Closing Wrap - Martini

On the 25th of May 2004 I awoke and logged on to watch the Markets opening action and settled down to what I expected to be just another normal day.How wrong I was. The early morning was slow and by 10 am I was bored and for no real reason it occurred to me that I had not spoken to my friend Crocodile for some time. So I phoned and was surprised to be answered by an unfamiliar voice. It was Davids Father in Law who had not long arrived at Davids house to find he had passed away in the night. As it is at times of great emotion I can see myself even now sat there in shock as I put the phone down not really believing what I had just been told. A phone call to Mike (Bullshare) and soon the shocking truth was confirmed. Later that day thoughts turned to what would happen to the Traders thread which was so much a part of David, he having fronted it both here and on ADVFN for many years.Mike asked me if I would step into the breach and front it for a while. I admit I was at first reluctant. How could I possibly fill those big crocodile shoes? Well obviously I couldnt but as it felt important to me that the Traders Thread, which had so dominated Davids life, should continue I agreed to help out for a few weeks until Mike had time to sort out a more appropriate and permanent replacement. My opening post that night for the 26th of May Traders Thread sums how I felt at the time.

Martini - 25 May'04 - 21:42 - 1 of 405 edit David is no longer with us. Day after day he diligently spent many hours creating the day traders thread. I believe he would have wanted his thread to carry on and whilst I am not able to fill such a gap that his parting has created I am privileged to start todays thread. What better epitaph to David than to keep this thread alive in his memory? Let us make this the best ever day traders thread in his memory. M

As you will see from the 1 of 405 you all rallied round to make it so. Then of course the problem of the Thoughters slot for the weekend came up and yet again many of you have so kindly given freely of your time to pass on your thoughts on the Markets and trading strategies and get the week off to a cracking start. So on I went for these Few Weeks fill in as Mike looked for a replacement. It was never going to be something I could continue, as I dont do routine well but what a problem! Now I have had lots of help in doing this but what it has brought home to me is how much of Davids time went into it and what a commitment it was. And then just when I was getting to think Mike would fail in his quest I heard a bugle call and over the hill came the sixth cavalry in the form of my old friend Alan (Greystone).Perfect - Problem solved! If you have been around the BBs for anytime you will know that Alan has over the years been a respected and observant commentator on the Markets and BB life. From way back on the ESI BB he has been a rock of integrity and a true gentleman. So this ladies and gentlemen will be the last time it will be my honour to start the Traders Thread. Those Few Weeks have turned into 3 months. How time flies. I was sat in the pub this week chatting to a friend and he was asking what I had been up to recently? So I started to explain that I had been fronting a Thread on a financial web site about the Stock Markets for the last 3 months. I told him this was about people who trade the Markets and tried to make money out of it.

He asked So has it been exciting in the Markets then?O yes I said.So how much have they moved? he enquired. After a little thought I said Well I think they are down 1% or so.And thats exciting! he said and went to get another couple of pints in disgust.

And he was right in some respects. Anyone tracking the Markets with a broadly based portfolio of shares would think the last 3 months has been a bore as in the last three months the markets had moved down a measly 50 points. But when I went and looked at the last 3 months the Markets have of course moved around considerably more than the 50 points down. The FT100 even looking at the big moves has traded up and down circa 670 points. This ignores the ups and downs both daily and intra day along the way. For the astute trader there have been many opportunities to make money both short and long.

If you go to the fine detail of individual shares then even boring old FT100 shares have been volatile ANL and MKS being obvious examples. Now I know this game is easy in retrospect and anyone catching more than a slice of the right side of that action was doing well - but a boring market no. The circa 10000 posts to the Traders Threads in the Investors/Traders Rooms over the last 3 months is testimony to that.Thank you all for your help and contributions to the Thread. It has been a pleasure and an education to read your posts as you strive to get the better of the greatest game in town Trading the Stock Markets. The joy - The despair. The successes - The failures. The humour and at times sadness have been absorbing. And so today I pass the baton on to a safe pair of hands. I am sure the Thread will change and evolve under Alan and rightly so. One thing that will change is when the new days thread is started. As at times in the mornings I like to lie in (come to think of it most of the time) I get the next days thread started shortly after the US Markets close. With the time difference for Alan in Spain a much more sensible time for him will be early in the morning before the Markets open. So dont go looking for new days Trading Thread until the morning of that trading day.

So thats me finished rambling. But I leave you with a picture that David created that expresses a lot about how he thought of what the future may hold.Croc back to the future. Enjoy the ride Croc as you boldly go. Thank you to Nita (Davids mother) for permission to use the pictures and she asked me to pass on her belated thanks to you all for the many tributes paid to David on the BBs three months ago.

You were a hard act to follow David - I hope I did you proud my friend. Over to you Alan.Martini