My trading life

Fast Money

2009-11-17T06:40:00.000-08:00

I believe Peter miss out rebutting one critical point, if China could devalue their currency and yet maintain their competitiveness in terms of products, it goes to show how productive and efficient they are as compared to US. This is not exactly stealing jobs, but the fact that the Americans cannot compete against the rest of the world even with a weakening currency now goes to show how bad a shape their economy is in now.

Is the Dollar Dying a Slow Death?

2009-11-09T00:14:00.001-08:00

Referring to an article on Channelnewsasia, I have a few differing views from the 2 writers. First they mentioned about "investors around the world decided the good old greenback was a safe haven in a time of great uncertainty. The dollar was resurrected, reversing years of slow decline". It was a false impression that was created by decoupling from the dollar. The main reason why the dollar had a strong rally then was due to most financial instruments/transactions were being done in USD. During the period of 2008, many investors/hedge funds/mutual funds/investment banks all mainly had their losses in US. In order to cover their losses, they had to purchase the greenback even when it was rising. The appreciation also caused many fx traders to lose their positions and covered. It was more of decoupling, a phenomenon that is most likely being seen because of the way the financial markets worked and not because dollar is a safe haven. People ended up believing that there is a correlation between the stock markets and the dollar which is a very dangerous assumption just based on one occurence which they have witnessed last year.

Now as funds moved towards the BRIC nations and Arabic countries talking about moving away from the dollar for oil transactions, the dollar begun its demise just as predicted. And given the monetary policies pursued by Bernanke and fiscal policies by Obama, it is sad to say not even Peter Schiff could do anything even if he gets into the Senate. I am absolutely positive that the current high prices for gold is fundamentals and not driven by speculation as shown by India's and China's interest in storing gold in their central banks, a move away from the dollar. It is inevitable that the reserve currency status will be eventually taken away. I do hope we would eventually move back to a sound monetary system, as legal counterfeiting doesn't do anyone good besides the government and their friends.

For more Austrian Economics on sound money, refer to ludwig von mises for his literature and also videos on Peter Schiff on europac.net

GBPUSD 20091103

2009-11-02T16:41:00.000-08:00

Monitor the situation as the consolidation comes to the crucial point. The likelihood of this consolidation breaking out on the top is higher than below from the looks of it. Could possibly look at targets of around 1.655. Might attempt to put in a half mini for this with stop loss below the 100 sma and also below the 38.2% fibbo at 20 pips below 1.63

Phoney GDP

2009-10-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

read http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/10/market-cheers-over-ugly-gdp-report.html and get more details of how distorted these figures really are

The same example is valid for companies making up their numbers by offering kickbacks to customers, then subsequently registering prepaid revenue as revenue. This is exactly how the US government has distorted the figures recently with their cash for clunkers, and tax credit of 8k for new home owners (defined as one who hasnt buy a home in 3 years). That also means someone who has a home for 4 years and then buy a new home now, he would be eligible for it. Shifting necessary expenses from other areas, distorting the free market with kickbacks, creating malinvemtments and carrying forward future expenses to current inflating the figures.

If you are a new investor to the current market conditions, it definitely is a time where you have to be extremely careful, aware of the hype and news the media create, the false pictures the govt paint to you, and how your financial advisor might want to induce you into making an investment. Times are tough, but the tough will survive.

EURUSD NY TIME

2009-10-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Right now it is midway through the JPY session and I am currently up 50 pips. Still looking for further upside to 1.49. Hopefully it reaches there and I can release my trade before end of the week and month. Then it would really reach a nice figure which is about 8% returns and 1k in profits.
Another trade idea. EURUSD Long at 1.48 after a breakout of the trendline, with both declining trendline as support and fibbo lvl 50 as 2nd lvl support. Hopefully this carry through.
Looking at price targets which is 1.49 slightly below the 23.6% retracement lvl. and a second lvl target at 1.5050. SL is probably 1.475 slightly below the 50% retracement lvl. and below the dipping trendline.

USDCHF 20091028

2009-10-29T01:19:00.000-07:00

Its about time for me to start a more disciplined approach to trading. And the only way I can think of is to start a blog to keep track of my trades and how well I performed each trade individually and look back at my mistakes if there were any, where i did well and where I can work on better for my next trade.

So here is how this works. I see this as a good entry point based on my charts consisting of basic moving averages, strong uptrend line for 1 hour charts and support reconfirming itself twice at 10245. I decided to long this pair at 1.0253 with an initial target price at 1.03. My stop loss is somewhere below the 50% retracement at 25. SL is pretty tight at 28 pips and TP is about 50 pips away at 1.0295. near to the 68% retracement of the major downtrend for the daily charts. As it has already broken out of the daily downtrend. I am pretty sure this reversal is a longer uptrend move at least for the intermediate term. It is worth a try as there is minimum loss and pretty much a higher move behind this pattern, especially after testing 1.0247 3 times in 3 diff candles for the 4h chart

Might look to play it thru to the 100% retracement lvl if the pattern is right eventually. for now this is what it looks like

Well the end result didn't go the way I want. markets turn, USD rally came to an end. Prudent management cut the loss to a bare 29 pips. Still cannot believe after retesting the support 4 times it still broke. Well, I cannot control the market. I can control My own profit and loss

Pure insanity

2009-10-26T01:24:00.000-07:00

I think the markets are malfunctioning due to too much intervention and interferences by the central banks and government. Such interferences causes the free market to malfunction, act in a manner which it wouldn't have if subject to free market conditions.

I can foresee a significant dip in US equity markets coming soon. Tomorrow marks the 80th anniversary of the Great Depression Black Tuesday. Apparently mainstream economists, who follow the Keynesian school of thought are still HOPING the stimulus package would help bring the dead economy back to life. What is happening in the equity markets is the result of cheap money driving up another bubble, just like what happened in 2000 where the tech bubble busted, and low rates follow, driving up housing prices. The entire history is just repeating itself and central bankers have not learnt from previous mistakes from the previous bubble created. Making money cheaper and cheaper doesn't improve your standard of living.

10 reasons why this is not a recovery

1. unemployment figures are not improving and more people are even dropping out of the workforce due to giving up totally on finding work.

2. Consumers have stopped spending and lost confidence in the business recovery.

3. Business can only improve their bottomline through cost cutting measures and not through increasing coverage or business development.

4. Advertisements on television has dropped significantly with more program airtime.

5. Companies have spent less on R&D and focused on cost cutting measures, such as part time employment, reducing headcount, selling off assets to cover for losses. This includes countries such as UK, selling their railway, airport and state land.

6. Shipping has overcapacity until ships are parked offshore

7. Airlines have excess capacity and have reduced their frequency of flights and have sent some of their airplanes to desserts in US to park idle.

8. Luxury goods chains have seen significant cutback in spending, e.g. branded handbags, swiss watches

9. Holidays have dipped and people are more interested in finding out how to protect themselves in this recession than spending money to travel

10. last of all, many people are still finding it hard to even get promotion, move on to other openings as openings are few and limited, mainly temporary or contract, with rolling option. Even Citi is paying peanuts for their staff.

This looks more like a depression than a recession. For now, I am just thankful I still have my job

Land investment

2009-06-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

A friend who just sought my advice today on land investing in US. Hawaii islands. My first instinctive analysis is that it is a bad investment. There were too many risks involved in this investment I had to rule it a bad 1.

1. Foreign exchange risk:
a. USD has a larger probability of decline with the Obama administration increasing the money supply, excessive printing and liquidity in the market. By printing to repay ever increasing deficit and mismanagement of the states, companies and excessive risk taking by the companies in US, it makes investment in US risky, both in terms of politically and economically.
2. Potential Risk of losing your capital:
a. Note when they say guaranteed returns, it doesn’t mean guaranteed capital. It just means they will pay you at least 12% on 9.6kUSD for 2.5 years, which means 1.15kUSD after 1 year, 1.15k USD after 2years, and 575USD after 2.5 years. And no mention of capital being returned unless they get the sales required.
b. Your entry is before the approval of plans, which also means there could be a few contingent situations which might occur.
i. Plan is not approved. It is getting increasingly difficult to enter US as a foreign company because of the lack of respect for contracts. Citing GM as an example where bond holders are being forced to become equity owners and not being able to claim their stake on the GM assets. The government could choose to let fail or force people into situations which they are unwilling to. What happens to your investment amount if plan is not approved.
ii. The builder for the land development goes into bankruptcy while in the midst of developing. Where does your money end up with?
iii. Does your investment returns rely on the sales of the properties? If it does, then who are the end buyers? Who are they targeting given the current situation in the US economy? How are these people going to pay? And how are you getting your money? In a lump sum or in stacked amounts periodically?
c. When they mention that the leftover properties would be taken by Redhill, they did not mention the price they would be taken at. Given it is “underwritten” by Redhill, the likely situation it will come at a cost, and should be at a discount to what is being offered to the market of 300k. Would that mean lower profitability and possibility of losing some parts of your capital due to the low application rate for the properties?

3. Business risk
a. Is there saturation of the resort industry in Hawaii? If it is so lucrative, why isn’t there private equity investment and instead looking for retail clients to invest?
b. According to a report by the Hawaii govt, http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/visitor-stats/visitor-research/2007-annual-research.pdf , the growth in 2004 (8%), 2005 (9.6%). 2006 (4.9%). Given most of the economies have been improving or has already been hitting new highs in 2006, there should be more growth in 2006 as compared to the other years. But looking at the statistics shows otherwise.
c. Note that most of the visitors go to O’ahu and not the main Hawaii island for holiday. 4.8m out of a 7.49m air travels were to O’ahu and not the place you investing in. And the names of those resorts which they list in the ppt are mainly located at the Northwest of the islands, meaning on O’ahu area. And not the south east which is the area you investing in.
d. Look at the market which they are attracting in the same report. 2007, 66% of the visitors’ expenditure are from their own citizens. Would they still be able to spend so lavishly with 9.6% unemployment, with underemployment by working lesser hours, salaries cut, inability to refinance their loan which they had drawn out their equity? Their discretionary spending would be severely dampened with more stringent credit facilities and worries about their own retirement especially with their 401k which is their retirement account for most of them being wiped out with this stock market crash.
e. Note the sales of the properties are to the local people. And who determines market price 700k. It doesn’t mean a unit of resort was on sale there for 700k means it is worth 700k. When a person sells a unit, it is just a supply of one. When a developer sells a property, there are more units, and the estimated price could also be overpriced.
f. http://www.zillow.com/local-info/CA-Hawaiian-Gardens-home-value/r_21778/ look at the overpriced properties during the peak from 2001 to 2007. There is a possibility that property development would be dampened by market demand for such properties for the following reasons:
i. What is the main business in Hawaii islands? Answer is tourism. And who is the visiting majority? Americans. What is the possibility of such a trend coming back to live in 30 months time such that you can reap returns at end of 30 months?

Keynes vs Adam Smith

2009-03-31T01:27:00.001-07:00

Seriously what have we been learning in school? Why has the free market ideology been played down so heavily that Keynes has been adopted as the main school of thought today in most economies? I believe Keynes shifts the power from the free markets to the government which is exactly why it is popular among the politicians and economists working for the government. A free market supporter would be a lonely voice. Unfortunately that's probably the best solution to the economic crisis right now.
Look at this picture from southpark. This is all the Fed has been doing. And the idea is that they have adopted a "headless chicken" approach. What Obama and Tim Geithner has done is just a temporary prolonging of the pain. They have taken a short term view (4 years), in line with the elections. What they have done is to delay this pain and hope it will be pushed back to another president. It is the most ironic to see the "world's freest market" to be so socialized, so regulated, so controlled, so monitored. We can only HOPE that a miracle can happen but it is unlikely when you get Obama throwing kerosene in an attempt to put out the fire.

Dumb Presenter on Fox business News

2009-03-31T01:23:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I bet Jim Rogers puked blood after talking to her and felt that he lost 5 years of his life.

Inching towards target

2009-02-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

My target of 1k. I am slowly inching towards it. SO many possible trades. but learning to cherry pick isnt as easy as it seems. There is a lot more to learn. But definitely not from lousy brokers. having a lousy broker makes me consider more whenever I enter a trade. This form of training has to be repeated again and again in order to be part of the mind process whenever decision is made for entry. I suppose having city is good for now. I will move once I gather enough funds. So far so good.

usdchf

2009-01-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

this chart is at 920pm. I am waiting the confirmation turnaround. wondering how much more can it spike. Based on the projections it should move about 60-70 pips upwards. if this level holds. This is the trigger chart on the 15 mins. I am just attempting to analyze whether I can do this good enough. Its friday and after the london mid session. I am not gonan risk any money on this trade. As there has been too many long positions over the week. It is likely that people will be profit taking in the noon session.

EURJPY

2009-01-22T09:52:00.000-08:00

sadly it didn't pull back like I wished for. I think the confirmation pattern doesn't suit me. I need to be more aggressive towards this "trading career". I am running drier as the day goes by. Sometimes you got to be willing to die in order to survive. I am in this position. Maybe the thought of missing the whole 100 pips took a toll on me. Discipline has failed me time again and again. Wondering if I should take the advice of surviving the odds, or risking to trade the obvious.

Plan the trade and trade the plan

2009-01-22T04:07:00.000-08:00

Time to put what I have learned to more use and record all my trades. Time to be a sniper and not a mg gunner and hope my bullets kill the target. Here is the setup. I am still waiting for the price price action to enter.

Still waiting for the pullback to the 70 region after which if 70 is tested I will set a sell stop at 50 and hope it carries thru with a stop loss 10 pips above the resistance level.

December

2008-12-29T00:34:00.001-08:00

Thin volume trading is making the markets extremely volatile and manipulated by market players much bigger in size than myself. It's so hard to predict the pattern until I feel like just tossing a coin and setting a stop loss next to what I am trading. But discipline tells me I do not have to be in a trade all the time and I can just sit around and watch. Hell boring.. Been watching for the entire week of xmas and made 1 losing entry due to tight SL. well... no choice. got hit by one upswing then one downswing. catch the wrong momentum backwards.

This is pretty sick. Think my account is just too small to make any significant impact on my life. Should I start to move in like the big fishes and move towards the ocean? with a better broker with less spreads and a higher lot size than what I am now. This is never going to change my unemployment woes even if i carry on another 3 months. Maybe I am just now cut out for trading. No one calls me back for any trading position as of now.

My first month

2008-12-18T09:24:00.001-08:00

I am pretty much happy with my results this month but disgusted at the way I get them. I made exactly the same mistakes I made at the start of the month that cost me dearly. The most fundamental of them all.
1. overtrading
2. lack of willingness to take loss
3. discipline.
Lack of confidence in my own set up was another key point. I was on the right path but did not believe in myself due to the suddenly swing in spikes.
There goes today profit because of all these points. I made exactly the same mistakes I made at the start of the month that was so costly I almost collapsed. I got to stop doing this to myself and believe in myself more. I tried finding excuses for myself like December is a bad month because the volatility is created by small volume and caused a lot of distortions. Hopefully I learn from all these mistakes and put them into some discipline. Really needs to start discipline myself.

Reflection

2008-12-02T04:34:00.000-08:00

Today marks the darkest day in my trading life. Although I have not lost everything, but it as good as everything. Lack of money management, discipline and extreme eagerness to make a come back was the combination of all factors that lead to a loss of 500usd.
Time to sit back n reflect on myself today. A series of bad mistakes result in this.
BY not setting a stop loss, I let my losses run on me.
I did not set a take profit either constantly removing it even when I did, show the other lack of discipline.
mistakes after mistake. then finally taking loss at the maximum point. I must be out of my mind. I think once i exceed that threshold of trading, I cannot think well. I am thankful for the fact I am still in the green. But I have been taking way too much risk and should and need to lower my level of risk taking.
If i need to do this full time, It is time to start learning things the hard way.

Start of a new job

2008-11-29T18:39:00.000-08:00

I beginning to treat my forex trading as my job, as of the moment. At least I will not be saying I am unemployed. I have something to do, to monitor. I am my own boss and I can control my P&L. Today is Sunday and it is time to prepare for another day in office tomorrow. There are still plenty of selling off in hedge funds and mutual funds worldwide. There has been reports that the USD appreciating is because of the heavy sell off. As ROW rush to cover their losses in USD, they have to buy USD to cover their margins, and their losses in USD, which results in a increase in demand for USD since the market collapse. The heavy sell off will probably carry on until end of the year and probably see a huge shift in patterns from December onwards.

China and Japan is expected to liquidate their USD reserves as they need to try to stimulate their own economy and there hasnt been a better time to do it than now since USD is at a high. Once the 4 trillion stimulus package in China starts, and the Fed starts to release their newly "counterfeited" notes into the market, the huge increase in money supply should see a huge rise in interest rates in US and also a heavy sell off in USD. Well... this is all by the fundamentals of the economics. But apparently we have to see how Geithner will react to the situation when he steps into the office. Anyway, no one can do a worse job than Paulson. I remember a quote "they might as well put my 6 year old in office. At least he will not destroy the economy, he will just play with his toys."

Greed

2008-11-28T18:21:00.000-08:00

Be Greedy when others are fearful. Be Fearful when others are greedy. Apparently I am greedy at both times when I observe myself trading. Even though I know this profit I am making is insanely attractive to anyone but I think this is really partly luck. I have sat out a lot of volatility and lost on a few bad trades. I would have been hit badly if my picks were much worse. But control of my account was much better than previously when I was trading.
I just hope this winning steak can carry on until the time I find a job

Glad I am poor

2008-10-24T07:14:00.000-07:00

Pretty glad I am poor even though I will remain that way for some time. Pretty upset that my futures account not ready yet. That is really quite upsetting. Because my prediction that all the support level would not hold would come true. Someone told me that it will not go below the 53% lvl after studying all the past crisis. He told me 2 weeks ago using a calculator and predict that DJI will remain above 8567. I carefully noted his level and see strong support there. However, the fear and recently momentum do not take into consideration the support. Ya just look at the VIX you know how much fear is in the market.

I have learnt my lesson during forex that you cannot beat the trend. If you cannot short the market then don't play. This market if you are thinking of buying, it is better to just sit and watch. Right now is just plain madness. There is a lot of value in so many stocks I could pick off the market. However, is for the long term. Right now I really need a job to get over this difficult period and then start putting my money in.

Minibond issue

2008-10-11T19:37:00.000-07:00

I think this whole matter has got to today where it should be addressed. I am glad at least there is some looking into this matter by MAS by appointing that 3 independent members to form an investigating body. It is seriously a misrepresentation by all the PFCs, IFAs and FAs. How many of them truly know what they are selling? How many of them even know the difference between derivatives and fixed deposits and investments? I would never ever believe in investing in derivatives. I do not think this phrase is even right in the first place.

http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/2/miscellaneous/minibond-notes-frequently-asked-questions

Just take a look at the most recent faq created by HSBC on queries for minibonds. I bet they faced so many questions that they got damn pissed answering them, that they structured it into faq. This is extracted from this link above.

How minibond works is that "swap counterparty Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc entered into interest rate, currency and credit default swaps with Minibond Limited. Under the interest rate and currency leg of the swaps Minibond Limited would have agreed to pay to Lehman amounts received from the underlying securities acquired with the proceeds of the notes in return for payments from Lehman of amounts necessary to generate the returns on the notes. Under the credit default swap Minibond Limited would have provided Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc with credit default protection in respect of the reference entities for the relevant notes. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc guaranteed the obligations of the Lehman swap counterparty to Minibond Limited under the swap.

As market agent, Lehman Brothers International (Europe) was able to make a secondary market in the notes to allow investors to buy and sell the notes although they would not have been under any obligation to do this."

So this means Minibond Limited buys the CDOs, MBS from Lehman then subsequently pay Lehman the i/r that the CDOs, MBS pays Minibond. It is like some sort of "refinancing arrangement". The worst thing is that Minibond is the party providing credit default protection where they do not have the finances at all. Imagine a SPV being set up for holding off balance sheet debt, how much cash and BV would you put in a SPV like that knowing that it would collapse in any time soon?

Important facts
1. It is called minibond because the company is called minibond and not because it is a bond.
2. Minibond Limited is set up in Cayman islands with LIMITED LIABILITY (which means you will never be able to sue it from Singapore, you probably can only sue the party which sells you the minibonds)
3. the shares of Minibond is held under a trust (where shares/money goes in and out without anyone knowing)
4. Lehman is a swap guarantor, swap counterparty, arranger, market agent for minibond in name (but in actual fact, minibond is a special purpose vehicle set up by Lehman to hold off balance sheet securities and debt)
5. In the event of a default on i/r payments on the notes, HSBC will take action to sell the securities. (with no liquid market, not knowing where they can sell to)
6. the notes are not capital guaranteed at all and is extremely risky, probably more so than any investments which any investors can get their hands on.

These are just some of the most important facts which I have extracted and what have been related wrongly to the investors out there. The most important thing is capital guarantee. guaranteed by a company that is empty. Where is the rating agencies? A bonds? it is not even a bond. It seems like every 10 years we get such shit happening and wipe the hardworking people out and reward the assholes.

Black Friday

2008-10-09T19:49:00.001-07:00

You will probably find many bodies lying on Wall Street, Shenton Way, London Stock Exchange or people jumping off Hang Seng Stock Exchange building. This is madness. There is no floor, no fundamentals, no use for what support in technicals. Whatever support level is nothing when people fear. Dumping at every instance, throwing everything they have. Nothing is going to save this situation now. What should have been done 1 year ago is being done now. What is the point really? Central banks are really called CB for a reason. Slow to react will kill the markets as shown today. look at the Nikkei index, I spotted this too late. The head and shoulders pattern that was breached at 11600 points. 11600 points to current 8000 pts is a fricking 3600 points almost equivalent to a 3 months pay for a mini contract for the futures short. Time to do my futures account. THis is the time.

Turmoil

2008-09-29T20:22:00.000-07:00

I think describing it using this word is quite mild. I should probably be using chaotic or disaster. My year end prediction of 2300 was breached like nobody business in a 110 point freefall this morning after the bailout failure to convince majority of the congress. It was quite expected actually. Quoted Aldric, "at least there are more sober guys in the room". It was not going to be a consensus thing definitely, especially with the elections round the corner. Putting 700b in a pile of mess which might not reap any rewards is insane. The plan has to be more detailed, this is way too brief and risky. The returns which the Fed foresee might not materialize at all. This is by far the worst crisis I have seen on the global level after being through Asian currency crisis and the technology bubble burst

Lets be a little more realistic about things. 700b is not going to save the economy for sure. It is more of a prolonging a terminal cancer patient life through chemotherapy. You are just dumping money to prolong a certain death. I see lots of downside risk and many companies going bust because of this economic downturn. Financial firms that have not disclose the full impact of the SPM, like mutual funds that heavily invest in FI will be one to look out for. Prudential and other insurance firms will follow AIG with many bonds being defaulted. Hedge funds will collapse after the required disclosure on the short selling, exposing their strategy. IBs will collapse because of the change in structure of over leveraging. So what is left? We go back to the basics of consumer banking, giving out loans, pure consumer banking days.

Nationalization of banks is another big thing recently as European banks try to rescue their financial systems. Do not try seriously. Let those fundamentally weak firms just die off. This economy is about the survival of the fittest. You do not deserve to live on if you not worth it. Die off and let the fundamentally strong firms live on for those are the firms worth investing for. Do not keep the rotten apples in a basket of good apples, the worms will crawl over and rot the other apples. I cannot believe the extent of help that the CBs are giving to the banks. Thats why they are CBs i guess..

Insane markets

2008-07-04T03:29:00.001-07:00

I bet everyone these days are just holding back and watching how the markets are being manipulated by speculators. Its an irony to see George Sorros to come out and ask for some initiatives to prevent speculators from speculating further. I suppose these speculators have hurt his pocket in one way or another. The biggest speculator asking speculation to be stopped tells you something about how strong the market movements are now against him and he can do little to prevent his portfolio from dipping in value.

Oil at 146 and increasing inflation is some of the worries which everyone is having these days recently. It is amazing how the price is sustainable with the current economic activity where demand has definitely slowed down and the only thing that is not slowing down is inflation. I cannot imagine myself living in this world where my meals get inflated by more than 25% and the reports only suggested a 7.5% inflation. Wonder where the rest of the % goes to.

The recent interviews I had this week really got me thinking about how some people got into some positions for reasons which I cannot understand. Look at this ironic situation where some guy who went into a company doing a position that is so accounting base where his accounting is totally disastrous. Wonder what the firm saw in him that made them decide that he was suitable for the position. Was it that willingness to remain humble and happy in a position for a long period of time? I will not understand. Others go into a back office job hoping that the back office operations position can give them valuable experience to bring into front office when they want to make the switch. Guys, can you all please wake up? Just look at the number of people that made the switch from front to back and from back to front. Just look at the numbers tell you the story of the possibility.

There are still others that try to take a job just for pay sacrificing their life in return. Losing a life in return for a job in my opinion is totally not worth it no matter what the price is. I believed in my opinion why so many Singaporeans are not exactly the happiest people on the earth is because many of us are being forced into doing or working for the sake of money and not for the sake of self satisfaction. How many of you are doing your job because you love what you are doing? Have you gain anything out of it besides money and experience you can use further to develop a career? Is it really just because of the peer pressure and the fact when people ask about your job status and it is embarrassing to say I am still jobless?

Gold 1000, Oil 110

2008-03-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

Oh well, I did tell my friends that this will come by end march. Never expect it to be tat soon. Can see a heavy drop on USD for the next week with bad news still lurking and the unpredictable i/r cuts. If the i/r cut hits more than 75 bp, thats it for USD. can see a 1.58 EUR/USD. other predictions include the <100 JPY (came true) and also a <100 CHF soon to come.

Vision

2008-03-07T06:32:00.001-08:00

I have always envision myself relaxing in a home with my family away from the stressful life of this world in the suburban area of some relaxed city, possibly Rouen. In my prime age when relationship are important aspect of my life. my only source of income from trading. Options, commodities futures, forex. Whichever the source may be. That is a dream. I am still trying to equip myself with the skills enough to reach that destination