Marty Zweig (Equity Trader)
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Martin Zweig (1942-2013) was a famous American stock market analyst, adviser, and investor. His investing methodology was based on a system that combines macroeconomics, fundamental analysis, and market timing. Apart from his popular newsletter (The Zweig Forecast), he has published two books.
- “Winning on Wall Street” in 1986
- “Winning With New IRAs” in 1987
The following advice is included in his first book.
General Advice from Martin Zweig
- The major direction of the market is dominated by monetary considerations, primarily FED policy, and the movement of interest rates
- Once established, the trend typically lasts from one to three years.
- Combining to produce a monetary "climate" are loan demand in the economy, liquidity in the banking system, inflation or deflation, and, of course, policy decisions by the Federal Reserve
- To succeed in the market you must have discipline, flexibility, add patience. You have to wait for the tape to give its message before you buy or sell.
Follow the Trend
- To appreciate the role of momentum, think about a rocket ship being launched to the moon. If it takes off with a lot of thrust, it has a chance of making it out of the earth's atmosphere. If it doesn't, it will turn around and flop back.
- I find that buying on strength gives you an edge. You must pay a premium, but you increase the probability of being right.
- After years of testing various market averages, advance/decline ratios, volume figures, and other indicators, I have found that strength does indeed tend to lead to greater strength. Every single bull market that I've seen has started with a tremendous rally. The rally doesn't necessarily come the first day after the bear market ends.
Forex Fundamentals and Economic Indicators
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A currency exchange rate incorporates interest rate policies and macroeconomic data such as economic growth, inflation, and unemployment.
Basic fundamental conditions in the Foreign Exchange Market
Majorly, an exchange rate reflects a combination of the following fundamental conditions:
(i) growth, inflation, and unemployment
(ii) monetary policies, and especially the interest rate policy of the central bank
(iii) fiscal policies & government spending
(iv) political stability (political risk)
(v) legislation regarding capital taxation & the openness of the domestic economy
New macroeconomic conditions can create trading opportunities in the Foreign Exchange market
The Foreign Exchange market is so efficient that the impact of news is instantly incorporated into all exchange rates. However, when there is a major shift in the general macro circle, there can be tremendous opportunities for Forex traders. A macroeconomic shift is behind all key Forex trend reversals.
Forex Trading Tutorial
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Introduction to the Foreign Exchange Market
With daily volumes of 4 trillion USD, the Foreign Exchange or Forex is the largest financial Market in the world. The Forex market operates as a decentralized network where the world's major currencies can be traded one against another, in a 24-hour basis, from Monday to Friday.
The Short History of the Modern Currency Market
After the end of World War II, the Bretton Woods Agreement (1944) became the basis of a new global monetary system. According to that agreement, the exchange value of a country’s currency was fixed and equal to a particular quantity of gold. Since the Bretton Woods Agreement ended, during the 70s, the current Floating Currency System has arisen. According to the modern Floating System, the value of every currency rises or falls according to the dynamics of demand and supply.
- In 1971, the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) was the first exchange to offer currency trading within the International Monetary Market (IMM)
- After 1990, the revolution in Informational Technology provided the framework for a new fully-computerized Forex Market, the Online Forex Market
- Today there are many hundreds of Online Brokers offering access to the Foreign Exchange market. These brokerage firms are divided into three main categories:
(1) ECN Brokers (Non-Dealing-Desk)
(2) STP Brokers (Non-Dealing-Desk)
(3) Market Makers (Dealing-Desk)
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Derivatives Trader & Author)
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Born in 1960, Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a Lebanese-American mathematical statistician, author, risk analyst, and options trader. His work focuses on problems of uncertainty, randomness, and probability. He created the risk-hedging technique 'Tail risk hedging' or 'Black swan protection' that aggregates portfolio exposure in order to hedge against extreme market volatility. According to the Sunday Times, his 2007 book 'The Black Swan' is one of the twelve most influential books since World War II.
NASSIM NICHOLAS TALEB TRADING TIPS
■ Knowledge is in dealing with what we do not know
Knowledge and discovery are not so much in dealing with what we know, as in dealing with what we do not know.
- We are trained to take advantage of the information that is lying in front of our eyes, ignoring the information that we do not see
■ What characterizes real speculators like Soros from the rest
What characterizes real speculators like Soros from the rest is that their activities are devoid of path dependence. They are totally free from their past actions. Every day is a clean slate.
- My lesson from Soros is to start every meeting at my trading boutique by convincing everyone that we are a bunch of idiots who know nothing and are mistake-prone but happen to be endowed with the rare privilege of knowing it.
- George Soros, when making a financial bet, keeps looking for instances that would prove his initial theory wrong.
Read more: Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Derivatives Trader & Author)
Linda Bradford Raschke (Derivatives Τrader)
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Born 1959, Linda Bradford Raschke is an American trader, operating mostly as a futures trader. Linda started her trading career in 1981 making markets in options. Later, she became a registered CTA (Commodity Trading Advisor) and founded LBR Asset Management.
LINDA BRADFORD RASCHKE TRADING TIPS
■ The ability to perceive patterns in the market
I believe my most important skill is an ability to perceive patterns in the market. I think this aptitude for pattern recognition is probably related to my heavy involvement with music.
■ Be contrarian to the panic
Some of the best trades come when everyone gets very panicky. The crowd can often act very stupidly in the markets. You can picture price fluctuations around an equilibrium level as a rubber band being stretched... if it gets pulled too far, eventually it will snap back. As a short-term trader, I try to wait until the rubber band is stretched to its extreme point.
■ The accuracy of a prediction drops off dramatically, the more distant the forecast time
I believe that only short-term price swings can be predicted with any precision. The accuracy of a prediction drops off dramatically, the more distant the forecast time. I'm a strong believer in chaos theory.
Victor Sperandeo (Derivatives Trader)
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Born in 1945, Victor Sperandeo is an American commodity and derivatives trader, known as “Trader Vic”. Sperandeo traded, particularly in the energy and metals sectors. He is the CEO of Alpha Financial Technologies, LLC (AFT). It is said that until 1990, he had 18 profitable years in a row with an average return of 72%. Victor Sperandeo takes a trade only when the odds are in his favor. For example, he believes that a typical bullish swing on the Dow Jones Industrial is 20%. After the Dow has performed 20% the odds for further continuation are diminishing.
VICTOR SPERANDEO TRADING TIPS
■ Knowing the stage of the market matters the most
Trading the market without knowing what stage it is in is like selling life insurance to twenty-year-olds and eighty-year-olds at the same premium.
■ You have to know when the odds are in your favor
Gambling involves taking a risk when the odds are against you. For example, betting on a lottery or playing a slot machine are forms of gambling. I think successful trading, or poker playing for that matter, involves speculating rather than gambling. Successful speculation implies taking risks when the odds are in your favor. Just like in poker, where you have to know which hands to bet on, in trading, you have to know when the odds are in your favor.
■ The two-hundred-day moving average (200 MA)
In the stock market, the one indicator I give the greatest weight is the two-hundred-day moving average (200 MA).