3 ms·

Stop bullshitting. We are not slaves of the Market, we shouldn't give it any information, it should give us information. That's the utility of the market you k

by borism 16y ago

Stop bullshitting. We are not slaves of the Market, we shouldn't give it any information, it should give us information. That's the utility of the market you know. When the game becomes "who has the fastest program to rip off this stupid risk-averse 401k guy trying to make few basis points above CD" Mr. Market totally defied it's purpose. That's when we should call the butcher and rip some tentacles off.

yummyfajitas 16y ago
"Risk averse" and "trying to make a few basis points above CD" are mutually contradictory statements.
- borism 16y ago
  Now I'm confused. How is expecting return on risky investment being very close to return on risk-less investment is not risk-averse?
lotharbot 16y ago
> We are not slaves of the Market, we shouldn't give it any information, it should give us information. When we're buying or selling, we have to give the market information as to our buy or sell price. We have to give information to the market in order to participate in it. The information coming out of the market, after all, is merely the aggregation of the information we put into it. If the information you give to the market is "sell at any price" when what you actually meant was "sell at $40 or more", you messed up. Don't blame the market when you give it the wrong information and it takes advantage of your mistake; if you offer a ridiculous bargain, the job of the market is to allow others a chance to jump at that bargain, which is exactly what they did.
- borism 16y ago
  Again, you're thinking of retail investors being like herd of stupid sheep. First of all, very elitist from you (even though I suppose you're one of them too). And second, actually not true. As I said, no (or almost no if you like) retail investor is stupid. All they wanted to do is to protect their positions at a reasonable level depending on variety of factors like entry price, relation of the price to some moving average etc. etc. So calling that stupid and being equal to "offering a bargain" or giving Mr. Market "wrong information" is itself stupid at best.
  - lotharbot 16y ago
    I do not believe retail investors are like a "herd of stupid sheep"; please do not put words into my mouth. I believe some retail investors attempted to "protect their positions at a reasonable level" by using the wrong tool, namely, a "stop loss" order (which provides a sale at any price) rather than, say, a "stop limit" order (which provides a sale with a price floor.) This was a bad decision on their part, which in the case of the "flash crash" led to them offering their stocks at bargain prices (like Accenture for a penny.) Simply using the right tool would have protected these investors from taking such severe portfolio hits.
    - sireat 16y ago
      Unfortunately, it has been drilled into retail investors to use stop-loss orders. Stop-limit orders are also more expensive for a retail investor. Hopefully, some good came out of this and people became more careful.
      - borism 16y ago
        Which retail brokers charge more for using stop limit? Never seen one that does.

by borism 16y ago

yummyfajitas 16y ago

"Risk averse" and "trying to make a few basis points above CD" are mutually contradictory statements.

borism 16y ago
Now I'm confused. How is expecting return on risky investment being very close to return on risk-less investment is not risk-averse?

lotharbot 16y ago

> We are not slaves of the Market, we shouldn't give it any information, it should give us information. When we're buying or selling, we have to give the market information as to our buy or sell price. We have to give information to the market in order to participate in it. The information coming out of the market, after all, is merely the aggregation of the information we put into it. If the information you give to the market is "sell at any price" when what you actually meant was "sell at $40 or more", you messed up. Don't blame the market when you give it the wrong information and it takes advantage of your mistake; if you offer a ridiculous bargain, the job of the market is to allow others a chance to jump at that bargain, which is exactly what they did.

borism 16y ago
Again, you're thinking of retail investors being like herd of stupid sheep. First of all, very elitist from you (even though I suppose you're one of them too). And second, actually not true. As I said, no (or almost no if you like) retail investor is stupid. All they wanted to do is to protect their positions at a reasonable level depending on variety of factors like entry price, relation of the price to some moving average etc. etc. So calling that stupid and being equal to "offering a bargain" or giving Mr. Market "wrong information" is itself stupid at best.
- lotharbot 16y ago
  I do not believe retail investors are like a "herd of stupid sheep"; please do not put words into my mouth. I believe some retail investors attempted to "protect their positions at a reasonable level" by using the wrong tool, namely, a "stop loss" order (which provides a sale at any price) rather than, say, a "stop limit" order (which provides a sale with a price floor.) This was a bad decision on their part, which in the case of the "flash crash" led to them offering their stocks at bargain prices (like Accenture for a penny.) Simply using the right tool would have protected these investors from taking such severe portfolio hits.
  - sireat 16y ago
    Unfortunately, it has been drilled into retail investors to use stop-loss orders. Stop-limit orders are also more expensive for a retail investor. Hopefully, some good came out of this and people became more careful.
    - borism 16y ago
      Which retail brokers charge more for using stop limit? Never seen one that does.