This is the title of a CNN Money article. The issue is in many ways hidden by the title and the accepted belief that we live in an era where information overload is the default setting for any and all activities. Undoubtedly information overload is an issue for traders. This is a natural consequence of both eh changes in technology we have experienced combined with our desperate desire to seek certainty in a profession that is anything but certain. However, in many ways the issue is actually the quality of the information we receive. Financial information is largely narrative and and not fact and it is important to distinguish between the two. Narrative is a story and stories are intepretative in nature. Granted some narratives are simply mechanisms for expressing data in a simple way but many forms of data cannot be expressed in other way than in their natural form.
Consider this chart of the Dow
I could write a thousand words on the current state of the market, or I could post this chart and leave you to make up you own mind as to what is occurring. One will be my opinion generated by my own bias and perceptual filters. Your opinion will also be filtered through your own perceptions – but it will be your opinion and that is what is important.
Too true Christopher, too true!
Tis a hard thing to seek knowledge and learning (more often than not, in the nature of filtered, albeit unintended narrative) and then having to view the world from one’s own unique perspective. Practice and more practice. And at the end of that, practise a little more while trying not to lose your shirt.
Great to catch you last two days.
David
HOLY HELL IT’S GOING UP!