The whole of the common characteristics with which heredity and genetics endow individuals of a race constitute the genius of that race. When, however, a certain number of these individuals are gathered together in a "crowd" for purposes of action, that, from observation, the mere fact of their being assembled, there result certain new psychological characteristics, which contrasted with the individual characteristics, differ markedly.
Organised crowds have always played an important part in human history, whether it be tribal, political, military, or workplace. The market, has always been effected by crowds, this phenomenon, with the advent of todays technology, has increased and speeded the crowds involvement by an unquantifiable degree.
All the previous posts, that I shotgunned onto the site last night, really only deal with your individual psychology, and a possible methodology for improving it, or formalising it to some degree, so that it becomes workable.
The fact remains however that, as robust as your individual psychology must be, and make no mistake you must be able to stand aside from the insanity of the crowd, it does not lend any insight into the psychology of the crowd.
The thread "THE EDGE", posits the question............what is the edge, and how do I get one.
The edge, could be defined as, ..........understanding what the crowd will do, why they will do it, and taking either,....advantage thereof, standing aside, or, joining the crowd for a period of time.
Fundamental analysis seeks to take advantage and stand aside.
Technical analysis, seeks to join the crowd, for an indeterminate amount of time.
In many respects, your individual psychology, if ACCURATELY understood will determine the most successful route for you to interact with the markets.
Now I have noticed that on my individual rating on this site, I have been rated, "Highly argumentative, with no substance"
If this assessment is correct, and lets assume that it is, then which of the avenues would seem most likely and productive for my psychology.
Well, of course Fundamentals. Here I can argue with the market to my hearts content, tell the market it's wrong etc.
But if you are by nature a non-confrontational type, don't enjoy arguments, prefer to keep the peace, are happy to consider other peoples opinions, then Technicals might suit your psychological disposition better than other styles.
As the vast majority here are technicals by choice, you then must decide on your level of psychological knowledge, both of yourself, and of the crowd.
It is the psychology of the crowd that you must master in addition to self-mastery, as it is the reaction of the crowd that you must learn to time as exactly as possible.
cheers d998
