Stocks Indexes Bolt to Recent Highs

The US stock markets mirrored Olympic gold medalist running champion Usain Bolt by earning its own medal with the SPY bolting to highs not seen since April. The US outpaced other stock indexes while registering five consecutive weekly gains. However, unlike Bolt, the Markets are anticipating its next victory based on a fresh round of monetary steroids from the FED and support of the EURO by the ECB. Continue reading "Stocks Indexes Bolt to Recent Highs"

2012, A Trading Odyssey

Knight Securities loss of $440 million this week was attributed to a "glitch" in a new trading software release. Rumor has it that a disgruntled computer took over, hid or disabled the abort button, and sent out massive market orders causing the firm to lose $10 million per minute for almost 44 minutes, putting Knight into almost instant insolvency. The term "glitch" according to Webster's dictionary, is deemed to be "a minor or temporary setback", not a potential death blow. This categorization of Wall Street incompetence is reminiscent of the recent JPM trading loss of what is now over 7 billion as it was initially referred to as "Tempest in a Teapot" by Jamie Dimon, one of the worlds most highly regarded CEO's. Continue reading "2012, A Trading Odyssey"

You Can't Handle the Truth

As a result of the fallout of the Barclay's Libor scandal and resignation of its Chairman and CEO, it was further revealed that the Federal Reserve was aware of this fraud and manipulation for years. What's a trader or investor to do with such information and any other information reported by governments, central banks, and corporations? The message is loud and clear: if we don't think you can handle the truth, we are not giving it to you. The obvious next question is- What other reports might the powers that be, cooking? And this beat goes on, and on, and on... Continue reading "You Can't Handle the Truth"

Using High Frequency Trades to Your Advantage

Today's guest, Michele (Mish) Schneider has gotten such a phenomenal response from Trader's Blog readers in the past, that we've decided to bring her back and share her take on High Frequency Trading, or HFT, plays. You can leave any questions or comments here on our blog, but be sure to visit Mish on her site, Market Gauge, as well.

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Not too long ago, the buzz around the street was all about High Frequency Trading Models and the possible legislation that would be enforced to try and quell them.  What is High Frequency Trading (HFT)? According to an interview with Sal Arnuk Partner of Themis Trading LLC printed June 14th, 2010 in the High Frequency Trading Review—yes, there is such a publication—“I guess you can call HFT any strategy that involves high speed execution of thousands of orders per second, or in a short time period. I don’t even want to handicap it by calling it thousands as some people can do a million.” Continue reading "Using High Frequency Trades to Your Advantage"