Friday's Market Action

Don't have much things to post the past month or so mainly due to the choppiness of the market since it surge big time in the first week of January 2013.

From thereon the market turns to boring mode and if you are not used to it you will hibernate.

But that's how the market is, either you love it or hate it.

And if you lack patience you are not supposed to be in the market.

The market exploded last Friday's session after a month of consolidation.

The best bet last Friday's trading is to buy from the pullback in the open and sell before the close.

Big time money for traders last Friday's market.

I'm sure all of them are oozing in the bar after the market savoring their profits.

Let's see come Monday's session if there is a follow through.

  

Love The Market...Even In Randomness

Been a while not posting any partly due to quite busy trading the markets in random way.

Though the market surge big time early in the New Year but it hardly move upwards.

Sure lots of in-home traders are struggling confronting the market.

Notice some traders blogger are not quite that active giving some advice/ideas as compared years back.

Is that a sign that they are giving up with the ups and downs of the market or they run out of opinions to described the markets going on?

Or some or most in-home traders decided to give up or they found a new job?

Your guess is as good as mine!

As for this struggling wannabe trader, i can say there's no way giving up loving the market.

The market is such a good friend, it gives you opportunities, lots of them.

First your sanity, if you don't know what you are doing you will suffer beyond your imaginable means.

Second, you will lose your wallet and maybe your love ones.

For it consumed your hard earned money and also the most precious of all - your time.

And lastly, after experiencing lots of hardships and debacle on your being, the rewards are forthcoming.

You will learn how to trade the market beyond its randomness and the opportunity sets it.

That's where the time where all your losses starts to recover.

Trading is a process, its like planting a fruit tree that originates from a seed.

You have to nurture that seed until it starts to grow as a tree and starts to bear fruit.

Sometimes it takes time to bear fruits that's why you have to fertilize it.

The Market Surge...Big Time!

The market leap vertically welcoming the year 2013 with a big bang.

Trading Wednesday's market was a bit tricky for it surge early in the open only to lose its steam almost the whole trading day.

Was able to recover late in the trading day regaining its momentum.

For Thursday market, seems it might stall a bit and maybe will just consolidate.

But i guess the strength is still intact and might make a tight move upwards.

Happy New Trading

This year of 2013 hope would bring some kind of market improvement to our trading endeavor.

Been a while trading and figuring out how to trade the market well.

As the years passed by participating in the market, i can say trading the market is all based from the trader itself.

It's all in participants emotional behavior and well being.

Once you figure it out that its all about one's psychology, you can easily absorb how the market works.

It's not all about the technicals or market fundamentals, its all based from one's understanding how to participate in the market.

That being said, trading as all about managing one's emotions and working on yourself towards the market.

Merry Christmas Traders...

To all traders: losers; winners; beginners; old timers...
May you have a very Merry Christmas this two thousand twelve...
If you are a winning trader, good for you and keep what you are doing...
And if you are a losing trader, stop, look and listen...
Consult your inner mind if trading is the right vocation...

Merry Christmas too for the newer traders...
For they make the seasoned traders happy as ever...
For they don't know what they are doing...
They trade based from their own liking...
Thought that trading is the quickest way in money making...

Merry Christmas too for the traders educators (sic)...
For they don't make money in trading...
They turn to educating to make money as racketing...
Signing up to their alerts or recommending...
Keeps your mind boggling...

Merry Christmas too to the traders who are struggling...
For they chased their trades to keep up with pricing...
It turns out that the other side is already profiting...
Then they change their technique from day trading to milliseconds trading...
Until they found out they have no more trading (runs out of capital)...

Merry Christmas too for all seasoned traders...
May you have more "seasoned" years in market making...
For without your wits and exploiting...
The market will be dying...
And there will be no more trading...

Finally, Merry Christmas to all market participants...
Traders, investors, schemers, policymakers, ponziers, retirees, whatevers...
Your presence is highly appreciating...
For without your presence, the market is boring as ever...
A very Merry Christmas to all...

May you continue patronizing the greatest money game of all time...

Cash Is King: Printing of $100 Bills Soars

A good detective always looks for a motive when beginning an investigation. And so, when Nick Colas discovered that the number of $100 bills printed last year suddenly spiked, the chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group decided to figure out what was going on.

The first thing he discovered, as we discuss in the attached video, is that "$100 bills are still wildly popular and growing in popularity." On the other hand, the use of smaller denomination bills ($1, $5, $10 and $20) has been declining for over a decade, as the number of cashless transactions has steadily gone up. In fact, in the fiscal year that just ended in October, Colas writes in a recent note to clients, the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing cranked out 3 billion, $100 notes.

"That's substantially higher than the run-rate of the past couple of years," Colas points out, and 50% more than the 2 billion $1 bills that were inked up. "It's actually a record amount of production," he says.

All of which begs the question, why?

Part of this new demand, he says, comes from the classic nefarious sources: drug dealers, arms smugglers, tax cheats and bribes. But some of it is also due to hoarding or the fact that more people than ever, oddly enough, are losing faith in government and/or the economy and are shunning the surety of traditional investments. It's a phenomenon that's led to a huge increase in demand for gold and other precious metals, but also for — you guessed it — $100 bills.

And it's not just here at home. While it's hard to quantify the exact amount, it is believed that the majority of $100 bills are probably being held overseas, since they are globally recognized, widely accepted and the easiest way to store wealth.

"Cash really is king if you want to preserve wealth in an increasing tax environment," Colas says, noting that while gold is a viable strategy for saving some money, "nothing beats a $100 bill if you have to buy some food."

What's interesting, or inexplicable, to many money watchers is that this huge increase in the printing of old-style $100 bills happened right before the expected launch of the new and improved $100 bills that will include a 3-D blue stripe and bell-in-an-inkwell security features. According to the Federal Reserve and its NewMoney.gov website, production problems have delayed the launch of the newest $100 notes for over a year now, though an announcement is expected soon.

In the meantime, with bank deposit rates and yields on U.S. Treasury bills at record lows and paying next to nothing, savers miss out on very little interest if they choose to hold cash rather than invest it.

But alas, there is a silver lining to be found within all of this dollar debasement that at least one Wall Street veteran points to. "It proves beyond a doubt that the dollar is still the reserve currency of choice around the world," Colas concludes. "It may not [always] be from the most savory part of the economy, but it does signal that there's still a lot of faith in the dollar."

Market Rally

The market did rally today not only due to fiscal cliff seemingly positive resolution but also from the participants bullish conviction.

The Santa rally is still in effect despite some economic/market hurdles.

Let's see with the remaining trading days if it will continue.