The current market is unique. It has never been so volatile; therefore the danger and the opportunities have never been so plentiful. No one has ever traded in such market, so past knowledge and experience may only be a hinder to adopt faster in the new environment. No system is profitable all the time and traders with 20+ years of profitable track record are in the process of realizing that. In time of extreme changes survives the one, who is more flexible, not the stronger one.
Conventional wisdom will bring you only losses. You have to learn to think out of the box. Conventional wisdom says that in bear markets you should be only short or neutral. In case you absolutely have to have long positions in your portfolio, you should choose among the stocks with highest relative strength – the ones that somehow managed to weather the storm. Wrong. Buying high RS in this market doesn’t work. Current price leaders are not only underperformers during sharp bear market bounces, but one by one, industry group by industry group, they are all taken down. In bear market they are all taken down, sooner or later.
Conventional wisdom says that we should short low relative strength (52 week lows for example) in this market environment. This is a strategy that makes sense, but a very, very dangerous one. Remember, market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent. Some of the most powerful daily and weekly upside moves have happened during severe bear markets. Last week there were 148 stocks that went up 20%+. (Priced above $2 per share and average daily volume above 50k). The majority of them did that from their 52 week lows – the most beaten down stocks. Every week there is an industry or two that revive from the dust. Past week that was Medical instruments and Insurance companies. The week before was good for solar companies. The week before that was good for gold miners. The one before that was good for airline companies. Stocks tend to move in groups. When you are looking for short-term trading opportunities, you should look at industry groups’ moves first.
Certainly trying to pick a bottom is a very dangerous game. Last week 189 companies went down 20%+. Most of them were close to their 52 week lows and had their leg down after a short-term bounce. More than half of the worst performing stocks last week belong to Oil related industries.
Market is so volatile that it takes stops out on a regular basis, shaking out both long and short swing traders. Percentage stop losses don’t work in this environment. If you are going to survive and thrive, you need to decrease your trading horizon and the size of your trading. I remember that about a year ago, I found out that many, who were swing traders at the beginning of their careers at some point switched to day trading. I wondered why and started asking questions. My initial guess was that the tremendous volatility in 2000-2001 has made those traders change their strategy. The answers received were a little bit different. Most traders told me that it is a more psychological thing. They have found what suits their personality and goals best.
Markets are made from people. In theory everyone could be profitable if there is a continuous flow of fresh money into the market. Recently this has not been the case. Someone has to lose. In order to be profitable you need to follow a very simple rule – to buy only what you could sell later at higher price and to sell short only what you could buy later at lower price. Like the owner of a small shop, you should not buy inventory that you personally like, but stuff that could easily be sold this season. Yes, stock traders are in the retail business and their products are called stocks. I realize that such how scrupulous such way of thinking sounds and that it contradicts the initial purpose the market were created, but this is the reality.
Initially markets were created :
– To offer an alternative exit strategy (therefore motivation) for entrepreneurs;
– To provide new means of cheaper financing for business’ expansion;
– To allow ordinary citizens, who don’t have the idea, the will or the necessary capital to start their own business, with the opportunity to participate effectively in the economic growth of the country/the world.
All those things don’t matter anymore. Markets have long turned into a speculation arena, where everyone tries to outsmart the other.
