Due to the huge influx of really random threads asking simple questions that have already been asked/answered many times, I've decided to start a new megathread where people can ask any questions they wish pertaining to investing or whatever.

This is the place to come if you need to understand a definition, understand a concept, if you want to know more about a financial topic, or if you're generally clueless and want to know where to start educating yourself on investing.

DO post here:

- Questions about definitions and financial terms (please google first though!)
- Questions about investment vehicles you don't understand
- If you're looking for simple advice that should only take a line or two to answer
- If you just need a one line reply to an idea you have
- Any random thoughts you have that don't deserve a thread
- If you're going to ask 'what do you think XYZ will move in price over the next few months?'. These don't deserve your own thread to just have 8 people post 'lol' with no real content.

DON'T post here:

- News articles. We can still keep them in separate threads. An exception is if you want a clarification on what an article means.
- If you want specific advice on a more complex situation. for example, if you're trying to determine your own best way to spread your finances between shares, housing, and your IRA account, also listing your debt, income, and plans for the next 10 years. These more complex questions can still have their own thread. Rule of thumb: if the advice you need takes more than 3 lines to answer and probably needs follow up questions, it can have its own thread. If it takes less than that, post it here.
- Stuff on gold or anything about how the US dollar is going to collapse. We have a thread for that! Remember the stick rules apply here!
- Anything that requires depth. We still want good quality threads in BFI. Rule of thumb: if you have more than 500 posts in BFI alone, your questions/ideas are probably complex enough to have their own thread. Remember, you can still post stuff here, and if its deserving of its own topic, we'll let you know and you can go ahead and post it! (eg of depth, forex trading, law changes clarification, different speculative investment ideas, business advice etc) .

Enjoy!

sticky this IMHO...

I request that no one quote bkkdude unless he has something profound to say. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of this site's ignore list.

thats not the purpose of this thread sir.

i give good info, just not in a politically correct way..............lol.

You give terrible info, seem to live in a bubble world, and couldn't make a coherent sentence to save your life. I have no idea why you are here or why you think anyone listens to you.

i told a newbie whos only ex. w investing was buying a cd to stay awy from forex.

im try to get colombian casino guy to give it up, do u disagrre ? giventhe little info hes given.

i tried to get ira guy to not listen to all the noise he was getting on his thread, it only consuef him.


my sentances suck, try posting in between hands multitabling


also toldbank of m guy bonds at 9% was high risk shi t.

profound, no one else here would have thought of that!

Do we need to repost the xtranormal about you bkk?

I really don't get why you think you're qualified to give advice. What education do you have and what are your accomplishments?

i ll explain.

a guy posted about free girls in thailand. he stated a scenario where a girl you meet
at a club goes to your room within hours ,to chat i guess.......lol. upon leaving you may have to give them cab fare or something.

all i said was they are not free if when they leave you give them 60$ when 3$ is sufficient.


and from what i hear the scenario described is not uncommon there.

mr mod.


if you notice i dont give advice on anything of substance.

i pick the subjects that one would think everone knew the answer too.


im giving such basic advice one would think people should know better.
but apparently they dont.

a buffon could see bank o m at 9% is hi risk but apparently that fellow didnt.
whats wrong w my advice to forex dude?

come on mr mod. do you think medallin casin guy got a good thing going.

Talking to someone who knows your posting from another board, it seems you get off giving advice. You thread ****ted way too many times, you have difficulty explaining yourself, and you seem to kill threads you post in. No one knows what the **** you're saying half the time.

From now on, you are not allowed to post in BFI. If you post here again, I'm going to give you a 3 day ban. If you want to discuss this further, do not post here, send me a private message. if you argue here, you will get banned.

Back on track:

Here's something for n00bs. The rule of 72 for compounding interest.

If you take 72 and divide by the annually compounded interest rate (APR = annual percentage rate), that number gives you how many years to double your money.

So, if you have an annual return compounded @ 8%: 72/8 = 9 years.

Alternatively, if you want to know what APR you need to double your money in x years, take 72/x. If you want to double your money in 6 years: 72/6 = 12% APR

Pretty ghey to ban him. He had a very reasonable point lolling at Henry17. Though he is terribly trollish. Maybe one day he'll post something coherent.

ya, i don't like the guy but banning him seems unreasonable

I've warned him and he still aggravates everyone and derails threads. He can't even write properly, people don't know what he's saying and I don't see him thinking through any posts at all. He's clearly a net negative, I've given him a chance to think about his posting but its pretty clear he's going to force my hand later, so why not draw a hard line now?

so, what's the spread usually on VIX? I grabbed some data off yahoo finance but it's just closing prices

I've been reading many TA books.

There is one thing that I've either skimmed past or isn't in them.

How do I start building my own system?

Is there a step by step anywhere?

I don't even know what goes into it.

Cheers,

Josh

Here's a great resource for systems.

http://www.seykota.com/tribe/TSP/index.htm

Dustman,

Thanks a ton. Looking at it now.

Josh

The whole point of building a system is there isn't a step by step, you're using what you know about the market and how it works to create an edge. Most trading platforms will allow for mechanical trading, then you have to code in what rules you're after. Most will have sample templates for a system.

This link is 3 years old? Try something more modern:

http://www.marketsci.com/recent.html

I found Van Tharp's TYWTFF really useful for thinking about system design.

I have a related question..... I kind of have a system half designed - basic equity trend following type stuff. I then wanted to add some fundamental filters to it so I went away and did some reading on that too.

But now everything is soooo complicated - there are literally dozens of different factors to weigh up. So know I have gone from trying to design a mechanical system, but have ended up with something much more discretionary.

I still have mechanical screening criteria, and mechanical stop-loss points, and mechanical position sizing, and some mechanical exits, but I'm making judgment calls on which trades to actually make, by taking into consideration the whole "big picture".

Is this wise at my early stage?

The important point being that it is NOT simple to find an edge...you have to be pretty clever and be willing to think "outside the box" (a part of me just died for saying that). TA is a pretty efficient method (ie, people a LOT smarter with bigger resources have probably already tried the standard ways of being a quant...) so you're taking on the BIG boys this way. In order to win, you have to be very clever and not rely on simple systems - you have to be original and THEN use the technical tools to implement it.

I wasn't really planning on building an automated trading thing.

More of setting up what I was calling a "system" but maybe moreso
mean a plan of like what patterns i can trade, when to come in, out... etc

risk/reward rules... it seems i'm really lost.