Tabula Rasa

Of all the times to start a stock-trading blog.
It's tough out there.
Sentiment is overwhelmingly negative.
Sub-prime used to sound so simple. Almost benign.
Before the seemingly endless parade of some other "convoluted financial instrument of the week". The acronyms.
Hedge funds are blocking redemptions.
Margin calls are proliferating, leading to more selling pressure, leading to more margin calls.....
The dollar continues its amazing slide.
All against the backdrop of unprecedented global growth.
Optimism was palpable at Dow 14,000.
And now 2,500 points below the high, it can't be found.
It's frustrating. It's perplexing.
And yet it's not devoid of opportunities.
The goal of this blog is to collect and synthesize timely and tradeable information and data.
Macroeconomic and company-specific. Megacap and microcap.
Indexes, futures, ETFs, SEC filings, PR's, calendars -- in one location.
It's an ambitious project.
But with the incredible challenges facing individual investors today, there's actually no better time than now to kick this off.

What worries you, masters you.
John Locke