Now on Twitter

I am now on Twitter. I primarily will be posting links to good business and economic articles.

http://twitter.com/GregBoop

Note to HingeFire Screener Users

HingeFire Inc. stopped offering screening service on September 26th. The company was not able to obtain the financing necessary to continue forward. I would like to thank the many users who supported our vision for the past year.

Thank you,

- Greg Boop

FREE forecasts for all the major commodity markets

We're excited to announce that our friends at Elliott Wave International are offering a FreeWeek of expert commodity forecasting services from noon Wednesday, July 16 to noon Wednesday, July 23.

FreeWeek is always exciting, but we're especially excited to share this one with you, as EWI opens its new Futures Junctures video portal to you. The new portal combines all of EWI's world-class commodities analysis onto one easy-to-navigate webpage. It allows you to easily toggle between near-, intermediate- and long-term forecasts and analysis, plus the hottest commodity opportunities presented in both video and text. And, only during FreeWeek, you get totally free access with no obligation to buy – ever!

Having an independent forecasting and opportunity-spotting service on your side is more important now than ever. FreeWeek lets you see for yourself, giving you top-level access and FREE forecasts for all the major commodity markets. This is an opportunity you don't want to pass up.

Dive into EWI's FreeWeek Now!

The Independent Trader Crash Course

Over $300 of Trading Lessons, FREE through July 8!

Click Here to Get Your Free Lessons

More About the Independent Trader Crash Course

You've heard them say, "Buy low, sell high." You've also heard, "The trend is your friend." Then there's, "Don't fight the Fed" and many other age-old trading principles.

But have you ever actually tried to live by them? If so, you know that it's easier said than done. Because, for example, how do you know if you're really buying "low" and selling "high"?

Elliott Wave International, the world's largest market forecasting firm, has released 5 unique reports and videos that can help you bridge the gap between the theory of wise adages and the practice of benefiting from them.

The Independent Trader Crash Course compiles over 4 years of the best trading lessons from Elliott Wave International with 64 pages and 17 minutes of insightful online videos that you simply cannot get anywhere else.

These five reports and supplemental videos will reveal to you several key techniques of analysis, forecasting and risk-management that are tailored to fulfill one purpose: make you a better trader.

Click Here to Get Your Free Lessons

Introducing the Hinge Awards for inferior financial reporting

Every week brings its own set of inane articles in the financial press. The time has arrived to start awarding prizes for the worst examples of mainstream financial articles. Maybe in some small way this will help enable the improvement in business reporting, however unlikely the probability.

To kick this off, a set of three Hinge Awards have been created that will be presented quarterly. Naturally none of these awards are for excellence in financial reporting; in fact they are to outline examples of inferior business press.

The three categories for the Hinge Awards are provided below:

HingePitch – an article which is really a disguised pitch for a company, product, or service while pretending to give useful information. These pitches are common in the industry. Nearly 20% of the articles read in the mainstream financial media are effectively "paid-for" placement pieces. However some of these articles perform such a commendable pitch for a product while pretending to be an unbiased neutral resource that they are worthy of an award - especially if the product or service is really not in the best interest of most consumers.

HingeDuh – awarded for personal finance article where the information is obvious even to the most dimwitted consumer. The majority of these articles of fluff pieces containing meaningless quotes from selected "subject matter experts" with the simple objective of enabling the article to be at least an entire page long. Leading to the immediate question - don't the editors have something more meaningful for these business mavens to be writing about.

HingeCrock – the underlying facts are absolutely wrong in the article or the conclusions make no economic sense. Many of these articles use the selectable parsing of "facts" to slant the conclusions towards a designated point of view. A vast majority are politically oriented and have a pre-selected bias. Most turn plausible financial ingredients into inedible economic gruel.

Send your nominations to gregb@hingefire.com
Please list the award category in the subject header.

See the HingeFire Videos

Want to lean how to use HingeScreen to improve your investing? See the excellent videos at the HingeFire website that explain how to use the tool.

The website also contains a wealth of other educational material. Explanations of all the indicators can be found within the Knowledge Base. A full set of documentation for HingeScreen can be found under Support.

HingeFire provides the tools and information that enables investors to improve their understanding of the market. So heat up your investing today, check out the HingeFire resources!

FreeWeek is Back!

We’re excited to announce that our friends at Elliott Wave International have announced a FreeWeek of expert financial forecasting for U.S. Stocks, Bonds, Gold, Silver and the U.S. Dollar from noon Wednesday, June 18 to noon Wednesday, June 25.

FreeWeek is always exciting, but we’re especially excited to share this one with you, as EWI has opened its new Financial Forecast Service delivery portal to you. The new portal combines all of EWI’s world-class analysis onto one easy-to-navigate webpage. It allows you to toggle between near, intermediate and long-term forecasts and analysis with ease, including recent archives. And, only during FreeWeek, will you get totally free access with no obligation to buy – ever!

You’ll get analysis and commentary from EWI’s top three analysts, including Robert Prechter himself, who’s latest Elliott Wave Theorist is interestingly titled Stocks and Oil; Barack and Hillary.

In today’s markets, having an independent market forecasting and analysis service on your side is more important now than ever. FreeWeek lets you test drive EWI’s U.S. forecasting service, giving you top-level access and FREE forecasts for U.S. Stocks, Bonds, Gold, Silver and the U.S. Dollar. This is not an opportunity you’ll want to pass up.

Dive into EWI’s FreeWeek Now!

Get the Free Asian & Indian Market Report

We’d like to announce a new 12-page complimentary special report on Asian and Indian stocks, courtesy of our friends at Elliott Wave International.

Investment Opportunities for Asia’s Big 6 Markets will give you specific forecasts and valuable commentary and observations for the following markets:

• India’s SENSEX
• Japan’s Nikkei 225
• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng & MSCI
• China’s Shanghai & Shenzen
• Singapore’s Straights Times
• Australia’s ASX 200 & All Ordinaries

This FREE 12-Page Report was written by an analyst who lived in Asia for most of the 1990s and knows the region's economy first hand. He digs deeply into today's investment potential for Asia to show you what's changed and what hasn't. He also presents the important socio-economic trends now shaping the Asian markets.

Click Here to Get the FREE Report Now

How to use Market News at HingeFire

One of the innovative community features offered at the HingeFire website is Market News. Users can submit financial news story links, and allow other members to discuss & comment on the articles.

It is easy to submit a link, simply go to Market News à Submit News at the top after you are logged into the site. A form appears asking you to provide a Title, Summary, url, and category before hitting “publish” at the bottom to post the news.

A direct link to submission is here (need to be logged in).

Market News is a great community feature and I would urge users to try it out!

Great News! HingeScreen 1.5 Now Available

The new HingeScreen 1.5 software client includes many features asked for by the user community; more fundamental indicators, additional technical indicators, and new candlestick & chart pattern indicators. The 1.5 software client contains links to many community features at the new website including a Forum, Market News, Broker Ratings, and the Blog.

There is a wealth of educational information at the new HingeFire Site. Some of the best information to see on using the new HingeScreen 1.5 release includes:

Take a Tour
http://www.hingefire.com/Education/TakeaTour.aspx

Videos on usingHingeScreen
http://www.hingefire.com/Education/KnowledgeBase/HingeVideos.aspx

User Documents
http://www.hingefire.com/Support/Documentation.aspx

Information on Indicators
http://www.hingefire.com/Education/KnowledgeBase/Indicators.aspx

One of the primary beliefs of the founders of HingeFire is that investors do not need $3000 seminars to be successful in the market. Investors simply need the tools to provide an edge in the market and a community of like-minded investors to work with. The objective of HingeFire is to build the tools and community to enable the success of investors at all levels.

Coming Wednesday: HingeScreen Release 1.5

Great News! HingeScreen 1.5 has arrived.

The new software release 1.5, and the totally updated website will become available during the day on Wednesday June 11th.

This does have a couple of important ramifications for the user community.

1) Users will have to download the new HingeScreen 1.5 software client at the new site in order to keep using the tool. The earlier 1.2 client is no longer supported. All of your existing screens, and results will automatically transfer on your PC when you upgrade to the same directory, so you will not lose any information.

2) All users' passwords have been reset to your username plus 123. For example an account with the username "paul" will have a default password of "paul123". Users will be able to immediately change their default passwords at their profiles on the new site.

The new HingeScreen 1.5 software client is still FREE, and includes many features asked for by the user community: more fundamental indicators, additional technical indicators, and new candlestick & chart pattern indicators. The 1.5 software client contains links to many community features at the new website including a forum, market news, broker ratings, and the blog. For a full list of the exciting new features in release 1.5, please see the Products section in the new website. A wealth of educational material and training videos are also provided on the new website.

I would like to thank the beta testers who gave feedback over the past couple of months. Our team is working to have a smooth transition tomorrow, and get the full-featured website and software release available to the entire community.

Is Oil in a speculative bubble?

Oil continues to trend upward with some pull-backs. It is an open question if the increases merely reflect a speculative bubble, or is indicative of real supply and demand.

Take the new survey at the top left of the blog to voice your opinion.

One interesting regulatory change over the past couple of weeks is the tripling of margin requirements at the energy exchanges. The New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) and ICE Futures Europe in London have boosted the margin required by speculators to make trades. The exchanges are hoping that the margin calls will reduce volatility and keep the lid on speculative price increases in the energy markets. On the day the changes were implemented, oil dropped by more than $7. Since this time however, the price has recovered to near $130.

A number of officials such as U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have stated that high oil prices are here to stay, and are reflective of the world supply and demand situation. Jim Rogers agrees, stating that the oil bull market has years to go.

Other sources state that oil is in a classic bubble. No different than houses, dotcoms or tulips. The article in The Times makes the case that the oil price increases are not attached to reality, and outlines the case with some compelling numbers.

This leaves the question. Is oil in a speculative bubble that will pop before the end of 2008? Or do the price increases have years to go?

One truth is that bubbles always tend to go on longer than any pessimist ever believes it can; and eventually crashes harder than any optimist ever believed was possible.


The last survey – Gas at the Pump

The last survey on the price of gas at the pump showed that 43% of the poll takers expected gasoline to be between $4 and $4.50 per gallon on August 1st. 67% of the responders expected gas to be above $4 per gallon.

Vote Now: Gas Survey

Over the recent holiday weekend, millions of U.S. drivers fretted about the price of gasoline. There are two days left in the poll about gas. Take the survey now.

Where will Gas at the pump be on Aug 1st?

Found at the top left corner of the blog.

Worried About Recession?

World-renowned market forecaster, Bob Prechter, presents 3 FREE videos and a FREE report that will show you how staying cool and calm will give you a major advantage over others. These free resources will tell you what to do during a recession, including how to survive a recession, how to make money in a recession and whether or not gold is the best investment strategy in recession.

Get Your FREE Resources NOW!

New Survey: Gas at the Pump

A new survey is out - Where will regular-grade Gas at the pump be on August 1st? Will the recent price increases keep accelerating, or will the gas prices drop during the peak driving season. Make your voice heard - Take the new survey at the top left of the blog.

The recent survey revealed that 70% of participants expected gold to be priced over $900 on July 1st - despite the current price being only $850. It appears that the investment community is bullish on gold.

New Stock Trading Contest: Join Now

The new Wall Street Survivor stock trading contest starts today! Join now for a shot at winning $50,000. Entering is FREE!

The WSS contest is an excellent way of learning to trade the market. Challenge your friends in the rankings. See who is the top investor!

Play to Win $50,000 - Fantasy Stock Trading Game

Two Days Left: Take the Gold Survey

Make your voice heard. Two days left to vote.

Where will Gold be on July 1st?

Gold has recently been reaching new heights while also taking dips in a very volatile market. Where will this precious metal be priced in two months. Many wonder if the technical or fundamentals are driving this market. Is gold merely in a inflationary dollar-induced bubble, or does it have long term holding power at these levels.

Take the survey at the top left of the HingeFire blog.

What to do in a Recession

Our friends at Elliott Wave International have released another exciting resource that we think is well worth your time. We’ll, it’s actually a group of resources – more specifically – 3 FREE videos and 1 FREE report that all speak directly to what to do during a recession.

The 3 videos include Elliott Wave International CEO Robert Prechter’s latest appearances on Bloomberg television from March 2008, November 2007 and October 2007. The videos present Prechter’s interesting and unique forecast as well as his outlook for U.S. Stocks, Precious Metals, Currencies and other markets.

Plus, Prechter discusses how Fed Reserve rate cuts merely follow the U.S. Treasury Bill interest rate. And he goes on to ask and answer a fascinating contrarian question: “Why in the world are people rooting for lower interest rates?”

The report included in this group of resources focuses mainly on Prechter’s Gold and Silver forecast, the same forecast his subscribers pay up to $59 every month for. But, right now, it’s yours FREE.

In these resources, you’ll learn why Prechter says the U.S. has been in a bear market since – YES – the year 2000.

I know, I know, a bear market since 2000 is a shocking claim, but when you consider the massive amount of credit inflation, and when you measure how much gold or how many commodities you can buy with your Dow or S&P 500 shares, you’ll learn that, according to Prechter, stocks have been CRASHING since 2000.

In fact, here’s a little secret for you: When you measure the S&P 500 in a basket of commodities rather than the U.S. dollar, you will see it has declined as far as 75%.

But, what does this mean for the “Real Dow” and “Real S&P 500,” as Prechter calls them? Here’s a hint: The nominal Dow has a long history of catching up to the “Real Dow.”

Prechter’s outlook is more than unconventional. And it’s more than contrarian. It’s a crystal clear and downright frightening explanation of where the markets are today, according to a man that’s studied them for more than three decades.

You will not find this outlook from any other source but Robert Prechter.

I encourage you to hear his warning, then decide for yourself what you should do – if anything – to prepare for Prechter’s prediction that the nominal Dow, the one you read about in newspapers, will one day catch up to the “Real Dow,” the one measured in gold.

In these FREE reports, you will hear, watch and read Prechter’s chart-filled advice on how to survive a recession, how to make money in a recession and how to create a safe investment strategy in recession.

Whether you agree with Prechter’s bearish forecast or not, this FREE group of resources is prudent advice for anyone concerned about preserving wealth in a recession.

To learn more about getting your hands and eyes on Prechter’s 3 FREE videos and 1 FREE report, click here.

Wall Street Journal parody has the paper scrambling

A parody of the Wall Street Journal appears to have the paper scrambling, according to the New York Times. Multiple reports show that agents of the publishing company have been running around to purchase all the existing copies of the parody, which skewers the new owner Rubert Murdoch, pummels a few politicians, and takes aim at financial industry targets.



It appears the parodies claim that the paper is Available now at Newstands everywhere! does not hold true. Fortunately it can be found on Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Journal-Tony-Hendra/dp/0615193323/

Free Trading Lessons Now Online Until April 18

The Independent Trader Crash Course
Over $300 of Trading Lessons, FREE through April 18!

Click Here to Get Your Free Lessons

More About the Independent Trader Crash Course

You've heard them say, "Buy low, sell high." You've also heard, "The trend is your friend." Then there's, "Don't fight the Fed" and many other age-old trading principles.

But have you ever actually tried to live by them? If so, you know that it's easier said than done. Because, for example, how do you know if you're really buying "low" and selling "high"?

Elliott Wave International, the world’s largest market forecasting firm, is releasing 5 unique reports and videos that can help you bridge the gap between the theory of wise adages and the practice of benefiting from them.

The Independent Trader Crash Course compiles over 4 years of the best trading lessons from Elliott Wave International with 64 pages and 17 minutes of insightful online videos that you simply cannot get anywhere else.

These five reports and supplemental videos will reveal to you several key techniques of analysis, forecasting and risk-management that are tailored to fulfill one purpose: making you a better trader.

Click Here to Get Your Free Lessons