A glance at last year’s trading during the summer months across the indices and some currency pairs reveals in undeniable terms something I have been talking about in one form or other:
There is less participation in the markets from the institutions. The trend has been going on for several years now. Unless there is movement nobody can make any money in the markets. We need volatility on a regular basis. Consistent volatility requires liquidity. Today’s markets are anything but consistent and lack liquidity.
Retail traders do not have the power to create liquidity, institutions do.
Yet everyone is out to make life as challenging as possible for the institutions. The abolishment of floor trading has taken life force out of the markets. We are living more and more in a virtual reality which is cutting off our senses and our ability to think and trade with genuine feeling and connection.
Increased pseudo regulations on banks have caused many of them to close their trading departments, or at least severely curtail the activities in their trading departments.
The nature of the markets has changed more than most people realise.
The real issue is the fight between officialdom and individual freedom.
It really doesn’t get any simpler than that.
A society needs to be able to develop its creativity in an environment that values the expression of individualism and promotes free thought.
We are living in a society where sameness is king while individualism is suppressed in the name of “safety” and “political correctness”.
So, we have had a few rogue traders making unacceptable losses. Sad as this is, it is the price to pay for freedom. There will always be a rogue trader or two out there, just as there will always be thieves out there.
However, the majority of people are caring individuals who would rather help another than just look out for their own advantage no matter what.
The greed of a very small number is skewing the big picture, ruining lives and societies across the board.
Donald Trump, love him or hate him, is seeing these issues, and for that alone I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Continuing in the same old ways will eventually throttle the life force that keeps the markets going and that keeps life going.
