Archive

Mandy Ong

Risk of the unknown

September 17, 2009 by Mandy Ong
The stock market is the most commonly traded investment and is known to give the best returns over time. It is easy to trade and investors just have to buy and hold, for capital appreciation or for dividends. Yet, two recent events have shown that it is not as simple. One, the decision by the [...]

in Categories: Active Trading

Read more →

Watch out for volatility ahead!

July 13, 2009 by Mandy Ong
E-mini S&P daily chart Since the long red candle last tuesday, market has been hovering around the support / resistance 878 level. Technically it looks weak due to the formation of the head and shoulders, therefore we are comfortable to hold on to our 878 shorts from last week, with stop at 905. Lots of [...]

in Categories: Active Trading

Read more →

Pure greed or plain ignorance?

July 12, 2009 by Mandy Ong
2 prominent cases came to a close recently. In Singapore, MAS, after much investigation, banned several financial institutions from selling structure products. And in the US, Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years jail for fraud involving a ponzi scheme. The actions taken may be stiff but it did nothing to relief the pain of [...]

in Categories: Personal Finance

Read more →

Did we miss the sell?

July 9, 2009 by Mandy Ong
E-mini S&P daily chart Last night, the ES made a feeble attempt to rally and traded to a high of 898.25 before giving way. With the formation of the long down candle last thursday, and another one last night, is the market too low to sell and have we missed the selling action? Read more…

in Categories: Active Trading

Read more →

Its too late when the pain becomes unbearable

May 20, 2009 by Mandy Ong
It was reported last week that Temasek Holdings had divested all of its holding in Bank of America (BoA) in the first quater of this year and could have lost at least US$2.3 billion. Perhaps it is due to the change in Temasek’s investment objectives from developed markets to emerging markets. Or perhaps due to [...]

in Categories: Investing

Read more →

The who’s who list of the stress test due tonight

May 7, 2009 by Mandy Ong
Bank of America   -  Judged to need roughly $34.0 Billion in additional capital Wells Fargo  –  Judged to need roughly $15.0 Billion in additional capital GMAC  -  Judged to need roughly $11.5 Billion in additional capital Citigroup  -  Judged to need roughly  $5.0 Billion in additional capital Morgan Stanley  -  May need to raise between [...]

in Categories: Market Review and Trends

Read more →

Overwhelmed at ATIC – so many things to trade!

April 21, 2009 by Mandy Ong
I was at the ATIC (Asia Trader & Investor Convention) today. There were about 33 exhibitors promoting their various products and systems. Then I realised, there are so many products available for the investor! You have never invested or traded, I guess you would be overwhelmed at the fair. Although I am an advocate of [...]

in Categories: Active Trading

Read more →

Leverage is not a bad word

April 9, 2009 by Mandy Ong
The scientific defination of leverage is the use of a smaller energy force to move an object of a greater energy force. Since the age of cavemen, the use of leverage in the form of simple tools has made the lives of mankind much easier. Yet, in the financial markets, leverage is associated with high [...]

in Categories: Investing

Read more →

Higher margin requirements – is the bitter pill good for you?

April 2, 2009 by Mandy Ong
Throughout my broking career, I often have clients lamenting that the increase in margins have made it very difficult for them to trade. The local broking firms, under the regulations of MAS, require clients to put up the required margins before they can initiate a position. When I joined the futures broking industry in year [...]

in Categories: Active Trading, Featured

Read more →

Cutting loss is the hardest thing to do

March 3, 2009 by Mandy Ong
In my many years of broking, clients never had much trouble taking profits, afterall, ‘a bird in hand is better than 2 in the bushes’. It is never too difficult to decide how much to take off the table. However, when it comes to losses, it is a totally different story. Traders, retail or institutional, [...]

in Categories: Investing

Read more →

Stocks vs Futures

February 17, 2009 by Mandy Ong
Although trading stock index futures are considered higher risk and more sophisticated than trading individual shares, and will require more time & effort to master, there are many advantages to trading futures compared to shares. No need to cherry pick – How many times have you bought Share A, but Share B went up or the share [...]

in Categories: Active Trading, Featured

Read more →