Slope of Hope Blog Posts

Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.

The ABCs of Patience

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In the middle of December, six months ago, the Dow Jones Composite was at about 6225. Today, it closed at about 6225. So, for an entire half year, we have gone precisely nowhere.

This is not to say, of course, that there has been no movement in that half-year. Up, down, up, down, needlessly moving this way and that, and not really going anywhere. It’s been vexing, annoying, tiresome, nettlesome, and basically a big fat pain in the ass. Days like today exemplify it. The market just won’t break, either to the upside (which would be awful, of course) or the downside (which I’ve been waiting for since Millard Fillmore was in office).

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Is Gold Hated Enough?

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By Biiwii

goldAn article by Mark Hulbert jogged the title’s question into my mind:

This Bear Market in Gold Still Has too Many Bulls

With respect to the reasons for owning gold, I never flinch when taking a long-term value perspective. In the monetary and financial world gold is insurance and insurance is something you buy, but hope to never need. The value of insurance is in one of its definitions: “a thing providing protection against a possible eventuality”.

It is good news that this ‘thing’ has not been needed as modern policy making has worked to mostly desired effects, as asset markets have been pumped by inflationary policies that have not (yet) had a commensurate level of risk discovery.

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Irrational Real Estate

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I’ve done many, many posts about the insane real estate market here in the Bay Area. I’m not going to bore you with another “can you believe how much they want for this?” because, by now, I think you kind of get the point.

However, this week, in the venerable Palo Alto Weekly (which, as is typical for the newspapers around here, has a publishing frequency that has absolutely no correlation to its moniker) a local real estate agent, Xin Jiang (pronounced “Xin Jiang”) composed the following article, which I have helpfully highlighted for you: (more…)

The Financial Pugilist Part Two

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Boxing is a primal and brutal sport.  It is human conflict boiled down to its most pure essence.  Two men enter a ring and one exits as the winner.  In order to win the boxer must hurt, pummel, and assault his opponent more then he himself is hit.  There are no metaphors, similes, or descriptive comparisons for the imposition of one man’s will over another.  Boxing is a real, literal, and primal example of one man beating another into submission.  And this is what makes boxing a perfect sport to learn from as a trader.

Trading is one of the most simplistic ways of making money.  Every trade ends up as either a profit or a loss.  A trader extracts money from the market or the market deals the trader a loss.  Very simple.  Hit or get hit.  A trader has two choices: take money from the market or have it taken from them.  There are no do-overs, there are no mulligans, there is no way to spin result.  Every trade either makes money or loses money.  Brutally simple.  Hit or get hit.

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