressive traders will wait for a 50% correction and then enter upon the rise of the underlying.

Traders who like to value-buy will wait for a 62% correction, which might or might not come.

If the underlying goes on correcting past 62%, it is best left alone, because the correction can well continue beyond 0, the starting point of the prior rise.

A current example where you’ll most definitely see Fibonacci ratios in action is with Gold.

The million dollar question I have been hearing around me today is when to enter Gold now, especially because it is correcting heavily.

The immediate answer for me would be to enter at a Fibonacci level of correction.

Which level?

That depends upon your risk profile.

Understanding Loss and Reacting to it in a Winning Manner

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In the world of trading, we deal with loss everyday.

We have no option but to deal with it.

If we want our performance to improve, we need to deal with it in a winning manner.

What is loss? I mean, apart from its monetary ramifications…

A loss has the propensity to suck the living daylights out of you.

That’s if you allow it to.

You see, in the world of trading, losses have the propensity to grow.

You need to cut them when they are still bearable. Period.

If you don’t, they can become unbearable.

You then still have the option of cutting the unbearable loss as opposed to letting the loss eat into your gut and cause insolvency. Choice is yours. I’ve seen it happening with my own eyes.

You see, losses not only suck out money, they also suck out emotional energy from your system. Your mind loses focus, and instead of concentrating on your A-game, your mind focuses on the loss. The result is that your A-game becomes a B- or a C-game. Unacceptable.

Health deteriorates and one is snappy around the family. Totally unacceptable. Just cut the loss, stupid.

In FY ’08 – ’09, my senior partners walked into my office. I was being consulted, hurrah, a winning moment by itself for me.

Our company was entered into a derivative USD hedge at the time. The trade had turned sour, and was showing a loss of half a million USD. I was being asked what to do.

In a situation like this, a trader does not dilly-dally. I advised my senior parners strongly to cut the loss as it stood, no ifs, and no buts. That’s what we did.

Two other companies in our town were involved in a similar hedge. They chose not to cut their losses at this stage, but to hope, pray and wait for a recovery.

Well, recovery did happen ultimately. This was that swing when the USD first went up to INR 38 and then down all the way to INR 52.50. Before recovery occured, let’s see what else happened.

One company declared insolvency, because it could not repay the 22 milllion USD loss in the hedge, because that’s the amount the loss had ballooned to at a later stage, before recovery even started. The other company, I believe, settled its losses at 25 million USD, and enjoys a cash-strapped existence today.

So that’s what. My training as a small-time trader came in handy, and I was able to help our family run export business in a major way.

This was also a big test for me. It showed me that I had understood loss as a trader, and was able to react to it in a winning manner.

And that’s the prequisite required to understanding winning and reacting to it like a champion. More on that when I’ve mastered this myself!

Baby-Stepping One’s Way Up the Financial Ladder

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Everyday, without fail, I get a few opportunities to make this a slightly better world. I’m sure you do too.

And I’m ok with that. No further ambitions. Just doing what comes my way. I’ve always done what I believe in. Have never followed crowds. Have never joint someone’s battle which I don’t fully understand.

Baby-step contributions are drops in the ocean. Nevertheless, they are contributions. I’m proud of the fact that opportunities to contribute come my way regularly. I don’t act upon all of them. Have become very discerning of late. Don’t want to be involved with any frauds whatsoever. And India is brimming with frauds. For me, the world of contributing is about baby-steps. I’m content with that.

I believe that baby-stepping is the way up the financial ladder too, as far as one’s investing or trading activity is concerned.

In the world of trading, there exists the concept of position-size (developed to the nth level by Dr. Van K. Tharp). In a nutshell, this concept teaches one to scale it up one baby-step at a time as one’s account shows a profit. Also, one learns to scale it down a notch upon showing a loss.

Common-sense? Then why isn’t everyone doing it?

Why does everyone around me behave as if he or she is gunning for the big hit? The bringing down of institutions. Of governments. The desire to make it big and in the limelight in one shot. The desire to bring about sweeping change within a week’s time. Ever heard of speed of digestion and incorporation? Metabolism? Assimilation? Speed of evolution?

Life takes time to happen. Let’s give it that time. Let’s not hurry it up with our over-ambition. Do we want life to blow up on our faces because of over-ambition?

Frankly, I want to evolve with equilibrium. Really, really not in one shot. My system will explode if it tries to evolve in one shot. Many people are going to find that out the hard way on their own systems.

And I’m really satisfied with baby-stepping it up the financial ladder, using the concept of position-sizing. Slow and easy, little by little, tangible progress, day by day. No nuclear blasts, no tense situations or mood-swings, lots of time for the family, small quantums of realistic progress and its assimilation… what more can one ask for?

You should try it too.

Nature’s Dilemna with a 100 Hundreds

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What after that?

That’s nature’s dilemna with a 100 international hundreds.

What could continue to make “God” strive, once even this milestone is achieved?

With that, natural course of events delay the milestone, just a wee bit more. Disappointing for us and him, but keeps Master Sachin going.

Another person many considered God was Ayrton Senna.

Senna’s car would perform at a level that was many notches beyond the capabilities of the car.

Senna single-handedly changed the face of Formula 1 racing between ’84 and ’93. His “pure and contact” racing style, at times, would crash headlong into the wall of politics. Ayrton would pick himself up and continue to strive.

At his peak, in ’94, Senna moved from Mclaren Honda to Williams Renault. Here was super-man meeting super-car. As to the calibre of Ayrton, there remained no question in the eyes of the world; he was totally from the stables of God. The self-balancing Renault he would drive in had reached electronic perfection under Frank Williams.

It seems at this stage nature was again forced to ask the question: what happens after this? What levels of achievement would there still be left to conquer?

Electronics were scrapped from all teams and the stripped cars were asked to go into the ’94 season without these major break-throughs in Formula 1 technology, so as to give all cars a level playing field. Also, there was this feeling that the game now was about electronics and not the driver, and this ruling would allow the driver’s talent to continue to shine.

Unfortunately, the Williams car, stripped off its electronics, was nothing short of a joke. It would over-compensate on a turn, and then under-compensate on a later turn, thus not allowing the driver to build up any confidence in the car.

Senna struglled. The car’s antics were knocking him out of races. Team Williams was working 24×7 to get their car back on track. Ayrton had always been a hands-on driver. He was working on the car along with the mechanics. They tried hard, so hard, that disaster happened.

Senna’s car failure at Imola leading to his death caused the worlds of millions of people to crash. Ayrton had gone down fighting, at the peak of his career, trying to make a joke of a car race-worthy. His fighting spirit was the spirit of kings, perhaps the spirit of God.

These are two stories of excellence where the barrier between human and super-human becomes redundant. At such times, nature can intervene in whatever way it deems fit.

On a much, much smaller level of achievement, I have felt over-confidence once, in January 2008. This is not to say that the above stories are about over-confidence – they are not. It’s just that in my case, when nature intervened, it was about over-confidence.

In January 2008 I walked with a swagger that was deafening. I felt that I had conquered the markets. Of course the natural course of events showed me my place.

That swagger has never come back and never will.

Now, whenever I feel that I’ve done well, I try and forget about it. Then I look for someone who hasn’t done well, in an effort to try and lift his or her game.

Resting on laurels is not part of any script.

Is it Over for the Long-Term Investor?

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Long-term portfolios are getting bludgeoned.

I can feel the pain of the long-term investor.

Is it over for this niche segment?

I really wouldn’t say that.

It’s not over till the fat lady sings, as somebody said.

What if someone trained hard so as to not allow the fat lady from starting her performance in the first place?

Well, for this breed, it’s not over by a long way. In fact, things are just getting started.

And what are the areas of training?

First and foremost, for the millionth time, one needs to understand what margin of safety is. In this era of black swans, one can fine-tune this area with the word “large”. So, simple and straight-forward: the long-term investor needs to buy with a large margin of safety.

This is a game of PATIENCE. Patiently wait for entry. Entry is the most important act while investing. If you cannot learn to be patient, change your line. Be a trader instead.

However scarce the virtues of honesty and integrity have become, keep looking. When you finally find them in a company, ear-mark the company for a buy. For you, managements need to be intelligent and shareholder-friendly too. They need to be evolved enough to take you into account as a shareholder. Keep looking for such managements, and you’ll be amazed at the unfolding potential of diligent human capital.

Before you enter this arena, answer another question please? Have you learnt to sit? If you don’t even know what this question means, you are by no means ready for the game.

So, when is one capable of sitting through some serious knocks, like now? If the money you’ve put on the line is not required for the next 5 to 10 years, you’ve totally helped your cause. Then, your risk-profile should fit the pattern. If a knock causes you an ulcer, just forget about the game and look for another game that doesn’t cause you an ulcer. Your margin of safety will help you take the knock. Knowing that your money has bought a stake with honest and diligent people who can work their way around inflation will help your cause even more.

If you are taking a very serious hit right now, you need to decide something. Are you gonna sit it out? Can you afford to, age-wise and health-wise? Yes? Fine, go ahead. I sat it out in 2008. If I could do it, so can you. It did take a lot. Taught me a lot too. I now know so much more about myself. Was a rough ride, is all I can say. Nevertheless, it’s a good option if age and health support you. If you decide to sit it out, please train yourself, from this point onwards, to do it right. Needless to say, don’t make the same mistakes again. Let’s be very clear about this point. If you are feeling pain at this point, it’s because you have made one or more investing mistakes. Don’t blame the market, or the times. This is your pain, because of your mistakes. Take responsibity for your actions. Do it right from here onwards.

If you can’t take the hit anymore, age-wise or health-wise, then you need to reflect. It’s none of my business to tell you to sell out. That would be inappropriate. All the same, as a friend, I would like you to ask yourself if you feel you are cut out for this niche segment. There are other very successful niche-segments. I know highly successful traders who started out as miserable long-term investors. So, just this one thing, get the questioning process started. Now. Then, listen to your inner voice and decide what you want to do.

There’s this one other point. Some people feel they can focus on both these segments simutaneously. You know, trade in one portfolio and maintain another long-term portfolio. Possible. People are doing it. I’m not about to start a discussion on focus versus diversification just now, because I’m leaving it for another day. Not because I don’t possess the mettle, but because I’m a little tired just now.

Wish you safe investing! 🙂

One Step Closer to the Gold-Standard?

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The gold-standard is an extreme scenario.

Imagine the world’s top currencies collapsing. For lack of a better alternative, the world resorts to gold for conducting international trade.

Probably a situation that’s not going to occur.

But then, are we doing anything to stop it from occuring?

Q: Is the US doing anything concrete to reduce its debt?

A: No.

Interpretation: USD will lose its stronghold as global currency at this rate.

Q: Does Europe have any concrete ideas about its financial future?

A: No.

Interpretation: Euro is nowhere near toppling USD from its global currency status.

Q: Is China doing anything concrete to increase transparency?

A: No.

Interpretation: Doesn’t make the Yuan a strong contender for top post.

Q: Is India doing anything concrete to reduce corruption?

A: Er…blah blah blah… No.

Interpretation: I’m not even trying to interpret the eyewash going on here.

Let’s move on to a country called Venezuela.

President Hugo Chavez just called all his gold home…!

Even if this is to taunt the US, it still is HOARDING.

Hoarding is infectious. The start of hoarding can trigger a “Domino-Effect”.

Whatever his ulterior motives were, Big Boy Hugo has taken the world one step closer to the gold standard.

To prevent hoarding from escalation, a counter statement needs to come, like NOW, from the major economic players of the world, something confidence-boosting. Don’t see that happening anytime soon. Seems that hoarding might escalate.

The gold-standard seemed to be a myth a few months ago. Now, at this stage, we seriously need to educate ourselves with regard to the gold-standard and position ourselves accordingly.

Defining one’s Dragons and Kissing them Goodbye

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The final impediments between you and successful trading are your dragons.

Define them, and kiss them goodbye.

As a trader, your workplace is the Zone. We’ve spoken about the Zone before. The Zone is not a physical workplace. It is a mind-space where your nervous system tunes into the market, and starts moving with its rhythm, so much so, that when the market turns, you turn with it. It’s like a flock of birds turning in mid-flight. Nobody cares who turned first. Bottom-line is that the flock turned. In the Zone, you become one with the market. If the market turns, it takes you with it. It’s called connection.

Dragons keep your system from getting into the Zone.

There’s the dragon of ill-health. The other day I was running a fever and forgot my wallet, keys etc. etc. in my friend’s car. When have I ever in my life forgotten my wallet, like, anywhere? See? Ill-health makes you commit critical blunders. It’s the real world, people. Ill-health happens. So when this dragon appears, don’t initiate a fresh trade. If you’ve got any open positions, just play them according to the rules you defined when your system was not diseased, i.e. when you were in the Zone and initiated the positions. You have to understand this: the dragon of ill-health knocks you out of the Zone.

Then there’s the powerful and magnetic media-dragon. See, first there’s the market. Then there are people who report about the market, with all their biases and their opinions. As a trader, are you about to listen to the media dragon’s second- or third-hand opinion about the market? Or would you much rather build a first-hand opinion by connecting to the market yourself? Though the answer to this question is rhetorical, the magnetism of the media-dragon is so powerful that even the strongest of traders gets sucked into it. What’s to be done? OK, indulge in media, but tell yourself that this is your time-off, and that you are indulging / amusing yourself. Don’t take any media report at face-value, because there are vested interests. By the time news arrives in print, the market has already factored it in the price long back. Basically, you need to try hard to not let the media dragon bias you against your trading strategy which you formulated while connected in the Zone.

We move on to the dragon of emotions. This one can knock you out of the Zone in the flash of a second, without you even knowing it. That’s why it’s so dangerous. Other dragons take time to knock you out, they build up to it. This one’s effect is instantaneous. Balance, balance, where art thou? As a trader, balance is your biggest friend. Balance keeps this dragon away. If it still manages to surface, balance keeps it under control till it goes away. As a trader, one has to learn to balance oneself; am working on this myself. Perhaps you could teach me a trick or two here.

Lastly, today, I’ll speak about a fourth dragon. It’s called the dragon of indiscipline. It’s connected to the dragon of emotions, but is important enough to get dragon-status. When the dragon of indiscipline strikes, one initiates disproportionately large-sized positions because of greed, or one cuts perfectly profitable positions because of fear. Or, one fails to initiate a normal-sized position because of fear, even after seeing a perfect setup. The learning curve of a trader forces him or her towards defined discipline. Discipline demands from the trader to always open positions that are proportionately sized to the portfolio size. Furthermore, if a position turns profitable, it should only be cut by the market itself, when a trailing stop is hit. Then, no matter what, if a perfect setup is identified, a normal-sized position needs to be initiated. To the trader, that’s the definition of discipline. And, the dragon of indiscipline causes the trader to act otherwise. Want to deal with this one? Here’s a trick. When the dragon of emotions has appeared, ultimately you will realize it. When you do, just repeat the magic words “I am NOT going to allow the dragon of emotions to summon his ally called the dragon of indiscipline!” At this stage, you need to remember: 1). No opening of disproportionately large-sized positions, 2). No manual cutting of perfectly profitable trades and 3). No let-up in the opening of a normal-sized position once a perfect setup has been identified. That’s all I know about this one.

Maybe some other day we’ll take about more dragons! Till then, good luck taming those you have identified!

Jimmy Bean meets Jackie Daniels

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Jimmy Bean’s a long-only positional trader. People think he’s silly because of his long-only bias. Jimmy doesn’t care. He does what works for him.

JB’s nervous system requires periods of recuperation, which it gets when the market is flat, choppy or in a down-trend. JB uses this time to relax, read, go on a holiday or even to analyze his previous market mistakes. He’s balanced, and nice to his family. His trading doesn’t have negative effects on his life.

His material reasoning for the long-only bias is that stocks can only go down to zero, but have an unlimited upside. Makes sense, gotta give him that. Besides, he says that when the general market is in a down-trend, he likes to identify those stocks which show good relative strength and these are the stocks he trades when the trend turns. He’s happy with his world, and it’s working for him. Let’s not be too clever by half, and let’s just let him be, all right?

Then there’s Jackie Daniels. She’s a sharp contrast to Jimmy Bean. She’s a short-only trader. She likes quick returns. She’s nimble and takes her stops. She gets one or two good runs a month, during which she makes enough to cover her bad runs, and then some.

Where she does have problems, though, is with staying out of the market. She’s always trying to anticipate the next short run, because in the world of shorting, events occur very quickly. Delay can make one miss the bus. Thus, she’s almost always playing the market, and hardly gets any rest. She’s snappy, and is rude to her family. She doesn’t have much of an other life. Her nervous system is liable to break down one day. Though she’s making money, she’s not happy.

When Jimmy Bean meets Jackie Daniels, he’s fascinated by her. She’s everything that he’s not, and thus there’s attraction. He calms her down. She learns from him to stay out of the markets after reading the appropriate signals. She finally starts getting more rest. Her trading performance is automatically enhanced, because a rested nervous system enables the brain to think clearly and make good trading decisions. She’s not snappy anymore, and is nice to her family.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Bean has got backbone enough to not take on Jackie Daniel’s former negative traits. His is an already successful trading system which sustains health, and he’s not about to rock his own boat.

They live happily ever after.

Did Europe Forget the Exit Clause?

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It’s the early to mid ’90s. Reunification is getting set in Germany. Europe is slowly moving towards the Euro. Meanwhile, Yugoslavia disintegrates into smaller states.

My friend Jerome prepares his tuna salad to take to work. This pround Frenchman from Lyon then passes a remark that causes me to reflect. He says something to the tune of “Look at them, falling apart like this, while the rest of Europe comes closer.”

Europe, on the whole, is excited about the upcoming Euro. It adds to their identity on the world stage. The economic implications of the Euro look promising on paper. Europe goes ahead with the Euro soon after the turn of the millenium.

The “All for one, one for all” idea is an ideal. It’s utopic. Unfortunately, we live in the real world. The real human being is a selfish animal. In this real world, ideals have a tough time existing.

In its excitement, Europe probably forgets to add an exit clause. If there is an exit clause, we are not hearing about, and now would be the time to hear about it.

A decision taken while one is excited causes one to overlook the flip-side. This flip-side is emerging now. Certain nationals are more industrious and believe in paying their taxes. Others are lazy, corrupt and believe in cutting corners. Certain Euro nations are more economically astute and clued in. Others are perhaps not so intelligent or don’t want to be, and have made disastrous economic and financial choices.

The lack of an exit clause allows parasite nations (the truth is harsh) to stooge off the diligent ones till infinity, or till time does them apart.

Though it’s very late to say these words, one doesn’t see enough people saying them already. Not treating the financial disease at its root is causing it to spread. Unfortunately, everyone’s affected, at least for now. Whenever decoupling sets in, decoupled nations won’t be affected, but decoupling doesn’t seem to be happening anytime soon.

Would you like it if someone took your hard-earned cheese away? No, right? Well, nor do the Germans, or the French. Why would one expect them to like it, or pretend to keep lilking it?

Thus, why would one expect the Euro to remain intact till infinity?