Market Observer

My experience with Anchor protocol and thoughts about the TerraLuna ecosystem crash

The TerraLuna ecosystem crash this week was devastating to many crypto investors, from the small retail investors to the huge venture capitalists. No matter how smart you are, as long as you are active in financial markets, big losses from time to time are inevitable. Sometimes, one manages to escape

market action

Even the resilient Straits Times Index and Singapore market has succumbed to global stock market weakness. Crypto is crushed. USD is king.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the resilience of the Straits Times Index(STI) and the Singapore stock market for most of the past 2 weeks. There were days when the U.S market plunged but STI declined much lesser than expected (usually less than 0.4%). That was unusual

Projects

Software I developed for observing financial markets and why I developed them (part 2) - Stock market internals

This is a continuation of the previous post where I talked about the software I developed for observing stock indices. Stock indices alone are not representative of a country's stock market as only the big companies with large market capitalization are represented. The vast majority of smaller individual stocks are

Projects

Software I developed for observing financial markets and why I developed them (part 1) - Stock indices

There are two things that I can keep doing without feeling sick of them. One of them is observing financial markets, as the name of this blog "Market Observer" suggests. The other one is developing software. The next logical and fun thing to do would be to develop software that

Educational

The inverted yield curve has not been useful for predicting bear markets in a timely fashion in the past 40 years. Here's the data.

This week (01Apr2022), the yield curve has inverted in U.S Treasury bond markets. This is big news in financial media. Why is this a significant event? According to experts, the inverted yield curve is one of the best predictors of impending economic recession. However, is it a good predictor

Product review

FTX account review: My favourite crypto exchange. This referral code(not mine) offers 10% discount when others are 5% only

The title with "Referral code with 10% discount" is not meant to be a clickbait to attract eyeballs and mislead readers. I am sharing a very good, genuine deal and do not want my readers to miss out, so I had to resort to a headline-grabbing title. My own FTX

market action

Time to add and hunt for more Singapore stocks (19Mar2022)

After taking painful batterings for the past few weeks since the outbreak in the Russia-Ukraine war, this week was a strong week for stock markets all over the world. What I like about the momentum is how the market rallied despite bad news with the U.S raising interest rates,

Opinion

Lost 78% within 1 week of purchase of Russian equity fund. Lessons learnt.

I bought a Russian equity fund more than a week ago when the Russian MOEX stock index crashed over 40% in a single day after Russia invaded Ukraine. What happened last week can best be described by this picture. Money on fireThe fund lost 78% of its value from my

Stock picks

Russian-Ukraine war crashed global stock markets. I bought Russian equity fund this week. 25Feb2021

The highlight of this week has to be the Russian-Ukraine war which crashed global markets. 2022 year-to-date stock indices and forex market performanceThe stock market and forex market are telling us that the biggest loser in the Russian-Ukraine war is the war aggressor who started the war - Russia. Year-to-date,

Financial protection

If Bitcoin existed during Holocaust, it would have been the best asset for Jews to protect wealth. Charlie Munger's contempt is misplaced.

Charlie Munger is somebody I respect deeply. He is also an elderly man. So, any disagreement with him should be expressed respectfully, especially from younger people like me. The esteemed Mr Munger has called bitcoin "rat poison" and regard cryptocurrencies as venereal disease beneath his contempt. He wished that cryptocurrencies

market action

Straits Times Index resilient this week despite war jitters. Oil-producing countries have become global stock leaders. 18Feb2022

Singapore Straits Times Index(STI) remains resilient in a week rocked up and down by Russian-Ukraine war jitters. It is the market leader among Asian stock markets today. The USD-adjusted year-to-date gain for STI is 10.06% as of 19Feb2022. Stock indices performance 19Feb2022Right at the top are the stock

market action

Straits Times Index has cemented its leading position among stock indices. 12Feb2022

2 weeks ago when I observed that STI has become the number one performer gaining 3.93% year-to-date, Straits Times Index(STI) ended this week gaining 9.94% year-to-date. STI has further strengthened its leading position among stock indices year-to-date for the past 2 weeks. To check out the sentiments

Product review

SingLife account review: I transferred some money to SingLife account so that online thieves cannot steal my money. SingLife is my favourite low-risk savings/insurance account today.

With the recent OCBC phishing scam that caused millions of dollars to be stolen from at least 469 OCBC bank accounts in Singapore, one of the first things I did was to transfer some money from my bank accounts to my SingLife account to protect against online theft of my

Opinion

Straits Times Index is now a top winner among major stock indices despite global market downturn

About five months ago, I expressed confidence in Singapore's stock market in the coming years. Straits Times Index did not let me down. As a Singaporean, I am proud that the Straits Times Index(STI) is a world stock index leader (as of 28Jan2022 year-to-date). An admirable achievement for a

market action

An even more terrible week for stock markets after last week's terrible week. 28Jan2022

As if last week was not bad enough for stock markets, this week was even worse. Notable observations from the table above; Straits Times Index(STI) is now the number one performer among the major stock indices in 2022 year-to-date (28Jan2022)Shenzhen Composite Index has tumbled to almost the bottom.

Financial protection

Precautions taken to prevent hackers from stealing money from my bank account

This news about OCBC bank customers (at least 469) losing their savings from phishing scams sent shivers to many Singaporeans. What caught my attention is that this scam even fooled finance professionals. One of the victims worked in the finance industry, is well-read in bank protocols and regulations, and is

market action

Global stock markets "celebrating" Chinese New Year in advance. Red Red Red. 21Jan2022

This is a terrible week for stock markets all over the world. It seems like they are "celebrating" Chinese New Year one week in advance. Red red red everywhere. Hong Kong was the only major market which remained green this week. Hang Seng Index rose 2.39% this week. This

market action

Time to tiptoe back into HK market 16Jan2022

Highlight this week was Hong Kong's stock market performance. Global stock indices sorted in descending order with respect to the 50-day moving average (*percentage over exponential moving averages)Hang Seng Index(HSI) rose 3.79% this week. HSI has shown enough recovery that there is enough bullishness for traders to

market action

Thoughts on 2021's global markets movements

Among Asian stock markets in 2021, India stock market was the best performer. The worst performer was Hong Kong. HK's 3 major indices were down at the bottom. What goes down a lot will be added fuel for the next rally. Hang Seng Index has been trading below book value

Product review

Hodlnaut review: I have been earning 9-12% annual interest rate USD equivalent deposit with Hodlnaut.

Update 9 May 2021: I have withdrawn my funds from Hodlnaut to pursue other market opportunities. Since I wrote a product review recommending this product, it is appropriate that I disclose my withdrawal as I no longer have skin in the game. I will deposit my funds back to Hodlnaut

Bad week for global stock markets. Weekly observation 13Dec2021-17Dec2021

This is a delayed weekly update. Something cropped up in the last minute. Last week was a bad week for global markets. It was a bad week for Asian, European and American stock markets. Global stock indices 10Dec2021-17Dec2021 sorted in descending order with respect to the 50-day moving average (*percentage

market action

Markets rebounded. China indices power ahead. Weekly observation 10Dec2021

CN(risk-on) SG(risk-off) HK(risk-off)

Financial protection

Simple sell rules to protect against disaster in financial markets

In my past blog posts, I reveal some of my stock picks. It is meant to track my own progress and get a better feel of the market, not meant for others to follow. I am not a qualified financial advisor. My worry is that some readers may blindly follow

market action

Global markets worsen. U.S market rally dies. China bucks the trend. Some China stock picks revealed. Weekly observation 03Dec2021

CN(risk-on) SG(risk-off) HK(risk-off)

market action

Global stock markets infected by Covid. China is still running strong. Weekly observation 26Nov2021

CN(risk-on) SG(risk-off) HK(risk-off)