I wanted to thank all of my readers who took the time to Digg the BSMBP. I also want to extend a special thank you to Trader X and Complacent Panda who both went the extra mile to help me spread the post.
Meanwhile, if you haven't Digged it yet... ahem... ahem...
As it turns out, it was my most widely read post to date.
Now, in case you missed the history involved with the BSMBP, I stole the idea for it last year from another corner of the blogosphere, the funny part. Over there, in the funny part of the blogosphere, my friend and "inspiration" Jon Swift, is a finalist for the Weblog Best Humor Blog of 2008.
I know how nice it is to receive a helping hand on the Internets, so now I ask you to go and vote for Mr. Swift. You may vote once a day until January 12th.
If you are unfamiliar with his fine blog, it's decidedly "first-tier" stuff. Check out his "best of" and then go and vote. Blogging can be a rather thankless task, and it's nice to receive some positive feedback, be it in the form of Diggs, comments, or a shiny Weblog award.
Meanwhile, it's good to be back. It was a nice week off. I have some changes in mind for this blog which I will detail in a post tomorrow.
As promised, I'm going to make a real effort to write one history post per week in 2009. I will publish one each Wednesday.
Here is the tease for this Wednesday's upcoming post.
6:00am. The World Trade Center.
You exit the subway, walk over to Broadway and make the left onto Wall Street at Trinity church, noting the labyrinth and graveyard where eventually, you'll spend some time.
You pass the NYSE and across from it, the old Federal Reserve building with the heroic statue of George Washington. It begins to rain and you're hungry. You enter the atrium of the JP Morgan building which stands further down Wall Street, to seek shelter.
This is where you'll spend every morning for the next couple of years.
Dancing on the grave of 2008 before it has officially passed may be in poor taste, but did 2008 care about you when it fucked your 401k account? NO.
2008 was a total dick.
The best thing you could say about 2008 is that it was a good year for blogging about the stock market. Everyday, some new scandal broke and some significant level was breached.
It was epic and that's why there are many great links here, all chosen by the people who wrote them.
One note... In an effort to increase the range of this post, I've "porned it up." In my opinion, the stock market blogosphere has a lot to learn from the success of the porn industry on the Internet, so I worked a little sex into the blog post descriptions that follow.
Meanwhile, any similarity between the descriptions and the actual posts or the lives of the people who wrote them is completely unintentional. Except Timmay's... If you want to see actual descriptions of the posts and not the "porned up" versions, click here.
One more note... if this is your first time on my blog, welcome. On the sidebar, you'll find an "Introduction" link. For you regulars, daily posting will resume on January 5th. Thanks to everyone for visiting.
Anyway, please get into the spirit of this post by checking the video below. It's 24 seconds long and somewhat safe for work...
UPDATE: My BSMBP "mentor" Jon Swift has completed his own "Best Blog Posts of 2008" post. His has a political slant and probably took the entire month of December to compile. He's kind of like, the grandfather of Best Stock Market Blog posts, so check it out.
Dinosaur Trader- "Another Lesson In Perspective" A young stock market blogger takes to the sea on a search for perspective. A wild storm washes him onto an island inhabited by nothing but dirty little whores!
The Fly - "The Important Matter Of Mother Market" A week before graduation "Professor Tropicana" finds himself in a moral dilemma. Is raising the grade of a failing student in exchange for sex worth the guilt he will have to live with? What the hell, this little slut has Mother Market's permission and is offering to give it up!
Hybridtalk (Exchanges) - "The Difference Between NYSE And Nasdaq: Who Is Master, Man Or Machine?" Watch the hottest, most willing but nonetheless "innocent" robots perform some of the nastiest sexual acts on Wall Street. Just when you thought robots couldn't move any faster, they moan and scream for more speed!
Wall Street Warrior - "Simple Analysis To Understand Fibonacci" A woman whose husband leaves her is sexually frustrated by the absence of a lover in her life. Avoiding the lecherous advances of the men she meets, she finds that her son's interest in her exceeds the accepted limits of their relationship. They spend the rest of their adult lives in therapy!
Danny - "Bro, I Totally Feel You" Danny is a naive 15-year-old who is preoccupied with sex. He develops a crush on the new 30-something, French housekeeper who looks after him while his father is out of town for the summer on a "business" trip. Later, Danny realizes that he enjoys being "tortured" by his sister's Barbie dolls!
Trader X - "Fibonacci Lines, Indicators, And The Holy Grail" In 1957, a young man named Jason drowns while at the Crystal Lake summer camp. The camp closes. Years later, the camp reopens and a series of bloody murders take place. After the majority of the staff are killed, a woman appears who claims to be the mother of the drowned boy. She is later decapitated and a throng of angry anarchists show up to have sex with her skull!
Daily Options Report - "Who Has That Box Of Plus-Ticks?" A dude goes golfing. He accidentally hits his ball deep into the woods. There, he meets up with a gaggle of septuagenarian female golfers dressed in pastels!
Afraid To Trade - "How I Set Up My Charts" Watch as every "tight stop" is hit with abandon on these filthy little stock charts!
Wall Street Fighter - "10 Most Vulgar Ticker Symbols" If you fetishize about older babes getting pounded while calling out dirty stock symbols, then this is the stock market post for you!
Attitude Trader - "Attitude Adjustment Series: What Am I Looking Forward To?" In an effort to get his "Attitude Index" to rise, this blogger attracts the attention of some young sluts and changes their attitudes about "positive thinking."
Jon Swift - "Great Moments In Election-Year Blogging" Mrs. Roberts has just lost her husband and needs comforting. Good thing the neighbor’s kid is grown up and back from college. He gives her more than just a shoulder to lean on…
Alphatrends - "Some Historical Bear Market Perspective" After breaking up with her boyfriend, distraught, helpless and "shy" Vanessa decides to take a hike into a deep and dark forest all by herself. How many bears will she find there? More importantly, how many can she handle?
Howard Lindzon - "Commodity Boom... OVER?" Two men enter a fast food place. One orders a burger with fries, the other orders nothing at all but gets gangraped by the hot voracious female employees!
The Big Picture - "On Writing" A sensitive pianist with a secret side is exposed in this raunchy tale of debauchery and sexual delight.
Slope Of Hope - "November" A man arm-wrestles for the custody of his son.
Zen Trader - "I Am" This "pious zen monk" stumbles from stock graph to stock graph in search of the perfect set-up. In the end, he is met by a dozen horny nuns that redefine his notion of "mindfulness."
Stewie - "My PnL Excel Sheet" Edward is a rich, ruthless businessman who specializes in taking over companies and then selling them off piece by piece. He travels to Los Angeles for a business trip and decides to hire a prostitute. They take a liking to each other and he offers her money if she'll stay with him for an entire week. Then they get married.
Ragin Cajun - "Don't Be An Asshat!" Summertime. The beach. It's the place where a guy can get more than an eyeful of tanned, curvaceous bodies barely covered by the teeniest of string bikinis. But when young, innocent Rajun makes his beach debut, the temperatures really start to rise! This nubile virgin is looking to lose it, and he has no problems finding plenty of virile studs to accommodate his wanton desires.
High Chart Patterns - "Excerpt From (What Will Be) Today's Newsletter" Debbie gets a spot on the roster of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. One day, Debbie is approached by her boss, Mr. Greenfeld, who first offers $10 to see her breasts, another $10 to touch them, and finally another $10 to suckle them. She realizes that with $30, she can buy 400,000 shares of Citigroup!
MovetheMarkets - "3 Live Scalp Trades On The ES Futures" A girl saves a piglet from slaughter and he grows up in a barn full of animals and befriends a spider named Charlotte. They all have "no holes barred" raunchy spider sex! Imagine, 8 legs!!!
OONR7 - "Same Old Story" In the not too distant future a secret government re-animation chemo-virus gets released into conservative Sartre, Nebraska and lands in an underground strip club. As the virus begins to spread, turning the strippers into "Super Zombie Strippers" the girls struggle with whether or not to conform to the new "fad" even if it means there's no turning back.
OBAT - "Monster Stocks" Department store owner OBAT finds that several of his employees are unionizing to get more money and better working conditions. In order to find out who the organizers are, he gets a job at the store as a shoe salesman. Not realizing his true identity, he's befriended by the two ringleaders, and a charming older woman with whom he develops a romance. They go to dinner and become close friends!
Timmay! - "Ashley Dupre Girls Gone Wild Pics, aka It Never Ends" Enjoy watching this stock market blogger take not just one dick in the ass, but two dicks in the ass! That is correct my friends, double anal in every scene for over twelve hours of pure hardcore ass-action. TimRaw indeed!
FX - "Gamblers State Of Mind" Daniel is new in town, and is getting picked on by the local bullies, who all are adept in karate. Determined to stick up for himself, Daniel begins to teach himself karate, only to discover that the caretaker at his apartment seems to be a grand master in karate. Agreeing to teach Daniel, Mr. Miyagi shows Daniel that there is more to karate than violence. Daniel competes in and wins the All Valley Karate Championship. Afterwards, an orgy breaks out among the cheering crowd!
Stock Hunter - "Trading Results For 10-01-08, And A Hunting Story" Something about men that hunt attracts older women. Watch as these experienced whores teach this stock market blogger that there are better things to do in the woods than shoot animals.
The Essentials Of Trading - "The Secret To Trading Success" The Navy needs more men, so they enlist five voracious sperm-swilling babes to entice every man they can get their hands on to join up. Full of naughty Navy costumes and patriotic fervour!
Stock Rookie - "Poker Discipline" Rocky Balboa is a struggling boxer trying to make the big time. Working in a meat factory in Philadelphia for a pittance, he also earns extra cash as a debt collector. When heavyweight champion Apollo Creed visits Philadelphia, his managers want to set up an exhibition match between Creed and a struggling boxer, touting the fight as a chance for a "nobody" to become a "somebody". The match is supposed to be easily won by Creed, but someone forgot to tell Rocky, who sees this as his only shot at the big time.
I love to read The New Yorker because I can pick it up, not be sure what I'm going to read about, but know that I'll walk away from it thinking new thoughts.
Case in point is the most recent article by Malcolm Gladwell titled, "Most Likely To Succeed" which is about spotting talent. What interested me most about the article is the discussion about finding good teachers to educate our children.
Had I thought about this much before I read the article? Nope.
In short, our education system is fucked. Put nicely by Mr. Gladwell, "If you rank the countries of the world in terms of the academic performance of their schoolchildren, the U.S. is just below average, half a standard deviation below a clump of relatively high-performing countries like Canada and Belgium."
However, despite the dire situation, the entry to become a teacher is difficult and discouraging. In addition, powerful teacher unions have made the pay structure very rigid and tenure somewhat easy to acquire. All of this means that it is very difficult to reform the system.
Gladwell makes the point that to enter the financial services field, not much more than a college education is required. It's dog eat dog... some will succeed and some won't, but the entry to the field is low.
On the other hand, if I decide tomorrow that I want to quit trading and devote my life to teaching children, it would be very difficult. I'd have to get a masters degree (at least) which would be both financially difficult and logistically impossible (since I'm a Dad). It would take years before I entered a classroom and got down to business.
So basically, despite my interest, there are so many hurdles to overcome that I'll never become a teacher at this point.
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to link the article and get some opinions about it, since I think it's very important.
And hey, it's the weekend... why not talk about something completely different for a change?
The holidays are behind us. Let's get back to regularly scheduled worrying.
Seriously though, it seems that everyone thinks we're going straight to hell. I'm so sick of this idea that we're doomed and "on the precipice" that I'm going to try to be a little more positive around here. At least until New Years.
After that, as you know, the Dow is going straight down to 4500.
(Oh, and Dinosister, nice try with the blog hijacking... too bad you did it on the lowest traffic day in weeks... DT Wins Again!)
That's right - your favorite sister is BACK! After being assaulted last night by your horrific taste in music (Pitchfork 500 - WTF???) I was all ready to pull a Grinch and post some true music on this feeble blog attempt of yours. And then, a Christmas Miracle occurred in Whoville (or wherever the fuck it is that we live) because this was the first link I saw on You Tube. Consider it a Christmas Present from the DS (that would be Dinosister for you morons out there.)
I tell you what... when your wife goes down 3 days before Christmas and you're having the family over for Christmas Eve and you're Italian, things get stressful quick.
But she woke up today fully recovered after a day of bile and high fever to rally the troops (me) and start cooking. Just like a good woman should, by the way.
Oh, snap!
Anyway, I didn't trade. Instead, I followed my daughter around with Purell, dousing her with it whenever she came within 2 feet of Judy, or anyone else for that matter. You see, last year she woke up on Christmas with a fever, that won't be happening this year if I can help it...
Trading was very light today... but I'm throwing this post up because we have a first time "Lucky Pierre," Trader 3.
Still, despite his efforts, the Manservants won today, mostly due to "ass-blasted" swing accounts.
"Chambermaid" - Trader H*, -$7,840 on 0 shares traded.
2. Trader 10*, -$1,013 on 0 shares traded. 3. Trader P, -$937 on 101k shares traded. 4. Trader 9*, -$784 on 200 shares traded. 5. Trader M*, -$492 on 0 shares traded.
"Lucky Pierre" - Trader 3, $426 on 11,000 shares traded.
2. Trader R, $348 on 29,400 shares traded. 3. Trader O, $263 on 4,200 shares traded. 4. Trader N, $225 on 1,600 shares traded. 5. Trader I, $186 on 5,000 shares traded.
This may be my last post until after Christmas. If that's the case, have a great holiday. As promised, I've been hard at work on some history posts. My plan is to publish one per week in 2009.
Also, be sure to tune in on Monday the 29th for my annual stock market blog roundup of 2008.
Dancing on the grave of 2008 before it has officially passed may be in poor taste, but did 2008 care about you when it fucked your 401k account? NO.
2008 was a total dick.
The best thing you could say about 2008 is that it was a good year for blogging about the stock market. Everyday, some new scandal broke and some significant level was breached.
It was epic and that's why there are many great links here, all chosen by the people who wrote them.
One more note... if this is your first time on my blog, welcome. On the sidebar, you'll find an "Introduction" link. For you regulars, daily posting will resume on January 5th. Thanks to everyone for visiting. Dinosaur Trader- "Another Lesson In Perspective" Watching a near death experience helped me get my head back on straight.
The Fly - "The Important Matter Of Mother Market" In his humorous style, "the Fly" details one of his few losing days during which Mother Market kicked his ass.
Wall Street Warrior - "Simple Analysis To Understand Fibonacci" Jamie explains where he places Fibonacci lines and shows how they often are useful to map out entry and exit points even if you don't fully understand the math behind them.
Danny - "Bro, I Totally Feel You" Danny gets drunk on "White Rhinos" and gets philosophical about investing in the stock market.
Trader X - "Fibonacci Lines, Indicators, And The Holy Grail" Indispensable information from X about the ways he uses Fibonacci. As important as the specifics are, his focus on getting his readers to develop their own methodology is what makes this post special.
Daily Options Report - "Who Has That Box Of Plus-Ticks?" Adam speculates on the rumors from September that the SEC was about to re-institute the "plus tick rule." He also discusses how changing the rule close to an options expiration creates the maximum market impact due to "Gamma," which he explains in detail.
Afraid To Trade - "How I Set Up My Charts" Corey details which technical indicators he uses on his charts when he trades, why he uses them and how each of the indicators works.
Wall Street Fighter - "10 Most Vulgar Ticker Symbols" An excellent title... the vulgar symbols and the specifics about the companies, all dappled with humor.
Dogwood - "This Is Why They Suck" The title refers to GM, specifically the Volt hybrid concept vehicle. Dog is pissed that instead of making a bold statement, GM watered down the design of the car and he fears it won't be able to compete with its Asian counterparts.
Jon Swift - "Great Moments In Election-Year Blogging" The one non-stock market blogger invited to join the BSMBP, and the man who gave me the idea for the BSMBP in the first place, Jon Swift is a well-known, politically conservative, blogger. In this post, he details some of the more important stories reported by the conservative blogosphere that the "mainstream, liberal media" unjustly ignored.
Alphatrends - "Some Historical Bear Market Perspective" Another great title, in this post Brian compares the market action at the end of 2000 with some of the uglier bear markets of the past.
Howard Lindzon - "Commodity Boom... OVER?" Not a bad call... this back when crude, X and FCX were trading close to $100. "Uncle Howard" offers perspective and the following advice: preserve your capital and invest in yourself.
The Big Picture - "On Writing" Barry details all of the things that surprised him about writing his first book and why it's not all a "moveable feast."
Slope Of Hope - "November" Tim hilariously parodies a movie scene that features a frustrated Hitler/stock blogger. Almost as funny as his parody of HPT's blowup video.
Zen Trader - "I Am" A post about visualizing trading success. Sounds like him and Attitude Trader have a lot to discuss.
Stewie - "My PnL Excel Sheet" Stewie details the way he uses his P&L spread sheet in order to spot if he's overtrading.
Ragin Cajun - "Don't Be An Asshat!" A video produced by Cajun that unforgettably puts faces to some of the more "egregious" predictions made this year.
High Chart Patterns - "Excerpt From (What Will Be) Today's Newsletter" The HCPG crew is the best at dissecting their trades in an educational way. In this post, they discuss a successful trade in DRYS (back when it was $80, ha!) that met all of their criteria.
MovetheMarkets - "3 Live Scalp Trades On The ES Futures" Richard hypnotizes me with his soothing voice and technical indicators... best of all, he does it live. Really, watching these videos is sorta like watching a horror movie... you're like, "TAKE THE PROFIT MAN!!! TAKE IT!"
OONR7 - "Same Old Story" A funny post about not respecting your trading rules... I've been there man.
OBAT - "Monster Stocks" Using graphs of stocks that are showing "bubble characteristics" OBAT reminds us that what goes up normally comes back down... hard.
FX - "Gamblers State Of Mind" FX struggles with the proper mindset necessary for trading. Would it be better to treat it all like Monopoly money? Like it's just a game?
The Essentials Of Trading - "The Secret To Trading Success" Here it is, the post you've been waiting your whole life to read... wait a second... I'm going to spoil it for you with a direct quote from the post... here goes... "There is no single secret to successful trading!" The post title is a LIE! Or is it?
Stock Rookie - "Poker Discipline" A solid post that makes 6 pertinent comparisons between trading and poker rules. However, my question is this... is it healthy to "play poker on my phone, mostly while I'm watching TV?"
I should have named this post "birth of a blog post" because it hits exactly on that topic...
Anyway, yesterday evening, I was scrolling around over at "the Fly's" place and found a link to this article in the comment section. It scared the bejesus out of me. So, I decided I better get a little educated about its origin since I figured it was from some marginal source.
It is, kind of... What I found is that the website Infowars is the brainchild of Alex Jones, a "paleo conservative" who hosts a controversial radio program that veers towards conspiracy theories, etc. But what I found more interesting was that he was featured in the movie "Waking Life" which was directed by Richard Linklater, one of my favorite film directors. Below you'll find the clip that features Alex Jones.
Anyway, it got me thinking about one of my all-time favorite movies, "Slacker," also directed by Linklater. This is the type of movie that when I was 18 I'd try and get my friends to watch. I was always so enthusiastic about it but everyone else just seemed bored.
So I found a dude who linked the movie in its entirety on youtube, and I've gone through the trouble of making 10 links to each segment of the movie here. Bonus points if you see the "Ron Paul" reference...
Consider it an early Christmas gift from DT. Here goes!
I surfed this morning and then skipped the early trade in favor of my daughter's Christmas recital.
It was great. She's already starting to dominate all the other kids. While some of the other, lesser children were forgetting the words to "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," my little pterodactyl was belting the carols out so loud that Santa himself could hear her all the way up in the North Pole, where he lives.
Word has it that he's going to set her up good on Christmas because of her dedication.
Anyway, so I really only traded the last hour heavy, but caught it good, as did the RO.
My plan for next week is to take off. I'm going to read a couple classic trading books, write a few history posts, do some chores around the house, see my family, fight with my neighbors, and not open the door to my office.
I will blog, but sporadically.
On Monday the 29th, my blog will be back in full force when I post the Best Stock Market Blog Posts of 2008. You don't want to miss that. You want to tell all your friends about it too. Talk about it over Christmas dinner during an awkward silence... You want to Digg it... you want to link it... etc.
2009 is the year we go "first-tier" around here.
So look, out of 25 traders today, 17 were gross positive, or 68%. 11 traders made over $1,000 gross, and 3 lost over $1,000 gross. Nice numbers to end the week.
I was #5 of 25, bossy.
"Lucky Pierre" - Trader C, $22,714 on 324k shares traded.
2. Trader D, $15,690 on 432k shares traded. 3. Trader P, $13,174 on 520k shares traded. 4. Trader Z, $10,309 on 363k shares traded. 5. Trader S, $8,684 on 195k shares traded.
"Chambermaid" - Trader 7, -$2,924 on 79,000 shares traded.
2. Trader 10*, -$2,723 on 500 shares traded. 3. Trader J, -$1,924 on 7,600 shares traded. 4. Trader M*, -$810 on 0 shares traded. 5. Trader 8, -$629 on 31,600 shares traded.
Quick question though... how many of you ate it on that RIG MOC?
RIG blows. Quite a number of traders were mauled by this thing late in the day, but despite that, the RO had a decent day. I'm just getting to the numbers.
First, some blog news. Look for the Best Stock Market Blog Posts of 2008 to be published here on the 29th. Next week I won't be blogging much. However, I will spend the time preparing solid posts for the beginning of the year.
Out of 27 traders today, 16 finished gross positive, or 59%. 10 traders made over $1,000 gross and 4 lost over $1,000 gross. I was #12 of 27. Not bad considering that I'm already mentally on holiday. Also, I've surfed 4 out of the last 6 days. That tends to dampen my ambition a bit...
"Lucky Pierre" - Trader B, $12,421 on 340k shares traded.
2. Trader Z, $7,828 on 67,800 shares traded. 3. Trader J, $5,080 on 70,200 shares traded. 4. Trader 10*, $4,511 on 1,400 shares traded. 5. Trader V, $3,871 on 52,200 shares traded.
"Chambermaid" - Trader 9*, -$7,156 on 200 shares traded.
2. Trader D, -$4,319 on 287,000 shares traded. 3. Trader 6*, -$2,548 on 0 shares traded. 4. Trader O, -$1,062 on 31,400 shares traded. 5. Trader M*, -$864 on 0 shares traded.
It would be financially irresponsible and perhaps unhealthy for you to trade like I do. This blog is for entertainment purposes only. I am a trader not an investor. I don't make recommendations. Thanks, have fun here.
