Skill Over Luck Vs Luck Over Skill

This article was actually about this year's Golden State Warriors and their 73-9 regular season run being more skill that luck.

Yet I feel as though on the trading front it is proving that all my trading is more luck than skill.

:(

View the Bloomberg article here.

The below illustration says it all...

Third Berserker Rage Of 2016

Just when I thought I could avoid another meltdown. 

It all happened so fast.

I just wanted to do a quick refund of my trading account, make a quick trade and withdraw the funds out.

Being under the influence of alcohol absolutely didn't help. In fact, it was probably the main cause.

The one trade I wanted to do became 20+ in and out trades of attempted quick money bets. Each small win was accompanied by a big loss.

By the end of the night, the final damage came up to almost SGD6,000.

FML.

Guess I still need a certain discipline in my life.

Cash Is King

I have a bad feeling about this current market, even though it seems to be going up relentlessly everyday.

Something bad seems to be about to happen,

I'm holding on to cash now.

Trade safe.

CAIA Toasted

I'm so done with you.

Maybe a tinge of regret that I never studied harder for it, but I'm done.

Covered Calls

The best invention since sliced bread!

Covered Call Options are simply buying an underlying stock while selling a Call Option at a high strike price.

You end up either earning the premium if the option is OTM (Out of The Money), or the option getting exercised and your stocks assigned at your desired strike price if the option is ITM (In The Money).

The only downsides are that there are not many brokers that have an extensive list of options to trade in. Cost is also a factor, since it eats at your returns. 

Most importantly, you will not participate in a large upside if the stock price soars, so good management and choice of option strike price are very important. So selling a call that is too long dated will also eat at any opportunity costs where your stocks are 'locked up' for the duration that you hold the option, particularly when the option is ATM (At The Money) or shallowly ITM such that it is not exercised. Then all you can do is wait.

But otherwise they are a great way to enhance your returns on a stock portfolio.

Freeport McMoran (FCX) III

This baby is flying! 

Too bad I think it is way overbought now.

Creativity

No one is too young to be creative.

Kudos to Ikea for inspiring.

Freeport McMoran (FCX) II

A lot of good news that I'm expecting to help boost Freeport McMoran's share price.

Rising copper prices.

Rising oil prices.

Rising gold prices.

Waiting for $20!

Huat ah!

Second Berserker Rage Of 2016

Oops I did it again.

I feel like crap each time I do it. 

Yet I somehow manage to find it in myself to keep repeating the same mistakes I make.

USDJPY again. Tight stops again. Maxed leverage again. WTF. I feel like banning myself from having trading accounts each time this happens.

All I did was woke up, checked the FX rates today, fingers felt itchy, gambler mentality kicks in, go in for a quick punt, lose the first round, not happy, try to double up and make it back, lose it again, try again, lose again, try once more, a small win, try again with a bigger position, lose again. 

End of the morning, I'm already down SGD4,037.

I really need to find some way to stop this before I burn through my entire net worth.

I am scared, but it keeps rearing its ugly head.

I need to start to strengthen up emotionally, otherwise this is going to affect not only me but my whole family as well.

God bless me.

Why I Have To Stop Trading With IG Markets

I have been trading IG Markets for a long time now. Primarily I have been impressed with how the keep up with mobile technology, given that most of my trading is via my phone. 

Yet even with several online brokerage accounts (5 at the last count, don't ask why), I have lost far more money with IG compared to every other account combined! Why is this so?

There are two main reasons to this and I have to clarify that it is not because their platform is bad, nor do they give very bad slippage. In fact I quite like to use their platform all the time. Here are the two key reasons why.

1) Their Reduced Margin

Based on my experience, I can safely say that the Monetary Authority of Singapore has stipulated that FX leverage cannot be more than 50X. This means for every $1,000 in your trading account, you cannot place a trade of more than $50,000.

Yet IG has somehow circumvented this with an ingenious margin calculation algorithm that basically reduces the required margin as long as a Stop Order is placed! Fair play to them, with a stop order that is likely to be filled, the downside risks are somewhat limited. For a gambler like me that is awesome, knowing that I can actually trade larger sizes (maybe 2-3X more) than other MAS-licensed brokers could!

But unfortunately for me, greater leverage has translated to far greater losses because this whole scheme encourages me to place very tight stop losses in order to attain maximum leverage :( and I just can't control it sometimes!

2) Binary Options  

IG I think are the only MAS-licensed broker who offer Binary Options. Now, Binary Options are not for the faint-hearted. To the layman, they are simply a gambling tool where you bet on one side or the other, hence the name.

It is akin to betting during a football match as to whether which team would win, simple as that. How is this allowed in Singapore, I don't know, but once again, I love it!

In fact previously IG even offered 20min FX binaries, meaning that you guessed the whether FX prices were going higher or lower within 20mins! How exciting is that!? Now they only offer hourlies and 2 hourlies maybe to stem the whole gambling facade.

And this is why I need to stop trading with them. Because I'm a compulsive gambler at heart!