Perfect Pan-Seared Steak

Ingredients

1 bone-in or boneless rib eye steak or sirloin steak at least 1 ½ pounds, cut to at least 1 ½ inches thick
Pinch of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 peeled garlic cloves, left whole
Few sprigs fresh parsley, including stems
Optional: Wine and stock (chicken, beef, veal,etc.) and butter for deglazing the pan and making a delicious pan sauce
Optional: Roasted potato wedges (see note above)

Instructions

Salt and pepper one side of the steak.
Heat your seasoned cast iron skillet to smoking hot. Add oil and swirl around to coat. Add steak seasoned-side down (place it in pan away from you so you don’t get splattered), and then salt and pepper the other side of the steak. At this point do not touch it for two minutes. Using tongs (never pierce the meat with a fork), flip the steak and add butter, garlic and parsley to the pan next to the steak. Allow the steak to cook for 2 more minutes.
Right after you flip the steak for the first time, with a spoon or small ladle, keep basting the melted butter over the steak. Baste continually for the full two minutes (tilt pan a little if you have to, to get the butter onto the spoon).
After two minutes on each side, keep flipping and basting the steak each time leaving the steak for 30 seconds before turning. Test the steak with the poke test (see note below) and remove at medium rare at about the five to six minute mark of total cooking time. Cook a minute or two longer for medium to well. A thicker steak (such as a sirloin) may take longer.
Turn off the heat and baste one more time. Leave the steak in the pan loosely covered with foil for 10 minutes and allow to rest before cutting. Baste one more time, and remove to a cutting board. Either cut the steak in half for each serving or for a nicer presentation, slice on the bias and serve slices.
Discard the pan drippings or if desired, deglaze the pan with a little wine, then and stock and simmer for a few minutes to reduce the drippings. Add a tablespoon or two of butter to thicken for a nice pan sauce .

Source

How to Trade Bitcoin in 2018

How to Trade Bitcoin in 2018 - Last year was a stellar one for Bitcoin, as it opened trading at $966 before embarking on a rally that took it to as high as $20,000. Even after the volatility of the past few days, Bitcoin has beaten all the other asset classes by a huge margin. The big question on everyone’s mind now is: what will happen in 2018 and how should one trade Bitcoin? The experts are divided in their opinion. The aggressive bulls have given targets of above $60,000for 2018. That’s a 300% increase from the current levels. On the other hand, the skeptics continue to question the cryptocurrencies’ valuation, calling it a bubble. Some expect wild swings in 2018. Saxo Bank’s outrageous prediction lists a possible high of $60,000, followed by a drop to $1,000. Similarly, cryptocurrency entrepreneur Julian Hospbelieves that Bitcoin will fall to $5,000, but he tends to think that it will also touch $60,000. He is not sure which level will be reached first. While the predictions offer us different opinions, it is difficult to trade off them. So we have tried to identify a few unique patterns on the charts that repeated in 2017. These can be used as guidelines by the traders to develop a suitable strategy for 2018. 50-day Simple Moving Average In 2017, 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) acted as critical support. In all other instances, the price touched the moving average or dipped below it during intraday, but quickly recovered. So, a purchase close to the 50-day SMA offers a low-risk buying opportunity. Buy close to the 50-day SMA and keep a stop loss below it. 200-day EMA decline as long-term entry opportunity Bitcoin offered low-risk entry opportunities to the long-term traders en route to its 20-fold rise in 2017. It has not traded below the 200-day exponential moving average (EMA) since October 2015, which is critical support. In 2017, whenever the cryptocurrency broke below the 50-day SMA, it came within a striking distance of the 200-day EMA. This proved to be an excellent buying opportunity for long-term investors. Even in the next fall, a move close to the 200-day EMA should be seen as a buying opportunity. The price will not necessarily fall as low as the 200-day EMA, even during a large correction. On Jan. 12, for instance, it bottomed about 6.5 percent above the 200-day EMA. Similarly, on March 25, it was about 2.5 percent above the 200-day EMA. On July 16 the bottom formed 10.7 percent above the 200-day EMA. Though not perfect, traders can start their purchase about 15 percent above the 200-day EMA, with staggered buy orders below that. How do we calculate how far above is the price from the 200-day EMA? Though there doesn’t exist any specific indicator for it, we can use the “Price Oscillator” (PPO) by altering its values smartly. The PPO offers the percentage difference between two exponential moving averages. Therefore, if we need to plot how far away the price is from the 200 EMA, we can feed the values of 1,200, which will give us the desired result. What if Bitcoin breaks down below 200-day EMA? If the price breaks down of the long-term moving average, it is a warning signal that things have changed. It indicates that Bitcoin is either entering into a long-term downtrend or into a range-bound action, which will require a different trading strategy. In trading, profit is made by buying and selling at the opportune time. While we have identified a low-risk buying strategy, we have yet to ascertain the best time to sell. Let's take a look at that, next. Best place to sell There was no indicator that would have given a consistent sell signal at the top. But it was noted that a simple trendline did the job perfectly. Even as far back as 2014, a reading above 60 on the ADX has been a good selling point for Bitcoin. How to approach Bitcoin trading in 2018? It is easy to identify and fit indicators and trendlines once the chart has formed. Doing the same with live markets is not an easy task. All in all, it is almost impossible to forecast cryptocurrenciy price movements for the whole next year ahead, because the marker is still young to have developed repetitive patterns of price behavior. Try avoiding long-term prognosis. Happy trading.

Perfect Pan-Seared Steak

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Ingredients

Instructions

How to Trade Bitcoin in 2018