Un-shifting sands?

I spend hours watching the markets, even if I am not in them. People often ask me how they have changed.

Over the nine years I have been in the markets, they have changed a lot. Curiously though, markets are not that different from the recent past, though I guess they are more competititve than a few years ago. We noticed a shift in 2005 when we launched Bet Angel, I'm not going to accept credit for that though. It just seemed at that point the trading market matured, It left a number of 'old style' traders in its wake. That's why we watch the market, we are keen to understand it's current shape.

In terms of how the market reacts and moves, you will be interested to know that the current market still acts in pretty much the same way it has done for a few years. What we are looking for is a seismic shift in the market. In recent times all we have seen is the odd tremor, but like a San Fransican sitting in the Bay Area, we haven't had a 1906 yet. Thanks to this constant market watching over the years, I have learnt a great deal about what a day has in store, how it's likely to react and what the key markets are etc. etc.

One thing that has taken longer to get used to is seasonality, I am confident that this year we may have finally sussed the longer cycles in the market and their impact. It's made me more relaxed on the year as a whole. As we head through April and into May, things will start to get very busy.

Currently you will see some big moves in the market on quite a regular basis, a few years ago I wasn't sure why, but now I know to expect them and when. While not every body enjoys this type of volatility its throws up big opportunities and if you are alert to them, there are some big moves to catch out there at this time of year.