World Bank

World Bank is an international financial institution which provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes such as investment in education, infrastructure, financial and private sector administration, agriculture, natural resource management etc. The World Bank, established in 1944, headquarter in Washington DC. The bank has more than 10,000 employees in 100 offices worldwide. 

Robert B. Zeollick is the current President of World Bank. As per 2010 revised percentage United States has highest voting power of (15.85%) Japan (6.84%), China (4.42%), Germany (4.00%), United Kingdon (3.75%), France (3.75%), and India (2.91%)

The World Bank differs from World Bank Group. The World Bank comprises of two institutions:

• International Bank for Reconstruction & Development (IBRD): Established in 1944, aims to reduce poverty in middle income and creditworthy poorer countries by promoting sustainable development through loans, guarantees, risk management products and analytical and advisory services. This institution is owned and operated for its 187 member countries. 
• International Development Association (IDA): Established in 1960, aims to reduce poverty by providing interest free credits and grants for programs that boost economic growth, reduce inequalities and improve people's living conditions. Since inception, IDA credits and grants have totaled US$238 billion and approx. 50% share directed to Africa. Currently institution consists of 170 member countries.

The World Bank Group includes IBRD, IDA and three more institutions.

• International Financial Corporation (IFC)
• Multilateral Investment guarantee Agency (MIGA)
• International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)

Last year World Bank released, World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and development book which shows that greater gender equality can enhance productivity, improve development outcomes for the next generation and make institutions more representative.

In 2010, bank launched new Open Data Website, which provides free access to a comprehensive set of data about the development in countries around the globe. The data is categorized by country, topic and indicator which can be use for analysis. 

Why Gold Could Lose its Grip on $1,600?

Richard Hastings, a macro strategist at Global Hunter Securities view on gold : "An extended selloff in stocks and a drop in the Swiss franc against the dollar are two signs that the rally in gold is likely to fade".

The Power of Less - Leo Babauta

The book " The Power of Less - the fine art of limiting yourself to the essentials...in business and in life" written by Leo Babauta. This is about streamline life by identifying the essential and eliminating the unnecessary. This book shows how to:

• Break any goal down into manageable tasks.
• Focus on only a few tasks at a time.
• Create new and productive habits.
• Increase efficiency

Here is what I learnt from this book.

There are some guiding  principles which helps us to  maximize productivity by simplifying life.

• Setting limitation: Limits helps
•  our life to become more manageable and less stressful.
• to focus on more important task.
• to be more productive and efficient.

• Choosing the essentials: Identify needs and eliminate the wants, which are non-essentials. Make a list and start eliminating according to needs such as what are
• Yearly Goals
• Life Commitments
• Work Project and tasks.

• Focus: Focusing on single task is more effective than multi-tasking. How to focus on the present is by
• taking deep breathe, stretch and taking breaks.
• Single tasking.
• doing exercise regularly.
• putting reminders.
• Always practicing.

• Creating habits: It makes long-lasting improvements.
• Choose an easy goal.
• Choose something measurable.
• Be consistent.
• Keep a positive attitude.

• Starting with small: main reasons are
• It narrows our focus
• keeps energy and enthusiasm going for longer.
• It's easier to handle.
• You ensure success
• Gradual change is longer-lasting.

The book is divided into two parts- part I includes principles and  part II is of practical examples (of his own). The book is written in very simple language and is very inspiring. The author Leo Babauta is famous blogger and his blog zenhabits.net  is also interesting. I would suggest everyone to read this book and implement to make life more better.

Tribes

The book "Tribes" is written by Seth Godin. He is the most popular business blogger in the world, his blogs are very much inspiring.  There are no chapters in this book and is full examples of tribe and leader.

"A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another"

Some of the interesting points explained in the book.

• You can't have a tribe without a leader - and you can't be a leader without tribe.
• Everyone is not just a marketer- everyone is now also a leader.
• Tribes are about faith- about belief in an idea and in a community.
• " Leadership is management"
• Leaders have followers. Managers have employees.
• Managers make widgets, Leaders make change.
• The Art of leadership is understanding what you can't compromise on.
• The Secret of leadership: Paint a picture of the future.  Go there.. people will follow.

Seth Godin has explained in below video why tribe is needed.



I would recommend this book to all. You can visit www.sethgodin.com to know more about him.

Recommendation - JA Solar Holdings (JASO)

Delivery Call: Buy JASO @ $6.55, Target $ 7.25 ( Short term investors can maintain the stoploss of $6.26)

The Group's principal activity is to develop, produce and market high-performance photovoltaic solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity.The Group sells its products to customers' primarily in China and it has also sold its products to customers in Germany, Sweden, Spain, South Korea and the United States.

Below is the daily chart of JASO which shows:

• RSI is in oversold zone.
• MACD is below 0 level.
• Stochastics is neither overbought nor oversold.

ReneSola Ltd ( SOL) - Target Acheived

Short term pick : Buy Renesola Ltd., (SOL) @ $ 8.95, Target $ 9.99, Stoploss $ 8.40 - 

(Call generated on 07th March 2011)

The stock has traded below the stop loss of $8.40 on 09th March. Only two days the stock traded below the stoploss and the low was $8.08. 

Today the stock is 8% up and the target of $9.99 is acheived in just 17 trading sessions.

High Probability Trading Strategies

Today I finished reading " High Probability Trading Strategies" by Robert C. Miner. This book accompanies with 2 hrs video CD which includes examples of how to apply the high probability trading strategies for many markets and time frames with bar-by-bar and step-by-step recording. Also the author has devoted an entire chapter called "Real Traders, Real Time" with trade examples submitted by his past students.

The book includes four key factors of dual time frame momentum, pattern, price and time. 

Here is what I learnt from this book.

• Dual Time Frame Momentum Strategy:

• A Larger time frame to identify trade direction and a smaller time frame for trade execution setups.
• Traders with different time frame.
• Positional trader  : weekly and daily charts
•  Swing trader      :  Daily and hourly charts
• Day trader           :  60 mins and 15 mins
• Main Indicators:
• Stochastic: It includes overbought(OB) and Oversold (OS) zones. Line above 75% indicates overbought and below 25% oversold. 
• MACD Histogram: It measures the difference between two moving averages.

• Pattern Recognition for Trends and Corrections:

• ABC correction: It is a frequent type of correction for all markets and all time frame in 3 swings. Below are some guidelines.

• The Wave-C should exceed the extreme of Wave-A.
• If the market trades back into the range of Wave-A, the minimum conditions for a correction are complete.
• A trade beyond the Wave-B extreme is a pattern signal that the correction should be complete.

• Five- wave patterns ( Eilliot Wave): The five wave trend pattern make five sections and the section do not overlap, is called an impluse wave. Some of the guidelines are below.

• Wave -2 cannot trade beyond the beginning of Wave -1.
• Wave - 3 cannot be the shortest in price of waves 1, 3, and 5.
• Wave - 4 cannot make a daily close into the closing range of Wave-1.

• Beyond Fibonacci Retracement: 

• Alternate Price Projections (APP): 
• It compares the price range of swings in the same direction also called as price extensions.
• Frequently used APP are 61.8%, 100% and 162%.
• APP made of three pivot points, the price range between two pivots is measured and projected from a third pivot.

• Internal Retracement:
• are 38%, 50%, 61.8% and 78.6%
• The  38.2% level is temporary support or resistance.
• The 78.6% retracement is typically the maximum retracement for a correction. If a market closes above the 78.6% retracement, typically it is not making a correction but will continue to trend to a new high or low.

• External Retracement:
• are 127%, 162% and 262%.
• are important to help identify the final section of a trend or countertrend.
• are not used on their own for price targets, but to confirm an alternate price projection and or internal retracement.

• End Of Wave-C:
• ABC correction ends with Wave-C, which should include internal retracement and an APP.
• Internal retracement are first in the order of importance of the three sets of projections, since most corrections end near one of the four internal retracement.

• Entry Exit Strategies and Position size:

• Trailing One Bar Entry and Stop:
• Following a smaller time frame momentum reversal in the direction of the larger time frame.
• The entry price is trailed one tick above/below the last completed bar.
• When the trade entry order is executed, the initial protective stop is placed one tick below/above the swing high/low made prior to entry.

• Position Size:
• Formula to calculated position size is:

Available Capital X 3% / Risk per Unit = Maximum position size.

• Exit Strategy Concept:
• Use of Trailing stop, never exit at a predetermined price target.

All four strategies momentum, pattern, price and time together help to develop a trading plan that includes entry and exit strategies and trade management.

This book is not difficult to read and understand, but the reader must spend time learning and practicing each strategy. I took almost 2 month to read this book and currently practicing and implementing each strategy.

This is very practical book and would recommend to every trader and investor. The author also post blog on his website http://www.highprobabilitytradingstrategies.com/blog/

Thanks Robert!!!