THE MUPPET CLASS

                                          Which One Is You?

For the longest time, clients of Vampire Squid [AKA Goldman Sachs] have been known as “muppets”; the people who get the best trading information from the wizards-of-smart analysts making 6 and 7 digit salaries and bonuses. The fact that “your buying” is met by “their selling” shouldn’t concern you; “are you gonna believe us or your lyin’ eyes?”

To the best of my knowledge, the top FX strategist over there [the infamous T. Stolper] hasn’t made a profitable FX trade in over 3 years. Yet, people keep shoveling their hard earned money to firms like this year after year; why?

You can’t begin to explain chaotic systems through logic and intuition. You need the people who live behind the curtain in Oz. Of course, all that comes at a heavy price as you are never going to achieve the results you expect.

Does Vampire Squid allow you to profit from their HFT [high frequency trading] operations? Their proprietary trading algorithms [along with JPM] make billions and the number of trading days they lose money in a year are in single digits. Do you get to piggyback this if you are a “muppet”? Where do you go to sign up for this?

                             Following Algorithms ARE HARD

Two points here worth making; 1) you are the one who is supposed to supply the money, not take it, and by default 2) they are the elite financial class destined by divine right to take your money.

What they know they can’t share with you, because you are too stupid to understand advanced math and chaotic systems. Once given their HFT's, how long would it take the average sheeple to come to the understanding of, “err hey, whadda we need these guys for anyway?”

There is a reason for every rule in my long term algorithm; to keep you out of trouble. Aside from the abject stupidity on my part that cost us about $10-$15 per OZ. on Tuesday, so far this week the algo has done a fantastic job of preventing you from making ill-conceived trades both long and short.

[Like the Yellen up-its-bullish no wait a minute its-bearish price action that got people whipsawed like a seesaw in the last 24 hours. Welcome to news trading.]

We will see if the market is able to break its range tomorrow [Friday] and give us any trading opportunities [I’m not optimistic, but we’ll see]. I know it is hard to sit and be patient; if it was easy and intuitive, everybody would be able to do this and make a fortune. They can’t, and that should tell you everything you need to know about trading.

Have a great day everyone.

-vegas

FUBAR TRADING REDUX

                    You & Mrs. Market; Can We Just All Get Along?

Not content with getting hit in the back of the head with a frying pan once, many of you aspiring traders came back for more on NFP Friday. How many lumps in the head can your account take before it is unconscious?

With yesterdays tone set, the insanity of the monthly BLS [Bureau of Lies & Statistics] report on Non-Farm Payrolls continues to make once-a-month-Friday markets more like a craps table than someplace to do business. The entire investment community knows this report is a complete fabrication and scam, and means absolutely nothing; yet they pretend the number is sooooooooo important that Western Civilization hangs in the balance. The fact is that “politicalization” has infected every branch of government; there is no truth, only spin; and as every single government apparatchik knows, nothing can be reported that makes President Chalky Goebbels look bad.

                      So, How Does This Work Out 9 Times In 10?

What we get after the spike action from Thursday and today is an intraday market that is basically adrift; nobody really wanting to do anything and a quite a few accounts that literally can’t because they got whacked pretty good.

The temptation is strong to jump in and participate. Imagine a gigantic pit where 400+ people are on top of each other, screaming, spitting, cursing; the electricity in the air is something I can only tell you about but can’t explain because the intensity is unexplainable; only those who have felt it and seen it know what I really mean.

Yet, I stand there in the amidst of this seemingly bored out of my mind; wondering which early train I’m going to catch to get out of there.

I’m not in there to make friends, impress 20 year-old clerks, pretend I’m a big shot, get my picture taken by the press, impress the folks in the gallery by jumping up and down, or do anything else that takes away from my only objective; make money. Some days you just have to man up and realize the algo can’t help you on that day and leave.

We have seen 2 days in as row where this has been the case, and sitting with my staff for some of this action would be worth an admission ticket in some university psychology departments. I can see and feel the angst among them, and it takes me back to my early days of trading, where missing anything drew a frown upon my face.

Here is the most ironic thing about trading; those that focus on winning suffer the biggest losses and those that focus on losing almost never do. Even after 30+ years of trading, the market has no idea who I am, and if I do something stupid [like ignore the algorithm] it will punish me as if I am a newbie tripling up on a losing trade. How do you think that’s going to work out?

The one thing you newer traders have to understand and have tattooed on the inside of your eyelids, is that discipline matters. If you don’t have it and can’t keep it, then it’s only a matter of time before the “pudding business” awaits your return.

I don’t have office buildings filled with math Ph.D’s and algorithm code that has 20 million lines. We can never compete with Vampire Squid and JPM; either in terms of market access or unlimited amounts of free Fed money. They got it and we don’t.

My algorithm doesn’t compete with them; it seeks to take advantage of their peculiar market situation when they shove the market one way or the other and create the volatility needed to do 2 very important things; 1) fleece the muppets, and 2) enrich themselves.  

Unfortunately for us this week, pretty much most of the range in price for the week happened in 3 five [5] minute candlesticks. Not much to do except be thankful the algorithm stresses NOT getting whacked as a priority. Believe me, there are plenty of accounts who wished they had taken a vacation this week instead of showing up to hand out money.

Have a great day everyone.

-vegas

LESS THAN ZERO

                                        Absolutely Clueless

If there was any doubt before, it’s now official; Amerika is the butt of all jokes thanks to the “Hopey Changey” BS of one Chalky O-Bomb-A Soetero. The Syrians and Russians are playing him like a violin.

Seriously, between the present-day choom gang of Hillary, Kerry [IWIV], Biden, Reid, Pelosi, Rice, Power et al the chance of a serious thought solving any problem is lower than zero. All calculations are political with the sole goal of making Chalky look good. After all, Fearless Leader cannot fail or be made to look clueless.

 How’s that workin’ out?

Meanwhile, markets put a war premium in and then take it out.

Gold has some headwinds that bother me from a trading standpoint: 1) Fed tapering later this month or later this year, 2) continued Gobermint manipulation through JPM and the BIS [Bank of International Settlements], and 3) the continued effort of India to restrict imports.

The problem with gold is simple; when they “kill it” it comes quick and nasty and the stops get tortured with government WMD [free money to JPM]. From the 2^nd quarter of 2012, the manipulations get bolder and the down moves more exaggerated as the Fed is determined to hold the price down and, more importantly, hurt spec retail accounts who dare to remain long.

Currency pairs continue to offer good trading opportunities, with the Yen crosses drawing the most interest. Given the long term demographic problems Japan faces, along with wild Government spending dreams, and the needs of the importers and exporters, the crosses should remain volatile well into the future.

Of course, we can expect some days of lousy action while large accounts plan their calendars, but overall volatility should remain above average this year and next at the least.

How do you profit from this?

Easy Peezee; download the free “-vegas For Life” file in the downloads section and implement the “Vegas Big Bang Algorithm”. Everything you need for success is included in the file. You can sit and watch, or you can make money; the choice is yours.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

WHY DOES ANYBODY TRUST THE U.S.?

                               What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Well well, while I was away snorkeling in the snow cliff diving, a funny thing happened to investors all over the world who again like idiots simply don’t seem to ever learn a lesson.

I am of course referring to the liquidation bankruptcy of PFG Best. Let’s see, $400 million in missing segregated customer funds held at JPM; Gosh, we ain’t ever seen that before; errrrrr except with REFCO, MF Global, and now PFG. Give it a little time and I’m sure the CME thugs will have had their grimy hands in it too.

And prey pray tell, what do they all have in common? Why of course, they all happened in the U.S. You know, that bastion of regulatory zeal where every investor is protected; until they ain’t. From the folks who couldn’t catch a cold in a sniffle factory, we are of course being told that justice will prevail. Errrrr, someday; right after they find the missing  large $1.4 from MF Global.

Seriously, what does it take for people to start asking WTF?

How many times can you hit a dumb animal in the head with a baseball bat before it sees you coming and simply says “I don’t think so”? Once natch. Not so easy with humans, who will rationalize to their hearts content while their pockets are picked clean by regulators, banks like JPM, and the aforementioned world’s most disgusting exchange.

Do I have to say this again?

Why does anybody trade with a U.S. broker?

You dolts out there who continue to place your hard-earned money with crooks in the U.S. financial system; what’s it gonna take? Sorry, when they vaporize your funds AGAIN SOMEPLACE ELSE I refuse to feel sorry for you.

Is it just me thinking this, or do all the crash test dummies live in Amerika?

Of course, Chalky Soetero’s pals have their fingerprints all over this. And while I am positive he is getting a cut somewhere somehow, his pals should be cuffed and marched off to the rock pile. Instead, they’ll be off fund raising somewhere for Mom, apple pie, and the Chicago way.

What a screwed up country.

Have a good day everyone. Be back soon full time from hedonistic pleasure.

-vegas

HOW THE FED STOLE CAPITALISM

                                  Your Government At Work

The world breathlessly awaits the new round of money printing & currency debasement easing from Weimar Ben today. Like kids tucked in their beds awaiting Christmas morning, thoughts of sugarplums dance collectively in the hearts of most market participants.

It doesn’t matter anymore to the collective crowd that the entire system of finance as we have known it has ceased to exist; all we are left with is the “up or down thumb signal from the emperor”. One guy, who has a track record that couldn’t land him a job as a greeter at Walmart, is going to decide what the economy needs and just how much it needs it. Markets used to decide such matters.

Remember, this is the guy who said back in 2008 that everything was fine regarding the housing market. Somewhere, Stalin is smiling.

What we are left with now is crony capitalism and the prop desks at JPM and Vampire Squid with more money to ramp stocks higher to make you feel good. In the real world, a place most Fed members rarely if ever inhabit, the situation is far, far worse.

My sense is that all that is happening now is a gigantic CYA exercise, so that when SHTF months from now, everyone can point the finger at someone else and say it wasn’t my fault.

I’m writing and posting this before the “magical” moment the world finds out what “The Bernank” has up his sleeve. In a very real sense, in the long run I don’t think it will matter much. The Fed wants interest rates as low as it can get them, thinking this is just what the economy needs. These people are stuck in the 1950’s.

What the economy needs is for Government, at every level, to get the hell out of the way and let people do what they want; this paradigm just isn’t programmed into the elites running things. No, I absolutely need for you to tell me what to do.

So, we wait for the skinny bald guy to tell us which way the wind is blowing and how he is going to make everything OK. Please, I can't stomach the Q & A session with the fawning financial press after the rate decision. Listening to guys like Steve Liesman makes me want to puke. I don’t know about you, but as for me, every time these guys lips move they are lying.

Only sure thing I know is that the math doesn’t lie. We are one day closer to that moment when the entire system collapses from its own weight. Debt doesn’t grow an economy; productivity grows an economy.

In the government dictionary, productivity is defined as money that someone makes that we can confiscate and then pass around to our political pals, who then donate back to us so we can favor those who “see the light”.

Welcome to the Ponzification of Amerika.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

AND THE WINNER IS …?

                             “Vanna, Show Chip What He Won”

What if they had an election and it didn’t matter? Kind of like an NFL Super Bowl overtime coin flip that lands on the ground on “edge”; and you flip it again and still it lands on “edge”. The Greeks couldn’t collectively decide this past weekend who they wanted in charge to sell the country down the proverbial rat hole to the banksters.

Well, nobody asked me … but ….

They could let the Neo-Nazi “Golden Dawn” party run security and law enforcement; the radical leftist party “Syriza” could be in charge of education [just like in Amerika] and welfare; the communists could just hang around and cause trouble and offer nothing; and the “New Democrats” conservative party can run the country and be in charge of finance. What’s not to like here?

Like Butch Cassidy once said, “I got vision and the rest of the world’s wearin’ bifocals.”

Then there’s gold; as nasty a market as the political rhetoric coming out of Europe. After what happened to me on Friday …I can’t tell you when the next time I will trade this. To recap, for those of you who don’t know, I was up 5% and then I was down 12% within seconds. Did I mention I hate gold dealers?

Watching Greece is like watching a soap opera on TV; no matter how long you watch nothing ever gets solved. It just keeps going on with infinite iterations of adulterous affairs, back stabbing, and people selling out for the money. Geeeeesh, what else is new? Sooner or later you just have to walk away because you can’t take it anymore. It’s just the same old crap.

So, no new coalition is going to be formed to run Greece and “new” elections in 2 months to do it all over again. Meanwhile in Spain, yields on 10 YR. toilet paper are over 7% and rising; in Italy, yields on 10 YR paper is over 6% and rising; and in Ireland they want to “renegotiate” their bailout.

As it says in the Bible; “Nothing new under the sun.”

The markets now are in no mood for “happy talk” from the bozo’s running things; they want concrete plans, not spin. Expect the half-life from spin to get shorter as time passes this week.

Oh, and let’s not forget Wednesday “the Bernank” is up on tap, and he better show the markets some love with QE3 or else. Markets are looking for at least $150 billion in new money printing stimulus for the prop trading desks at JPM and Vampire Squid.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

EVERYTHING IS FIXED NOW, RIGHT?

                                         Europe In A Nutshell

For you grown-ups out there, this is like watching your kids get a free credit card from their grandparents; not a pretty sight. But not to worry, because everything is now fine in Spain because the smartest-guys-in-the-room have just thrown a check their way to the tune of a “1” with “11” zeroes behind it. Where this money comes from nobody has a clue.

But we are all smart enough to know by now that politicians solve a problem, not by actually solving anything, but by talking about it. Because you see, talking about it to them means it’s on their radar now, and not to worry, we are on it. Uh huh.

The Germans, natch, are expected to lend their AAA credit rating to this hair-brained scheme, but in all things like making sausage and passing out 100 billion Euros, the details are gonna get a bit sloppy. For one, nobody in Germany, except the Pols, are for this. Second, it ain’t gonna matter because on June 17^th, the Greeks say adios to the Euro. And third, as if we need another reason, every other deadbeat sovereign member of the PIIGS gang now wants the same deal as Spain.

“Hey, where’s our hundred billion with no strings attached?”

I swear, it’s enough to make you think the Pols are really in the biz of herding cats. A tough gig no?

                                         Politicians Take Note

Of course, with record spec short positions via the Crimex CME in EURUSD, it’s not really a surprise that we gapped up 100 big ones on the opening in Asia last night. Did you hear the big – WHEEEEW !! – whoosh out of Europe last night? But sadly, with all Ponzi schemes the half-life on this “solution” hasn’t even lasted 12 hours.

And gold? Firmly in control of the Central Planners and weakening as I write.

“But QE3 and QE4; c’mon man, money printing, ya know?”       

Yea, I will make sure and tell that to the prop desk over at JPM that is selling with both hands.”

And so, we find ourselves on countdown to next Tuesday, when we know for sure the Greeks are deadbeats, and the newly emboldened leftists tell Europe to go pound sand with their debt.

 Anybody want to make book on this?

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

QE WHERE ARE YOU?

                                      Gold Trading Directions

Just a friendly reminder from our pals at JPM that the rock needs to be rolled up the hill one more time; in a research note today they are now predicting more QE from the ECB at the June and July monetary meetings with a cut in rates in September.

So, after a $40 rally off the lows, muppets clients now have an official reason to buy gold at today’s highs near 1577. Maybe some day the public wakes up, but I doubt it; after all, these are the smartest guys in the room remember? That the market will undoubtedly back off from here on “profit taking” [thank you CNBC money honeys] isn’t anything to worry about. Neither is the probable fact your investment adviser sold the market aggressively in the 1575-ish area while you were buying.

“Hey man, it’s just a coincidence.”

So, we now have QE baked into the gold cake not only from the Fed, but now from the ECB as well. Super; when they don’t deliver what then? Who is left to buy? Even if they deliver, if we are still in this price area of 1550 – 1600, who is going to take the lead and take on the Central Planners above 1630?

One thing I am fairly certain of is the desire, on the part of Chalky Soetero and his pals, to keep gold out of the news as election season heats up by the day and week. No way do they want the sheeple people of Amerika to wonder why gold is rising? They might get ideas.

On  the currency front, if it’s daylight in Europe, some politician is lying and desperately trying to convince someone, anyone, that Plan G will work [even though the trial balloons of Plan A-F were dismal in approach and can’t work]. We will get fireworks on the upside as over leveraged shorts will bail in a panic [like today for instance] but the big money knows Europe and the EURUSD are toast.

It isn’t a question of if, it’s only a matter of when; what weekend do they announce Greece is gone out of the Euro? Come every Sunday afternoon from here on out, every money manager on the planet will be glued to the screen to see what’s happening at the open in New Zealand.

And lest you think it’s only Greece, the fellas in Spain and Italy will be watching very closely to evaluate their exit options as well. Forget the politicos; if there lips are moving they are lying.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

MRS. WANTANABE PLEASE STOP TRADING

                                          Is She Hurting You?

And while she is blowing up the Japanese bond market, she ain’t exactly doing gold any favors either. Somebody at the Central Planning prop desk over at JPM has obviously forgotten to email me and let me know she is back in the market.

“Mrs. who?”

[For your personal education and amusement I introduce you to her famed exploits.]

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204422404576594493550582376.html

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/10/27/713866/but-what-does-mrs-watanabe-think/

She hasn’t been this active since she got caught on the wrong side of the GBPJPY carry trade in 2008 [June 2008 GBPJPY about 215.00 – January 2009 GBPJPY about 120.00] and took a 40% + haircut on a ‘sure thing”.

Amazing how many sure things ain’t that sure.

Think back a second to the Asian trading session following the “Leap Year Massacre” in gold on February 29; which in about 4 hours gold tacked on about $40 / oz. in price [1685 to 1725] on a straight up bargain of a lifetime massive demand spike from Asia.

They should have used my advice from yesterday: “If you are gonna buy the dip, you better be willing to sell the rip.” Sadly, no can do and/or no wanna do. Why sell it higher when you can easily sell it lower later?

Subsequent sessions since then have seen gold stage some pretty good 2 and 3 day rallies, only to be crushed by the Central Planners. Undaunted, Mrs. Wantanabe bravely kept buying. Interesting thing happened though the third time gold came back to the 1630 area from loftier heights; Mrs. Wantanabe and her pals [affectionately dubbed the “Lemmings in Asia” by yours truly] started selling, and selling, and selling some more.

Which brings us to the present day $140 haircut ain’t-this-fun-waterfall in gold. Not interested in seeing the mistakes of the past repeated, most notably the above mentioned carry trade and multiple trading debacles in Spanish and Irish bonds, they simply are doing what every trader at some point has to do: puke.

                             Bullwinkle J. Moose Shows The Way

“Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat. Button up my sleeve ...”

We all know how that turns out.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

BUYERS ON STRIKE

                           That’s Right; We Ain’t Buyin’ Nuttin’

I know it’s hard, but imagine this for a moment; Greece is totally out of money! They got about € 1.98 in the bank [if it’s still open]. I mean, who could have seen this coming?

Tomorrow sees a Greek bond auction, and if this somehow gets undersubscribed and they can’t raise the necessary scratch to pay the bills, I’m sure all the public sector union thugs employees not getting paid, the 40 year old philosophy students not getting their University tuition, and the pensioners who see their monthly checks slashed,  won’t be a problem. Peace and love in Syntagma Square.

So, the only thing left to do in Europe is sell gold. Even the “Lemmings in Asia” have caught on to the scam game. Yes, Mrs. Watanabe and all her pals, who have been accumulating gold from the 1800’s, 1700’s, and 1600’s, are now bailing in the mid 1500’s. As predictable as they were going up, they don’t disappoint on the way down either; only, on the way down it happens a lot faster.

Not to be outdone, that stellar Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley is telling muppets clients today that gold is still a buy and that the future looks bright for the “barbarous relic”. Seems their prop desk has more proprietary selling to do.

We’re due here, in just about everything financial and especially gold, for a smart 2 or 3 day rally that takes prices back up some. Whenever it finally does happen, look for the rally to start sometime after the Crimex Comex closes for the day. After all, the dealers and Central Planners have to shove the rock back up the hill, in the least volatile time of the trading day, to get everybody else to buy it in “prime time”. Rinse and repeat.

Meanwhile, at JPM …….

                                             Ina Drew Is Gone

Somebody had to fall on the”It’s-my-fault-the-firm-lost-2-large-on-the-trade” sword; making a paltry $15 million per year I’m thinkin’ soup kitchen isn’t in her future. Perhaps there is a good job in Chalky Soetero’s administration somewhere; Treasury Department would be appropriate.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

THE HANGOVER

                            Hey Tracy? We Can’t Find Bruno Iksil

When you claim you walk on water, funny things always seem to happen.

I’m thinkin’ even the Central Planners couldn’t get in to talk to the JPM prop desk today. Not that they needed any help taking gold lower; economic stats over night in China and India were horrible. And any news out of Greece … well, it is Greece after all.

But here’s the million dollar question I have for Jamie & Blythe over at JPM: how much of what came out last night [prop trader Bruno Iksil’s $2 billion loss] did you know about in the last month, and did you relay that information to large hedge funds and the Central Planners so they could sell every rally in gold? And, just as importantly, did your metals prop desk use this info to short gold for your own account so you could capitalize on “Bruno’s disaster” when the news broke?

Inquiring minds would like to know.

“vegas ol’ buddy old pal it’s just your normal $100 / oz. drop in 9 days that happen all the time in gold. No story here; please move along everyone.”

What’s even more disturbing is the mentality these supposed “hedges” truly reveal. Last time I checked, hedging means one side goes up and the other side goes down thereby canceling out losses. Excuse me for asking, but how do you lose 2 large when hedging?

If you were an investor in my gold mine and I told you we mined 5,000 oz. of gold last quarter, and our cost of production was $400 / oz., but we lost $100 million as a company for the quarter, what would you think?

“Err yea, just a glitch in out hedging. No bigge.”

“Say what?”

Of course the real meaning of all this is that JPM will get to borrow 10 large at 0.01% from the Fed so they can sink it in some Treasuries at 1.75% and be guaranteed to make it all back thanks to the taxpayer via the spread. [Excuse me while I go puke. OK, I’m back]

Heads we win, tails you lose.

We will never know the full extent of the corruption and back room dealing behind the news of the $2 billion loss. But I know one thing for sure.

“Yea Tracy, we can’t find Bruno; we screwed up and there is no way he is gonna be available for comment on this.”

Meanwhile …….

Friday chuckle time.

 Have a good weekend everyone.

-vegas

A LINE IN THE SAND

                              I Bet He Loves To Trade Gold Too

It takes a brave soul to be long gold these days; you got the “Lemmings in Asia” throwing in the proverbial towel, a disintegrating Europe that sells everything, and of course the ever present Central Planners along with the JPM prop desk.

However, Vampire Squid [GS] is telling their Muppets that this is the time to buy gold.

[ http://www.zerohedge.com/news/goldman-sees-%E2%80%9Ccurrency-last-resort%E2%80%9D-15-1840oz-6-months]

Here’s my question: Is the recommendation for real, in order to really enrich clients, or is it a ploy to be on the sell side when the Muppets take their advice? Based on past history you would be better off running quickly from The Squid.

But has anything really changed to warrant a lower price in gold sub $1600? Me thinks not. As hard as it might be to get gold back over $1800, it might be even more difficult to get it lower than the $1550 area. Governments all over the world have the printing presses going full tilt, debasing currency on a monthly basis that 5 years ago you would have thought literally impossible.

I think you have to give gold the benefit of the doubt [buy breaks and be long sub $1600], up until the time it breaks [if it ever does] the $1550 area. It may be a tough hold, but fiat creation is everywhere and not going away. Anybody that thinks Europe or the U.S. will opt for “austerity” is nuts: they will print money until the revolution forces a change.

A definitive break of this area [by more than $10 or $20] and I think gold has some real problems going forward; not the least of which would be it would be lower on the year. What would real panic selling look like? You’ll find out if it goes lower on the year.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

NEW RULES FOR SOCIALIST TRADING

                             Chairman: Gold Manipulation Team

Fresh off my May Day celebration yesterday, in which I put on my Ché t-shirt and watched with glee as some Occupy protestors got their heads beat in, I bear the heavy responsibility of sharing with my comrade readers the rules for the new paradigm.

The United Socialist States of America (USSA), or better known as Amerika, has embarked upon [for the benefit of the children of course] actively trading gold for the sheeple. Since they openly manipulate intervene through Primary Dealers [read JPM and The Squid] in practically all other financial markets [equities and bonds] it’s only natural they now start losing billions trading gold.

Rule #1: What happens in Asia stays in Asia

Too busy playing pochinko; worrying about N. Korea; reading porn-themed comic books and watching anime; and commuting into and out of radiation zones, any and all $3 - $5 range moves put in during the Asian session mean absolutely nothing as far as the rest of the day goes.

Rule #2: Pay attention to the following times for Central Planner intervention

2:00 A.M. [Chicago time]; 7:20 A.M. to 8:00 A.M [Chicago time]: this represents the European open and the U.S. open (40 minute window for economic reports) respectively. Increasingly, Chairman Hopeless likes to use economic reports to do the People’s manipulation trading to give cover to the activity.

Rule #3: Expect [manipulation] trading activity every trading day

The sharp spikes/drops are here to stay; use them to your advantage and look for them to exit positions. Chairman Hopeless doesn’t care about making money; we do. They don’t actually have to execute orders to be effective; the People’s broker of choice, JPM, will front-run large resting limit sell orders for their own benefit. All with the blessing of Chalky Soetero and the rest of the socialist team.

“Remember children, gold is evil; report all parental suspicious activity to the TSA.”

Rule #4: Traditional technical analysis of charts is useless

Members of the Peoples Trading Team can read charts too; they will use their knowledge to manipulate trade when they think you are going to do something based on common chart patterns you know you use.

“How dare you trade against the People; you deserve to lose money.”

It is important to realize that their purpose is to hurt you. My purpose, and the algorithm’s, is to hurt them.

Meanwhile, back in food stamp nation …

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

MANIPULATION THEORY PART II: IT’S BINGO NIGHT

                                      Murray As The Bernank

I got a pile of money in front of me and I’m sitting next to a blue-haired lady who weighs 96 lbs. soaking wet …”Just put the little markers on the numbers” she says to me leaning over …”B26!!” Murray screams out …She jumps about 2 feet in the air and yells “BINGOOOOOOO!!!!” at the top of her lungs …pandemonium ensues …my head is whirling around as people from everywhere descend on our table …I’m engulfed by geezers …I look around and I’m the youngest guy in the room by about 20 years …

I awaken just in time for the 7:20 A.M. open and we don’t even have a $5 range after 15 hours of trading. I’m guessing that they are too busy playing pachinko in Asia and rioting in the streets in Europe to trade.

But then at 7:32 A.M., in one second, gold gaps lower by $15 [from 1659 to 1644]. All I can think of is B26. Clear the tables, tear up the last bingo card, and place your new bets.

If you listen to the financial press, they will say it was due to the disappointing consumer spending numbers that came out at 7:30 A.M. [Excuse me, I just choked on my poptart.]

“Hey, anybody wanna buy some beachfront property in Colorado?”

As I warned on Friday in my post, they’re gonna stop you out if you stay long. Today’s action totally reinforces the manipulation theme. Who do you think was selling to you on Thursday and Friday? And who do you think was buying your sell stop today on the “B26” $15 gap lower? And when it was all over, who spends the rest of the day covering shorts from Friday?

“Gosh Mr. Regulator, we were buying all day. Sorry, we can’t comment on customer activity.”

So, what kind of fool puts in a very large order and totally skeeeeeeeews gold for a few seconds so it goes $15 lower? Easy Pezee; somebody who doesn’t care about his fill, and who cares more about hurting speculators than making money. Welcome to rule #2 for successful manipulation; hurt any and all traders as badly as possible.

“Errr vegas, I’m starting to connect the dots.”

The fact is they don’t even care anymore about being so blatant even Grandma can see the manipulation.

Except for the few idiots in Asia and Europe, who haven’t gotten the email yet, trading is almost nonexistent as nobody wants to do anything ahead of Fed manipulation later in the day.

“Why buy now? I may be stupid but I’m not crazy. Hey, gimme that pachinko coin!”

If you’ve come to the conclusion this makes no sense, you would be right in a sane and just world where “free markets” trade. Unfortunately that world no longer exists: we are in a new paradigm.

And now that the chuckle moving news is over, buyers have come back in and rolled the rock back up the hill to the $1660 area again. Don’t make me explain to you what happens next.

We used to have regulators who would put people in jail for stuff like this. Oh, wait a minute, it’s the Feds doing it now so it’s OK; when your doing God’s work here on Earth anything can be rationalized.

“Viva JPM and their mystery customer!!”

Excuse me while I go puke.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

MANIPULATION THEORY: PART I

                                          A Stain On Trading 

“Gosh vegas, is there really manipulation going on?”

For those of you still in denial, there isn’t anything I can do for you; you probably still believe in the tooth fairy.

I mentioned in an earlier post some of the hallmarks of successful manipulation. I’m going to address the 3^rd issue first: make sure the manipulation counts.

Aside from the front-running at the JPM proprietary trading desk [prop desk], which is another story for another day, you need a financial firm that can handle the orders and give you cover. What better firm than JPM, which continues unabated every single day violating CFTC position limits and is defendant in a number of Federal lawsuits alleging manipulation?

“Hey, you play ball, we make all these other problems go away; sound good to you guys?”

Ok, you now got the quid pro quo that allows you total access to the financial markets without revealing your identity. We let you front-run; we get anonymity.

“So sorry, we don’t comment on customer activity.”

Next on the list are the “wink wink nod nod” conversations and communications that don’t exist. This allows the front-running to be successful on JPM’s part because they trade in front of the orders and use the size of the manipulators orders to their advantage.

“C’mon man, there’s gotta be something in this for us?”

Besides that, they are privy to when the large sell orders are going to hit the market, so they can position themselves to cover short positions on the way down for their own account. This is borne out by CFTC COT data which shows “commercials” as the biggest buyers on big down days.

Gosh Mr. Regulator, it wasn’t us. Why, we were buying all day long. Anything else we can do to help?”

So, in effect they execute one order and the market does the rest. They get all the chartists and traders rushing in their orders to take advantage of the “new direction”, only they have been had. This explains why the “Lemmings in Asia” [LIA] have disappeared in the last 4 to 6 weeks; they’ve wised up. They now wait and buy the breaks.

Ask yourself this question: why do practically all of the big spikes and drops happen in the U.S. trading session? Easy peezee when you get what’s going on day to day.

This is the new paradigm for gold trading; manipulation on a scale that, up until now, is unprecedented. Get used to it, it’s only going to get worse and more blatant; all in the interests of national security or some such pap they will spin.

Why should you, as a trader, be allowed to profit off the government and their stupidity? I can see the puppets in the media spinning this already. Why not, Chalky Soetero has already declared war on oil traders?

I revised the algorithm to take advantage of these manipulations; it’s available free of charge for traders at the “Get It For Free” at the link.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas

JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY

                         Sometimes Things Aren’t What They Seem

News out of Europe over the weekend means just one thing; economic conditions, despite all the happy talk amongst the politicians, are deteriorating rapidly. Seems the spin among the elite isn’t quite the view the bond and equity markets share.

So of course, this all carries over into gold trading; only not quite what you would expect. Asia opened very quite and remained that way into the European session open. In about 32 hours of trading we still had about an $8 range. That all changed as Europe opened and gold went down $7 in 3 minutes [1640 to 1633].

“Wake up everybody!”

My first question is what happened to the “Lemmings in Asia”?

“You know guys, disappearing like this every day is as annoying as it was when you bid it up every day. Geeeeeeeeeesh, get some consistency will ya?”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a normal day if the Central Planners weren’t in the market. After all, who besides them would sell 300,000 oz. of gold at the market through JPM on a consistent basis and keep doing it?

But there are crosscurrents as well that are hurting gold: most notably forced sales by financial institutions that need cash to meet margin calls on their sovereign European debt. You can only carry toxic [name your favorite European destitute government here] debt for so long before you have to sell something to carry it with leveraged margin.

Gold goes from manic state to recovery state in a matter of seconds; rinse and repeat and you have a pretty good synopsis of the last 7 days of trading. Going forward, things are just gonna get crazier as the Fed releases minutes of their Tuesday/Wednesday meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

With stocks crapping out and breaking some widely viewed moving averages [most notably the 50 day simple MA], US bonds yielding record lows, and Spanish 10 year debt at or over 6% yield, the trade is begging for QE 3 from Weimar Ben on Wednesday. If we don’t get it, or get some hint of it to come, 1600 looks like it could get tested.

Make no mistake; the Fed has no choice but to print more money. Forget the spin and realize if they take away the party punch the equity markets are going to melt down in an election year.

“Yea, like that is going to happen.”

At some point here, sooner rather than later, gold is going to explode to the upside and the Central Planners will have nobody to blame but themselves. Even they will eventually run out of money and find themselves the “chump” at the poker table.

Have a good day everyone.

-vegas