Freddy Bihozagara's Blog

WSB/reddit, GME, AMC, Robinhood, key takeaways

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 22:12:03 GMT

If you haven’t noticed, the Month of January was all about Gamestop (GME) and the high volatility in the financial markets. so what are the key takeaways for investors..

Number 1. The zero commission trading platforms business model is built on selling its users data (order flows) to its clients the hedge funds.

Number 2. The high volatility in the financial markets is orchestrated. For Example, when WallStreetBets (WSB) drove up share prices of Gamestop (GME), AMC and others, there were winners and losers. However, due to the nature of the business model of trading platforms such as Robinhood, it became apparent very soon that hedge funds such as Citadel and others were not going to allow the free market to be free anymore, as they watched Melvin Capital go down, and had to be rescued with billions of dollars.

They forced Robinhood to put limits on how many shares of Gamestop (GME) and AMC could be bought; at one point they totally removed the ability for its users to buy, and only allowed them to sell, which is pure manipulation. The only reason they would do that is to force the share price of Gamestop (GME) and AMC to go down, thereby allowing short sellers, i.e hedge funds that had heavily shorted Gamestop (GME) and AMC to close their positions and recoup some of their losses, while millions of small investors lost their capital, because they couldn’t buy any shares or a very limited amount (1 or 2), but were only allowed to sell those same shares in an unlimited amount, which is pure manipulation of the laws of the free market.

Number 3. The regulators or SEC allowed hedge funds to manipulate the market in this manner partly because of the fear that a cascade effect of hedge funds going under would be bad for the financial markets and the economy.

Conclusion: In times like these, where hedge funds are allowed to force zero commission trading platforms such as Robinhood to limit the number of shares that can be bought by its users, based on order flow data that they receive from these very same platforms, because not doing so would hurt their bottom line, as we have just seen, WallStreetBets (WSB) just proved to us, to the entire world, that the financial markets are not immune to manipulation. It also proved that if the market, the financial markets were allowed to be free and fair, to function as they are supposed to function, even the little people can be winners.

Now you could be asking, but how is the everyday Joe supposed to hedge against these hedge funds that are allowed to intervene and manipulate the market by stopping people from trading and the regulator does nothing about it. Especially, in times like these, where order flow data, can be used in High Frequency Trading, or HFT algorithms that make millions of transactions per second, based on upward and downward momentum in the market.

One way for the everyday Joe, to hedge, is to diversify their portfolio by picking the right funds, instead of picking individual stocks. secondly, if picking individual stocks, to have long positions in those stocks whose companies have strong fundamentals.

Currently as we speak, no one is immune to financial markets manipulation, even options trading is not immune. In fact it doesn’t matter what bets one makes, in the end, order flow data gives an advantage to whoever is on the other side. Just for illustration, suppose an investor buys a put option or call option on TSLA for a maturity date X. if in fact a hedge fund knows what the bets are in advance, they can pick and choose winners and losers in the market, as they have billions of dollars on hand to invest and can drive a stock price higher or lower if they choose so, if they happen to have an agreement with other hedge funds to do the same on date X.

The good news in all of this, is that, in one month, the entire world just had a crash course in financial markets 101.

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this article are my own and do not constitute an investment advice.

Source: https://freddybihozagara.netlify.app/

The range() Function

Sun, 10 Jan 2021 22:12:03 GMT

If you do need to iterate over a sequence of numbers, the built-in python function range() comes in handy. It generates arithmetic progressions:

>>> for i in range(5):
...     print(i)
...
0
1
2
3
4

range(5, 10)
   5, 6, 7, 8, 9

range(0, 10, 3)
   0, 3, 6, 9

range(-10, -100, -30)
  -10, -40, -70

>>> a = ['100', '200', '30000', '500000', '1000000']
>>> for i in range(len(a)):
...     print(i, a[i])
...
0 100
1 200
2 30000
3 500000
4 1000000

>>> sum(range(4))  # 0 + 1 + 2 + 3
6

>>> list(range(4))
[0, 1, 2, 3]

Source: https://www.python.org/

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Wed, 06 Jan 2021 22:12:03 GMT

Artificial intelligence (AI), is intelligence demonstrated by machines, unlike the natural intelligence displayed by humans, which involves consciousness and emotions. The distinction between the former and the latter categories is often revealed by the acronym chosen. ‘Strong’ AI is usually labelled as AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) while attempts to emulate ‘natural’ intelligence have been called ABI (Artificial Biological Intelligence).

Leading AI textbooks define the field as the study of “intelligent agents”: any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals. Colloquially, the term “artificial intelligence” is often used to describe machines (or computers) that mimic “cognitive” functions that humans associate with the human mind, such as “learning” and “problem solving”.

As machines become increasingly capable, tasks considered to require “intelligence” are often removed from the definition of AI, a phenomenon known as the AI effect.[5] A quip in Tesler’s Theorem says “AI is whatever hasn’t been done yet.” For instance, optical character recognition is frequently excluded from things considered to be AI, having become a routine technology.

Modern machine capabilities generally classified as AI include successfully understanding human speech, competing at the highest level in strategic game systems (such as chess and Go), autonomously operating cars, intelligent routing in content delivery networks, and military simulations, etc.

After AlphaGo successfully defeated a professional Go player in 2015, artificial intelligence once again attracted widespread global attention. For most of its history, AI research has been divided into sub-fields that often fail to communicate with each other.

These sub-fields are based on technical considerations, such as particular goals (e.g. “robotics” or “machine learning”), the use of particular tools (“logic” or artificial neural networks), or deep philosophical differences. Sub-fields have also been based on social factors (particular institutions or the work of particular researchers).

The traditional problems (or goals) of AI research include reasoning, knowledge representation, planning, learning, natural language processing, perception and the ability to move and manipulate objects. General intelligence is among the field’s long-term goals. Approaches include statistical methods, computational intelligence, and traditional symbolic AI.

Many tools are used in AI, including versions of search and mathematical optimization, artificial neural networks, and methods based on statistics, probability and economics. The AI field draws upon computer science, information engineering, mathematics, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and many other fields.

Article Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/

Desktop launcher

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 22:12:03 GMT

Syntax

Example: step 1. Open an empty file

step 2. write your specs as follows

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=name
Comment=no comment
Exec=command
Icon=/path/to/icon
Terminal=true
Type=Application
Categories=Application

Version: App version, Name: App name, Comment: describes app, Exec: command, Icon: path to icon, Terminal: true or false, Type: Application, Categories: description

step 3. save the file with a .desktop extension, on the desktop

step 4. make the file executable

step 5. once done, right click on the file and select “Allow launching”

step 6. double click on the .desktop file, which should start your script!

Let me know, if you have any questions!

NextJs

Sat, 12 Dec 2020 22:12:03 GMT

To scaffold a NextJs app, Type:

npx create-next-app

Manual setup, Type:

Install next, react and react-dom

in your project folder:

Open package.json and add the following scripts:

"scripts": {
  "dev": "next dev",
  "build": "next build",
  "start": "next start"
}

Create a pages directory inside your project.

Populate ./pages/index.js with the following contents:

function HomePage() {
  return <div>Welcome to Next.js!</div>
}

export default HomePage

To start developing your application type npm run dev

Visit http://localhost:3000 to view your application.

source: https://nextjs.org/

React Hooks vs class based components

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 22:12:03 GMT

React Hooks are a new addition in React 16.8. They allow the

use of state without writing a class.

Example:

// for example, when updating state, for a counter function, while calling onclick()

import React, { useState } from 'react';

function Counter() {

  const [counter, setCounter] = useState(0);

  return (
    <div>
      <p> {counter} times</p>
      <button onClick={() => setCounter(counter + 1)}>
        Press
      </button>
    </div>
  );
}

Class based components require the use of classes, hence

they may take more time to write.

However, it is always good to start with class components.

As developers we must not forget that we are dealing with

classes and objects.

It is always good to err on the side of more OOP than the

other way.

With class based components, as soon as we make use of

a constructor, we know that there is a class that inherits

from a super class.

For more on React Hooks: https://react-hooks.org/

JSX and double brackets

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 22:12:03 GMT

In JavaScript, JSX double brackets {{ foo: bar }} are used

when passing object literals to an element.

Example:

// for example, when passing the color attribute to style inline, as an object literal

<div style={{ color: blue}}></div>

JSX is a syntax extension to JavaScript.

For more on JSX: https://reactjs.org/

Git-add

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 22:12:03 GMT

git-add - Add file contents to the index

git add [--verbose | -v] [--dry-run | -n] [--force | -f] [--interactive | -i] [--patch | -p]
	  [--edit | -e] [--[no-]all | --[no-]ignore-removal | [--update | -u]]
	  [--intent-to-add | -N] [--refresh] [--ignore-errors] [--ignore-missing] [--renormalize]
	  [--chmod=(+|-)x] [--pathspec-from-file=<file>





source: https://git-scm.com/

JavaScript!

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 23:46:37 GMT

JavaScript, often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language

that conforms to the ECMAScript specification. JavaScript is high-level,

often just-in-time compiled, and multi-paradigm.

It has curly-bracket syntax, dynamic typing, prototype-based object-orientation,


and first-class functions.


As a multi-paradigm language, JavaScript supports event-driven, functional,


and imperative programming styles. It has application programming

interfaces (APIs) for working with text, dates, regular expressions,

standard data structures, and the Document Object Model (DOM). The language

itself does not include any input/output (I/O), such as networking, storage,

or graphics facilities, as the host environment (usually a web browser)

provides those APIs.



[https://en.wikipedia.org/](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript)

ReactJS

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 22:40:32 GMT

React (also known as React.js or ReactJS) is an open-source,

front end, JavaScript library[3] for building user interfaces

or UI components.


It is maintained by Facebook and a community of individual

developers and companies.



React can be used as a base in the development of single-page

or mobile applications.



React usually requires the use of additional libraries for state

management and routing. Redux and React Router are respective

examples of such libraries.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/React_(web_framework)

Git-init

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 22:12:03 GMT

git-init - Create an empty Git repository or reinitialize an existing one

git init [-q | --quiet] [--bare] [--template=<template_directory>]
	  [--separate-git-dir <git dir>] [--object-format=<format>]
	  [-b <branch-name> | --initial-branch=<branch-name>]
	  [--shared[=<permissions>]] [directory]


Git is a distributed version-control system for tracking changes in any set of files, originally designed for coordinating work among developers cooperating on source code.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git



git-clone - Clone a repository into a new directory

git clone [--template=<template_directory>]
	  [-l] [-s] [--no-hardlinks] [-q] [-n] [--bare] [--mirror]
	  [-o <name>] [-b <name>] [-u <upload-pack>] [--reference <repository>]
	  [--dissociate] [--separate-git-dir <git dir>]
	  [--depth <depth>] [--[no-]single-branch] [--no-tags]
	  [--recurse-submodules[=<pathspec>]] [--[no-]shallow-submodules]
	  [--[no-]remote-submodules] [--jobs <n>] [--sparse]
	  [--filter=<filter>] [--] <repository>
	  [<directory>]



git-commit - Record changes to the repository

git commit [-a | --interactive | --patch] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend]
	   [--dry-run] [(-c | -C | --fixup | --squash) <commit>]
	   [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--reset-author] [--allow-empty]
	   [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
	   [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]
	   [-i | -o] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
	   [-S[<keyid>]] [--] [<pathspec>…]


git-push - Update remote refs along with associated objects

git push [--all | --mirror | --tags] [--follow-tags] [--atomic] [-n | --dry-run] [--receive-pack=<git-receive-pack>]
	   [--repo=<repository>] [-f | --force] [-d | --delete] [--prune] [-v | --verbose]
	   [-u | --set-upstream] [-o <string> | --push-option=<string>]
	   [--[no-]signed|--signed=(true|false|if-asked)]
	   [--force-with-lease[=<refname>[:<expect>]]]
	   [--no-verify] [<repository> [<refspec>…]]



source: https://git-scm.com/

Hello World

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 22:12:03 GMT

[View raw (TEST.md)](https://raw.github.com/adamschwartz/github-markdown-kitchen-sink/master/README.md)

This is a paragraph.

    This is a paragraph.

# Header 1

## Header 2

    Header 1
    ========

    Header 2
    --------

# Header 1

## Header 2

### Header 3

#### Header 4

##### Header 5

###### Header 6

    # Header 1
    ## Header 2
    ### Header 3
    #### Header 4
    ##### Header 5
    ###### Header 6

# Header 1

## Header 2

### Header 3

#### Header 4

##### Header 5

###### Header 6

    # Header 1 #
    ## Header 2 ##
    ### Header 3 ###
    #### Header 4 ####
    ##### Header 5 #####
    ###### Header 6 ######

> Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.

    > Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.

> ## This is a header.
>
> 1. This is the first list item.
> 2. This is the second list item.
>
> Here's some example code:
>
>     Markdown.generate();

    > ## This is a header.
    > 1. This is the first list item.
    > 2. This is the second list item.
    >
    > Here's some example code:
    >
    >     Markdown.generate();

- Red
- Green
- Blue

* Red
* Green
* Blue

- Red
- Green
- Blue

```markdown
- Red
- Green
- Blue

* Red
* Green
* Blue

- Red
- Green
- Blue

code goes here in this line
bold goes here

- `code goes` here in this line
- **bold** goes here

Buy flour and salt
Mix together with water
Bake

1. Buy flour and salt
1. Mix together with water
1. Bake

code goes here in this line
bold goes here

1. `code goes` here in this line
1. **bold** goes here

Paragraph:

Code

Paragraph:

    Code

* * *

***

*****

- - -

---------------------------------------

This is an example link.

This link has no title attr.

This is an example reference-style link.

This is [an example](http://example.com "Example") link.

[This link](http://example.com) has no title attr.

This is [an example] [id] reference-style link.

[id]: http://example.com "Optional Title"

single asterisks

single underscores

double asterisks

double underscores

*single asterisks*

_single underscores_

**double asterisks**

__double underscores__

This paragraph has some code in it.

This paragraph has some `code` in it.

![Alt Text](https://placehold.it/200x50 "Image Title")