Capitalogix

S&P 500 at Decision Zone

As the country enters its decision zone, the S&P 500 Index is at one too.

Here is a chart that shows we are at a major support-resistance zone.

 

via StockCharts.com.

 

We just saw a long string of down days. U.S. stocks just posted their longest slide since 1980 (nine straight days).

Regardless of what happens here, I expect volatility.

What about you?

Electoral Map Projection Cartoons [Humor]

Well, the Election Season is almost over!

 

via Time Magazine. 

It has been a crazy last few weeks.  Who do you think will win?

More importantly, what do you expect to happen?

 

Pic

Clown Hysteria: 2016 in a Nutshell

This summer, South Carolinians started seeing menacing clowns in the woods.

As a response to clown hysteria,Target pulled clown masks from shelves , McDonalds scaled down use of Ronald McDonald, and people everywhere have been in a fervor.

Not everyone has been affected negatively though ... Surprisingly (to me), Pornhub has seen a massive increase in clown related searches. 

 

via TNW

There you have it ... hard data.

2016 continues to surprise ... Celebrities dying, phones exploding, the election, and this.

It will be interesting to see how 2016 ends, and what the future brings.

The world changes, but human nature remains relatively constant.

 

 

The Current State of Data Science via Venn Diagrams

Thought this was clever.  It shows how different capabilities combine to form specialties.

 

 via Drew Conway. 

The second diagram adds one element (and some descriptive 'color') to the combinations.

 

 via Joel Grus.

I think this helps explain a lot. 

Are You Using 2-Factor Authentication?

I just got an e-mail note from my son.  Thought it was worth sharing.

 

From: Ben Getson 
Date: Saturday, October 22, 2016 at 7:09 PM
To: Howard Getson
Subject: FYI: Security Stuff

FYI - I just got an alert that my email address and my Gmail password were available to be purchased online.

I only use that password for my email, and I have 2-factor enabled, so I'm fine. Though this is further proof that just about everything is hacked and available online.

If you don't have two-factor enabled on your accounts, you really need to do it.

 

Consider yourself warned.  

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading Enjoyment - October 23rd, 2016

Recent polls suggest that Trump has less than a 15% chance to win.  Makes you wonder how much the media influenced that ...

 

   

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Virtue Signaling, or … Why Clinton is in Trouble. (FinancialSense)
• Clinton's Former Prosecutor Endorses Her for President. (Bloomberg)
• How to Make a Relationship Last: 5 Secrets Backed by Research. (Bakadesuyo)
• U.N. Warns Trump May Be 7 Months Away from Acquiring Nuclear Weapons. (TheOnion)
• Over the Counter Comes a New Way to Mimic Calorie Restriction. (Technology Review)

Trading Links:

• How Google is Poised to Become a Dominant Investment Manager. (QuantNews)
• Musk’s Mars Moment: Audacity, Madness, Brilliance—or Maybe All Three. (ArsTechnica)
• A Legendary Morgan Stanley Banker Reveals the Importance of 'Emotional Intelligence' on Wall Street. (Flipboard)
• It’s Not Creepy, It’s the Future. (JasonZweig)
• This Man Wants to Upend the World of High-frequency Trading. (MarketWatch)

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading Enjoyment - October 15th, 2016

A little iconic wordplay.  Let's call this "Trump Has A Potty-Mouth".

 

 

 

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Dogs Are Better Than Humans at Resisting Peer Pressure, Filtering Bad Advice. (BigThink)
• Human Brain vs Machine Learning - A Lost Battle? (Data Science Central)
• Why the Best Leaders Want Their Superstar Employees to Leave. (WSJ)
• Here's How Quantum Computing Will Change the World. (Forbes)
• Jon Huntsman and Other Republicans Call on Donald Trump to Drop Out of the Race. (HuffPost)

 

Trading Links:

• Singapore’s Nugit Raises $5.2M to Make Sense of Big Data Using Artificial Intelligence. (TC)
• Algorithmic Trading Computers Blamed for Sterling's 'Flash Crash'. (QuantNews)
• Mohamed El-Erian: Deutsche Bank Not a 'Lehman Moment,' but Still a Big Risk. (HITC)
• 3D Printing Grows Up: Scientists are Using the Tech to Make an Earthmoving Machine. (Wired)
• President Trump’s First Term. (NewYorker)

What Does A Hurricane and Market Crash Have in Common?

Hurricane Matthew hit the east coast this week.  It was the strongest storm we've weathered in 12 years (with 125 mph winds).

As a trader, I've often thought that weather and market conditions share similarities. As a result, the techniques used to understand and predict them are similar.

Have you heard the term "Eye of the Storm"?  Well, in the context of Hurricane Matthew, it went directly over a weather buoy (Station #42058).

The chart is interesting.  Imagine being a person observing the storm.  It builds, and builds until you don't think it can get much worse.  Then, it appears to stop.  You can breathe.  You can see.  You relax ... Then it comes back faster than before.  Your nerves and reserves were already diminished.  So, it is worse.

 

 via NDBC.

Similarly, it's easy to mistake the eye of the storm (in a major market move) for a sign of safety and opportunity.

I remember 2008.  Storms like that caused many to buy wrong and sell wrong.

Humans see clear skies and walk outside.  Perhaps we can teach the computer to know better (or at least to measure and recognize what is happening better).

Here Are Some Links for Your Weekend Reading - September 25, 2016

At least in Pro Wrestling, there is usually a 'Hero' and 'Villain'

 

via Cagle

 Are you going to watch the Debate?  

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

 

Lighter Links:

• Wells Fargo Just Became the Poster Child for When External and Internal Values Don’t Match. (QZ)
• The Value Driven Product Roadmap – a New Approach. (OmriZiv)
• Mossberg: Apple, the King of Tech Taste and Daring, Takes a Breather. (TheVerge)
• The (Not So) New Data Scientist Venn Diagram. (KDNuggets)
• CIA Using Pokemon Go for Mass Surveillance. (USAPoliticsNow) 

 

Trading Links:

• Traders Watching for More Volatility. (CNBC)
• New Kind of Correlation Spotted in Factors Obsessing Wall Street. (Bloomberg)
• Wave of IPOs Could Hit Global Markets within the next 12 Months. (ValueWalk)
• AOL Co-Founder Steve Case: Third Wave of Tech M&A Coming…. (FoxBusiness)
• Apple’s Tax Avoidance Illustrates Gap between Law and Economics. (WSJ)

Things That Happen Every 60 Seconds [Infographic]

Every 60 Seconds, more than 300 hours of video are uploaded on YouTube; more than 400,000 Tweets are sent ... and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Things are happening faster, and on a broader scale, than most could imagine – even a few years ago.

Here is an infographic with the latest statistics on "The Things That Happen Every 60 Seconds" on the Internet.

 

via Go-Globe. 

Likewise, you should see how fast trading is evolving.  There is a virtual arms race for more algorithms, faster calculation, and more ways to win.

Onwards.