trading update

more of the same. draw down now 22.56% we're very close to dropping that trade size. at least july is almost finished. all the pain comes from four pairs. 11 are green, but the lack of volatility in the USD is killing us. last year aug we had big ranges. let's hope we do the same thing this year, really need to pull out of this death spiral.

trading update

ibfx's daily update gone MIA, but the pain continues, we just wait it out. what is noteworthy is the increase to 20% draw down. it's getting a bit high for comfort. we should in theory reduce trade sizes.

trading update

right. day eight. streak still not broken. draw down now about 16.5%. still acceptable. but at $2500 we drop trade sizes. market volatility remains super low. twenty percent of normal. that in the middle of the worst financial crisis in the last 100 years.

daily changes

so friday was -2.87, taking our monthly gain to -6.68%. starting to get real ugly! -13.17% for the week. hope this market gets going this week at least. we'll drop trade sizes soon if there isn't a change which will slow things down a bit. but 5 days not a single winning day. strange indeed.

trading update

more pain. july is almost over. let's hope we get going by aug. hate to suffer through another week like this. draw down is still 15.27% so no lower balance losses, but that's 7 days down in a streak. markets is pretty abnormal though. we're not moving in waves anymore, but staccato's, short sharp almost random moves. we're not designed for that. i think there's a lot intervention in the markets. we just have to keep trading till we're through.

daily update

so that was -1.72%, taking us to -4% not as bad as I thought on the day, but day 6 and -14% overall draw down. boring! i expect about 30% at some point, lets just hope this isn't it.

random travel photo

on a beach, on the edge of a jungle, i found this tree and this man, both apparently taking a break.



philippines, white sands beach

trading update

the pain continues. 6th day in a row we're losing. hardly banking anything. the problem being that the dollar is trying to crack the USD index at 78 and someone keeps on buying it away from that level. so we get whipped stupid. but we stick to our guns and we trade through. should end today or early next week i hope. what's also not helping is about 8 pairs of 25 has stopped banking becuase they have taken longer term positions, but they're not really running anymore either, just slowly creeping along. a decent move will bank those and get them going again. daily loss (sic) will be published later.

daily change

ouch! nother -2.72%. and today is already worse. usd is on the cusp of having to do something big. little more push and the USD index will fall of a cliff. or they have to seriously push it away from here.

trading update

another loss day. 5 days in a row. i used to think i have losing days, but not losing weeks. seems i was wrong. usd still directionless and the open runners haven't banked for a week, nor have they moved much, so it's all stagnating a bit. still, the aim of the game is stay in business long enough to get through the tough times, so we're still ok. the 11% or so draw down so far is well within expectations.

daily change

there it is. seems equity caught up with balance. lost -5.34% for a total monthly gain of 0.49%. boring.

trading update

argh! the battle continues, ibfx late again, so i'll post that later, i'm hoping we get some usd action today. we don't need much but i'd love to see us go back to $3300, so we can build a base to move higher from...but we took another loss yesterday, so that's like 4 losing days in a row. new record i think.

random travel photo

ox wagen train...hard to believe this is going to be an economy that in many ways will dominate the USA in the next decade. tell's you how deep in the dwang the US is...



india, kakinada

daily change

there we go, rather late than never. so we lost -0.52% that takes our monthly gain to 6.16% for july. so sad...what is encouraging is we didn't go negative on the month so far, even though it's a really tough market.

trading update

another down day. three in a row. ibfx a bit slow this morning, so I don't have the figures, but i'd say it's about 1.5% or so. exact figure doesn't matter much in the bigger scheme of things. and so we churn some more, still no real direction. just have to keep wading through the churning till we get going. no point in losing patience or trying to change settings.

random travel photo

anybody need a goat?

i know just the place. you're local friendly goat retailer. wide range. big discounts on old stock. hp for approved clients. parking for clients with bicycles and scooters. clients who arrive by jeepney get a complementarity shot of tequila to calm the nerves. special holiday discounts. does trade-in's. use your old goats as a deposit.



manila, philippines

daily changes

here is a table of our percentage gains and losses per day for july so far.

quick note on the figures

the percentage gain i'm giving is from the ibfx website, where the graph is the balance. so sometimes there might be a discrepancy like yesterday, where our balance climbed 1%, but the market pulled back on our positions. maybe they'll go into profit monday or maybe not. who knows. there'll never be more than a percentage point or two difference and even if there is it's academic. it's just easier to quote the figures as ibfx sees them.

trading update

nother dismal day. low volitility all around. lost 1.11% to take us to an 5.57% for the week, overall monthly figure 6.71% or 0.51% a day for the 13 trading days we've had in july. the good news is there's a full 10 days left. volatility in itself isn't as important to us as momentum, but there just isn't any at the moment. its all just one big washing machine, tumbling around and around and around...

trading update

slight loss yesterday, 1.2% putting our monthly gain on 7.9%. the dollar is proving to be very difficult and only the jpy's are saving our butts at this point. kinda frustrating....

trading update

fighting back hard now. after the dollar doldrums which lasted for june - july. by the looks of it, apparently it does that every year. with the current global turmoil i'm looking forward to a nice volatile rest of the year now that july is drawing to a close and we're starting to see life in the market again.

random travel photo

stairway to heaven guarded by two very long dragons...

trading update

looks like we're starting to pull out of the doldrums. most of this came from the JPY pairs. hope USD can make a move today, all we need to fly past the previous high...

trading update

the fight continues. usd being very difficult....

trading update

i closed out on friday to change a setting. been some real nasty markets, so we're barely up after about 9 trading days. good news is we're still up. can't always make money, so we just trade through it.

trading update

just plugging along, thank heavens this is auto. hate to have to wade through a week like this on manual.

trading update

recovering again. going to take some time i guess...

trading update

had a real big smack overnight. not entirely unexpected. we do draw down about 10% from time to time. question is whether this is the end of it and we got up from here or if there's more to come. we wait and see...

trading update

US session was disappointing, got a bit whipped during the day, but clawed it back, no real action in the market at the moment, no direction to talk off...

random travel photo

a nigerian harbor



every single ship in this picture has sunk. there's so many here that the harbor can't be used at night. the scrap metal value alone must be ten's of millions dollars, if not hundreds! yet there they rust. if you try get a contract to remove them everyone wants a cut, the government, the harbor, the ship owner, the security guard at the gate. it's just not worth it to even try. prime example of greed leading to poverty. everyone wants to much, so now no one gets anything...

that my friends, is nigeria's oil wealth in action.

in cape town or singapore or any other civilized country the ship would be salvaged, sold for scrap and the owner billed for the cost.

trading update

yesterday was very good. we're about to hit the first level of compounding. june was a very sideways month. i'm hoping we have a hectic month or two which would build just the kind of foundation we need under this thing.

trading update

right, so this is us live. business as normal, been a nice few days.