Martin Kronicle

In this video, Michael Martin takes a look at how a few different trading systems would be long December Gold using the new FutureSource charting capabilities. Click the lower-right corner to enlarge the video.

The WSJ ran an article called Traders Who Skip Most of the Day on Friday and made it seem like it was a novelty. Hmmm?

I think there are many more traders trading exclusively during the Open/Close than the WSJ would know or let on. The Open and the Close are the two most liquid times of the day.

You can start at 8 am ET and work 2 hours. Put your stops in and come back at 2 or 3 pm ET. That would give you 4-5 hours during the day. This is especially true for an intermediate-term or long-term trend follower. Despite what you might think, watching your screen all day has no effect on the securities you trade or are looking to trade. The market is going to go where it’s going to go.

Early in my career when my cash-flow was tight, I relied solely on EOD (end of day) data. I was up over 50% for the year. You can still do that today unless you have a judge in your head that won’t allow you to do it.

When I lived in Manhattan I didn’t do any touristy things. I had gotten them out of my system when I was much younger because I had lived only about 1 hour north of the city then. Yet, several times a year I’d make my way up to the observation deck of the WTC. You were so high up, I swear you could see the horizon fall away from you as if you could see the earth begin to curve down. I can still see that image in my mind.

When I was about 12 years old, my uncle John took my mother, my sister, and me to Windows on the World for lunch. The restaurant was still pretty new then and the whole WTC was less than 10 years old. I can remember looking out the window to the streets below and thinking that the New Yorkers walking around looked smaller than ants and the taxis looked smaller than my MatchBox cars.

Many years later when I was well into my trading career, I’d meet my friends in lower Manhattan for lunch or after work for drinks. One day I was going to have a sushi lunch with my childhood friend TJ who had a large brokerage operation on the floor of the NYMEX. The day was very overcast and there were some low-hanging clouds. Not low like fog, but low so that they appeared to blanket Manhattan.

While I was waiting for TJ outside, I looked up the side of the North Tower — which up close was a massive and hulking presence — and it just disappeared into the sky. It was not going to take any sh*t from any low hanging clouds. I couldn’t see the antenna over the edge of the roof and I remembered being in awe of the building, the people who built it, the folks who worked there. And I remember it occurring to me that I was fairly insignificant in the whole scheme of things.

There are only 10 seats left for the two courses I’m teaching at NYSSA (New York Society of Security Analysts – The CFA Chapter in Manhattan). These courses are NOT for beginners, however newer prop traders and day traders will garner great trading insight.

Using Commodities in a Diversified Portfolio discusses the impact that managed futures will have on a traditional portfolio when added to a client’s asset allocation. What happens to the Investment Frontier and what vehicles you can implement to meet your clients’ needs. I talk about almost all sectors traded at CME Group — grains, energies, financials, currencies, and stock index futures — within the context of a managed futures portfolio. This is the morning class and is considered an Intermediate level course at NYSSA.

In the afternoon class, Timing the Market with Commodity Trend Following Models, I’ll be covering marketing timing models using the S&P in one of the classes using data from public sources. I’ll show you how to build you own simple model by hand. The information you’ll learn can be applied to any other market and it will give you a deeper understanding (intellectually speaking) of what’s going on inside a mathematical trading model. This is considered an Advanced Course at NYSSA.

You can save $50 if you register for both. Registration is handled by the NYSSA – I don’t have anything to do with that. A wide array of talented folks from a diverse industry backgrounds have attended in the past and it’s a good place to network, as well as ask me questions in person. As a perpetual student myself, I’ve put these courses together so that the students feel that there is tremendous value for their tuition.

email me at editor [at] martinkronicle [dot] com if you have any questions. Registration questions should be directed to the NYSSA.