Today Corbin Hosler looks at aggregate data from 2014 to get an idea of how Magic speculation performed overall. He goes over the biggest gainers and losers from the year, and explains what they mean.

Diversifying your portfolio, in quality and quantity, is fundamental to the success of big and small bankrolls alike. Sylvain discusses the importance of breaking up your portfolio into a sufficient number of positions to reduce the risk of big losses to zero.

Selling into the hype is a long-held maxim in the speculation community. But when should you acquire the cards you intend to sell. Jason Alt discusses the thorny scenario where we are tempted to buy a spiking card–and when it may be correct.

Last week Sylvain examined how the time spent on an investment can be incorporated into performance calculations. This week he expands the parameters, and attempts to arrive at a universal formula to apply to any spec.

Not long ago Sigmund made an interesting comparison between Magic and silver prices, but his argument missed a few points. This week he expands upon his thesis by exploring how silver, oil, and the Euro can all impact the value of your collection.

Doomwake Giant’s prices on MTGO and in paper are wildly divergent. While this seems to be the same pattern followed by Stoke the Flames, which eventually underwent a correction, there may be more to the story. Jason Alt investigates.

David Schumann gears up for the end of the year with a recap of his financial takeaways from 2014. These are most important lessons he learned, which he intends to apply moving forward.

Differences between the paper and MTGO markets are substantial, but they are not unrelated. Jason Alt explains how careful examination of the MTGO landscape can suggest promising specs in paper.

Buying your position back after a spike? In some circumstances this move makes a lot of sense. Sylvain explores this option in the MTGO environment where more speculators than before may contribute to bigger rises and falls.

What do silver coins and MTG Finance have in common? Perhaps more than you think. But while one is selling out at the lower prices, the other is still plentiful. Read on to see where Sigmund thinks the Legacy market is headed based on these comparisons.

WoTC’s decisions are ultimately directed towards increasing profit, which translates closely to selling more sealed product. David Schumann uses this perspective to make sense of recent trends in sealed product lines and tournament structure.

Lately the old sure bets in Magic finance have seemed less and less reliable, due to reprints and large format shake-ups. Corbin suggests some ways to hedge to cover your increased risk in the new environment.

Sylvain goes deeper in explaining his thought process when pulling the trigger to sell. Responding to insiders’ comments, he explains why early sales have done more good than bad for him.