If you don't make it as a trader, you would definitely make it as an entertainer. Consequently, you have a hedge. And with this kind of humor and writing style, I'd say you have an edge Maybe ET should have a forum titled "Traders' Comedy Relief" where we can find threads like this one. Just an idea ... BTW, I laughed so hard when I read about Idaho folks singing on the pavement outside GSCO. Absolutely hilarious. Keep it coming!
Absolutely priceless piece. Not much has changed over the years. I don't know who the original person who said it, but I remember my dad often saying that "sucker is a breed that does not die. It just keeps on reincarnating itself."
FasterPussycat, Don't forget that on 5/3 this was posted: Obviously he was serious and he's taking that rest.
Thanks FasterPussyCat, Tony Oz and Magna for the kind words. I'm back after a refreshing break, though I didn't trade today due to some muscular soreness. Florida was great. I ran into a few ET members at the Village Idiots' Convention in Boca - true to my promise, I won't reveal who ($100 PayPal) - where my keynote address was received with a 15-minute standing ovation. From there I was whisked off to the Jupiter Beach Resort for the MTA (Market Technicians Association) 27th Annual Seminar, to formally present a paper on my new Legs (Logarithmic envelope growth stochastic) Index. Needless to say, Dick Arms was not the only member I infuriated, and I was physically escorted off the premises by MTA President Ralph Acampora himself, with Steve Nison and Martin Pring forming a human Bollinger Band around me. As Dick was beating me around the groin with his arms, I could only ponder the fortuitous choice of name his parents made. Orlando was a nice break from the whirlwind wheeling and dealing, and we took in SeaWorld, Universal Studios and a 57-year-old itinerant. As a remote trader, I have had my eye on Florida for a while - my girlfriend works on the Street (42nd) so relocation would be easy for both of us. I therefore had planned to check out PointDirex's Orlando offices, but upon calling them twice (407-241-2550, Friday 10th May, 3:00pm and Tuesday 14th May, 11:30am) was greeted by voice and "number has been changed" messages respectively, and I'm not the type to drop in unannounced. In fact, a couple of weeks before my trip, upon stating my intention of visiting their offices to one of their representatives, I was told "Why? All you'll see is a bunch of servers". I know DATTrader, hans130 and other ET members whom I respect have glowing things to say about PD - add in unbelievably low commissions and you get an unbeatable deal - yet I was put off firstly by the reply I received, and secondly by the fact that I couldn't get hold of a human on two separate occasions - not the sort of thing you want when you're long 150 SEBL and the old Presario crashes.
As Dick was beating me around the groin with his arms, I could only ponder the fortuitous choice of name his parents made. Too funny, I once had a customer with an attitude, his parents named him Rusty Nail. No Joke. :eek: Bsulli
Let me reveal one of my more sophisticated trading tactics which I call "shamu-ing", after SeaWorld's Shamu the killer whale. Assume that my profit target of, say, 20.66 is approaching and I wish to exit my long position of ABCD. Trades are going off at 20.61, the current bid, and any previous upward momentum seems to have stalled for the moment. A positive expectation strategy at this stage would be to hit Island's offer(s) (above the inside offer) in multiples of 100 shares for a total of n shares, up to c cents above the inside offer, where optimal n and c are calculated using a complex Bayesian procedure taking into account the original holding, and Island's average percentage daily volume in ABCD, amongst other things. This results in the following : (1) My position in ABCD has increased by n shares. (2) A good chance that somewhere in a trading room someone is hit above the inside offer and, as is the common practice, yells out "Wow! Someone just hit me!" thereby hopefully creating additional localized demand which may or may not snowball further. (3) T&S prints above the inside offer. The shamu is deemed successful when : (1) My position in ABCD is 0 shares. (2) Somewhere in a trading room someone yells out "Just got into ABCD at 20.75!" (Thanks big boy!) Not surprisingly, I would be very frustrated should ABCD continue on to 21.30 without me, yet possibly because of my shamu. On a less serious note and straying for a moment from intra-day trading, Netflix IPO (NFLX) opened at 16.19 ($15 offering price) this morning and closed at 16.75. Netflix is an online entertainment subscription site, allowing users to rent DVD's for a monthly subscription. The company, yet to turn a profit, had to cancel an earlier IPO when known as Netflix.com, so dropping the "dot-com" has apparently worked wonders. Naturally CEO Reed Hastings was on CNBC and the interview ended thus : Martha MacCallum : "When do you expect to be profitable?" Reed Hastings : "We don't have any projections on that." Mark Haines would not have let the interview end with such a response (consider shorting NFLX as a longer term trade).
Shorts must've been pulling their hair upon awakening this morning to an 8-point gap-up in BGEN thanks to FDA approval of its psoriasis drug - as a sufferer of seborrheic dermatitis , I could only scratch my head. I was determined to be highly selective today ahead of the Memorial Day weekend and have not made a trade as of yet - will probably call it a day very shortly. Have a nice holiday, everyone