Today's Video Newsletter: The Whale That Swallowed J.P. Morgan

Hello traders everywhere! Adam Hewison here, co-founder of MarketClub with your mid-day market update for Friday, the 15th of March.

The Whale Trade That Won't Die
I'm sure by now you've heard of the disastrous whale trade that was made by J.P. Morgan (JPM) that came out of their London office. This trade cost J.P. Morgan a cool $6 billion. Well, the folks responsible for this trade are getting grilled on Capitol Hill today and I doubt seriously if anything will ever come of the "kabuki theater." Today's hearings allow Senators to pontificate and look very serious, as it plays well in their voting districts. Normally these type of Washington theatrics have very little effect on what's going on in the real world and in the marketplace. Today we will be looking at J.P. Morgan to see how this stock has performed so far this year. Continue reading "Today's Video Newsletter: The Whale That Swallowed J.P. Morgan"

Poll: Which smartphone do you own?

The smartphone wars are heating up again with the release of Samsung's new Galaxy S4 phone and Apple's new iPhone 5s right around the corner. Personally, I'm more interested in the software package of the new phones vs. the look, screen size, camera and so on. What about you? What do you look for in a new phone? We would also like to know....

Which smartphone do you own?

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It's more important to the market than the Fiscal Cliff, the sequester and all the debts of Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain combined

The drama of the Fiscal Cliff and the recent sequestration circus, plus the trials and tribulations of these four countries (which have run up huge deficits) have been well documented and known for quite some time. What is more important, in my opinion, is not the size of the debt which is staggering, but rather what is happening in the market and the market's perception of current events.

Market perception trumps everything else out there. Market perception trumps market fundamentals every time. Market perception is the one card that the government cannot control. It is the card that can potentially give the individual trader an edge.

So what is market perception? Well, have you ever noticed that when some big world event happens, or a new "hot" IPO hits the markets (remember FaceBook, Zynga and Groupon?), traders expect that market to go in the talked about direction and typically it does. What doesn't get talked about is how the market then corrects itself and the technicals really come into play.
Continue reading "It's more important to the market than the Fiscal Cliff, the sequester and all the debts of Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain combined"

Today's Video Newsletter: The Smartphone Wars - Who is Going to Win?

Hello traders everywhere! Adam Hewison here, co-founder of MarketClub with your mid-day market update for Wednesday, the 13th of March.

THE SMARTPHONE WARS - WHO IS GOING TO WIN?
Samsung is pulling out all the stops today with the launch of its new smartphone, the Galaxy S4. It has been reported that Samsung is spending upwards of $440 million to launch and promote this product. This is in contrast to the $330 million Apple spent on its iPhone launch. The stakes could not be higher as both companies are engaged in a global battle for command of the $400 billion mobile device industry. Continue reading "Today's Video Newsletter: The Smartphone Wars - Who is Going to Win?"

The Most Important Trading Metric: Compliance

For the risk-based trader, compliance — not profits and losses — is the most important metric to track. Compliance simply asks the question, “Have I followed my rules on this trade?” For example, measuring trade-execution compliance will identify the gap between planned trade execution and actual trade execution. In other words, answer the question of whether the trade should have been executed in the first place, and if so, whether you did it correctly.”

Measuring compliance doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Displaying a dashboard-like visual on your workstation is simple way to keep track of the important trade metrics you need to assess. The example in the chart below shows a standard “compliance dashboard.” Notice how the tool displays only key compliance metrics — setup compliance, entry precision, filter/conditional rules, daily loss-limit compliance, and journal review compliance. Such key performance indicators (KPIs) should be measured against benchmarks that reflect a standard of excellence or a personal trading goal.  Aggressive traders can raise the expectation bar by setting benchmarks that exceed compliance. Continue reading "The Most Important Trading Metric: Compliance"