Apr

21

The Collected Types, from Douglas Dimick

April 21, 2010 |

4 Comments so far

1. Mike on April 24, 2010 6:51 am

   (Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I believe one group may have been overlooked in all these lists.)

   The Chosen Ones, The Gods, the Soros, Tudors, Buffets, etc.. The smallest group of them all, the one everybody wants to be. They seem to walk on water, always on the right side of the trend, year in, year out. They manage to take Billions out of the market, and sometimes doing this impossible feat in one day. ( they take it from everybody else on this list)
   And yet I a lonely sailor, I work night and day and to get .0001% of what they do and most days my saving acct. absolutely crushes my trading acct.

   I wonder if they have some secret stock market, that is members only ( that could better explain the disparity between me and them), could they actually be playing in the same arena I do? How do they do it? We read the interviews, study there moves, and yet my trajectory is unchanged and sometimes a lot worse( when I try to do as they did)

   In a way they keep the everlasting bull market alive,, why else would we keep coming back, even after loses, bad plays, and other hard ships, year after year. Surely, If they can make billions, some day I can get my first 1k day, right? (And thats the hook)
   They make billions, millions of people hear there story and join the market thus bringing in trillions, I say these guys are under paid for the real value they provide.
   If all you ever heard about was the avg. trader under performing yr. after yr. , how many of us would really be here?

2. vic niederhoffer on April 24, 2010 9:28 pm

   one believes that the point of the posts about types was that the chosen ones are masters of fitting into the types listed when it will be to their advantage. they are part of the idea that has the world in its grip. and they are not far afield from the first several types mentioned. vic

3. Mike Buchko on April 25, 2010 2:04 am

   I think you very simply answered a big part of the big question, How do they do it? Lets take this one step further, lets compare a stock, or commodity and dissect which type is driving what? I'll give it a try, I'll pick an easy one, BIDU, I am a recovering Chronic Bear, and I recognize that I want to say that the price is so overbought and reaching up to stupid levels, up 600% from 2009 lows. But I know now that this type of movement will keep finding any excuse to keep gaping up and trading higher. Whats another 150% more. Maybe thats why the days where there is almost no gain ( so called doji formation) The chronic bears sell at the end of the day, the next day price action gaps up and/or leads to a good sized run, and the doji fails its definition and the candle analyzing bears (Im just looking at the past 2 months, 3/5 , 3/18 and 4/5 (for full disclosure am not a candle analyzer) but they have actually lead to some great runs. (I guess I just turned into an Academic-Consultant, if only I went to an Ivy League school, I'd make big money telling people what happened.) The only question remains who was buying into those days with the intent of looking for a failure in that formation, I think it had to be the Bacons of the world that do the exact opposite of the public. This is the actual definition per Wiki- The doji represents indecision in the market. If the doji forms in an uptrend or downtrend, this is normally seen as significant, as it is a signal that the buyers are losing conviction when formed in an uptrend.

4. douglas roberts dimick on April 26, 2010 9:03 pm

   [NOT FOR PUBLICATION: V, again, feel free to edit. I added two newly contributed types and your second caveat. If you like, we can just replace first article with this one — note title change reflecting update. Thanks. dr Ps. I sense that we are still missing quite a few notable types.]

   The Collected Types: Updated

   The lineage of One’s study about the types of people who disseminate their views about markets appears to originate with “Relevant Query” and is developed in “Connected Person” and elaborated by “People Who Disseminate” then spawning ideas such as those in “Vanishing and Present Types” and “The Cooler” and “Animals and Their Market Applications” and “The Bookie.”

   I look back to one’s questions as they first appear: “What are the many types of people who disseminate their views about the market? What are the major categories that I am missing or what is a better way to classify and make this useful?”

   No doubt, there is a book to be done on the subject. That said…

   This list is presented in order of published appearance. A caveat: “many fall into more than one category and mobile via age and wealth changes.”

   Caveat #2: point of the posts about types was that the chosen ones are masters of fitting into the types listed when it will be to their advantage; they are part of the idea that has the world in its grip, and they are not far afield from the first several types mentioned.

   Enough said, so here we go…

   The Connected Person, who makes you feel without saying it that she/he is or will be connected to the very lynch pin of policy at the Interior or some such.

   Tout, who has position and wants you in for his/her favor.

   Sponsor, who advertises or sponsors programs that treat him/her well.

   Would-be-manager without funds impresses with his/her knowledge/ideas for you to join.

   Old lion, who is not virile but still fights younger from replacing him/her in power/ romance.

   Curmudgeon, who hates everything modern and wants all back to old days before tech.

   Spankist, a beauty but aggrieved to give spanking unless things in order her/his way; observed to be everywhere and influence growing among spankisto and spankista’s.

   Iconoclast, who is always contrary, never reads papers or travels, and feels market is wrong.

   Hole-In-Shoes, who only drinks coke and eats hamburgers, never pays a fee more than 10%.

   Sanctimonious, who pretends to be honest while blind to any firm dishonesty/misdoing.

   Academic-Consultant, who manipulates numbers retrospectively to allure investors.

   Mystic, who looks at stars and bent keys.

   Old Timer, who is guided by iron castings reports and freight car loadings and newsprint figures [sample]: all as timeless methods (non retro) with healthy respect for knowledge.

   Fund Manager, who is quoted as “good buy” on stock that he/she sold bulk of before recall.

   Jack of All Trades, who explains every rise and decline due to (un)certainty about earnings and rates and other well chosen factors. Always welcome on TV because of his versatility.

   Chronic Bear, who since 1966 written bearish columns with signs of optimism persisting.

   Humanitarian, who finds world as selfish with only solution to be redistribution or service for poor.

   The Mark, who in hushed tone, glazed eyes, reveals privileged information so as to be rich.

   The Friend, who can see “the tells” tells and tells deaf ears to exit before pocket emptied.

   Permabull type likes market anywhere, anytime, well coiffed, strong BUY to partner.

   Foreign Funder, who likes exotic as better value with more room for catch-up valuations.

   Eminent Bank of Sweden Prize Laureates, who are trotted out by others to do the thinking.

   Walter Mittyist, who is market hobbyist with secret hopes: a market philanderer.

   Split-Level Dwellers, who favor inheritance taxes as the absolute “down home”

   Go-Pound-Sterling types…

   Delusional-Vengefulites, who are too full of themselves to see beauty of system they seek to destroy.

   Boorish Loud-Mouthed Bellower of Blab, who mastered costumes and adorn picks equally garishly.

   Echoing Silence of Financial Pressers, who never explain major market move until after.

   Small Echoing Would-Be-Manager, who remains silent due to fear of publicly humiliation and reverse engineer techniques she/he developed in long years of lonely silence.

   Nock’s Prophet of The Remnant, who with absolute assurance, has no need to advertise and makes own way without adventitious aids.

   The Whodoos, the jinxes…

   The Joe Bfstlks of the world…

   The Ralph Kramdens, who, despite good intentions, are just plain unlucky, thus dangerous to associate with.

   Poseurs, who in empty suits may be the French equivalent of “Big hat no cattle” in Texas.

   Abstaining Cooks, who never eat their own meals or go in on their own stock recommendations.

   Thief a la Bernie Madoff or Lex Luthor, who take the shortcut to wealth: brilliant yet
   totally corrupt.

   Blowhard a la Jim Cramer, who “made $100 million” with results not quantifiable.

   Former Champion a la Bob Prechter, Joe Granville, or Stan Weinstein…

   Celebrity a la Len Dykstra…

   Former-Wrestler-Who-Marries-The-Analyst, John Layfield…

   The Foreigner, whose suave language skills are so impressive that he/she must know.

   Self-Deprecating Genius…

   Infomercial Guy, who is ubiquitous.

   The Consummate Professional, who as the active operator prognosticates on everything from currencies to value/growth trends, providing decent performance for years.

   Lone Sailor, who keeps going with no one to blame for loses or wins but oneself.

   Optimistic College Student, who realizes some stocks will never be this cheap again.

   Wino, who has with wine prices outperformed equities.

   New Chartist, who believes future wealth is guaranteed by angles and lines on their screen.

   Saboteur, who finds fault with every issue in your portfolio.

   Blind Gamble, who is neither bullish nor bearish, fully leveraged or not in, thus travels the road between wealth and poverty as driving a car to work. `

   Afraid-Of-His-Own-Shadow Commentator, who measures and comments on every tick, trusts nothing, always on a business news channel or radio program about how to trade.

   Conspiracy Theorist, who believes that “the banksters”/HFT traders/dark pool operators/PPT have totally rigged the market because this can’t be happening on it’s own.

   Cloud Commentarist, who all have related typologies and vanish into the infrastructure or “the market.”

   Victorite, who “thought” counting overcomes asymmetry between all edges that the boys, who made the rules and made the market, had over oneself as the optimistic contrarian.

   Guy With A Theory, who (is me and perhaps a few others, such as those on Tradestation Forum) has no real world (trading) experience, an outsider of the industry, and is dangerous more so to oneself by virtue of knowing a little bit but will not give up.

   The Chosen Ones a la The Gods, Tudors, Soros, Buffet, etc., who are smallest group that all seek, making Billions, sometimes as impossible feat, from everybody else on list.

   Bacons of the World, who do opposite of public, as the doji (see definition per Wiki) represents indecision in market, such as signals buyers are losing conviction when formed in an uptrend.

   dr