On September 26, 1983, the planet came terrifyingly close to a nuclear holocaust. The Soviet Union’s missile attack early warning system displayed, in large red letters, the word “LAUNCH”; a computer screen stated to the officer on duty, Soviet Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov, that it could say with “high reliability” that an American intercontinental ballistic missile…
Rick Beato is probably my go to music guy. His breakdown of songs as to what makes them great is a masterclass in understanding the language of your profession. His enthusiasm for all things music as well as his talent makes for a wonderful way to spend some quality time on the internet. The clip…
The chart below is from Institutional Investor and it tracks where family offices which are essentially private wealth management groups are placing their capital. These charts always tend to follow a very generic flow – a lot in liquid assets such as equities, nowhere near as much as you would think in real estate and…
One of the podcasts on my playlist is the Real Science of Sport and in the current episode, they speak to Peter Bills the author of The Jersey which is an insight into why the New Zealand All Blacks are without a doubt the worlds most dominant sporting team. During the conversation Bills mentioned that…
Whilst sitting in the physio this morning I saw an item scroll across the bottom of the TV that was on stating that academics had found that insider trading among Australian company directors was rampant. Whenever academics claim to have found anything to do with markets I have to go and investigate because it is…
Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Steven Goldstein and Mark Randall from AlphaMind. During our chat, we ranged far and wide over all things trading psychology including some reminiscing about the good old days of being on dealing floors. It is well worth subscribing to their podcast if you…
…..I believe in prediction. I think you have to in order to get out of bed in the morning. But prediction is hard. Either you know that or you’re in denial about it. A lot of the reason it’s hard is because the visible stuff that happens in the world is a small fraction of…
Someone compliments you and you think, “They don’t mean it.” Something good happens and you hear, “I don’t deserve this.” You’re meeting new people and it’s, “They won’t like me.” And you usually accept those words because they’re coming from inside your head. It’s like the horror movie where the calls from the killer are…
I offer the piece below not with any knowledge of WeWork outside of knowing that it is a serviced office group that is trying to pass itself off as a technology company but rather as an example of how brokers, analysts and commentators can become wedded to a narrative and that this marriage can be…
Many traders struggle to change their minds. They do all the research, they study the charts, and they form a view. But what happens when that view is wrong? The biggest problem for many everyday traders is their exit plan. Rather than selling when a trade isn’t working, they doggedly hold their shares in the…
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I have written before that starting date is everything when we are looking at comparing the performance of instruments. Fudging starting dates is a favourite trick of fund managers when trying to make their fund look good, they simply hunt around for a starting date that makes them look good and then runs with that.…
I remember it like yesterday… The date was 17 June 1999, and the dealing room was unusually quiet. A big announcement was pending… one that would turn my life and career inside out. You see, my employer — Bankers Trust (BT) — was no longer. A takeover by Deutsche Bank had lowered the curtain on…
