The Rand can play havoc with a commodity trader. How often have you called the direction of gold or platinum right, only for the currency to strengthen against the USD, effectively eroding all your profits? With this in mind we have a live webcast on Monday at 20h00 on Trading commodities without currency risk. The concept is simple: when using currency futures you remove any currency risk from a commodity trade; this webinar will show you exactly how to structure this trade so you can effectively trade gold, platinum and other commodities in USD right from your JSE broker’s Rand account.

In the past week Keith Mclachlan presented the first of a three part series titled Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) Model. It got my brain working over time in a few places but I got some great takes and as we always say - cash is king.

Over at MaudeStreet Keith interviewed Stuart Thompson on financial forecasting - are they worth the effort and do they have any value? It’s a great listen and you'll find it here.

Coming up

Monday 2 July at 8pm - Trading commodities without currency risk

Thursday 12 July at 5.30pm - JSE Power Hour: Commodities, an over looked assset

Recent uploads

Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) Model

Position Sizing for Traders

Starting in FX

Investment Club

Money tip

Not all debt is equal, so it’s typically better to pay off the expensive credit card or over draft before your home loan. We have a 100 second tip on Good Debt, Bad Debt that is well worth a watch.

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Our Trading Commodities without Currency Risk video is online ready for viewing or downloading. The trouble is always that when you trade a commodity (via ETF, ETN or futures contract) you actually have two trades: the first is the commodity trade and the second is a currency trade. Effectively you are either long or short of the US$ vs. the Rand and this can eat into your profits. This video shows you how to use currency futures to totally remove the impact of the currency, leaving you with just the commodity trade.
 
On Thursday at 17h30 we have another JSE Power Hour event. Presented by Mark Weetman, it is on Commodities, an over looked asset. In short it will help you get to grips with commodities as an asset class and understand how they fit within a balanced portfolio. This is a live event and if you're in Sandton you're welcome to attend, book your spot here.
 
A new podcast has launched at MaudeStreet - Taking the Gap. Pitched at business owners, it aims to help you to get your business to the next level, regardless of what level you're at right now. The first episode covers books every entrepreneur should read, mobile apps and branding.

Coming up

Thursday 12 July at 5.30pm - JSE Power Hour: Commodities, an over looked assset

Recent uploads

Trading Commodities without Currency Risk

Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) Model

Position Sizing for Traders

Money tip

Cards. No, not credit or store cards - playing cards. Remember them, from your youth? They really are a great way to entertain the kids (or the whole family) for hours and one deck of cards is seriously cheap. So instead of going out every night and spending a fortune why not bust out a deck (or head off and buy one if you can't find your deck from your younger days) and start brushing up on games such as rummy, go fish and the like. A quick Google search will find you literally thousands of game for every age and skill level.

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Our webcasting of live events is being beset by audio issues. The JSE Power Hour last week was unlistenable and to this end we are upgrading equipment and will be extensively testing it so that future live event webcast will be of a high quality we all expect.

On Tuesday at 13h00 we're updating our Momentum Portfolio for the second quarter of 2012. This portfolio has done very well (beating the market) over the last couple of years and I am certainly interested to see how it's doing so far in 2012.
 
Also listen to two great podcasts at MaudeStreet: Keith McLachlan chatted to Peter Major about miners disinvesting from SA (and he asks Peter for his picks in the mining sector), and I interviewed Yonatan Rom about the 200 day moving average and how to use it in your trading.
 
I was chatting to Warren Peacock this week about the face-to-face courses he is planning in Johannesburg and he suggested that we ask what subjects would people be interested in. Naturally the broader theme will be technical analysis, but if you have any specific suggestions or topics let us know here.

Coming up

Tuesday 17 July at 1pm - Momentum portfolio update, Q2 2012

Thursday 26 July at 5.30pm - JSE Power Hour - Creating wealth on the JSE (DBN)

Monday 31 July at 5.30pm - JSE Power Hour - Creating wealth on the JSE (CPT)

Recent uploads

Trading Commodities without Currency Risk

Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) Model

Position Sizing for Traders

Money tip

One of the great ironies is that a lack of debt will make it harder to qualify for a loan, as you have no credit record. So you need to have some well managed debt in order to have a good credit record and be eligible for a loan should you ever need one. What we suggest is to have a credit card and use it, but pay it off 100% every month. Maybe also have a store card, but use it very, very sparingly and always pay it off promptly. This way you will have a record of good payment when requesting a loan.

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Once again our momentum portfolio has out preformed the market as it returned 14.3% for the first two quarters of 2012 while the market did a more modest 5%. The update is online and you'll find it here.

In the week ahead we have two webcasts. On Wednesday at 13h00 Alwyn Burger will focus on Understanding price action. This is an important but often neglected part of trading and the problem is that it's not as simple as it sounds. Using live data, Alwyn will help us understand what we're seeing and how this can be used to give a trader an edge.

On Thursday at 17h30 we have another JSE Power Hour; this one is about Creating wealth on the JSE (DBN) and is aimed at those wanting to start out on the JSE. It will dispel the myths, cut through jargon and focus on the basics of starting on the JSE. The live event is taking place in Durban; you can attend live by booking here or watch the webcast here. The event is being repeated in Cape Town on Tuesday 31 July; to attend live book here or book for the webcast here.

Importantly we have resolved the issues we experienced with live webcasts so quality will be top notch.

Keith has a great interview on The unsecured credit market in SA, where he interviewed one of the players, John Meiring, CEO of Blue Financial Services, and even Johan is concerned, you'll find it here.

Yonatan Rom is hosting a public course on trading with the aim of helping you change the way you view the markets. It's being held over four evenings in Johannesburg starting on 13 August. Not only will you get Yonatan' insights but also Share Magic software (including a month's data download), a copy of his book, free one month subscription to his newsletter and of course the four evening courses. More information here.

Coming up

Wednesday 25 July at 1pm - Understanding price action

Thursday 26 July at 5.30pm - JSE Power Hour - Creating wealth on the JSE (DBN)

Monday 31 July at 5.30pm - JSE Power Hour - Creating wealth on the JSE (CPT)

Wednesday 1 August at 8pm - Valuations: DCF - Forecasting of Free Cash Flows

Recent uploads

Momentum portfolio - update Q2 2012 (14.3% vs. 5%)

Trading Commodities without Currency Risk

Discounted Free Cash Flow (DCF) Model

Position Sizing for Traders

Money tip

So the Reserve bank surprisingly cut the Repo rate, meaning our home loan rates are also coming down by 0.5%. Rather than using this rate cut to spend more, start a savings or investing plan, or even just keep your repayments as they were before the rate cut and pay off that bond quicker. Remember that you can pay off your home loan in seven years.

All the best

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