Steve B. Wise's  Instablog

Just a heads up to my reader friends here and other interested observers - I have been working with an online developer to create a macro trading signal indicator based on some of the trading strategies and philosophies I have observed here. We have been successful in creating a program capable of output on multiple platforms including as a WordPress widget, a standalone website, and even an Android app.

As you might imagine I am proud of our little creation and can tell you it is free for use immediately on any of the above mentioned platforms.

What Are Macro Trading Signals?

I'm sure nearly everyone who visits this site eventually comes across a discussion of the high (and increasing) correlation between global risky assets. Anyone trading today has to be well aware of the prevailing macro (global) conditions, specifically the market's appetite for risk. The theory behind the development of the Macro Trading Signals widget / app / trading algorithm is the notion that it is in fact possible to capture this overall macro effect / appetite for risk in a single "risk on / risk off" measurement.

It is this thinking that lead us to make an attempt to measure and score this global thirst for risk on a minute-by-minute basis. The end result has been the creation of the Risk On / Risk Off minute trading signals score.

What Does the Minute Trading Signals Gadget Do?

Basically - on a minute-by-minute basis the Risk On / Risk Off Trading Signals Gauge takes a snapshot of the market, scores the appetite for risk in the market based on completed transactions (actual trades), then computes a score based on those transactions and outputs it to web viewers like you and me.

Read The Disclosure Prior to Use!

Obviously although I have a lifetime of trading in finance I am not a programmer and therefore I could not do this alone. With that in mind I would be seriously remiss if I did not take time to thank those who helped take the calculations in my head and turn them into a coherent, functioning web application. Without further adieu...

Special Thanks to...

Onefineham Internet Marketing who successfully took our proprietary algorithm and made it into a living, breathing, near real-time macro trading signals indicator. They further were able to publish it on a number of popular formats including as the trading signals gadget for iGoogle, the trading signals app for Android, and of course the live macro trading signals website itself.

Onefineham Internet Marketing is a web service company specializing in bringing businesses closer to their customers via social media marketing and dynamic web applications.

Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

Additional disclosure: Not for use with live trading. READ the Disclosure!

So I've been spending a great more time reading than writing these days - trying to grasp just what the heck is going on in the world economy. The long and short of it is I have a new theory which seems to fit the facts. I say it's a new theory, but in reality it's only a new theory to me.

How Modern Monetary Theory Has Changed My Perspective on Economics
I was reading up on Modern Monetary Theory the other day and really had my eyes opened. Each day some small revelation comes to me, giving me new and shockingly clear perspective of the world of money and economics. Today's insight comes to me by way of export economics in a fiat currency world, and like previous revelations this one seems awfully clear. Countries (and workers) in export economies are DUMB.

Most of you know I am a big proponent of regular binary options, but I have recently become fascinated by another type of investment called by a number of different names: range options, bounded options, or barrier / double barrier options.

Any way you crack them up, you're bound to find *something* to like about this type of security. They involve specialized types of binary options style contracts, but rather than having all of the fixed characteristics of your typical binary options contract, these instruments allow the investor to create more varied positions.

In an earlier post I had mentioned the value of "binary hedging" - but now rather than building a hedged position out of two contracts, a trader has the opportunity to buy just the "meat" of the sandwich trade instead.

I won't delve into all of the details here, but you can read all about trading barrier options, or where to trade barrier options.