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Making Sense Of Open Interest

May 25, 2012 Leave a comment

wealthymatters.com Open interest is the total number of outstanding futures and options (F&O ) contracts at any point in time. In other words, these are open or yet to be settled contracts. For instance, if trader X buys 2 futures contract from trader Y(who is the seller), then open interest rises by 2.If another trader A buys 2 futures contracts from trader B, then the open interest rises to 4. Now, if trader X unwinds his position and the counter party is either Y or B, then the open interest in the system will reduce by that quantity.But if X unwinds his position, and the counter party is a new entrant, say C, then the open interest will remain unchanged. This is because while X has squared off his position, C’s position is still open. Read more of this post

Filed under Paper Assets, Theory Tagged with bearish, bullishness, cash market, derivatives, derivatives trading, futures contracts, futures trading, going long, going short, open interest, option trading, options, postaday, put and call options, put call ratio, reversal of trend, spot market

Prem Watsa – The Canadian Warren Buffett

May 23, 2012 5 Comments

wealthymatters.com Seeing how Prem Watsa is in the news in India these days with respect of the sale of Thomas Cook India by its British parent,(http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/services/travel/toronto-based-fairbridge-capital-to-buy-thomas-cook-india-deal-estimated-at-rs-1000-crore/articleshow/13365646.cms) ,now might be just the time to take a look at the life of this media shy individual.

Watsa is not very widely known outside of Canada, but is well regarded and followed in value investing circles. He has shown an incredibly prescient ability to analyze the financial markets. Some of his most famous calls include selling half his stocks before the 1987 crash and buying S&P puts before the index fell off a cliff in 2000. He also bet against the Japanese Nikkei but his biggest success came more recently during the 2008 sub-prime crisis when he bought credit default swaps on the premise that banks and financial institutions would struggle if a credit and liquidity crisis arose. Today, Watsa is the CEO and Chairman of Fairfax, which has a market cap of approximately $8.7 billion.Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited is a financial holding company based in Toronto, Ontario, which is engaged in property, casualty, and life insurance and reinsurance, investment management, and insurance claims management. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Richard Ivey School of Business-his alma mater, a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation and as well as Chairman of the Investment Committee of St. Paul’s Anglican Church.Till recently he was also a non-executive director of ICICI Bank.Whatever I can piece together of his story is pretty fascinating…. Read more of this post

Filed under Paper Assets, Theory Tagged with Buffett of the North, Canadian Buffett, Chou Associates, Confederation Life Insurance, contrarian investor, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, Francis Chou, Gardiner Watson Asset Management, Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd, insurance company, postaday, Prem Watsa, Richard Ivey School of Business, Security Analysis by Benjamin Graham, Sir John Templeton, Steven Markel, Thomas Cook, value investing, value investor, Warren Buffett

How To Shift Between Simple And Compound Interest Rates

May 21, 2012 Leave a comment

wealthymatters Now that banks and other financial institutions are having to compete to raise deposits from the public,quite a few are resorting to a bit of window dressing.They quote annual yields,annualized returns or simple interest rates instead of compound interest rates for multi-year deposits.

Now a simple interest rate looks more impressive than a compound interest rate over longer periods of time ;so do check what sort of interest the seller is offering before locking your money away at a rate that looks great.

Here is a simple step-by-step way that you can use to mentally estimate the compound interest rate that is equal to any simple interest rate. Read more of this post

Filed under Paper Assets, Theory, Tool Kit Tagged with annualized return, Compound Interest, compound interest rate, converting simple interest to compound interest, equivalent simple and compound interest rates, postaday, Rule of 72, simple interest, simple interest rate, yield

Strategies To Make Money In The Stock Market

May 20, 2012 Leave a comment

First, remember Benjamin Graham’s mantra “The essence of portfolio management is the management of RISKS, not the management of RETURNS. Well-managed portfolios start with this precept.”

Second,remember what Baron Rothschild said – “I never buy at the bottom and I always sell too soon.” Trying to squeeze the last drop of profit from every deal might not be such a great idea.

Third,consider doing what Bernard Baruch used to do. Some 70 years ago, he would research a stock, buy it, and then each time the stock rose 10% from his purchase price, buy an additional amount equal to his first purchase. If the stock began declining he would sell everything he had bought when the drop equaled 10% of its top price.