The Italian Leather Sofa

Since every post I write I include a book suggestion, this time I would like to talk about one I always mention when people that are starting to get involved in the financial markets, professional and casual, ask me what book they should read. Reminiscences of a Stock Operator  is a quasi-biography of the legendary  Jesse Livermore , who went from early 1900’s bucket shop speculator to master trader, having won and lost large fortunes along the way in everything from stocks to cotton futures. Written by  Edwin LeFevre  in the 1920’s,  ROASO  is one of the best books about trading ever written.  The narrative sucks you right into the mindset of a speculator as trades go wrong, right, and then wrong again. Along the way, you get a tour of the turn-of-the-century brokerage world, a glimpse into the commodity markets, and a chance to meet an incredibly well-drawn cast of characters based on real-life figures who shaped the way our markets work to...

I am investing since more than two decades now and in the constant research for the strategy or product that will make me rich (which does not exists) I bought some out-of-the-ordinary products, some of which I still own. The core of my portfolio are standard stocks and bonds but I dedicated a small part to fringe strategies to educate myself and, to be honest, to keep me interested: after you realise it is very hard to do better than a 60/40 mix, once you can stomach the volatility, financial life tends to get pretty boring. XTXC This ETF tracks the performance of the Markit iTraxx Crossover 5-year Total Return Index. The index measures the return for a credit protection seller holding the most current issue of the iTraxx Crossover credit derivative; the performance of the index is generated by three factors: running yield of the CDS (carry), change in CDS prices and the running yield from the funding component (EONIA rate). XTXC performs like an insurance company: collects ...