Insider Information - Level playing field.

Just another ploy in a long line to suck money into the pot....yesterday's news plastered everywhere was pension investments up whatever %.......it's just another step.....getting closer to the point where the smart money is going to start dumping all this crap.

:)

Dead right. Fascinating to think that so many sheople may be ploughing their last bits of money into the markets they understand (or think they do) "cos they can't get a return on savings elsewhere". If you'd created a sytem to take money off the masses through 'financial Darwinism' right to the very bitter end this would be it.
 
Next time I see something like that prior to an announcement, I will know its a one way bet.

RedGreenBen - do you think it is worth complaining about this to the SEC ?

I was being ironic, they really do need to invent a font for that.
 
I placed a trade £20 per point. Relatively large in my view given the daily movement in the FTSE.

What was the basis for the size of the trade ? Do you use any form of position sizing strategy at all ?


Paul
 
Well the £20 is my limit really on the FTSE index on a single one way position.

If you're asking how I get to the £20 - I work it on a total exposure basis so at 20 x 4400 = 88,000k of exposure. My overall exposure limit on the portfolio is around 300k when no stop loss is applied. Around 150k is allocated to equities 50k to options and 100k spare to play with on index.
 
I would suggest that, and I am wildely more pessimistic than post people, day to day you ought to be able to exit any normal sized position within 600 ticks, and that includes massive slippage, the exchange going down, you having a heart attack, etc etc...

IIRC Ftse overnight margins are around 350 ticks.
 
Just to be clear you mean then buying the index at 4400 I should be able to exit at 3800 without any trouble ? at £20 per point ?
 
My risk profile is a little more aggressive than yours.

This is where the VAR comes into it. On any particular day the max loss you could incur on something like this is say 200 points in a day. So I could take that on the chin.

If it was 600 then it would be akin to shoving a large object up my rectum, I could probably take it but wouldn't quite feel comfortable or natural and something you wouldn't want to do regularly.

But then it would be a 1 in 200 year event to lose 600 points in a day on the FTSE. I would be glad in the knowledge that there would be a lot more people more uncomfortable with even larger objects than myself should that happen.

My equity positions are normally hedged with index / sector or a another equity in the same sector so the exposure on this is typically limited.

ps I've had a s**t day today. My positions got closed out whilst I was being entertained by the mistress, in profit but the limits far far too low. For example S&P 905 it went all the way down to 891 This seems to be a repeat element on my strategies profits get taken far too quickly. Anyone gurus want to provide advice on this ?
 
In my view VAR should be combined with positive expectancy so what is the expectancy of your approach ?


Paul
 
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