Global Market Comments
February 25, 2014
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(IM BACK FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER),
(FEBRUARY 26 GLOBAL STRATEGY WEBINAR),
(MAD HEDGE FUND TRADER LEAPS AHEAD WITH A 9.31% 2014 RETURN),
?(UNG), (BAC)
(BUDGET CUTS HIT THE WILD ANIMAL MAKET)
United States Natural Gas (UNG)
Bank of America Corporation (BAC)
I?m half mad with jet lag, and I haven?t pooped in three days. But I?m back from the magical Land Down Under.
It was another one of those incredible, once in a lifetime, bucket list type trips. The highlight was flying my own plane out to a small speck of a coral island 40 miles at sea in the Great Barrier Reef National Park.
There I spotted electric blue starfish, snapping moray eels, a pod of dolphins, rode the back of a giant sea turtle, and swam with giant manta rays and reef sharks. Strangely, I felt right at home with the sharks, perhaps a byproduct of my day job?
I planned to ease my way back into the market, waiting for the next sweet spot to get my feet wet. But what did I get? Natural gas (UNG) opened on a spike at $28. To quote William Shakespeare, ?They must be out of their F?? mind.? Out went the Trade Alert to buy the July puts, this time at the $26 strike. They promptly obliged by rocketing 20% in value in hours, adding an immediate 100 basis points to our performance this year, taking me to yet another new performance all time high. Well, maybe Shakespeare really didn?t say that, but I did.
I followed up with another aggressive long in Bank of America (BAC). After that, a denial of service attack took down our email distribution provider, so that was it for the day. Welcome back to the fast lane.
I will write at greater length in the near future about my adventures in the Antipodes, of which there were many. Until then, I will be working with Mad Day Trader, Jim Parker, on the Wednesday strategy webinar. Suffice it to say that I am now singing Waltzing Matilda in the shower every morning.
Wine Tasting in New Zealand
The red hot performance of the Mad Hedge Fund Trader?s Trade Alert Service has maintained its blistering pace from last year, picking up another 9.31% profit in the first seven trading weeks of 2014.
The Dow Average was down 2.3% during the same period, pegging my outperformance of the index at a stunning 11.6%. Since the beginning of 2013, I am up 76.8%. 2013 closed with a total return for followers of 67.45%.
The three-year return is now an eye popping 131.8%, compared to a far more modest increase for the Dow Average during the same period of only 36%. That brings my averaged annualized return up to 41.7%.
This has been the profit since my groundbreaking trade mentoring service was launched in 2010. It all is a matter of the harder I work, the luckier I get.
The hot streak continues.
The smartest thing I did in the past year was to let all of my options expire on January 15, and then moved to an 80% cash position. That spared me the angst, the soul searching, and the sleepless night caused by the 10% correction that followed in the Dow Average.
This set me up to cherry pick the most extreme market moves. But this time was different. Instead of returning to call spreads, I adopted an outright put option strategy.
This paved the way for me to pick up highly leveraged short positions in Treasury bonds and natural gas, while risking only 5% of my capital with each. Don?t people know that polar vortexes only come in pairs? I guess no one studies physics anymore. When the markets broke, a sharp rise in volatility also contributed to the P&L.
My esteemed colleague, Mad Day Trader Jim Parker, was no small part of this success. Since the market became technically and momentum driven, I have been confirming with him before sending out every Trade Alert. Together, out success rate is 100%.
What would you expect with a combined 85 years of market experience between the two of us? Followers are laughing all the way to the bank.
Don?t forget that Jim clocked an amazing 2013 of a staggering 374%. That is just for an eight-month year! Followers are laughing all the way to the bank.
The coming year promises to deliver a harvest of new trading opportunities. The big driver will be a global synchronized recovery that promises to drive markets into the stratosphere in 2014.
The Trade Alerts should be coming hot and heavy. Please join me on the gravy train. You will never get a better chance than this to make money for your personal account.
Global Trading Dispatch, my highly innovative and successful trade-mentoring program, earned a net return for readers of 40.17% in 2011, 14.87% in 2012, and 67.45% in 2013.
The service includes my?Trade Alert Service?and my daily newsletter, the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader. You also get a real-time trading portfolio, an enormous trading idea database, and live biweekly strategy webinars.? Upgrade to?Mad Hedge Fund Trader PRO?and you will also receive Jim Parker?s?Mad Day Trader?service.
To subscribe, please go to my website at www.madhedgefundtrader.com, find the ?Global Trading Dispatch? box on the right, and click on the blue ?SUBSCRIBE NOW? button.
In case you missed it, the second hand animal market has crashed. Forced to slash budgets by cash starved municipalities, the nation?s public zoos have been paring back their collections of living exhibits.
The Washington Zoo is trying to offload a 7,000 pound hippopotamus; while the San Francisco Zoo is short some tigers after one ate a visitor and had to be shot. The Portland Zoo was able to liquidate a portfolio of lemurs only because of the popularity of the recent DreamWorks? ?Madagascar 3? animated film.
When zoos are forced to economize, they downsize the big eaters first to save on feed costs; hence, the absence of elephants in San Francisco (Could this be a political gesture?). In fact, zoo staff were recently busted for illegally harvesting acacia on private property, a favorite food of giraffes, which grows wild here after its introduction a century ago.
The hardest to move? Baltimore has been trying to sell its snake collection for two years now. Talk about an illiquid market. Maybe they should try AIG. Snake derivatives anyone?
Pink Slips for Tony?
As a potentially profitable opportunity presents itself, John will send you an alert with specific trade information as to what should be bought, when to buy it, and at what price. Read more
As a potentially profitable opportunity presents itself, John will send you an alert with specific trade information as to what should be bought, when to buy it, and at what price. This is your chance to ?look over? John Thomas? shoulder as he gives you unparalleled insight on major world financial trends BEFORE they happen. Read more
While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Jim Parker, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.
While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Jim Parker, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.
While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Jim Parker, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.
While the Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader focuses on investment over a one week to six-month time frame, Mad Day Trader, provided by Jim Parker, will exploit money-making opportunities over a brief ten minute to three day window. It is ideally suited for day traders, but can also be used by long-term investors to improve market timing for entry and exit points.