Skip to main content

Puplava: listen to what the markets are saying

While catching up with Chris Puplava's latest market update last night, I had to stop and share some of his words with our followers on Twitter. 

Read the opening of Chris' article, "Stop Talking and Start Listening!". You'll find some worthwhile comments on interpreting data and the importance of maintaining accountability in one's market calls. 

"...Far too often investment managers and economists spend more time espousing their views and then defending them until eventually proven right (“I was just early”), rather than spending more time analyzing their assumptions and being honest enough to say, “I WAS WRONG!” and then moving forward. 

Part of the problem is that they create a view and then find evidence to support their views rather than starting from the bottom up by collecting an exhaustive amount of data and then summarizing the collective message rather than their views. 

Basically, listen to the message of the markets and then interpret those messages rather than telling the markets what they should be doing. What the market IS doing is far more important than what you think the market SHOULD be doing..." 

This is an excellent summary of one of the biggest problems I see in the 24/7 cycle of market commentary and trading. People have become too enamored of their own market view/"thesis" and too concerned about the risk to their reputations to come out and admit they're wrong.

Of course, if you are tied to a certain view or position and can't admit you are wrong, it could have an adverse effect on your trading or investing returns. Some people may hesitate to cut their losses on a bad trade or reverse their position (say, by going from short to long on a certain security or asset) if they've anchored themselves to a privately held or publicly expressed view.

Now that blogs and real-time social networks have allowed us all to become "mini-pundits", the risk of spouting off in public and ignoring the message of the markets has shifted down from media stars and big-name fund managers to the rest of us. 

But guess what? That also provides us with an opportunity to face the music and occasionally admit we were wrong about something, which may actually help build trust with our audience (and in ourselves) in the long-term. 

Because let's face it: no one wants to listen to someone who is never wrong and is always (magically) right. Why? Simple. Such people don't exist, oracles and sages of mythology aside.

Now back to the macro view. Despite some well-known recent calls for recession from ECRI and others, Puplava feels the markets and economy are in "bullish harmony" and are sending us a message that there is no bear market or recession ahead. Take a look at the article and examine the arguments for yourself. 

And remember, hold yourself accountable for your own market actions and judgements. Try not to impose your views on the market, and try to be flexible in your trading, especially when it comes to admitting you are wrong about something. Your thinking and your results might improve!

Related articles and posts: 

1. Zen and the Art of Trading.

2. What makes a great trader? Managing risk.

Popular posts from this blog

How to "Pull the Trigger" on Your Trading Ideas

In our last post, I quoted hedge fund manager, Jim Leitner on the importance of following up on your investment ideas.  Today I'd like to follow up and share some thoughts on how you can learn to consistently "pull the trigger" on your best trading setups and investing ideas. In order to help you do that, we'll take from the best and offer up key insights from interviews with top traders and trading psychologists like Alan Farley, Brett Steenbarger, and Doug Hirschhorn .  Now before we get to their key insights on overcoming trading anxiety and pulling the trigger on your trading ideas, let's remember what Jim Leitner said in his interview: "Learn to love to listen to people and when you hear something interesting, follow up on it. Don't just think, "Well that's an interesting idea" only to find out a year later that the company you could've bought shares in is now up 500-fold. You never want to say woulda, coulda, shoulda...

Market Wizard, Steve Clark on Trading: Grow Your Equity Curve

Trading wisdom recap: Steve Clark , founder of Omni Partners, was featured in Jack Schwager's 2012 book, Hedge Fund Market Wizards .  Clark's interview with Schwager provided us with some valuable trading insights; "Lessons from Hedge Fund Market Wizards: Steve Clark" was one of our most popular posts ever. If I had to pick my favorite sections from Clark's chapter, it would be boiled down to these two concepts: "Do more of what works (and less of what doesn't work)" and "Manage your equity curve". Here's his full quote on the supreme importance of growing your equity curve :  "Your job as a trader is to make the line of your equity curve go from bottom left to top right. That's it. Don't get hung up on other supposed "mandates". Protect your capital and the direction of that equity line. "   I will leave you with one last series of quotes from Steve Clark's interview with Jack Schwager. ...

Seth Klarman: Margin of Safety (pdf)

Welcome, readers! Signup for free email updates at the Finance Trends Newsletter . Update: PDF links removed due to DMCA notice. Please see our extensive Klarman book notes below. New visitors, please check the Finance Trends home page for all new posts. Here's something for anyone who has been trying to get a look at Seth Klarman's now famous, and out of print, 1991 investment book, Margin of Safety .  My knowledge of value investing is pretty much limited to what I've read in Ben Graham's The Intelligent Investor (the book which originally popularized the investment concept of a "Margin of Safety"), so check out the wisdom from Seth Klarman and other investing greats in our related posts below. You can also go straight to Ronald Redfield's Margin of Safety book notes .    Related posts: 1. Seth Klarman interviews and Margin of Safety notes     2. Seth Klarman: Lessons from 2008 3. Investing Lessons from Sir John Templeton 4. ...