happy chaos freedom machine

  We do not think you’re different. We are not confident in your ability to establish strong relationships with companies. And we will probably not think of you when we need funding later on.  Particletree » How Not to Pitch to a Startup . For years I’ve talked to VCs when I’ve met them, and I [...]

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Think I’ll buy this article: IngentaConnect Disagreement and the Stock Market, which attempts to catalog the types of “disagreement models” that describe patterns like …the tendency for stocks that have had unusually high past returns or good earnings news to continue to deliver relatively strong returns over the subsequent six to twelve months (and vice-versa [...]

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Goldman Takes ‘Private’ Equity To a New Level – WSJ.com: “It represents the latest step in the creeping exclusion of individual investors from a growing proportion of financial-market activity. For instance, giant private-equity firms are busy buying public companies and delisting them from stock exchanges. The growing importance of hedge funds — which are generally [...]

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With a transparent, simple investment strategy like the one described by ETF Trends, it’s hard to see why anyone would need “professional help” with their portfolio. Potential investments are screened for liquidity and size, and anything “under about $75 million is automatically kicked out.” There’s a transparent and rigorous sell discipline, based on 200-day moving [...]

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The Chinese are freeing up some of the capital they’ve had in t-bills to use for higher risk and higher return – some $200B to start. Two thoughts occur to me – first, couldn’t you make money just chasing their money around? That huge a chunk of cash is going to make some very big [...]

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There is yet another technology-driven disruption brewing – this time in the realm of stock trading. The shift towards “algorithmic trading” is accelerating – in fact, according to this Reuters article, “About a third of U.S. equities trading is already being done using algorithmic trading, with that figure expected to soar to more than 50 [...]

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When asked if we believe we possess attributes that are above or below the average, the majority of us will answer that we are above. More than a mathematical impossibility, this is an insight into the insatiable desire to be unique and superior to the crowd that fuels so much of human society. Lottery tickets, [...]

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The most puzzling & even troubling aspect of market dynamics – that the best experts can be out-performed by happenstance. This story of the leading contender in a CNBC stock picking contest is a good illustration. She’s a waitress who has no trading experience, who describes her method: “Part of this was luck,” she says. [...]

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A more recent obsession of mine are Electronically-Traded Funds, or ETFs. I’m particularly interested in the rapid evolution they are undergoing, from recreations of relatively static indexes like the S&P 500 or the Russell 1000 to more sophisticated, creatively constructed indexes. A good example is the Claymore/Sabrient Insider ETF, or NFO, which tracks an index [...]

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