(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I have a friend who is active in trading on the stock market.

He has not had a lot of success in finding suitable software to trade on line, unless of course he is willing to pay a fortune.

Unfortunately I'm quite ignorant when it come to the stock market.

Is there a a distribution around that might suit this fellow?

Are there suitable software packages that could be used to build a nice Puppy Linux trading distribution?

Thanks

The UK Stock market now uses Linux - so it is available
I would think they are using either Red Hat or SuSe
and I should imagine have their own customised and bespoke software
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/new ... ches-linux

Never heard of a distro just for stock market tracking
but there may be one
This is all I could find.
http://bagside.com/bagvapp/baglux.html

You friend could write to the NSA and see if they
have anything for tracking this organised crime scam
(oops I mean free market)
http://www.nsa.gov/research/tech_transfer/index.shtml

Software is available . . .
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Software/Fina ... ndex.shtml

15-42. Getting a stock quote
http://www.makelinux.net/books/abs-guide/

Puppy Linux
For your portfolio

Thanks Lobster.

I have been trying to convert him to Puppy for ages. He likes the look, feel and speed but until he can feed his hobby with it, he's not interested.

I would like to set him up with a full Puppy stock market system on a USB flash drive. This would surely get him exited.

I'm afraid I don't trust the stock market but then I don't have the money he has either.

I will check out the Links

Ta.

Generally, links to various sites are sufficient--such as Yahoo Finance, etc.
Sites such as Stockcharts.com offer real time tracking, excellent scans, custom charting, etc. Optionsxpress.com for options. Fidelity, Ameritrade, Vanguard, etc, etc, all work with a firefox browser. Actual trading requires setting up accounts and logging in. All have a variety of research engines.

One program I like is "Portfolio Manager", which works with wine. Since most everything is done with a browser, any minimal distribution works fine...as long as you can get on line and have java loaded. There are some established programs, like IRT, that require a windows platform.

What about java-based jstock?

When it comes for buying stocks I would get me a good (expensive) newspaper that also is displaying the dividend yield .

For britain stocks it seems that "The Daily Telegraph" is one of the better ones and also "FT Europe".

For german stocks I would prefer "Die Welt" and then "Suedeutsche", "Handelsblatt" and "Boersenzeitung" .

I would adwise to buy one of these newspapers at least once a year and look for the divident compared to the price.

If the average intrest rate is about 5% I would look for shares that pay 5ct for 1$/Euro .

And finally I would wait perhaps 5 years observing these shares with these newspapers and then start to buy few of almost each of them to reduce the risk.

Thanks guys.

Jstock looks interesting.

For Belgium, I am subscribed to the newsletter of www.tijd.be (Dutch) and I can get all the quotes I want and make a portfolio to follow.
Just a browser thing.

maybe you should also try forex trading software

Edward O. Thorp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O._Thorp was using quite serious computer hardware (I think running Linux and probably mostly proprietary) to amass money legally.
It might be worth looking into what is available at MIT . . .

These days you can do stock trading on-line so all that is required
would be a web browser and probably javascript and flash support.

Dave.

You may try out this free and open source stock market software at jstock sourgeforge

I would not be buying into the U.S. stock markets today or tomorrow (October 20th or 21st).

In September, the insider sales-to-purchases ratio was about 7-to-1. Open interest in S & P October puts on October 4th was an unprecedented 919,000 contracts. Normally the figure is 14,000 contracts or less.

What these figures mean is, a lot of people in-the-know are betting that the market is about to take a huge fall.

Wait until it crashes hard, possibly as early as this week, maybe next. Then look for bargains.

Disclaimer / Full disclosure: Taking my own advice, I am holding a big basket of put options at the moment.

Sit Heel Speak wrote:I would not be buying into the U.S. stock markets today or tomorrow (October 20th or 21st).

In September, the insider sales-to-purchases ratio was about 7-to-1. Open interest in S & P October puts on October 4th was an unprecedented 919,000 contracts. Normally the figure is 14,000 contracts or less.

What these figures mean is, a lot of people in-the-know are betting that the market is about to take a huge fall.

Wait until it crashes hard, possibly as early as this week, maybe next. Then look for bargains.

Disclaimer / Full disclosure: Taking my own advice, I am holding a big basket of put options at the moment.

I don't see anything so unusual. Looking at the SPY chain for Oct 28, strike-price of 121 has a put/call ratio of about 1.48 Actually, SPY 122 & 123 calls are on the most active lists....both over 95,000 trades.

I certainly wouldn't discourage you from buying downside protection, though.

Interesting. Looks like much of the open interest as of October 4 has been cashed in. Orchestrated price suppression, y'think?

Here's the open interest as of tonight, for SPX (not SPY) options. There is certainly a divergence of opinions in there.

If the market opens flat in the morning, those 1215 strike price puts might be a fast moneymaker, if you're a gambler with nerves of cobalt steel.

You'll need to keep a constant eye on the market though. October options expire this weekend (22nd), not next.

(edited, a few minutes later: actually, the calls could make money too. Both the calls and the puts are going to be fluttering-feathers-in-the-wind tomorrow. The slightest whiff of news good or bad could move the index. For that matter, whoever bought all the GE stock today could easily move the S&P 500 index options either way at will. Possibly up to profit from the calls in the morning, then down to clean up on the puts in the afternoon...)

Sit Heel Speak wrote: For that matter, whoever bought all the GE stock today could easily move the S&P 500 index options either way at will. Possibly up to profit from the calls in the morning, then down to clean up on the puts in the afternoon...)

The volatility is mostly program trading. GE just put in a doji on less than average volume. It's overbought.

jpeps wrote:...GE just put in a doji on less than average volume. It's overbought.

Perhaps large trading houses believe that political decisions and macroeconomic trends, however they may be quantified and foreknown (emphasis on the latter), trump the indications of simple forms of technical analysis.

This forum continues to amaze me...........

I never would have guessed we had such knowledgeables


Aitch

Aitch wrote:This forum continues to amaze me...........

I never would have guessed we had such knowledgeables

Aitch

Or such fools . Actually, it turns out that the truth was slightly less conspiratorial than my theory. GE just reported quarterly earnings. Up 57% to $3.22 billion in the third quarter, up from $2.06 billion a year earlier. Operating earnings in the quarter were 31 cents a share, meeting the estimates of analysts. Obviously, somebody yesterday morning (most of the trading in GE was within an hour of the opening bell) smelled (read: had advance knowledge of) the favorable upcoming news.

Macroeconomic news may, however, drive the entire stock market down. In which case a global, diversified colossus like GE, with its extreme exposure to both politics and forex trends, may suffer a worse decline than other stocks.

(Heh...I hope. I'm holding November 15 and 16 puts on GE )

Hmm...there may be something to my hunch, that macroeconomic news is about to drive the overall stock market sharply lower. GE stock is falling on heavy volume this morning, contrary to the overall market which is rising. My GE puts are rising.

My experience leads me to believe that technical analysis methods, such as candlesticks, are in general a reliable predictor of the future movement of any given stock only during strong bull markets. That is, when macroeconomic forces are driving a flood of new money into the stock market.

During neutral markets, new money only sporadically or in low doses entering the market, such as now, stock movements are earnings-driven. The Value Line Investment Survey, whose stock rating system is largely based on year-on-year earnings growth, is your friend.

During bear markets, such as I believe we are about to enter --I believe this morning's rise is a head-fake, a "suckers' rally"-- it is wise to ignore technical analysis indicators (e.g. candlestick charts) and even fundamental analysis indicators (e.g. earnings and dividends), and instead be guided by politics and macroeconomics --e.g. political decisions, forex trends, and the trends of such basic commodities as soy, cotton, oil, and copper. Not one of these political and macroeconomic indicators is, in my judgment, favorable for stocks in the upcoming three months. In fact, in my eighteen years of stock trading, I've never seen an outlook so bleak for stocks. Which is why I bought GE puts last week (when they were dirt cheap ).

Free advice: buy a basket of slightly out-of-the-money-now November and January puts on small U.S. banks and large U.S. retailers. Disclaimer: no, I am not a professional, and you should not gamble in the stock market unless you can afford to piss money away. Second disclaimer: this advice is meant only for today, Friday October 21st 2011. By Monday it'll be stale. But, if I weren't already fully invested in puts on diversified colossuses and large banks, that's what I'd be doing. November 29 puts on JCP, J.C. Penney, right now at 46 cents per share ($46.00 per 100-share contract, plus your coming-and-going brokerage commissions), look like an absolute steal. Buy ten of 'em, put a sell order on at 70 cents per share ($70 per contract). Merry Christmas!