Flyboys Fund

SPECIAL VIDEO! Jeffrey Lin goes to NYC for Largest Tweetup Ever! CNBC Fast Money & OptionMonster Tweetup Special

admin — Sat, 09 May 2009 13:12:51 +0000

If you haven’t seen this already! YES it’s all over the web! (I would like to think hehe). It’s the special compilation video I made of my trip to the CNBC Fast Money & OptionMonster Largest Tweetup ever. I blogged about it when I got back but didn’t get to cut a video till a few weeks ago… Sorry forgot to post it here, but it was on http://FINZ.tv right away!

Anyway enjoy! And would looove to have a tweetup elsewhere so just hit me up on twitter!

Trader Learning Curve Deja Vu

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 21:04:36 +0000

** Originally posted at FINZ.tv’s POSSE Trader Journal, my new site with a few other great traders. Reposted here because I’m sure all my readers here miss me too! **

Switching from trading fundamentals (”active investor”) to day trading on charts & technicals, I’d have to say the last 4 months have been a learning curve roller coaster. First few days I felt a little timid as the area of technical analysis seemed totally foreign to me. Even though I was still working with stocks, entering the same order ticket as I had been doing for over a year and a half. About a month into watching and learning from a few mentors, I was able to apply the beginner “simple rules” they taught of technical analysis and trading. I gained confidence bit by bit, first by being able to follow their trades then slowly using the same “simple rules” to make my own “simple trades.” No, i didn’t have any fancy moves but with that confidence I was able to make more and more of my own trades. Sometimes I’d trade the same direction with my mentors, sometimes against and still make money. In other words, I was becoming independent. For about a 2 month stretch I traded like a pro, even confident enough to post those trades publicly on twitter and earn some respect, gain some friends, and grow my account. All of a sudden, BAM! I hit a trading funk the last month or so. Yet, as I read through Mark Douglas’ “Trading in the Zone” as suggested by one of my mentors, friend, & fellow POSSE Daytrend, I realized I didn’t so much hit a trading funk as a growth funk.

I hit this trader growth funk as I was ready to “become my own trader,” i.e. stand on my own two feet trading charts and using technical analysis. It is a natural development (I think), and actually necessary if one wants to continue to grow and have sustainability as a professional (vs. just dabbling in stocks and having placed a few trades). These phases of development seems familiar. Yes, deja vu. I experienced all these phases when I first got into the market in 2006 and slowly learned to trade based on fundamentals, listening to conference calls, reading industry reports, etc. But that was my first swag at the stock market. Ever. Learning was very slow and took over a year to get to the point where I slowly let go of following others’ recommendations or ideas to stand on my own. However, getting my sea legs and trying to hold one’s own is not easy. It was definitely the hardest phase of development, but having been through that and finally creating my own style of trading on fundamentals, I can tell you the other side is clear skies. Well not completely! Obviously the market is never “clear”, but after that point I never felt I didn’t know what to do-even in uncertain times. And trusting in yourself is the greatest thing you’ll ever have because you will always be there for yourself…can’t necessarily say that about anyone else, even if they honestly care and try to help you every step along the way.

Now, back to my current development as a technical trader. While hitting this transition phase of trying to be my own trader has been difficult, I’m encouraged to have gotten to this point in over 3 months what took me over a year when I tried trading on fundamentals. Moreover, I know getting through this phase and becoming my own trader is where I want to and where I NEED to be. Still, there are several obstacles I have to work through and I’m sure a lot of other budding traders encounter everyday, maybe even for a long time as they’re trying to reach the next level. Having to depend only on yourself and not your mentors or certain indicators is probably the toughest part of being on your own. Sure, your mentor (hopefully) trained you well and gave you great tools and methods. But as no two people are the same, no two traders are the same and can trade exactly the same. Certain things you got from your mentor might not work for you and that’s fine. You take what works and gels with your personality while letting other things go that were only meant to be guides, training wheels. At a certain point will actually make your development harder if you try to follow your mentor step by step because what works for their personality doesn’t work for you. Same reason why it is hard to be the exact person your parents want you to be vs. who you were meant to be.

Also as your mentor stops carrying you on their back and you become an adult you’ll have to not put your mentor on a pedestal anymore. I’m not saying take a rebellious teen attitude but allow yourself to be a grownup trader. Of course you respect your mentor, their experience, wisdom…AND DON’T STOP LEARNING FROM THEM! Sure, maybe they make a lot of money and have great reputation, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be a decent trader and hold your own. This way, you’ll have TRUE confidence to make your own trades regardless of what your mentor or anyone else you respect says. Even the greatest traders make mistakes, and you could very well be right when they are wrong, but you’ll need the confidence in your own abilities to do so. Who knows? You could be the young player straight out of High School that becomes the star. However, its not possible to discover your true potential if you always shadow someone else and can’t call a winning trade your own (as well as a losing trade). View traders with better reputation with respect, but just like any other player out on the court, with strengths and weaknesses, then you simply take that into account when you make your OWN decisions.

In following articles, I’ll look a bit more into the psychology of this development. Concepts like “becoming a trader” that just blew my mind which my great friend and mentor Quint Tatro of Tickerville emphasizes in his bootcamp videos. Also, the psychology of truly wrapping your mind around the market as a “creative” endeavor, more “art than science.” And, as a creative endeavor, how to consider the “uncertainties” in a positive manner as “possibilities” just as magical fairy tales have lots of “uncertainties” but children love them because of the unlimited “possibilities.” Finally, “trade smarter not harder.” Heard that first from @EricBolling during first few shows of CNBC’s Fast Money. We only have so much time to do research each night and can only look at so many indicators. Keep things simple to only those you NEED instead of grabbing at any idea or indicator hoping it’ll help, but more likely add to the noise and confusion and distracting you from the market’s true message.

Have a great weekend everyone! Excited to spend a little time this Sunday with @higgstrader, one of my great mentors from Tickerville. And my family will be back Sunday as well so I’ll have survived my first 2 weeks home alone (& not having to go to the E.R. to boot!)

See ya’ll on twitter or our FINZ Live Trading Chat before, during, and after trading hours!

Obama Admin. Rubbish of the Day: President now says wounded Vets need to pay for their own care

admin — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:45:21 +0000

President now says wounded Vets need to pay for their own care: http://bit.ly/xT2RM Seriously. Who did we just elect?

The American Legion Strongly Opposed to President’s Plan to Charge Wounded Heroes for Treatment

Source: news.yahoo.com

The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force …

Me on CNBC Fast Money Optionmonster Largest Tweetup Ever Live NYC

admin — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:06:33 +0000

Yes, at the last second, I took down a plane ticket and flew out to NYC on Jetblue’s redeye flight on Thursday night, landing in NYC Friday morning 4:45am for the CNBC Fast Money Optionmonster Largest Tweetup EVER! Why is it the largest tweetup ever you ask? Since we only had about 10 people? Because it’s the first Tweetup synchronized with a global cable show (CNBC’s Fast Money) at 5:00pm Eastern on 3/6/09.

Met a ton of my “twitter” trader friends at tweetup, including @TraderAlamo (Vincent Bagnato- My partner for FINZ.tv), @CoffeyGrinds (Andrew Coffey), @OptionMonster (Jon Najarian) @BullishBeauty (Carolyn Lloyd-Ferguson), @Barrieabalard, @ShaneDrozdowski, @Ferrari321 (Kevin Cheng), @theTrading (Dave Johnson), and @Millionare007 (John), @Alf2126 (Amanda) whose step-dad @jaycoje (Jason) called from Vegas for her to come down to Time Square and get him a Po-Baby (mortgage crash formula) Tshirt.

Lots more videos and tweetup stories as well as stuff from Invest Like a Monster conference on Saturday 3/7/09! so stay tuned here and on FINZ.tv!

Here’s the uncensored version of Largest Tweetup Ever video by @Coffeygrinds (Andrew Coffey)! Thanks Andrew! Love it!

Street team covering the NYC Tea Party. couldn’t wait for Rick Santelli

admin — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:24:54 +0000

Cut our first street interviews video for FINZ.tv this week! Trying to branch out with various types of trading, markets, and economic related videos so here’s our first attempt at getting out there and taking the pulse of the public for some opinions away from the trading desk. Because as we all should know, opinions and emotions should be kept out of trading since the market is always right. But alas, we are still people, with thoughts, and citizens of this great country and should/do care about the way our country is run. I mean, we ARE a democracy, aren’t we? (though that definition seems to be fading by the day). So check out the video… Street Team: Coverage-Chicago Tea Party with Rick Santelli? How about a NYC Tea Party.

P.s. thanks to NYC Tea Party Kellen Guida (@parcbench on twitter) as well as interviews with rally attendees Elizabeth Yannone and Steven E. Eiselen.

Oh, and, spur of the moment, I decided to head out to NYC tonight! Taking the redeye out of Long Beach airport, getting to NYC friday morning so I could be at the CNBC Fast Money/Optionmonster Tweetup for the Friday broadcast of Fast Money at the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. Please email me or message me on twitter if you’re free and in the NYC area! I’ll be in NYC Friday till Sunday and would love to get together.

And if you have any questions for the Fast Money traders, or any ideas for videos we could do for FINZ, let me know too! Even if you can’t be there, we’ll try to get stuff across for ya!

Whew! Made it to 3rd week of FINZ.tv videos-Interviewing David Aferiat of Trade-Ideas.com at Macellera in Manhattan

admin — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:46:34 +0000

After two crazy weeks, both in the markets and with me and Alamo trying to start up FINZ.tv, we’ve successfully kicked off the 3rd week of FINZ.tv! With ridiculous technology problems the first week when Vincent (@traderAlamo on twitter) tried to launch the show on his trip to Paris

then the cocky idea we could do 3 shows all last Sunday,

ETF in 60 UPDATE: Rewind the tape on SRS (ProShares Ultrashort Real Estate ETF) Trade

Multiplicity Ep.1: Whiffing Potash (POT) fertilizer for 10-mins, 30-mins, a whole day?

Trendlines Ep.1: Can China FXI (iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index) Hold the Line against Evil Nemesis FXP

we thought we’d slow it down and focus on making a clean, high quality video for the 3rd week.

Having done technical analysis shows for the first two weeks, we’re starting to branch out to different type of shows as was our original plan for a “network” for FINZ.tv. So here it is! The first interview held for FINZ.tv, with our guest David Aferiat (@tradeideas on twitter) of Trade-Ideas.com. Actually shot this last Sunday, February 22nd 2009, yes-the same Sunday we tried to put out 3 shows which we did, only 6 hours too late when all the traders on the East Coast were sleeping already. (for interview transcript and pictures, visit the episode page)

Please stop by FINZ.tv this week. We filmed our first “special” this weekend out in the streets of New York and should have that video out Monday or Tuesday. As always, we’ll continue putting out trading opportunity webisodes. Did y’all see how dead on we were with our first few videos? Not to mention our FINZ.tv POSSE Traders Journal doesn’t seem to have a miss trade yet! Almost sounds cocky huh? It’s not that. It’s more like…I’m amazed how professional and detailed our traders/bloggers are so even in this nuttiest of markets we still got a good handle on how to trade it.

Most importantly, we’ll be at the OptionMonster/Fast Money tweetup and event for Jon Najarian, Pete Najarian, and Guy Adami’s “Invest Like a Monster” seminar. The tweetup is this Friday outside the NASDAQ market site in Times Square during the Fast Money broadcast at 5pm, so come out and join us if you can! Contact Andrew Coffey (@coffeygrinds on Twitter) for tweetup info. The seminar is Saturday.

Bloomberg: Hong Kong Stocks Decline, Led by Property Shares

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:15:50 +0000

what’s the equivalent of the Proshares Ultrashort Dow Jones Real Estate ETF (SRS) in Hong Kong on the Heng Senk? The dominos of office buildings speading from the U.S. epicenter across the globe:

Bloomberg: Hong Kong Stocks Decline, Led by Property Shares

By Hanny Wan

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) — Hong Kong stocks fell, with the benchmark index set for its steepest weekly drop in five weeks, as the slowing economy erodes demand for real estate.

Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd., Hong Kong’s No. 1 property company by market value, retreated 3.8 percent after a real- estate agency said office rents slumped last month. Swire Pacific Ltd., one of the city’s biggest office landlords, dropped 2.5 percent. Chaoda Modern Agriculture (Holdings) Ltd., China’s largest listed vegetable grower, tumbled 7.1 percent as it sought HK$415.7 million ($54 million) in a share sale.

The Hang Seng Index declined 301.06, or 2.3 percent, to 12,722.30 as of 12:13 p.m. local time, extending its losses this week to 6.1 percent. That would be the gauge’s worst performance since the week ended Jan. 16.

The Hang Seng China Enterprise Index, which tracks so- called H-shares, lost 2.2 percent to 7,103.27.

The Hang Seng Index has lost 12 percent this year amid mounting signs of an economic slowdown. The benchmark is valued at 10 times estimated earnings, down from 18.7 times at the beginning of last year. Hong Kong’s commissioner to the U.S. said yesterday the city’s economy grew between 3 percent and 3.5 percent last year, about half the 6.4 percent pace in 2007.

Sun Hung Kai retreated 3.8 percent to HK$59.85. Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., the city’s No. 2 real estate company by market value, fell 3 percent to HK$62.95. Swire Pacific dropped 2.7 percent to HK$46.70. The Hang Seng Property Index’s 2.8 percent decline was the sharpest among the four industry groups tracked by the Hang Seng Index.

Share Sale

Prime office rents in Hong Kong fell 17 percent in January from a year earlier as landlords sought to retain tenants amid a recession, Colliers International said yesterday.

READ FULL ARTICLE ON BLOOMBERG

P.S. Watch our first FINZ.tv episode on SRS “ETF in 60: IYR Real Estate ETF looks SRS-ly Toast (French Toast)“

CNBC’s Rick Santelli leads the trader mortgage revolt. Join his “Chicago Tea Party?”

admin — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 05:01:08 +0000

Vote “YES” on this CNBC poll: http://www.cnbc.com/id/29283701

Then sign up for the Tea Party on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=68704930659&ref=mf

I’ll be going to the Santelli’s Chicago Tea Party- Will you? Hit me up on twitter if you are! We owe it to our fellow citizens.

Don’t do it Timmy Geithner! Don’t do it!

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 04:21:31 +0000

If our largest debt holder (China) is concerned with our country’s solvency, how concerned should we be? (Bloomberg: China Needs U.S. Guarantees for Treasury Bond Holdings, Yu Says) Yes the financial crisis has carried on for a while, we’ve heard speech after speech and testimony after testimony by Bernanke and Paulson. And everytime someone opened their mouth, the market got nuked. But today’s market implosion before Timmy Geithner even got up to the stand felt just a notch more pessimistic. The chatter. The fact even the media didn’t try (or finally couldn’t) help Geithner come up with a “hopeful” scenario and try to cheerlead the market higher. LiBOR (London Interbank Offered Rates) ticked higher, showing more fear and the continued seizure of the credit markets. Even if credit markets thawed a bit, less and less people have the means to buy a home. Heck, even those renting might have to move back home if they continue to struggle finding a job. I appreciate the Pres. Obie and Timmy G. trying a PR “change” and telling the truth about how bad it is (vs. the Bush/Paulson team of saying, just give us more money and we’ll fix it). Telling how bad it is is one thing, but leaders show fear and say upfront that they don’t know what they’re doing is not the honesty we need. It’s time to show some real leadership Obie. It’s not a campaign anymore. This is for real. The world, not just our country, is collapsing. Obie and Timmy G.: either step up or, if you don’t think you have all the skills to handle it, step down. No one will think less of you for it. It’s too big of a task for any one man. Don’t let pride (not being able to admit it’s too tough for you and that someone else may do better) be the reason the world implodes…and we’re imploding. Still being concerned with the sideshow of corporate Jets and remodeled offices tells me you DON’T know how bad it is out there. With unemployment this high and problems piling up everyday, social unrest about to rear it’s ugly head. Corporate jets and remodeled bathrooms will be the last thing you’d think of by then.

p.s. like I said on twitter, round up a bunch of people like the Manhattan Project for the A-Bomb, and throw these people in the desert till they figure out a plan.

**FINZ.tv Trading Media & Entertainment, the new site I’m producing with my partner TraderAlamo, will launch videos this sunday. Until then, read our “POSSE Traders Journal” blog along with other FINZ.tv POSSE: BHBGroupTrader, Chris Nelder, Daytrend, James Falvo, Jeffrey McLarty, Alamo, and Myself. **

And thanks to my trading mentor and friend Quint for this video when the trading days get to wild. Only trading nerds would’ve known about this video fo’ sho:

Selling Girls in China to Adopting Parents. What’s it worth? My Perspective

admin — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:41:10 +0000

If people missed out on this offshoot conversation coming from this article via twitter.. a review:

ryamada @JeffreyLin More seriously, I do know a Cornell econ prof that wants to look at the arbitrage market for adoptions of young girls from Asia

JeffreyLin @ryamada arbitrage in terms of…money? any life here is better than a life there almost definitely

ryamada @JeffreyLin Question: if life (especially as a girl in China) is so cheap, why does it remain so expensive for American parents to adopt?

ryamada @JeffreyLin Presumably there are factors (norms, politics) that prevent the “market” from efficiently eliminating the arbitrage opportunity

continued…

I believe you have to cast aside your analytical mind and wear the shoes of a compassionate person. i can not look at this from a monetary/politics/ or even a social standpoint. you have to go smaller. its about people. no, the person. imagine ur a parent. how desperate would you have to be, if you loved your child, to have to sell that child? you would most likely be in a lot of debt, a druggie, or barely able to support yourself. as your kid came along, you cannot support them. either you sell the child or you both die. so, its not just about “how much it would cost to feed/raise that child.” you’d want enough money to feed yourself for a while, to get by, and thankful someone else can give your kid a better life.

the adopting parents are willing to pay, able to pay, and compassionate enough to pay. after all, your giving money to the parent of your adopted child.

with that said, these emotions probably ring louder for me because “selling young girls” have been a big part of chinese culture and history going far far back. There have been women I know, related to, and/or heard in stories that were sold when they were girls. They were girls whos parents were too poor to even feed themselves and the hardest decision was to sell the girl just to live another day. Unless you’re psycho, and i know some are, it is not normal and not easy for a parent to give up their child. And even if it seemed that way when they gave them up, they might’ve been too young, but regret it later and want to find the child again. (too much lifetime tv, television for women). Many chinese girls, all throughout history, were sold as maids to wealthy families. The social gaps were just too great. The poor, farmers or whatnot, could barely have enough for themselves, and the landlords could live on their riches forever.

Another case is when girls were sold for money so the son could have a proper wedding. Again though, it is because a lot of people were so poor, but also because of the traditional importance of the male “namebearer” in the family, when time came where the family needed a big chunk of money, the only option was to sell the daughter.

This isn’t just a Chinese historical culture thing or with girls. A similar story was told in the movie “A Knight’s Tale” where Heath Leger’s character was sold to a knight when he was a young boy.

so why do people do something that seems overpriced, or irrational? things like this i don’t believe is about the money. you could observed this in ancient china or today, the amount of money paid for the girls would be different, the form of money is even different, but what stays the same is how the parents, adopting parents, and the adopted child feels. there is no “logical” price on love and human connections. that is why parents, when their kids have been kidnapped, would give up everything and take on debt or do just about anything to have their child back safely. you can work to get back money, even if u have to work in McDonalds or scrub toilets, but u can’t revive a person.