A lot of you take this stock market racket way too serious. In your search to unveil the Holy Grail, you hem and haw your way into mediocrity. Here is some advice that will help you see things clearly: Stop learning. In a fast paced market, sometimes it makes sense to cease over-analyzing ever single tick, every single news release and just do.
Way back when, I’d scurry through every financial publication, book and website, in order to find an edge in the market. Then it dawned on me: most of you fuckers out there publishing books don’t know shit about investing. My current reading list is populated with classical literature, interesting industry stories, or something entirely unrelated to stocks. While it’s true, keeping up to date with news and research is vital to staying relevant. It’s also true, too much information can cloud your mind with all sorts of convoluted strategies, effectively knee-capping your trading performance.
The market is a living beast, always trying to bite your head off. Watch the beast very closely and strike when you feel the advantage is in your favor, not when some asshole tells you to. As much as I praise myself, being a stock market miracle, my style may not be suitable for your investment needs.
As for the market:
I ended up doing nothing today, despite saying I would sell. I have plenty of cash and fairly safe positions, as currently constituted. Should we gap up in the morning, I will be sure to raise another 5% cash.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIaksuNNKpA 616 500] If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
I am reading Sun Zu’s “The Art of War”, as for classical reading, not ao much. But it is entertaining.
Sun Tzu is too cliche.
Go read some Andrew Carnegie.
Go straight to Clausewitz.
Read the partnership. Not bad
Anything tolstoy, dickens or twain ftw. Best book of all time, don quioxte
0101010101010
What is that, fucking Atari code for FIG?
hey pro,
where have you been?
Well said. While in search of the holy grail, or watching everything in attempt to catch the next big thing, people end up being average at everything, rather then mastering one strategy.
I tried questing once, but ended up at the Castle Anthrax for six months.
That strategy works beautifully in an ever-trending market. Buy every pause. The dumber the better.
But when the trending stops, the crafty-ness begins…
That’s right…. I said it.
AT&T Sucks!
I just finished reading Mark Helprin’s first novel Refiner’s Fire. Much more straight forward and historically interesting than the later (but still great) Winter’s Tale I’d been raving about earlier this year.
Highly, highly recommended. As an aside, if you are Jewish or of Jewish origin, I recommend it even more. The man can spin a tale with heart, there’s no question.
__________
Just finished “Snowball”, now reading “Titan” (Rockefeller’s bio). Fascinating.
Loved Snowball. Anyone read Glass Castles? great read.
Jeannette Walls?
______
Don’t forget “The House of Morgan”, by the same guy.
Go read War and Peace.
Anna Karenina, for the win.
_________
Of all the women of great literature — I think it’s Anna I most carry with me — God I can just see her stepping off that train, so beautiful — so fated.
I prefer Le Rouge et le Noir, the Chartreuse de Parme, and, of course, Madame Bovary!
I’m reading “The Partnership”, history of the making of Goldman Sachs. A bit repetitive but gives some good insights on how they became the beast that they are.
Bios are a great thing as they are history, but don’t forget the history that may be a lot closer than you think.
________
speaking of dumb, sorry for being dumb but what does FIG mean on every first comment of a blog post?
It is a term used by confused girlish groupies who long to have unnatural relations with Fly.
It’s an age old tradition involving a ginger root.
You know, the guy in the office next to me unveiled his kurig coffee maker today.
I mentioned I use a grinder and percolator, but he wasn’t impressed.
going to see the temper trap at williamsburg music hall on 4/2.
“Watch the beast very closely and strike when you feel the advantage is in your favor, not when some asshole tells you to.”
Agreud (sic) 100%. The stochastically oversold positive momentum divergence is my bread and butter set-up during intermediate-term uptrends. Long positions taken only when the % of S&P stocks is 1 std deviation or more below the mean (akin to PPT Hybrid score below 2.20) increases the odds that the short-term trend will be helping your positions when the oversold condition of the general market resolves itself. Opposite conditions during intermediate-term downtrends when looking at the short side (personal preference of mine is to play the short side with inverse etf’s only to avoid being squeezed in individual names). Winning trades ~65% of the time with a positive expectancy. If you don’t know what the expectancy of your system is, figure it out. No matter how good you think your strategy is, a negative expectancy means it’s just a question of when, not if, your account goes to $0.
fid
Simplify your fuckin’ suggestions. You lose everybody by the third sentence.
On the other hand, nobody misunderstands me, except my wife.
read “panic of 1907” – similar to 2007 and so is the chart before and after.
http://www.amazon.com/Panic-1907-Lessons-Learned-Markets/dp/047015263X
“The Fly” is a modern-day Ignatius Reilly.
Your content is fresh; therefore it is read. Lemming trading is for butt bandits.
I think for investing Nietzsche is a good starting point.
Me nots. Untergehen and Ubergehen are not metaphors of loss/triumph.
Not even for Shaquille O’Neill.
And, how do you make sense of the philological attack on morality in market terms. Nietzsche was no classical liberal.
I was thinking more “will to power” and “white lies” as they apply to the stock market-casino-ponzi scheme.
…and as I re-read my post I should have said “trading” and not “investing” as I think the later is dead.
Love Andrew Carnegie – a beneficiary of his trusts for the townsfolk of Dunfermline – his birthplace, and my hometown.
Not bad having Hugh Hendry and Gordon Brown a stone’s throw away either (if you are of their persuasion).
Don’t mess with Sterling!
I enjoyed The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati. Such an oddly mesmerizing read.
Real traders are taught that the Holy Grail to Investing doesn’t exist. Real people were taught that all the planet’s move about the earth, don’t go to far out into the ocean(you’ll fall off the earth), on and on……….
When one looks outside the box(inventor), goes against the group(thinks for self), said they found(developed) something that is supposed to be impossible(airplanes), they were once killed. Now these people are called bad names and delegated to be unheard, and ignored group.
The ultimate business solution. The ability to cut the cost of any business expense, or just plain invest.
I developed multiple arbitrages that enable me to trade(not invest) in the finacial markets, without risk(The Holy Grail to Investing), or arbitrage that anyone can do. Over 30% a year.
Athenpro.com is in the building stage.
Thomas Adair
[email protected]