I'm a daytrader and investor and generally a bull by nature. Even in nasty bear markets like this, I still like to trade from the long side. All traders think you have to be right about stock or general market direction to make money. I say that simply isn't true. I've known people who are correct in terms of where a stock or market is headed, yet they still lose money. God knows how often I've been wrong, and still manage to etch out a gain due to my flexibility as a daytrader. I've had other traders, both simple and sophisticated, laughed at me for making outrageous calls, like the most recent Dow to 36,000. (But then again, they laughed at me too when I said that the oil rise to $150 had nothing to do with actual demand, but rather, traders bidding up the oil ETFs. I also said commodities were gonna crash and everybody should stay away. Little did I know, that EVERYTHING was gonna crash!) The American stock market certainly has the potential to get us to Dow 36,000; it just needs a few more pieces of legislation to align and we will be on our merry way. Doesn't mean I'm gonna trade the market as though we're guaranteed to be at Dow 36,000. I still make my trading decisions one day at a time, but I trade within the confines of my beloved Beanieville System, by far the best approach to the stock market, in my opinion, bar none.
You know, I don't have a job. Haven't worked in a corporation for God knows how long. I've always hated working for one. The politics there are disgusting and low class. Without a regular sell-your-soul-to-the-devil income, I have no choice but to learn to
make money in the stock market. I take everything in if I think it helps, including Astrology. I'm very opened-minded with what's out there. If someone like Zee throws out a Corkscrew formation, I go observe it myself and see if it works the majority of the time. I don't care if it's not in standard trading textbooks. (Guess what? Whatever is out there makes 90% of the people lose money! So those book gurus can suck on my Beanieville System!) I gave you folks the Batwings Formation. I observed it, and I saw it works most of the time so I adopt it. It's not in any book you'll ever read. No "respectable" guru is gonna accept it and he'll likely laugh at it. (He can suck on my Beanieville System as well!) Look at it this way, the guys who ran Long Term Capital Management were some of the brightest PhD's you can find on the planet. They lost and they lost big.
If intelligence is the only metric the market goes by, then you haven't the slightest chance. In the end, the LTCM guys were just a flash in the pan. It takes more than just pure intelligence to make money in the stock market. Remember that! Open-mindedness and flexibility and self-control, in my opinion, are infinitely more important than intelligence when it comes to making money in the markets.
