Whenever the market turns lower, the dogs come creeping out from the woodworks to profess the inner workings of the market. Without making this messier than it needs to be, let’s just agree that you’re throwing open faced peanut butter sandwiches at the windows and calling it “spring cleaning.” Your style is not mine and iBankCoin is not yours. See how it all works out, mathematically?
I do not invest anymore. I use the term loosely, to show my appreciation for relics. I was able to avoid the tough markets of 2001-2003 by only positioning in fixed income. That’s right, Le Fly was almost exclusive in the bond markets back then, specializing in distressed debt. From 2003-2007, I banked consistent coin, albeit tough sledding, trading in and out of equities. However, I held some positions for years, mainly because I believed in the long term prospects of the economic model. Hell, housing was great and unemployment was so low, even my barber had 300k in stocks. However, in late 2007 to early 2008 everything changed.
I was able to avoid the collapse and make 60%+ by being short the market. In order to accomplish this, at the very minimum of requirements, I had to sell everything and then sell them again. Feel free to dabble throughout my archives to see how I traded it back then. During 2009, I covered my shorts and went long, making 90% for the year. As most of you know, in 2010, again, I was long and made about 60%+. Some people ask me “why bother trading, especially when you have such good investments ideas?” While that is true, the greater and more important truth, unvarnished, is I do not believe this system of economic structure is sustainable.
I’ve been living on pins and needles for the better part of 4 years now, waiting for some cataclysm to hit. The difference between me and the bearish blogger down the street from you is 9 figures in assets under management and the ability to take advantage of the bubble being built on easy money. This is a very important point that most of you forget to document. None of what we are doing here matters. We are simply trading today’s sentiment for tomorrow’s, when no one really knows what tomorrow will bring. Understand?
Let me put it to you this way: you see me buying the refiners right? From my balls to the wall, over-caffeinated induced blogs, discussing how “awesome and amazing” the refiners are, one might think I would never sell them. Just know, I will sell them in a second if I think the trade is dead. I sold my PSLV yesterday because I wanted to take profits. Sometimes you get lucky. I sold a bunch of stocks today because they weren’t central to my current theme. None of them matter. They are simply letters of the alphabet affixed to digits. Unlike your magical book of creation, they are not sacred.
I cannot tell you where this market is going to bring me. In all likelihood, by the end of the year I will be sipping on grotesquely large mugs, overflowing with black smoke. I will trade from a central point of rebellion, where bustling metal could be heard on a continuous basis. Or, maybe the BEARDED CLAM will reveal QE3 and allow me to further denigrate the bearshitter wrapped in burlap, to the point where their faces are nothing more than imprints in mud.
In summary: ebb and flow.
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