QOTD: Wrong Side of the Market
By Barry Ritholtz - January 5th, 2010, 11:45AM
Someone emailed me this great line. I wrote back, saying that’s great, I want to use it, who is the author?
They answered “You were.”
That’s how I became today’s quote of the day:>
Beware of those on the wrong side of the market blaming manipulation, cabals, PPT, and the hand of God. These folks are essentially rationalizing their bad calls . . .
-Barry Ritholtz
Tweet
Facebook
Reddit
Digg this!
January 5th, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Is PPT the Plunge Protection Team? At first read I was wondering why they would blame Microsoft Powerpoint. Sorry, just live in a powerpoint world.
January 5th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Nice comments today on MSNBC..short and to the point kicking the Paulson TARP CRAP TRAP! 100:1 of US citizens wrote to their Congressmen and were told that Hank knew better. So much for representational government. All kinds of crap can fit under that trap tarp, and the precedent is their legacy. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. See K.D.’s Market Ticker for the latest on Iceland and the UK!
January 5th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Is PPT the Plunge Protection Team? I couldn’t think of anything else besides Microsoft PowerPoint which is evil in its own right, but don’t think that’s what you were referring to here. Very timely quote!
January 5th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
…….hmmmm….
Brings to mind a completely different quote:
Pride precedes a disaster, and an arrogant attitude precedes a fall.
Beware the trading gods.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Just because you are paranoid, doesn’t mean someone isn’t after you.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
With all due respect, do you really believe that you “invented” that phrase and not simply heard its echo reflected since the dawn of trading, say the Japanese rice futures markets in the 17th Century? I think it can be more refreshing for yourself to acknowledge that there is nothing new under the Sun, and that is the only free lunch there is.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
well BR-
it all comes down to the old saying- “do you want to be right or do you want to make money?”
personally I want to be right AND make money
January 5th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Steve stole my line. I think there’s little doubt that the big computerized traders are manipulating the market.
January 5th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
M in Nola-
even BR must acknowledge that the FED is supporting ALL asset prices- my guess is he doesn’t care as long as he can profit from it
January 5th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I was on the right side of the trade and I was blaming god for why I was doing so well. I got on the wrong side of the trade a bit early. I didn’t blame god, I blamed myself. 20% of my portfolio was composed of ten baggers. and 40% 5 baggers. Now the story is different, I really don’t see the market moving higher from here though it could. Banks are going to put a lot of pressure on companies to dilute to pay down debts.
January 5th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
You don’t often hear from the few successful traders who have grown to realize than there is no AND between “Wanting to be being Right” and “Wanting to make Money”. Needing the approval of that bitch whore goddess of Logic destroys your market feel like Ulysses strapped to the mast listening to the Sirens betwixt Scylla and Charybdis. But I digress, you wouldn’t have heard from Jesse Livermore if he didn’t have that self-destructive, self-loathing trait that led him to believe that Cotton story. Enjoying your blog, BR, and damn you looked good on the tube this morning, however brief. Did you lose weight?
January 5th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
BR – all of the scapegoats you listed seem legit to me. Didn’t the government ban shorting financial stocks just last year? I must be missing something here.
January 5th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Let’s see, zero interest rates and a 60% rally. Don’t fight the tape. Don’t fight the fed. Thank you Marty Zwieg
January 5th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Let’s see, I’ve massively shorted the market earlier this year expecting the employment numbers to be worse than that which was reported, only to find out months after the fact that I was indead correct in my assumptions (Govenment is reporting that they likely underestimated employment losses by 800K or so). Needless to say I was on the wrong side of that trade, right BR?
Again, I massively shorted the market back just before the 1st 3Q GDP preliminary reading was released expecting a GDP in the 2-2.5% range, then bam our lying gov released 3.5%. It was revised down to 2.8%, then finally down to 2.2%, by that time this data was old news. I guess I was on the wrong side of that trade too, right BR?
I can admit to being wrong when the game is fair and the data released is not distorted to look good upon release only to be corrected later when no one longer cares. This has been going on all year until recently. I usually like your posts BR but your comment makes you look like an a-s.
January 5th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
good quote..my fav quote of all time is “Love is grand, divorce is 100 grand”
January 8th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
[...] Big Picture – Here is the quote from this blog post.“Someone emailed me this great line. I wrote back, saying that’s great, I want to use it, [...]