$100,000

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't want to argue this with you, but just wondering how this goes if you're right. So lets say that things get horrific (I think that is the best description here) and currencies are worthless. Basically the globe faces economic ruin. So from that standpoint (makes no difference how we arrive here, lets just agree that we do somehow). What do you do with the gold/silver that you have accumulated at that point?

I'm just curious as I actually have no idea. I guess it kind of strikes me as a scenario where the guys with the guns and less value for human life come along and run the show for a while, but I really have no idea.

Originally Posted by VladtheImpaler

I guess the theory is if the paper currency is worthless (a la Deutchmark during Weimar), we revert to gold & silver as currency. Or, when the price of silver sky-rockets to $150,000/ounce when the currency devalues, you will be able to pay off your mortgage with a silver coin.

I see things very similar to Slava. Buying gold/silver just in case hits the fan doesn't make sense to me. If the world falls apart and paper money becomes worthless, its not like you're going to take the gold and go trade it for food. In that sense, gold/silver/etc has never made sense to me.

[blankall]

If the world falls apart to the point that there is no longer any currency, the only thing you will need is guns.

I don't recommend focussing on guns unless you also plan on moving to a bomb shelter in the woods and putting on a tinfoil hat.

[Flame Of Liberty]

Goldman Sachs & JPMorgan aren't alone:

Four of the largest U.S. banks, including Citigroup Inc., racked up perfect quarters in their trading businesses between January and March, underscoring how government support and less competition is fueling Wall Street’s revival.

Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the first, second and fifth-biggest U.S. banks by assets, all said in regulatory filings that they had zero days of trading losses in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc., the third-largest, doesn’t break out its daily trading revenue by quarter. It recorded a profit on each trading day, two people with knowledge of the results said.

“The trading profits of the Street is just another way of measuring the subsidy the Fed is giving to the banks,” said Christopher Whalen, managing director of Torrance, California- based Institutional Risk Analytics. “It’s a transfer from savers to banks.”

The trading results, which helped the banks report higher quarterly profit than analysts estimated even as unemployment stagnated at a 27-year high, came with a big assist from the Federal Reserve.

Hmmm.....

http://preview.bloomberg.com/news/20...ding-loss.html

[WilsonFourTwo]

Originally Posted by blankall

If the world falls apart to the point that there is no longer any currency, the only thing you will need is guns.

I don't recommend focussing on guns unless you also plan on moving to a bomb shelter in the woods and putting on a tinfoil hat.

Thank you for stereotyping, jerk

I'll have you know that my hat is made of Polyester, just like everyone else's. Only the custom liner is tinfoil.

[zuluking]

the first thing i would do is not ask CP!

[moncton golden flames]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't want to argue this with you, but just wondering how this goes if you're right. So lets say that things get horrific (I think that is the best description here) and currencies are worthless. Basically the globe faces economic ruin. So from that standpoint (makes no difference how we arrive here, lets just agree that we do somehow). What do you do with the gold/silver that you have accumulated at that point?

I'm just curious as I actually have no idea. I guess it kind of strikes me as a scenario where the guys with the guns and less value for human life come along and run the show for a while, but I really have no idea.

here is a guy i have been listening to lately. he describes his experiences with the russian collapse in the 90's. he draws comparisons to america and what he expects to see here. there will be civilization, not stone age living, but it is a very dark reality we may be facing.

dmitry orlov -

[Flame Of Liberty]

Moncton, here's another way how to make dough on the markets. Become a supercomputer:

No more "line-jumping" games. If I place an order my order goes to the end of the line at a given price. For instance, if I want to buy 100 shares of IBM @ 132.50 LIMIT and there are 10,000 shares at that price already on the book, my order goes behind the other 10,000. That's fair. But what the high-frequency trader guys will do is "load the stack" with orders they never intend to execute. I see this daily in the Globex (futures markets) with bids and offers that "magically disappear" as the price approaches the number. This is done because you can cancel an order instantly, but you must go to the back of the line when you enter one. You can never do this as a person as you're not fast enough - but the computers are, and they do. The result is that you the investor get screwed as the computers are basically always in front of you.

link

If you don't want to turn into a supercomputer, ponder this:

In a world in which markets are genuine, buyers and sellers meet to discover “value” in a given product when their decisions to buy or to sell taken collectively set a price upon a security that both groups are happy with on a given day. Sellers are pleased when they receive their asking price and buyers are pleased when they acquire a stock at the price they felt reflected its value on that day.

What makes markets interesting and so challenging is that no one knows in advance exactly where the “value” assigned by this collection of buyers and sellers will be on any given day. That is why good traders plan in advance a level or price at which they are willing to admit that their judgment of the “value” of a stock was wrong. If they are prudent, limit their losses and can maximize their winning trades, they will take 3 steps forward for every step backward. But the fact is even the best traders sometimes err.

Not so in the brave new world of the high frequency algo crowd. You see, they never have a plan for getting out of a trade that goes south because in the world in which they live, there exists no such thing. Up until now, I had believed that only God was omniscient (knows all things particularly in advance because He decrees them). Suddenly however, this new breed of mortals has achieved “godlike” status with perfect foreknowledge and flawless insight and can claim to stand on the same level with the Almighty in the realm of future knowledge.

link

[Slava]

^ Interesting stuff. I suppose if you were interested in day trading that kind of thing would matter. I'm a long only kind of guy, so frankly paying an extra $0.02 per share or whatever is really inconsequential.

[IliketoPuck]

Yea, It makes a large difference if you are trading the spread to try to make profit, but like Slava said if you are planning on holding the stock for a longer period of time, the few cents either way really becomes meaningless.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

I see things very similar to Slava. Buying gold/silver just in case hits the fan doesn't make sense to me. If the world falls apart and paper money becomes worthless, its not like you're going to take the gold and go trade it for food. In that sense, gold/silver/etc has never made sense to me.

Gold/Silver are shiny metals that are worthless to anyone in a financial ruin of the world unless you melted down the metal into bullets. Gold only has value because people give it value, exactly the same as paper currency! Fiat doom and gloomers and gold nuts are better off buying a unibomber style shack in the wilderness and stocking up on guns and ammo.

[Flame Of Liberty]

Are you guys sure it's just a couple of cents?

The disadvantage was that the "algos" had engaged in something other than what their claimed purpose is in the marketplace - that is, instead of providing liquidity, they intentionally probed the market with tiny orders that were immediately canceled in a scheme to gain an illegal view into the other side's willingness to pay.

Let me explain.

Let's say that there is a buyer willing to buy 100,000 shares of BRCM with a limit price of $26.40. That is, the buyer will accept any price up to $26.40.

But the market at this particular moment in time is at $26.10, or thirty cents lower.

So the computers, having detected via their "flash orders" (which ought to be illegal) that there is a desire for Broadcom shares, start to issue tiny (typically 100 share lots) "immediate or cancel" orders - IOCs - to sell at $26.20. If that order is "eaten" the computer then issues an order at $26.25, then $26.30, then $26.35, then $26.40. When it tries $26.45 it gets no bite and the order is immediately canceled.

Now the flush of supply comes at, big coincidence, $26.39, and the claim is made that the market has become "more efficient."

Nonsense; there was no "real seller" at any of these prices! This pattern of offering was intended to do one and only one thing - manipulate the market by discovering what is supposed to be a hidden piece of information - the other side's limit price!

edit added:

With normal order queues and flows the person with the limit order would see the offer at $26.20 and might drop his limit. But the computers are so fast that unless you own one of the same speed you have no chance to do this - your order is immediately "raped" at the full limit price! You got screwed, as the fill price is in fact 30 cents a share away from where the market actually is.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1511...y-trading-scam

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Gold/Silver are shiny metals that are worthless to anyone in a financial ruin of the world unless you melted down the metal into bullets. Gold only has value because people give it value, exactly the same as paper currency! Fiat doom and gloomers and gold nuts are better off buying a unibomber style shack in the wilderness and stocking up on guns and ammo.

Well said. Its much the same as the idea that diamonds are a girls best friend...or at least they better be, because its difficult to sell!

[IliketoPuck]

Interesting, I didn't look at it that way. Perhaps we can tie the computers of CP users together to create a supercomputer network of our own.

There are lots of things in the investment industry that go on behind the scenes, it's not overly suprising that this happens I guess.

[Flame Of Liberty]

Originally Posted by IliketoPuck

Interesting, I didn't look at it that way. Perhaps we can tie the computers of CP users together to create a supercomputer network of our own.

There are lots of things in the investment industry that go on behind the scenes, it's not overly suprising that this happens I guess.

Haha yeah I guess so. I don't want to quote the whole article, but it's well worth the read, fascinating stuff. Skynet has already taken over

[Icon]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

$100,000... a little too much to spend on hookers and blow

Quantity?

[Cactus Jack]

Originally Posted by Phaneuf3

Two chicks at the same time.

That's my line! I'm the "2 chicks at the same time guy" here! Plagarism!

[firebug]

For the OP...

If you are interested in finance at all, a book that might appeal to you is The Black Swan.

While not the lightest of reads, he does speak a great deal about political and economic volatility, and how to construct a portfolio to protect and capitalize upon these uncertainties.

Bullion has its place, but it has its share of risks as well.

~bug

[hkstylez]

I'd go gamble some of the cash, and probs put it into real estates.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't want to argue this with you, but just wondering how this goes if you're right. So lets say that things get horrific (I think that is the best description here) and currencies are worthless. Basically the globe faces economic ruin. So from that standpoint (makes no difference how we arrive here, lets just agree that we do somehow). What do you do with the gold/silver that you have accumulated at that point?

I'm just curious as I actually have no idea. I guess it kind of strikes me as a scenario where the guys with the guns and less value for human life come along and run the show for a while, but I really have no idea.

The obvious answer is sell a couple ounces and buy two islands in the Bahamas, move the CP server down there, along with all the posting members and we'll live in paradise the rest of our lives while Russia and the US have a nuclear war over Iran.

[Flame Of Liberty]

The euro, which is used by 16 countries, slid as low as $1.2355 in New York, its weakest point since October 2008. The euro has dropped more than 6 percent since the beginning of the month.

The Dow fell 162.79, or 1.5 percent, to 10,620.16. The Dow had been down nearly 246 points. It has fallen seven of the last nine days.

Gold hit a record of $1,249.70 an ounce before settling down $1.40 to $1,227.80.


link

Anyone making a killing?