Author: evencio.alvarez14@gmail.com

View fullsize This is a Necker Cube.  It’s an optical illusion. A simple two-dimensional wire-frame drawing of a cube that was first published by the Swiss crystallographer Louis Necker.  It’s an ambiguous drawing with no visual cues as to its orientation. So it can be interpreted in one of two ways (1) with the lower…

“Part of what people insufficiently distinguish, or confuse, is the difference between frequency and magnitude — that is, how often you’re right or wrong versus how much money you make when you’re right and how much money you lose when you’re wrong” ~ Bill Miller In this week’s Dirty Dozen [CHART PACK] we look at…

“This plan, of betting only at a level at which I was emotionally comfortable and not advancing until I was ready, enabled me to play my system with a calm and disciplined accuracy. This lesson from the blackjack tables would prove invaluable throughout my investment lifetime as the stakes grew ever larger.” ~ Edward Thorp…

“You may not be able to control the markets, but you can control your perception of them in order to achieve a higher degree of objectivity, resulting in a higher degree of shared reality with the markets.” ~ Mark Douglas In this week’s Dirty Dozen [CHART PACK] we look at a Trifecta Lens buy signal…

“There is a very important difference between being a theoretical contrarian and dealing with it in practical terms. In order to win as a contrarian, you need the right timing and you have to put on a position in the appropriate size. If you do it too small, it’s not meaningful; if you do it…

“That’s a raisin at the end of a hotdog…” ~ Icelandic saying denoting surprise In this week’s Dirty Dozen [CHART PACK] we talk market returns following first rate cuts, negative fiscal impulse, bad market internals mixed with high sentiment/positioning, some interesting VIX stats, and more… 1. Last week’s highlights from BofA’s Flow Show report. View…

“In the final analysis, you need to have the courage to hold the position and take the risk. You need to be aware that the world is very sophisticated and always ask yourself: ‘How many people are left to act on this particular idea?’ You have to consider whether the market has already discounted your…

Alright, it’s that time of year where we review our winners, losers, mistakes, and misses. Regular reviews of performance are a trader’s shita-kitae. Just as a master swordmaker continually pounds, folds, and heats a block of steel in his efforts to forge the perfect blade. We traders and investors, need to routinely pore over our…