Trends make perfect sense...
Stocks go up when cash flow is going into the market. This occurs when economy is consistently growing (quarterly) and interest rates are kept low enough to ensure that corporations can increase revenue.
Stocks go down when the cash flow is taken out of the market.
Essentially for the longer-term traders, the concept is very simple... either cash is put into the stock market or taken out. All the moves in between are "noise". Unfortunately, we all here at ET try to trade the noise as if we have some "edge" in predicting it. What the hell is 5 points in S&P 500? We cannot time that move perfectly. There are thousands of variables influencing the mkt. Even if we are right with getting 5 points on our trade, how did we know it was correct because it was our thesis (i.e. support at 830). In reality, the rise in oil could've been responsible for the move, and the support at 830 had nothing to do with it.
Sometimes the mkt just goes sideways... as in 2009... its a period where some people are still taking money out of the market and others are putting it back in. When one side dominates the other, the trend will reemerge.
Simple laws of Supply/Demand
Stocks go up when cash flow is going into the market. This occurs when economy is consistently growing (quarterly) and interest rates are kept low enough to ensure that corporations can increase revenue.
Stocks go down when the cash flow is taken out of the market.
Essentially for the longer-term traders, the concept is very simple... either cash is put into the stock market or taken out. All the moves in between are "noise". Unfortunately, we all here at ET try to trade the noise as if we have some "edge" in predicting it. What the hell is 5 points in S&P 500? We cannot time that move perfectly. There are thousands of variables influencing the mkt. Even if we are right with getting 5 points on our trade, how did we know it was correct because it was our thesis (i.e. support at 830). In reality, the rise in oil could've been responsible for the move, and the support at 830 had nothing to do with it.
Sometimes the mkt just goes sideways... as in 2009... its a period where some people are still taking money out of the market and others are putting it back in. When one side dominates the other, the trend will reemerge.
Simple laws of Supply/Demand
