Stock Traders are Cowards
I know I have only been an adrenaline-fuelled, risk-it-all, balls-to-the-wall, living-on-the-edge stocktrader for about four months but I have decided to ostracize myself already by slagging of other traders. That’s just the way I roll. I take no prisoners these days. It gives me the edge. It’s where I have to be.
For some reason reason though, the whole trading lark makes me want to talk almost entirely in cliche. It’s apparently part of the cut and thrust, the in it to win it mentality. I’ll stop now though as I’m pissing myself off.
So what have I learned with my vast new knowledge of the markets?
The first thing is don’t invest your tax money just before a global financial meltdown. It really blows when the taxman wants his bloodmoney and your investments have just tanked. Fortunately I work freelance, so was able to work myself into the ground and not have to sell my shares and still pay the goverment. It’s been awesome.
The second thing is that it isn’t quite as exciting as it is on the TV. Maybe it is if you’re a daytrader but they’re the ones who chuck themselves off skyscrapers when markets crash and I don’t want life to be that exciting. The first few weeks I was clued to little graphs and indices that flickered in exciting colours. Now I’m a bit more casual and just keep a vague eye on things throughout the day. That changed today though when my shares rocketed skyward, so maybe I’m talking shit and just can’t take bad news.
The main and most unexpected thing I have discovered is that independent investors like myself are the most optimistic people on Earth, while big movers-and-shakers trading types are jittery little girls. I once spent a sad hour reading the forums about a share that was worth 7p to start with, and then slid to 1p over a period of six months. It was sad to see the misplaced optimism the poor investing saps had in this share and they constantly bolstered each other’s confidence with ‘Company reports next week! Good news I hope! This share is about to skyrocket IMO’. Then the following week another drop. This unbridled optimism is almost touching.
On the flipside, this optimism combats the cowardly pussies that work for the big trading markets. These guys are like anxious meerkats on coke. For the first month I traded, I was caught off guard by the market’s temerity. One minute the news stated there were worries that Greece might default and suddenly the markets tumble. They are just worries that it might, you cowards. Any bit of news like this and all the major players suddenly shit themselves and cause a minor crash and then act all depressed.
‘There’s a rumour that the economy might not expand as much as previously estimated next year? Holy shit! Sell!’ Then the FTSE drops like a stone. The next day:
‘China’s economy is still strong though? Fuck! Buy any share!’
To be fair, whenever a guy who works for a big company does grow a pair, a bank seems to go down and they are led away in handcuffs.
I could be wrong in my colossal ignorance on practically everything that happens in the market but it feels like this is what’s going on. To be honest, a lot of it feels like barely informed guesswork.
So what have I learned? Not much, but from what I can tell, I’m not alone. It’s still fun though.
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