You can do so much with twitter. As an example, the picture below displays trades generated electronically by our algorithm (Strategy 2) feeding directly to a private twitter account. All members of the Bigger Team who have been approved as followers can see the trades executing in real time. How cool is that?
world (API) <---> Twitter Box <---> World (API)
more powerful than
World (API) <---> Google Box <---> Google
Convoluted but posted so I could remember it.
"Amazon (AMZN) led the pack (as usual) with 61% y/y growth - up from Septembers 55%" according to ChannelAdvisor. This is great news for Amazon's margin.
The market might not be paying attention but I am.
Bookmarking links for investment research works well, but I find it messy, cumbersome, and forgettable. When I come across a topic worth storing for future investment research reference, I prefer to copy and paste the article and its link into a Google document that I name specifically reflecting that topic. When I want to find the document, Google’s Search helps me retrieve it immediately. The documents are stored on Google’s servers, somewhere in the “cloud,” which you can access from any computer, from anywhere.
Leverage the power of your Google documents by sharing them with people willing to collaborate on the topic. Netflix Prize contestants have shown the power of crowd sourcing (Google “Netflix Prize results” for more information on this topic). Empower your collaborators with the Google Document sharing feature for improved results. Let your tribe of contributors go wild. As an example, I use Google Documents for financial projects such as collaborating on stock analysis, performing investigative financial work (scuttlebutt), etc.
It is amazing what you can learn on Twitter. It beats speaking to management. Talk to customers instead. In the age of social media, scuttlebutt takes a different dimension. Ebay, you are horrible!
Are there hashtags on Twitter directed at the Board of Directors of American companies? Enough is enough. We need to express our disatisfaction to the Boards of mismanaged American companies.
I recently added some of my research material on Crocs to a Google Document. If you have an interest in the company from an investment standpoint and would like to collaborate in understanding the company better, I will be happy to share the document with you. Send me an email at biggercapital@gmail.com and tell me why you would like to contribute.
Kind Regards,
Michael Bigger
Don't you love it when kids go wild in a sandbox? They build bridges, rivers, castles, and moats, their imaginations going wild with what is possible. For kids playing in a sandbox, anything is possible. They twist their minds, try all sorts of things, learn a ton, and exit much smarter little people.
Many traders have recently asked me how they can create a trading algorithm from scratch. The answer resides in finding your balance with a strategy that works for you. Let me explain by giving you a real-life example. I have a good friend and business partner who trades S&P 500 futures against Nasdaq 100 futures. He has been trading them for many years and has made a little bit of money, but nothing dramatic.
Last year, all of that changed. He made a couple of million in 2008, and he is on track to produce the same payoff in 2009. His trading successes started ramping up when he got in balance with his strategy. After tweaking his strategy for a few years and improving it, the strategy now makes sense for him, and he is comfortable running it. I know what he does, but I can't implement it: that strategy doesn't work for me. I am a stock and options guy. So I took some of my friend's recommendations and created my own strategy, ran it in a trading sandbox, tweaked it, and now I am making money with it—enough so that I got a significant capital allocation interest from an institutional investor. I am in balance with my strategy, it works for me, and I project confidence when I talk about it.
So, to answer my traders’ question, my advice is to start trading the market from different angles (short, neutral, long, low and high frequencies, etc.) and figure out an individualized "how to skin the cat" strategy that works for you. Experiment, tweak, tinker in the sandbox, and find your balance.
My friend broke her Iphone and had to make an appointment with the genius at the Genius Bar at the Apple Store.
Genius? You must be kidding me. This is the same arrogance displayed with financial firms before the financial crisis.
Remember?
The Morgan Stanley Advisor weeping at the wedding.
Citigroup's 200 years of investment wisdom.
Michael Bigger
Chief Dumbass Officer
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 8:29AM