Trader’s Narrative

If you read a few trading advisory sites, it doesn’t take long to notice that some of them revel in their own vocabulary and lingo. It gets so bad that they offer dictionaries to ease novice readers into their world.

For example, take Contrarian Chronicles by Fleckenstein. He provides a handy ‘dictionary’ to help you de-code Fleckisms.

Another offender is Minyanville, spearheaded by Todd Harrison (former head trader at Cramer Berkowitz). They likewise provide “The Minyanville Dictionary”, a massive tome that spans from ‘acne’ to ‘zagger’. Whatever that means.

But the worst offender is Stephen Vita over at Alchemy of Trading. He insists on peppering his commentary with massive amounts of his own unique lingo rendering it all but incomprehensible. He is also kind enough to provide an abridged dictionary. But I stopped reading his comments regularly long ago.

Maybe it’s like highschool where you’re not ‘cool’ unless you speak your own language, unintelligible to those outside of your inner circle. Whatever the reason, I wish everyone would stop this insanity.

Why be proud of spouting so much esoteric verbiage that you need to provide a de-coder ring to your readers? I have a suggestion, why not use a simple and alternative means of communication? It is called the English language.

Does that make me ‘uncool’? a ‘dork’? I don’t really care. My solemn promise is to never write in a way that requires a dictionary (abridged or otherwise).

Many spend their whole lives searching for the ‘Holy Grail’ of trading, mistakenly believing that if they work hard, or find the right indicator, or get the right mentor or… (fill in the blank), they will succeed in trading, become a Market Wizard and make gobs of money.

Well, I’m here to tell you the only real secret: Grow a mullet.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the irreproachable evidence:

Bill Fleckenstein: Many confuse Bill’s bearishness in the past few years as qualities of a permabear. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Fleckmeister knows a long when he sees one. Way back when most people thought of semis as large trailer trucks, he was buying AMAT, INTC, etc. with both hands. He was also bullish on silver at less than $5. Keep up with him on Contrarian Chronicles or on his own site.

Stan Weinstein: is best known for his classic book Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets. But he also had a retail advisory service (now discontinued) called the Professional Tape Reader. Now Stan’s advice is exclusive to institutions (or whoever wants to pony up $40,000 a year) and has been renamed the Global Trend Alert. Here’s a sample from last year (large pdf file).

Mike Wekerle: According to Report on Business magazine, “the Wek” is simply the best trader on Bay Street. He is one of the top executives at GMP Capital and specializes in liability trading (helping large institutions get out of positions when there are no other buyers). Mike is also reknown for his ability to recall vast amounts of detailed information regarding trades and deals - both past and in progress.

Know of other financial Samsons out there? Drop a comment and let me know.