The most important message that I can convey, however, is the importance of floor traders. Now that you have an idea how I, and many others like me, got into floor trading, it is time to understand why we are such an integral part of the community.

The post Insider: The Grand Design first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Over the course of this series I have gone over a variety of ways to both understand and utilize a group of traders to maximize your profits. At this point, assuming you have established a solid group of traders and have made some long lasting connections on the floor, it is time to put all […]

The post The Great Machine: The Motor first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

As with any well-designed machine, the gears are what work together to ensure the whole thing keeps going around smoothly. Without anyone else helping to achieve your goal, you will find the grind is slow and tedious. I previously touched on some of the benefits that come along with trade groups, and this week I […]

The post Insider: The Great Machine: Gears first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

After months of writing articles and divulging information to you, the readers, it occurred to me that I had missed one of the most important elements in the trade world. The trading community is a very tight knit group: similar to the high level pros, we work together to ensure that we stay on top […]

The post Insider: The Great Machine: The Cogs first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Ryan Bushard takes a look at the staples the provide the safest kind of investment as well as talking about what it takes to be a backpack trader.

The post Insider: Shots Fired: Big Game Hunter first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Two weeks ago we covered the essentials of a called shot and went in depth on the topic of small gains. This article will go further into the belly of the beast on another type of called shot, the "wild call".

The post Insider: Shots Fired: Wild Goose Chase first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Ryan Bushard analyzes what makes a call shot and how this matters in the world of MTG Finance.

The post Shots Fired: Small Game first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Finishing his set analysis, Bushard delves into the red, green and artifact end of the card pool.

The post Sleeper Cell NPH Part 2 first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

This week we will go off the beaten path of the usual trade analysis articles I write.  Instead I want to talk about the new set. Now before you groan and close this article bear with me I promise it will be worth it.  Yes, we all know Karn Liberated and Sword of of War […]

The post Sleeper Cell NPH first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

This week I will be traveling back to where these articles started, the individual trader.  Now that we have covered how to acquire a good collection and where to move it we can get back to how to maximize your value.  The FNM or PTQ player is one of the most common individuals at a […]

The post The FNM/PTQ Trader first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Last week I covered the different ways to turn your cards into cash at a premium, everything from E-bay to major events. This week we will be looking at the flip side of that coin, how to get the largest stock for your dollar without breaking the bank. Similar to selling there are a multitude […]

The post Such Great Heights first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

So we have covered the ins and outs of quite a few trade styles and ways to trade over the past couple of weeks and that’s a great start but by now you may be wondering “How do I make all these cards turn into real profit?”  Well that is exactly what I will be […]

The post On the Way Down first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

This article comes per request from Twitter a few weeks back, and as always I am happy to indulge any reasonable request; these articles are, after all, for you: the reader. Most people reading this article already know how to trade, and whether you consider yourself new to the game or a seasoned veteran matters […]

The post The Ups, The Downs first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

Last week I covered some of the more casual traders you may encounter in the Magic world.  This week I will continue with another casual trader that is more common, though still not of the caliber most competitive players would expect.  After covering this new type of trader I will devote the remainder of this […]

The post Casually Trading Part 2: Selling Out first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

The art of trading can be a very difficult skill to perfect, and even more so when dealing with certain types of traders.  Today’s topic will be covering one of these types of traders, the casual player.  This is a very broad topic so I will be breaking it up into a couple of installments […]

The post Staying Casual first appeared on Quiet Speculation.

This week’s article will be devoted to the art of the shark, and no we aren’t talking about the fiendish fish Fonzie jumped but instead on the equally fearsome trader. This is not to say a shark or player vendor is a bad person to trade with. Quite the opposite in fact! These trades can […]

The post Illusions of Grandeur first appeared on Quiet Speculation.