Three weeks later

I must say, and perhaps in a positive light, that the past few weeks since my last post have flown by. The reason I say that this is perhaps a good thing is that I haven't really felt the pangs of not participating in the market, nor have I had feelings of regret ("shoulda/woulda/coulda") upon seeing rather significant gyrations in the market. Sure, they're nothing like 2008 (during which time I chose to put significant capital in the one damn financial that didn't get rescued at the time, Lehman), but still significant enough to allow one to make some good money. Instead, I've shown all the signs of a non-stock junkie who finds joy in simple things and stimulation through work. Actually, diverting attention energy away from real-time data helps bring things into better perspective and has brought me a bit closer to appreciating some of the technical details that mere mortals deal with in the real world. You know, that whole 'becoming an expert in an area and exerting your creative forces to do things nobody has done and maybe come up with valuable ideas or products that could allow you to retire way too early'-sort-of-a-thing.

Keeping a safe distance away from market noise has also gotten me thinking of evaluating market setups and surrounding conditions instead of mere market swings or trends. There may be something to be said of high-probability scenarios (that have to do with crowd psychology, previous price action/momentum, market ranges, and not just chart patterns) that would allow me to make certain "safe" short-term, highly-leveraged bets. With so many different ways of looking at things, and with so many different variables at play, no wonder quantitative analysis/trading has become so big lately. Of course I'm still of the camp that believes that human intuition can trump quantitative analysis, but that is only the case if you don't try to beat the quants at their own game. Translation: do not try to make 2-second arbitrage plays or highly complex statistical analysis on an intraday level. One needs to allow one's self to absorb and process, to let those whacky neurons do things that can't be easily quantified.