Home Again
We got home this morning from our trip to Bimini. What a great trip it was. We did a little fishing, a little sunning, and a lot of drinking. I found out that my son can handle his booze….Yale must teach their students well:)
Anyways, I came home and checked out the markets. I took a lot of money off the table in my accidental bonds and notes position. I left the grains alone, playing with some options to protect some great profits, and I let my gold/platinum spread alone. I’ll revisit that position next week and decide what to do about it. I need to do some serious number crunching this weekend, and also need to tweak my book, which I’ve sadly neglected for the past week or so. I’m so anal about this book, and I hope it turns out well. Since most of my thinking is pretty much outside the box, I hope that some people derive some good from the book. It should be an enjoyable read. I sent a copy of my files to an editor friend and got back some more advice, which was well taken.’
Next week, I’ll be out of town for a few days, and hope to end up buying some more art.
I’ve noticed some real good articles over at Daily Speculations the past week, and urge y’all to check them out. I have a couple of ideas about a few things I might write that might end up over there. I’ll let you know.
Tonight seems like a good night for dinner at Pelican Alley….as my fridge is empty. Tonight also seems to be a good night for listening to some good music, combined with some reading. I’m reading so many books at the same time, it’s sometimes hard to keep up. Denise always used to complain about my odd reading habits, as she never ever met someone who would read six books at the same time.
2009 should be a good year for the sagacious trader who keeps his head level, feet on the ground, and is willing to adapt to the ever changing cycles. My indicators predict a major possibility of some cycle changes of immense magnitude.
Have a good weekend and good trading to you all.
Welcome back! Grains have been stubbornly strong for the last few weeks. I guess people still eat during recessions.
And judging by the crowds here in Miami starting 09′, it looks like they also take vacations and shop to death. Aventura packed, traffic jams everywhere and south beach loaded. Haven’t seen it like this for the last 2 months.
Roberto
January 2, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Roberto,
Our season over here in the Sarasota area has been quiet so far.
Grains have been wonderful. Sometimes my best trades are accidents:)
masteroftheuniverse
January 3, 2009 at 3:52 am
does the trade vs. investment distinction matter in your opinion? i’m asking because i hear a lot about investments being less accidental and more “profound” vs. trades being a game in probabilities.
legacy daily
January 3, 2009 at 4:25 am
Trade vs. investment matters a lot. My investments have time frames of years, whereas a trade will last anywhere from 30 seconds to six months. I called this treasury trade accidental, because when the market tanked a couple of months ago, I loaded up on bonds and notes and caught the ride. Buying the treasuries was an instinctual move on my part to protect my capital, but was originally intended to just park money for a short time. When the market rallied hard, I just stayed in until today, when my rules told me to pitch them out.
When I invest, I buy stuff like fine art and land, and usually keep them forever. I trade commodities and, as you said, it’s a game of probabilities….plus a little money management. Investing is probably more profound than trading, but that might be a matter of conjecture.
Jeff
Jeff
masteroftheuniverse
January 3, 2009 at 4:40 am
Jeff,
Looks like you found a suitable home on the spec-list; Jim Sogi and I also read lots of books simultaneously and I’m sure that others do too. Funnily enough I’ve never met anyone NOT on the list who does so, which could mean that Victor has collected us all in one place!
Anyway, have a great 2009!
Best wishes, Nigel
ndavies64
January 3, 2009 at 6:29 am
Nigel,
I really love the spec-list, and find the discussion that goes on to be very compelling and thought provoking. Come to think of it, I’ve also never met anyone NOT on the list who does so either. Hell, it’s tough to find people who even read books in this day and age:)
Happy new year and gret trading in 2009.
Jeff
masteroftheuniverse
January 3, 2009 at 2:04 pm
I also tend to read five or six books at the same time. But I don’t consider this strange in comparison to my wife, who reads the end of the books before reading the whole book….so that she knows if the book is worth reading!
Dave Bacon
January 3, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Dave, that’s funny because my wife used to to the same exact thing. Luckily, we rarely read the same material because she would spoil the ending for me. Oh well, it’s endearing little quirks like that that make the world go around.
Jeff
masteroftheuniverse
January 3, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Hey Jeff nice to see you back, I hope all is well. Im glad you and your son had a good little vacation. It’s nice that the holidays are over and that the volume will return a little bit to the markets. Also I am not sure if you are a David Byrne fan (Talking Heads) but he has put out a wonderful new solo album with Brian Eno. Here is the link http://www.everythingthathappens.com/
A book I would recomend to anybody is “The Partnership” The history of Goldman Sachs. It’s a wonderful read, veryr well written. Anyways take care.
Rhett
rhett
January 4, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Glad you had a good holiday….your trip makes me think of Hemingway’s “Islands in the Stream”! A good boat in the island’s, fishing and lots of gin and tonics…
I was in DisneyWorld w/ my daughter, siter, niece and parents…had a great time, hit all four parks and rode every ride they threw at us.
Sorry to hear about your book theft….amazing you have autographed Zane Grey? Could you tell us how your grandfather met him?
Acetrader
January 5, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Rhett,
Being a fan of both Byrne and Eno since 1977, I bought that album immediately when it came out. I felt, “holy crap this is good” when I first played it. Best effort of each in years. Check out Byrne’s cover of “Blue Hawaii” which is the best version of that song I’ve ever heard. Both those guys are so multifarious.
Acetrader,
Hitting all 4 parks in Orlando….wow. I couldn’t do one:)
Islands in the Stream was modeled after Bimini. Nice place to just do nothing and is highly recommended by me.
My grandfather lived from 1885-1989. Living a long, prosperous life, he knew just about everyone on the planet. He met Picasso in France, and knew Armour, Cutten, and McCormick real well…..He knew all the big speculators,politicians, bootleggers, bankers, bartenders, society swells, and hobos….he was an equal opportunity friend. My only regret is that he never wrote an autobiography, as he had true tales that were wonderful. His long life went from the horse and buggy age to the computer age. His life was wonderful. But, back to your original question, I never found out where he got the Zane Grey which was personalized to him. I have a few other first editions, and have taken them all out and put them in my safe.
masteroftheuniverse
January 6, 2009 at 4:20 pm