Category: News

When Alessandro Volta invented the first battery in 1800, it was so simple it was crude; a stack of zinc and silver discs separated by a cloth soaked in brine.  When he connected a wire to both ends of the stack, Volta could produce a steady current of electricity that he could increase or decrease by changing with different types and amounts of metal. 

Baron Rothschild said ‘the time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets’ – but timing is incredibly important, isn’t it!The GFC lasted eighteen months before it started to turn. Recently, we saw our markets drop 38% in just four weeks and, whilst it has stabilised over the last two weeks, it may still be early days.

Yesterday, Graham O’Brien joined us for a live session to discuss what has been happening at ASX during this time of high volatility, the impact on market makers, and his vision for the options markets.

History has shown time and again that trying to predict the bottom of a bear market is usually both pointless and incredibly hard. 

Following its peak on February 19, the S&P 500 reached a bear market in a record-breaking 16 days. Few would have expected a pandemic to be the end of the world’s longest running bull market. It was the epitome of a black swan event: a rare and unexpected occurrence with severe consequences. 

Today’s global governments are mitigating the COVID-19 downturn by passing historically massive stimulus packages, which would otherwise be contradictory to their political beliefs and agendas. 

As part of our one month lock-down trading crash course, we were joined by special guest Brien Coram who discussed how to trade long straddles during reporting season.

In a few short decades since the advent of the internet, tracking its astronomical prevalence within society, even with the benefit of hindsight, is staggering. Evolving from wired home connection to completely seamless wireless connectivity on a plethora of everyday devices, nowadays fridges, security cameras, traffic lights and medical equipment can be and are all connected to the Internet.

AFL player Ben Brown recently shared a story about his cousin Grace’s battle with cancer, imploring people to stay home during the pandemic to protect people with compromised immune systems.

If there’s a silver lining to the Covid-19 pandemic it might be a growing need for, and therefore development of better technology.  

A lack of resources is a major component of the current crisis. As people stay home from work and borders shut, the disruptions to global trade are causing a massive shakeup. 

It would be difficult to remember a time in history when the emphasis on the importance of a singular service was highlighted vastly and so rapidly than good internet connection in the last month.