Slope has moved to a new platform, although you can look at old posts from August 2008 through May 2009 here.

I had planned to take at least another week to do this, but I'm plunging ahead anyway.

Slope of Hope is moving to a different blog platform. There are many reasons for this, none of which really matter in this forum. I'll be writing a longish post about what it means to you (not much, except "starting over" with respect to profiles in the comments section).

Just don't be confused and puzzled when Slope looks very, very different. Changing DNS servers takes a couple of days to propogate, so things are going to be "spotty" this weekend as some people wind up on this site, and others wind up on the new one.

Also, do not expect some gorgeous amazing new site. It's going to be very simple and more threadbare than this one. But that's going to change very soon. So, at first, this is going to be a downgrade. Hang in there.

First off, I wanted to make a book recommendation - The Ascent of Money - it's outstanding. It won't teach you anything about trading, but it's a marvelous look at the development of money (insurance, debt, equities, credit markets, the whole schmear) through the lens of history. If you enjoy history at all, I imagine you'll love this book.

The other random comment I have on this foggy Saturday morning is how I've made good progress on my blog platform change (there will be a lot of conversation from me about this in a week or so, believe me). As I was checking my text port, I happened to glance at a post from late last September...........

Tears nearly welled up in my eyes remembering those days. The pluck! The attitude! Thanks to Goldman Sachs, we're all wringing our hands and quivering in our Aerons. Goldman or no Goldman, the day will return before 2010 is over (hopefully way before, but we'll see) when the feces hit the fan again, only even worse than before.

Until then, we Slopers shall continue to preserve capital, make money in markets that seem technically bullish, and awaiting the good fight again. It'll come. We just need to make sure we have ample capital to profit from it.

Lastly, slip5ham had a good question/point in the prior post, which in a nutshell was that the equity curves are all well and good, but unless specific buy/sell suggestions in real time are made, it doesn't really help others.

I understand the point. My goal is those graphs was, in spite of these markets, to basically showing that a chartist like me can still do OK. With all my whining and complaining and bitching, some people probably figured I was down 80% this year, and I didn't' want that notion to poison the perceived value of charting (particularly with my trusty friend ProphetCharts, always at my side).

So the blog never set out to be a "follow Tim's trades" kind of place. It's more like a pleasant bar where people can share drinks, swap stories and ideas, and try to learn from one another. And, after closes on Friday, when Bovine pushes me out of the way, to get really hammered with the Ladies of Slope.