FUTURES TRADING CLASS

June 15 , 2008 - Instructor: Catspaws

Dinger says, "let's do it"

Catspaws asks, "How much have you figured out already, Dinger?"

Catspaws asks, "I'm assuming you use the tips page I put up years ago?"

Dinger says, "well, it seems I do best with shorts when they are offered at a very high price, wether they are buying or selling"

Catspaws asks, "How so?"

Dinger says, "i have tryed using the calc modeled after yours"

Catspaws asks, "The calculator on my site?"

Dinger says, "but mostly to just verify"

Dinger says, "yes, I wrote one in excel I'm good like that"

Catspaws smiles, "You're smarter than I am then :)"

Catspaws says, "I can't do a spreadsheet to save my life."

Catspaws says, "I'll start with the basics."

Dinger says, "i've been working and writing code for excel 20 years"

Catspaws says, "Keep in mind, though, when I did futures, we didn't even have spaceships. We held our breaths and moved from planet to planet, and the Link wasn't open."

Catspaws licks her paw smugly

Dinger says, "still won't make me a successful trader! LOL"

Catspaws says, "When I did futures, I had sticky notes I kept where I could see them."

Dinger says, "must have been a ball! LOL"

Catspaws says, "On the first one, I had this: "Longs-No stockpile Shorts-Stockpile""

Catspaws says, "And that's the first thing I look for: Whether there is a stockpile or not. Using that, I weed

out what probably aren't good futures."

Dinger asks, "how can you tell what the stockpile amount is?"

Meteu raises his hand

Catspaws says, "That's not to say you can't have a good long with a stockpile, or vice versa"

Dinger says, "agreed"

Catspaws says, "It just saves me a bit of time when I have a lot of planets to check"

Catspaws says, "My second sticky note concerned spot prices"

Dinger listening intently

Catspaws says, "Those were hard to get into my head at the time, but looking back, they're pretty sinple"

Catspaws says, "If the exchange is selling, divide the exchange price by 1.1"

Catspaws says, "If it's buying, divide by 0.9"

Dinger asks, "long or short?"

Catspaws says, "and if it's buying AND selling, add both prices and divide by 2"

Catspaws says, "Both."

Catspaws says, "Spot prices are needed with longs and shorts."

Dinger says, "say you see a high price selling, but the futures offered is a long"

Catspaws says, "You're going to take the selling price and divide it by 1.1 to get the SPOT price."

You drawl, "It's what you do after that...."

Catspaws says, "Which leads us to the third sticky note:"

Catspaws asks, "You know those prices you get when you run DI FUTURES?"

Dinger says, "yes"

Catspaws says, "Those are your contract prices in your formulas"

Dinger says, "yes"

Catspaws says, "So, for a long, you take your spot price and subtract the contract price from it"

Catspaws says, "For a short, you take your contract price and subtract your spot price from it"

Catspaws says, "The answer you get is your spead"

Dinger says, "wait...please"

Dinger asks, "the spot price is the selling price /.9?"

Catspaws says, "If the exchange is buying, you divide the buy price by 0.9"

Catspaws says, "but if it's selling you divide by 1.1"

Catspaws says, "Here's an example"

Dinger says, "ok, I have that"

Catspaws says, "Long contracts in biochips - trading suspended at 586ig/ton."

Catspaws says, "The exchange has a full stockpile, selling at 545"

Dinger says, "i get -90"

Catspaws says, "So, the first thing I would think is it is bad. It is a long with a stockpile."

Dinger nods

Catspaws says, "So, divide 545 by 0.9"

Dinger says, "494"

Dinger says, "ah 605"

Dinger says, "19"

Catspaws says, "THen since this is a long, subtract the contract price from your answer"

Dinger asks, "can you check my math?"

Dinger says, "please"

Catspaws says, "I got 495 - 596 = -90.54"

Dinger says, "yes"

Dinger says, "i have that"

Catspaws says, "So, I was right, and it was a bad future"

Catspaws says, "That's an actual future I found on link"

Dinger nods

Catspaws says, "Here's another one: Long contracts in cereals available at 335ig/ton."

Catspaws says, "The exchange is buying at 306"

Dinger asks, "5?"

Catspaws smiles, "That's what I got. I wouldn't buy it :)"

Dinger agrees

Catspaws says, "Long contracts in clays - trading suspended at 588ig/ton."

Catspaws says, "Exchange is buying at 602"

Dinger says, "then that would be a good one at 80"

Kalandra says, "I'm still a bit rusty on my futures too but want to be able to help traders out if possible."

Catspaws says, "I got Spot: 668.89 - 588 = 80.89"

Dinger says, "Hi Kal"

Catspaws says, "So yes, it's a good one."

Dinger says, "let's try a short"

Catspaws says, "A tip someone game me is that if you divide the final spread by 5, it should tell you how long it

will last. I haven't tested that to verify, though."

Kalandra gets out her notepad and starts scribbling furiously 'Hi there everyone... '

Catspaws tickles Kalandra with her tail

Dinger says, "ah, i'll add that as a note in the formula"

Kalandra says, "that makes sense cats since the max movement is 5/hour"

Catspaws says, "Short contracts in crystals - trading suspended at 598ig/ton."

Catspaws says, "Exchange has a full stockpile, buying at 535"

Dinger says, "yeah, very good one, where is it! LOL 112"

Catspaws smiles, "That's one from Link. These are all from Link, actually :)"

Dinger says, "then I have it"

Catspaws says, "Contract: 598 - Spot: 486.36 = 111.64"

Catspaws asks, "Not so hard, is it?"

Dinger says, "17500 margin right now"

Dinger says, "i thiink where I ran into trouble was not watching stockpiles"

Catspaws says, "You have to watch those stockpiles."

Dinger says, "ok, so if there is a short and the ex is selling,"

Dinger says, "ah answered my own question"

Dinger says, "if the ex is selling prices will proly rise"

Dinger says, "if an ex is buying prices will drop when it's stockpile build up"

Dinger asks, "is that right?"

Catspaws smiles, "Probably :)"

Dinger says, "seems that if it's selling price would drop as it empties it's stockpile"

Catspaws says, "Events or merchant activity can change things."

Dinger says, "to slow trading"

Catspaws says, "So can planet owner manipulation."

Dinger says, "this has been my whole dilema"

Catspaws asks, "You do understand how to monitor your futures without being in the exchanges?"

Meteu says, "I don't"

Catspaws says, "You can check the exchange prices on your futures from wherever you are. And that current value of your contract? Divide that by 225 to get the current value to use in the formula."

Catspaws says, "Then, just re-calculate."

Catspaws says, "So you can party with your friends and keep an eye on your futures at the same time. If a future

is starting to go bad, though, move close to the exchange in question, so you can liquidate in a hurry."

Catspaws says, "If you're going to bed or going to be gone for a while, and you have some futures you don't think will last until you return, you might want to go ahead and liquidate."

Catspaws says, "Another word of caution: If Occy gets the events tools and we start crashing, and you have futures, you'll lose them in the crash. I used to liquidate and re-buy my futures from time to time to make SURE I didn't lose my points."

Catspaws licks her paw a trifle smugly at her own humor

Catspaws says, "For now, though, we're pretty stable, so you probably have no need to worry about crashes."

Catspaws asks, "Met are you here?"

Catspaws pokes Meteu with her tail

Dinger says, "ok, so I think I have it and will strive to do better"

Meteu says, "yeah"

Catspaws says, "Meteu says there's a future here"

Meteu says, "there is"

Catspaws asks, "Think you can find it, Dinger?"

Dinger asks, "which?"

Dinger has left.

Meteu smiles, "Go and use your skills:)"

Your comm unit signals a tight beam message from Dinger, "first glance rads"

Catspaws asks, "Rads?"

Your comm unit signals a tight beam message from Dinger, "but it's a short and selling"

Meteu says, "No"

Catspaws says, "Keep looking, Dinger"

Your comm unit signals a tight beam message from Meteu, "explosives"

Catspaws smiles, "You nut, I'm relaying :)"

Catspaws says, "And he's on the channel"

Meteu says, "scroooooooool"

Dinger has just arrived.

Catspaws tickles Meteu with her tail

Dinger asks, "explosives, right?"

Catspaws snickers behind her paw

Dinger act's like nothing happened

Meteu asks, "Whats the spread on it?"

You drawl, "gee, I wonder how you figured that one out...."

Dinger asks, "What?"

Meteu says, "roughly"

Meteu asks, "Whats the spread on explosives?"

Meteu asks, "Did you get the spread Dinger?"

Catspaws whistles to herself

Catspaws asks, "Ok, are there any questions?"

Dinger says, "sorry, back"

Dinger drawls, "ok, so I was supposed to get the spread..."

Dinger says, "brb going to get it"

Dinger has left.

Dinger has just arrived.

Your comm unit relays a message from Dinger, "spread right now is 79"

Dinger says, "79"

Dinger asks, "correct?"

Dinger pulls Cat's tail

Meteu has left.

Catspaws smiles, "Ask Met, he's the one who did the calculations :)"

Meteu has just arrived.

Meteu says, "72 but yeah"

Dinger says, "well, let's be percise or my calc's are useless"

Meteu smiles, "72.95:)"

Dinger asks, "using my cost or value?"

Catspaws beams proudly

Dinger asks, "using my cost or value?"

Meteu smiles, "I use a spreadsheet:)"

Catspaws groans at the mention of spreadsheets

Dinger says, "74.77"

Dinger says, "at the current value"

Dinger says, "and selling price"

Dinger drawls, "divided by 5 will run about an hour..."

Dinger says, "if that is a solid hypothis"

Dinger says, "need droids manipulated on phobos"

Meteu says, "my calcs show 9 hours"

Dinger says, "well, I don't have that down yet"

Dinger says, "5 moves and hour would be 15"

Dinger asks, "buy is it 5 225's?"

Dinger says, "an hour"

Dinger says, "but I menat"

Dinger says, "can't type"

Dinger asks, "but is it 5 225's per hour?"

Dinger says, "against the value"

Dinger says, "gotta go drop one on Phobos"

Catspaws smiles, "Ok, I think we're done :)"

Catspaws says, "I'm not as rusty as I thought. I must finally have the hang of these things, they seem easy now."

Catspaws grumbles to herself

Catspaws drawls, "Anyway, class dismissed, I guess...."

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