Daylight Savings

I hate these two weeks of the year when the time difference between the U.S. and Europe is an hour out of whack. Here in Europe we put our clocks back on the week-end and the U.S. will do it next weekend. I don't know why it is but it puts me off; the rhythm of the overlap between the two time zones makes a difference to how the markets trade.


We start the Workshop next weekend and I'm finishing my prep. Candace is coming down today to finish the stuff she's been working on and make sure it's all integrated into the program. Mrs EL gets back on Wednesday. It's been too quiet here this last week. The lady who comes in to help keep everything here in order has been especially chatty, as I think she feels sorry for me being here alone. It's been a busy week so my batching went OK with Mrs EL on the other end of the phone.


The MF Global news was all the talk this morning. The Euro gave a few nice trades early London time as the guys rebalanced their books. Love the opportunities with all that's happening in the world.

And The Beat Goes On

There was an interesting interview with Sarkosy yesterday. It reinforced my view that there really isn't a workable plan yet to resolve the Euro crisis. What is evident is that the Europeans are determined to keep everything afloat.


What does that mean to a day trader? More volatility!! There will be more rumours. There will be more fix attempts. The meetings that were held resulted in a holding action, to hold the status quo without an implosion until something more permanent can be done. What the cost of this fix will be is still unknown, but it will cost Germany buckets of money and probably other countries too, including China.


The result of all this is that billions of dollars, euros,  etc have evaporated. This money has and will continue to disappear from the wealth of the world. It is not being redistributed. It's just evaporating. We're all having to reinvent the way that we store our wealth if we want to maintain and increase the real value of our assets.


In the meantime, the Chinese will have to play a bigger part in any solution to the existing world economic problems. It has been said that China holds about 60% of the world's currency reserves. It has to continue its policy of vendor financing to keep its customers buying from it.


And The Beat Goes On.

Balance

Firstly, all November Workshop attendees should have received an email today. If you haven't, please check your spam folder.

Again the open of the DAX was very important. Markets that open out of balance, due to overnight activity elsewhere, provide great opportunity.


Before the open, I drew in my Fib area and was ready to sell it the first time it come into it. It did that on the open and I sold the hesitation as the candle turned red. I covered as it hovered just above the 33EMA and then went long as it failed to touch it.


I exited the trade as the price went overbought. Again, it hovered. This time above the red Fib line and I went long again as it started to move upwards, taking out the previous high. The ES had been very strong and relentless during the Asian session.

As I have written before, the increased volatility is part of the so-called "new normal" as we go through this transition. How long the transition will take, I don't know, but the volatility will eventually abate somewhat. In the mean time, we should enjoy what we have. Trading the more volatile markets can be more rewarding than the less volatile ones, if you are a day trader. It's like wrestling, using your opponents weight against him.

The November 5 Workshop has just one place left, so if anyone is still thinking about it you'll need to pull the trigger to take the trade. We'll be concentrating on one Inside Out trade and one Outside In trade. I've asked each attendee how much money they want to make in the beginning as proof of their CP. I will then help each trader to create their own TP, tailored to their own needs and requirements using one or more of the menu of tools that I will provide, so that they have a short road map to their goal. Using the technology will compensate for a host of psychological issues that people have. 

This is not a sales pitch as we're almost full, but this workshop will be very unique. My aim is to have everyone to CP very quickly and have created a curriculum with exactly that in mind. Just over a week to go before we start. I can hardly wait.

Today's DAX trades are the ones we will be looking at under the microscope in the workshop. The trend was up all morning but it still gave an opportunity to take a few very high win rate outside in trades. Newer traders favour Outside In trades as there is that instant gratification and looking back over a chart they look easy. I've made it simple by creating a set of rules that I have back tested. It becomes easy after you have done the back testing yourself and "believe" and have trained that muscle memory.

BTW, my comment on the European "solution": the emperor has no clothes.

Introducing the Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program: Connecting you with partners to help maximize your AdWords campaigns

As a small business, we know you spend a lot of valuable time trying to reach more customers. Many of our advertisers build and create successful AdWords campaigns on their own, and others prefer to work with partners to get their Google advertising up and running. We think it’s important to provide you with the options that work best for your business, which is why we’re excited to announce a partnership program dedicated to helping small- and medium-sized businesses reach new customers with Google AdWords.

The Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner Program (PSP) connects Google’s trusted and experienced partners with businesses to create, manage, and optimize AdWords campaigns that help you reach more customers and make the most of your advertising budget.

Premier SMB Partners bring to the table years of industry knowledge and meet Google’s highest standards for qualification, training, and customer service. Teaming up with a PSP gives you a marketing and search engine advisor who can take the guesswork out of online advertising, to save you time and resources so you can focus on running and growing your business.

Check out the video below to see how a Google AdWords customer named A&D Automatic Gate & Access has worked with a Premier SMB Partner to find new customers with their Google AdWords campaigns.

To learn more about working with a Premier SMB Partner, visit our website, www.google.com/ads/premiersmbpartner/.

Posted by Todd Rowe, Director of Global Channel Sales

Modes

We are getting bursts of volatility during the European day as the news and rumours come and go. Still no real clarity on what will happen, although Merkel got permission from her Bundestag to do what she wants at the summit.

Often days like this are what in Market profile terms is called a Double Distribution Trend Day. Mixing the action between outside in and inside out trades is necessary in order to maximise the profitability of a day like this, unlike a proper trend day.

WVU's Coach Holgs is the 'Hungry Eyes' Guy

Substitute a Red Bull, ice cold beer or slot machine for the Orange M and Coach Holgs would be a ringer for the "Hungry Eyes" guy in the M&M Pretzels commercial.

Small business and the power of video, announcing “My Business Story” by Google and American Express

(Cross-posted on the Inside AdWords Blog)

Let’s say you’re a custom sneaker maker. Or you run a yoga retreat center. Or maybe you even sell vegan Vietnamese out of a gourmet food truck. Your business has its own unique story to tell. If you had the chance to show the world what your business is all about - from its founding roots to the ways it changes your customers’ lives, would you take it?

Today you have that chance. We’re pleased to be presenting “My Business Story®” alongside American Express. “My Business Story” is a program for small businesses to tell their stories through video, leading up to the second annual “Small Business Saturday”, a day set aside to encourage communities to spend and support local businesses by shopping small.

And since Google research has shown that companies who use video can expect better customer engagement and retention, we are launching a new video tool so that small business owners can create personalized, professional-quality videos about their business.

Once you’ve got your video crafted, business owners are invited to submit it to the contest for an opportunity to appear in the YouTube homepage ad on Friday, November 25th, which is viewed by an estimated 22 million people in the United States every day. Thirty-six small businesses will be featured in the ad and will receive an online ad campaign worth $5,000 from Google and American Express. All submissions will be viewed and judged by an independent panel of experts. The deadline for contest entry is Tuesday, November 15, but entry is not required to use the My Business Story editing tool.

Happy editing! We’re eager to see what you come up with.

Posted by Marisa Currie, Product Marketing Manager

Volatility

The Transition is continuing as I have written now a number of times. I keep reminding myself of this as the markets react wildly to rumours, news, hopes and the activities of the HFTs.


As someone said not long ago, this is the new normal. At least for now.


Traders must continually adjust to the changes that are taking place. It's an evolution, not a revolution.


The stock indices have a lot more noise. Experimenting with longer range bars may help, but that has a price. As I have written, my stops are far away and that is a must for me in these markets. I stop myself out well before my hard stops are hit when the market tells me to.


The trades below show the importance of discipline. The first trade was fine. The 2nd and 3rd were small losses or scratches, 4th was OK, 5th and 6th went nowhere and the 7th was a nice pay. I don't know which trade will be my pay day. I know over time I will make money with a high win rate. So I have to take every trade in my trading plan and manage it. If I cherry pick, I'll pick all the bad cherries and miss the good moves.

Are QR (Quick Response) Codes just a fad?

Are QR Codes, these little square pixelated boxes seen in advertising in magazines, on signs and even in television commercials really here to stay?  According to a study by comScore, 14 million mobile phone users in the United States scanned a QR code in June 2011.  That's 6.2% of the total mobile audience focusing on a QR code or barcode to seek information. That number is set to rise as the smartphone takes over the current mobile marketplace.

The study went further to breakdown men versus women users, age groups, household income and where and when they scanned QR codes.  QR Scanners were more likely to be men (60.5%) and aged 18 to 34 (53.4%) and had a household income of $100,000 or above (36.1%).  Mobile users scanned QR codes on their mobile devices at a rate of 58% from home while 39.4% scanned QR codes from a retail store with 24.5% from a grocery store.  Nearly 20% scanned a QR code from work while 12.6% did so outside with 7.6% scanning a QR code while in a restaurant.

"QR codes demonstrate just one of the ways in which mobile marketing can effectively be integrated into existing media and marketing campaigns to help reach desired consumer segments," says Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile.

In business layman's terms - it is about getting noticed - being found - answering a need.

QR codes fit with the trend today of  having information at your fingertips and the ease to enter it into your contact list for future reference. Still think it's a FAD?  Think again - get your FREE business QR code from Qlixite.com and start using it and tracking more traffic. "See a need - fill a need!"

Black Gold Has A Price

I'm batching this week. "Batching" is what they say in Australia when a guy's other half (wife, girlfriend) is away and he has to fend for himself. Luckily, I have Sammy to keep me company. She's about 13 years old and is a great dog. She's a Parsons Jack Russell Terrier that we rescued from Battersea Dogs' Home about 8 years ago. Mrs EL is in London catching up with Kiki and doing a bunch of things that have been added to her list of "to do's". Candace comes down here in a week to help prepare for the Workshop. Slides, curriculum, sanity check and so on.

We heat with Oil here in France and after just filling up our tank, discovered we have a lot of sludge built up since the tank was installed. The house goes back over 90 years so there could be any amount of sludge there that stopped the furnace from working last week. A guy came today and pumped out the 3,000 litres of diesel I just bought, filtered it and cleaned the tank and then put the diesel back. Glad I had a reasonable day trading today.


Today I sold the DAX on the open. Why? It was too far from the 33 EMA. What a simple trade with a simple reason. I did validate the trade by seeing some resistance on the overlapping Profile and that the Big CCI was overbought, but my Prime reason was the distance from the 33 EMA. Easy to put this rule into an algo.


How did I know I was "too far"? Back testing! I know that price will eventually go back to the 33 EMA and I "know" that, currently, an open more than 60 points above the 33 EMA is too much.


In this case, I had almost instant gratification. but often it takes more work for it to "revert to mean". I was also looking for a Fib resistance but couldn't find one. My 27 point profit on the trade made my day. You don't need lots of trades every day. Just a few, perhaps only one.

Google Apps highlights – 10/22/2011

This is part of a regular series of Google Apps updates that we post every couple of weeks. Look for the label “Google Apps highlights" and subscribe to the series. - Ed.

In the spirit of helping people work better together, over the last few weeks we made big improvements to Google presentations, introduced a version of Google Docs optimized for Android tablets, and enabled more dynamic content in Google Sites. We also celebrated the fact that Silicon Valley has gone Google!

Google presentations reloaded
On Tuesday we launched a completely rebuilt version of our web-based presentations application, so you can build more beautiful presentations together with colleagues and classmates. Google presentations now lets you make great-looking slides with animated builds, advanced slide transitions and better support for drawings, tables and themes. Plus, we made it easier to create presentations with others, without the hassles of attachments. Your whole team can work together in the same version of a presentation at the same time, and you can see who’s doing what, chat with others, and see a full revision history at any moment in time.

Google Docs on Android tablets
We’ve made it faster and easier to work with Google Docs on Android tablets with a new version of the Android application that takes full advantage of larger screen real estate. The three-panel view lets you browse filters and collections, see your document list and view file thumbnails and details simultaneously. You can get the Google Docs Android app for free from the Android Market.

Charts in Google Sites
Charts are often created in spreadsheets, but sometimes you want charts to appear in other places, like your team or project sites. In Google Sites, now you can select “Chart” from the “Insert” menu, and navigate to the Google Spreadsheet where your chart or data is located. You can also choose to have your site’s chart update in real-time when someone updates the underlying spreadsheet.

New look for Google Docs and Sites
We started rolling out a new look in Google Docs a couple months ago, and now this new design is available throughout all our collaboration tools. In addition to a cleaner, simpler design, we’ve made it more clear when your files are being auto-saved and added new icons to help you see at-a-glance who your docs are shared with. You can also customize the overall “density” of screen information, a great feature if you want to fit more onto a smaller display.

Who’s gone Google?
Successful small businesses tend to stay laser-focused on improving their core businesses, without getting distracted by peripheral activities that don’t make them more competitive. For example, most small businesses don’t want to spend time or money developing in-house expertise to run email and other IT systems. Case in point: 97 percent of Business Insider’s “Silicon Valley Startups to Watch” use Google Apps.

More than 5,000 businesses and thousands of other organizations start using Google Apps every single day, and more of our customers have shared their stories recently so you can hear why. A warm welcome goes out to Philz Coffee, Mid-Atlantic Door Group, Bradford & Barthel, LLP and the City of Mesquite, Nevada.

I hope these product updates and customer stories help you and your organization get even more from Google Apps. For more details and the latest news, check out the Google Apps Blog.

Posted by Jeremy Milo, Google Apps Marketing Manager

Opening week...

Hi Everyone


Well first of all, sincere apologies for the lack of blog last week. Never in my life have i had so much to do in such a small amount of time. But then again, i never was one to take the easy road. The lead up to the VIP Prelaunch party and opening was, as with all new start ups, fraught with little hiccups that piled up around my ears, BUT nonetheless we made it to VIP night with just the gallery space to be cleared out and a few more items to be put on the shelves. 


Just over 100 designers and media guests attended our VIP night. With the bubbles flowing, a mass networking celebration began and continued well past my bedtime (not that i got much sleep). I stayed up into the early hours to finish the gallery space, get all those champagne flutes cleared up and put most of the remaining products out on the shelves so our first day customers were none the wiser of the mess that it had been just hours before. 

Super designers and helpers Julie (Moops and Hoops), Melinda (Baby Ink) and Lauren (Boondie Baby) 

Opening day and the week that has followed has brought a steady stream of "wowed" customers, all commenting on the gorgeous stock, abundance of choice, wide laned layout and various activities all in one shop. Kids especially have been having a blast making recycled crafts with Kim and Hardy from Rubble Art whilst parents sit back and relax with a good coffee. One lady even had a little nap i'm told, perfectly acceptable in their retro lounge room environment. In fact i'm sure if i sat in one of these chairs i wouldn't get up for another 8 hours. 

 

Clean and tidy ready for another batch of crafters

OK OK i know you're all dying to see some pics of the shop so far. Bec from Little Red Photography took some for me today and she will get these back to me soon but in the meantime, here are a few happy snaps i took. 

Gorgeous artworks in abundance

Super cute accessories for girls

Need some ideas for newborn gifts?

Divine name plaques

Choice, range, value for money

A good mix of girls AND boys wear

A great range of stationery and party products

Gifts for boys

Aren't these hairclip holders sweet and practical!

There is still lots to be done to tweak and fine tune everything but that will be an ongoing process that lasts forever i assume. Being a perfectionist, i am sure i'll be constantly changing things around.  

We had our first Shopping and Champagne night on Thursday and had a visit from the lovely Peace and Katy of Connect 2 Mums who were just in town for the expo and decided to pop by and say hi. They are such amazing role models and offer a fantastic support system to Mumprenuers out there, it was great to finally meet them. 

I am so proud of everything we have achieved and feel lucky to have so many amazing designers and providers on board. This truely is a community and our customers have been so excited to come in and be a part of this amazing experience we have all created together.  


Off to get some zzzz's 


Happy opening week everyone!


Nicole Herrick
KIDS STYLE HUB
www.kidsstylehub.blogspot.com


Oh and PS the webstore will be up and running very shortly. 

Friday On My Mind, Again

I was itching for the DAX to open this morning as I wanted to sell the Fib trade. I did, I did. Getting these on the open can be very rewarding sometimes. My size in the DAX means I have to scale out in 1's as the liquidity, especially at 7 am London time, is not brilliant, often only 4 or 5 a side. In this case I got only part filled with a 2 lot so my trade management was quite restricted. Like a duel where you only had two bullets, not like in the American West where Colt invented the Six Gun. You could do a lot more damage with a Six Gun.


In any case, this morning I had only two bullets. I covered the first for 100 Euro profit and the second half way up the first green candle. I was really pleased after the lows were rejected as demonstrated by the hanging man candle (buying tail).


The DAX is a great contract if you want a volatile market outside American RTH, but deep pockets are a pre-requisite. My 5.5 point range bars take a lot of the noise out. I've tried a lot of range bar settings but have never found a better one than that which was recommended by a trader in Australia over a decade ago. Thanks Frank! I spend a bit of money on my own education and I always learn something new. I'm good at taking something someone has shown me and turning it into something else that makes me money.


Anyway, my two lot trade turn out to be managed correctly. Had I had a larger position, I would still have held the last third until about the 17th bar and covered at the 33 EMA as the market was in a definite uptrend as per the CCI and EMAs. This was an outside in trade for a quick profit to take advantage of the imbalance when the market opened.


I just loved the Easybeats in the 60's.

BTW, there is a new link to the indicators I use. It's located towards the top right column of the blog.

Including change agents into project teams

A very popular subject right now is how to integrate change managers into project teams. This is driven by the growing importance of managing the implementation and transition to new ways of working as a result of the project. Unlike a project team where there is broad agreement on the roles and responsibilities, organisations are still deciding what roles are associated with managing change. The

Biz As Usual

Morning in London was quiet until there was a pop in the DAX mid morning and then it went quiet again. I was glad of the trades I bagged.


RTH in the ES opened with a flurry. Lots of volume. The HFTs were fighting amongst themselves. It was very visible today at the open.


I had 4 good trades in the ES in RTH. The first two were a bounce off the Fib support as order flow turned. The third was a double top against what was a cave in the profile when it happened, as was the fourth up against the DVAH as well.


There should be a break out later in the day if people start thinking about the news here in Europe.

Small businesses in NYC help fight breast cancer with Pink Pin

This October and November, Google and Susan G. Komen for the Cure are taking the fight against breast cancer to New York City with the Pink Pin initiative. The Pink Pin initiative is a way for businesses to support the fight against breast cancer by encouraging consumers to donate to the search for a cure.

Physical businesses who register at PinkPin.com will be marked with a Pink Pin on our map. Customers who visit these businesses will be able to donate to Susan G. Komen for the Cure at stores via mobile phones. The more customers businesses reach, the more of an impact Pink Pin will have—and the closer we’ll be to a cure. We’re also encouraging businesses and consumers to inspire others by sharing their stories about the cause online at www.pinkpin.com. Our goal is to raise hope, raise spirits and raise more than $100,000 for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

So get involved, get on the map, share your stories and be a part of Pink Pin. With the support of small businesses like yours, Google and Susan G. Komen for the Cure can help take breast cancer off the map.

Posted by Ria Tobaccowala, Associate Product Marketing Manager

How Do You Eat An Elephant?

The answer is, as the saying goes, "One bite at a time".


Some traders have problems reaching CP because they go too fast. If you go back two years to the first posts to this blog, you'll read that the basis of what I taught Kiki was to go slow. We created a series of building blocks in the TPs so that she could progress slowly, building on past success as she progressed.


This iterative progress is an important tool in reaching CP. By nature, we traders are very impatient. We want it now! That works against us in the long term. Our motto is "when all else fails, read the instructions". It doesn't seem to work like that in trading. A trading plan (TP) needs to be built from the ground up. In different steps as the trader perfects different aspects of it and gets the belief to have the discipline to trade it.


Having said that, the goals need to be very specific and measurable, and above all, be realistic.


BTW, those of you who are still thinking about attending the November Workshop, you'll need to make a decision by the end of the week if you are new to EL, as we need time to courier you the EL Theory DVD Set so you can bring yourself up to speed before the Workshop.


The workshop will be working on two main trading pictures that the attendees will be tailoring to their own needs. One is an inside out and the other is outside in. Each attendee will end up with a set of trading logic and trading plan that has back tested as profitable. We will be working together on the rules to put into place with the aim of keeping the TP profitable. Of course part of the responsibility of the trader is compliance with the TP. The best motivation for this is success with the TP and that is why I advocate trading in SIM until the TP has proved itself to you. The stats below is for an almost 5 month period using a 6 tick range bar and 1 lot for the ES. It's a very specific TP and achieves great results. This is a TP that I scale for as many contracts as I want because of the depth of the ES market.

A TP can be tailored for a very specific picture during a very specific time of day.


None of the above is new. This blog has the same sentiments in it over and over again, perhaps in different words. But the problems traders have that they email me about are mostly the results of not doing what I've written above. Putting all your smarts into your TP is the road map to CP. Executing in compliance with that TP is the engine to CP.