QR Codes Mean Quick Response for Business

Qlixite's Website QR Code

A QR code (abbreviation for Quick Response code) is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) that is readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera telephones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, URL, or other data.

Common in Japan, where it was created by Toyota subsidiary Denso-Wave in 1994, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. The QR code was created to allow its contents to be decoded at high speed.

Although initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes now are used in a much broader context, including both commercial tracking applications and convenience-oriented applications aimed at mobile phone users (termed mobile tagging). QR codes may be used to display text to the user, to add a vCard contact to the user's device, to open a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or to compose an e-mail or text message. Users can generate and print their own QR codes for others to scan and use by visiting one of several free QR code generating sites.

QR codes storing addresses and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) may appear in magazines, on signs, buses, business cards, or almost any object about which users might need information. Users with a camera phone equipped with the correct reader application can scan the image of the QR code to display text, contact information, connect to a wireless network, or open a web page in the telephone's browser. This act of linking from physical world objects is termed hardlinking or object hyperlinking.

Google's mobile Android operating system supports QR codes by natively including the barcode scanner (ZXing) on some models, and the browser supports URI redirection, which allows QR codes to send metadata to existing applications on the device. Nokia's Symbian operating system is provided with a barcode scanner, which is able to read QR codes, while mbarcode is a QR code reader for the Maemo operating system. In the Apple iOS, a QR code reader is not natively included, but more than fifty free apps are available with reader and metadata browser URI redirection ability. With BlackBerry devices, the App World application can natively scan QR codes and load any recognized Web URLs on the device's Web browse this for compliance.

The use of QR codes is free of any license. The QR code is clearly defined and published as an ISO standard. Denso Wave owns the patent rights on QR codes, but has chosen not to exercise them. The term QR code itself is a registered trademark of Denso Wave Incorporated.

Standard QR code is the QR code standard for applications that possess the ability to handle large scans. A standard QR code can contain up to 7089 characters, though not all QR readers can accept that much data.

Use in Marketing


Recently, QR codes have become more prevalent in marketing circles and have been integrated into both traditional and interactive campaigns. Media where QR codes have been deployed include: billboard ads, guerrilla marketing campaigns, in-store displays, event ticketing and tracking, trade-show management, business cards, print ads, contests, direct mail campaigns, websites, email marketing, and couponing just to name a few. QR codes are of particular interest to marketers, giving them the "ability to measure response rates with a high degree of precision" allowing for easier ROI (return on investment) calculation, thus helping to justify spending on marketing budgets. QR codes also have been used at trade shows and in conferences.

For years marketers have seen the success of QR codes internationally, but in 2011 QR codes might finally be taking hold in the U.S. as prominent endorsements from Target, Best Buy, Macy's, and Post Cereals are exposing the codes to a broad swath of consumers.

Examples:

A QR code was used to promote Lupe Fiasco's album, "Lasers." The album was launched in the center of San Francisco with a massive QR code which allowed fans to scan it with the Redlaser technology in order to order the album early.

The hip hop collective OFWGKTA used a QR code when they played on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon instead of an album artwork which Jimmy Fallon usually presents. The code redirected to a site on the groups homepage.

QR codes have been used to interpret natural and historical points of interest on nature trails and walking tours, adding to or replacing expensive signs.

QR codes are not necessarily new to the world but they are growing ever more prevalant in the United States. As a small business owner free innovative technology can make a difference between staying in business and growing your business. Have questions about how to integrate QR codes and other technology into your marketing plan? Give us a call 800-596-6218 and connect with the Small Business Experts!

First Sequence This Morning

The Algo Workshop info and video is in the TAB above this post.

The DAX chart below shows the trading sequence just after the futures opened. The ES was down in Asia and the DAX opened down and went lower.


As you can see, some of the trades were entered by Flo and others by me manually.


In configuring an algo, I start with my main objective. It can be: Most $ Won or Highest Win Rate, or Lowest Drawdown or Fewest Trades or any number of things.


Once I have decided on that, I configure the other bits of the trading logic to align with that particular main requirement.


As you can see in the picture, there were some great trades that I had filtered out of Flo as I had a certain requirement in mind when I configured her. However, it is very easy to add and remove and tune filters.


In fact, the starting point is to do everything in indicator format so I can decide which filters I want to use. My config will be different in hybrid to fully auto. I need to make my fully auto Flo much more robust than a hybrid model, as I won't be paying attention to the auto one.


We'll be dealing with all these aspects and more in the workshop. BTW, the new indicator, Tuggerah, that you see on the chart below is something I added to Flo for dynamic exits and discovered it is useful for entries too. The harder I work, the luckier I get.

Thoughts on small sat and cube sat market size.

I went to Small sat last week. I'd never been to that conference and it is clearly a conference where people are actually building things. I went with the goal of answering one specific question:



"If I offered a dedicated 3U launch capability to any orbit < 600Km for 500K per launch how many would I launch a year?"



I asked this question over and over to government, vendors, academics and anyone that would take the time to discuss it with me.



I got answers varying from 0 to 500/yr.



I think the real answer will eventually be 20 or more launches a year. If the question is changed to 20Kg and 1M I get the sense the number of launches would actually go up.This is a SWAG (Sophisticated wild ass guess) its hard to generate a better answer because of the uncertainty hovering over the whole community.

At this conference Spacex announced commercial 2nd ary pricing of 200K to 325K for a 3U, giving some validity to my swag. The number of small sats launched is clearly undergoing growth, maybe even exponential growth. The problem is the people building the cube sats are not really paying for their own launches. They all have sponsors that are giving away secondary space on existing launches. The majority of people with real $$ to spend (IE DOD ) still think that the cube sats are toys, and the most forward thinking DOD people see them as marginally useful experimental vehicles.



Given just those facts I would have to conclude that today there is not a viable cubesat market.

The elephant in the room is that EVERY one I talked to has funding uncertainty.



All the program managers all say they have all these interesting plans that will happen as soon as the budget is resolved and they get their expected xx% increase, just like they got xx% last year and the year before. Not a single DOD, NASA or other government entity even acknowledged the possibility that they might see a significant reduction in funding. Collectivly they are either in denial or blind.



While today the university cube sats rely on the significant crumbs from larger programs, they are in fact demonstarating real usefulness. When the reality of the current long term funding sinks in to the smart and nimble among the program offices they will be forced to consider 5M cube sat programs as opposed to 100M conventional programs.



I see the next 5 years in the small sat space to be really volatile and chaotic. 5 to 10 years from now there will be a well funded thriving small sat/ cube sat market that could easily support several dedicated launchers. I just can't see what the details of this transformation will look like over the next 5 years.



How is that for a long and rambling non-answer.

Goals

Firstly, the Algo Workshop info is in the TAB above this post.
I'm posting a bunch of charts today so you can see what can be achieved using algos as both indicators/alerts and autotrading.

I was in South America for a couple of years in the 1970's. They are huge football (soccer) fans. It's almost a religion in Brazil and Argentina. Everyone watched or listened on the radio to the games between the club they supported and the opposition. I'll never forget watching a match in the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro with 100,000 people and not a spare seat. A big part of the experience is the commentary. Every time someone scores, the commentator yells loudly: GOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!


I often think about this when I'm trading and close out a trade.


There are a many successful traders out there who have a fixed daily profit goal and stop trading when they hit it. I've written about this before. The longer I trade the more attractive this idea is becoming, except for the exceptional days like we had last week when money was falling from the sky.


I know that your follow up question is: Should there be a daily loss limit? If you are new then "yes", but seasoned CP traders don't think of it in those terms.


The best time to trade is when the market is out of balance and that is usually in the opening couple of hours and then the closing hour. CP traders who have a daily profit target make it in the first hour or so. They use that opening couple of hours to make their money and their daily stop loss, within reason, is time not money.


I have and have had students whose initial goal is very modest: around $300 a day. If you have a monetary goal, work out how many points you need to make to get there and work out size and strategy to get there. Not all trades are created equal. Some pictures have a higher win rate than others. Put in your trading plan those things that you need to make your GOOOAAALLLLL!!!!!


Longer Term Trading
I had an email last night from a guy asking about longer term trading. As I have said before, all this stuff can be applied to varying time frames. The ES chart below looks just like my 1.25 range bar chart but when you look carefully, you can see that it's a 4 day daily chart. I picked the periodicity at random.


For a methodology to be sound it must be applicable to varying time frames, although it's possible to look for the nearest one to the one you want with the least noise in the chart.

Here's the daily chart version.

I manage my longer term trades this way. Of course by adding indicator alerts, I have a lot less manual work to do.


Today's trades started in the DAX. I dropped down to a 5 tick (2.5 point) range bar. The market gapped up on the open in line with the overnight ES. The POC of 10 Aug and the single print selling tail of Friday on the Market Profile held the low. Flo, my algo, found the low and put on my first trade I manually stretched the targets that you see on the chart - hybrid trade management. Orderflow slowed and Flo's filters kept her out, but I manually found some more trades using a new indicator to read lower level order flow. I took profits all out on these. I could have been finished trading after the first hour. But as a greedy b*st*rd  (Aussie friendly slang), I kept on working.

Greed was Good, as Gordon Geko said. Great moves down and easy to see with the alerts I've created. Just look at the yellow Dots from the Pressure Change Alert that foreshadowed the down move - the Order Flow indicator had also shown that things had changed after the up move. Go Flo! She traded the whole move down...

New resource materials

August can be a useful month for taking stock on the achievements of the year and catching up with all the research and latest trends in our areas of business. For those of you involved in project, programme, portfolio, risk and change management I thought I would share some of the most useful articles I have been reading lately – I hope you enjoy them and that they provide food for thought:The 5

Algo and Hybrid Trading Workshop - Beat the HFTs

There Has Never Been A Webinar Training Event Like This ...Ever.

 Watch the FloBot Algo in Action below

Learn To Create An Algo And Learn How To Trade With It, Fully Auto, Hybrid and Manual Using Algo Alerts.

Running from Saturday  5 November to Tuesday 8 November 2011 participants will learn the theory behind creating an algo before going on to create and use their own. In live trading, they will learn how to put the algo strategies and indicators into practice. The rest of the week is for the participants to put what they have learned into practice on their own, and then on Sunday 13 November 2011  we get together again to discuss questions and difficulties that may have come up during that week. For the next three months EL will provide email support to help with anything else that may come up.


Every trading technique and code will be disclosed.  Nothing held back.
What The Workshop Will Cover:

• The EL Methodology 
• High Win Rate Trades with the Trend
• High Win Rate CounterTrend Trades

• You will get the EL Theory DVD Set  
• (currently being sold for $1,000) before the workshop, so you hit the ground running when we start.

•  Choosing A Trading Platform That Suits Your Needs And Skills
• We will discuss them all including MarketDelta, MultiCharts, TradeStation, Ninjatrader, Sierra and many others
• The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Fully Auto Trading And Hybrid Trading
• You can do both for different circumstances
•  Designing An Algo
• For Fully Auto Trading
• For Hybrid Trading ( Algo enters, you exit manually)
•  The Testing Process
• Optimization
• No curve fitting
• Data selection
•  EL's FloBot Indicators and Algo Logic and How to Use Them
• This is based on over 40 years of experience and all attendees will receive a lifetime license  for running Flo MultiCharts and a disclosure of how EL constructs and uses the Pressure Change Alert and Order Flow indicators.

FLOBOT Webinar

This is a workshop for Traders, not coders. No Coding skills needed!

The aim of this workshop is show you how to make an algo that can create consistency using a backtested structured methodology with instant trade recognition and instant trade entry that meets your Trading Plan. 

Manually entering trades is too slow and inconsistent in today’s High Frequency Trading environment. To compete on an even playing field you need to use technology to bridge the gap between theory and live trading. No analysis paralysis, no rogue trades outside your TP. Speed and Consistency.

In this workshop, I will take you, step by step, through how to create and use an algo to trade.  At the end of the workshop you will have an algo you made as well as one I made, Flo. You will also get the new Pressure Change Alert and Order Flow indicators logic to use in your own platform or the studies themselves for use in MultiCharts and TradeStation.

If you have been struggling to get to CP (consistent profitability)  look at the information and videos in this website and my blog. It may be just the thing that takes you over the hump. 


Using an algo means you only have to be smart once when you create it, and not have to operate at 110% efficiency every day. If you would rather use the algo I created, I'll let you use FloBot for life after showing you at the workshop how she works.

Every participant will finish the workshop with an algo that has been backtested as profitable - one that they have designed, as well as FloBot, for MultiCharts created by EL.  They will also learn how EL created and uses The Pressure and Order Flow Indicators so they can code it for their own trading platform. You will also get some easylanguage code snippets that EL thinks will be invaluable and which you may want to re-code in the language of your platform.  Parts of these indicators are also available for MarketDelta, IRT, NinjaTrader, TradeStation and they will be made available to attendees as is.

EL has the names of some good coders for anyone who wants to get some professional help with their coding.

If this doesn't take you to CP, what will?

Past students have said:

Z, on 27 July 2011 said:

In the stage 1.1 practice I executed 59 trades and reached 69.49 %. Although it is not quite 70 % :-) I want to use the findings and lessons learned to go to stage 1.2. I trade sometimes without thrust, I fall sometimes into analysis paralysis (only on good trades :-), but I practice to reduce those.

D, on 25 July 2011 said:

Hi Tom
i have worked my way through the majority of the dvd's.
Learned a hell of lot and will have to review equally as much.
It's amazing how the patterns repeat themselves. While watching the dvds
the same patterns were setting up in the market as i watched it live.
The range bars are great for consistency.
You have really put a lot in to this work and the saying 'heart and soul' comes to mind.
I suppose im at the stage where i think a one to one would be good- inspite having three dvd's left eek
by the way i love how structured the process is. So much so the errors i make in the present you have address during the dvd's
It's like you are by myside. Oh by the way i've got beyond the point where i think im actually there live, try to ask a question, then
remember doh it's a recording.
Great great work.

R, on 21 July 2011 said:

Hi Tom,

I have been watching videos to learn to trade e mini BUT I have started using the CCI 45/6   slingshot and zeroline and gap trades on stocks like aapl,goog,wynn etc on 5 min charts 

I have made close to 100 points .Instead of buying breakouts as before i am now a pullback trader

I also use  VWAP with bands and VB in MD on these stocks and TPO ,for POC

Sp the money spent on the videos has been recovered multiple times

thanks for that

What To Expect

I have had lots of emails about the upcoming online workshop starting on November 5. All of you who have asked me to hold a place for you, while PayPal gets its act together, should have received an email that holds your place for you. The signup page and further info and curriculum should be posted on Sunday night.


Now to answer some of the questions:
The workshop is a traders' workshop and we will be breaking down the whole EL methodology into its components so that we can see what logic rules need to be applied for the algo to trade effectively.


In my development of FloBot, I have had to develop a number of indicators that identify the turning points in the market, the strength of trends, the cyclicality - basically, the tracking of the order flow. There are five particular new indicators that have proven to be very useful. You have seen two of them on the blog.


I WILL BE SHARING ALL THIS INFORMATION AND CODE WITH PARTICIPANTS. A non-disclosure agreement will be required to protect the intellectual property but it will be a true Show and Tell and I won't hold anything back. You won't need to be a programmer, as most of the platforms have a psudo language that can be used. For example, MarketDelta and RTL, TradeStation and MultiCharts has Easylanguage and so on.


I will be teaching the latest EL techniques. Nothing has changed in the methodology, but the way I can teach you the identification of the order flow has improved since I began teaching it. The new indicators also help people see this more clearly. Converting this into algos then makes the decision making process more consistent and provides instant trade recognition that can lead to instant trade execution if you want an algo to do that for you.

Computers are literal and cannot make subjective judgements like a trader can. Therefore, we need to be a bit clever in the way we ask them to identify trading pictures if we want something robust and successful.


Today's trading continued its volatility. Daily swings in the Dow of 400 points the last 4 days is representative of this volatility. Increasing the range bar size will get rid of some of the noise, but stops will need to be further away as should targets. Reducing size is also necessary if you also want to maintain your risk profile. The increased volatility produces more trades so that daily profitability can in fact increase. So can losses if I lose discipline. I had a tough morning on Wednesday until I adjusted. Flo can handle these faster markets better than I can, I must admit. I'm slower than I used to be and Flo corrects this deficiency.


First trade was fading the overbought. The target of the last trade that Flo found was in the same area.