Capitalogix

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.

If Algorithms Came with IKEA Instructions ...

Some Professors put together IKEA inspired instructional booklets for their algorithms and data-structures lecture. 

So far they've created assembly instructions for Quick Sort, BOGO Sort, Public Key Crypto, Binary Search, Merge Sort, Balance Tree, Graph Scan, and One Stroke Draw algorithms. 

via ideainstruction

This is a pretty cool idea, or at least I thought so. My youngest son said "I don't particularly understand IKEA directions or algorithms so this is basically the worst of both worlds for me."  Finally, we agree about something.

Hopefully, you find it helpful. If not, there's always Wikipedia. 

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - May 20th, 2018

 

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

Lighter Links:

• The Myth of Mad' Genius. (Aeon)
• This is Why You Can't Stop Interrupting People. (Fatherly)
• What Makes a Man Attractive? Hint: Look at His Limbs. (ScienceMag)
• Should I Kill Spiders in My Home? an Entomologist Explains Why Not To. (The Conversation)
• As D.I.Y. Gene Editing Gains Popularity, Someone is Going to Get Hurt'. (New York Times)

 

Trading Links

• What is Bitcoin ? (DataScienceCentral)
• Uber CEO: Our Future Won't Just Be Cars.(TheVerge)
• Women are Becoming Billionaires at a Faster Rate Than Men. (Time)
• Russia Sets out to Sanction Western Sanctions.(Bloomberg)
• Satellite Images Reveal Which Countries Cheat on Their Economic Statistics. (Quartz)

 

 

Trading Eyeballs... What Comes After "As Seen On TV!" with Shark Tank's Kevin Harrington

It's a lot easier to manage something you measure. 

Here at Capitalogix, we measure the expectancy score of trading systems.

Former "Shark" Kevin Harrington does something similar with eyeballs. 

For years he killed it on TV with products like Ginsu Knives, the George Foreman Grill, etc. 

But TV viewership has dropped over 50% ... and that's not a sustainable model anymore.

Luckily, like a true "Shark" he realized something that many people don't...

You have to be committed to your goals, not the tools you use to accomplish that goal. 

I shot a video with Kevin where we talk about that ... and more. Check it out

 

If you have been doing the same thing for 18 months (or longer), chances are the practical realities of time, technology, and a changing competitive landscape implies that you should be doing something different (or at least differently).

What are you doing to stay relevant in your space?

Hyper-Reality: The Future of Augmented Reality?

Our physical and virtual realities are beginning to blend.  Animation is becoming more realistic.  Virtual and augmented reality are becoming more affordable. Wearables are becoming pervasive.  And, the internet of things will soon overtake the Internet.

We're moving towards a world where technology envelops every aspect of our lives ... figuratively and literally. 

The following (still fictional) video is thought-provoking.  What happens when these new technologies are used to influence behavior, decision-making, and even your identity?  

 

Keiichi Matsuda via Vimeo

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are not new fields - but, they are evolving quickly. Technology and infrastructure are getting to the point that AR and VR will become common for us.

You have already started to see it (from Google Glass, to the NBA, and of course, to porn). 

"Not too far in the future you will begin to see the integration of AR and VR together eventually leading to having your favorite performer on your lap, in your bedroom doing a custom performance for you and responding to your verbal and physical cues."

- Anna Lee, HoloFilm Productions

Your doctor or nutritionist could help you make better choices for you.  Your therapist or coach could help you perceive and respond differently to the challenges life presents you.  Marketers could better influence your purchases.  Employers could better monitor and measure your performance and productivity. And governments will not be far behind ... doing what they do.

Like many things, these technologies make possible awesome new capabilities (if used well) and horrific consequences (if abused or used in authoritarian ways).

Similar issues are being dealt with in the fields of BioEthics and AI Ethics. In addition, there is a growing discussion of the impact these technologies will have on society. 

We live in interesting times! 

Related articles

What Effect Will VR and AR Have on B2B Customer Service?

Rumors of the demise of augmented reality developers have been greatly exaggerated

Get ready for augmented reality *everything*

Remember Google Glass? It just got its first update in 3 years. Seriously.

Chinese police are using facial-recognition glasses to scan travelers

23 concepts that show what Apple's futuristic smart glasses might look like (AAPL)

Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - February 18th, 2018

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

Lighter Links:

• SpaceX Hid a Second, Secret Payload Aboard Falcon Heavy, and It Sounds Amazing. (ScienceAlert)
• Weird: Naked Mole Rats Don't Die of Old Age. (FoxNews)
• Your WHOLE Body Could Be Replaced or Upgraded' with Robot Parts by 2070. (TheSun)
• Drones Grounded at Opening Ceremony _ but Not on Tape Delay. (AP News)
• These Videos of the North Korean Cheerleading Squad Chanting Will Haunt Your Nightmares. (SomeEcards)

Trading Links:

• How Bitcoin's Plunge May Have Been a Precursor to Market Turmoil. (CNBC)
• Blockchain, AI, Machine Learning & IOE Will Make You Money in 2018. (Forbes)
• BlackRock's Message: Contribute to Society, or Risk Losing Our Support. (New York Times)
• US Tax Reform Could Cause Repatriation of $2 Trillion Overseas Investment. (Worldview)
• A Bunch of Shell-shocked Wall Streeters Met in Paradise during the Market Meltdown Here's What Scares Them Most. (BusinessInsider)

Slaughterbots Assemble!

Technology can be scary - especially when it is used to move towards autonomous killing machines. 

Recently, a UC Berkeley computer science professor helped to create a video that imagined a world where nuclear weapons were replaced by swarms of autonomous tiny drones that could kill half a city and are virtually unstoppable.

Stuart Russell, the professor, said these drones are already a technological reality.

The video takes the viewer to an auditorium where a speaker showcases a drone roughly the size of a mockingbird. At one point the drone lands on his hand, the speaker quickly recalibrates it and then throws it out into the audience again. After a few seconds, the small drone turns back to the stage and crashes into the forehead of a dummy standing off to the left of the speaker.

 

 

The video was released earlier this month by the Future of Life Institute, which is backed by Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk. It was presented by Russell at a United Nations Convention on Conventional Weapons in Geneva, according to The Mercury News.

“Trained as a team, [the drones] can penetrate buildings, cars, trains, all while having the capacity to evade any countermeasure. They cannot be stopped,” the speaker told the audience in the video.

Russell said that although A.I.’s “potential to benefit humanity is enormous, even in defense,” allowing the widespread use of machines that “choose to kill humans will be devastating to our security and freedom.”

Expect to hear a lot more about Swarm Intelligence (and some of the more positive things it can do).

What Is The Internet of Things?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is literally just a connected network of digital "things" that can interact with each other through the internet (or intranets). 

Yet, the IoT also represents a paradigm shift (and the next big upgrade to the web). By 2020, over 26 billion (with a b) things will be connected to the internet.

 

But how does it work, and why do you care?

 

Information Is Beautiful created a helpful interactive primer on the IoT that's worth a look.

Click here to see it. It answers questions like "What kind of things? and "how will the things be used?" but also gives you a chance to look at the innovations, the innovators, and the challenges involved. 

 

via Information Is Beautiful

Ultimately, things like cars, buildings, home appliances and wearables will communicate and interact to create a connected world. 

People's homes are already becoming more connected. With smart hubs you can control your alarms, your lights and HVAC, all the way down to starting your coffee machine. 

Now imagine that connectivity in a hospital or a supply chain. It's going to be a huge breakthrough. 

 

But what about challenges?

 

As we get more technologically advanced and interconnected, there are inherent issues and weaknesses. 

For example, as more devices access the internet you have more chances for attacks by hackers. 

Computers, smartphones and other devices often come with virus protection, security measures and more. The same isn't true of your fridge or your coffee machine...

If there's one vulnerability in your network, that can easily affect all other devices on your network. 

In fact, hacker's just stole a Casino's high roller database through a "smart" thermometer in their lobby aquarium. 

As well, there are privacy issues, bandwidth issues and the unfortunate reality for many companies which is ... you may not be nimble enough to keep up with this innovation landscape. 

What do you think about IoT? Do you have a connected home already? Can you start your car with your phone?  Does your hedge fund use technology like this to let trading systems communicate, coordinate, and collaborate?  Can you imagine what that would be like?

I can!