Pictures from Geneva

In lieu of regular programming, here are some pictures from my brief trip to Switzerland to attend the Geneva Forex Event and interview by Dukascopy last week.

Jet d'Eau

Reformation Wall

Palais des Nations

Monument Brunswick

Using your idling trading computer for a good cause

Nowadays, computing power is practically free for trading. It does not take much processing power to trade or chart on your computer. The situation is even more wasteful for many mechanical traders obligated to keep their computers on all the time. So what can you do with all that idling power? Through World Community Grid (non-profit), you can help develop new cures for diseases or discover affordable solar energy.

According to Wikipedia, “World Community Grid (WCG) is an effort to create the world’s largest public computing grid to tackle scientific research projects that benefit humanity.” By joining WCG and installing an open-source software, you are enabling your computer’s idling cycles to process data from various research projects as part of a cluster of computers. From the WCG statistics page, over half a million users have signed up. It is one of the three biggest non-profit grid computing efforts in the world (the other being SETI@home and folding@home).

I tried SETI@home almost a decade ago to help search for E.T. But it wasn’t until the folding@home project started when grid computing gained popularity. Tell people that you’re leaving your computer on to search for E.T. and people couldn’t hold their laughs at you. But telling people that you’re leaving your computer on to find cures for diseases … then all of a sudden, it’s philanthropic.

The reasons why I chose to devote my computer resources to WCG instead of the other two are simple.

1. It offers more than one projects to choose. You can fold proteins, find energy efficient material, simulate climate change, etc.
2. The projects offered have specific, realistic goals.
3. Projects do get completed (unlike SETI@home, for example, since no E.T. has been found yet after 10 years).
4. New projects are added as older ones finish.

In any case, that’s just my personal choice. Take a look at the three projects mentioned for more information. In addition, there’s an interview with a researcher using WCG.

If you decide that WCG is right for you, feel free to join Team Traders and start data crunching together. (Warning: Like any software, use at your own risk)

Goodbye Microsoft

I have been weaning myself away from Microsoft products these past few years. First to go was Microsoft Outlook. Then Microsoft Office. And then recently, I am finally rid myself of the last Microsoft product that I have–Windows XP.

I have been using Ubuntu for the past two months now. Linux is certainly a lot easier to use now than years ago when Red Hat was the most popular distribution. I installed Ubuntu and the system was ready to use. No more hunting for linux drivers or installing packages one by one. Ubuntu was ready for use right off the bat.

The first couple of weeks was awkward as there are many differences between Ubuntu and Windows. I often find myself searching online to see how to perform some trivial tasks.

Setting up the Ubuntu system to just the way I wanted took some time and IT skills. But after the initial learning curve of about a week, I am very satisfied.

Both Windows and Ubuntu have their pros and cons (there are plenty of comparisons online, so I won’t compare them here), I wouldn’t say one is better than other. As a skilled computer user, I am fine either way.

The primary use of my computer is for running my automated strategies and quant programming. As such, system stability is a top priority for me. Which is why I decided to try Linux in the first place. So far, Ubuntu hs lived up to its expectations. I ran the JForex platform non-stop for days in addition to my regular heavy usage without any hiccup or slowdown.

Having made the switch, I will be sticking with Ubuntu for the following reasons:

1. It works.
2. It is stable.
3. It is free.
4. It is fully customizable.
5. It integrates with other open source software that I use.
6. I like how it is always up-to-date to fix bugs and security holes.
7. It runs much better than XP (although that’s an unfair comparison as XP is old).

I am getting married in two weeks!

Understandably, I will not be posting anything for the next few weeks. I will be far away from the market as my destination wedding is in the Caribbean. Meanwhile, please do check my blogroll at the bottom right of this page for other trading blogs that I frequently visit.

I normally don’t talk about non-trading topics on this trading blog. But seeing that I’m away for a few weeks, you definitely deserve some explanation for my disappearance.

Let’s see if S&P will be above or below 1150 when I’m back.

Twitter Weekly Summary for 2010-03-29

• RT @alltop 5 ways to fight social-media addiction – Holy Kaw! http://bit.ly/bfU8Qg #
• getrichslowly.org – What Do Ancient Spice Traders and the Modern Financial Industry Have in Common? http://bit.ly/a4KAPQ #
• #FF @Ancient_Warrior #forex missed typo in prev post #
• RT @RemixTrades: #FF @faithmight @cristo1 @kevinmhughes @alaidi @milktrader @ancient_warriot @50pips @fx_13 #forex #
• just read about risk assessment… in software design! what an ubiquitous concept #
• securitiesindustry.com — Seeking the Supergenius: The Life of a High-Frequency Trader http://ow.ly/1qJ51 #
• BBspot – Should I Buy an iPad?: http://bit.ly/96unUL via @addthis << flowchart #
• would have shorted $AUDUSD now w/ stop at 9250, if only I can place a trade #
• is today the beginning of a correction in the market or just a blip on the map? March might turn out to be interesting afterall $$ #
• just filed my tax return! whew! that was actually painless #
• RT @TechCrunch OpenDNS Now Serves 1% Of The Internet (That’s A Big Number) http://tcrn.ch/aR51k4 << Great for family w/ kids #