Search results

  1. B

    Is Trading like Gambling?

    The definition of gambling says nothing about positive or negative expectancy, only that the outcome is uncertain (source: Merriam-Webster). Some people enter trading or casino gambling or backgammon or poker or bridge with a limited knowledge of associated probabilities (and lose), others...
  2. B

    Average Wall St paycheck $300k?

    My sample is mostly from a hodgepodge of people in derivatives trading at a large NY bank -- traders, analysts, IT managers, etc. There are three private schools in my neighborhood. I checked the tuition at one of them, $12K to $24K/year. With three kids, who could afford a new BMW every...
  3. B

    IB Excel DDE VBA question

    I agree with those who are saying that what you are doing now is no different from the On Error Resume Next solution. Also by not posting ANY code you're kind of making us guess about what you are up to. You don't have to post the holy grail part; just say "Execute magic code here" but show...
  4. B

    MatLab newbie

    Have you tried installing the latest Sun JVM? It is possible to have multiple versions on one machine.
  5. B

    Average Wall St paycheck $300k?

    This is just anecdotal evidence but my experience is just the opposite. I have worked with quite a few people who would be close to the average (and above the median, whatever it is). They definitely are not lavish in their spending. Most live in the suburbs and have left the city. Houses...
  6. B

    Average Wall St paycheck $300k?

    You seem a little obsessed with prostitutes; you've mentioned them twice. Anything you want to share?
  7. B

    Backtesting/programming question

    In general I don't think you need to develop your own test environment. I am somewhat familiar with Wealth-Lab. Generating historical volatility or MA parameters is pretty plain vanilla stuff and is built-in. They use Pascal syntax to write their scripts. One nice thing about Wealth-lab is...
  8. B

    IB Excel DDE VBA question

    One potential problem: if you are using the data in some VBA function, sometimes you are using 0, other times the real data. You might need a way to know that your sub or function is using incomplete data.
  9. B

    Average Wall St paycheck $300k?

    Yeah, like Riverdale! Seriously, you have to stop watching TV shows from the 70s and go to these places. There are some great places in both and they are a lot different from the public perception. Sure, it looks bad if you're a guy from the NJ suburbs looking for some weed; dealers tend not...
  10. B

    IB Trin

    Something odd: eSignal up volume: 592M eSignal down volume: 714M IB up volume: 750M IB down volume: 550M
  11. B

    IB Trin

    eSignal TRIN right now is 1.42, IB is 1.40.
  12. B

    IB Trin

    It is very similar to the TRIN on eSignal except it updates more frequently. Haven't a reason for thinking it is incorrect. You might question where they are getting their volume from -- all exchange or just the NYSE.
  13. B

    Is it true? That the smarter you are the worse the world looks?

    Actually, not entirely true: to take one example, homicide rates are now near the same level they were in 1940. The biggest jump in homicide rates in this century was from 1900 to 1930.
  14. B

    IB Excel DDE VBA question

    First, what you should be doing when you have a problem like this is to use the debugger to find out what the variable looks like. Without knowing what they are everything else is just guess work. Several possible solutions: With DDE before the data connection starts the values may be #N/A...
  15. B

    Which stocks would you hold for 30 years?

    Well, now you finally agree with me that gold is not a safe long-term investment, unless you want to redefine long term from the one used for this thread.
  16. B

    Which stocks would you hold for 30 years?

    Interesting example. I hope you don't follow your own advice. If you had bought in 1982 at $300 and are still holding I wonder if you would have broken even yet after carrying costs and inflation. Do the numbers; I don't think so. If it takes balls to hold something for 20 years and still...
  17. B

    Which stocks would you hold for 30 years?

    Gold spot peaked around 1980 near $750 per ounce and in the next 26 years has never reached that peak again. Since 1980 it had given up nearly 2/3 of its value at its low point and only recently has traded above $450. Gold's investment use in the US was primarily as a hedge against...
  18. B

    Which stocks would you hold for 30 years?

    Thirty years ago, amongst the top 10 largest US corporations, there were 3 automobile manufacturers. GM, for example, had a 5.8% continuous growth rate in share price + $77 in dividends over the next 30 years (before adjustment for inflation). However, the starting point was also in one of the...
  19. B

    IB Data Feed Problems?

    It's after 10:15 and GLOBEX is still screwed up -- sometimes 3 ticks off the market.
  20. B

    IB Data Feed Problems?

    I don't think it's the build -- I just downgraded to 861.5 and have the same problem. It takes longer than usual to connect to the data farms I noticed.
Back
Top