31–34 of 34 posts
Refuting crappy internet comments about your blog isn't really a recipe for success, unless your criteria for success is more pageviews. There were tens of people in that thread who were spouting off armchair economics like they were financial experts. That type of ignorant rambling should really be reserved for /r/economics or, better, /r/bitcoin. It doesn't really deserve to be responded to, much less refuted.
I find it strange.
(Caveat: of course I don't mean absolutely everyone, but it's a phenomena you can witness whenever it gets discussed here.)
Here's something I've witnessed: Those that understand trading do it. Those that don't, swear that nobody else is making money doing it either. They are convinced of that and will argue their point endlessly. I find it strange. (Caveat: of course I don't mean absolutely everyone, but it's a phenomena you can witness whenever it gets discussed here.)
My impression from the limited research I've done into technical trading is that - just like a lot of things in life - it's a lot of work. People who go into it hoping to make it big on one lucky score seem to get slaughtered.
A lot of technical analysis indicators seem to be not about the companies themselves (which is fundamental analysis) but about determining the trend of what other people think about those companies/stocks (the "Kenesian beauty contest" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_beauty_contest)
So I think it's a little more than sheer chance/luck, but it also definitely seems to require a lot of work and staying glued to the market/indicators/news.
It's appealing intellectually because of the "game" aspect, but I think the reality is that like anything else it requires a ton of work to succeed at it, especially in the beginning when you're still cutting your teeth and learning hard lessons. I appreciate that the author wrote candidly about his experiences learning the game/trade.