Shadowtraders

Hopefully you’ve all been applying your ShadowTrading skills and getting in some trading every day. The volatility has been good on various instruments and you have a lot of choices out there (e-mini’s, 6J, 6E, CL, NG, etc). Looking at the graphs, the news and the general geo-political vibe out there, I feel it necessary to remind you all to make sure you are in and out of your trades before end of day. Hopefully it’s not taking you more than about 10-15 minutes to hit your targets and be done.

Also, depending on your broker, the cash in your account might be being put into money market accounts at night. This didn’t used to be a big deal, but now that rulings have come out to reinforce the concept that redemptions could be frozen for “extraordinary events”, this is more risk than I feel is acceptable.

I can’t fully quantify it yet, but there appears to be one or more major events hanging out just beyond the horizon. Whether that is a US debt default, debt jubilee, war or something else…I’m not certain. But I haven’t seen this many BIG news items coming up at the same time. I have my ears open on various lines and will faithfully keep you updated.

Given the potential for some “disruptive event”, I think it is good policy to move a portion of profits out regularly from your trading account, and put that towards paying down debt and/or buying what will really help you survive now [in case you're wondering, a new 70 inch LCD TV is not a survival item--just see how well it does when the power's out]. I’m not exactly big on hoarding cash, since fiat currency, like Blanche DuBois, “relies on the kindness of strangers.”

 Debt all paid? Very good. You can work on broadening your horizons by establishing bases of operation in other countries.  Don’t forget to help out your fellow man either. Folks are dying for credit. You could be a trusted source to provide refinancing away from the evil, usurious vampire squids out there. Count it as a revolutionary act–and a kind one too.