Mark Carney’s Rise to Power: What His Swearing-In Means for Canada

Mark Carney was sworn in Mar 13 as Canada's new Prime Minister taking over for Justin Trudeau who resigned earlier this year. 

A summary of his acceptance speech is below. He also was very quick to start making his rounds on the talk shows. 

The video below has him on John Stewart's

The Daily Show

 

Canada's Stand: How Unity and Tariffs Can Overcome Economic Threats

Imagine Canada as a hockey team. We get knocked down, but we always get back up. When Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Canadian goods, it was like a cheap shot. But, like any good team, Canada is fighting back, standing tall and is more united than ever. This is how we will win.

Understanding the Economic Assault on Canada

It's crucial to understand how these tariffs hurt the Canadian economy, and why its so important to stand our ground.

Trump's Tariffs: An Unjustified Attack

Donald Trump, when he was president, put tariffs on things Canada sells to the United States. He said it was for national security. However, many viewed this as an unfair move against a close friend and ally. These tariffs affected many Canadian industries.

Impact on Canadian Industries and Workers

The tariffs hit industries like steel, aluminum, and agriculture hard. These industries are important for jobs across Canada. People worried about losing jobs and income. Small businesses also felt the strain.

The Broader Implications for Canada's Economy

These tariffs threatened Canada's trade with the U.S., which is our biggest trading partner. It caused uncertainty and made it harder for Canadian businesses to compete. It showed Canada needed to protect itself.

Canada's Retaliation: A Measured and Strategic Response

Canada didn't back down. A plan was set in motion to respond to the attack.

Matching Tariffs: Hitting Back Where It Hurts

Canada responded with its own tariffs on American goods. These tariffs targeted specific sectors in the U.S. to create maximum impact. The goal was to show the U.S. that these tariffs have consequences.

Protecting Canadian Workers: A Safety Net for Affected Industries

The money from the Canadian tariffs was used to help the workers and industries most affected. This included money for training programs and financial support. This ensured those impacted had help while adjustments were made.

Seeking Fair Trade: Demanding Respect and Reliable Commitments

Canada insisted on fair trade. Canada demanded respect and reliable commitments from the U.S. This meant the U.S. needed to play fair. Canada stood firm on its principles, refusing to back down.

Unity as Strength: The Canadian Advantage in Times of Crisis

To fight back, the country came together. Unity is key to Canada's strength.

Provinces Stepping Up: A United Front Against Economic Aggression

Provinces worked together to support industries and workers affected by the tariffs. They showed a united front against economic aggression. This collaboration strengthened Canada's position.

Rejecting Division: Pierre Poilievre's Divisive Rhetoric

Division weakens Canada. It makes it harder to face economic challenges. Staying united is key to overcoming hardship and moving forward toward success.

One Economy: The Power of a United Canada

When Canada is united, it's stronger. Different provinces and territories need to work together. This strengthens the Canadian economy.

Building a Stronger, More Resilient Canada

Canada can use this as an opporunity to grow and improve. These hard times can bring great change.

Investing in Domestic Growth: Diversifying the Economy

Canada needs to diversify its economy. This means reducing its reliance on the U.S. market. Investing in new industries can help Canada be more resilient.

Innovation and Opportunity: Imagining New Possibilities

Canadians should explore new economic possibilities. Innovation can lead to new opportunities. New ideas can help Canada thrive.

The Canadian Spirit: Overcoming Adversity Together

The Canadian spirit is about overcoming challenges together. This spirit will help Canada get through this crisis. By working together, Canada will come out stronger.

Conclusion

Trump's tariffs were a threat. But, Canada's united response and focus on protecting workers will lead to success. Canada will emerge stronger than ever.

5 Stocks to BUY in March/April 2025

Mar10 2025 430pm

In the beginning of March we are still in a downturn, which could mean a good buying season in March/April. Here to break down five stocks he's looking to buy in March is Trading Post's analyst, Jason Wade

Today the S&P closed below the 200sma, a common technical level used by institutions. The threat of an escalating tariff war has investors being cautious. We've clearly had a sharp sell off since the beginning of February but it isnt all bearish. There's always a risk of it going deeper, but if President Trump was to come out and cease tariffs the market would rally. If the CPI print this week is bullish it could be a trigger for buyers also

I would expect to see the market trend sideways within this range if not bounce higher and potentially set a new all-time high by early to mid-spring.

The seasonality of the index's also usually hits a low around the end of february then rallies in late mar

1)NVDA Nvidia just had another great ER. Keeping inline with its previous ER's though its sold off just after it was released. It's likely from the unwinding of speculative positions.

This presents longerterm investors an entry point

Its hard to find an analyst that doesn't have something good to say about it. They're raising price targets leading to new all-time highs. A major growth kicker the analysts are talking about is the strength in the automotive segment. Its still small right now but  analysts are predicting it could become their next billion-dollar business, supported by robotics, driver assist, and autonomous vehicles.

2)CRM -Salesforce just had a good ER also.  Yet its stock price pulled back a little bit. That was because of the guidance. But the takeaway from the analyst chatter is that the company is being cautious—and prudently so—in the scaling of its new technologies.

 It has really robust cash flow that's driving some significant capital returns. 

The analysts are bullish. They did trim their price targets, but the range of targets is narrowing around the consensus, which is looking for a double-digit upside.

3)MMM-3m was a dividend king that's been dethroned. It had to cut its dividend to mitigate the impacts of some legal issues. Those legal issues are behind it now. Dividend increases are back on the table. Share repurchases are back on the table. Organic business is growing. The guidance is very robust. The stock is coming back very strongly.

Right now technically it looks very strong espeically in how its perfoemed agins the majority of the market

4)SOUN-SoundHound.got a really big boost last year as the AI wave was coming into play. The stock price pulled back, and then it pulled back even more sharply when Nvidia announced it had sold out of its stake.

So that's kind of a shock to investor sentiment. But if you look back and see that Nvidia made more than 100% gains in under a year, it's pretty easy to understand why they would sell.

That aside, the fundamentals are unchanged. The company is looking at a period of hypergrowth—growing at nearly 100% pace for the next few quarters, if not for the next two years.

Its currently consolidating around 8.50 Technically I'm watching 7.25 for a bounce if it breaks below this level.

5)SHOP-Shopify. It is the most upgraded stock from February. That’s because of outperformance and better-than-expected guidance.

Right now technically its still above the 200daily sma and is close to completeing a gap fill.An excellent opportunity for longer term investors.

"Trump’s Tariffs: A Cure for Inflation or a Costly Gamble?"

Mar 07 2025

On the Mar 05 John Oakley show on AM 640  

Dan Mcteague,(President for Canadians for Affordable Energy (CAE))  in Canada mentioned he had heard through the grapevine that Donald Trump's real goal might be to actually manipulate interest rates.

He's doing this because The Fed has been trying to do that and has gone as far as they can go but still having a tough time getting it in check.

Generally as the unemployment  rate rises, inflation will come down and thus interest rates will eventually drop.

So through 

1)starting a trade war

2)focusing on paying down the deficit

3)laying off federal workers

4)reducing spending both at home and abroad like in ukraine

The top 3 would all directly increase unemployment rates. The unemployment report that came out this morning showed a 4.1% increase up from 4.0% in Janurary. So a modest uptick.

When you first look at it, it seems like Trump is actually increasing prices especially from the tariffs but if it does play out the way he's anticipating then it will work out better in the long run for American's.

The alternative is if the tariff plan doesn't work then and it creates a fullblown recession which some economists like Robert Fry have said recently.

His other plans to reduce inflation include

1. Deregulation: The administration aims to reduce regulations across various sectors, particularly in energy and housing, to lower production costs and, consequently, consumer prices.

   thedailyguardian.com

2. Energy Production: By increasing domestic energy production, especially oil and gas drilling on federal lands, the administration seeks to lower energy costs for consumers.

   thedailyguardian.com

3. Tax Cuts: Proposals include reducing corporate tax rates from 21% to 15% to incentivize domestic manufacturing and potentially lower consumer prices.

   m.economictimes.com

4. Tariffs on Imports: The administration plans to impose a 10%-20% baseline tariff on all foreign imports, with a 60% tariff on imports from China, aiming to boost U.S. manufacturing.

   nerdwallet.com

5. Immigration Policies: Plans to deport unauthorized immigrants and restructure immigration laws are intended to address labor market dynamics and wage pressures.

   nerdwallet.com

However, experts caution that some of these measures, particularly broad tariffs and strict immigration policies, could lead to higher consumer prices and labor shortages, potentially exacerbating inflation rather than mitigating it.

A List Of 10 Free Backtesting Options

 MetaTrader 4/5 (MT4/MT5): These are popular trading platforms that offer built-in backtesting functionalities. Many brokers provide these platforms, and they often come with historical data for backtesting.

Forex Tester: While Forex Tester isn't entirely free, it does offer a free demo version with limited features. This allows you to test its capabilities before purchasing the full version.

TradingView: TradingView is a widely-used platform that provides a powerful charting tool. They offer some backtesting capabilities, and you can use it for free with limitations, or subscribe for more advanced features.

ProRealTime: This platform offers a free version with limited features, including backtesting capabilities. It's known for its advanced charting tools.

ZuluTrade: ZuluTrade is a social trading platform that allows you to follow and copy the trades of professional traders. It also offers a basic backtesting feature.

QuantConnect: QuantConnect is a platform that provides a cloud-based algorithmic trading engine. They offer a free community version which includes backtesting capabilities.

Myfxbook: While primarily known for its social trading network, Myfxbook also provides some basic backtesting functionality.

TradingSim: This platform offers a free version with limited features. It provides a simulation environment for backtesting trading strategies.

NinjaTrader: NinjaTrader provides a free version of their platform that includes basic backtesting features. It's more advanced than some other free options but still has limitations.

Python with Backtrader or Zipline: If you have some programming knowledge, you can use Python with libraries like Backtrader or Zipline for backtesting. These libraries are open-source and offer a lot of flexibility.

Exchanging 100 USD to CAD- What Are The Current Rates?

Table of contents

1) Convert USD to CAD to find out what current rate is instantly in real time 

2) find out what institutions rates are for converting it. this will be different because they charge a fee for converting it

3)What can you buy for 100USD when you convert it? 

4) Find out what future holds for theses 2 currencies. Whats its done in the past and where it will most likely go in the next 3 months.

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So you want to convert 100 USD to CAD? Find out quickly what it is below with our converter.

1)If you are trying to find the current exchange rate today for USD to CAD use our converter below to find out quickly what it is right now in real time. 

Convert it now

Currency Converter

2)Find out what the different institutions rates are below. Can you exchange/convert usd at these banks? Find out below. Also find out USD to CAD with tax/fees included looks like? They all charge fees and have different rules about exchanging money. How much is $100 American in Canadian money?

a)RBC- you can find out the latest exchange rate for RBC here

b)CIBC-you can find out the latest exchange rate for CIBC here

c)TD-you can find out the latest exchange rate for TD here

d)Western Union -you can find out the latest exchange rate for WU here

e)Paypal -you can find out the latest exchange rate for PP here

f)BMO-you can find out the latest exchange rate for BMO here

3)Find out what can you buy for 100 USD when you convert it? Its called the PPP or (Purchasing Power Parity) between the 2 countries. If you are going on a trip you've likely wondered will my money be worth less, more or about the same? Is it better to save US dollars or Canadian dollars?

PPP is the most common metric. It works by comparing different countries currencies through a "basket of goods" approach.  As an example to help you understand what that looks like there is something called the "Big Mac Index" which tracks the cost of a Big Mac McDonalds meal in 118 countries. So if a Big Mac meal costed 8$USD in California and then you bought the same meal in China and it costed 6$ USD after the conversion into YEN you actually saved 2$ after exchange rate fees and taxes.

The OEDC has an updated chart showing it yearly here

4) Find out what future holds for theses 2 currencies. Whats its done in the past and where it will most likely go in the next 3 months. We'll look at future charts and historical ones. Will the CAD get stronger than the USD or possibly be go back to parity in the near future?

When looking at future forecasts you will inevitably be met with a wide variety of opinions from various institutions and governments. So who do you trust? 

The most reliable 2 ways are to 

a)look at the consensus across a dozen or more agencies or 3rd parties about the larger or macro trends in the markets

b) then for the short term complexly ignore what the market is saying and just focus on what its doing or using technical analysis.  In my opinion 

The Best Stochastic Settings For 1 Minute Chart

I have been working with, using consistently and have done literally 1000's of back-tests with the various stochastic indicators over the years. The basic stochastic indicator/oscillator is what I will be focusing on. If you've seen or heard of a stochastic indicator then likely its the basic "stochastic oscillator" indicator since its available on most trading platforms by default. There are others however like the stochastic momentum index, and stochastic rsi . I will be focusing on the stochastic oscillator in the back-tests below.

I have done a lot of testing with it on various time frames, with various settings and paired it with other indicators and strategies. I have mostly tested it on the 1 minute chart, 5 minute, and 15 min charts since I'm a day trader primarily.

Everybody that has traded on lower time frames charts like the 1 minute knows that its far more volatile and prone to flash movements around some news event but it also depends on the time of the day and day of the week even. The same news event during the Asian session vs the new York/Euro overlap session will have quite a different impact on the market simply because of the differences in volume. Most indicators lose their effectiveness on lower time frames.

You also need to take into account the instrument you will be trading. Some are well known to be far more volatile than the others. I trade the Forex, crypto, stock and futures markets on a daily basis. Primarily the futures however more than anything else and specifically the NQ index has been my main go-to. I will doing a rundown of some of the best bask-tests/setups I have found so far on the 1 minute charts. I have actually done far more but they performed poorly so I won't bother showing them.

If you read through this entire article I promise you that you will come away with something you can apply immediately to help you become more profitable assuming that these setups perform better than yours.  

How the stochastic oscillator works 

So a quick rundown on how this works. You need to understand the weaknesses and strengths of each indicator you use. This will help you either decide when to use it, how to use it in relation to another indicator to just avoid using it at all. I wont be going into great depth into the math behind it as that would take an entire article just for that alone. But rather just to give you an overview and get right into how to use it. There is a link to Investopedia that goes into far greater detail at the bottom of the article under resources if you wish to learn more about this indicator in detail. 

If you've use this then you know its a non-painting indicator which necessary to know to start off with. Its very common and easy to find on most charting platforms so the accessibility means you wont have to pay for any add-ons which is a bonus. Its a range-bound momentum based indicator. Generally most traders think of it as a momentum based indicator which are usually seen as being best at choppy markets-sideways markets and  not as good at trending markets. Usually most traders use in 2 ways with standard settings.

1) Watching for divergence points ( these don't happen as often as OB/OS situations)

2) Watch for overbought situations( above 80) or oversold situations (below 20)

Both can be useful but you have to take into accounts other factors like any other indicators you are using and exit strategies both for taking profit and loss.

If you adjust the settings however you can use it other ways as well.

I will be going through the best stochastics settings for a 1 minute chart on 3 different setups with different settings for the stochastic oscillator. For each setting I'm doing 4 tests so that's a total of 12 back-tests. I have included a spreadsheet showing how the backtests performed against each other and which was the best as well as a list of all trades taken in the backtests just to prove to you that these tests are legitimate. There is a growing trend of wanna-be gurus out there claiming things but have no evidence to back it up. I'm not doing that here. I don't make any claims that we cannot 100% back up with hard data as evidence. Everything we do here is data driven. Anything else is really just wishful thinking. Every strategy listed below was back-tested on the following instruments. NQ, gold, BTC/USD, EURUSD, TSLA, JNJ. 

Reasons why those were chosen

NQ-Most commonly traded  futures index besides ES. Its also commonly traded in the stock market

Gold-Most commonly traded futures product

BTCUSD- Most commonly traded cypto

EURUSD- Most commonly traded

TSLA- Most commonly trade high beta company

JNJ- =Most commonly trade low beta company 

How I conduct backtests is to make sure that we have at least 100 trades although more is better and those trades have to be over multiple( at least 2) periods or more of bullish trends, bearish trends and sideways choppiness. That way you will find out where it works best and worst and hopefully improve your usage of it going forward.

Strategy 1 Rules

Settings 

-14,3,1

Entry rules

-daily + 15min strategy long trade

-look at daily and see if stochastic if the k% is below 20 

-on the daily when it the d& and k% crosses above the 20 line go to 15min 

-now on the 15min wait for the d to cross the 20 as well 

-once it crossed above you will now look for a 3 candle pattern on 15min

-enter on the candle close of the last candle in the 3 candle pattern  

Exit loss?

Exit tp?

Strategy 2 Rules

Settings 

stoch setting is 5,5,5, and the 2 ema's  are 150/50 entry

Entry

-emas show trend. For a long trade wait for the 50 to be above the 150. And for short positions the 50 must be below the 150. The price needs to be on around the 150 or between the 50 and 150 for an entry 

-Now you wait for the stochastic to cross down from overbought or cross up from oversold price

-One other additional criteria. The price action must also not break previous low if going long or previous high if going short. This will ensure the trend is still continuing and not coming to an end.(it should be making new highs or lows if going long and new lows if going lower)

-once the price crosses the 50ema you enter in the direction of the trend on a break above that high in the price action

Exit stop

-stop just above recent swing high or low by a few pips

Exit Tp 

-1.5-1 reward to risk

Strategy 3 Rules

Settings

-stoch 14,3,3 

-macd -remove histogram 14 with ma standard setting volume ma set to 30

Entry

-need all 3+ vol above ma to go long or short 

Exit Tp 1.5-1 reward to risk

Exit Stop -recent swing low

Which one performed the best?

The winner for each instrument is listed below which was based on reduced draw-down and total return was strategy #2. 

NQ  - The best performing one was strategy #2 which had 231 wins 164 losses which = a 71% win rate 

Gold- The best performing one was strategy #2 which had 157 wins 

BTC/USD- Strategy #3 was the best 

EURUSD- The best was strategy #2 which had 

TSLA- Strategy #3 was the best 

JNJ - Strategy #1 was the best - This barely beat out #2

The strategy that performed the best across all 5 instruments 

Strategy #2 was the one that performed the best on the most of them however you may notice that strategy #3 seemed to perform better on higher volatility instruments. Even though strategy #2 performed the best it did not massively outperforms the other 2. It was actually very close and really using all 3 strategies and just managing your risk you could easily make $$ consistently using any of them as their win rates were all at least 60%+ Considering that the R/R ratio was at least 1.5-1 that makes it very worthy of more testing imo.

If you are interested in seeing a list of trades for these back-tests give me a comment below and ill publish the link to the pdf.

Link to Investopedia on the Stochastic indicator

First Class Forex Funds Review

So I decided to try out First Class Forex Funds 3 months ago and this is my review of it.

My review

Just to start it all off I will say that I believe it to be a complete ripoff and that you should avoid it like the plague. Its likely they are already out of business as I am writing this. They have even belligerently admitted to scamming people in their twitter feed. 

They also stated that they are based out of New Jersey but in reality they are operating from somewhere else it appears. As you can see from these interactions they don't give 2 shits about the law and flat out admit to stealing people money.

Its poor operators in the trading market like this that give it a bad name. I signed up for an account back in June 12 2023. I passed their test and started trading live at the end of June. At the end of July I had made roughly a 9% return on my account at which time i requested a withdrawal.

Initially I was met with silence and thought maybe I hadn't submitted the request properly or maybe a technical error. So I submitted it again and tried to contact support for the 10th time. This time I got an email from them saying that I was not eligible for a withdrawal and they gave me no reason as to why. 

Its now into September or 1.5 months later and still no withdrawal. I have not touched the account since the beginning of August until I get a response about the payout.

Whats being said about them online 

There area also as it seems hundreds of other complaints just like mine about this company

As of Sept 12 2023

1)Trust pilot rates it at 1.6/5 stars over 1244 reviews

2)Google reviews has a rating of 1.2/5 stars over 29 reviews

3)WikiFX is saying they are not even licenced.

All of their social media accounts on Instagram, twitter, discord, Facebook and Youtube seem to have gone suddenly silent as of May and they haven't posted since then. Before that they were posting almost daily. Again though if you see the comments it seems nobody has anything good to say about them and that they are no honoring the payouts. Most seem to have gotten their account banned as well for no reason. 

Back in March of this year they broke their contractual relations with Eightcap (the broker they use) and all accounts from all clients were disabled.

There are even meme's being created about them as this one from twitter shows

Simply put avoid them like the plague