Wall Street and Casino’s...Are They Similar?

The ‘complainometer’ was at 11 on Stocktwits today.

Apparently, people chasing stocks feel entitled to big gains every single day.

The stock of the month has been $PLUG. I talked about it again yesterday on this blog, a MONTH after giving Michael Bigger a ‘standing ovation’ on it for riding it from $.40 to $3. Apparently at $10 people felt like it should just go to $20 today.

Today it closed back down in the $5’s. That is one nasty RED day:

Today it’s the government’s fault, a pump and dump, a scam…and the market is a casino.

NO. NO. NO and NO.

As a founder of Stocktwits a community that is trying to help people invest and learn the language of the market, it makes me wince.

As someone competing for returns against everyone else I love to hear this. My competition sounds clueless. For the sake of good sportsmanship, let me clear this up. There is no such thing as a pump and dump and the government is not smart enough to steal from the dumbest person in America. No one puts a gun to your head to buy a stock that’s already up 800 percent or 1 percent. You are the ‘Fat Finger’.

If you can’t understand the catalyst that will move an investment in your favor, you are the catalyst of someone else’s profit. Even if you understand the catalyst, you will be wrong and must have a plan.

Wall Street is pretty good about cleaning up the ill prepared.

People chase, they hope, and are ruled by fear and greed. That IS the stock market. The companies, the paper, the banks and the computers are part of the business of Wall Street. If you treat Wall Street like a game or a casino, it is you that will get played. At least in Vegas they will bring you some booze.

PS – This joke of a chart is making the rounds on Twitter today. There is some ‘truthiness’ in it. If you think you have to catch every turn of the market, you are going to have a short career or never enjoy the awesomeness of the markets. Take a step back and remember you only have to catch a few moves. The markets are always open, but they will work just as well without you.