Wanderlust

Although eye catching the title of this post is a bit misleading. Wanderlust in German actually means ‘the desire to travel (wander)’ – to leave behind the comforts of your home and to deliver yourself to the mercy of the great unknown. That’s not exactly how I’m feeling right now, especially since spring arrived early here in Valencia, bringing with it warm weather via the soothing rays of Mediterranean sunshine.

However as the ides of March approach rapidly festivities revolving around the celebrations of Las Fallas are quickly starting to pick up steam. Meanwhile thousands of sun starved Northern Europeans are flocking into the city every day in anticipation of participating in 10 days of unmitigated debauchery and licentiousness.

I know what you’re thinking: What’s your problem? That sounds like a ton of fun, you crusty old market mole!

Agreed! Once or twice perhaps, but not if you live smack middle of what’s considered Las Fallas Central. So like every year post 2014 we, along with thousands of other sleep deprived Valencianos, are fleeing the city in droves, only to return after the final day of Las Fallas.

Sète, France

This year we are heading to the French Riviera in order to spend a few days with my wife’s parents. They are actually quite tolerable and a lot of fun to be around, so we expect to have a blast. The second half of the trip we are scheduled to spend at a remote 17th century castle in the middle of a wildlife preserve. I’m already looking forward to rubbing it in that our building precedes theirs by a whole century 😉

Le Chateau – it’s been renovated ever since that picture.

On the downside the weather is supposed to royally suck as the region is expecting some snowfall at best and most likely several days of rain. Which means we had to break out all of our winter clothing again: jackets, boots, gloves, sweaters, wool bini, etc. Honestly I am hoping for snow with bouts of sunshine as I don’t mind winter as long as it’s not constantly gray and soggy outside.

Posting Schedule

In case you are wondering – and I know you are: I plan to post brief updates next Monday through Wednesday as allegedly there’s great Internet connectivity near the coast. The situation at the castle is a bit more uncertain. Word has it that the local routers and cell towers are solar based, which means a day or two without sunshine and there is no Internet access. Crikey!!

Initially this was a concern of mine when planning my trip but in the end I realized that I had not spent a single day offline since I started this blog way back in 2008. Every vacation destination had to be planned in anticipation of having access, and quite frankly it was really getting to me. At least for me its impossible to completely disconnect and enjoy a change of pace whilst jacked into the matrix.

Tony To The Rescue

So to remedy the situation I blackmailed talked my quant buddy Tony into posting during those days. Which means most likely he’ll show up here next Thursday the 14th through Wednesday the 20th. Perhaps not every day but the material he’s planning to put together is aimed at introducing you to the world of professional quant trading and how it differs from retail trading.

And not from a purely theoretical perspective either, but coming from someone who’s a partner at a proprietary trading firm in Chicago. That’s a rare treat and I strongly suggest you sharpen your pencils and pay close attention to the stuff he’s volunteered to share here.

Alright quick update on the markets. The E-Mini has now rolled into the June contract, and apparently it’s not off to a good start. Clearly the big wall at ES 2800 once again proved too much to handle  for the 5th time in a row, and now it’s time to pay the price for such an ignominious defeat.

A retest of ES 2675 is most definitely in the cards here, so unless you’re short already (congrats if you are) I suggest you treat carefully and bite your time.

The DX campaign reached my target range a few hours ago and since I’m traveling I decided to exit at the 3R mark and await new instructions.

One more for the road: The EUR/USD has dropped to < 1.12 this morning and is currently staging a bit of a snap back. Judging by the daily panel this is a crucial support zone for the EUR and continuation lower could easily trigger panic selling.

Excellent timing for me as I’ll be spending Euros up in France 🙂

Video Time!

I have been producing some video content over the past year, some of which will be available here at Evil Speculator in the not so distant future. But I also plan on doing a lot more off-the-cuff point and shoot content which is why I’ve put together a little portable mini setup:

Here it is in all its glory. It’s a Zhiyun Smooth 4 gimbal I’ve strapped a RØDE mic and an LED panel to. All I need to do is to snap my phone to the clip on top and I’m ready to roll.

So if I feel inspired I may just post a few video clips during my travels, assuming the weather holds up. See you on the other side!