23 February 2011

Core Book : Survived Flush Out Day

  • Libya unrest = Trigger for one of those periodic massive margin call days when everything gets flushed down the toilet regardless.
  • Core Book taken a hit today although a lot less worse than I had feared in view of my disaster scenario (=flight to quality) coming true. Still up nicely on the month and on track for ytd budget in spite of setback. Setbacks = part of T4L game.
  • Flight to quality = buying USD and buying USTs, both of which I am short.
  • Losses mitigated by : Long Gold + Brent (=War Assets), Short Grains (Soybean limit 6%, Wheat limit down 7%) and short Simsci.
  • Unexpected casualty : Long Copper badly hit due to China (stocks down 2.6% today) + deflationary impact of turmoil.
  • Reminder of importance of 1. portfolio approach (diversification) and 2. locking in profits along the way even in strong trending markets (which thankfully I have been doing). 3. Sizing trades small so that one is not given to panic in the face of adverse price action.

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