PipStop

This might be seen as an implicit endorsement, and perhaps it is because I mention it here, but I'm looking at it more of as a "share info" type of thing.

Trading Post created a partnership with SystemRunner a few months back, and some of you may have heard about this automated platform.

The recent results of my demo portfolio have been pretty astounding.

OK, so the screenshot is pretty illegible, but I'll summarize. Since March 20, 2008, 30 trades have been executed without a single loss for a gain of 1701.

Is this normal? I'm sure it isn't, but I think to myself what a tool to use as part of my trading plan. And to think that this is a portfolio that I put together after some trial and error and testing.

We'll see what happens when I open a live account in the coming days.

This isn't trading related.

It belongs more on my personal blog than anything else which would have more of a strict business slant and my view on business as a whole, but it's a great interview with someone I've admired for many years.

Millard or Mickey Drexler is the former CEO of the Gap, and is now the CEO of J. Crew. I enjoy his candor, his willingness to adapt, and his ambition to succeed. He's obviously from a vastly different industry that I am in, but the motivation to please clients or customers is inherently the same whatever industry you're in - and insight always provides perspective.

I thought some of you might enjoy Charlie Rose's interview with Mr. Drexler, I did.

The unfortunate reality of life is that change surrounds us. I say unfortunate, but it's actually fortunate at times.

To hear the news earlier today that FXstreet's head trader Toni Juste is no longer returning to FXstreet after his move to Switzerland is unfortunate.

Toni, by all accounts (and I'm not sure if it's Toni or Tony as I've seen it as both), was doing a great job, especially in terms of output. No one that I was aware of put technical analysis in the volumes that he put it out (via his blog and through Twitter).

Then funny things started happening. This is all from being a casual observer, but it's announced that Toni is moving for family reasons, then one of the brokers for the Managed Accounts Programs at FXstreet pulls their sponsorship, the performance of the fund takes a cliff dive in at the end of last year and the first part of this year, and all of a sudden Tony is completely disconnected from his blog and a manic poster all of a sudden stops. And his last sentiment on the euro received quite a bit of flak too because he was bearish on a bullish trend.

Weird happenings to be sure. Some might find it weird that Tony is working on something else, which doesn't surprise me. At Trading Post, I've seen so many "traders" come and go, thinking they can create their own trading solution. It used to bother me, but now it's part of life, and it seems to Francesc and his team at FXstreet they are viewing it the same way - although I know that there must be some tremendous gnashing of teeth in the background.

One thing that has really helped me recently from a physical perspective is my practice of yoga since the beginning of the year. It's a commitment I made, and it's really made a difference for my not only physically, but mentally as well.

We're all busy in life. There is so much that happens on a daily basis. I'm sure we could fill 36 hours if we had it. In all the busyness, though, what time is taken to give ourselves a little balance in our lives?

It's something that I gave a little thought to on my drive home tonight after yoga. Is what is good for the mind separate from what's good for the body? I think there is a definite link, and as we all strive to be better traders, it's important to say that just sitting in front of a computer for hours on end isn't the quality of life that too many are looking for.

So take a step back and do a self-evaluation of the balance you have in your life. What's being a great trader if you can't enjoy all it has to offer?

From a pure trading psychology standpoint, I think many of you are familiar with the Mind of the Trader podcast series. Starting today it's official that FXstreet, the self-reputed largest Forex portal in the world, has picked up, or for the lack of a better term syndicated these podcasts - so we can look for wider distribution over and above the 550 or so subscribers it currently has.

I received a mailer from the Van Tharp Institute on Friday and one of the inserts was about its Tharp Trader Test.

Other the last few months, one of the things that I've given a great deal of thought to as part of our continuing evolution at Trading Post is helping traders to define what their trading profile is. The Tharp Trader Test, while not exactly what I've envisioned, is definitely an interesting test that will at the very least help you as you're defining what type of trader you are, or what type of trader you ought to be.

Give it a try and see what you think. There are 35 A/B questions and it will take you under 5 minutes to complete.

One thing I've never understood is the Internet Service Provider email address.

Or to be more specific, the people who actually use them.

And to be clear about what I mean, I'm talking about those out there that have email addresses through their Internet provider, such as Comcast, Shaw, Telus, etc. 

WHY???

Those email addresses are not portable. In a society of great technological advancements, ISP-based email addresses is akin to going back and using an Apple IIe (I think I used one in elementary school 25 years ago).

If you ever have the wonderful opportunity to move to a different country, you're out of luck. If you ever move to another side of the country you live in, you may be out of luck.

Plus many ISP's have their "own" ways to filter out what they consider bad. Problem is while doing that they filter out a lot of what's good too.

I'm an unabashed Google Gmail fan. I love it, and I, for the life of me can't see why everyone isn't using it. To compartmentalize my email life, I have four Gmail accounts. I use Gmail IMAP to synchronize all my email on three computers to my email client of choice, Mozilla's Thundebird. Plus I always have the opportunity, if I'm not on any of those three computers to pull up a web browser and check any of my Gmail accounts.

And you might think that's all so difficult and convoluted. Well a little time investment to look into it, and a few questions can save you a lot of time down the road.

I also conduct a Traders Technology Online Training Room Monday and Wednesday at 10 p.m. (PT), and I go over things like this.

As much as I'd like to I'd even question why Hotmail and Yahoo Mail users don't use Gmail - but I'll leave those debates and potential conversions to family gatherings.
 

I received the following insight on Oil outlook from an internal trader here at Trading Post, which provides interesting insight ...

I am not that bullish on oil compared to 2005 right now.  I am not suggesting to short the oil right now, though!!!.  What I feel that in the long run there will be a lot of alternative energy.  Moreover, the word scarcity in the economy does not apply to oil.  There is more oil in the world that we know.  For example just in Alberta it's reported there's oil that can sustain the rest of the world for the next 300 years!!!!.

On the other hand, I am more bullish on Natural gas and Cola like I suggest in Early April plus I start to load my account with some Oil Drilling Companies.

For sure, the PipStop blog that you are reading has been picking up steam over the last few months, in terms of readership, but it was a nice email to wake up to this morning from the creator of currencytrading.net, where this blog was listed as one of the 50 Best Blogs for Free Investment Advice. And PipStop is one of four Forex blogs listed.

In my mind, this is still an evolving organism, but it's nice to be noticed. My idea from the very beginning was to provide an unvarnished look at things in the online trading industry as a whole (with particular affinity for obvious reasons to Forex), while also giving insight into what we are doing here at Trading Post.

One thing that I did notice on a previous posting at currencytrading.net of Top 25 Most Influential People in Forex was Charles Prince, CEO of Citigroup who is No. 23 on the list published last week. Chuck resigned as CEO in November of 2007.