http://www.thickenmywallet.com/blog/wp/2009/07/15/is-goldman-sachs-a-sign-of-things-to-come-or-back-to-the-future/ Everything to do with thickening your wallet Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:44:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 http://www.thickenmywallet.com/blog/wp/2009/07/15/is-goldman-sachs-a-sign-of-things-to-come-or-back-to-the-future/comment-page-1/#comment-19167 Silicon Prairie Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:55:42 +0000 http://www.thickenmywallet.com/blog/wp/?p=1069#comment-19167 Leaving aside the question of whether these trades involve too much hidden risk (one quarter doesn't tell us anything about their long-term success rate), I don't find it too hard to believe that a company such as GS could potentially have an ability to trade more than it did in the past without going to losing trades. In that case the main problem would be that since current volatility gives a trader who knows the market well more opportunities to profit, these profits will tend to decline in the long run. However that sounds like excellent diversification - profit from volatility when times are bad, and from more stable business that pick up again when times are good. Leaving aside the question of whether these trades involve too much hidden risk (one quarter doesn’t tell us anything about their long-term success rate), I don’t find it too hard to believe that a company such as GS could potentially have an ability to trade more than it did in the past without going to losing trades. In that case the main problem would be that since current volatility gives a trader who knows the market well more opportunities to profit, these profits will tend to decline in the long run. However that sounds like excellent diversification – profit from volatility when times are bad, and from more stable business that pick up again when times are good.

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