This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Calling Gambler's Anonymous
Hilarious. Unemployed bums now becoming expert "daytraders". Two days in a row, during my lunch break at Starbucks, I found young, slacker, unemployeds huddled around a table with their laptops daytrading stocks.
Yesterday, it there were two guys who looked like construction workers. One appeared to be a commercial door installer, who has suddenly turned into an expert economist and daytrader. He was sitting with an acquaintance, showing him how he was going to profit from his unfortunate job situation by shorting stocks and "make a killing". I mean, this guy was going on and on for 20 minutes explaining to his friend how he loaded up his last 200 shares of QID on margin, and how Mohammed El-Erian was was explaining about "sugar highs', and how all the banks were really broke, etc. etc. It was all I could do but to stop from laughing out loud.
Today, I saw two surfer/skateboard slackers, complete with flatbill caps, sunglasses worn backwards, "Affliction" t-shirts, etc. One guy was clearly the fast talker, teaching his friend how to daytrade using "resistance" and "support" on a 5-minute chart. Wanna bet what stocks he was talking about? Yep. AIG and Vonage. It was all I could do to keep from bursting out laughing.
Just goes to show how hordes of unemployeds have been suckered into "how to work from home" schemes by trading FX, stocks, options, etc. Radio stations here in L.A. are blasting ads for trading seminars and webinars 24/7 from various brokerage houses, and some of the online trading academies.
Would not surprise me in the least to see stocks really take off if Joe Six really starts bragging on how he got laid off, but is not making money hand over fist by gunning stocks on a computer.
Pretty much a non-stop meltup most of the day, and now DELL has beat by a penny and is rocketing up after hours.....
No doubt, the "O-Team" and all members of Geithner Bernanke, LLP will be high-fiving and heading to the Opium Den this evening...
»
- 11279 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Nice post Robo. Ignore the peanut gallery. Probably best if you don't read the comments. Someone's feelings are always hurt.
You didn't get the contributor gig by posting politically correct summaries, so don't go starting that shit now!
This is great news because these people are far higher quality liquidity providers than the HFT crowd. For damn sure these folks won't cut and run just because the market goes against them or volatility goes through the roof (or the investigation is getting close), most are going to stay in exploiting their newly discovered genius until their brokers force them out with margin calls.
Actually I feel a little sorry for the ones who have only been in the market since March and are long. A string of winners is the absolute worst way to start a trading career. The shorts at least will be beaten severely for a while and have a shot at learning something before their heads swell so much they bet the farm, the livestock and their daughter that zero earnings and a mountain of bad debt will make a stock go down.
There's a bald guy on t.v. telling me to "BUY BUY BUY!!". I've got to get down to Starbucks and start trading like mad.
Robo, when the market has it epic fail, or the dollar crashes, those unemployed but real workers might be able to teach you how to grow some crops, heave up some temporary shelter, shoulder and steady a weapon. You might then be lucky enough to feed yourself through the rough time. Otherwise you're just going to be an expendable useless eater. The walls were lined with them crying to be spared. Legt Arm
French revolution, Weimar, Russian revolution and all post war Europe tell me your pride will tumble. Pride ain't power. Look what has happened to the markets top to bottom in just 12 months. You won't recognize them in another 12.
Real workers like farmers that get paid to not grow certain crops? Or paid to grow cash crops of little nutritional value?
Real workers that moved back to Mexico who built houses but absent building bubble left?
Real workers who hope for the end of the world as we know it so they can flex nuts about being gun toting survivors on the internet?
You smarmy twit.
LOL. Many comments on this post are really hilarious.
I can easily visualize those red-faced "unemployed bums" typing on their keyboards furiously.
Look at the google ad on top right column.
Courtesy of www.TradeofWeek.com
".. In another trade I helped an unemployed carpenter from Nevada profit $5,250... "
Gosh, I love American capitalism.
We are currently experiencing what is called a "fast market". Lots of guys will make some quick money during this time, and gaining a false sense that making money on the long side is always "easy".
When the market goes into a correction and/or a chopping mode, that's when a lot of these rookie traders will get washed out. Pretty much hacked to death with a lot of false starts or false breakdowns.
But I don't blame them for making hay right now.
Its just kind of funny to see this behavior when so many "experts" predicted that during bear markets, then the public will swear off stocks forever.
But they appear to be coming back with full force.
Any idiot with high risk tolerance (aka gambler) could have thrown darts in the dark at this stock market and made money.
Tide has turned since July.
Correction is coming in September when liquidity will have to be drained from the stock market to fund bond purchases.
Short squeezes like we saw on AIG today can only work for so long.
"Correction is coming in September when liquidity will have to be drained from the stock market to fund bond purchases"
I wouldn't count on that. If I've learned anything in the last three months, it's do not underestimate Benny and the Obamaman. They will go bankrupt keeping the masses placated until the very end, and when it does go bust, you'll be glad you had gold, real gold, in your hands, instead of equities held in some virtual digital vault... just my opinion.
Let me guess.... Pepperdine grad. Under 30. No kids, no spouse. High IQ. Despite the Mercedes you lease.
ti boggles my mind that this post is put in ZH; i mean on ZH; the site which strongly promotes taking down the current financial structure, to unshackle the nation from WS oligarchs; the site which tries to make a difference; it is fucking mind boggling; and i don't see why does it matter how they are dressed. And for all other posters here who make fun of these people; i would like to see them 1-on-1 with me discussing some mathematics, epistemology,history, sociology, logic etc. Then you would know what is embarrassment and that humility is the mother of success. I didn't think this site had this amount of snobs; but i guess i was wrong.
wasn;t it just a min ago that you brought dilemma of censorship and hostility towards the criticism.?
CB, you are cool in my book however you take it way out of proportion.
If we laugh at people who blew up trying to flip houses are we snobs? This isn't about being better than others, this is laughing at fast-money, skies the limit, no experience required, jawboning.
You don't take down a system of inequality by encouraging the abused to become abusers.
Comedy, man.
RoboT posts have always been about humor and comedy.
If some of his jokes went off your rails, please get aside and move along. I too think how people are dressed is none of our business so long as they don't contaminante eyes of others by wearing filthy&smelly T-shirts and jeans. But there is no reason to be serious here, really.
The seriosity went right over your beautiful head, dear.
Cheeky's 100% right
Be sure to ask for a full refund when you demand your money back for the content. Are you the managing editor now?
Hey Robo - I posted a question earlier on a different thread but am sure you would know the answer. Is it possible to get specific commodity quotes/charts on Bloomberg.com (not the terminal) e.g.like I get quotes on various indicies such as:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/cbuilder?ticker1=GCAN30YR%3AIND
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=S5OILP:IND
I'm trying to figure out how to get LOCADY, CL1, S 1 etc.. but these obiously don`t work with the IND suffix.
same question for specific FOREX quotes on bloomberg.com
(I am aware that they supply group quotations but I am looking for specific and customizable charts can get with the indicies)
Thanks in advance
I use NetDania to follow crude, gold, currencies..
But I usually trade stocks only, I don't mess around with the other stuff.
Too many guys get involved with too many instruments, then its like herding cats...
The markets cannot survive the open corruption. They will be repudiated. Without mom'n'pop money the liquidity and volume are gone. If that happens, all these fat easy chair chart readers and insider gamers will have to find some other means of getting their food and drink.
God forbid they should ever have to run for their lives, or do any heavy lifting, or outdoor strength requiring real labor.
There will be a sea of useless, overfed, overeducated, keyboard jockeys doing anything for a crust of bread.
Tables turned. They will beg for a great leader, a dictator to restore their pride and fill their bellies.
A meager ration of real men.
Man, the retards are spilling over from Alex Jones.
As someone on ZH famously quipped:
BE GONE TROLL!!!
Good Post Robot, Dang everybody is all frustrated, I guess it's because you omitted the Girly Pics. (Note to Robot:Always insert the Pics, or otherwise It becomes a measurement contest) BTW, The few females here appreciated the boy pics. Appreciate your humor and posts.
So how do you measure yourself against an elephant or a blue whale. Against dem boyz I prefer to sit in the girlie section, less I embarrass myself.
lol...
Hilarious. Those slackers are probably using 20-minute delayed quotes. When they blow out their accounts, someone will sell them on why they should have been trading FX instead.
I day trade in pajamas and an Affliction t-shirt, and I think anyone who still goes to Starbucks for anything, is a complete sheepified zombie, the worst are the ones who believe they are not, yet still mindlessly go to Starbucks for that irreplaceable ________ (fill in the blank).
Cramer said tonight, the only ones who don't know how to play the stock market are the bears, because if there are any bears still out there, they are seriously misinformed. He said "THIS Market WILL NOT GO DOWN!", and one should "...buy into any selling..."
I'm no market master guru like you robo, but I'm pretty sure Cramer is full of shit.
Cramer said that? Lol.
The top is in. Has been in for a few weeks now.
2008 redux.
Anyone who has not sold into the rally at this point and is either cash or gold, will be left holding the bag.
cramer told us that the real estate "crisis"
ended june 30th....so buy buy buy....
Once, I was talking to a bartender while I was waiting for a friend. He was a sharp guy, and the topic of Stocks came up.
He said that he had done well for himself of the years....mainly by being practical and managing his own money with discipline.
In light of some cash he made during the tech boom, he said: "When Stock prices started going nuts at the end of the 90s, I had a busboy
come up to me and give me a stock tip. At that point I knew it was time to sell all of my stocks, take the profit and be done." And that has
stuck with me ever since. Beware of busboys bearing stock tips. That's all I am saying.
This past weekend a bus boy told me to short the market, cuz it's all a sham.
This post got on my nerves too…
I second the “Enjoy the heat” comment. We all used to follow crappy advice and be absolutely clueless – I lost a whole semester’s worth of hay-bailing money doing it. (gotta pay to learn) Anywho, I expect better out of ZH than this.
What kind of person criticizes other people for being clueless and pretentious whilst sipping lattes in an LA Starbucks?
Who makes fun of blue-collar employees trying to invest what little money they have? Many people not only lost their jobs in this downturn, but were simultaneously forced to pull their savings in the worst bear market ever. Some value feeding their kids more than their YTD earnings. RT, your entire pre-fabricated, valueless California lifestyle is the result of blue-collar workers – those working towards a society where people could aspire to become something more than soulless, money-making machines (or robotraders if you will). Do you find pleasure in milking their investment accounts? When analyzing the sacrifices and investments of those who created the society you choose to indulge yourself in… well… your P/E is way overvalued.
In the time it took to write this blog, you could have helped out those uninformed investors with some serious financial advice (the kind I like to get from ZH – I don’t read b/c of these self-aggrandizing craptorials). Who finds pleasure in lamenting others instead of helping others? While you may be an awesome investor, you obviously have no clue about life. The idea behind investing is to have enough money to where your life doesn’t revolve around it – and in this respect, you are just as lost as those you wrote about.
Somebody else put this better, though…
“You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.”
Great comment
Brother, can you spare some bandwidth???
IMHO ZH should have a forum for day trading with training wheels. With lil hand icons for questions..like difference between preferred stock and livestock?...;-)
When is robo going to inform us what types of t-shirts we should wear to be credible?
They can be purchased at the ZH store....
Coffee, tea, ... or my shorts
The public rarely represents the short side. Goldman isn't going to build a short position for just a one day game. It will take them awhile to sell out. Remember the market is lower than at any time prior to 10/6/08
well, this is surely a different comment section today.
couple of thoughts...
1. No one has mentioned the title of the post, to wit: "Calling Gamblers Anonymous". To my way of thinking, and having read virtually every Robo post ever, the gambling "riverboater" theme is contained consistently in Robo's posts and he seems to be saying frequently that the markets have turned into casinos and by implication, it's a very, very risky and crazy trading environment. The implied riverboating parties have always seemed to be the white collar hedgies and the big boy prop desks. In fact, there have been numerous times when Robo has specifically cited a certain big boy prop desk or their "Team 1" or "Team 2". No one complained when he "demeaned" that segment.
2. I'm not convinced that Robo was demeaning blue collar folks from my parsing of his words: he was giving what appears to be truthful anecdotes of what he witnessed on 2 consecutive days, which goes to the well known historical theme of everybody and their brother becoming involved in the markets when they get hot (see dot com bubble/bust history). Even if he did demean the blue collar segment, it would be consistent with what he has said about the white collar segment noted above, which indicates to me that a bias is not present. Again, going back to the title of the post, which sets the tone and theme of his words from where I sit, Robo is simply equating the current market and its participants as a bunch of riverboat gamblers.
Perhaps we can assist those who have limited financial experience with some advice about trading in fast markets as a way to turn this into a win-win for all. I'll start by just saying to those that want to day trade to be very careful with your hard earned money and only "invest" an amount that you are comfortable losing. Please do not use your kid's college fund, the grocery money, etc. Please learn what a stop loss is.
there are tons more....virtually nobody at ZH wants to see any of us "little" guys (i am one) lose money in a fashion that can harm one's family or one's self.
Robo brings enormous joy and laughter to many with his daily summary and it is obvious when one reads between the lines that he knows his finances. It seems to me that his objective is to have some fun and certainly not to attack any group or individual. Good luck to all and to those with limited experience in these types of markets, please be careful
Robo stated expressly, the post was about bustin' the shorts.
+1
I like how the reaction to possibly inflammatory, yet on-topic, posts is to flag them as junk.
Hey Robo, I traded on the floor "in the pits" for about 20 years before it all went electronic. Now I trade from the screens. Seen alot of folks "blow out" including arrogant pricks like you.
thanks for the response above Robo - what do you think of trading blogs such as Carl Futia`s
http://carlfutia.blogspot.com/
I think deadhead is onto something. This post is smart and could provide a springboard for a smart convo.
For those that dis, maybe take a step back, and see what you can take away other than the acute sartorial prejudices expressed by Robo. *sarcasam*
Fact is there is a lot more to it.
don't piss off us unemployed slacker-types.
you want "foam" in your latte?
Well said Deadhead. Robos posts conjure up a sort of verbal Fabulous Furry Freak Bros go to Wall St to become day traders image, which really captures the insanity of the whole trip. And, for Crissakes it is blue collar you dorks the guy eats at starbucks and he's probably a surfer. Keep up the great stuff RT
If the banks weren't bailed out those unemployed shoeshine boys would have a more marketable skillset than professional traders.
Definably a sign of the times
I think the appropriate movie line goes like this "We're all just one trade away from humility".
+10
Anyone who daytrades in Starbucks is a noob trying to impress the teenage girls who come in from time-to-time. Just watch him get a little bit louder when a hot emo walks in.
And I should know, that's my M.O.
Fischer - you too are on to something - perhaps Robo`s pictures are self-portraits thereby explaining the behavior`s of those she was observing -- what`s the phenom called when observed results are affected by the observer. CB you would know that is called ( so should I...)
"quantum theory"
thanks, I guess it`s quant for short, therefore Robo was observing quants in action
RobotTrader, please do not listen to all these hypocritical commenters on here. When you rip on the CNBC bimbos, and Dennis Kneales, these same guys are giggling like mad and now if it hits close to home, they go all sanctimonious. Do not, repeat, do not, go politically correct. Say it like is, and be true to yourself. To get ahead in life, sometimes you have to be unpopular.
Well said Senior Kneale, hear hear!
I always hum this tune when reading your posts RT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBbasXXtrXw&feature=related
I shit you not, I heard an older construction worker telling his young construction worker sun on the subway this week about his strategy of buying on the opening dips in the intraday market and selling at the end. I guess I give him credit for identifying the 3:30pm ramp but it also made me sad knowing that this guy is going to lose his shirt.
Keep up the good work!
Robo rocks. Anyone who has been following his posts on here over time knows what Robo meant. This isn't a market any more, it's a rigged casino. Trade it at your peril.
We all start somewhere. Some of the best traders in history have street smart blue colar backgrounds.
Bill Gross for one.
Well, it's funny for me to read this article. I am a blue collar worker and I just came back a couple hours ago from a Forex trading class. The instructor suggested this site for articles and look what was the first thing that I found!!!!
Well I understand what you say and would appreciate any suggestion about a better idea to be a sucessful investor than to educate myself.
Thanks in advance
educating yourself is the best thing and I compliment you for that. one of the best parts of Robo's post today has nothing to do with the "blue collar" issue (see my post above). the important part is the title about "gambling". this is a very dangerous, fast market. please be careful with your hard earned money. only "gamble" what you can afford to lose. remember that stop losses are your friends. remember that nobody ever lost money taking a profit.
i would also suggest that you read a variety of financial and political sources for a minimum of 4 hours per day. As a reference point for you, I have been a career person in the financial sector since I finished college in 1977. Have been trading for over 20 years. I am currently either unemployed or retired (not sure which, really) and I read between an absolute minimum of 6 hours per day up to 12 hours per day (and it ain't online porn either, ok). With that experience and current effort, I am still very, very careful, never break the rules that I have developed over 20 years, and it is still a high risk venture. good luck to you
Well, all sorts of people gamble by day-trading. Because if day-trading is gambling, and you go to a casino, you'd see that there are folks there from all walks of life. So Robo's post picked on the unemployed and the blue collar, but believe it, there are fewer of those individuals day-trading as they have no liquidity left. And your advice about following politics is quite wrong. If you do have interest in politics it's fine to waste most of your day on that subject. But if you use your political ideology to base your trading decisions you are more likely to lose money than make money. The best example is Zero Hedge. All the political mumbo jumbo here was not able to predict the equity market run that started in March. And is most likely not going to be able to predict when the correction starts. Markets are irrational, and even though politics can be irrational too, market moves don't care about ideologies, especially if you are trader with a relatively short-term horizon. Which pretty much defines what a trader is.
And your advice about following politics is quite wrong.
Ben, allow me to retort by saying your quoted statement is beyond wrong and shows that you are naive as to the ways of the world and its history. Politics in the USA is what drives this economy as well as the markets. The power of governments to influence markets and economies is so well documented that I am wasting time going any further from here, except to give you a recent example, which also refutes your postulation in regards to political ideology being used for trading purposes.
As we wound down into the lows of feb/march, the word "nationalization" of banks was bandied around thousands of times per day and many thought that banks would be nationalized or taken out in FDIC receiverships. Any smart trader with an understanding of politics in this country knew that any administration, be it obama, bush, whomever, would never wipe out equity shareholders of the big banks, those shareholders being grandma, pension funds, labor unions, college endowments, sovereign nations (house of saud, singapore on C alone). My understanding of politics as well as the banking sector demanded that i go all in on the banks and I did that: every investable bit of cash bought FAS in the high 2 dollar, low 3 dollar range. That's just one example.
If a trader is not taking into serious account the political leviathan in this country (and the international as well) in one's trading, they are a fool.
August 31st, 2009, 3:45 PM EST
Here's some free advice. Print out today's dollar chart, take it to your FOREX class, and ask the instructor for a full and immediate refund. Then go look for RT at the nearest Starbucks, sit down and have a good cup of coffee, and stop with the fantasy of thinking somebody who doesn't work for a major hedge fund or who doesn't have a direct line to Bernanke or Geithner can teach you a thing about investing in today's market.
Or set up your own Forex trading school and find other folks who think this can be taught to anyone.
Robo was having his moment of hearing rookies bragging about their training camp days while completely unaware that next to them sat a battle-harden Navy Seal. Good job at becoming a pro through years of market ups and downs Robo but I agree with Cheeky that it rubbed me the wrong way however ghetto these bum traders were they deserve a slice of sympathy from you especially if you know what they will be sailing into.
What a douche.
I've been holding this back my dear friend Robo but, alas, no more.
None of this would have happened if you had put in some good pics! Now, post some good pics damnit!
lol....
and no dudes, o.k., homeboy
Annie Leibovitz, retail trader
IF money and fame are the yardsticks, Annie Leibovitz is one of the most successful photographers of all time. She has a seven-figure salary from Vanity Fair and commands tens of thousands of dollars a day from commercial clients like Louis Vuitton. Her latest book, “At Work,” made best-seller lists, and an exhibition of her classic images — Demi Moore naked and pregnant, Mikhail Baryshnikov on the beach — has been touring the world for over two years.
So as the news has spread in recent months that Ms. Leibovitz is facing extraordinary financial troubles, with the possibility of losing her Civil War-era town houses in Greenwich Village, a home in upstate New York and the rights to decades of her work, many have formulated the same questions: How is this possible? How could an artist of her standing be in such financial straits? If Annie Leibovitz can’t make it in New York, who can?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/fashion/02annie.html?_r=3&ref=global-h...
Sorry, but anyone who uses a made-up word like "unemployeds" has NO business trying to talk shit about other people. Period.
It' called a proxy blog honey pot post. We are into genetic engineering and space travel. As a side job, we social engineer you workers bees. Robo is mind controlled and serves our purpose well.
I see Cheeky's points, but man, he needs grow some thicker skin...
I'm no professional trader and typically left my investments to mutual providers. About a year ago I got pissed at the fees for non performance (poor returns) of these funds - IMO. I pulled my investments, went self directed, and never looked back. I am up 40% since taking over my investments by operating with one basic rule - I only purchase stock in companies whose business I understand, and whose leadership has a track record and reputation for performance.
There are no banks in my portfolio...LOL.
1. I don't know any true blue collar workers who would go into a Fourbucks coffee shop.
2. I don't know any true traders who would work from Fourbucks.
3. I don't believe there are any "real" people in an L.A. Starbucks, arguably one of the primary epicenters of pretentious behavior...and hopefully the epicenter of the next +8.0 California earthquake.
Holy fuck I can't believe the hyper-sensitivity this evening re: Robo's post... I read these daily ~ kind of like watching Saturday Night Live... get a grip people and chill
RT,
Lost street cred here. I don't see anything wrong with what these people are doing. They are adjusting to the environment. If they are smart enough to understand the buy and hold strategy is unlikely to make them money good for them. If they get a better understanding of economics and how the market works, good for them. If they lose money trading the market, too bad for them.
They may be making a bunch of money in the market. Sounds to me they are very much aware of what is going on in the market.
If they had suits and ties on you would have scooted your chair closer.
Robo:
ZH had better stick hard with its anonymity policy for staff and contributors.
Some of the commenters might sound pretty pissed. They might come after you with brutal....ummmm...comments to your person.
Robo told the ZH equivalent of Yo Mama joke.
Pandemonium ensued....
Yo momma's so dumb she shorted AIG. When it was $14 a share!
yo momma is so big; she got 25 billion of TARP money.
WHERE ARE THE BOOBIES, DAMMIT.
Some of the most intelligent people I have met are in construction. Something about being in the building trade seems to lend itself to successful trading. Sorry, us Turtles need to stick up for one another.
Hey Robo,
Should I go with Tapout or Zoo York? I appreciate the fashion-forward advice on this site. Thanks, GUYS!
How do I paste a picture???????
ROBO, you ve been mentioned by LA times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/08/speculators-are-having-...
And Friday was not a Friday without your market review & comments.
Congrats, RoboT. So they are sensitive to local talks. Makes sense.
I have to admit that I have never heard about this information I have noticed many new facts for me. Thanks a lot for sharing this useful and attractive information and I will be waiting for other interesting posts from you in the nearest future.keep it up. click here to get a quote