PipStop

As soon as the email hit all t-post subscribers yesterday, there was instant reaction. One curious rumor was that the charts had been shut down. Well, unfortunately for that person, the t-post charts are still up, and I've been looking at them all morning.

At the beginning of everything there are always high hopes and idealistic projections. A lot of planning and development has gone into t-post over the course of the past year. Many of you have put in hours of time in using and evaluating t-post, and as you've been able to see there has been some great evolution that has taken place.

One thing that has been nagging, though, and precipitated an email to all t-post users yesterday is the inability to ensure it's overall reliability. 

From a practical view, you always have to keep your eye on the data feed streaming through your tradestation, but it's not really possible to convince traders that they might not be able to rely on their charting platform, at certain random times. Some of the issues that have cropped up have been been of the mysterious type, others just a lot more time intensive than originally thought, others might have been diagnosed incorrectly.

The bottomline is, it's not entirely reliable, and so we're strongly encouraging all t-post users to access thier Intellicharts subscriptions (which everyone had been receiving for free over the last month) as it has proven to not necessarily be perfect, BUT has proven to be more stable and realiable than t-post to date.

You ask why? We've planned, and adjusted our plans along the way, and the time, cost, and effort involved have been great. At the end of the day how far we've come has been great, but we looked at how much farther we have to go, and the agreement we had with our external development team was not in line with what we had been promised.

We're still trying to make it work in whatever way we can, but it is a two-way street, and we will keep you updated.

The goverment, wherever you live is often smarter than we all give credit for. I've had numerous conversations with traders over the years on how their view of taxes in relation to their trading account. 

I've definitely heard some scary opinions. I hope all of you are doing things lawfully. Is it really worth risking it? I came across an intersting article recently in the Financial Times. As many of you may know I'm a subscriber to the print edition, although it comes very sporadically. Earlier this week, for example, I received my Oct. 1 edition. Last week I received editions dated in September, October, and November. Go figure. It is a free subscription for me and it is a very good publication, which incidentally (I received an email today) has loosened its online version, which means you can now explore alot more of their archives and features than ever before.

The Oct. 18 article is entitled "Secrecy is Still Possible - Just" and covers global tax havens and a synopsis of the evolution of the demand for people to put their money where they can "hide" it. It's interesting insight.

In theory anyone can be successful in anything they apply themselves to. But we all know that there are so many factors that throw a wrench into our idealistic thought process. Take for example a new company called eToro. I just read an article about this new entity on TechCrunch and there were a few alarm bells going off as I read it.

There are many who are trying to capitalize and make money in the Forex market with one gimmick or another. Many propose being your FX partner and almost guaranteeing you sucess with their magical invention. I reading the article above I came across the following:

"I spoke to eToro’s CEO, Johnathan Assia, who explained that the real challenge for eToro is finding ways to present Forex data in a simplified and user-friendly manner that makes it accessible to ordinary users."

The issue that I have is, it's not easy to trade, and no one should be led to believe that it is. There is a certain process (which differs from person to person) that everyone needs to go through. But read the article and come up with your conclusions - perhaps I'm out in left field.

I sense a common theme in my thinking here. It's that there is no real solution that provides EASY money. Technorati is one of the leading blog search engines around, which I use often. Today I just searched for Forex and on the first page returned this link, which I just have to shake my head at.

What is more mind-boggling, though, besides the stated inference that you can turn $6.95 to over $1 million in months, is that there are no shortage of shady websites like this all over cyberspace - which means there are actually suckers that go for this.

When propositioned with the prospects for easy money, RUN! Sure we all want money for nothing, but that isn't reality.

Now there are a growing number of resource websites out there, and one that I just received an email from is tradingeducation.com which puts out a weekly newsletter. The way to go, and I sound like a broken record, is to think long-term and lay a proper foundation for trading.

The demise of many traders is that they continue to look for something that is EASY. I like statistics, and know that for the most part good traders do not fall onto a specific "systems" and become even modestly profitable traders.

It takes effort, commitment, and discipline. The problem is, especially with Forex trading, there are so MANY options out there. Is it humanly possible to jump from one to another to another and be successful? Or is it possible to latch onto one or two that look promising and try to make it work? In the end it's almost always disappointing.

What sets the foundation for disappointment is that traders often don't even understand the basic principles of trading before launching themselves into a specific system.

With that said, I have been following the following trading philosophy or system since April 11, 2007 when the trading journal started being posted on FX Street. I personally know the brains behind the system, although out of respect I will not disclose anything more than what this is. There is something tremendous that can be said about the years of work that has gone into forming what this has evolved into.

Take a look for yourself at the Low Risk/High Reward Trading System. Share your thoughts. This system will be something that will become more prominent as its evolution continues. Bookmark it, follow it. In just over six months there have been over 100,000 views of this specific Trading Journal. I haven't been through all Forex forums, but you'd be hard pressed to find any threads that have attracted more attention in such a short span.

I will also share some good Forex blogs I've come across in the coming weeks, and some of the the FX Street ones are excellent.

One nagging thing for me, and perhaps it is a Firefox issue is that the following error show up for me with each page I visit in the FX Street forum. It is driving me insane.

It's definitely not Thanksgiving here in Canada - we had ours last month, but I can't help but know it's Thanksgiving in the United States. 

Last night I saw a Kohl's commercial and it seems on Friday - the biggest shopping day of the year in the US - Kohl's is going to be opening its doors at 4 a.m.! And there are going to be over 250 door crashers available. Quirky to be sure, but effective nonetheless, which explains why I've remembered the two most important details.

I remember hearing about lemmings as a child, and how they'd all go running off cliffs into the ocean in packs. Does Black Friday reek of the same philosophy? Why do Americans insist on punishing themselves, over and above what would be considered normal to save a few dollars?

If you want to save a few dollars, come up to Canada and do some shopping ... oh wait, the Canadian dollar is still stronger than the US. Perhaps you'll have to check back next year.

All kidding aside I hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving holiday, and be safe!

I just came across an interesting article. As Web 2.0 technology continues its upward ascension, it's interesting to note how certain social networking websites and blogs are growing. Many of you have probably heard of MySpace, Facebook, etc., and some of you may have created your own profiles.

One of the fastest growing online social networking websites is LinkedIn, which I am also a part of. It's a social networking site for professionals, which has helped me to get back in touch with those who I have lost touch with. I have found it a great tool.

One thing that surprises me in the numbers below is the continued dominance of MySpace. I do think that Facebook will overtake it within the next three years, as it's easier to access, and it's LESS cluttered. What this means to traders is that you can see various small trading groups sprout up all over the web - and what Trading Post wants to do is create true online community.

- sam

Top 10 Social Networking Sites for October 2007 (U.S., Home and Work)
Site	Oct-06(000)	Oct-07(000)	Percent Change |
Myspace.com	49,516	58,843	19%
Facebook	8,682	19,519	125%
Classmates Online	13,564	13,278	-2%
Windows Live Spaces	7,795	10,261	32%
AOL Hometown	9,298	7,923	-15%
LinkedIn	1,705	4,919	189%
AOL People Connection	5,849	4,084	-30%
Reunion.com	4,723	4,082	-14%
Club Penguin	1,512	3,880	157%
Buzznet.com	1,104	2,397	117%
Source: Nielsen Online, November 2007

There aren't many better times of year than being in the United States for Thanksgiving. I'm sure many will be easing up on their trading activity this week to take it easy. Today's Trading Post Tuesday wasn't as well attended as it has been recently, I'm sure because of the holiday bustle.

Steve Croft kicked everything off with his Mind of a Trader session, and his podcasts have really taken off in the trading community, as the subscriber numbers continue to rise. Various enhancements to the TP slate of products and services was also featured and discussed. The most important thing for us is to be aware of the client experiencing and realizing that while enhancements are good, sometimes it's made difficult when a number of them overlap - which breaks continuity and ultimately can lead to confusion.

That's the feedback we're received, and that's why we took time to go over some important things today.

TP Tuesday is also enjoyng a gradual evolution. Originally intended as a platform where anyone could come and learn strictly about Trading Post products and services, it's becoming more of a balance between learning what Trading Post has to offer and Trading insight through some of the Company's experts. We'll also start adding some other sessions that will delve deeper into things that will help you take advantage of the technologies available today that will make your onilne experience better.

So keep an eye on next month's TP Tuesday which will be upon us quickly on the second Tuesday of December (Dec. 11)! Again thanks to all who participated today, especially Norman who was the most active while I was conducting my session.

- sam