*Not Financial Advice Mwah!
Dearest readers, it is that time of the market cycle again- a time when more and more experts put on bulletproof vests and cautiously declare we may, just may end up having a 10 year bear market, meaning that the market would crash even more and take 10 years to reclaim its highs! So, where does that leave most of us? We have people with RRSP's and 401K's retiring now and counting on their investments, we have people not retiring yet but worried about how much their investments are going down, and then we have people with or without RRSP's and 401K's who piled tons of money (often borrowed) into mid and large cap stocks, rode them from the COVID crash all the way up, and left them with a lofty haircut or a notable loss at present time. Either way, there are no winners here except institutions that move markets. However, I really do not believe it is time to just sit there. I think it is time for some paradigm shifts and crazy new (or not so new) ideas about the market and what it can do for us regular people.
First, and seriously, I do not believe that we are looking at market crashes and subsequent bear markets the right way. When we say market crash, we often mean the stock market crash. NASDAQ, NYSE and many more- they all crash; S&P 500 crashes. But wait, why did a NASDAQ stock EPIX (Essa Pharma Inc) go up 180.23% percent today?! is the market not crashing? Oh, and that is where we catch it. Sure, the market as a whole may not be doing well, but this pharma company had positive news regarding a prostate cancer treatment they are working on and boom goes the dynamite! It went up sort of smooth as well throughout the day, no insane morning gap so plenty of chances to get in. Personally, I did not partake as I am still in my learning phase and I am also trying to be psychologically ready for the markets (a task more difficult than learning chart analysis). Nevertheless, it was nice to see. So, we identified that- today- EPIX was a part of the market that was booming, not crashing. Other days, there were other stocks booming even when the market went down. So, if some parts are up even when the entire market is down, what is actually going down? Oh yes, you may have already guessed right. The stocks that are overstuffed with money and overinflated are getting sold off, in waves, by institutions and insiders alike. They like to do it in stages or else the market could go down to zero in a day or two. People like Oliver Velez like to call it the Elephant Walk (Google or YouTube if you like). So, while it does feel like a crash when you are invested in those stocks in a self-directed portfolio or your RRSP or 401K, today was an excellent day with an excellent opportunity for traders.
And yes, I did say traders. You know, a hobby or profession easy to learn but damn, damn difficult to master (although I am told it is well worth it). You see, this is where we get to the next stage of our paradigm shift. When this market of ours is done crashing and then enters a perhaps 10 year period of trying to retake former highs, if you are still investing in your RRSP or 401K, your financial institution will keep putting your contributions into financial instruments that will grow in the bear market- hopefully. In this case, you are pretty lucky that you are investing little by little over a long period of time and that these professionals are diversifying your portfolio. However, when it comes to your self-directed portfolio such as a leveraged position in Amazon or Tesla where maybe you are already left holding the bag, praying they bounce back, you may be learning a valuable lesson. When you pile lots of money into one or a few stocks in a short time frame, you better be day trading or swing trading- you are not equipped to invest and you really, really do not want to act like an investor in that case. You do not want to love a long time, you want a short, fast, hard and profitable in and out. You want to learn how to do this successfully again and again. You want to set aside time to trade based on around your day job or other daily duties. You want to spend time learning how to do this even if it takes a year or three.
Why do this? it is simple.
Many people believe that the markets are the playground of the rich and that the rest of us lose money when we try to trade. Volumes upon volumes have been written in this tone. Personally, I can no longer see it that way no matter what. The rich have left a window open and then turned it into a window. We went from needing a broker to paying 20 dollars per trade or more to cheap or free trading platforms. We may lose money while learning how to trade, but that is the tuition fee we pay to the markets in return for a learning experience (also, you can paper trade for a while before doing any real trades). If you are dedicated enough, persistent enough, and you are able to kill your ego when you trade, eventually I think you will in fact make it. The rich have allowed us to do so, it is open season and the challenge is on. You may not have the time to catch one day wonders like EPIX if you work full-time, but you can learn to swing trade things like continuation patterns where you catch a pullback every week from a small cap stock that is on the run and you capitalize on that. The result is you being able to make the percentage return that your balanced retirement portfolio takes a year to achieve in just a few weeks with a self-directed trading account. Can you really do that? Can you be consistent over a long period of time? How should I know? You try and you tell me. All I can tell you is that the money is there. Just go look at top percentage gainers on NASDAQ and NYSE between 2 and 25 dollars every day for a month, put it into an Excel sheet or a notes app, and you will see that there may just be something valuable in it for you after all.
Why engage in this? It is simple. We have been given the best technology, the best overall conditions in the world to pull off easy side gigs and second income sources, yet somehow most of us have still not made it happen. Frustrating? it is to me and probably to you as well. One thing I like about short term trading over every other side gig is that is one of the income sources out there with the smallest number of steps between the money you put in and the money you take out (profit). Everything else usually involves way, way more steps.
Do I have videos to recommend? Yes, yes I do but they are not trending and they have zero young people in them haha (might be a blessing).
Dearest readers, it is that time of the market cycle again- a time when more and more experts put on bulletproof vests and cautiously declare we may, just may end up having a 10 year bear market, meaning that the market would crash even more and take 10 years to reclaim its highs! So, where does that leave most of us? We have people with RRSP's and 401K's retiring now and counting on their investments, we have people not retiring yet but worried about how much their investments are going down, and then we have people with or without RRSP's and 401K's who piled tons of money (often borrowed) into mid and large cap stocks, rode them from the COVID crash all the way up, and left them with a lofty haircut or a notable loss at present time. Either way, there are no winners here except institutions that move markets. However, I really do not believe it is time to just sit there. I think it is time for some paradigm shifts and crazy new (or not so new) ideas about the market and what it can do for us regular people.
First, and seriously, I do not believe that we are looking at market crashes and subsequent bear markets the right way. When we say market crash, we often mean the stock market crash. NASDAQ, NYSE and many more- they all crash; S&P 500 crashes. But wait, why did a NASDAQ stock EPIX (Essa Pharma Inc) go up 180.23% percent today?! is the market not crashing? Oh, and that is where we catch it. Sure, the market as a whole may not be doing well, but this pharma company had positive news regarding a prostate cancer treatment they are working on and boom goes the dynamite! It went up sort of smooth as well throughout the day, no insane morning gap so plenty of chances to get in. Personally, I did not partake as I am still in my learning phase and I am also trying to be psychologically ready for the markets (a task more difficult than learning chart analysis). Nevertheless, it was nice to see. So, we identified that- today- EPIX was a part of the market that was booming, not crashing. Other days, there were other stocks booming even when the market went down. So, if some parts are up even when the entire market is down, what is actually going down? Oh yes, you may have already guessed right. The stocks that are overstuffed with money and overinflated are getting sold off, in waves, by institutions and insiders alike. They like to do it in stages or else the market could go down to zero in a day or two. People like Oliver Velez like to call it the Elephant Walk (Google or YouTube if you like). So, while it does feel like a crash when you are invested in those stocks in a self-directed portfolio or your RRSP or 401K, today was an excellent day with an excellent opportunity for traders.
And yes, I did say traders. You know, a hobby or profession easy to learn but damn, damn difficult to master (although I am told it is well worth it). You see, this is where we get to the next stage of our paradigm shift. When this market of ours is done crashing and then enters a perhaps 10 year period of trying to retake former highs, if you are still investing in your RRSP or 401K, your financial institution will keep putting your contributions into financial instruments that will grow in the bear market- hopefully. In this case, you are pretty lucky that you are investing little by little over a long period of time and that these professionals are diversifying your portfolio. However, when it comes to your self-directed portfolio such as a leveraged position in Amazon or Tesla where maybe you are already left holding the bag, praying they bounce back, you may be learning a valuable lesson. When you pile lots of money into one or a few stocks in a short time frame, you better be day trading or swing trading- you are not equipped to invest and you really, really do not want to act like an investor in that case. You do not want to love a long time, you want a short, fast, hard and profitable in and out. You want to learn how to do this successfully again and again. You want to set aside time to trade based on around your day job or other daily duties. You want to spend time learning how to do this even if it takes a year or three.
Why do this? it is simple.
Many people believe that the markets are the playground of the rich and that the rest of us lose money when we try to trade. Volumes upon volumes have been written in this tone. Personally, I can no longer see it that way no matter what. The rich have left a window open and then turned it into a window. We went from needing a broker to paying 20 dollars per trade or more to cheap or free trading platforms. We may lose money while learning how to trade, but that is the tuition fee we pay to the markets in return for a learning experience (also, you can paper trade for a while before doing any real trades). If you are dedicated enough, persistent enough, and you are able to kill your ego when you trade, eventually I think you will in fact make it. The rich have allowed us to do so, it is open season and the challenge is on. You may not have the time to catch one day wonders like EPIX if you work full-time, but you can learn to swing trade things like continuation patterns where you catch a pullback every week from a small cap stock that is on the run and you capitalize on that. The result is you being able to make the percentage return that your balanced retirement portfolio takes a year to achieve in just a few weeks with a self-directed trading account. Can you really do that? Can you be consistent over a long period of time? How should I know? You try and you tell me. All I can tell you is that the money is there. Just go look at top percentage gainers on NASDAQ and NYSE between 2 and 25 dollars every day for a month, put it into an Excel sheet or a notes app, and you will see that there may just be something valuable in it for you after all.
Why engage in this? It is simple. We have been given the best technology, the best overall conditions in the world to pull off easy side gigs and second income sources, yet somehow most of us have still not made it happen. Frustrating? it is to me and probably to you as well. One thing I like about short term trading over every other side gig is that is one of the income sources out there with the smallest number of steps between the money you put in and the money you take out (profit). Everything else usually involves way, way more steps.
Do I have videos to recommend? Yes, yes I do but they are not trending and they have zero young people in them haha (might be a blessing).
Do you know anyone who has been trading long-term, part-time or full-time and has found consistent success? Did they ever care about whether we were in a bull or bear market? Share this and other thoughts if you like and stay positive and optimistic, search out solutions that may initially take lots of learning but later take very little effort. :)