Moomin Valley

I fixed the damage caused to my futures account on Friday and then some. HIgh volatility in today's session was very useful for this pur...

It was a very bad idea to put so much reliance on an essentially untested or minimally tested model. The progress in winning back some profi...

Just thought of a new way of using my model results and so am going to make a bold prediction for tomorrow. Direction: Up Predicted rise in ...

I moved back to the US from Australia and now we are on the verge of moving back to Australia again. I produced a NetWorthIQ style snapshot ...

But Oscar was calling for an up day too, so I wasn't the only one. I made some money on the long side and then just when I realized tha...

Following up from my recent posts I thought it would be useful to write down a simple equation that really sums up a lot about the decision ...

Maybe I should add this to my model? That is a huge effect not to be arbitraged away already. Weird.

I plugged the actual numbers for our own situation into my housing simulator. These include a 7% mortgage rate current in Australia, Snork M...

It seems to me that the best way to address the financial aspects of the renting vs. buying conundrum is to use simulations. There are too m...

My new trading strategy is to hold a minimal or small position overnight (currently equivalent to 1100 QQQQ shares) and to increase my posit...

There are two main ways that an international move of this sort should affect investment choices: 1. Differences in tax policy - I don't...

A very good article on buying vs. renting.

Is a famous saying of Warren Buffett. Actually, it's OK to lose money as long as you don't lose too much. To illustrate this point I...

I just agreed with a moving company to go ahead for an August 3rd pickup of my stuff. The cost: $4175 including insurance against loss for d...

Today was meant to be a big trading day with lots of news releases, the FOMC minutes, and Google earnings. But I didn't sleep last night...

Corey linked to this interesting Applet . It seems to have some built in assumption about the variance of the amount won or lost. Plug in W...

The naive thinking in this kind of article is just poor economics. It's the way most people think though. Yes it's true that the ho...

Big down day in the market and I still manage to lose money going long... what is wrong with me? First two trades went OK but the third lost...

Did my first actual trade of the Australian Share Price Index Futures. Using my Interactive Brokers account and trading on the Sydney Future...

I tried applying the same model I am using for trading the NASDAQ 100 to the All Ordinaries and S&P 500. The results were very poor for ...

Been taking another look at Australian real estate sites for our desired location. We should be able to pay $A350-$A450 per week in rent ($U...

My first two weeks as a supposedly professional trader (as I'm no longer earning a salary) are not going well. I've lost $3800 or 16...

today, which is great news. So I am effectively already on unpaid leave from my job. I went to the local immigration office this morning. Lu...

Just faxed this letter to Sydney. Hope it does the trick. There is no point in pursuing a green card if I don't intend to stay in the US...

I finally have the data together in almost final form to be able to present to you my net worth and investment performance report for June. ...

We were going to spend yesterday on packing, dealing with Snork Maiden's visa issues and then maybe getting around to some work on her P...

Anyway, yesterday, Snork Maiden finally got her visa application lodged for her work permit (457 Business Visa) for Australia. Her employer ...

Latest development is I will meet the university's immigration lawyer (she also worked for me on all my visas) this coming Thursday and ...

In a couple of e-mails with the immigration lawyer over July 4th the conclusion seems to be that I should resign from my job ASAP. The neat ...

It's July 4th and I'm at my office on campus. But strangely enough this is a sign that I am independent and free. To some degree. I...

Feeling a bit down due to doing stupid trades against the model (I know these trades are wrong and stupid and still do them) I went downsta...

As June 30 is the end of the Australian tax year when mutual funds make major distributions and provide information on the tax treatment of ...

It's been one year now since I started trying to trade the model - time for an assessment. I didn't trade much this month but did p...

First day back home a lot got done, culminating in booking our flights to Australia for mid-September. We got a very good price via a websit...

That will remain a secret (the bill was about $81) but there was no disagreement on that or how to split the bill :) Last night I met up wit...

I wanted to post a blogpost from Wall Street, but Starbucks was too busy. I am at least writing this one at the intersecton of Wall and Broa...

I'm back in New York (actually right now I'm in Jersey City which is a much cheaper place to stay but only two stops on the PATH tra...

I rarely post about the spending side of the equation but after spending yesterday working with Snork Maiden on move preparations I thought ...

I suddenly realized today that if my employment terminates on June 30th my H1B status does too. There is no grace period to leave the countr...

My negotiations with my university didn't last long. They didn't budge at all and so I'm not going to budge either. I plan to re...

Yesterday afternoon we drove back from Boston after dropping my brother off at the airport. I think for all of us the visit to Gloucester wa...

I'm in Massachusetts now travelling with Snork Maiden and my brother who is visiting for just over a week. His first time in America (an...

Snork Maiden has a savings account with TD BankNorth. Don't worry, she also has one with HSBC but keeps this one because her pay is paid...

Interesting evidence on why overnight trading and closing the trade within the first hour or so is a good strategy when using directional t...

Today we got the formal offer letter from the Australian position. It's OK - just need to push the start date off by about a month to 1 ...

Some reasons why we've decided to move to Australia: 1. So far it's the only good job offer that Snork Maiden has received. There ar...

New investment: 500 shares of Rick's Cabaret . Wallstrip umm "profiled" it and I checked out other blogs and the numbers and ...

We have pretty much decided to move to Australia though we still need to work out/negotiate all the details. I'll explain in another pos...

All figures are in US Dollars unless otherwise stated. This month saw weaker performance especially when compared to the market, but net wor...

The model had its first losing month in a long time. It ended down -0.87% on the month while NDX gained 3.24%. However, my trading accounts ...

When I get worried about something I tend to do some research on the issue to reassure myself that it's not a real problem. So in this s...

I envy people who seem to know what they want out of life. I'm confused. When I'm trading instead of focusing on my job and on acade...

Finally getting around to this. One advantage of moving to Australia will be simpler tax rules and forms though at higher income levels the ...

Is something some people think I do too much of. Too much thinking about possible outcomes can result in "analysis paralysis". How...

This chart is from Maoxian's blog . It just shows volume of the Shanghai A shares. It does not include the Shenzhen market which is smal...