THE END

The week of the 27th, 28th, and 29th was basically spent preparing for the Kid's Program on Saturday as well as doing various little tasks. On Tuesday, both Becky and Leena were out of the office so I spent the morning working in the library and dividing artifacts into accessioned, not accessioned, and exhibit props- such as world flags. That afternoon, we watched a movie called "Maxed Out" which basically showed the cause of the credit crisis. If officially made me terrified to ever have my own credit card. I think I'll live off my parents forever instead.

Wednesday was our field trip to the New York Stock Exchange, which was admittedly disappointing in comparison so some of the other trips we've taken. Although it was pretty cool to see the floor and all the traders, its not like CME where open outcry trading is used so theres not really that much to look at. In the afternoon, Ashraf and I worked with Maura to figure out how to finally print the Choose Your Own Adventure story, and we also figured out the layout for each activity and how many tables we would need. Thursday morning I made sure we had enough supplies and copies of all the handouts and organized all the materials into sections.

As for the Kid's Program itself, I would say that overall it went pretty well. There weren't that many kids there, but the ones that did come seemed to really enjoy it and learned a lot from the various lesson plans. Jess also came in for the day and we worked the "Smart Shopping and Budgeting" table where kids were given a shopping list and a budget.

For the final week (!!!), I had a brief taste of social media. Alex and I worked with Hootsuite to edit tweets that the Museum sends out each day that give a little fact about today in history. We also started to work on a new exhibit, the Museum's own version of facebook. We created profiles for various historic figures, such as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. We also spent a morning drafting a letter to the editors of the Wall Street Journal asking if they would add the Museum to their foursquare list of things to see and do in downtown Manhattan.

As for my trades....oy. I could detail everything I did, but it would be easier to say that clearly my beginner's luck wore off. I know that my last post mentions a $1000 profit, but unfortunately that trend did not continue as I'd hoped it would and I ended up losing about 500 dollars. After I saw the success Alex had trading Silver I also decided to put in a long XAG/USD, but I lost about $1000 in no time at all. I guess my new strategy to be more bold and daring was completely wrong. All in all I closed this trading session with just under $97,000. I am once again reaffirmed in my opinion that I would never be able to trade actual money.

In closing, I really really enjoyed working at moaf this summer. I learned so much about working in a museum as well as finance, and also had a great time with the other interns (SHOUTOUT TO EVERYONE). I would definitely say that this was a great summer overall.

July 20-22nd

And so the Kids Program is finally finished (fo realz this time). This past week Alex, Ashraf and I put the finishing touches on all the events - including the Choose Your Own Adventure story. In order to accompany the paint your own penny bank, we decided to create a worksheet and trivia-like game to test kids knowledge of coins. This includes identifying each coin, its value, and what is depicted on the front and back. We also wrote out a cheat sheet for the high schooler who is going to come dressed up as Alexander Hamilton.

Thursday morning, I also worked a bit more with the books from the storage boxes in the auditorium. For the books with accession numbers, I updated their collections titles and location in Past Perfect. A lot of books were actually duplicates of books that had already been found in the library, so I noted down that they were additional copies that had to be added to the bookshelves.

On Wednesday, our field trip was to the Museum of the City of New York, which I absolutely loved. I thought the exhibits were designed and spaced out really well, and I learned a lot from the John Lindsay and Cars exhibits. This was my first time to this Museum, and I would definitely recommend it to others. I might even go back with my parents....

In the trading competition, my first trade is actually going really well. On Tuesday, I put in a long USD/JPY. According to dailyfx the chart showed an inverted hammer reversal signal about to take place, which meant that the dollar was about to become more bullish. I looked up what all that meant (the inverted hammer refers to the shape of the candlestick with a short body and a long wick, though I still don't understand why that's an indicator) and figured that it was a pretty solid investment. A few analysts also picked this trade and dailyfx devoted an article to its progression. In an attempt to be riskier/peer pressure from Ashraf, I traded 250,000 instead of my usual standard 100,000 lot. When I got home later that night, I was surprised to find that I was down almost $1500 and dailyfx had been updated with an article about taking pause before investing in the dollar (lolz). However, I decided to hold out a bit longer, and I am proud to say that it was the right decision. Currently, my trade is up $1700, and dailyfx seems to think that the Yen may falter further. I'll probably keep this trade open for a few more days.

July 15th

And so trading begins again...

At the close of the last round of trading, I earned a profit of about $3800 (and at one point reached $5500). Overall I was pretty cautious and and mostly traded standard lots for short periods of time. In this round, I think I'm going to be a bit more risky and try trading larger positions that I will keep open longer. I'm actually kind of excited to start with a clean slate and see if I can do better now that I somewhat grasp what I'm doing- at least in comparison to what I understood in the beginning. Right now I can't get the website to load, but once I do I think my trade will involve buying Euros. According to dailyfx the Euro and the Pound have been rallying as of late, so hopefully I can catch the upward trend before it turns.

This week at the Museum, I was busy with a lot of different activities. On Tuesday, Alex, Kelly and I worked with the boxes that were moved from storage to the auditorium. A lot of the boxes contain books without accession numbers, and so we had to use the keyword search in PastPerfect to try and figure out if they actually belonged to the Museum (as opposed to John Herzog). There were a fair amount that we could locate in the database, but I'm not sure what's going to happen with everything else.

On Wednesday, Ashraf, Alex, Jess and I started working on another activity for the Kid's Program that involves coupons and discounts. Its a bit tedious since the activity described on the press release is more of a general concept than an actual event, but I think we're beginning to work it out. As is, kids will receive a grocery list and a coupon book. They will need to buy everything on the list in a makeshift food store, and the person who spends the least amount of money wins. Its still in the early stages so obviously theres a lot more work that has to be done.

That afternoon, we went on a tour of NYMEX or CME. I was completely fascinated/intimidated watching all the open outcry traders. The simulation we did at the lunch and learn was infinitely slowed down for us, so watching it in an actual setting with people shouting and shoving against each other was really cool. I'm looking forward to going to the stock exchange to see how the floors compare.

This morning, we watched a documentary on the Enron scandal. And I'm still freaking out about it. I really did not understand what happened as much as I thought I did, and when it was over I left feeling completely shocked. Its pretty unbelievable, and now I just want to discuss it with everyone I know.

July 8th

With the trading contest closed, there's not really much to report on at the moment. Betweenwork done both yesterday and this morning the choose your own adventure book is finally complete (or at least the text is). Now we can move on to the easier, more enjoyable task of coloring and adding images to go along with the storylines.

Wednesday we also got a tour of the Bloomberg offices, which was super cool. I don't know how I would feel working in such an open space where everyone can see you at all time. I could definitely get used to the free food though...

I was also impressed to learn that all employees have to go through constant training to keep up with the Bloomberg Terminal. Just looking at the one in the Museum is overwhelming. I can't even imagine mastering it. Now I kind of understand why its so expensive...kind of.

july 6th

Since Friday, I have lost almost $1500...

So I was hesitant to start any new trades this week, since I was a little confused about the markets and the holiday weekend. I didn't want to do anything with the dollar in case there was random changes as a result of the long weekend. Today, I put in a long EUR/USD and a GBP/USD, thinking that everything should be back to normal by now. Instead, I ended up being wrong on both counts and lost a lot of money as a result. I'm still not sure why I was so wrong, since I thought dailyfx said the dollar was doing poorly and I saw an analyst say these trades were good options. Clearly, I should have sticked to my original feelings and just not traded at all. Since trading ends tomorrow, I think I'll just stop altogether and wait for the next round to start.

At the Museum, Alex, Ashraf and I forever continued to work on the Kid's Program and our Choose Your Own Adventure Story. We're trying to organize everything in an easy-to-follow booklet, so now we're converting our ridiculously complex flow chart into an organized powerpoint. We completed the outline today, and in the afternoon tomorrow we'll transfer everything to numbered slides that can be printed out.

We also spent a bit of time in the afternoon going through the boxes from the storage room by the auditorium figuring out what everything is. A bunch of high school interns just started so they helped label the boxes with post-it notes. Some of the books actually had object IDs, so we put them aside so they could be accounted for in PastPerfect.

July 1st

1. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my short CAD/JPY had continued to do well over night, and I had a profit of over $1000 by the morning. I ended up closing this position a little before noon since prices were lower than they've been in a while and I was worried that the trend wouldn't last (of course it did...). In total this earned my approximately $2000. Also, I decided to open a long EUR/USD, since Alex told me that there had been a dramatic shift overnight and the Euro was doing extremely well. Since this trade was done rather quickly, I decided to put in a rather high stop loss to prevent any major losses. Of course, my position reached its stop loss and closed before the price started to bounce back up again. Luckily I only lost about $100 in total.

More recently, I just opened a long GBP/USD (another trade Alex had that was doing really well today). Once again this is meant as a quicker trade, so I'll probably close it either later tonight or tomorrow morning.

This morning at the Museum, Alex, Ashraf and I finally finished the Create Your Own Adventure story. We tested it out on Maura and she gave us a few suggestions about how we could make it even better. Next week we'll begin to take steps towards turning the story into an actual booklet that kids can take home with them-pictures and everything. We might also add some "expert advice" sections so that kids can learn a little bit more about the choices they're making. It sounds like a lot more work, but I definitely think it will be worth it.

Wednesday, June 30th

This afternoon I decided to open my latest trade, a short CAD/JPY. There wasn't really any logic behind this decision; I just saw one of the dailyfx analysts recommend it as a good trade to keep open for the next few days. Beyond that, I didn't really do any more research on the specifics on what is going on with these currencies. What's more, I just noticed that John Rivera (the analyst who recommended the pair) made this trade last week...Since then he has closed the position, but I suppose I might as well wait until tomorrow. It's been doing ok so far, so hopefully prices will continue to drop.

All of my work time yesterday as well as today was spent writing the story for the Kid's Club "Choose Your Own Adventure" with Alex and Ashraf. Basically this is a story where kids can decide what they want to happen (do you work at a grocery store or open your own lemonade stand?). It's been a bit of a challenge keeping track of all the story lines and figuring out how to incorporate financial decisions, but I think that it turned out pretty well.

Today we also went on a walking tour of the area and got to simulate open outcry trading like is done in the mercantile exchange. I was completely terrible at it- I think I bought a bunch of times when I was supposed to be selling...

It was really interesting anyway and I learned a bit about something I knew nothing about beforehand.

Tomorrow morning we will hopefully edit the story and start working on another activity for the kid's program.

Well at least I was right about one of my CAD trades...

The long AUD/CAD didn't go quite as planned, and so on Thursday I reached my stop loss and the position closed itself. In total I lost about $600. Luckily, I was correct in my prediction that the CAD/CHF was dropping out of its trend and should put in a short trade. Overall, this position was able to make up for the losses from my other trade as well as about a $100 profit in total. I closed this trade out Friday afternoon before the market closed for the weekend.

Thursday morning, Alex and I continued to work on the activities for the new "Kid's Club" program. One of the scheduled events is money origami, so we looked up a few directions online and learned how to make a ring and a bow-tie out of a dollar bill (at least Alex did). We also wrote out a little script for the lesson on what Counterfeiting is, and found some money templates so the kids will be able to design their own currency- obviously fake, of course. We still have some more events to work out, but I think it should turn out pretty well.

wednesday June 22nd

Unfortunately, the prices did not recover on my USD/CAD short, and as a result the position closed itself at some point on Monday as per my stop order. In total, I lost about $600. I just opened two new positions (finally stepping up!), but I'm really worried because nothing seems that stable/sure according to dailyfx (that, and 'Rogue Trader' has made me even terrified about taking risks).

Interestingly enough, for my next two trades I decided to do the opposite of my previous trade- instead of buy CADs I'm selling them. More specifically, the first is a short CAD/CHF. According to dailyfx "The Canadian dollar is rapidly losing its appeal as a currency that leads through growth and interest rate expectations." Looking at a bunch of charts, it looks like the canadian dollar is facing losses against most of the other major currencies. Looking back over time with the CAD/CHF, it seems as if the canadian dollar has been following an upward trend, and is now starting to break out of it. Hopefully I'm not wrong again about the CAD, and will start to see a profit.

For my second trade, I decided to do a long AUD/CAD. Australian prices are currently on the rise against the canadian dollar, and it appears as if prices are returning to what they were in the past.

This time I'll be sure to put in stop losses right away...

For my new rotation, Alex and I spent the morning in the gift shop and the afternoon at the front desk. In the gift shop, we learned a lot about what the shop offers for sale and spent a bit of time writing descriptions for some of the objects to be sold online (care for a charming Bull statuette?). We also learned about the education program that Jess and Ashraf started. I think they have some great ideas and I'm excited to help bring the program to life.

Heres hoping I'm not the next Nick Leeson...

june 21st

Sunday night I decided to put in a short USD/CAD, since I read on dailyfx that the dollar was continuing to fall and the canadian dollar was doing fairly well. Today, I started my new job and as a result could not check up on the trade throughout the day. Unfortunately, I have just returned home to see that I've lost almost $500 dollars, due to an unexpected bump in the dollar (something that has to do with China I think...). I had not put in a stop loss, and as a result am now faced with the devastating consequences. I put a stop order in place, and I'm going to leave the trade open a little longer in the hopes that it miraculously turns itself around...

Oh well. I guess my beginner's luck was bound to wear off eventually.

june 17th and 18th

Overall my last trade (USD/CHF short) seems to have been a success. On Thursday the price continued to drop, and I ended up closing the position at a profit of a little under 2%. (it started at 1.13328 and I closed at about 1.11427). Looking back, I could have kept the trade open for a bit longer since the price continued to go down, but once I started making a profit I became terrified that I would suddenly lose it all. In addition to my other trades, I now have a realized P&L of about $3,500. Hopefully throughout this week I will be able to increase this amount.

Thursday morning, Alyssa and I finished labeling the boxes in the storage room (88 in total), and I spent the rest of the day in the library helping to organize and figure out which books were accounted for on PastPerfect. Friday morning I worked a little bit more in the library, and got to shadow a tour for the first time.

Next week I begin my next rotation working in public services/education with Alex.

Thursday, June 16th

So as of right now it looks as if my short USD/CHF is going fairly well. When I first started the trade the price was set at 1.13328. Currently, its shown at 1.13080. I checked the trade at several points throughout the day, and at one point my account showed a profit of almost $500 (I sold one standard lot). However, I decided to keep the trade open for a bit longer, and my unrealized P&L has gone down a bit since then. I think I'm going to keep the trade going for one more night, and hopefully I won't lose everything I've gained so far.

Eventually I will start opening more than one position at the time, but for now I'm still obsessed enough that I don't think I can handle following multiple trades. I might also start trading more than the standard $100,000, but I'm still terrified of losing all my money so I don't want to risk too much.

This morning, Alyssa and I finished up cataloguing another stocks and bonds binder. After that, we spent the remainder of the day organizing boxes in the storage room off the auditorium. Overall that room is pretty messy, so our goal was to try and figure out what was stored in each box. So far we have gone through 68 boxes (most of which contain Listing Statements for the New York Stock Exchange). There are probably about 20 more left, so we should finish tomorrow. I now understand why the application for the internship said we should be able to lift at least 40 pounds! I'm also going to make sure to wear clothes I can get dirty tomorrow, since a lot of those boxes are really dusty as well as moldy due to water damage.

June 15th

So my last trade was a complete failure. I thought I noticed a trend about to start, but it never materialized and so I found myself closed out when the price reached my stop loss.

For my next trend, dailyfx has noted that "The benchmark US dollar tumbled for the fifth time in six days Tuesday; and there is little sign that momentum is letting up". Although this made me think that I want to sell USD in favor of another currency, I've been having a bit of trouble figuring out which pair to use. Dailyfx has also commented on the rising price of the Euro, but I'm not sure I'm confident that this trend will continue (though I'm not really sure why...). In the end, I decided to do a sell USD/CHF, just because the candlestick chart looks as if prices have been unusually high. With the weak dollar, I'm hoping that this will start to change

In terms of what I did today, Alyssa and I continued to go through binders of bonds and stocks to make sure that they were accounted for in PastPerfect. Most are related to Railroad companies. While some have been accurately described in the program, there are a lot that either have completely incorrect information (usually the date) or don't seem to match up with any entry's description. We also helped place new labels on some of the boxes in the archives.

For my latest trade, I decided to sell AUD/NDZ following a posting on dailyfx about the sinking economy in Australia. Looking at the graph, I thought I saw a trend developing in which prices had just bounced off the top limit (I don't know proper phrasing for this), and would begin to decline once again. However, unfortunately as soon as this trade happened prices began to rise again, going against my prediction. I have a stop loss in place just in case prices continue to go up, but I'm hoping that soon the trend will resume downwards. I also have in place a limit for just around the lower trend line, just before prices should bounce back up.

My first trade

For my first currency trade this past wednesday, I decided to buy GBP/USD, in all honesty for no particular reason (I am still learning to read charts and understood even less then than I do now). I decided to trade a standard lot as per Leena's advice. The next day, I was pleased to find that prices had gone up and were continuing to do so. I also decided to put in place a limit and a stop loss in case the numbers suddenly changed. However, as the upward trend continued throughout the day, I continued to alter my limit and stop loss accordingly (which I realize kind of defeats the purpose of a limit in the first place). When I checked back Friday morning, I found that my price had reached its limit and closed itself out. According to my activity record this was set at 1.47526- a random decision once again. Looking at the charts, this turned out to be extremely lucky for me, as the price peaked soon after (I can't quite figure out the exact amount on the graph but it appears to be around 1.4758). In total, I earned a profit of just under $2000.

Because fxGame is currently down and will not be up and running until tomorrow night, it's difficult to say what my next move will be. By then prices may be completely different than what dailyfx is predicting now, and so I will just have to continue to check in.