PipStop

Trading Site of the Week: www.beginnertrader.com

The trading world becomes really small when you start to open your arms.

Beginnertrader.com is a website I've come across recently through Lewis Evans who we're partnering with on his LEFT Brain Trading Course.

It is run by one individual whose name I'll leave out as I don't see it anywhere on his website, but he goes by Akuma99 and has been a frequent contributor to the user forum at Forex Factory.

Until some health issues that felled him until recently he has shared some candid and insightful thoughts. He is like many who have taken up trading recently - not a full-time trader, other things (aka job) on his plate, but providing some understandable information.

Trading Post is continuing its alignment with some of the best trading solutions providers in the online trading industry.

Steve Nison is noted as the preeminent authority on Japanese Candlesticks and we've recently partnered with his company. The beginning of our relationship will be a special webinar entitled Forex Candle Charting Basics: Catching the Next Move.
Registration of this webinar has already begun, and in the first 24 hours we've filled the first 50 spaces. If you'd like to attend register now to ensure you have a spot for the webinar to be held on Thursday, May 15 at 6 p.m. PT (9 p.m. ET). It has a value of $79 but is free for all who register.

Steve is not only a candle charting guru, but he is also an excellent presenter.

The May issue of Currency Trader Magazine is out, and if you aren't a subscriber, it's free! Of course it's only an electronic version you'll receive, but very good reading.

This month the feature articles are:

- Can Anything Stop the Euro?

- Short-Term Momentum: Timing the Euro

- Currencies and Stock Markets II

- The Latest on the Aussie and Kiwi Dollars

- BOJ Gets New Chief

There are many things I get excited about, especially when we're in the middle of doing so many things.

I'm sure Clients of Trading Post have noticed some evolutions in the way we do business. We're putting emphasis squarely on forging strategic relationships with some of the best trading solutions providers in the world.

For anyone who is familiar with Metastock, you know that it is a world-class charting platform that has many add-ons that make it a wonderful tool. We've recently formalized our partnership with Metastock, and last night Metastock guru Jeff Gibby conducted a workshop on the Metastock platform.

If you missed it, you can actually watch the recording now and see what makes this charting platform standout from the rest. It isn't cheap, and sure there are some cheap, and free alternatives out there, but there is a marked difference which you should see for yourself.

I'm especially excited about the fact that we have recorded and made available one of our webinar presentations! If you want to watch another live Metastock webinar, there is one scheduled for next week, Tuesday, May 13 at 6 p.m. PT.

It's not "news" I guess, as we've been working to further distribute the Mind of a Trader podcasts.

FXstreet recently started syndicating the series, and it has added to some of the other great content it hosts. 

Our friend Francesc Riverola commented in a recent post that the most updated episode is up. If you haven't taken a listen to the MOT yet, I suggest you do. It's a great sub 10 minute trading conditioning state of the mind.

Jody Samuels the FX Traders Edge advisor and our resident Elliotician has returned from the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting and as promised the following is her guest post reflecting on her attendance.

My first annual meeting with Warren Buffett, the richest man in the world.

I joined 31,000 shareholders at the AGM for Berkshire Hathaway this past weekend, in Omaha, Nebraska. The weekend started with a cocktail reception at Borsheim’s, the acclaimed jewelry store which Berkshire has owned for some time. The actual meeting took place all day long on Saturday and kicked off with a very funny animated film with various short clips.

Among the film highlights:

1. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates (who was present at the meeting, as a Director) supporting Charlie Munger (Vice Chairman of Berkshire) for president and the policies he pursues, including “If everyone eats a Dairy Queen Blizzard each day we'll all cool off, taking care of this whole global warming thing”;
2. The hysterical footage from the English TV interview showing the explanation of the subprime mortgage crisis (look for it on YouTube);
3. A funny skit with Susan Lucci from All my Children taking over as Chairman from Warren Buffett;
4. An even funnier skit with Jamie Lee Curtis trying to influence Charlie Munger to invest in Internet stocks on behalf of Warren Buffett.

The meeting  then opened seriously, with Warren and Charlie (no I’m not on a first name basis, but I felt like I was part of the family!) coming out to answer questions from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. straight. Questions which were not prescreened ranged from the performance of the economy, the succession of the company leaders and how to succeed in life going forward. By the afternoon, their views on religion, energy policy, financial regulation, taxing the wealthy and the Olympics were well known.

There was only one question asked about the currency markets and of course I waited all day to hear that very question! The question was along the lines of how a European investor would hedge a US$ exposure. Buffet didn’t answer that question specifically, instead illustrated his currency story with a tale of a Martian from Mars having a billion dollars worth of “Mars currency” to invest.

He said he wouldn’t invest it all in US$ and wouldn’t mind purchasing companies around the world unhedged, because he feels those currencies will do well against the US$ over the next 10 years. "We are happy to invest in businesses that earn their money in Euros or Sterling, because we do not have a feeling that those currencies are likely to depreciate in a big way against the dollar.” In short, Warren Buffet still believes the US$ should weaken over time due to the US continuing policies that keep the dollar weak. In fact he announced a European tour to look for solid family owned businesses in Europe to buy.

Both Messrs. Buffett and Munger spoke about the importance of finding one’s passion in life, pursuing that as a career, admitting that aptitude helps as well! They also stressed focusing on what you do well from an investment standpoint and sticking with it. They stick to their bread and butter which is value investing and it has served Berkshire Hathaway shareholders well over the last 50 years, with a 20% average annual return over that period.

The weekend culminated in more shopping on Sunday and a bridge game with the shareholders. I managed to sneak a few pictures of Warren Buffet playing bridge – after all, he looked like an ant from my vantage point in the stadium! All in all, it was a very inspiring weekend. My hero, Warren Buffett!

Trading Site of the week: www.traderfeed.blogspot.com

This is a website that I have been following for sometime and it's terrific. Of course when I say website here I'm talking about web presence ... so it can encompass blogs, forums, anything that has a web presence.

This is a blog run by Brett Steenbarger that really focuses on trading psychology and trader performance. He updates daily, often multiple times a day - he even Twitters! Read his profile and his interest is "short-term trading of stock index futures."

How appropriate is his latest post as of this writing. "Finding Success in Trading," is a great read, and if you follow the link trails he leaves at the bottom of this and other posts, you'll find yourself nodding in agreement. Feeling and action are obviously two distinctly different things, but if you aren't as successful as you need to be, or if you're just starting out, you need to condition your mind, and Brett is a solid resource.

Brett has authored two books Enhancing Trader Perfomance and The Psychology of Trading. Based on what I've read from Brett on his blog, these two books are on my "to read" list.

What a day. Try to follow my logic here.

Off the top this morning it was revealed with the release of U.S. Non-Farm Payroll data that fewer jobs were lost than originally forecast for April in the U.S. So no big deal, the US dollar rallied a bit, and it was all a bit of a yawner.

President Bush said today that the U.S. economy is "not as robust" as it could be. Thanks president, for the insight.

Yet all this week we've heard of oil companies posting record profits, in the billions. In fact Exxon, which posted a first quarter (that's the first THREE months of the year) profit of $10.89 billion, actually disappointed investors! Chevron posted first quarter profits of $5.17 billion - and I'll stop there lest you start to get sick.

Hasn't President Bush historically been a supporter of big oil? The days, weeks, months, go by and we all (globally) pass gas stations daily. With every pass the cents (pesos, yen, rupees, etc.) at the gas pump seem to keep ticking up.

Not all is lost in America, though. The U.S. government is so nice to send its residents a nice tax rebate check that totals $7.1 billion in the first installment to more than 7.7 million taxpayers (out of 130 million). That's a whopping $300 a piece. If you're paying attention that's just shy of $200 billion total.

Does this all make sense? I can't help but think cynically ... wow, all Americans seem to have it made.