Thursday, August 20, 2009

EES Releases V Speed indicator for Spot FX Volatility

V (Volatility) Speed is an indicator that displays the current high-low (range) of each bar on the chart, and displays it in the data window below with a smoothed average of the past x(3) bars. 3 is the default, the longer the period the more long term the value, in other words if you want a short term volatility indication to signal an increase in volatility, a lower number should be used.

EES recommends using this indicator as a measure of volatility, and to signal an increase or decrease in volatility by watching the SMA. A cross up (when the SMA is below the V Speed line and crosses above it) of the SMA indicates a decrease in volatility and conversely, a cross down indicates an increase. The SMA values can be adjusted according to the specific pair and time frame used. V Speed can be referenced by strategies as an indication of volatility.

The name speed is derived from the method to determine how 'fast' volatility is moving, specific to your pair. Monitoring the VIX is not necessarily appropriate. V speed also is a handy tool to display each bars high-low which is the range.

Download this indicator at: http://www.eesfx.com

http://eesfx.com/eesfx/index.php/docs/doc_download/3-ees-v-speed-v11-code.html

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Microsoft spends $100 Million to advertise Bing, a lot of it with Google

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/28/ads-for-new-microsoft-bing-search-engineon-google-search/

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/bing/default.mspx

Classification and Identification for FX Systems and Indicators

EES is developing a system of Classification and Identification for trading systems, indicators, and related files. The system will be based on existing international standards, modified for appropriate trading applications.

During recent market analysis, some words and descriptive terms are lacking to describe certain market events. EES will use existing scientific standards as a template to name our own systems and develop a trading nomenclature.

For example, we are developing an indicator that will determine market "velocity" which is the 'speed' of the pair divided by the time.

Another example, how does a trader measure the amount a pair may fluctuate in a range? It would calculate the amount of times the price crosses a line, or multiple lines, inside a trading range.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centimetre_gram_second_system_of_units

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_protocol

To participate in this development, see the thread in eesfx.com:

http://eesfx.com/eesfx/index.php/forum/14-fx-systems/11-classification-and-identification.html

Monday, August 17, 2009

Commodity Traders’ $1 Million Bonus as Oil Doubles

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aafaX5C3qFmA
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street firms are again recruiting commodities traders with promises of $1 million bonuses as prices of raw materials from oil to copper double.

Less than a year after oil tumbled a record 54 percent and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index was suffering its biggest drop ever, Bank of America Corp. plans to boost commodity headcount by 25 percent. London-based Barclays Plc will increase staff about 6 percent. Morgan Stanley is recruiting traders in shipping. The banks declined to comment on compensation.

Stocks slide, dollar gains

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aNHdNnf9dDHY
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Stocks tumbled around the world, led by China, while the yen, dollar and Treasuries rose as investors speculated that a rally in riskier assets has outpaced prospects for economic growth. Energy and commodity prices also slid.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aFCS3BWplJOY
Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Former Credit Suisse Group AG broker Eric Butler was convicted of fraudulently selling millions of dollars in subprime securities to corporate clients.

Interaction between MеtaTrader 4 and MATLAB Engine

http://articles.mql4.com/833
MetaTrader 4 and the MATLAB mathematical package have gained high popularity among users due to their positive characteristics, including "flexibility" in creation of complex calculation systems. There are three main ways of MATLAB connection with external applications, but only one of them is recommended - use of the virtual desktop MATLAB Engine. This method guarantees the full compatibility with the whole MATLAB package. Many programmers avoid this method for below reasons:

  • Many users find it slow. This is true, if compared with the direct function call from DLL libraries of MATLAB. The main delay takes place at the beginning of operation, when the virtual machine is called because of the call of numerous libraries that are uploaded into the virtual space of the calling process (in our case MetaTrader 4).
  • Transferability of the project. True, when transferring a project to another computer all MATLAB DLL libraries must also be transferred, though as well as when direct call is used, to know the "relations" of the latter ones, i.e. start queue!
  • Obligatory knowledge of C++ or Fortran. Well, if you know MQL4, you can easily learn C++ and vice versa.

Why I recommend this method:

  1. This is the most reliable and independent from the MATLAB version method of connection with external programs. You can change MATLAB version and your indicators or Expert Advisors won't notice it. This is the most important advantage.
  2. It has a relatively quick development method. It doesn't require debuggers, and it will make no difficulties to write the DLL wrapper.
  3. "Common desktop" for several indicators and/or Expert Advisors. I consider this method useful when we need to make a decision based on data of several indicators or in the implementation of a pyramid trade.

This article describes the way of connecting MetaTrader 4 and MATLAB ver. 7.4.0 (R2007a) via a "DLL-wrapper" written in Borland C++ Builder 6. Programmers who prefer Microsoft products will have to adapt examples to their compiler (good luck to you in this complicated matter!).

China offers Silver Investments






Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Canadian Intervention Not Likely

http://marcchandler.blogspot.com/2009/08/canadian-intervention-highly-doubtful.html
There is much talk today, circulating NY dealing rooms, that the Bank of Canada is getting ready to intervene in the foreign exchange market. We are dubious are that the BOC would intervene unilaterally on the CAD/USD exchange rate. In fact, we cannot recall a single episode of BOC intervening on CAD/USD in recent years, if ever.Last week, when US dollar had a CAD1.07 handle and Euro-Cad was near 1.5350 that the Canadian dollar looked vulnerable.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Cities Tolerate Homeless Camps – Madoff wowed young regulators

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124994409537920819.html
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Last summer, police responding to complaints about campfires under a highway overpass found dozens of homeless people living on public land along the Cumberland River.

Eviction notices went up -- and then were suspended by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, a Democrat, who said housing for the homeless should be found first.

A year later, little has been found -- and Nashville, with help from local nonprofits, is now servicing a tent city, arranging for portable toilets, trash pickup, a mobile medical van and visits from social workers. Volunteers bring in firewood for the camp's 60 or so dwellers.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08112009/gossip/pagesix/madoff_wowed_kid_probers_183931.htm
YOUNG, inexperienced government regulators were so wowed by Bernard Madoff's ritzy Midtown headquarters that they asked about job openings and dropped off resumes while missing clear evidence he was running a massive Ponzi scheme, a new book claims.


 

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Flash Trading Ban

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE56R5OA20090728
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq Stock Market supports a ban on so-called "flashes," order types that it and other stock-trading venues send to a select group of traders fractions of a second before revealing them publicly, Senator Charles Schumer said on Tuesday.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/153607-flash-trading-is-here-to-stay

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/business/24trading.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1249402696-UgY5aw4sTY/TBSx0WkH0A&pagewanted=print
"It's become a technological arms race, and what separates winners and losers is how fast they can move," said Joseph M. Mecane of NYSE Euronext, which operates the New York Stock Exchange. "Markets need liquidity, and high-frequency traders provide opportunities for other investors to buy and sell."

Goldman Program Packet Sniffing?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alXddMij8xxQ

http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/07/is-case-of-quant-trading-industrial.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/7/750786/-Incredibly-Shrinking-Liquidity-as-Goldman-Flushed-Quant-Trading

http://blogs.reuters.com/commentaries/2009/07/05/a-goldman-trading-scandal/
Did someone try to steal Goldman Sachs' secret sauce?

While most in the US were celebrating the 4th of July, a Russian immigrant living in New Jersey was being held on federal charges of stealing top-secret computer trading codes from a major New York-based financial institution—that sources say is none other than Goldman Sachs.

The allegations, if true, are big news because the codes the accused man, Sergey Aleynikov, tried to steal is the secret code to unlocking Goldman's automated stocks and commodities trading businesses. Federal authorities allege the computer codes and related-trading files that Aleynikov uploaded to a German-based website help this major "financial institution" generate millions of dollars in profits each year.

Google Search: http://www.google.com/search?q=goldman+sachs+packet+sniffing&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe= Goldman Sachs Packet Sniffing