Louis' Look (08-17-2020)

Louis Sykes
August 17, 2020

From the desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

Welcome to the third edition of “Louis’ Look,” where I walk through the lessons I’ve learned over the past week through interning at All Star Charts. You can read the previous post here.

In this post, I want to step back from the market and focus on people. I really enjoyed writing this one, so buckle in.

This weekend, I watched my first Formula One Grand Prix. It was pretty awesome. What stuck out to me was the intense nature of teamwork; behind one driver, there are hundreds of engineers, researchers, aerodynamicists, and managers.

When watching, it dawned on me that a career in technical analysis is much the same as running a Formula One racing team. Hear me out.

As someone who's more introverted, I'm really starting to see the immense value of being in a cohesive team that shares a deep and common interest. On Slack, for example, we're always throwing charts at each other, discussing Lumber futures is our version of small talk. Most conversations around here start with something along the lines of "bro, that Transports/Nasdaq chart is nuts" (an actual quote from the team meeting). It's a really cool environment to be amongst.

Take Lewis Hamilton, for instance. Though he's considered the best Formula One driver in the world, he is nothing without his engineers, mechanics, and his managers. In other words, even the best need a great team around them.

I've been consistently surprised by how often the guys here exchange their ideas with their friends and other colleagues. It's almost as if I strangely viewed them as authorities who knew everything there was ever to know about the market. Even though they've been in the industry for years, if not decades, they're still learning every day.

To extend the Formula One metaphor, you don’t see the drivers building their cars, changing the wheels on pit stops, or transporting the garage to other events. Technical analysts, just like Formula One drivers, can’t be expected to do and know everything.

Whether we’re listening to Brian Shannon on the VWAP, or Andrew Thrasher on volatility, everyone in the technical analysis community is taking notes on each other's work. 

Interning for these guys is making me realize that in order for you to grow, whether you're a technical analyst or not, it is vital for you to reach out and see the world from a wide range of perspectives. That is just something you cannot do by yourself. The very nature of being objective requires us to look at all perspectives; playing devil's advocate is not just helpful to the process, it is essential.

Thanks for reading this week’s column, and I encourage you to race an email to louis@allstarcharts.com to share with me the cool lessons you learned this week too.

Louis

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