Banshee -- Season One

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Thanks to my Twitter buddy, JackInFlorida, and others for recommending Banshee ... I enjoyed the first season.  The story is a little dumb (ex-con becomes small-town sheriff), and they try to make it more believable by basing it in Amish country (ya know, no cellphones, computers, etc.), but it's still silly.  

And the violence, oh my god, it's just over the top.  It's like X-rated violence, pornographic violence.  Every episode has at least one extended fight scene or gun battle which ends with everyone covered with vast amounts of blood, dripping from heads and mouths.  It's gory, not for the squeamish or sensitive.

But it's also funny.  Lots of clever lines and amusing situations that are well done. It's campy, which balances out the ultra-violence. The lead male isn't going to win any acting awards, but the lead actress isn't bad, a La Femme Nikita type, ya know, eastern European bones. The villains are all good, older guys who are still ripped (they're not Americans, that's why), which is nice to see. Remember my big objection to House of Cards is seeing pudgy, effeminate Kevin Spacey playing a tough guy. Anyway, give it a try if you haven't seen it ... here are my selected screenshots.

Biotech HOLDRs, the Long View

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I'm old enough to remember when the Biotech HOLDRs came out in late 1999 ... I guess they're a Van Eck product now.  The most liquid biotech ETF is IBB, followed by XBI.

Merrill Lynch Introduces Single Security Representing 20 Biotech Stocks 
Monday, November 22, 1999 05:59 PM 
Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated today announced the launch of Biotech HOLDRs(SM), a new security representing undivided beneficial ownership interest in the common stock of 20 specified companies involved in various segments of the biotechnology industry. 

Today, 4.5 million Biotech HOLDRs were priced for initial sale to the public at an aggregate offering price in excess of $490 million. Trading of Biotech HOLDRs begins on Tuesday, November 23, 1999, on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "BBH." Newly issued Biotech HOLDRs will be available on a continuous basis. 

Kraft Buyout

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I do own some KRFT since I'm an old MO shareholder ... no idea how much of course, just stuck in a drawer and forgotten about.

Captive Order Flow

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Selected bits from Interactive Broker's latest 10-K, bold [and comments in brackets] are mine:

"Market Making—Timber Hill ... Most of the above trading activities take place on exchanges and all securities and commodities that we trade are cleared by exchange owned or authorized clearing houses. Recently, the emergence of High Frequency Traders and others who compete with us but do not regularly provide liquidity [zing!] have put our market making operations under pressure and its relative significance has diminished."
...
"Market Making
Historically, competition has come from registered market making firms which range from sole proprietors with very limited resources to large, integrated broker-dealers. Today, Timber Hill's major competitors continue to be large broker-dealers, such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Citigroup, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and niche players such as Citadel, Susquehanna, Virtu, Wolverine Trading, Group One Trading, Peak6 and Knight Capital Group. Some of our competitors in market making are larger than we are and have more captive order flow, although this is less true with respect to our narrow focus on options, futures and ETFs listed on electronic exchanges.
The competitive environment for market makers has evolved considerably in the past several years, most notably with the rise in high frequency trading firms ("HFTs"), which transact significant trading volume on electronic exchanges by using complex algorithms and high speed execution software that analyzes market conditions. HFTs that are not registered market makers operate with fewer regulatory restrictions and are able to move more quickly and trade more cheaply. This issue is currently an area of focus amongst regulators who are examining the practices of HFTs and their impact on market structure."
...
"We face competition in our market making activities.
In our market making activities, we compete with other firms based on our ability to provide liquidity at competitive prices and to attract order flow. These firms include registered market makers as well as high frequency trading firms ("HFTs") that act as market makers. Both types of competitors range from sole proprietors with very limited resources to a few highly sophisticated groups which have substantially greater financial and other resources, including research and development personnel, than we do [you mean the "niche players" listed above?]. These larger and better capitalized competitors may be better able to respond to changes in the market making industry, to compete for skilled professionals [better nerds], to finance acquisitions, to fund internal growth and to compete for market share generally.
HFTs that are not registered market makers have certain advantages over registered market making firms that may allow them to bypass regulatory restrictions and trade more quickly and cheaply than registered market makers at some exchanges. We may not be able to compete effectively against HFTs or market makers with greater financial resources, and our failure to do so could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. As in the past, we may in the future face enhanced competition, resulting in narrowing bid/offer spreads in the marketplace [aren't narrowing spreads good for the little guy?] that may adversely impact our financial performance. This is especially likely if HFTs continue to receive advantages in capturing order flow or if others can acquire systems that enable them to predict markets or process trades more efficiently than we can."
...
"Market making segment results declined in 2014 due to the continuation of a difficult operating environment for market makers with strong competition from high frequency traders (HFT's) and historically low volatility levels, which depressed our trading gains."

WSOP 2014, Selected Hands

Added on by C. Maoxian.

I got around to watching most of the 2014 World Series of Poker final tables ... I didn't watch too much of the three- and two-handed play at the end (though that can also be very interesting). Here are screenshots of a few of the hands that I enjoyed watching:

Youku Tudou At All-time Low

Added on by C. Maoxian.

YOKU put out this press release on Thursday evening and held a conference call at 9 PM (eastern time).  There was a chance to get short above $15 after hours, but there was next to no liquidity and I don't know how easy it is to locate shares to short. I'm interested to talk with people who traded this one on Friday (or Thursday night). 

Amicus Coronado, 1 Minute View

Added on by C. Maoxian.

Two biotech stocks (surprise!) unusually active today ... would have been hard to make money in Amicus (FOLD) if you weren't in there pre-open ... Coronado (CNDO) gave back a lot into end of day, but probably still a profitable play for alert traders.