Japan is one of the few world markets that doesn't move in near lockstep with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrials. Investors interested in equities might consider Japanese ETFs, such as iShares S&P/TOPIX 150 Index (iShares MSCI Japan Small Cap Index), iShares MSCI Japan Small Cap Index (SCJ) and WisdomTree Japan Total Dividend (DXJ). Both the Nikkei 225 s six-month and one-year rolling correlations show an insignificant (and slightly negative) -0.07 and -0.008 attachment to U.S. markets.

While Japan has never closely followed the U.S. the strongest relationship over the past five years was 0.30 back in 2004, its connection has become even less pronounced since the credit crisis began in 2007. In effect, the Nikkei is beating the U.S. markets on a performance basis year-to-date and doing so in a highly independent fashion.

Source: Rosewood Research

CQG Offers Best View of Markets

As a runner at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), I can remember seeing traders line up for their turn to use a strange, amber-hued glowing machine called CQG, which spit out then-rudimentary charts following the deutsche mark, soybeans or whatever commodity they happened to be trading.

Years later, as a floor trader and then professional fund manager myself, I quickly realized why the locals would line up for their turn. CQG s charting, graphics and data capabilities are, in a word, flawless. The software, which is now Windows-based, offers what I believe to be the highest-quality platform for serious traders and market tacticians available today.

Want stochastics, historical volatility and volume-weighted average price studies? How about linear regression, correlation analysis and oscillators? Done. CQG has Fibonacci tools that Fibonacci himself could have never imagined. They also offer TradeFlow, a proprietary method of seeing whether the last price in electronic markets was generated by traders hitting bids or taking offers.

And unlike many platforms that seem to require a degree in computer programming, CQG feels totally intuitive. The system offers hundreds of instruments and studies for over 90 exchanges world-wide, fully customizable and supported nearly 24 hours a day.

It's rare that I'm so enthusiastic for a platform or company, but after more than 10 years staring at their screens, CQG has earned my respect and unabashed praise. It isn t the cheapest data and technical-analysis platform on the market, but it is the best.

Pretty Pictures

Promotional screenshot from trading software CQG
(Source: CQG.com)