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Hedge Fund Managers' Vernacular

As there is a considerable amount of industry-specific jargon used in Hedge Fund Managers’ monthly reports, please see the below glossary to explain some of the more arcane terminology.

* Challenging conditions = double-digit down month

* Cautiously optimistic = single-digit down month

* Constrained risk profile = we bottled it at the bottom

* Alpha = imaginary friends

* Beta = punting

* Alternative Beta = punting in stuff we can’t spell

* Negative gamma = we lost money, but it wasn’t our fault

* Positive gamma = we lost money, but it wasn’t our fault

* Theta/Kappa = our research department has been on a junket

* Negative correlation = everyone else made money

* Prudent cut in leverage = we went to Antigua for our holidays

* Liquidity issues = “Thank-you for calling XYZ International Capital Markets. Unfortunately all our sales operatives are receiving their P45s at present. Your call is important to us, so please try again later, perhaps if there is ever another bull market in this rubbish…”

* Re-optimised portfolio = we threw out the baby, bathwater and the bath

* With hindsight… = ouch

* Healthy growth in AUM = how bad must the opposition be?

* Modest outflows = they wanted to redeem the lot, but our small print is world-class

* Material outflows = would anyone like to re-invest in my new minicab venture?

How To Make Your Own Luck in Trading

The only place luck has in trading is that you will hopefully be on the right side of unexpected moves due to surprises. In trading you should trade in such a way that good luck will benefit you and bad luck will not destroy you. In my trading luck has little to do with my profits. I trade when the probabilities are on my side based on what the chart is saying about the current action of buyers and sellers in a stock. New traders hoping for luck belong in Las Vegas not the stock market. Trade the trends, play the odds, manage the risk, have faith in yourself that you have the discipline to trade your winning plan.

  1. I do not trade on luck I trade with probabilities being on my side.
  2. I manage my risk carefully so bad luck on one trade does not blow up my trading account.
  3. I trade in the direction of the markets current trend to enable me to stay on the right side of strong moves.
  4. I trade in the direction of the markets current trend so the odds are on my side of being right.
  5. I buy the strongest stocks  and sell short the weakest stocks.
  6. When I am wrong I do not hope for luck I just get out of a losing trade.
  7. When I buy options I buy the in the money options with the odds in my favor not the far out of the money ones that require some luck.
  8. I primarily buy options instead of selling them so I can get big moves for small fees instead of small fees for big risks.
  9. I only risk 1% of my capital per trade so I do not blow up my account with a string of bad trades.
  10. I trade with confidence in my myself and my method not hoping for luck.

Milton Friedman's Brilliant 2 Minute Defense Of Capitalism

Nobel prize winning economist Milton Friedman would’ve turned 101-years-old today.

And there are plenty of people who would’ve loved to have him around today to witness how the Federal Reserve is running monetary policy.

Friedman, who is famous for his ideas on monetarism, was against the idea of a Federal Reserve.  However, he did support the expansion of money supply. (more…)

10 Trading Points

1) When you see a market extended to the upside or downside, in which many new buyers or sellers pile in at the new highs or lows, be on the lookout for opportunities to fade the move. The market, on average, doesn’t reward those who chase highs or lows or who panic out at price extremes.
2) A market that trades above or below its value area on weak volume is likely to return to that value area. A breakout turns into a trend when higher/lower prices attract market participation.
3) A broad, high volume breakout move to new highs or lows from an extended range is more likely to continue in its breakout direction (and move significantly in its breakout direction) than a narrow, low volume breakout move from a briefer range. Such moves are sustained by the larger number of traders on the wrong side of the market who will have to cover their positions, thus accentuating the breakout move.
4) A breakout move accompanied by a fundamental catalyst (earnings report, news event, shift in interest rates, currency movement) is more likely to continue in its breakout direction than a breakout move that occurs without other asset repricing. Large institutional traders are more likely to reprice equities in the face of significant fundamental drivers in correlated markets.
5) Don’t chase price highs or lows; sell when buyers take their turn and can’t move the market highs; buy when the sellers take their turn and can’t move the market lower.

6) Identify what the market’s largest traders are doing and go with it on weak countertrend action. The large traders account for the majority of the market’s volume and volatility. If they are buying or selling stocks, you don’t want to get caught fighting them. Wait for pullbacks to enter in the direction of the institutions.
7) If it’s a slow market (relatively few large traders), consider the possibility of range bound action. Low volume means low volatility, and that is generally associated with relatively narrow price ranges. Take profits quickly in such markets and set targets modestly; moves tend to reverse readily.
8) If it’s a busy market (relatively many large traders), consider the possibility of volatile market action. A market with high volume means that large traders will be capable of pushing price up and down to a greater degree than average. Adjust your stops and targets to account for this incremental volatility.
9) If many sectors don’t participate in a new high or low for the broad market index, consider fading the new high or low. A trend with staying power will tend to lift or depress all major stocks/sectors. When many issues or sectors don’t participate in a market move, the buying or selling in the index is often confined to a few issues that are highly weighted. Such moves generally are not sustained.
10) If you anticipate a broad move by equities, consider trading the most volatile indexes and the sectors with greatest relative strength. What you trade is just as important to results as the timing of trades. Go with the dominant market themes unless you have tangible evidence that those themes have changed.

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