On Greed, Sophistication and Beauty.
After a series of failed attempts at risk management in the online prop firm space, I've shifted my focus to trading the Indian Indices for now. My aversion to trading in these markets has been solely due to the reputation it carries in my mind. To be told that someone is involved in the realm of speculation in this country has made eye-rolling a socially accepted response. And righty so. The share-market-bro archetype is insufferable.
Despite my attempts to coat my recent endeavours with fancy words in order to bring sophistication to an otherwise filthy profession plagued with greed, I am nothing but another clog in the machine dabbling in the very affair I loathe.
Something about being thought of as part of group of people with egos inflated more than Argentine consumer goods makes my skin crawl.
Years ago, I left these markets behind in search of sophistication and beauty; markets which I felt proud to be a part of. My search led me to the valley of currency CFDs where evil is more rampant than what I was escaping.
Further adventure took me to regulated futures contracts with trader friendly rules, commissions, liquidity, volatility, and a centralised exchange that was actually accountable. No finance bro is going to heaven but if they do, it's at CME.
The idea of having access to capital along with the pride of exploiting efficient markets made me happy. But efficient markets are a bitch. Alpha is hard to find. Made me miss where I came from.
You know, the irony is that my travels have been inspired by greed as much as they have been inspired by disgust. I am no different than the greedy bald 50 y/o uncle in your society who's involved in the 'share market'.
I realise now that my search for beauty was actually a search for profits. Not sophistication. And in my line of work, the number on the screen must be big and it should be green, that is art. That is beauty.
Whether the big green numbers come from buying options in the Indian markets, trading futures at the COMEX or from the dark sickening world of currency CFDs; it doesn't matter.
Beauty doesn't lie in simplicity, or in sophistication. It lies in utility. Function. Profits. Greed is only evil if it compromises morality. If it propels you forward, it is ambition. Not greed. And ambition is virtuous.
We shall part now. I have to go look for beauty in the German DAX and the FTSE 100.