Welcome to Market Physics!

My mission, and the purpose of this blog, is to show that technical analysis can be a standalone replacement to fundamental analysis.

Why would I take such a rogue opinion investing? Why not do what has been proven time and time again to work? Certainly that would be easier and make more sense than blazing my own trail into the uncharted wilds of finance; but the main reason why I shrug off the beaten path and am so steadfast in my dedication to technical analysis flows from some advice I read when I was just beginning investing: Find the investment style that works for you.

On the evening I decided to set my life in motion, I had a choice to make. I had narrowed down what I really wanted to do with my life into two choices: guitar or finance. I love music with a passion, especially the guitar of the greats like Jimmy Page or Jimmy Hendrix, but I had absolutley no musical experience or natural musical intuition (for I am without rhythm and am tune deaf); I would have to teach myself everything from the ground up. Or, I could decide to NOT swim against the current and choose a skill which is synergized by my natural analytical skills.

I chose finance, and when I was over at Investopedia reading their beginning investors guide I came to the Technical Analysis page and I knew I had found my calling. See, while I am an intensly analyitical person I am aslo quite dyslexic and have problems reading: I can get the jist of about anything I read, I miss out on a lot of details (that whole ‘reading between the lines’ thing). When I at first looked at stock trading, I have to be honest when I say that I was disappointed by fundamental analysis; I thought “I have to read all this shit?” and began to become disappointed when I was understanding how fundamental analysis worked. Then I saw technical analysis, and that I didn’t have to read anything to find out what I needed to know to make money off of the stock; I felt as if I had found home because it bypassed the problem I have had my whole life.

Another thing which drove me from fundamental analysis is that I don’t know who is writing the press releases off if which I am supposed to make my investing decision. I am a history major and I know that often the person who wires the work (and their perspective) is as important to understanding a work as is understanding the facts outlined in the work. Its like understanding the objects and the lenses that they are being viewed through: although the objects may not change in the absolute sense, the perception of the object illuminates the world through the author’s eyes. The ultimate culmination of this problem is that I don’t know who wrote the press release. Was it the director of marketing (who has a very valid opinon) or the marketing intern (who doesn’t know what they’re talking about) who wrote the press release? I cannot be sure of the data in the same way I can for the empirical price data: it can always be cross checked against multiple sources; but there is no way to quantify the perspective of the author of the press release. It’s data is inherently less reliable than the untainted price chart.