Capitalogix

Largest Single-Day Market Cap Loss in History

Facebook has been under fire for a while now - misuse of data, privacy issues and more. 

This Thursday, following a horrible quarterly report with lower-than-expected revenue and low daily active users,  Facebook posted the largest single-day loss in market value by any company in U.S. history. They had peaked at about $630 billion. 

Mark Zuckerberg himself lost approximately 17 billion. 

via CNBC

Looking at the list of the largest "losers" there are plenty of winning companies in their ranks, but, Facebook expects their revenue growth rate to continue to slow. 

Do you think Facebook will still be a major player in the next 5 years?

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - July 22nd, 2018

 

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links

• The Boston Dynamics Robots Can Now Hunt You in the Woods. (DailyDot)
• What Cyber-War Will Look Like. (Scholars-Stage)
• The Mistakes You Make in a Meeting's First Milliseconds. (Wall Street Journal)
• Does Intermittent Fasting Work? Here's What It Can (And Can't) Do for You. (Cheatsheet)
• 'Never Underestimate Human Stupidity,' Says Historian Whose Fans Include Bill Gates and Barack Obama. (CNBC)

 

Trading Links

• Coinbase Says It Has Green Light to List Coins Deemed Securities. (Bloomberg)
• CRISPR Stocks Plummet over Study Pointing to Potential Adverse Effects. (FastCompany)
• Warren Buffett Donates $3.4-Billion to Gates Foundation and His Family's Charities. (Globe&Mail)
• The 24 Rules for Success Left behind by a Legendary Wall Street Banker. (Time)
• Scientists Discovered a Quadrillion Diamonds Hidden Deep within the Earth. (Inverse)

The Sound of Silence [The Disturbed Music Video Version]

I spent last week with almost no Internet or cell service.  On one hand, I suffered some withdrawal symptoms.  On the other hand, it was nice to hear the sound of silence.

50 years ago, Simon & Garfunkel become folk-rock stars with their song, ‘Sound of Silence’.  I don't think that's what they meant.

Recently, someone else made it a hit ... a heavy metal rock band, Disturbed.

Here is the video.  Believe it or not, totally worth watching.

 

 

 

 

YouTube.

Surprisingly good.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - July 8th, 2018

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

 

Lighter Links

• Yes, Your Phone is Spying on You and these Researchers Proved It. (BGR)
• Talking to Your Team about Cyber Threats. (Myventurepad)
• A Mesmerizing 4K Timelapse of Kilauea's Famous Lava Flow. (TwistedSifter)
• The 2018 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Winners. (TwistedSifter)
• Harvard University is Fighting to Keep Its Secretive Admissions Process under Wraps. (MarketWatch)

 

Trading Links

• JPMorgan's Ultimate Guide to Markets and the Economy. (BusinessInsider)
• Yes, America Still is an Export Superpower. (BigThink)
• The Top 10 Biggest Airline Money Making Routes in the World (One Generates a Billion Dollars). (VFTW)
• First Commercial DNA Data Storage Service Set to Launch in 2019. (NewScientist)
• Why Quantum Computers Will Be Super Awesome, Someday. (Bloomberg)

A Helpful Old Parable ...

I was talking to a friend this weekend and was reminded of an old parable I heard years ago...

 

I stand on top of the mountain and I just kick pebbles ... Minute by minute, hour after hour, day in and day out ... I simply kick pebbles.

Mostly, those pebbles fly off into nowhere and I watch them skip away ... Occasionally those pebbles hit a small stone ... Juuuusst right ... and that stone slides down the hill.

...

Then, sometimes, those stones collide, on the way down, and their slide becomes a tumble and they smack a ROCK.

And, those ROCKS begin to fall, end over end, gathering speed ... and a couple hit a BOULDER ... Then ... the Boulder shifts... there is a RUMBLE ... the EARTH MOVES BENEATH ME ...

AND THE ENTIRE LANDSCAPE CHANGES ... EVERYTHING LOOKS DIFFERENT ... !!!

I stand on top of the mountain and I just kick pebbles ... Minute by minute, hour after hour, day in and day out ... I simply kick pebbles!

 

Keep up the good work!

A Look at Online Trading

Trading used to be reserved to those in the pit at exchanges ... but the advent of electronic trading made this enterprise available to a host of other people.

Millions of online traders have opened accounts in the past few years.

Apps like Robinhood and Coinbase make it easy for retail customers to start trading. 

Who are they?  This chart breaks it down.

 

via brokernotes

To start, 37% don't have a degree, and 58% are millennials.  The average income of a trader is less than 35,000.  You can check brokernotes full report here.

Interesting.

What does it mean?  How will it affect the popularity of new markets (like Crypto)?

Curious to hear your opinion.

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - June 24th, 2018

Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.

Lighter Links

• Why Blockchain Isn't a Revolution. (Knowledge)
• Daniel Kahneman: Four Keys to Better Decision Making.(CFAInstitute)
• Mr. Rogers Had a Simple Set of Rules for Talking to Children. (The Atlantic)
• Rise of the Machines: Has Technology Evolved beyond Our Control? (The Guardian)
• Leader Schedules; 72% Meeting Time; 43% Priority Time; 3% Customer Time; ExO Course next Week. (Verne Harnish)

 

 

Trading Links

• 4 Horsemen of the Recession and Stock Market Apocalypse. (SeekingAlpha)
• Blockchain beyond the Hype: What is the Strategic Business Value? (McKinsey)
• Cryptocurrency Will Become a $20 Trillion Market: Billionaire Bull Mike Novogratz. (Finance)
• Top Banking Takeaways from the 2018 Internet Trends Report. (TheFinancialBrand)
• How Amazon Became One of Washington's Most Powerful Players. (Wall Street Journal)

Understanding the VIX

Regardless what you're trading, the VIX can be a helpful index to monitor. 

The VIX is an index that's commonly known as the "fear gauge." It tracks how quickly asset prices move (or, in other words, their "volatility"). 

While you can't invest in it directly, you can invest in derivative products like VIX futures, ETFs, inverse ETFs and more. 

The infographic below is a good primer, and you can download RCM's full whitepaper here.

 

 

VIX trading volume is increasing nicely.   Meanwhile, it is also a valuable data source.

I'd love to hear how you use it.

Mr. Kim Jong Un, Give Up Those Nukes!

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met last week in Singapore. At the meeting, Donald shared a four-minute movie trailer called "A Story of Opportunity for North Korea"

I was a little surprised by the video clip that Trump brought with him.  I don't normally think about diplomacy and videos.  But, it is a new world.

It depicts a brighter future for North Korea in the event of a nuclear deal.  It also presents a stark choice to Kim ... trade in your nuclear weapons for a peace deal with the U.S., or don't and you'll be decimated. 

Was it me, or does the video seem strangely reminiscent of a pitch you might receive for a real estate deal or a timeshare? 

It's worth a watch. 

 

Was the intended audience Kim Jong Un, American voters, or the World?

Did it remind you of  Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev?

It will be interesting to see the results of the movie ... and this meeting. 

What did you think?

Hiring the Right People: Revenge of the Nerds

Capitalogix was on the news this week.  They did a story about finding tech talent.

I'm proud of our team.

The robots aren't coming for our jobs.  We're creating the robots, the AI, and the automation. 

The secret to great AI is that it still has a heartbeat. 

Here's the article. You can watch the video below. 

via NBC DFW

We are always hiring.

It's not enough to invest in the right ideas or technologies. You have to invest in the right people as well. 

"Standing still is moving backward ... so you don't only need new technology, you need a new level of data scientists –  a new level of professional that can think about what's possible, rather than how to do what we want to do right now."

Even though we've got an incredible edge now. I recognize that edges decay faster than ever. The trick is to stay ahead.  

I can predict that the future is bright ... And I know that the best way to predict the future is to create it.

Onwards!