It’s the season to be jolly, Tra-la-la-la-la-lala-lala!

We have had some good hits this year. Admittedly, we did miss out on a couple of big moves, but we didn’t get caught on the wrong side of any, and that, for me, is a good year.

We started the year with physical gold, which we still have, and we had bought some bitcoin for the first time on a scale-down basis below 20,000.

We dumped the BTC a few months later at 30,000 and went a little short. Thankfully, we covered the short at 27,000 and stayed away.

I had hoped to get long again, but it didn’t quite get down to a level I was comfortable with, so I missed out on the most recent rally. However, that gives me a fishing story: the big one that got away!

At the end of April, the story was about equities and the adage of selling in May and going away.

That proved a good idea across almost every equity market, except for the SP500, which was bolstered by a handful of high-tech companies and the focus on AI products.

Summer was reasonably dull market-wise, but I spent most of it on my back recuperating from an operation, which forced me to stay away from active trading.

However, over the summer, I spread some money across a few of trademaker’s Fractionalised trading programs, which performed well, considering it was a period of low volatility.

Some of these programs did better than others, but because the entry-level is reasonably low, I was able to spread my risk and, whilst lying on my back, enjoy the fruits of other people’s labour.

During October, we started preparing for an end-of-year rally across various commodities and other products. We took on some exposure to wheat and corn, added copper and aluminium, and added some silver at the end of the month.

Last month, we stressed the possibility of rallies in various markets and instruments and how there should be many short-term swing trading opportunities as we near Christmas.

Last week, we saw some of the expected commodity rallies materialise and mentioned that we would cover some of our positions over the coming week.

I have covered the silver and copper this week at a very reasonable level, the aluminium at cost, and also taken a few pennies out of wheat.

Overall, we have had a few decent punts on a mixed bag of products and instruments and are ending the year with limited exposure and a healthier account balance. Plus, the physical gold we started the year with is still buried in the garden for a rainy day.

And, of course, we are watching how the BCIF cryptocurrency index on trademakers, which we promoted a few weeks back, outperforms whilst this crypto rally continues.

We had a few punts in the Forex market, taking advantage of a few anomalies to enhance the value of our mixed basket of currencies. And we are happy about increasing our dollar weighting around the 1.10 level.

That is pretty much the past year’s highlights, and there have been very few hits. (We had a slight loss on NatGas early in the year when our stop was elected, but that was very little damage).

I flew back from the UK last night, and with no book, I took the opportunity to review the past year’s reports. If you wish to do the same, feel free to let me know if you find anything I missed.

I also realised my commentary on a few people has been brutal. Joe Biden got a real bashing, but he deserved it. As a Libertarian, I have consistently attacked the move towards CBDC and digital identities, and that included many in the crypto industry who are helping with such developments. Moreover, unlike many, I am not impressed by the massive financial institutions moving into the crypto arena. They come with rules and regulations and many other controls, which go entirely against the spirit of what made BTC great.

Occasionally, we discuss a few fundamental aspects of trading and investing, and I have added my experience to topics serious traders need to understand and new traders need to know.

It’s been a good year, which is quite a statement from someone who has been pretty pessimistic about the overall economic situation.

Until the end of the year, which is only a few weeks away, there will be more short-term opportunities for day and swing traders. But we are getting very close to a time when I don’t want to be long of many financial instruments because – to paraphrase Jim Rogers – “the next economic collapse could be the worst in my lifetime!”.