Weekly Futures Positions Review - October 26, 2008

Top posts from the past week:

• The Case for Shorting Long Dated US Treasuries
  
• Why the Yen and Dollar are Rallying
  
• GoldMoney: Gold's New Highs vs. Other Currencies
• Jim Rogers on CNBC: October 22, 2008
• Foods and Softs Outlook
  

A review of my futures trades from the previous week:

• Covered my Swiss Franc long - Turns out I didn't want a dollar neutral trade after all. The Swiss Franc kept on dropping, and I got out.

Other existing positions I've got:

• Short the British Pound - Last time I shorted the British Pound, it turned out to be a quite profitable trade. The fundamentals of the Pound Sterling are terrible, and I think it's possible we could see the Pound at $1.50 over the next 12 months...or maybe over the next week at this rate.
  

• Short a couple of 10-Year Treasuries - Treasuries have performed quite poorly over the last two weeks, and Jim Rogers described them as the "last bubble left". Have they topped? I think they may have - and boy have they got some room to fall if interest rates skyrocket like I think they will. Although trending up since I shorted (what else is new), the chart still looks bearish, with lower highs and lower lows.
  

My wish list (waiting for an uptrend...and we could be waiting for awhile):

• Sugar
• Cotton
• Coffee
  
• Natural Gas
  
• Silver

Open Positions

Date	Position	Qty	Month/Yr	Contract	Entry Price	Last Price	Profit/Loss
10/10/08	Short	1	DEC 08	British Pound	1.6870	1.5804	$6,662.50
10/15/08	Short	1	DEC 08	T-Note (10yr)	111-250	115-105	($3,546.88)
10/13/08	Short	1	DEC 08	T-Note (10yr)	112-185	115-105	($2,750.00)
Net Profit/Loss On Open Positions:							$365.63

Account Balances
Current Cash Balance	$48,710.90
Open Trade Equity	$365.63
Total Equity	$49,076.53
Long Option Value	$0.00
Short Option Value	$0.00
Net Liquidating Value	$49,076.53

Cashed out: $20,000.00
Total value: $69,076.53
Weekly return: 0.5%
YTD return: -10.4%

***"Cash out" mostly means taxes, but lately I've also been using it for living expenses, and also to finance a time management software startup I'm working on.