No asset class has suffered more from QE2’s massive expansion of the monetary base than the US dollar. Ben Bernanke’s decision to freeze the Federal funds rate at near zero, while the rest of the world has ratcheted up rates, has proved a death knell for the greenback. It would be a vast understatement to say that this has become a one sided trade, with positions in the futures markets betting against Uncle Buck at record highs. This has become every trader’s free lunch.

We all know how this story ends. When too many traders pile into one end of the boat, it capsizes. Think of stretching a rubber band to its limit and waiting for the snap back. The next chapter in this story has to read that the rest of the world pauses with their rate rises, while the US plays catch up, possibly later in the year. The first round of profit taking in the “RISK ON” assets of stocks, commodities, oil, precious metals, and foreign currencies is certain to trigger a flight to safety bid for the dollar. Then those huge, hot speculative positions in the dollar come tumbling down.

Most over extended on the upside has been the Euro, which seems to want to go higher as its fundamentals worsen. The move from $1.28 to $1.46 has been accomplished with a mere 0.25% rise in interest rates, and some impressive jaw boning by European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet. Never mind that the PIIGS are at or near bankruptcy, most European banks have a negative net worth when their cross holdings of sovereign debt are marked to market, and that Europe’s economy is growing at half America’s rate, and a tenth of China’s.

..“The power to determine the trend of the market is due to my knowledge of the characteristics of each individual stock and a certain grouping of different stocks under their proper rates of vibration. Stocks are like electrons, atoms and molecules, which hold persistently to their own individuality in response to the fundamental Law Of Vibration"…."After exhaustive researches and investigations of the known sciences, I discovered that the Law Of Vibration enabled me to accurately determine the exact points to which stocks or commodities should rise and fall within a given time. The working out of this law determines the cause and predicts the effect long before the Street is aware of either”..

William D Gann


..“One must search through a maze of complex and contradictory details to get to the significant facts … Then he must be able to operate coldly, clearly, and skilfully on the basis of those facts.” The challenge for the successful speculator is “how to disentangle the cold hard facts from the rather warm feelings of the people dealing with the facts.” Moreover, “if you get all the facts, your judgment can be right; if you don’t get all the facts, it can’t be right”...

Bernard Baruch


.."It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate tireless minority keen to set brush fires of the freedom in the minds of men"...


Samuel Adams

The minute you get away from the fundamentals – whether it’s proper technique, work ethic, or mental preparation – the bottom can fall out of your game.

Basketball Legend Michael Jordan.


.."Earnings don’t move the overall market; it’s the Federal Reserve Board… focus on the central banks and focus on the movement of liquidity… most people in the market are looking for earnings and conventional measures. It’s liquidity that moves markets"...

Stan Druckenmiller