On my OptionsHouse virtual account, GLL seems to trade normally in practice. As per last post I set for a buy at $107 but thankfully, by some luck, the actual fill price was $105.26...not really sure why. So although it worked well in this case, this...feature...may cause me problems in the future.

Gold traded up from $1220 today to $1250 at the end of the trading period. This has happened before, and in my eyes it may represent an opportunity to buy inverse gold etfs.

Just a FYI: this gent seems to have a more correct and realistic view on gold: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1512602-gold-i-hate-to-say-i-told-you-so-but-i-told-you-so

How Gold Really Works:

There also was this GREAT, long article I cannot find now. It talked about what actually drives the price of gold. Most analysts look at mine production. Just today I came across an article by Frank E. Holmes doing just that...titled "The Asian Giant Stampeding into Gold"...China has bought most of the annual mine production this year...a huge demand (:rolleyes:)

The short story is that gold is hoarded...not destroyed. Mine production does NOT drive the price, it simply inflates the price of gold. So China buying 1-2% of the total gold supply (and remember this is new supply) is not a major driver of the price. What drives it is the sentiment of the people holding the other 99%...if they find better economic opportunities and the global economy looks like it is improving, then they will sell and the price will go down, since there are other people who will be buying when these sell. For every seller there is a buyer. This free market exchange determines the price of gold. I need to find who wrote that article. It is truth.

So Frank is either trying to pull the wool over investors' eyes and influence the gold market to the upside or he really believes his jazz. Either way, I would not trust him for investment advice.

So Long-term gold should continue to drop if there is indeed an improvement in the global economy...it was purchased as a safe haven and has no driving factor besides investor sentiment. I still need to invest my real money! Is now the time? I suppose I will wait to tomorrow. I think that gold will drop back down again as investors take the opportunity to sell at a slightly higher price.

A Seamless Order Triggers Order Trade

I bought 10 shares of SSO at $75 knowing the S&P 500 would go up. I then used an OTO to make an automatic sell order at $80...determining these prices by looking at charts.

Then I forgot I did this and as the 500 was rising I started looking to sell. All of a sudden my SSO holdings disappeared! Well, I now know where they went :)

Drive for Greater Profit

Making $60 here and there on a $750 trade is OK...but that's not the kind of money I am looking for. Well-chosen penny stocks are what has real potential but they are extremely risky...many of these companies fail and you lose your entire investment. I subscribed to Penny Picks awhile ago and they report successes. The key to make sure of that myself is to try their recommendations in my virtual account for awhile and see if they make sense! So I think I will start doing that. I will report my results.

Finding a Good Analyst
If you can find someone who is giving free (even for payment) information away on where and how to invest...and their advice consistently returns a handsome profit...well...AWESOME!! I believe there are people and groups out there. The problem is finding a trustworthy source.

My nature is to often neglect the help others can be...I like to do things predominantly alone...but I do not have the time or the knowledge or the experience to find good investments yet. So relying on others advice would be a sensible thing to do.

I just need to find a few people like this. If you have suggestions...please lets have them. I will prove them with my virtual account!

I'm just a novice but I seem to be growing surprisingly fast...I have noticed a big improvement in confidence and reason as I share my thoughts...this is why I cannot stop this time! But we must not get cocky...