MAYBE THERE IS LIGHT IN THE ABYSMAL MT4 CAVE

 

“I hope you like sleeping on the couch!”

“Asia flies, the rest of the world dies”! … but even the Asian session can’t save

gold & Cable, 2 of the most pathetic trading vehicles of late I’ve ever seen for

markets “supposedly” being volatile … now, they’re nothing more than “meat

grinders”, and you’re the meat for the scumbag LP banks! … why should today

be any different?

But maybe there’s a glimmer of light at the end of the MT4 cave … just when I’m

at the point of metaphorically burning the place down, here comes Turnkey with

a glimmer of hope in crypto … Turnkey, along with other offshore brokers in the

NO KYC camp, do offer crypto in BTC, ETH, BCC, & LTC … they all used to offer

XRP, but they’ve all delisted it in the name of caution, pending SEC litigation

against Ripple … the 4 above are all standard fair across these brokers MT4

and/or MT5 platforms … the problem usually isn’t round turn [RT] commissions,

it’s the bid/offer spread … going over to the largest perpetual futures market for

these pairs [BINANCE], to make a long story short, the “total cost to trade”

Ethereum [ETHUSDT] is about $2.10 ± a few pennies either side … going over to

Turnkey, the usual “total cost to trade” is between $1.50 - $2.25 ± a handful of

pennies either side … of course, BINANCE is an “open order book” platform, and

Turnkey has scumbag LP’s … for the past couple of days, studying the two in

tandem, while there might be some pennies difference, anybody’s ability to make

money trading ETH isn’t gonna be decided by 5 - 15 cents … slippage seems to

be minimized, but don’t kid yourself, scumbag LP banks or HFT’s aren’t here to

offer “great trading deals”, they’re here to steal money … and steal it they will,

but as long as it’s pennies, I get it … if they steal dollars, there’s gonna be a

problem I can assure you.

For their part, Turnkey is caught between a rock and a hard place … there are only

so many LP’s making markets, and in crypto it’s probably only one or two HFT’s

… piss them off, and you won’t be offering crypto as a brokerage house cuz they’ll

blackball you! … on the other hand, as a broker, you got to pay them for the

privilege of them offering LP services, even if they are complete shit … and if

customers aren’t trading them, you better figure something out or you get bled to

death … so I understand the difficulty Turnkey and others face, when offering

crypto on LP based platforms … as for the other 3 pairs, for one reason or another,

they aren’t competitive enough versus “open order book” platforms to even

consider trading … maybe LTC, but it doesn’t move enough … only ETHUSDT is

competitive and volatile enough to consider.

Quite frankly, I’m getting “sick & tired” of being sick & tired waiting for either gold

or Cable to frickin’ move … ANYWHERE would be nice! … their respective trading

conditions are simply awful at present … I don’t know how Turnkey will treat us

trading ETH, but we’re gonna find out via the trading algorithm buy signals come

right now … I’m gonna go “light” at first and judge the fills, in case they are horrific

… I don’t think they will be, but if they are, a whole lotta people are gonna get an

earful … besides, I don’t see how it can be any worse than gold / silver, and we

aren’t getting “Mr. Jack Squat” from these two … so, for the PAMM, let’s see what

ETH can do … ETH isn’t as good a trading vehicle as some of the alt-coins, like

TRX, ADA, ONT, etc., over on the “open order book” platforms at PHEMEX &

BINANCE, but it isn’t chopped liver either … the only real open question is, “can

the LP’s in ETH be satisfied with only stealing pennies, and leave the dollars

alone”? … let’s be brutally frank here shall we? … liquidity providers [LP’s] are

THIEVES, pure and simple … their “vig” is like an ATM fee, only theirs is like

Vanna White spinning the “Wheel of [Mis] Fortune” to see how badly you get

clipped, and the slots favoring us on that wheel are few … so, here we

come Vanna!

Welp!, first test with Turnkey failed miserably … here a little after 10:15 AM EST.,

ETH explodes $60 higher … and there goes the spread to upwards of $8+ … I’ve

already told them this is a joke … simply greed taking over, nothing more nothing

less, and that doesn’t even take into consideration SLIPPAGE! … can you believe

these asshats? … and if you wanted to, you could trade this at BINANCE OR

PHEMEX and pay about $2.50 … apparently, Turnkey doesn’t know that $2.50 is

LESS THAN $8, or more importantly, that neither you nor I will notice giving them

money for nothing … and maybe, just maybe, that isn’t something we want to do!

… like I told ‘em,  in 5 years you won’t be around to even care what crypto does, c

uz if you don’t get your LP’s to get their shit together and be competitive, you

won’t be in business any longer! … it’s up to you fellas, decide will ya?

But then after talking with Turnkey about this in ETH and also BTC, the truly

“Bizarro World” of crypto shows up [maybe George Costanza’s HFT?], and lo

& behold the bid / offer spread in Bitcoin [BTCUSD] has gone to $5 AND STAYED

THERE! … this is truly bizarre, and since crypto has come onboard at Turnkey

last December 1, I’VE NEVER SEEN THIS … EVER … make no mistake, if the

spread would stay there, Turnkey would be the “premiere” place to trade

BTCUSD … “open order book” or no, the “gas fees” on BTC are about $50 - $75

wherever you go, and even “IF” they stole a few bucks on the fill, it would still be

acceptable … now, after calling back about this wonderful development and

inquiring “WTF is going on”?, everybody is tight lipped and saying NADA … and

since then, BTC has rallied and broke twice for about $400 and the spread has

stayed at $5 … I can’t explain it, but told them whatever they did or didn’t do,

DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ANYTHING, OK?! 

And here we are, these last hours seeing BTC with a $5 spread and the trade is

active and volatile, so it’s not like it’s just sitting there like Cable or gold

… seriously, I’m rubbing my eyes to see if I’m dreaming!

The “proof is in the pudding” will come tonight and tomorrow, and the $64,000

question will be, “can the BTCUSD bid / offer spread STAY AT $5”? … if it can, I

will surely be trading BTC for the PAMM … but before we pull out the

“sparkling wine” grape juice, remember who we’re dealing with … I’m hopeful,

and got my fingers crossed, but we’ll see how it holds up … BTC has dropped

another $300 in the last 10 minutes or so as I write, and the spread is staying

FIRM at $5 … this would truly be great news if it holds, but I’m fearful of the old

“bait & switch”, where they keep the spread here for a couple of days, and after

getting new traders to come in and trade it, we wake up some morning and it’s

back to the same old shit of a “nutso” spread, that could be $5 or $70+ within a

millisecond … and if that indeed is what happens next, ear drums are gonna get

busted! … but, let’s be positive for the moment, and wait to see if this is real or

total bullshit.

Meanwhile, it’s the same old story, different day in Cable & gold … and with

tomorrow’s FED meeting coming at 2 PM ET., don’t look for anything to happen

tomorrow until 2 PM EST, long after Europe is closed … can these 2 markets get

even worse than they are now? Gold today with a $12 range and Cable the usual

60 PIP-ish pile of manure we’re used to … simply awful is all I can say. No trades

today for the Turnkey PAMM. 

Crypto sees most of the day’s range come in the Asian session … and after Mrs.

Watanabe & Gal Pals turn off their crypto platforms and head to the nearest

casino, trading action slows considerably … TRXUSDT has a respectable day’s

range of about 1,700 ticks, but since Europe opened and now 12 hours later it’s

only seen about 750 ticks … still good, but very wicked price action.

Multiple trades today in TRXUSDT, and “The Syndicate” is UP FRACTIONALLY.  

This was a tough day … algorithm signals were unusually good, but quite a few

of them got blown throw like a chainsaw cutting a stick of soft butter … and it’s

“elevator UP” fast & vicious while you blink your eyes … it’s been a while since

I’ve seen this kind of action, and let’s hope it’s another long while before it comes

back! … “Geesh, gimme a chance to buy it will ya”? [Nope!]

As I finish today, BTC spread still at $5 … I can’t help but look back and realize, I

go B. I. Itch at ‘em about ETH earlier today, and somebody somewhere suddenly

“fixes” BTC … “wait … WUT?”! … go figure … still looks like they haven’t

touched anything! … outta here … “the future’s so bright I need sunglasses”!  😎

… Onward & Upward!!

-vegas

LET’S PRETEND

 

“When the entire world knows it’s bullshit, and doesn’t care!”

I can’t even begin to tell you how frickin’ pathetic Preezy Depends presser was

yesterday … quite frankly, every dictator around the world looks at this pathetic

figurehead and wonders how to take advantage … the “U.S. of China” is truly in

deep, deep shit with this bumbling, corrupt moron and his “Manchurian

Candidate” VP standing behind door number 2 wondering what the best way to

get rid of this assclown should be … my guess is, that there’s better than a 50/50

probability he never gives another press conference again … yes, it was that bad

… so let’s just pretend he got 81 million votes, OK?

Then there’s the “state run” MSM, which if this were North Korea it would be

understandable … another let’s pretend moment … let’s pretend the MSM aren’t

activist hacks, OK? … nope, sorry … can’t swallow that kool-aid … what an

embarrassing display of journalistic malpractice … if it weren’t for double

standards, they wouldn’t have any!

And last but not least, let’s pretend the world has financial markets … were they

closed today? … I don’t even know how to describe FX today, other than it was in

the running with Preezy Depends for most embarrassing bullshit I’ve ever seen

… Cable for it’s part just a shambles of nothingness, as trading conditions were

so bad during the European session, for hours on end the bid/offer in Cable

wouldn’t move … like in ZERO! … for 15 - 30 seconds out of a minute, and this is

with a major FX pair, during supposedly the busiest time of day, with a spread of

less than ½ a frickin’ PIP! … and then of course cuz they can, in 3 seconds it goes

7 PIPS but then dies … yup, welcome to the world’s deepest markets, except

when they ain’t and nobody gives a shit on a Friday … to call this day, right along

with the entire week, a flaming bag of dog shit, is an insult to flaming bags of dog

shit! … I seriously can’t recall just how bad it has become on some days … and

then there’s gold, which if you bother to look, you’d have to scour the daily chart

archives going back years to find a worse 10 trading day stretch it’s currently in

now … some of the most vicious spikes up and down with no follow through

whatsoever, that come and go in seconds, all arranged and taken advantage by

the scumbag bullion banks … if you’ve attempted to trade gold in the last 2 weeks

you have my deepest condolences … another market that insults the flaming bags

of shit!

Then there’s crypto, where what you’re looking at versus 5 or 6 months ago in

these markets, has become a total FUBAR, grade A+ Clusterfark of widening

spreads, no volumes and even less liquidity … you’d be better off picking roulette

numbers in a casino … this space is suffering from some serious loss of market

participation, especially in the alt-coins, and since both BTC & ETH have exploded

in price, they’ve become manipulative vehicles by “whales” every bit as bad and

nefarious as the central bank manipulators have been since 2008 in FX … nothing

is as it was 6 months ago … nothing … and I might add, not for the good either.

Again today, I get to my screen right after the European open and Cable is at

1.37700 - ish … 10+ hours later, it’s at 1.37760 ± some worthless PIPS, and for the

third day in a row, this market can’t get past about 20 PIPS in either direction

… down to a half, up to 90, then the bullshit Covid news spike, that got faded

faster than Biden’s memory, which saw the high above 1.38 … then as if by

“magic & coincidence”, here comes a PIE HOLE from the BOE saying looser

monetary policy tools are still available … apparently, the BOE got a call from

some scumbag banks and told them they needed Cable lower into the weekend

to cover the shorts from the rally I’m sure the spec public bought with both

hands … and after reminding them where that Bitcoin is coming from, here

comes the PIE HOLE … just another manipulative day at the office!

And like I said yesterday, we’re approaching the Easter Holiday, and it’s about the

only thing keeping me from playing in traffic, cuz I know historically how bad this

time period can be … and oh boy, has this week been bad from a trading action

perspective … hey, at least it’s not gold!

In the European session, we got ZERO algorithm signals … count ‘em! … ZERO!

… outside of the bogus Covid spike, there wasn’t enough trading action to

generate a squirrel fart, let alone a buy signal … the algo came close 3 times, but

the algo parameters simply could not sync up for a signal … and quite frankly, the

algorithm was designed this way to root out “chop chop” and save money, and it

did its job … it is what it is, I can’t make this shit move … and if you think this

week was bad, next week could be multiples worse, especially towards the end of

the week … not prediction’, just sayin’.

No trading in anything today … even crypto a disaster … it’s either a runaway

freight train with no offers [going up], or with no bids [going down] … and quite

frankly, BTC is a complete disaster, with extremely wide spreads and every turn a

panic of some sort, and the reward / risk ratio is simply terrible … in its present

state, BTC simply cannot be scalped or traded for quick profit … simply too much

risk when it turns against you and could easily run $500 in seconds.

Working on the algo manual this weekend … for now, I’m outta here, and let’s

hope next week isn’t the disaster it might be … “the future’s so bright I need

sunglasses”! 😎 … Onward & Upward!! 

-vegas

BIZARRO WORLD

 

“Costaza trading! … it all makes sense now, right!?”

With the day already more than half over, looking across the spectrum of the

trading world, it truly is “Bizarro World”, and George Costanza is right on the

money … it’s like you know you’re in a dream but can’t get out of it, no matter

what you do … the manipulations so bizarre, so brazen, so out in the open, and

yet nobody cares … to wit, EURUSD can’t even muster but a 30 PIP range, along

with an IVIX INDEX level that’s so pathetic, it needs to rally just to get to 20!

… meanwhile, Bitcoin hums along in the 130 - 200 zone, and it seems “dull” given

what we’ve seen in the last month or so … “oh, and that Thanksgiving drop,

driven by some “whales”, where BTC got “whacked” by 3K, is now about

60% - 70% higher in 4 days of almost straight up buying … where’s the test of the

lows”? … and while every Bitcoin hater in the world was out over the Holiday

weekend proclaiming “fraud, scam, worth ZERO, etc.”, it’s worth noting these

same people got no problem with central bank manipulation of everything else

that is 100X worse in suppressing volatility into the dust in their efforts to control

the financial narrative … cuz what’s REALLY eating them up is 1) they missed out,

2) BTC can’t be manipulated or controlled by their Stalinist Buds in government,

and 3) they’re too fucking dumb, stuck inside their own paradigm of life where

everything makes sense … NEWS FLASH SKIPPY: “Nothing makes sense as the

world burns down”!

There are very few things that are absolutely certain in this world, with 100%

probability … 1) government fucking up everything it touches, and 2) death

… other than that, we climb right into the probability normal distribution curve

… and right now, we’re spending just about ALL of market trading time OUTSIDE

of 3 𝞼 [sigma, or standard deviations] … it’s either “bat shit crazy” or it’s D.E.A.D.

… neither is particularly attractive from a trading perspective, but it’s all we got,

so there’s no escaping the reality of “Bizarro World”.

Welp! … well that was certainly quick … BTC now back above 19,300 as I write

and climbing, having erased all of the Thanksgiving massacre that wiped out a

whole shipload of longs … now what? … well, one thing is for certain, and that’s

IVIX has gone completely insane … now hovering around 500, if you’re looking to

make a market in this, don’t! … I said the other day, and I will repeat, this kind of

volatility that we’ve seen the last month is not what “The Syndicate” trading

algorithm is premised upon, and quite frankly I dunno if this is simply an

aberration, or if this kind of insanity is now the “norm” … practically every single

day we’ve seen $1,000+ 24 hour ranges in BTC, and given that environment I

don’t know how anybody can “make a market” when it can move against you

$200 in 1 - 3 minutes, only to rebound and go $400 the next 5 minutes. 

The “basis” has gone “loopy” as well, with a reading on Thursday of $-40+ and

now at $+20, and over the last month I’ve seen it at $-50+ to as much as +$100

… these kinds of swings in sentiment are literally insane … meanwhile EURUSD

dies in its own sweat … quite frankly, the world is telling you Bitcoin haters to

shove it, we’ll take scarcity over fiat any day cuz the CNTRL-P machines go

“Brrrrrrrrrrr” 24/7/365 at a record pace … there just isn’t any other market that

compares in the history of trading to that of the crypto pairs, especially Bitcoin,

and I have no idea [and neither does anybody else] just how “crazy” this shit can

get … what if we’re simply in the eye of the CAT 6 HURRICANE? … right now as I

write, BTC is going up/down with M1 ranges exceeding $50+ and it’s as chaotic

as I’ve ever seen a market get … and the amazing thing is, it’s consistently been

like this for about a month now with very little respite from excessive volatility.

Trading EURUSD with a 30-ish PIP range? … do you have any idea how “f-ing”

ludicrous this actually is? … talk about a “bank meat grinder” for specs, it’s a

“death trap” for those dumb enough to think this is anything but order flow

driven banks fading your MT4 or MT5 buy/sell signals for measly PIPS … they win,

you lose … and from their perspective, what’s wrong with that, it’s the normal

course of things? … at some point of course, what’s gonna happen, is that IVIX

INDEX will literally explode from below 20 to about 110 within 15 minutes, and

even if you had some dinky profits, they’ll be gone when volatility explodes

… and again, that’s the “game” the manipulators are playing on you, cuz quite

frankly they know you’re all a bunch of “Pavlovian Dogs” waiting to be led over

the cliff by the elusive “MOMO” that they’re fading … and it’s why you simply

cannot be sucked into extremely low range days [unless of course you like

losses] … EURUSD now trying so hard to bust 1.20 on the upside, looking for

buy stops to save the longs … maybe they get ‘em maybe they don’t, who

cares? … who do you think is going to be selling the buy stops, and if you’re

competing with the scumbag banks to get a decent sell fill, I wish you luck, cuz

your limit sell is simply an MIT order [Market If touched] that is gonna get

butchered like a hog! … and don’t look now, but that’s exactly what happened as

we just hit 1.19918 for a high on buy stops, and within the minute it’s 4+ PIPS

lower from that high … nothing like honest & fair markets with complete

transparency, right? … this is embarrassing.

Over in crypto, BTC trying to vault back above 19,000 again, now only a few

hundred bucks shy of that mark … that shellacking on Thanksgiving Holiday,

only taking out the “Johnny-Come-Latelys” on sell stops, cuz there has been

ZERO interest in taking BTC lower in the last 4 days … quite frankly, this

mornings price is in what I’d call the “Danger Zone” … get to giddy about 19K

being vaulted again and sentiment could change quickly to the downside … sell

it here and get sloppy thinkin’ it just has to go down after that Holiday “Thelma &

Louise”, and volatility to the upside could go out of control and bust your ass

“bigly & yuge” … in other words, a dangerous area for BTC price to be in right

now as I write.

The fun never stops in BTC, now coming within a couple dollars of 20K … and

yes Skippy, we are now at “peak stupid” … 2 things of note … 1) the basis is

now trading +$50 - $100, which is totally nuts, and 2) the IVIX INDEX level is

somewhere around 800 - 850 … and remember, anything over 150 presents

problems … “Houston, we have a problem”! … and as if I’m writing the script

myself, BTC breaks $770 in 19 minutes … OK … meanwhile, as the London Fix

comes and goes and Europe closes for the day, an embarrassing display today

of bank manipulation of EURUSD around the 1.20 level, where stops have been

run and then crushed by the scumbag LP banks a number of times … ho hum,

just another day of thieving! … “and oh looky here, EURUSD gets blasted to a new

low for the day exactly 43 minutes after vaulting 1.20, and with the London Fix out

of the way and Europe closed, leave it up to the virus scum on Wall Street to make

it happen … and we were going along so well, and then the rug gets pulled out

from underneath the pair … this is what happens when there is no volatility &

ranges are tiny, so embrace the suck and know the pattern of how the banks steal

& manipulate you! … come tonight, no doubt the “Chuckleheads” will have

something wrong to say about all of this, along with BTC where you can almost

make “sure thing” book they’ll take BTC above 20K, if it’s not done beforehand.

One market can’t move worth shit, and the other can’t fucking slow down to save

its life … what a dichotomy presented before me … I didn’t do any trades in

anything today … BTCUSD won’t break and has been straight up since

Thursday’s bloodbath, and EURUSD can’t move worth shit to make a difference

& algorithm parameters are all right on top of each other, meaning the usual

suspects are manipulating the shit out of it for the ECB … and if somehow specs

do get it over 1.20, expect some ECB Apparatchik to be sent out post haste to

“tell” markets it doesn’t like that rate and look out below as the scumbag banks

will clean your clock on the sell stops just waiting to be hit off sometime later

this week … this is what’s referred to now as “honest markets” in the era of

central bank manipulation … “just look at the difference between traditional FX

and Bitcoin, and the way they trade … one free the other manipulated as all hell

getting hot! … and now a $770 break off the panic top in BTC in less than

19 minutes, pretty much all straight down … sure, just get an average and you’ll

be OK … NOT! … FUBAR, FUBAR EVERYWHERE”!

I don’t know whether I need a bottle of tequila for BTC, or a sleeping pill for

EURUSD? … the dog says do both [of course he does!] … in any event outta

here … until tomorrow … Onward & Upward!! 

-vegas