Friday, August 13, 2010

"The Stock Market Doesn't Care..."

The post was written for people who trade the markets, but I find it contains a refreshing insight that might apply to other areas of life.

It's title: "The Stock Market Doesn't Care What You Think." Link here.  It comes from the Crosshairs Trader Blog. Via Stocktwits

Whether or not you think that the market is directed by an invisible hand or by an invisible mind, we can be fairly confident that it does not go up or down according to your moods, your thoughts, your feelings, or your beliefs. Of course, it does not respond any better to my moods, thoughts, feelings, or beliefs.

The market has a mind of its own, and anyone who wants to play its game must first learn to respect its independence.

Many things that matter enormously to you do not effect the markets. They just do not care about you.

That means that the market does not care whether you make or lose money. It does not care about your self-esteem, your ego, or your feelings. It is not in the business of making your look good or be right. It does not care whether your feelings are hurt.

People who consistently make money in the stock markets are less enamored of their own feelings and their own conviction that they are right. The quicker you are to accept that the market is telling you have it wrong, the quicker you will be able to profit from its vagaries.

From this we understand why those who purvey the gospel of self-esteem or who believe that reality can be effected by the way we talk about things are seriously opposed to a market that seems to have absolutely no regard for their feelings or their beliefs.

If self-esteem is the problem, then the markets are the solution. They offer what psychological theorists call a reality check.

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