Yahoo! Import Update

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I still haven't wrapped everything up into an installer. Here, however, is an up-to-date screenshot. I don't think these features will be available in the free version, but I added:

- Multiple symbols (separated by " ,") imported at once
- A way to choose how far back the data goes (jan = 00...dec = 11) so that you can update daily without inserting repeat data (I'll probably add something to make sure you're not adding repeats later).

That's it for the moment. I do want to add a txt file loader (with symbol info) and a way to capture dividend data. Perhaps I'll make one for economic and earnings data too.

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Import Yahoo Stock CSV Files into MySQL -- Program

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This is a very preliminary version (Windows 7 tested) of what I intend to create. But, I thought I would share it.

What the program does:

- Downloads the CSV file of the specified stock symbol from Yahoo! Finance.

- Adds a column in the CSV file with symbol info so that you can insert multiple stock tickers in the same table and sort them by "Symbol."

- Connects to the selected database and inserts the data into a table called "stock_prices_day" with column values "Symbol", "Date", "Open", "High", "Low", "Close", "Volume", "Adj_Close".

-There are simple modifications that may need to be made in order for this to run on machines besides my own. I'll try to get around to it as soon as I find the errors.

- There are more complicated modifications that would obviously be nice, which I will (and have) work on. These will likely be kept to myself, unless there is substantial interest. Donations would be nice given that even the simple version took me quite some time to put together... :D (plus the benefits of this program to a quantifiable trading setup are large).

License Requirements:

- This is for personal use only.

- I do not guarantee it will work.

- I don't believe it will damage anything you own, but it possibly could.

- It gives no investment advice; it is merely a tool.

- It does not come with source.

If you would like the source, I am willing to talk. I'm going to update it somewhat, because it will probably malfunction on a system that isn't my own (hard written directories, perhaps, and dll file requirements).

Here is a screenshot followed by the download.

Download - Sorry, I have to find somewhere to upload the file...I guess blogger doesn't have anything built in. (Try This)  I'm going to have to build this into an installer...hmm. 

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Trading Cliches

I posted a link to 64 investment cliches yesterday. Someone really needs to write an article about trading blog cliches.

Here's the first example. Basically, begin your writing with some simple analogy that describes extremely general trading behavior. Next, tell people what they are doing wrong. Then, tell them how they can succeed by following some simple idea. Finish up by saying that you must put in lots and lots of time (you know, this simple idea is not going to help you that much).


Rinse and repeat.


PS: I only read the first paragraph of that article.

Cliches

Here we go. 64 cliches:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/06/28/the-64-biggest-investing-cliches-to-sound-like-a-pundit/

PS: Doing my work for me.

Annoying

I find articles like this annoying.

I find comments like the following refreshing:

• Baby Boomer no. 20,500,001 wrote :

Means, medians, and standard deviations can be collected and calculated for any age cohort, no matter which way the baloney is cut, it is still descriptive statistics. What is just as important is the worldview which the writer has. It is a nice article to be sure; and, I bet the author of this article is a younger person, probably post-modern, who reviles generalizations. Have a good day!

Any Good Jokes?

I'm trying to find some good jokes. I figured I'd start with finance jokes. Here's one. It's not good, but a start:

Financial Jokes - How Rockfeller did it
At 18 years old, Rockfeller had no money. He found an apple in the street. The fruit was dirty he cleaned it and resold it 50 cents to a man walking in the street ... with his 50 cents he bought 2 apples 25 cents each, and resold them 1$ to another man walking in the street ... with his 1 dollar he bought 4 apples, and resold them of course 2$ ... at 19 years he inherited from his grandmother...

Search

Getting frustrated with trying to find the perfect word combination to locate desired web pages (should they even exist) on Google search, I decided to amp up my search skills and knowledge. Personally, I would like to be able to search based on many, many factors. Can Google determine whether a particular page is academic?, perhaps through a rudimentary analysis of its sentence structure? Can it let me choose my own set of sites I believe to be the most trustworthy and informative?

There seem to be so few additional search parameters on Google's advanced search page. Maybe I am missing some additional advanced, advanced search page, which is why I am trying to find sites like this: 101 tips and tricks for Google search. Yeah, it still leaves something to be desired. I'm hoping I find more solid pages in my search for better search. Someday I would like to pinpoint desired results much faster, easier, and accurately.

In any case, for those of you who have tried multiple terms, phrases, and permutations while searching for desired information, there is still quite a bit of room for improvement in the search market.

Mainstream

I have to say, for the most part, I dislike the majority of the mainstream financial blogger writings. I don't blame them. You aren't paid much and you get a majority of negative comments--this post for one. Mainstream financial blogging is a lot of regurgitated information, a new flavor this week, but 80%+ same-old same-old.

Be careful out there. Use your time wisely.

Volatility Smile

I tried to find a good video on youtube explaining the "Volatility Smile" effect. This one is okay. Kinda long, but does a good job of going over inputs and the reasoning that explains the volatility smile. I wish it were a little more advanced, especially given its length; but, it's a good introduction nonetheless.

The Greeks

Here's a simple video explaining the "greeks" of options.

Binomial Options Pricing

I was looking into the binomial pricing model and came across this:

A brief introduction, but can definitely help you forward in understanding.

Black-Scholes Option Pricing

I've been looking for some good videos on Black-Scholes options pricing on youtube. Here are some that I'd like to keep track of. Post more links if you find something. I'll try to add more info as I find it.

(the call version above, the put version below; very simple videos that explain the basic imputs)

Efficient

"A market in which prices at any time “fully reflect” available information is called “efficient”" (Fama, 1970, p 383)

I think this is a good place to start at deconstructing the problems behind the efficient market hypothesis.

Resources

Efficient Market Hypothesis: What are we talking about? Bernard Guerrien and Ozgur Gun [Université Paris 1, and Université de Reims, France]

Efficient-market hypothesis at Wikipedia.org

Efficient Markets Hypothesis: History (I think "“The mathematical expectation of the speculator is zero”, circa 1900, describes fairly well how many understand the efficient market hypothesis.

First Proof

This is going to be, or at least start as, a messy grouping of notes and ideas. However, I think it is important. My understanding of the efficient market theory can be summed up in this snippet from Wikipedia: "In finance, the efficient-market hypothesis (EMH) asserts that financial markets are "informationally efficient". In consequence of this, one cannot consistently achieve returns in excess of average market returns on a risk-adjusted basis, given the information available at the time the investment is made"


I want to prove otherwise. In fact, I want to prove that if it is not possible to achieve returns in excess of average market returns then participation in markets would subside. I'll be focusing on stock and derivatives markets, as those are my interests. I will try to dissect the various forms of market efficiency, but think that starting with the strongest form is perhaps the best. Of course, it has its uses in simplifying matters. I am  merely looking at it from a variety of perspectives to see when it aids and when it hampers research.

Critics

What this world needs more of is better critics.

Platitudes

How many journalists fail to understand what they write about? I'm really not sure. I don't want to be hard on anyone. I especially don't want to be hard on this lady but I can't help it. I don't even know if she's a quantitative analyst herself. Maybe she is. Maybe she is writing from experience. But, shit.

So many journalists just spew out whatever generalizations they can come up with: Quants just use spreadsheets. Quants have caused much of the crisis. Believing in a formula can destroy the world.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. It would, however, be nice if you contributed something with a little more meat on it. Do a little research. Dig a little. Instead, I'm seeing tons of opinion pieces from people who have never participated in what they are talking about and many news articles that aim for sensation rather than insight.

/two cents.

Welcome

I'm not here to make you money. I could, I know how. But, I wouldn't be able to make enough money off the advice. So, I'm going to have some fun instead. I'll keep my spreadsheets on my computer. I'll post interesting and funny articles I find or write on here.

Enjoy.