North Korea lobs a missile over Japan. Harvey pounds Texas and Louisiana. Markets are rattled and scared money runs. Bitcoin and Ethereum march on regardless.
North Korea Missile Update
North Korea fires a missile which crosses Japanese air space over Hokkaido. This is the second missile to cross Japanese airspace. Markets do not like this sort of stuff.
The money races to safe havens of Japanese Yen and Japanese Government Bonds. Starts a new game of MIND THE GAP on JGB's -here is the chart from this morning's open in Japan.
This is all kind of weird. I would have thought a missile crossing Japan would make Japan one of the least safe places. But markets are not always rational. The computer did it.
Cryptocurency
Bitcoin (BTCUSD): Weekend trade saw Bitcoin price search for a new high above $4450 and then retrace all the way back to test $4300. I watched on a 1 hour chart for the reversal - I liked the way the big drop bar had a longish tail on it, followed directly by another long tailed bar. What I liked is price was respecting a level it had tested last time on the way down - $4300. I entered a new half trade above the high of that bar. You can see on the chart that I already have two trades just above that level - I would not normally do this but I am now trading half contracts. It feels easier.
Monday price action saw yet another big move down and a break below the $4300 level and tested below the $4200 level (which it had tested previously - see the left hand side of the chart). The move down was vigorous with another sharp move up forming a tail (this is a 30 minute chart this time). I entered the trade just as the next 30 minute bar was opening.
In Tuesday price action price has moved above $4300 again and I have placed a take profit target at $4445 and a stop loss above my entry point at $4335. This is now a free trade.
Ethereum (ETHUSD): MIND THE GAP game moved to Ethereum when my broker opened for trade on Sunday. This is not a classic gap as price has recently traded through this level (and on a 4 hour chart it is not visible). This is an easy game of mind the gap to play, because price gapped up and then pulled back I added another position.
With 3 contracts in profit, I placed a take profit target at $345 just below the recent highs. This target was hit for a $20.15 per contract profit (6.2% in 5 days). I have a take profit on one contract at $348 which is just below the new highs. This chart is beginning to look like the Bitcoin chart - two highs at all time highs.
If price does not break through this top level, there is a risk of reversal - hence putting in targets. This is called a Double Top if price is rejected and reverses. On Bitcoin I am convinced that the reverse on Monday is just the market gaining steam to have another big go at breaking up. North Korea missile test will help this - lots of Bitcoin demand in South Korea.
Dividends
Most of my investing is focused on capital growth rather than looking for yield or dividends. It is this way because I do not have to worry about capital gains tax. Not everybody is in this boat - so in this post I will start posting about dividends. Dividends feel like a bonus to me though I do have to pay tax on them. I will report the amount per share (after withholding taxes paid as a foreign shareholder) and the yield calculated on the purchase price I paid and on the current price.
Lyxor Athens Large Cap ETF (GRE.PA): Greece Index. €0.02 per share for 1.66% yield (1.9% vs current price). My current holding in this position on Greece is down an average of 14% - a dividend helps to pull some of that back. Time will pull the rest back - Greece is one of the fastest growing stock markets in Europe in 2017. Annual dividend - no withholding tax
Citigroup (C): US Bank. $0.272 per share for 0.73% yield (0.4% vs current price). Quarterly dividend.
QBE Insurance (QBE.AX): Australian Insurer. $0.22 per share for 2.04% yield (2.10% vs current price). Semi-annual dividend.
https://steemit.com/money/@getonthetrain/my-first-ever-dividend-income-extravaganza
Currency Trades
USDSGD long. Trade hit its stop loss at 1.35307 for $108.12 profit on the spot trade. This position came from an assigned option. While the trade did close above the strike it represents a loss of 84% of the option premium paid.
Forex Robot closed trades on two days (0.29% and 0.09% return) and is trading at a negative equity level of 10.4% (higher than prior day's 9.8%). Total gain to date is 7.48% for this robot. Net returns over the cost of the software is now 0.07%.
Cautions: This is not financial advice. You need to consider your own financial position and take your own advice before you follow any of my ideas
Images: I own the rights to use and edit the Buy Sell image. North Korea element of that is attributed below. News headlines come from Google Search. All other images are created using my various trading and charting platforms. They are all my own work
Tickers: I monitor my portfolios using Yahoo Finance. The ticker symbols used are Yahoo Finance tickers
Forex: You can start your own forex robot trading if you have a reasonable amount of capital to start (I recommend $5,000 or more as that gives you more trading pairs and lower negative equity). Software is a one-off lifetime fee of €600. Register at http://mymark.mx/USITech
August 25/28, 2017