All around us signals are transmitted and received each day. Within those signals valuable information is intertwined with spurious content. As a result, receiving devices have filters built in to discern the 'signal' from the 'noise'. High Signal to Noise ratios convey A LOT of information while low Signal to Noise ratios convey very little information! Indeed, when the noise levels increase above threshold levels, signals may be corrupted entirely, resulting in no information at the receiving end.
But what has this to do with the stock market? As traders, we are receiving information each day that we must learn to process and indeed we must learn to filter some of it out. This is an enormously challenging task because our natural inclination is to apply bias to the information we receive. For example, if we are bullish on a stock and an analyst disseminates a report that aligns with our views, our opinions are more likely to strengthen. In order to achieve our objective of trading without bias, we must recognize that history is laden with examples of the stock market confounding expectations.
In the 1970s, few envisioned that commodity prices would elevate to the degree they did or that bond yields would rise up to 15% by 1981 or that bond yields would decline to around 3% in 2003 or that a protracted equity bull market would ensue. Few expected that almost two deacdes after the Japanese market reached its peak, it would still be down 60% from its highs. Few recognized in 2000 that commodity prices were at historic lows while China and India were emerging rapidly.
Recognizing that the opinions you hear from others originate from a place of vested interest means critically analyzing comments becomes imperative. For example, just a couple of months ago, Lehman's CEO announced that "the worst is behind us". It is evident from the chart below that the worst had certainly not been priced into the stock yet!
Clearly a delineation between expressed views and market action took place in all previous examples. The insurmountable challenge most traders encounter when confronted with such a delineation is their own attempt to justify the action. Why did Lehman go down? Why did bond yields surge? Why did commodity prices soar? Why has the Japanese market not recovered? A lot of calories may be wasted in striving to justify market action. The reason they are wasted is not because it is not a worthy process to understand the causes of market movements but because it often distracts from the primary objective – finding opportunities!
By maintaining focus on the question "Why did this happen?", focus is lost from the question that should always be asked "What opportunities exist that I can take advantage of?" Sticking with the former is equivalent to the first two stages in the grieving process: denial and anger! It's almost like exclaiming "I can't believe this is happening to me….grrrrrr!!!". With practice, it becomes ever easier to switch from the stages of denial and anger to the most important stage, acceptance. Acceptance means following the current market action rather than reflecting on past market action. By staying in the present, we can be unencumbered and unhindered by events of the past. At times like these especially, this is of paramount importance.
