Book Summaries – “Treasure Island” – 2

Part Two and Part Three of “Treasure Island” describe Jim’s travels to London where Dr. Livesey has employed Trelawney to conjure up the vessel Hispaniola to be used for their journey to Treasure Island.  Among new characters introduced are Long John Silver and the ship’s captain whose instincts at the outset suspect the possibility of trouble on the upcoming voyage.  

During the voyage, these characters become concerned about possible mutiny once the treasure is found.  Jim, Dr. Livesey and the captain assess that of the 26 crew members aboard 6 of them would be on their side with the remaining part of the possible overthrow of the ship and treasure.  

Once land is spotted, they draw in close and launch 2 vessels filled with men to advance to the island in search of the buried treasure left upon the Island by the captain “Flint.”  Once reaching land, Jim quickly dashes for the woods before the second vessel arrives, which carries John Silver.  While exploring the island, Jim hears the screams of a man in the forest and surmises it is one of the men on his side, Alan, who has been murdered.  He then sees John Silver with another man, Tom, speaking about their activities to be on the island and Silver ends up murdering this man confirming to Jim that the mutiny is already underway.  

While in the forest, Jim meets another character, who was apparently abandoned on the island by another vessel 3 years prior, but is aware of the treasure on the island left by Flint.  These 2 develop a relationship of trust and Jim agrees to take him aboard the ship and back to civilization, which the man craves, if it is not overrun by the rebels, once the treasure has been acquired.

The story is fun to follow as the setting of an island in the 1700s filled with treasure left by pirates is imaginative and definitely reflective of another time.  The language is difficult to follow at times, seemingly written in the language of Old English, most notably when the characters converse with one another in the broken language and using their inside sailor slang with each other.

Forex Trading – Day #277

No further opportunities to swing trade this week except for the 33-pip win on the Yen on 10/01.   Analysis for the next trading week will be short on all 3 currencies with the first line of resistance on the Euro at 1.4030 at the 38.2% Fib.  The Pound is currently at a significant level where a reversal downward may take place at 1.7800.  No clear sign of reversal at the close of trading on Friday but will watch this level for key signs of reversal and a potential opportunity to sell Pounds early next week.  The Yen reversed downward at the 106.10 level at a key level of the 78.6% Fib and a significant former rising trend line.  Continue to watch for retracement to the 78.6% level again.

The Euro and Pound continue in their steady decline.  The position trade on the Pound short, for which the stop loss was adjusted to lock in profit this week, was stopped out on 10/03 for a profit of 81 pips, possibly due to the NFP report influence, but yet a good, successful trade.  The Euro position trade continues to stay in profit at 310 pips.  At the close of trading on Friday, an opportunity to adjust the stop loss to lock in more profit occurred locking in 208 pips.  Will continue to hold this trade until reaching 1.3437 at which point I likely sell 30% of the trade and remain on for a potential further move downward.  

Intra-day trading on 10/03/2008 presented 2 opportunities to trade short on the Euro.  The first trade was for a loss of 20 pips and the second trade taken in an attempt to recover the losses of the first failed at 20 pips as well.  Despite this, total pips for October is 114 pips and not a bad first week of trading by any measure.

Forex Trading – Day #276

Euro and Pound failed to retrace to any significant resistance levels today and the Yen slowly trickles downward.  No swing trade opportunities present themselves today. 

Currently still have 2 open position trades on the Euro and Pound.  The Euro has gone 311 pips into profit with the Pound trade 165 pips into profit.  At the end of trading today, an opportunity will present itself to adjust stop losses again locking in portions of profit.  Will continue to hold these trades.  

Intra-day trading short on the Euro was successful on 10/02/2008 with a 20 pip gain resulting in a 23.7% return for October.

Forex Trading – Day #275

The swing trade on the Dollar/Yen from 09/30/2008 ended fruitfully.  The stop was adjusted to break-even after a gain of 47 pips and went even further into profit before retracing back upward stopping me out for 33-pip gain, which is a good start to October trading.  Right now the Yen is choppy and moving sideways and I don’t foresee any potential trades short again on this currency the rest of the week unless a break-out occurs.  The Euro and Pound both need to retrace to resistance levels before selling on the swing system and this is not happening so far this week but will continue to watch for possible selling opportunities the rest of the trading week.

I did obtain 2 entries for position short trades on the Euro and Pound on 10/01/2008.  These quickly went into profit on the first trading day of this month and I am currently up 100 pips on each.  An opportunity to adjust stop losses will occur at the start of the trading day on 10/02/2008 drastically reducing the risk involved on each of these trades.  

Intra-day trading short on 10/01/2008 produced 20 pips on a short trade.  Overall, a good start for October trading with already a 20.5% return.

Amazon Kindle #2

I received my Amazon Kindle yesterday.  Like I said in my previous post, I had watched a majority of the review videos on the Kindle on YouTube, most of them very critical about the Kindle.  The most notable criticism was that of the placement of the buttons and how easily it was for them to depress them and move the pages forward or backward by accident.  All I have to say about that is that’s complete crap.  The placement of the buttons on the Kindle I find to be extremely handy allowing you to turn pages from either side of the device no matter what position you may be reading in.  It’s very easy to gently hold the Kindle in your hand as you would a paperback book without being clumsy enough to constantly hit one of the page turning buttons.  You simply have to be conscious of how you hold the device and what you are doing.  I don’t find the placement of these buttons one bit as a hindrance or faulty in design and find them very convenient to use.

One thing I was pleasantly surprised about was after looking up the Whispernet coverage area on the map my location fell into an area covered by 1XRTT, which is the slower speed.  Upon booting up the Kindle I noticed that the Kindle’s wireless was 3/4 speed on the gauge and have had no problems downloading material to it.

I like the Kindle cover that comes with the Kindle and I have no problems reading the Kindle inside the cover.  The cover can easily be turned to the back without deforming it and is malleable enough to do so effortlessly.  I have no problems with the Kindle sliding out of the cover when I’m reading it or holding it and the moleskin is great to keep it securely in place when the cover is closed.  

I have no problem with the content from newspapers and magazines.  I’ve signed up for trial subscriptions of the New York Times and Newsweek and I find it very well-organized and easily navigable with a few pictures here and there that I have no problem making out.

Overall, I think this is a great product and will be using it frequently.  I think most of the reviews that have been done on this product with their associated criticisms are petty and highly exaggerated.  They may come out with the Kindle 2.0 but I am very satisfied and elated with the functionality and usefulness of this Kindle 1.0.

Forex Trading – Day #275

With the new direction of all 3 currencies short for the swing trading system this week, an opportunity arose on the Yen at 4 p.m. EST with a reversal pattern on the 1-hour chart occurring at the 61.8% and 78.6% Fibonacci confluence with oscillators indicating overbought conditions.  I entered this trade risking 2.8% with a 47-pip stop loss.  The aim is for 94 pips.  Currently, the trade is up 17 pips.  Upon reaching 47 pips, I’ll be moving the trade to break even.  The Euro and Pound have yet need to retrace to resistance levels before opportunities to sell occur, possibly later this week.  

At the beginning of the trading day for 10/01/2008, 2 opportunities look to present themselves for position trades on the daily charts.  I will be entertaining a short position on both the Euro and the Pound at approximately 8 p.m. EST if price stays below my entry levels.  

Intra-day trading for 10/01/2008 during the European session will be looking for opportunities to trade short for 20 pips.

Amazon Kindle

I’ve been spending most of the day on YouTube looking up reviews that have been done by various people out there on the Amazon Kindle.  It looks like it’s a pretty cool device.  The common theme that I’m finding is that the buttons on each side of the device can be easily inadvertently touched and the pages turn by accident and many claiming a real design flaw.  Until I actually use it for myself, I can’t decide if they’re just clumsy or if that’s the way of it.   Mine should arrive Monday.

The other cool thing is it has a limited ability web browser that can be used to surf the web for free over the EVDO network.  The TOS says that they reserve the right to begin charging for use of the web browser in the future, but as of now it appears to be free to use.  Free use of the Whispernet is supposed to be for shopping at the Amazon Kindle store, the free use of Wikipedia, and the file conversion service they offer.  

As far as e-book compatibility, I did read one cool thing another person has tried and that is to rename non-DRM .PRB e-books that may have been picked up at Fictionwise.com, for example, and renaming them to .PRC and they will show up on the Kindle.  I haven’t heard anything specific that the Kindle will run .PRC files from Mobipocket but I’m going to try it.
 
Another thing I have been reading is that the device doesn’t seem to charge via the USB cable.  The user manual indicates it may provide a small trickle charge, which probably maintains the charge than charge it.  From what I gather it may work but you have to turn wireless and the device off to have any real shot at it.  Another post provided a link to a special cable that you can plug into the mini-USB on the Kindle and another end of the special cable into the power supply port and she claims this charges the Kindle.  It’s an 8-dollar cable.

Forex Trading – Day #266

The trading week concluded with my position trade being stopped out for a profit of 83 pips and my swing trade on the Pound adjusted to break even and was taken out for a profit of 19 pips.  

Going into the next week, my analysis is to trade long on the Euro, Pound and Yen on the swing system.  The Euro may retrace to 1.4507 or 1.4426, which are significant support levels before resuming in the trend direction.  Any trading below 1.4426, I will reverse trend direction to short on the Euro next week.  As for the Pound, a retracement to 1.8283 may transpire before a picking up and buying Pounds.  If price begins trading below 1.8252 I will be reversing my direction for the week and trading the Pound short.  I will be watching price on the Yen for opportunities to trade long at the 105.50 level or 105 level.  Trading below here will reverse my direction for the week to short.

Forex Trading – Day #265

Forex Analysis:  Intra-Day through the European session on 09/25/2008 the trade direction was long.  Two opportunities to trade occurred  and the result was break even during the session.  

As for swing trading opportunities today, the Euro and Pound are both still retracing to support levels.  At approximately 2 p.m. EST the appearance of a confirmed Harami pattern formation on the 1-hour chart at the 50% Fibonacci and significant prior level of support/resistance in the form of a horizontal line of support and trend line with other confirming indicators prompted an opportunity to buy the Pound.  I’m currently in this trade at 3:1 leverage as the trade required a 100-pip stop loss.  The trade is currently up 22 pips and the goal is for a 100-pip gain.  The Euro has met the 38.2% Fib level and possibly may rebound here but more significant support in the form of a trend line the 50% and 61.8% Fib, Bollinger and MA lie beneath here.  The plan is to continue to watch for further retracement to this area for an opportunity to go long on Euros.  

I am still long with 70% of my position trade on the Euro now up 146 pips.  At the close of the trading day an opportunity to adjust the trailing stop loss will lock in 83 pips and will continue to hold this trade.  The Yen is choppy right now and moving sideways.  Until it retraces to the 78.6% Fib and existing trend line in this area, will stay out.

Forex Trading – Day #264

Forex Analysis:  The Euro is pulling back slowly but surely and has just about reached the 38.2% Fibonacci level where a reversal may take place to continue upward.  I think I’m unlikely to take this trade until the Euro drops even further to 1.4510 where the 50% Fib level lies and a former significant resistance point that now serves as a support level.  The Pound appears to be in a fast-moving uptrend now after the major reversal that has taken place upward this past week.  It has retraced to just about 1.8360 at the 38.2% Fib level and a significant level of prior support.  There is also a significant uptrend line near this area where price may be rejected as well where all these points meet and come together.  The oscillator is also signifying an oversold level and provided reversal signals take place, this may be a good opportunity to buy Pounds.  As for the Yen, further retracement to the 78.6% Fib level is necessary where also lies an interesting trend line where price may reverse at for a chance at a long position.  I am still long on my position trade on the Euro up 139 pips after having sold 30% of the position earlier this week.  The plan is to continue to adjust the trailing stop loss accordingly at the close of each trading day until stopped out.  Intra-day trading during the Euro on 09/25/2008 I will be looking for opportunities to trade long.