Macro Man has P/L problems.....bad P/L problems. So bad, in fact, that he cannot bear to post the P/L sheet again this morning. What's that? Has his portfolio experienced an abrupt reversal of fortune, Peloton-style, that has seen him grasp defeat from the jaws of victory?
No, nothing so sinister. Unfortunately, however, Macro Man has temporarily been denied access to Bloomberg, which provides the pricing data used to calculate the P/L. And so Macro Man's big P/L problem is that he doesn't have the real time pricing required to calculate the profits and losses of his various positions- quite a big problem indeed!
How/why has this come about? For the very best of reasons, actually. An astute reader observed on Monday that Macro Man appeared to have lost his "zen", or perhaps mojo, in market timing his trades. Your humble scribe was not particularly surprised to hear this. For the last six weeks he has been living a life of relative leisure, going skiing, playing golf, picking the kids up from school, etc. You see, Macro Man left his old employer in January and will begin his new gig in a few weeks time.
Yesterday, his old Bloomberg account was finally terminated....hence the loss of access which prevents publication of the P/L. He should shortly be fixed up with a trial access, which will once again enable him to calculate his blog performance. (This, incidentally, is why he said to reader AT that he was "reasonably satisfied" with his blog portfolio performance: three and a bit percent suggests that Macro Man hasn't completely lost touch with the market while he's been funning it up!)
In any event, if you've observed a change in the tone, style, or content in this space over the last month or so, you now have your explanation for it. Once Bloomberg is back up and running chez MM, the P/L will reappear to provide Macro Man with an instant reminder if he's lost the plot with what's going on.
Moving forwards, the content in this space will probably alter slightly. The portfolio will probably be de-emphasized, at least temporarily; after all, Macro Man will have a real-world portfolio to get up and running and manage. Indeed, Macro Man will likely use the blog portfolio more exclusively as a laboratory in which to test out new ideas or products before implementing them in real life.
He certainly hopes, however, that this space can remain an exchange of ideas between market participants; as far as Macro Man knows, this is one of the few places where practitioners can anonymously chew the fat on global macro issues and trading for free. He certainly hopes that this continues and indeed expands moving forwards, as he finds that discussion and interaction amongst market particpants to be the most rewarding aspect of this entire endeavour.
In any case, that's all for today. Macro Man has to go shopping for Macro Boy's birthday present, hit the gym, whack a few golf balls, and maybe test drive a car. It's a touch life, but somebody's gotta do it!
No, nothing so sinister. Unfortunately, however, Macro Man has temporarily been denied access to Bloomberg, which provides the pricing data used to calculate the P/L. And so Macro Man's big P/L problem is that he doesn't have the real time pricing required to calculate the profits and losses of his various positions- quite a big problem indeed!
How/why has this come about? For the very best of reasons, actually. An astute reader observed on Monday that Macro Man appeared to have lost his "zen", or perhaps mojo, in market timing his trades. Your humble scribe was not particularly surprised to hear this. For the last six weeks he has been living a life of relative leisure, going skiing, playing golf, picking the kids up from school, etc. You see, Macro Man left his old employer in January and will begin his new gig in a few weeks time.
Yesterday, his old Bloomberg account was finally terminated....hence the loss of access which prevents publication of the P/L. He should shortly be fixed up with a trial access, which will once again enable him to calculate his blog performance. (This, incidentally, is why he said to reader AT that he was "reasonably satisfied" with his blog portfolio performance: three and a bit percent suggests that Macro Man hasn't completely lost touch with the market while he's been funning it up!)
In any event, if you've observed a change in the tone, style, or content in this space over the last month or so, you now have your explanation for it. Once Bloomberg is back up and running chez MM, the P/L will reappear to provide Macro Man with an instant reminder if he's lost the plot with what's going on.
Moving forwards, the content in this space will probably alter slightly. The portfolio will probably be de-emphasized, at least temporarily; after all, Macro Man will have a real-world portfolio to get up and running and manage. Indeed, Macro Man will likely use the blog portfolio more exclusively as a laboratory in which to test out new ideas or products before implementing them in real life.
He certainly hopes, however, that this space can remain an exchange of ideas between market participants; as far as Macro Man knows, this is one of the few places where practitioners can anonymously chew the fat on global macro issues and trading for free. He certainly hopes that this continues and indeed expands moving forwards, as he finds that discussion and interaction amongst market particpants to be the most rewarding aspect of this entire endeavour.
In any case, that's all for today. Macro Man has to go shopping for Macro Boy's birthday present, hit the gym, whack a few golf balls, and maybe test drive a car. It's a touch life, but somebody's gotta do it!
8 comments
Click here for commentsEverything makes sense, then (…especially now that my beloved football team heroically conquered Juventus Turin’s pitch after twenty years of humiliations – many stars should have been perfectly aligned somewhere up there in the Milky Way!). Actually, I was quite sure you were going to quit your job, sooner or later (btw, don’t yell at your back-office colleagues, now that you’re about to leave…), but I kind of thought you were considering setting up on your own (never say ever, anyway…).
ReplyGood luck, MM! I hope you’ll keep on sharing at least part of your trading ideas… you know, we all have become some sort of dope-global-markets-addicts out here, and you’re kind of our pusher!
AT
Congratulations on your big move - that's great and undoubtedly well deserved!
ReplyBut if it's your own gig then there's no need to be so cloak and dagger, is there? What's your new deal?
ti
"In any case, that's all for today. Macro Man has to go shopping for Macro Boy's birthday present, hit the gym, whack a few golf balls, and maybe test drive a car. It's a touch life, but somebody's gotta do it!"
ReplyUff, sounds like a tough day :). Enjoy and grats on the new position. So, what is MB getting? I hear that the WII carries a higher premium than the PS3 these days amongst the kids.
Claus
Congrats Macro Man on losing Bloomberg access for a positive reason!
Reply:)
Kick ass at your new gig! Sounds like a home office setup...wonderful improvement in quality of life
Very good luck on new endeavor, whatever its nature. It was a vote for change over experience? :)
ReplyHere's a geek question from oldster: ever studied rate-of-changes of FX movements as they head through trajectories towards finales? I dumped my Yen options with a nice profit on a hunch and doubled up on CHF without a single macro reason for it, other than a guess at the velocity of future moves.
Congrats on the new gig! Are you setting up your own fund? Let inquiring minds know!!! =) Best of luck and please keep on posting.
ReplyThanks for your kind words all. To answer some of the generic queries, no, I'm not setting up my own fund..that's not something that I am nowhere near ready to do yet.
ReplyI am, however, going somewhere where I can continue to develop as a trader and be rewarded if I do well. You can't ask for much more than that, really....
Given that you live in London you can ask for a shorter commute...
Reply