Me and couple of my friends made a breakdown of what AP Class you should take and why. This does not cover all but will cover a good amount to give a good idea to you guys. AP Calculus AB - This class is a course for one semester of College Calculus. If you are in a position where you have taken Pre-Calculus but knows that you are not the strongest at math, then go for it. This class is pretty slow paced. This is best for non-STEM majors. AP Calculus BC - This class is a course worth two semesters of College Calculus. This class is basically Calc AB + 2 Units. If you are going to be a STEM major or is confident with your math skills, then this is best suited for you. AP Statistics - This class is not very difficult, as the knowledge you really need in this class is up to Algebra 2. This class is calculator and writing/analysis heavy however, the concepts are simple and as long as you know the formulas and calculate basically probability, and write conclusions, this is a good choice. Also recommended for both non-STEM and STEM Majors. AP U.S. Government and Politics - This class is about the history of the government structures of our country and court cases that shape our current politics. Although easy to self-study, you should be able to write an FRQ well and analyze important documents and court cases. This year's test had many mixed results, so don't think this class is SUPER easy. It's not the most difficult, but can be challenging. AP Macroeconomics - If you have never taken a class related to economics, it may be a struggle in the beginning. However, once you learn about the basic fundamentals and principles of economics, it is not too bad. Macroeconomics is the study of the whole economic market, compared to individual stores and market of Microeconomics. You will learn about Supply and Demand and so much more. You will need to learn how to use and draw graphs and change the graphs given a different situations. It's not super difficult if you study, but the foreign exchange market (Forex market) might be the most challenging. AP English Language and Composition - This class is basically ACT or SAT Grammar sections. If you are good at grammar and are solid at writing analytical essays, this could be your class. But remember that fire-ass sounding essays does not equal a 4 or a 5. You must follow the CollegeBoard's rubric. AP Environmental Science - One of the easier classes to self-study and is about the ecology and health of our globe. It focuses about global climate change and factors, habitats, and so much more. If you're into environmental policies or climate change around the world, this is a class for you. AP Psychology - This class can also be self studied. It's all term based and if you can memorize vocab very well and know how to apply them in a FRQ (on the AP Test), you will get a 4/5. AP Computer Science A - This class is about Java Programming. A good class if interested in majoring in CS or related majors in college. If you have taken APCSP or have prior coding knowledge, you should take it. If not, but is interested, suggested to look on free tutorials on youtube. It is JAVA programming, not JS. AP Japanese/Chinese Language and Culture - Not gonna lie if you're not fluent or study a lot you're gonna be in a big disadvantage compared to fluent people. Knowing how to write characters, read characters, speak properly, and use of correct grammar is key. This is difficult, but practice can definitely help. AP Music Theory - If you have been playing an instrument for many years and know the note structures, scales, and other musical theory components, you should take this class. AP US History - If you are interested in the history of our country, this is a class for you. However, there are many things covered in this class, many different periods of time. If you are a solid DBQ writer and are looking into major in History, this is a class for you. However, I heard this class is article and textbook reading heavy. Tbh all classes can be self-studied but the best APs to self study up on the list are: - AP Calculus AB (BC if taken AB prior) - AP Statistics - AP U.S. Government and Politics - AP Environmental Science - AP Psychology - AP Japanese / Chinese Language and Culture (If fluent don't study lol) There is more we have but for now this should be good. :) PM if questions.
Reposting because I didn't get input last time. Demographics: Indian. Male. From ProspeFrisco Texas. Middle/Upper class area. I would say my high school is very competitive. Intended Major(s): Computer Science ACT/SAT/SAT II: SAT: Have not taken a real test. I have taken three practice test all resulted 1440+. Prepping for 1500+, but consider my score to be a flat 1400 for now. UW GPA and Rank: UW: 3.981 Rank: 12/979 Coursework: Freshmen Year: - Honors French 1 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - HonoGT Geometry (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors Computer Science 1 - Honors Biology (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Human (Highest Level that year available to me ) (4) - Honors English 1 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Outdoor Education (Required) - Digital Art and Animation (Required) Sophomore Year: - Honors English 2 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors French 2 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Computer Science A (Highest Level that year available to me ) (5) - AP Computer Science Principles (Highest Level that year available to me ) (4) - AP World History (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Biology (Highest Level that year available to me ) (3) <-- Not sending this score - Honors Chemistry (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors Algebra 2 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Academic Level Architecture (Highest Level that year available to me ) Junior Year: - AP English 3 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Independent Studies in Video Games (AP Level but not AP) (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors UIL Math Prep - Ap Physics 1 (Highest Level that year available to me ) (5) - Academic Level US History - AP Chemistry (Highest Level that year available to me ) (4) - AP Environmental (Highest Level that year available to me ) (5) - Honors Pre-Cal (Highest Level that year available to me ) Senior Year (will take upcoming year): - Honors Computer Science 3 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors Computer Science 2 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP English 4 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Gov/Econ (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Physics C (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Calc BC (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Stats (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Still Deciding but not AP for sure. Awards: - Adobe Certified Associate - Visual Design using Adobe Photoshop CC2015 - Aloha Math Competition Certificate. - UIL Math Competition Certificate. - Multiple Student of the month award Extracurriculars:
I am an intern at Visual Technologies LLC. I have helped in 4 projects regarding computer science for outside companies. This is one of my biggest achievements as a real company was willing to work with me and we ended up doing 4 projects together helping me grow every second of me working with them. After two successful projects with them, I was given some responsibilities such as following up with clients and other things. This gave me a sense of accomplishment because this would mean that they saw qualities in me that they would look for in a “normal aged” programmeconsultant.
2020 - I have worked for Cutco for about 3 months in which I have learned many skills for marketing. I have been promoted and over $3000 in sales. Other details mentioned earlier.
2019-2020- For UIL math we program our calculators to make tests easier for us. Last year I was one of the top coders for UIL math right after my seniors. I made programs that were complex. Although I didn't create many programs, I made programs that other programs were not able to create the year before because they were termed as “too hard”. Me being able to code those programs gave me the stance as a well-known programmer for UIL Math - an achievement in itself.
2016 - 2021 has offered free tutoring to many students who strive to be better but cannot afford fees. I have given at least 80 hours of free tutoring (not for school)
2020 - I have also worked for Ambit and have managed a successful team of over 50 members as I am a regional consultant for the company. I am in the top 10% of the company according to my boss, but I don't know whether this is true or not. I can certainly say that more than half of the people working do not make it to the level I am at. This company is an electricity company, and I have capitalized on selling our service to apartment complexes. I have also helped many high schoolers needing a job to find success in this business.
2020- I volunteered to make a system for the school called “Corona Tutors”. This is a platform where students can anonymously ask questions and receive answers from other students who want service hours. This fixes many problems: this eases the extreme dependence of teachers being online 24/7, this makes sure that students are getting their questions answered, this also allows students who want to help society. This is an official Prosper resource on their webpage which students can use at their will.
2017-2020- I have been a volunteer at ICNA Relief committed about 2 hours each week, and puts me right over 300 hours of community service. We as a group have made a rationing system where we try to fairly distribute goods and other goods as per people's needs. We help with anything from getting food to getting families a laptop for their kid's education.
My love for business goes very far. In 7th grade, fidget spinners were very popular and amazon took 3 months to ship them. This was perfect for a mini business, so I bought a fidget spinner directly through the supplier (AliExpress) and got my shipment. Not only did I retail them I also wholesale them in the mall to any store that was allowed to sell them. I came profitable from this business, but it was not the money that made this great, it was the contact I got through this business. - 2016
2020 - I resold brand new bikes with a high markup. One day scrolling through Facebook marketplace I realized that some bikes were being sold for almost 2x their price at Walmart. (During COVID) I simply contacted my contacts and was able to get about 200-250 brand new bikes. Since this was a very big investment I had five partners with me, and we marked them up according to market price a month later (150% return on investment)
2020 - When school ended, I started to get a lot of Forex trading ads, so I chose to take a look into what it was. Forex trading is a currency exchange and is highly risky. When I started to learn about it I started to see that there were groups called “signal groups”. These groups told you when to trade what and claimed that they have a 99% accuracy on their trades being profitable. Instead of trading, I chose to get in contact with famous traders and offer them a lucrative cut for simply sending a message in a group chat about what they are trading. For one month I tested the service and then put it into action for the public. The program kept working until all traders were able to work and then it was shut off making sure that more one was a loss.
2020 I have written a book/report that I have published it on Amazon. This report took me 200+ hours to make. As we learn in school, there is a rise in global warming, and it is our job to find alternative ways of fuel and stop the rise in global warming. I took an already done research - well in parts in college language- and made it into a more understandable report considering almost every aspect of the situation. I covered everything from the experimental design to how we can use the waste product in everyday life to how we can scale this project to how even a high schooler can make a difference by simply taking initiative and presenting this idea to their school. This report allowed me to take complex language and make it into an everyday language report. I showed my report to many people in the community and it was very satisfying to hear from their parents when they said “my son is going to present this idea to his school because they mostly have a lot of oil”. The report is about converting waste cooking oil to biodiesel.
2015 - 2020 - I have helped my mom in her business called “BLANK (don't want to say) Designs Collection”. Simply by watching her sell and trying it myself I acquired skills that I use to this day not only for business but simply for communicating. Currently, I am a social media and online sales handler for the company.
2018 - 2020 - I have been a part of Mu Alpha Theta for two year tutoring students for Math. Last year I was one of the top tutors for Mrs.Wood for algebra 2. I went there every time I did have an eagle time activity.
2020 - I recently joined the Science Honor society; we have helped the science fair in their activities.
Essays/LORs: Essays, I have not started. Letter of Rec: I have three incoming from my teachers. English/CounseloComputer Science/ Math (waiting for response) Schools: - MIT, - Brown University - Caltech - Carnegie Mellon - Columbia University - Cornell University - Duke University - Georgia Institute - Hamilton - Harvard University - Johns Hopkins University - Princeton University - Purdue University - Rice University - Stanford - UMich - UT Austin - UT Dallas - Texas A&M - UC Berkley
Demographics: Indian. Male. From ProspeFrisco Texas. Middle/Upper class area. I would say my high school is very competitive. Intended Major(s): Computer Science ACT/SAT/SAT II: SAT: Have not taken a real test. I have taken three practice test all resulted 1440+. Prepping for 1500+, but consider my score to be a flat 1400 for now. UW GPA and Rank: UW: 3.981 Rank: 12/979 Coursework: Freshmen Year: - Honors French 1 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - HonoGT Geometry (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors Computer Science 1 - Honors Biology (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Human (Highest Level that year available to me ) (4) - Honors English 1 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Outdoor Education (Required) - Digital Art and Animation (Required) Sophomore Year: - Honors English 2 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors French 2 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Computer Science A (Highest Level that year available to me ) (5) - AP Computer Science Principles (Highest Level that year available to me ) (4) - AP World History (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Biology (Highest Level that year available to me ) (3) <-- Not sending this score - Honors Chemistry (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors Algebra 2 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Academic Level Architecture (Highest Level that year available to me ) Junior Year: - AP English 3 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Independent Studies in Video Games (AP Level but not AP) (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors UIL Math Prep - Ap Physics 1 (Highest Level that year available to me ) (5) - Academic Level US History - AP Chemistry (Highest Level that year available to me ) (4) - AP Environmental (Highest Level that year available to me ) (5) - Honors Pre-Cal (Highest Level that year available to me ) Senior Year (will take upcoming year): - Honors Computer Science 3 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Honors Computer Science 2 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP English 4 (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Gov/Econ (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Physics C (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Calc BC (Highest Level that year available to me ) - AP Stats (Highest Level that year available to me ) - Still Deciding but not AP for sure. Awards: - Adobe Certified Associate - Visual Design using Adobe Photoshop CC2015 - Aloha Math Competition Certificate. - UIL Math Competition Certificate. - Multiple Student of the month award Extracurriculars:
I am an intern at Visual Technologies LLC. I have helped in 4 projects regarding computer science for outside companies. This is one of my biggest achievements as a real company was willing to work with me and we ended up doing 4 projects together helping me grow every second of me working with them. After two successful projects with them, I was given some responsibilities such as following up with clients and other things. This gave me a sense of accomplishment because this would mean that they saw qualities in me that they would look for in a “normal aged” programmeconsultant.
2020 - I have worked for Cutco for about 3 months in which I have learned many skills for marketing. I have been promoted and over $3000 in sales. Other details mentioned earlier.
2019-2020- For UIL math we program our calculators to make tests easier for us. Last year I was one of the top coders for UIL math right after my seniors. I made programs that were complex. Although I didn't create many programs, I made programs that other programs were not able to create the year before because they were termed as “too hard”. Me being able to code those programs gave me the stance as a well-known programmer for UIL Math - an achievement in itself.
2016 - 2021 has offered free tutoring to many students who strive to be better but cannot afford fees. I have given at least 80 hours of free tutoring (not for school)
2020 - I have also worked for Ambit and have managed a successful team of over 50 members as I am a regional consultant for the company. I am in the top 10% of the company according to my boss, but I don't know whether this is true or not. I can certainly say that more than half of the people working do not make it to the level I am at. This company is an electricity company, and I have capitalized on selling our service to apartment complexes. I have also helped many high schoolers needing a job to find success in this business.
2020- I volunteered to make a system for the school called “Corona Tutors”. This is a platform where students can anonymously ask questions and receive answers from other students who want service hours. This fixes many problems: this eases the extreme dependence of teachers being online 24/7, this makes sure that students are getting their questions answered, this also allows students who want to help society. This is an official Prosper resource on their webpage which students can use at their will.
2017-2020- I have been a volunteer at ICNA Relief committed about 2 hours each week, and puts me right over 300 hours of community service. We as a group have made a rationing system where we try to fairly distribute goods and other goods as per people's needs. We help with anything from getting food to getting families a laptop for their kid's education.
My love for business goes very far. In 7th grade, fidget spinners were very popular and amazon took 3 months to ship them. This was perfect for a mini business, so I bought a fidget spinner directly through the supplier (AliExpress) and got my shipment. Not only did I retail them I also wholesale them in the mall to any store that was allowed to sell them. I came profitable from this business, but it was not the money that made this great, it was the contact I got through this business. - 2016
2020 - I resold brand new bikes with a high markup. One day scrolling through Facebook marketplace I realized that some bikes were being sold for almost 2x their price at Walmart. (During COVID) I simply contacted my contacts and was able to get about 200-250 brand new bikes. Since this was a very big investment I had five partners with me, and we marked them up according to market price a month later (150% return on investment)
2020 - When school ended, I started to get a lot of Forex trading ads, so I chose to take a look into what it was. Forex trading is a currency exchange and is highly risky. When I started to learn about it I started to see that there were groups called “signal groups”. These groups told you when to trade what and claimed that they have a 99% accuracy on their trades being profitable. Instead of trading, I chose to get in contact with famous traders and offer them a lucrative cut for simply sending a message in a group chat about what they are trading. For one month I tested the service and then put it into action for the public. The program kept working until all traders were able to work and then it was shut off making sure that more one was a loss.
2020 I have written a book/report that I have published it on Amazon. This report took me 200+ hours to make. As we learn in school, there is a rise in global warming, and it is our job to find alternative ways of fuel and stop the rise in global warming. I took an already done research - well in parts in college language- and made it into a more understandable report considering almost every aspect of the situation. I covered everything from the experimental design to how we can use the waste product in everyday life to how we can scale this project to how even a high schooler can make a difference by simply taking initiative and presenting this idea to their school. This report allowed me to take complex language and make it into an everyday language report. I showed my report to many people in the community and it was very satisfying to hear from their parents when they said “my son is going to present this idea to his school because they mostly have a lot of oil”. The report is about converting waste cooking oil to biodiesel.
2015 - 2020 - I have helped my mom in her business called “BLANK (don't want to say) Designs Collection”. Simply by watching her sell and trying it myself I acquired skills that I use to this day not only for business but simply for communicating. Currently, I am a social media and online sales handler for the company.
2018 - 2020 - I have been a part of Mu Alpha Theta for two year tutoring students for Math. Last year I was one of the top tutors for Mrs.Wood for algebra 2. I went there every time I did have an eagle time activity.
2020 - I recently joined the Science Honor society; we have helped the science fair in their activities.
Essays/LORs: Essays, I have not started. Letter of Rec: I have three incoming from my teachers. English/CounseloComputer Science/ Math (waiting for response) Schools: - MIT, - Brown University - Caltech - Carnegie Mellon - Columbia University - Cornell University - Duke University - Georgia Institute - Hamilton - Harvard University - Johns Hopkins University - Princeton University - Purdue University - Rice University - Stanford - UMich - UT Austin - UT Dallas - Texas A&M - UC Berkley
Hi learnpython, My first attempt at writing my own project. Prior to this I had never used classes or Pandas so it's been a difficult learning curve. I was hoping to get some feedback on the overall structure - does everything look sensible? Are there better ways of writing some bits? I also wanted to specifically check how I can increase the execution speed. I currently iterate rows which Pandas did say will be slow, but I couldn't see a workaround. The fact it is quite slow makes me think there is a better solution that I'm missing. To run the code yourself download a .csv of Forex data and store in same folder as script - I used Yahoo finance GBP USD.
"""This program simulates a Double SMA (single moving average) trading strategy. The user provides a .csv file containing trade history and two different window sizes for simple moving averages (smallest number first). The .csv must contain date and close columns - trialled on Yahoo FX data). The program will generate a 'buy' signal when the short SMA is greater than the long SMA, and vice versa. The results of each trade are stored and can be output to a .csv file.""" import pandas as pd class DoubleSMA(): """Generates a Double SMA trading system.""" def __init__(self, name, sma_a, sma_b): """Don't know what goes here.""" self.name = name self.sma_a = sma_a self.sma_b = sma_b self.index = 0 self.order = 'Start' self.signal = '' def gen_sma(self, dataset, sma): """Calculates SMA and adds as column to dataset.""" col_title = 'sma' + str(sma) dataset[col_title] = dataset['Close'].rolling(sma).mean() return dataset def gen_signal(self, row, dataset): """Generates trade signal based on comparison of SMAs.""" if row[0] == (dataset.shape[0] - 1): #Reached final line of dataset; close current trade. self.order = 'Finish' elif row[3] > row[4]: self.signal = 'Buy' elif row[3] < row[4]: self.signal = 'Sell' def append_result(row, result, order): """Adds 'entry' details to results dataframe (i.e. opens trade).""" result = result.append({"Entry date": row[1], "Pair": "GBPUSD", "Order": order, "Entry price": row[2]}, ignore_index=True) return result def trade(row, order, signal, index, result): """Executes a buy or sell routine depending on signal. Flips between 'buy' and 'sell' on each trade.""" if order == 'Start': order = signal result = append_result(row, result, order) elif order == 'Finish': result.iloc[index, 1] = row[1] result.iloc[index, 5] = row[2] elif order != signal: #Close current trade result.iloc[index, 1] = row[1] result.iloc[index, 5] = row[2] index += 1 order = signal result = append_result(row, result, order) return order, index, result def result_df(): """Creates a dataframe to store the results of each trade.""" result = pd.DataFrame({"Entry date": [], "Exit date": [], "Pair": [], "Order": [], "Entry price": [], "Exit price": [], "P/L": []}) return result def dataset_df(): """Opens and cleans up the data to be analysed.""" dataset = pd.read_csv('GBPUSD 2003-2020 Yahoo.csv', usecols=['Date', 'Close']) dataset.dropna(inplace=True) dataset['Close'] = dataset['Close'].round(4) return dataset def store_result(result): """Outputs results table to .csv.""" result.to_csv('example.csv') def calc_pl(result): """Calculates the profil/loss of each row of result dataframe.""" pass #Complete later dataset = dataset_df() result = result_df() sma_2_3 = DoubleSMA('sma_2_3', 2, 3) dataset = sma_2_3.gen_sma(dataset, sma_2_3.sma_a) dataset = sma_2_3.gen_sma(dataset, sma_2_3.sma_b) dataset.dropna(inplace=True) dataset.reset_index(inplace=True, drop=True) for row in dataset.itertuples(): sma_2_3.gen_signal(row, dataset) sma_2_3.order, sma_2_3. index, result = trade(row, sma_2_3.order, sma_2_3.signal, sma_2_3.index, result) calc_pl(result) print(result) store_result(result)
Any of u guys got info about xm dot com something fishy they don’t disclose their xm mark up in long swap value rates
It’s this calc Trade size * closing price * ( +/- short term interbank rate - the xm mark up) I’m not sure what to put there instead for the calc for my excel sheets Any help appreciated cheers It’s for both stocks and forex over night rollover values I asked em and they said it is not fixed rate and they can’t disclose the amount Cheers
Last week I got laid off from my job (which I kind of engineered, to be honest) and I have bee interested in forex since November. I have been lurking on this sub since then and have gained a good amount of value from the posters and recommendations I have found. Right now, I'm working my way through babypips course, I'm on the undergraduate section. Unemployment pays me enough to cover all my living expenses as long as I don't do something stupid, and I have $6k saved up from last year to trade with when I am ready. No debt, and I can collect for 6 months max, after which time I must be profitable to not have to go back to working construction (I am a plumber by trade). I must be able to clear about $3k per month after taxes in order to live an acceptable lifestyle. I feel optimistic because this week I have replenished my Metatrader simulation account back to 10k, where I started. When I was just learning and practicing, I was down to 6k, which was a month ago. This is the first week I have been able to trade full time, and already I see many opportunities and systems I can create. I mostly like to trade trends, with some breakouts in specific cases, like news events. I plan to go live when my practice account is at 20k, and I have polished my trading strategies. Of course, I will repeat the babypips course once again, maybe two more times even. In addition, over these next six months, I am looking at branching out into several different areas to enhance my trading abilities. For example, I have an idea to create a fundamental economic matrix in Excel with weighted values on each different aspect, such as interest rates, GDP growth, etc. In addition, I am considering learning some coding to at least set up my own alerts. Also, I believe some mathematical/probability courses might be beneficial, but I don't really know where to start with that (I have done some college, no more than Calc 1 though). So far, a combination of fundamentals with technical appeals to me, although I would consider myself more of a technical trader. Do you guys have any recommendations for further education? More importantly, are my goals within my timeframe even possible?
I'm a 27year old Software Engineer working for your typical companies (no big names, but have some corporate and startup experience). It's left a bad impression on me since my first full-time job 6 years ago. Felt like going to prison, every day was just "doing my time." I'd rather do something where my own performance can have a much larger impact on my compensation. I don't want to do senior level engineering work on the salary of a junior, which seems to be the norm these days. I've been interested in stocks, forex, futures, and crypto since my early twenties. Done some small real & paper trading here and there, but I know it's not really something you can dabble in and expect a success. Ie, you can't be a professional part-time baseball player. Same for trading. With that in mind, is there any realistic chance of me landing a job at a trading firm? Retail trading seems like a recipe for disaster, and I doubt there is any education or mentorship program available which could rival actual hours working inside of a firm. Edit: In my google-fu and some reading around this subreddit, it looks like most places are looking for interns. Is there another way, without going through an internship? Edit2: I focused around Game Development which means I learned: 3d math and calc, along with C/C++/C#, and a bit of AI and machine learning. Games (like HFT) need to be super fast and efficient compared to your standard desktop or mobile app. I wouldn't say I'm a math whiz, but working in software does require a decent level of logical thinking.
I thought it a good time to revisit ACB's prior convertible debt issue, in lieu of their share price advances and further convertible dumps. For background, at the bottom is a post I did in June 2017 that pulled their debt apart, and tried to make some sense of it. This is what ACB has done since. There's millions more outstanding, I'll consolidate and update at some point. They'd triggered an earlier tranche debentures at trigger of some $25MM, squashing that bug earlier this month. They'll be booking a $2MM charge against income in Q2-2018 for this. As well, given share price of today, the accelerated 17MM tranche @ $3 will be executed in December. While it's cash proceeds of some $50MM, they'll be taking a charge against income of $90MM for it in Q2-2018 as well. Yeah, convertibles can become very expensive money. One view would be that ACB is doing it now, because it's just gonna become waaay more expensive later on. And, they can deploy that $50MM to build hard assets. If shares soar, it'll be seen as having been prudent. One way or the other, they've just paid $1.75 for a dollar, 50 million times. There's more issues as well: 1.9MM 5yr @ $2.76, 1MM 5yr @ $2.39, and.........drum roll... 150MM of 3yr options and warrants for $75MM cash, priced at $3 & $4 respectively in Q1 2018. I'm gonna need some time and a quantum computer to hash this out. On the face of it, this all makes the phrase 'holy shit' seem a quiet understatement. Ima gonna do a long haul on this and post it - mainly because the totality of it is so massive relative to the company. Stay tuned... ***Deconstructing Convertible Debentures - or - How to Quietly Shift Massive Costs onto Shareholders**** - June 2017 I've made references to this before, but, I think a 'Dick and Jane' primer on the subject should be done. Despite the big words in the title, this stuff is really straightforward, and the math is grade 9 level. It's all about financing. That is, it's just like you going to the bank for a mortgage or a car loan. You need money you don't have to buy the shit you'd like. So. You're likely not gonna issue debentures for that Maserati (or that creamy lil' Ford Focus you simply have to have), but you will need to pledge some capital or use your credit worthiness to get financing. Businesses do the same thing. There's just more ways for them to do it. I'm not gonna go into them all - innovation in credit and credit-related derivatives is holy-fuck level complex. Fortunately, we don't need to go anywhere near that heady stuff (google 'interest rate call swaption' if you've got a finance fetish. Or maybe you're an applied mathematician/financial engineer temporally hedging your long dated forex book at a macro level). Some complexity does play a role here though, but awareness is all that's needed. First - Definitions:
Letter of Credit - cash deposit placed in trust on behalf of a company. Can be 100% (or less) depending on the industry. Sort of like a deposit.
Commercial Paper (CP) - short term financing, usually <1yr duration. Typically linked to cash, A/R, or some other liquid asset. Usually cheap, because it's tied to an asset.
Bonds - Long term financing, usually tied to specific long term assets. A power company might issue bonds and link a specific generating station to them. Or a manufacturer might pledge property plant and equipment. Think 10 years or more.
Debentures - can be short or long term, but, there is no specific asset pledged in case of default. Being riskier for lenders, it's usually an expensive way for a company to get financing. Businesses in this category may not have much (or any) assets, but they might hold a patent, or the lenders think they have a great idea.
Debt Covenants - obligations within the contract that specify behavior of the signees. An example of this might be that the borrower can't issue more debt to pay interest costs.
Second - Options Options are a derivative that is comprised of two values: intrinsic and extrinsic. Third - What's a convertible debenture? It's debt taken by a company, and given to a lender. It's simply a promise to pay. The lender asks for interest to be paid on the money lent (like CP or bonds), usually at rates higher than a secured loan. Sometimes the companies can't afford the interest rates. So, they get creative to entice lenders. One way is to offer nested options around either the company or perhaps future cash flows. Aurora (ACB) recently issued some convertible debentures to finance the Sky expansion. Cool. CMED issued some a year and a bit ago. Ok. Let's look at ACB's in detail, and find out what it cost them to get financing. I'm only gonna do a napkin calc. I could do the deep one, but, I don't want to spend 2 hours to get called names by the non-contributing lost stockhouse vagrants in here. Honestly, you can do the math too. And I'll point out where the complex is, so you'll know what you don't know. Knowing what you don't know is really useful in life. And business. I've seen a bunch in online boards say how great that 7% interest rate ACB got on the $75 million. Is that the actual cost of the money? No. It's not. They're paying a whole lot more than that. And if you're a shareholder, you should be really fucking pissed. I would be. I've never held them, or if I did, it was some short term swing trading last fall. If I can't remember, it wasn't much to remember. Fourth - ACB's Convertible Debenture Issue The $75 million lent is repayable on May 2, 2019. 7% interest, payable semi annually (June, Dec). I'm gonna ignore compounding, and do a straight calc. Materially, it won't matter. The debentures also have a call option nested in them. They also have a put option in them. Both of those options have value. Both extrinsic and intrinsic. So, the lender is not only getting interest on the cash, they're also getting free options from ACB. This was likely needed to sweeten the deal enough for them to do it. There are models out there that value options. They hold up really well. Mathematical laws and all. Simplicity and elegance. Fifth - Total Financing Cost Annually, ACB is paying $5.25MM to service the debt. Total interest cost before they have to repay the principal is $10.5MM. Right? What about that option value they gave up? ACB could've sold warrants/options, and used the premium received as financing too. Instead, they gave to to the financiers. What did they give? Using a $2.20 market price for ACB (today's, not May second), 2 years duration, 100% vol, the call option is $0.96. The put option is $3.20. So, effectively a call option on ~= 20 million shares, and a put on some ~= 15 million shares - assuming full strike on the $75 million. If ACB had written options themselves and sold them, they could have collected the dough, issued contingent treasury shares as a reserve on the balance sheet, and kept the premiums as recompense. I mentioned that there is some complexity in this. The hair on this is in the continuous conversion of the options (open to exercise at any time subject to 30 days notice - also known a a 'European' option, rather than an 'American' option). It's also got debt covenants within the debentures that prohibit ACB from further dilution (this is a failsafe for the lender, in case ACB decides to crash the stock by issuing another billion shares). And - the lender keeps their downside intact (recall, if ACB goes tits up, they've got no asset to grab), the lender will short an equivalent $75million in stock. They'll take the money, and invest it in short term money markets while waiting, topping up their 7% nominal interest. It's called a credit box. Despite it being a debenture, the lender is effectively fully securitized. So, how much did that $75 million cost them? Well, it's all there. I encourage you to look at this and work through it. I hope you have questions. The CFO at Aurora will have the answers. TLDR: Aurora is paying more than 37% in effective interest rates on their May 2 debenture issue. EDIT - a couple of more links inserted and a clean up of my shitty writing. EDIT 2 - at the bottom of this all is the impact on shareholders. What I assume is the obvious - I never did actually state. If the lender exercises, ACB will have to book a loss on their income statement for the difference between the strike of the call, and market. Potentially, it could be lots. If ACB hit $5 before May 2019, they'll take a $50MM hit to income. Probably wiping out a half year (or more) in sales. That's really the bottom of this all. Just fyi.
I'll preface this with I have done OOP all my professional and amateur career (save for the one semester of BASIC I took in high school) and I'm still having issues understanding macros and the best way to use them. That said, I'm writing a library to use for technical analysis on stocks/forex/futures/etc and am getting to the Aroon indicator. Basically the calculation is the same except for looking for a high for one part and then the low for the other part. Below is my naive first pass at solving the problem:
def aroon_up(prices) do number_of_periods = prices |> Enum.count corrected_prices = prices |> Enum.reverse high_period = calc_high(prices, 0, 0) (number_of_periods - high_period) / (number_of_periods * 100) end defp calc_high(prices, high, count) do case prices do [hd | tl] when hd > high -> calc_high(tl, hd, count + 1) [hd | tl] -> calc_high(tl, high, count + 1) [hd] when hd > high -> count _ -> count end end def aroon_down(prices) do number_of_periods = prices |> Enum.count corrected_prices = prices |> Enum.reverse low_period = calc_low(prices, nil, 0) (number_of_periods - low_period) / (number_of_periods * 100) end defp calc_low(prices, low, count) do case prices do [hd | tl] when low == nil -> calc_low(tl, hd, count + 1) [hd | tl] when hd < low -> calc_low(tl, hd, count + 1) [hd | tl] -> calc_low(tl, low, count + 1) [hd] when low == nil -> count [hd] when hd < low -> count _ -> count end end
You'll notice there is a lot of repeating code. I'd love to be able to generate the base of the code from a macro but I'm stumped on how to do this without basically writing a bunch of case statements. Is this a valid use case for macros here or am I just over thinking the problem?
Hi Guys, I'm a part time Forex trader for 8 years, so I know a little bit about how to value currencies and commodities. I've noticed that some people don't really know how to benchmark a good value of VRC to VRM, or vice versa. I've put together a Tutorial Worksheet in Open Office Calc. Scroll to the right to get the instructions. It will show you how to create a historical chart of VRM/VRC swap rate movement, then calculate the current swap rate using an included swap rate calculator. This will give you a sound idea which is overvalued or undervalued compared to which, and what the good value levels are. Just my little contribution to a fantastic project. Cheers! http://docdro.id/3zjx4Dr after clicking link select download ods, open office required. *one correction, in the tutorial I mention Microsoft Expression Web as a good free image editor, what I meant was Microsoft Expression Design.
Excuse all the grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes and all that good stuff. I'm just going to type what comes to mind. Like the title says, sometimes I think I'm going crazy. Well, maybe not 'crazy' but I'm not all the way there. Why do I say that? There's a lot of reasons why. First: I spend a lot of time in my head. Daydreaming to say the least. If my focus isn't on something interesting, I'm in my own little world thinking. There are some days where I'm in autopilot mode doing everything that is routine to me without really giving it any though. From the moment I wake up, as soon as I realize I'm awake, boom! Flood of thoughts enters my brain. Even in the middle of the night, I'll wake up and can't fall asleep cause I'm thinking and thinking. All this thinking is affecting my school work too. It's hard, sometimes seemingly impossible for me to just sit and do my work. I know I have to study, I have my books in from of me and I keep telling myself that I NEED to study but I just can't bring myself to do so. When I need to read something, I tell myself to focus. I start the first sentence and boom. 5 minutes later I realize I'm in my own head, staring at the book. It's frustrating as hell when you have to read something 10x over. Talking to people is frustrating as well because I end up jumping the gun on the conversation. They say a word and oh! That reminds me of 'this' and 'this' reminds me of this other thing. Then when I finally say something, it's like I say something out of nowhere. But in my head it's all connected. That's another thing. I find or can find connection with seemingly random things. Something along the lines of analogies. Hard to explain this one. One vague example is find item/thing/idea A and compare it to item/thing/idea B and use that comparison to find a connection to something on a bigger scale. And speaking of bigger scale. Now that I think of it. School pisses me off. Until now I have always had a problem learning, not because I wasn't smart, but because I never understood where the concept of what was being taught fit into the bigger picture. Its like I need to see the machine working so that I can take it apart myself, understand each part and what it does, and piece it back together. I realize people don't think the way I do. Example: In my calc I class, people just take the info that's given to them and just accept it as is while I'm over here almost mind blown because Dammmnn! Numbers do that?! I become nearly obsessed with thing I find interesting. Even for a short amount of time. This leads to me starting shit and never finishing anything. That book I never finished reading, that drawing I never finish, those programming language courses I looked into. That, actually, those business ideas I carefully planned out, reading Forex guides, learning about stock trading, the list is endless. There are days when I feel on top of the world, I can conquer whatever gets in my way, and then others when I just don't give a fuck. And I realized my mood is dependent on the weather. I'll have the best day ever when it's sunny and warm and hot but feel like shit when it's cloudy and cold. Oh and I feel like shit around winter. Summer. Summer is the best time of the year. Summer has that energy of doing something. Like that feeling of being "alive" so to speak. While winter gives me that vibe of things coming to an end. I don't like that feeling. Same with 2pm vs sunset. 2pm when the sun is out, feels great! It feels alive! But sunset feels like the end of the day and I don't like that feeling. And this other thing that's kind of embarrassing to admit but whatever: I find my self daydreaming about changing the world. Like, making the world a better place. I want to do something. I don't know what that thing is though. What 21 y/o guy thinks about these things?! I should be out partying and shit right?
How important is calculus to understanding economics in relation to forex?
Brand new to Forex here. As a sophomore science major in college, I have never taken a course in economics or calculus. I'm trying to self educate myself in the most efficient way possible in Forex. I am currently working up through the baby pips school. Since I know that fundamental analysis is related to economics, I decided that I should take a course on Econ thru MIT Opencourseware. But, seeing that single variable calc is a pre req to this class, I decided to get started in passing and understanding that course first. My question is, how helpful will this be to my profitability in Forex trading? Like I said, I'm trying to take the most efficient route in self-education. If there's another direction I should be going, I'd love to know where to go. Thanks guys.
That is not true. Opinion is very much split within the investment banks and there is no right or wrong answer. I personally don't believe at all that the crisis was caused by 'poor people' - and I don't like that sort of categorization of people in the first place. There are perhaps 15/20 different institutions you could blame for the crisis, there's no way of isolating individuals. I'm not sure what exactly you think GS's hand in the Greece affair was. Of course it's a sad story and I feel remorseful - I recently donated £50,000 at a charity ball to help rebuild one of the islands which has almost been burned to the ground. But ultimately Greece employed GS at the time because they wanted to fudge their finances so as to meet entry requirements for the Euro i.e. the greek government was knowingly employing GS to help perform an extremely risky task - GS didn't force anything upon them. If the experiment explodes 10 years later (as it did), should GS really be the party to blame?
Whatever your breakdown between modules is, you need a 2.1 overall. Even if your average is 60% or 61%, that's enough to get you past the minimum requirements and through to interviews. After that it's up to you - they'll take someone with a good business mind and strong communications skills irrespective of whether they average 60 or 78 or 92. I disagree with him. My job is extremely rewarding and i wouldn't swap it for any other industry at the moment. If you want evidence of people enjoying their jobs look at the number of years they spend at their respective firms. Most of the partners at GS are 'home-grown' and have spent 20/30 years sweating away but don't regret it for a second.
LIBOR scandal is way too complicated to explain at 2.30 am after a few beers. Many active players are implicated and i think he will be seen in the wrong eventually like many others.
Resources will always be scarce so someone will have to ensure an optimal allocation. There will always be a market of some kind whether it be a public market or an internal government one.
Regulatory capture is a seriously problem not just in banking e.g. also in the energy business. How do you reduce it? It won't happen unless the public demand it, as everyone with power tends to benefit from it and so they won't make meaningful steps to change anything, i.e. its a win win situation for government and business. However it needs more than just 'occupy movements' but rather i am talking the mass voter population.
Haha yes i have seen it and no its not legit, well at least i think its not. Seriously though the elevator chats can be quite entertaining and revealing.
100 duck sized horses every time. Basic risk management theory - don't put all your eggs in one basket. If that 1 horse sized duck isn't exceptional, your business is going down the tubes.
I work in the energy field in Europe but don't want to get too specific. Day to day we advise natural resource companies on all things financial such as m&a and financing strategy and then execute on their behalf. So I am on the corporate finance side rather than sales and trading. However I work closely with the syndication and sales guys such as if we are executing an IPO or a follow-on share offering.
Bottom 5% is more accurate. 7-8% in a bad year, 3-4% in a good year. It's a fine line between 'cut throat' and having a 'healthy competitive atmosphere'. But we'd be out of business very quickly if we kept firing half of our staff every year...
Short term- African Barrick Gold. The chinese walked away and so the share price plunged and despite serious operational issues, the massive drop has presented a golden buying opportunity.
Long term- anything to avoid inflation, inflation scares the crap out of me and is going to be a big problem in the Uk and elsewhere in the future.
Also buy into soft commodity boom e.g. meat in africa, think zambeef etc if you can find an attractive entry point.
Read WSO, the forums are full of useful hints and tips especially for non target guys. Depending on what area you are applying for, make sure you know some really good examples and stock pitches as it is amazing how many candidates lack knowledge e.g. if applying for ECM for god sakes know some of the recent IPO's and likewise for equity research have good stock pitches and have conviction when presenting. Best of luck!
Undergrad course choice is not that important for IBD but obviously for more quant roles you need maths skills Again i am sorry but i am not very clued up on GPA Ok i give you money but first you have to register yourself as a charity so that you can gift aid it and get much more!
I find what i do at the front end of the energy sector fascinating. If your interested in business or globalisation or other similiar areas then IBD is pretty much at the cutting edge of it.
I'd say during my first 3 years as an analyst the 'balance' was almost non-existent i.e. i was regularly working 100+ hours/week. Since then it's become easier year by year and i think that's true for most. And yes certainly i would encourage my children to pursue it - not that i have any yet.
It works two ways. Some bankers have their fingers in politics in a way they perhaps shouldn't. But equally many politicians have their fingers in banking and can force our hands.
Difficult to answer - you can trade forex in a million different ways - some ways are more interesting than others. I don't personally trade it, but others forge a very successful career out of it.
And by the way all of us are tax payers too. The top 5% contribute approx. 50% of the government's taxation revenue. So if losses are being 'carried by tax-payers' - that doesn't exclude people in the banking industry by any means.
Depends on what entry point - if you do an mba then you apply for associate entry whereas b.comm is an undergrad degree and so you apply for analyst roles. If you do a b.comm at a top university/college and get some internships then you should be well placed. Good luck!
What you choose to study doesn't necessarily determine the industry you'll end up in. We have guys in the office who studied history, languages, even medicine. Just go for what interests you the most and focus on getting high marks.
With regards to backpage.com, the guys on the deal did not do their KYC checks properly. KYC checks are crucial for banks- your reputation and future success is more important than any single customer. Look up riggs bank and the Obiang family and then you'll see!
Yes, apologies. I think some of our deals have been morally reprehensible in the past. The same goes for any major investment bank. But i think we've done a very good job in 'cleaning up our act' over the past few years and the public has played a large part in that. With any luck we will see a much healthier banking industry soon.
Hmm there are many on energy market but not too sure about rentier specific ones. Will have a think. I did my university thesis on Saudi and so will have a dig around.
There's no typical working day - some days are 18 hours and others are 12. Depends entirely what stage of a deal we are at. Generally I work 5/6 days a week, but keep in email contact with the office 24/7.
Yes, entirely project based. But if we are doing our jobs properly there's not much 'time off' in between.
Your university grades are definitely more important. If you do well in a mathematical module at uni that will allay any fears they have about an A-level grade.
Interns in front office at GS in london get circa £42k pro rata. So not bad for a summer job and remember no tax as they are below threshold across the year!
The industry is always evolving, that's what makes it an exciting industry to be in. I imagine it will take us a good few years to fully regain the trust of certain clients, but ultimately if this whole saga causes us to readdress our methods and practices to improve our service then in the long run it's a positive outcome.
PS. Do you not think people should be fed up with the governments too, as well as the banks?
Excuse all the grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes and all that good stuff. I'm just going to type what comes to mind. Like the title says, sometimes I think I'm going crazy. Well, maybe not 'crazy' but I'm not all the way there. Why do I say that? There's a lot of reasons why. First: I spend a lot of time in my head. Daydreaming to say the least. If my focus isn't on something interesting, I'm in my own little world thinking. There are some days where I'm in autopilot mode doing everything that is routine to me without really giving it any though. From the moment I wake up, as soon as I realize I'm awake, boom! Flood of thoughts enters my brain. Even in the middle of the night, I'll wake up and can't fall asleep cause I'm thinking and thinking. All this thinking is affecting my school work too. It's hard, sometimes seemingly impossible for me to just sit and do my work. I know I have to study, I have my books in from of me and I keep telling myself that I NEED to study but I just can't bring myself to do so. When I need to read something, I tell myself to focus. I start the first sentence and boom. 5 minutes later I realize I'm in my own head, staring at the book. It's frustrating as hell when you have to read something 10x over. Talking to people is frustrating as well because I end up jumping the gun on the conversation. They say a word and oh! That reminds me of 'this' and 'this' reminds me of this other thing. Then when I finally say something, it's like I say something out of nowhere. But in my head it's all connected. That's another thing. I find or can find connection with seemingly random things. Something along the lines of analogies. Hard to explain this one. One vague example is find item/thing/idea A and compare it to item/thing/idea B and use that comparison to find a connection to something on a bigger scale. And speaking of bigger scale. Now that I think of it. School pisses me off. Until now I have always had a problem learning, not because I wasn't smart, but because I never understood where the concept of what was being taught fit into the bigger picture. Its like I need to see the machine working so that I can take it apart myself, understand each part and what it does, and piece it back together. I realize people don't think the way I do. Example: In my calc I class, people just take the info that's given to them and just accept it as is while I'm over here almost mind blown because Dammmnn! Numbers do that?! I become nearly obsessed with thing I find interesting. Even for a short amount of time. This leads to me starting shit and never finishing anything. That book I never finished reading, that drawing I never finish, those programming language courses I looked into. That, actually, those business ideas I carefully planned out, reading Forex guides, learning about stock trading, the list is endless. There are days when I feel on top of the world, I can conquer whatever gets in my way, and then others when I just don't give a fuck. And I realized my mood is dependent on the weather. I'll have the best day ever when it's sunny and warm and hot but feel like shit when it's cloudy and cold. Oh and I feel like shit around winter. Summer. Summer is the best time of the year. Summer has that energy of doing something. Like that feeling of being "alive" so to speak. While winter gives me that vibe of things coming to an end. I don't like that feeling. Same with 2pm vs sunset. 2pm when the sun is out, feels great! It feels alive! But sunset feels like the end of the day and I don't like that feeling. And this other thing that's kind of embarrassing to admit but whatever: I find my self daydreaming about changing the world. Like, making the world a better place. I want to do something. I don't know what that thing is though. What 21 y/o guy thinks about these things?! I should be out partying and shit right?
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