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Mark Cuban’s post mortem on Facebook

His latest take on the facebook IPO is here. His points are in bold.

1. Say goodbye to the individual investor on Wall Street. Mr. Cuban argues that because the media hyped the FB IPO that Wall Street is to blame. OK, I agree the IPO was hyped. But is that Wall Streets fault? Isn’t it the media’s fault? Isn’t it the buyers fault for not doing their due diligence? Didn’t Morgan Stanley spend millions propping up the stock the first day?

No one has long term success by reading any single piece of media, especially without knowing the writers intentions.

Here is a brief explanation on how the market works. If there are more buyers than sellers it goes up or vice versa. Or more important right now, if they have the means to buy.

2. The Valuation Bubble in Silicon Valley is bursting – but not for the reasons you think. The idea of private investment seems great but the execution is far off. The value of any market is liquidity. That has to be one of the important factors when making an investment. You know why futures are gaining popularity and what will eventually lead to their demise? A central market place and the lack thereof. Their spawns will kill the market and liquidity. The less central a market place the more likely the forces within that market are able to take control.

Mark agrees with me on liquidity but my interpretation is that he makes an argument against his point not for it. Didn’t the public market do a much better job at pricing? Didn’t the private market fail more dramatically than the public is this case? (Some one that knows the details better than I, when they went public did private shares get converted 1 to 1? If it did not get converted 1 to 1 let me know and I will gladly change it)

I believe Shark Tank is a great reason why Wall Street will always exist. I do not feel bad for the euntrepreuners and or the Sharks. Each assume the other person will add value. Wall Street assumes the same thing but to more people But as Mr. Cuban already knows, not everyone can win. But would they do better if there were 10 sharks or 100 sharks? Would more companies get funded?

If you allow people to be stupid, they will continue to be stupid. Howard Lindzon wrote a post as well that I disagreed with on the basis of access. They are both a lot more successful than I so I could be wrong. Also both of those guys should know that you are more likely to get screwed privately than publicly. I think this might be changing but it hasn’t yet. Open is not bad, closed is not bad, bad is bad. Liquidity and cash is always king, deeper markets should lead to better pricing. (more…)

Top 10 Lessons from the Lehman Collapse

Sunday is the five year anniversary of the bankruptcy of Lehman.  So what have we learnt?

1 – Bank executives lie…

…they also got paid huge amounts, weren’t as smart as they thought they were and those that ended up at the top tended to be deeply flawed individuals…

On Sept 10 in a conference call with investors, days before Lehman collapsed, Dick Fuld clearly stated to his shareholders that “no new capital was needed” and that “real estate and investments were properly valued”. Yet only five days later, Lehman filed for bankruptcy.

 

At a congressional Committee just a few weeks later, Dick Fuld was defiant. He stood by his “no new capital was needed” statement: “no sir, we did not mislead investors”. And he added that “we (made) disclosures that we believed were accurate”. If no new capital was needed why did Lehman go bust five days later? And if he didn’t know the financial position of Lehman what was he doing as CEO?

As part of the Congressional Committee hearings, Dick Fuld was allowed to make a presentation before he was questioned. These are his exact words as to the cause of Lehman’s demise:

“Naked short sellers targeted financial institutions and spread rumours and false information. The impact of this market manipulation became self-fulfilling as short sellers drove down the stock prices of financial firms. The ratings agencies lowered their ratings because lower stock prices made it harder to raise capital and (it) reduced financial flexibility. The downgrades in turn caused lenders and counter parties to reduce credit lines and then demand more collateral which increased liquidity pressures. At Lehman Bros the crisis in confidence that permeated the markets lead to an extraordinary run on the bank. In the end despite all of our efforts we were overwhelmed.” (more…)

WILLIAM O'NEIL'S STOCK TRADING COMMANDMENTS

Last Night ,Completed reading  Trade Like An O’Neil Disciple by Gil Morales and Dr. Chris Kacher. One of the chapters, with a wealth of information, is “Our Bill of Commandments” wherein the authors discuss William O’Neil’s (think IBD) stock trading commandments. I thought it would be worthwhile to list them here.

1.  Never Get Carried Away With Yourself.  “The basic idea is that one should remain impervious to the illusions and trappings of wealth, as they often lead one to become carried away to the point where excess of one sort or another ultimately leads to one’s demise” (265).

2.  Never Operate From a Position of Fear.  “If you are fearful in the markets, either as a result of taking a recent loss or some other mistake, or even as a result of being nervous about the level of risk you are taking, then you are putting yourself in the position of making and unclear and hence incorrect decision” (265).

3.  You Learn More From Your Enemies Than You Do From Your Friends.  Make sure you take the criticism’s of others and use them to your advantage by recognizing that the more others criticize the more you value your own beliefs, trading or otherwise.

4.  Never Stop Learning and Improving. Always focus your mistakes and searching for ways to correct them.  That way you will not be as tempted to make the same mistake again. 

5.  Never Talk About Your Stocks.  This is purely an ego taming exercise.  While I personally believe it is ok to discuss technical analysis and stocks that may be on a watchlist there is really no benefit in bragging about success and hiding your failures.  It is ok to be wrong

6.  Don’t Get Giddy at the Top.  Bigger charts (such as the WEEKLY) are the best barameters for giddiness.  By watching over extended big charts, the trader’s emotions can be better managed thereby avoiding jumping on the caboose as the train is set to take a break from its recent trip.

7.  Use Weekly Charts First, Daily Second, and Ignore Intra-day Charts.  No need to focus on the noise at the expense of listening to the still, small voice of Mr Market. 

8.  Find The Big Stock.  Look for stocks under accumulation and then begin buying in preparation for distribution.

9.  Be Careful Who You Get Into Bed With.  Although not a trading rule per se, keeping good, solid company outside the charts, can help you be the best trader inside the charts.  “Trust and integrity between two people are the most important variables in life and in business” (269).

10.  Always Maintain Insane Focus. Focus “is what makes life worth living, and by relentlessly pursuing our passions we attain the state of insane focus that in turn drives high levels of success” (269).

No matter what you think of O’Neil and his trading strategy, one thing is for certain his commandments are applicable to all of us both in and outside the charts. 

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