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OPENING POSITION
June 1996
I'm happy to announce that STOCKS & COMMODITIES has joined the modern age of technology and come online via the Internet! Judging by the number of inquiries that I've received on the subject, I know that quite a few of you have been waiting patiently for us to complete this project, and the first stage is now finished and ready for your perusal. Our Web site address is http:/ /www.traders.com/, and I encourage you to stop by to take a look. Mind you, this Web site is in the earliest stages of online infancy, and we plan on adding new features as we go along. Right now, though, you'll find a variety of resources and information that I think you'll find handy. For example, we'll be posting editorial content such as Traders' Tips, Quick-Scans and product reviews. Our entire glossary is available, as well as our article abstracts. In addition, our Trade News and Products section will be available for those who want to keep abreast of new services and products.
And by the way, have you ever thought about submitting an article? If you look at the Frequently Asked Questions section of our Web site, you'll find the steps involved in submitting an article, plus answers to other common questions. And, naturally, we'll have E-mail. We're always interested in your comments, questions and clarifications, and while we can respond to let you know that we received your E-mail, our editorial policy will remain the same regarding correspondence to the editors as well as letters to the editor. We will address points of information, clarification and inquiries pertaining to the editorial content of S&C magazine only.
If you're interested in learning about some of our other products, we have a section explaining our book volumes, which are annual compilations of S&C articles bound and indexed as a book. Not only that, you can read about S&C on CD, which is our new CD-Rom version of those book volumes. Or if you're interested in advertising your products or services, you'll find details available in the Advertising section. And this is just the beginning! We plan on adding more features as we go along, and when the time is right, I'll write more about them.
Back to the issue at hand, the STOCKS & COMMODITIES interview this month is with Jim Bianco, who is director of research for Arbor Trading, an institutional fixed-income trading house. While Bianco's focus is the bond market, I think that the interview's an interesting read for other reasons.
In the interview, Bianco makes the case that there are forces at work in the bond market driven by reasons other than what common beliefs may be, such as the strength of the economy or inflation. His work makes a good case for the value of using technical methods (I realize this is an easy sale to you, because you wouldn't be reading this otherwise). Technical analysis does help you sidestep the issue of whether a market is following the fundamentals that you think are important. That's the true value of technical analysis, because it requires you to deal with the market's statement of what's important and what's not. You don't have to decide if one set of fundamentals is right and another set is wrong because the market, and your profits or losses, is what counts and can do that for you. Your task is to gain the tools to interpret the market's response to events. I learned this the hard way a long time ago, and I hope that we are helping you gain the skills without the learning curve being too steep. And that's why you read STOCKS & COMMODITIES, isn't it? Trade well!
