Are your profits down lately? Has the novelty and excitement of trading worn off? Are you looking for reasons to stay in the business? You might want to consider how much psychic income you make from trading. It can give you a new perspective and energize you when you’re in a little bit of a rut.

Psychic income is the intangible gratification or value that is derived from work. Sure, money is important, but so is the satisfaction you get from your job. When you start thinking that there are better ways to spend your time than monotonously staring at your screens, consider the advantages that trading provides compared to other jobs.

Any job can become tedious and routine at times. And that’s especially true when market conditions aren’t conducive to your trading style. Our first inclination is to view trading as only about making money, but it’s more than that. Trading offers rewards that are just as important as money. The more you consider the psychic income you take home along with your profits, the more you’ll appreciate the work you do day in and day out.

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Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) — Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire who controls Las Vegas Sands Corp., is in talks with Singapore’s government and banks in Hong Kong and Macau as a cash shortage threatens $16 billion of casino developments in Asia, people familiar with the negotiations said.

Adelson and government officials, who met this week, will pledge to complete the $4 billion project in Singapore, said a person with knowledge of the meeting, who declined to be identified because the information isn’t public. Hong Kong and Macau bankers are also discussing financing for Las Vegas Sands’ Macau projects, said two people involved in the transaction.

Las Vegas Sands seeks funding to stave off defaulting on loans while facing “substantial doubt” about its ability to survive, it said yesterday. Casino revenue in Macau, where the company earns about two-thirds of its sales, fell in the second and third quarters for the first time in at least three years.

“If they come up with something to help them get through this, the expansion can still be on course,” said Billy Ng, a Hong Kong-based analyst at JP Morgan & Chase Co. “They are dealing with a liquidity crunch that nobody could’ve foreseen.”

Las Vegas Sands, which had $8.8 billion in long-term debt at the end of June, said in a regulatory filing that it probably won’t meet lenders’ requirements unless it cuts spending on developments, boosts earnings at its Las Vegas Strip casinos and raises more capital.

Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese declined to comment on any negotiations. The Singapore Tourism Board said it had nothing to add beyond a statement on Oct. 29, when it said it was in talks with Las Vegas Sands to “facilitate the success” of the Marina Bay Sands project.

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In the trading profession, profits are hardly a sure thing. Even the most seasoned trader makes a big mistake occasionally and pays the price. Professional traders at large financial institutions, for example, can mount huge losses, as well as independent short-term traders. If you are experiencing a severe drawdown, don’t feel badly about it. You’re not the first person and you won’t be the last.

Losses are a natural part of trading. If you are a novice trader, you may mount losses, but it doesn’t mean that you are a “bad” person. If you have not yet developed requisite trading skills, you may be an unskilled trader, but you aren’t a bad person or inadequate. And if you are a skilled trader in a severe drawdown, you may feel guilty about something that isn’t your fault. It’s possible that you are merely experiencing a temporary change in market conditions. You may need to change your approach, but it doesn’t mean that you are inadequate. It just means that you need to explore more options.

There’s no time to ruminate while actively trading, however. It gets you nowhere. If you want to stay ahead of the crowd, you must actively problem solve. You must find new trading solutions, and guilt distracts you from freely searching for creative, fresh solutions. Guilt can protect us at times, but while trading, we often feel guilty about losses that are just commonplace in the trading business. If you are experience unproductive guilt, it is essential that you learn to control it. The more you can trade calmly and freely, the more profits you’ll make.

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This is indeed bad news for our island state as the Integrated Resort (IR) is meant as a money spinner for the tourism industry here. But with the auditors expressing doubt on Las Vegas Sands’ ability to continue as a going concern, things do look much bleaker in the horizon.

(NEW YORK) Shares of Las Vegas Sands Corp fell 29 per cent yesterday after the casino operator’s auditor said in a regulatory filing that there are doubts about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Based on current estimates, Las Vegas Sands expects it will not be in compliance with its maximum leverage ratio covenant for the quarter ending Dec 31, 2008 and at subsequent quarters, accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said in the filing. The auditor said that non-compliance would result in defaults which raises substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

The company said in a filing that it is working with a financial adviser on a capital-raising programme but that no assurances can be given that the programme will be successful. Sagging US consumer confidence and spending power has hurt business in Las Vegas, where Sands operates the Palazzo and Venetian resorts, among others. Sands is also building almost US$17 billion worth of resorts in Singapore, Macau and Bethlehem in Pennsylvania.

Last month, Sands said Sheldon Adelson, its chief executive and principal stockholder, and his family intend to take part in the capital raising. Sands also said Mr Adelson and his family recently completed an investment in the company of US$475 million in convertible senior notes.

Shares of Las Vegas Sands fell US$3.39 to US$8.27 yesterday morning. — Reuters

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Everyone wants to be good at trading in the stock markets. Not only will you have more money and status, but you can have pride in knowing that you’ve developed a skill that few possess. You are one of the elite who mastered the markets. Rewards usually go to the humble, though. The markets have a way of exposing the arrogant trader who feels omnipotent.

Trading expert Martin Pring in “Investment Psychology Explained” notes, “after a long winning streak, almost every investor and trader falls into the trap of thinking that he is infallible.” If you want to stay profitable, it is vital that you control your optimism. Many traders allow overconfidence to wipe out the profits they have just made. Don’t give profits back. If you stay humble, you’ll increase your chances of staying profitable.

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Discipline is saying ‘I’m wrong. I’m getting out of the stock and actually doing it. Sometimes you’ll be long a stock and all of a sudden it’s falling. Undisciplined people get stubborn and say, ‘It’s going to go up’ or ‘It’s going down, I’ll buy more and eventually it will go back up.’ The discipline to admit when you are wrong, get out, and not take a big loss is what makes a great trader.”

Winning traders are flexible. They look at a trade from different angles and they are not afraid to explore every possibility. They know they may be wrong, but being wrong doesn’t bother them.

Indeed, they often expect to be wrong. The willingness to admit you are wrong gives you power and freedom. When you are willing to admit you are wrong, you won’t be defensive.

You’ll feel relaxed and will effortlessly close out a position when you need to. You won’t fruitlessly hold on to a losing position and hope that it will turn around. You won’t let your emotions of fear and greed take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions as your accounts balance dramatically rises and falls. When you are flexible, you’ll trade more effortlessly.

You’ll stay objective and be able to astutely read the stock markets more accurately.

And in the long run, you will trade more profitably.

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In the midst of all the hoo haa over the minibonds saga, it would be useful to know what it is all about rather than hearing from certain quarters who are getting all emotional and venting their venom on the government.

The name “Minibonds” itself is a misleading word for investors. Whatever money you have invested in this “Minibonds” are not invested in bonds of the six reference banks or bonds issued by Lehman Brothers. This is how it works. Lehman Brothers may or may not buy any bonds from the six reference banks but it is just using these banks as “reference entities”, some sort as a “bet” with Minibonds holders. There are basically 5 entities involved in the Minibonds arrangement.

1) First of all, its Lehman Brothers as the credit risk swap partner.

2) Secondly, Lehman Brothers has created an empty shell company Minibond Ltd which will issue the Minibonds to investors.

3) Third, the investors.

4) Forth, the money taken from investors will be invested in a basket of AA financial products from 150 companies which includes CDOs which is basically collateral debts obligations, some of them are related to SubPrime debts.

5) The reference banks which has nothing to do with investors’ investment other than being a betting reference: i.e. if any one of them failed, it would be a credit event that make investors lose money to Lehman Brothers.

For simplicity to understand the whole arrangement, just take it that Lehman Brothers has bought some bonds from these six reference entities (banks) and it needs somebody to insure its risk of exposure to these banks. It did not insure its risks from insurance companies like AIG but instead, via this Minibonds arrangement, bought insurance from investors like you.

Through the Credit Risk Swap, you as an investor has agreed to sell insurance to Lehman Brothers with regards to the reference entities. In order to become an insurance agents of Lehman Brothers, you will need to come up with money as collateral. This money is collected from you via the financial institutions that you bought the Minibonds and given to Minibond Ltd to invest in a basket of CDOs issued by 150 companies.

Whatever returns from these CDOs issued by these 150 companies (variable returns) are given to Lehman Brothers. In return, Lehman Brothers will give Minibonds Ltd a FIXED premium (most probably higher than 5.1%) and Minibonds Ltd will give investors 5.1% returns for their investment. Now, the variable returns from the Collateral Assets may be higher or lower than 5.1% but investors will only get back 5.1%. It means that Lehman Brothers will take the risk of variable returns from these Collateral Assets in return for your risk taking on the reference entities. This complete the Credit Risks Swap, swapping your risks of variable returns for a fixed returns, while you in return, insured Lehman Brothers for their risk exposure to the Six reference entities.

The problem is that Minibonds Ltd, under the control of Lehman Brothers, may choose to invest in a higher risk instruments or CDOs because it would be very profitable if the returns from these investment is higher than 5.1% that Lehman Brothers promised you. Especially so, when they do not need to bear the risks of defaults these CDOs or any of the assets in the basket of Collateral Assets. The returns from these Collateral Assets, they take but you bear the risks of defaults from these assets. Under the contract, once a CREDIT EVENT happens, the whole arrangement will be liquidated. The Credit Event involves:

1) If any one of the reference banks failed, it is considered as a Credit Event and the investors will have to pay Lehman Brothers for the insurance it bought via the Credit Risks Swap. Meaning, investors will lose all money invested.

2) If more than 11 companies of the 150 companies listed in the Collateral Assets failed, or a certain percentage of the CDOs or credit-linked derivatives held as Collateral Assets go into default, the whole Minibonds will be liquidated and any loss from these defaults will be born by investors (not Lehman Brothers).

But the definition of Credit Event does not includes the failing of Lehman Brothers as the Credit Risks Swap partner. Thus, at this moment, investors do no face immediate liquidation of the Minibonds and suffer immediate losses. However, investors RISK losing a lot of money due to the fact that the value of the basket of CDOs and other credit-linked derivatives held as Collateral Assets has devalued tremendously due to the present financial crisis. The likelihood of a credit event triggered by the failing of a substantial number of companies within the list of 150 is very high at this moment.

Furthermore, as Lehman Brothers has gone into bankruptcy, it will no longer give you the 5.1% as it promised and in this financial crisis, the variable returns from the basket of CDOs and credit-linked derivatives would be nearly zero as most of them are linked to SubPrime products.

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Trading is risky. There are times when you have almost no evidence to put on a trade but your gut instinct. For some traders, a gut instinct is enough validation to put on a trade. Others, however, need much more evidence and reassurance. It’s useful to know how much reassurance you need before you feel comfortable taking a risk. You’ll trade more calmly if you match your risk tolerance to your trading style.

Traders differ in terms of risk tolerance. Some traders enjoy taking risks and are willing to put on a trade with almost no validation. Other traders, however, seek out as many sources of validation as possible.

There are many ways to trade profitably. What all winning traders have in common, however, is that they match their trading style to their levels of risk tolerance. The closer the match, the more calmly you’ll trade and the higher your chance of maintaining profitability.

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A global recession will have a huge impact on China’s economy while currency volatility is expected to add further pressure on the country’s banks, a top executive at Bank of China (BOC) said on Saturday.

‘Next year, the global economy is very likely to enter recession and the world’s biggest economies, including the United States, Europe and Japan, are very likely to post negative growth and that will have a huge impact on China,’ executive vice president Zhu Min told a financial conference in Shanghai.

‘The impact of the crisis on China has just started to appear as China has already seen a sharp slowdown in industrial profit growth and fiscal income,’ he said.

‘The financial crisis will technically precede economic and political turmoil by eight to 12 months,’ he added.

China’s banks have enjoyed robust profits for years as the country boomed but earnings growth is now slowing as the economy cools from the impact of the global financial crisis.

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When you wish upon a star, what do you wish for? If you’re like most people, financial freedom is one of the first things on your list. If you had a million dollars, think of what you could do. You wouldn’t have to ever work again. You could just sit on the beach and relax. But if you’re like most traders, you couldn’t stay away from the game even if you had infinite wealth. What else could you wish for? A crystal ball, perhaps. Or tomorrow’s newspaper so that you would be able to know what the masses were going to do tomorrow. You could anticipate their every move with unfailing accuracy. Think how easy trading would be? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to predict the future?

It’s fun to wish that we could trade more profitably, but wishing can often be a sign of desperation. When you are in wishing mode, you passively wait instead of taking decisive action. You hope for miracles and wonder if you’ll ever see huge profits. But if you take proactive steps, you won’t have to wonder. If you set your mind to it and work hard enough, you will be successful. Through hard work and determination, you can make your wish of becoming a winning trader come true.

Can you predict what the masses will do? Not always, but seasoned traders rely on their wealth of trading experience. More times than not, they can accurately anticipate what the masses will do. When a company fails to meet earnings estimates, the price usually goes down. When the sell off is too great, many of the masses feel regret and buy back what they had sold. Do the patterns work like clockwork? No. Do they work a lot of the time under particular conditions? Yes.

What seasoned traders know, and so should you, is how specific stocks move according to world events, media reports, times of day, or whatever unique factors impact the price. Nothing is certain, but the more knowledge you have about a company, the better you’ll be able to anticipate how its stock price will move. And if you can stay ahead of the masses, you can profit. You don’t need to hope for a miracle. All you have to do is study the markets and develop an intuitive feel for how they move. Once you develop these skills, you could anticipate the markets almost as well as having a crystal ball

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