Finance Trends Letter

Update (May 2017): Bitcoin has recently reclaimed the $1000 price level and moved on t o new price highs . As Bitcoin, blockchain technolog y, and altcoin s such as Ethereum have surged to new levels of adoption, we revisit our original 2013 posts on Bitcoin and the rise of cryptocurrencies . Bitcoin has recently zoomed past the $200 mark and is approaching its all-time highs. What better time to update you on the developing virtual currencies trend and to offer you new price data and insight into this growing market? Here are the latest Bitcoin charts using Mt. Gox data (denominated in US dollars) and BTC China (denominated in Chinese Yuan) via bitcoincharts.com . Note that prices are fast approaching the 2013 "pre-crash" highs.  I have been tweeting about B itcoin and its price uptrends on Twitter and StockTwits throughout the year. Those of you follow me may recall this tweet from March 2013 when Bitcoin was trading at $43.  Bitcoin quickly...

Bitcoin, the virtual currency on everyone's lips, surged through the $100 mark this week.  Bitcoin is currently trading at $117.2 on Mt. Gox (click through for current quotes and market depth), one of the most liquid bitcoin exchanges. Having traded near $15 in early January, bitcoins are now up over 750 percent in US dollar terms year to date.  Here's a chart of the bitcoin/Euro price, currently at € 92.18 on Mt. Gox. Interest in the bitcoin market recently exploded across Europe as Cyprus' banking crisis led savers to wonder if their bank deposits would be seized to help bail out ailing banks.  As the New Yorker explains in their piece on, " The Bitcoin Boom ":  "...That a number of panicked Europeans appear to have reckoned the wildly volatile, vulnerable, and tiny bitcoin market a preferable alternative to their own banking system, even temporarily, signals a serious widening of the cracks between the northern and southern E.U. coun...

Trader, author, and Market Wizard, Victor Sperandeo joins us for an exclusive interview in our first Finance Trends podcast. To say we caught a lucky break with our first guest is a bit of an understatement.  Victor is a highly regarded veteran trader who has been involved with the markets since his first job as a Wall Street quote boy back in 1966. When he began his independent trading career in 1971, his primary goal was to make money consistently, month after month, year after year.  After 40+ years of consistent profitability, I'd say he's met that goal.  Over the course of his career, Vic has traded independently, managed hedge funds and CTAs (commodity trading advisors), and ran portfolios for George Soros and Leon Cooperman. He has also written three books on trading, including, Trader Vic: Methods of a Wall Street Master , a personal favorite which interlaced Vic's trading insights with sections on Austrian economics and personal psychology! In this rare,...

  Jim Rogers has a new book out called Street Smarts and he's out talking about it, along with a few other favored subjects.  Here are a few highlights from his recent interview with Open Currency :  1 . Asked about Germany's repatriation of gold from American vaults, Rogers says they're right to do it and he's surprised they haven't done it sooner. Recently, the Federal Reserve refused the Germans an audit of their own gold, and according to Rogers "it's clear some of that gold has been lent out, or something, as it will take 7 or 8 years to move the gold."  2 . Nearly all governments are printing money, for the first time in recorded history. All major banks are "printing" and debasing their currencies, which brings us to Rogers' favorite safe haven - hard assets.  3 . We are destroying all the people who save and invest. People are getting wiped out because interest rates are zero and below the rate of inflation. Those who bo...

* Photo credit : Ray Dalio Blog . In our second installment of " Lessons from Hedge Fund Market Wizards ", we'll offer up some trading and macroeconomic insights pulled from Jack Schwager's interview with Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates.  You've probably heard of Ray Dalio if you have even a cursory knowledge of the hedge fund industry (or the Forbes billionaires list), so let's get right to it. These notes will fill in the rest of the story.  1) . Dalio is the founder and former CEO (now "mentor") of Bridgewater Associates, a fund that has returned more money ($50 billion) for investors than any hedge fund in history.   2) . Bridgewater still manages to achieve excellent returns on a huge base of capital and has done so over a long period of time. It is among the few hedge funds with a 20-year track record.  3) . Dalio believes that mistakes are a good thing , as they provide an opportunity for learning. If he could figure out what ...