I am writing this from a hotel room in Salamanca, Spain, home to one of the oldest universities in the world. The school here has educated folks from around the word for more than a thousand years, and today, it is still a vibrant college town with a big nightlife to boot. If you have ever lived in or spent any time in a college town, you know exactly what I am saying here …
Today is the day for the Greece’s private investors to step up or bow out. At the moment, most have stepped up …
Major banks and pension funds threw their weight behind Greece’s bond swap offer to private creditors on Wednesday, making it increasingly likely that the deal will pass and clear the way for a bailout package to avert an immediate default on its debt.
My guess I by the time you read this, the deal will be done, as I have said time and again, unless the private creditors have a plan no one outside of them is aware of, taking something rather than nothing is the smart play here. If it is a done deal, the bailout tranche for Greece goes through, it is one less piece of this large puzzle for the market to worry about …
Today, I have three questions to answer.
I am about to start using VantagePoint, could you recommend some settings for the various technical data it provides.
No, I cannot, as VantagePoint is so versatile, and every trader has his or her own approach to trading, it is impossible for me to recommend anything to you. My apologies, but you should define your strategic trading approach before doing anything else. That will determine your “settings” for the variety of leading indicators VantagePoint provides.
I bought 400 Shares of Uniphos @ 166. What should I do now that it has dropped to 136? I also bought 600 Shares of Energy Development at 48, and it is dropping. Help?
Help you do what? What is your plan? Where are your exit points? Don’t you have stops in place? Here is a tip for you – Think about retiring from trading until you have learned the fundamentals. It appears to me you are on a path to losing lots of money.
I’m a great fan of Trader Planet and the columns are very eye opening, especially the ones which have inter-market asset class comparisons. Question: what in your opinion separates Good Traders from Great traders?
First, there are great traders, even legendary ones, but the important word not mentioned in your question is “successful,” as success is what makes good traders, and good trading is what we all want to do. Anyway, the difference is in the word, and that is it. If one is making money day in and day out at this game, he or she is both successful and good. If one tries to go beyond that, the risk is proverbial – going out too far on the branch risks it breaking. One should stay with what works, trying always to improve, yes, but never, ever aspiring to greatness. Maybe it will happen to some, but that is only in the eyes of others. Keep your eyes on your prize, which is to make money at an incredibly difficult and financially dangerous game. I would say “good luck,” but, as always, luck has less to do with success than hard work does. So, get to work!
Trade in the day – Invest in your life …
