They say there’s gold but I’m looking for thrills.
Start randomly asking “Why gold?” to anyone and you will hear back many interesting answers. Ask the head of the FED, a gold dealer, an economist, a finance expert, a trader, an investor, your mother or the girl in the coffee shop. Everybody has something to talk about why humans love gold. I bet the answers would range from “I don’t know” to a complete 4-hour lesson on the history of this noble metal.
Did it ever cross your mind to ask a professor of chemistry what he/she thinks of gold? That’s when things become really interesting.
In a 2013 interview with the BBC, Andrea Sella, a professor of chemistry at University College London, made a nice journey to the center of the periodic table to explain “Why gold?”.
– Noble gases and halogens. Currency made of gas? Discard.
– Alkaline and earth metals. Explosive currency? Discard.
– Radioactive elements. Currency causing neoplastic diseases? Discard.
– Rare earths. Chemically hard to distinguish from one another. Discard.
– Transition and Post-transition metals. Some are hard to melt, others hard to extract, others are unstable and some corrode when in contact with water. Complicated currency? Discard.
From a total of 118 elements, only eight would stand a chance of becoming currency: the noble metals. Still, we have problems here. Six out of those eight are very rare and hard to extract.
Gold & Silver were the only ones left. They are our Batman & Robin fighting for justice and value inside the financial markets. But there is still one last problem: Silver tarnishes when in contact with air. Damn!
There goes our hero: rare, inert, relatively low melting point, easy to turn into coins, ingots, and jewelry. Through the eons, the most beautiful mesmerizer and hypnotizer of humans.
Chart of the Day
This is the Periodic Table of Elements, 2018 version. Gold and Silver are numbers 79 and 47, respectively. From a total of 118 elements, only them were considered reliable enough to be used as currencies.
Video of the day
How To Place a Short Strangle Order in TOS
Sometimes the most frustrating thing for a new trader is learning how to place the actual order in the software they are using. In this video, Coach Noah walks through how to place a short strangle order in ThinkorSwim, a popular trading software used by many students at Tackle Trading.
Today’s Lineup
Coaches Lounge 11am EST
Join the coaches in this live lounge, ask questions, discuss ideas or just sit back and listen to veteran traders discuss market conditions.
Coaches Show 7pm EST
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